Ships of the Third Imperium
- Art Gorski(agorski)United States
Prescott
ArizonaGet my Mac and iOS software for Traveller at http://naasirka.weebly.com/ -
Introduction
Wherein the author attempts to create a comprehensive list of Traveller (Classic) products that included designs for starships and spacecraft and, for each product, give relevant information about the vessel(s).
Note that the title says "The Third Imperium", implying Traveller (Classic). Perhaps there will be a future list named ''Ships of the Shattered Imperium'' for MegaTraveller designs, or a list named ''Ships of the New Era'' for Traveller: The New Era designs, not to mention lists for Traveller T4: Marc Miller's Traveller and Traveller (Mongoose). But this is the list we have today, and it's a big one!
My collection is pretty comprehensive, but certainly not complete, so please let me know of additions and corrections to this list.
History
In the beginning, Marc W. Miller created Book 2: Starships, and saw that it was good. This set of design rules pre-dates The Third Imperium as a setting, and has the following limitations:
• Size of vessels was limited to 5000 tons. This resulted in a 1250 ton ship described as a battle cruiser, which wouldn't even be considered a frigate in later designs.
• Power plants and drives were standard sizes, and there were only so many of them defined.
• Tech level differences were barely used.
• Weapons and defensive systems were limited to lasers, missiles, and sandcasters.
Later, Book 5: High Guard (Second Edition) provided a greatly expanded set of design rules for vastly larger vessels, and introduced the Universal Ship Profile (USP).
Many of the vessel descriptions found in products indicate that they are a ''Book 2'' design. Early designs always were. In general, if a vessel is limited to the Book 2 restrictions listed above, it's probably a Book 2 design, although some Book 2 designs include a High Guard USP which defines a tech level.
The List
The products are listed in approximate chronological order by publication date.
For each product, there is a table of vessels that appeared in that product with the following information for each vessel:
Race - Indicated if not Imperial Humaniti.
Type - The type code assigned to the class of vessel, usually 1 or 2 alphabetic characters, sometimes more. Not all classes were given a type code.
Class - The name of the class of vessel, usually the name of the first vessel in that class. Not all classes were named.
Description - The general purpose or use of the vessel.
Tons - The size of the vessel.
TL - The numeric tech level that the vessel was constructed at.
SS? - Starship? Differentiates between a jump-capable starship and an interstellar spacecraft.
DP? - Indicates whether deck plans were included. These may or may not be drawn to a playable scale.
Ds? - Details? Indicates whether there is more than a cursory description of the vessel.
USP? - Indicates whether a High Guard Universal Ship Profile was included.
Article - In the case of periodical issues, this is the title of the article.
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- Edited Sun Mar 15, 2020 9:43 pm
- Posted Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:13 am
- [+] Dice rolls