Describing a ship

[ffutures]

I'm trying to write a passage that gives a feel for the ship I'm using for the "League of Nations Space Patrol" campaign I mentioned. it's basically a British ship flying the League flag (so to speak); small, reasonably fast, beloved by her crew... but designed by a committee to be good at about fifty different jobs.

Originally I made some very pretty deck plans which showed a beautifully neat layout, very symmetrical, and accommodation for four. The problem turned out to be that often I've had five or six players in play tests, and have six pregenerated characters designed.

So I was going to redo it all with another cabin for two. Except that when I thought about it, I decided that I really don't believe in that beautiful layout. So instead I've messed things up a little, with a description that I hope gives more of a feel for life aboard the ship:

Endeavour is cramped, compared to many other ships, and in some ways badly laid out. She was originally planned for a crew of four. At a comparatively late stage the specification was changed to add two more single cabins, which are awkwardly wedged in on the lower deck, originally a machinery space with no accommodation.

As a result of these changes the ship's layout is cluttered, especially on the lower deck, with pipes, air ducts, and electrical junction boxes etc. obstructing movement. The lower cabins have limited headroom and are adjacent to the recycling equipment, which hums loudly and makes odd gurgling noises. They are intolerably noisy when the underjets are in use. They are also two airtight doors away from the control room, galley, head, and other facilities; two extra space suits are kept on the lower deck for emergencies, which may not inspire complete confidence.

Pipes run across the ceiling, some of them low enough to bash someone in a hurry (e.g., there's a water pipe just above eye level ready to concuss anyone running to the forward turret). As an example of the engineering compromises involved, the only way to reload the machine cannon is to climb over the water tanks, wriggle through a gap about eighteen inches high, and reach down extremely awkwardly to feed the belt in from above. This takes about twenty minutes. If anything goes wrong with the cannon they can only be serviced from outside the ship, by taking off some of the hull plating, which takes several hours.

I can't show all of this on a set of deck plans, but I've put some of it in, and I'm hoping that this will help it feel more like a "real" environment, so to speak.

Does this sound convincing?

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I like all of that. It has a cool ship-in-use feel. What are the standard duty stations for the crew?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Two pilots in shifts and an engineer seem to be the normal minimum for any ship in the Weinbaum universe. I've made the captain one of the pilots and added a ship's scientist / medic (wife of the co-pilot), a mad scientist / engineer who's trying to to work out ways of automating the ships so they don't need two pilots most of the time (and spends most of his time arguing with the real engineer), and a diplomat on a mysterious mission.

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

I like it. It's mostly spot on, although the last part about the cannon reloading sounds a bit over the top.

(Also, conditions like that are the sort of things that tend to interest players very much - I know some of mine would be rather vociferous if they felt that I ought to have made a twenty minute reloading delay more clear - so it seems odd to mention it only "as an example". It might be better to introduce it more formally. Perhaps an "engineering quirks table" of limitations for GMs to choose from, if every ship is such a complex engineering compromise? I can generally do that stuff out of my head for aircraft and analogous spacecraft, but far less for ships and spaceships)

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of a table or something.

Possibly have a weighting so that newer ships, or more limited production runs, have more quirks (or more serious quirks)? So the first Darathian patrol cruiser is very odd, but after 2000 are produced most of the bugs have been worked out…

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

One of the "traits" I give ships is Cramped:

Cramped: Someone tried to fit too much equipment or too many passengers and crew into too small a hull. Cabins have very little elbow room, barely holding the allotted number of passengers or crew, corridors are narrow and obstructed This is common for military and racing ships and ships on the outer planet routes to e.g. Titan. If it’s a passenger ship the crew will experience constant complaints.

I think that the example of the ship I'm describing is sufficient - it ought to give referees enough ideas.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Sure, why not? This happens with real ships and AFV's all the time. Especially during periods of rapid technological change, when one may be designing a whole new type of ship, or hastily retro-fitting an old type with the latest drives/guns/armor/power-toothbrushes or whatever.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Does it sound convincing? Oh, for sure. It's the kind of thing that should come up far more often, really. Real designs have all sorts of compromises that don't look too bad on paper (if they're noticed at all) but which are just a curse to work with. It's really the rule, whereas designs with few problems are rightly feted the world over.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Bugs are fun, and great sources of plot coupons. "Hey, the WC's gone wrong again. We're going to have to visit that plumbing supply house on Ganymede..."

OK, not really, but I think it adds atmosphere.

[kayshapero]

Sounds good - and considering how noisy things get in real space stations (and probably ships), a lot more realistic sounding than the original. :)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I don't want to push it too far, it isn't really something mentioned by Weinbaum, but it seemed a good idea to mention it.