Courier-class Jumpship

Thanks to Mike Miller of rec.games.mecha for the idea.

Mass:  50,000 tons
Type:  Jumpship
Cost:  192,858,750 C-bills
BV:    1,545
MPV:   14,668

K-F Drive...................................47,500
     Drive Integrity...........2
Jump Sail.......................................37
     Sail Integrity............3
Station-Keeping Drive..........................600
Structure......................................334
     Structural Integrity......1
Fuel...........................................200
     Tons per burn-day.........9.77
Fuel Pumps.......................................4
Bridge.........................................125
Improved Communications.........................50
Heat Sinks....................80 (160)...........0
Armor...........................................28
     Armor Type..............Ferro-Aluminum
     Points per Ton...........10 (Standard scale)
     Fore.....................40
     Fore Sides...............50
     Aft Sides................50
     Aft......................40

Small Craft Bay................1...............200
Crew Quarters.................16...............112
Officer Quarters...............6................60

Escape Pods....................2................10
Small Lifeboats................2................14
Non-Capital Weapons.............................66
Total Point Defense..............................6
Total Fire Control...............................0

Spare Parts....................1%..............500
Food.........................181 days...........20
Spare Fuel.....................0 tons............0
Other Cargo....................................134
Total Bay Doors...............12

Crew
     Ship's Crew....11 enlisted, 3 officers
     Air Crew........2 enlisted, 1 officer
     Passengers......3 regular, 2 first class

Weapons
     All arcs:      1 Large Pulse Laser
                    2 Medium Pulse Lasers

Point Defense
     All arcs:      2 Small Lasers

Overview:

The Courier represents the first new ship design since the Star League to serve in a predominantly NON-combat role.  Conceived as a "message deliverer", the design specs were first laid down by Hanse Davion himself shortly before the Clan Invasion.  Knowing how precariously close to breakdown his Jumpships had come during the Fourth Succession War, Prince Davion wanted a Jumpship design tailor-made for his "Pony Express" system, where a string of jumpships could be lined up in a line of systems, with the messages to be delivered passed from one to the next as the Jumpships jumped.  The Courier was the result.

The Courier represents the Scout in appearance, but is little more than a K-F Drive core and command bridge.  One of the design parameters was for the ship to be as inexpensive as possible.  To accomplish this, the Courier became the smallest Jumpship ever to be produced.  While the crew are adequately taken care of, side concessions were made.  The Jumpship is one of the few to NOT have a docking collar for Dropships, although it does have a Small Craft Bay to handle long-range shuttles, to facilitate personnel or light cargo transfer.  Ferro-aluminum armor was chosen over standard armor to provide slightly more protection, and some Pulse Lasers and Small Lasers were installed, more for anti-meteorite duty than any real defense.  Also to keep costs down, the Courier lacks a Lithium-Fusion battery, although it does include an improved communications suite to supplement its primary role.

The Courier has seen fair success in its role, facilitating communications between worlds.  Although never actually tested, it was theorized during the design process that a string of pre-charged and pre-nav-point-programmed Couriers could deliver a message between Tharkad and New Avalon within 4 hours.

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Page last modified 31 December, 2003