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