Customizing the 3-Z....

[willg]

I was just sketching out an idea.....adding extra engine Pods , specifically the types of a YT1760 to my 3-Z, increasing speed, manoverability etc, changingher shape from an oval to something like capital D.

Feasable?

Any scale issues?

Anything I havent considered?

Spec issues?[/quote]

[Zarn]

If you haven't found them already, the best deckplans I've found for a 3-Z can be found here.

Honestly? What you've missed, is torque.

The usual caveats - it's Star Wars, different physical laws, blah blah.

Essentially, sticking a bigger engine (or increasing the number of smaller engines) onto a ship can make it faster up to a point by improving its power to weight ratio. However, without significant crossbracing, something like extra engine pods will snap right off if they're used for combat maneuvering.

So, extra booster pods for straight line speed (simplified into Space rating)? Sure. Increased maneuvering? Probably not.

If I were your GM, I'd either:
* Suggest a new ship
* Suggest a redesign headed by some crazy Verpine fresh off Roche
* Suggest taking a hit on Hull (increased stresses, and vulnerable new components sticking out of the hull) to fit engine pods.

Or, you could, you know, just use the rules already in the game and increase Maneuverability by a die and some, and all that - or use the Cracken's rules for crazy (bad!) increases up to +3D or what it was again.

[willg]

Oh, I know those deckplans real well, I've spent a lot of time redoing them. Heres what I came up with.

The Black Freighter
Brief history: the ship started of as a Light Freighter in the employ of a shipping firm, akin to the Rendar or Azzameen families. She got attacked by pirates, and in the Melee, a thermal detonator went off. Those not killed in the blast, got sucked into space. Only one of the three man crew survived, got into the escape pod, and never looked back. He expected the ship to blow up after he left

The ship was salvaged, but a somewhat overzealous insurance investigator wrote her off , even though she was fixable. She was sold as scrap, destined to be torn apart for spates, till an enterprising young ship engineer, Avi Aziz, realised the damage from the thermal detonator was mainly cosmetic apart from the hole in her hull, most of the ship was intact and ripe for customisation.
Aziz had recently aquired a wrecked YT-1760 that a so-called hotshot freighter pilot had piloted right into an asteroid. The ship was buckled, her frame shattered, but many of her systems, among them some high end customised parts, were intact. Thanks to the 3-Z being based on the YT-1200 design, most of these parts were compatible.

What emerged from this fusion was a faster ship, with added hull reinforcement, a larger powerplant. Avi Aziz used the ship for a few years, till the YT2000 came out and Aziz, who loved the 3-Z, reluctantly sold her on for a new model.

The new owners were a mercenary group, Team Alpha ,often under the employ of the Rebellion against the Empire, otherwise they operated as bounty hunters. They had been a special Republic Commando group, now operating freelance.

Under the group, the 3-Z saw many changes, mainly improvments on her hull, sensor arrays, armanments and shields. Former Tech Sgt Barnz ran a no nonsense technical maintainence schedule, overhauling the ship, every piece, every nut and bolt. An incident early in life had left Barnz with a dislike of spacetravel, so he focused his anxieties onto the ship. He added the engineering console and auxiliary control to the Engine room to maintain' The Beast' as he called the ships engines. The 3-Z weaponry was replaced with more offensive arsenal. The twin laser cannons became heavy laser cannons, concussion missile launchers were installed and a retractable mount for a heavy blaster or Ion cannon was added under the ships belly, depending what the mission called for. The Alphas affectionatly called the ship the Bucket of Bolts.

The mercenary group was joined by a young Renegade Clone trooper who took the name Yargin Makol. It was after a few years that the crew suffered losses of men. On the last mission, the last of Team Alpha died leaving Makol and Raynes. Raynes had always hated clones and had grudginly worked along side Makol. In that last battle, he lost it and tried to kill Makol. Makol, however, had other ideas, fought Raynes, beat him and headed back to the ship. Just before he flew off, he saw Raynes bloodied and screaming at him. He turned the ships cannons on him and incinerated him where he stood.

Makol has been using the ship the last dozen or so years as a bounty hunter on the outer rim.

Ship changes.

What Ive found worked was downsizing the head, putting it at the front of the ship, moving the lounge over to the other side where the old head had been,but downsizing that too. Galley kitchen with breakfast bar, a smaller table with 4 seats.
The entertainment system can be accessed here , but is networked to the bunkrooms.
. The other side, at the end, Install a medical bay with an attedant 2-1b droid. I had planned to install a workshop, where the old crew lounge was, because as a ship that had a mostly droid crew, thats handy, plus weapon and armor maintainence.

However my crew is expanding, so keeping the other bunks has proven a good idea, scince they can double up as Medbeds with some modification.

The workshop/ arsenal had to go into the port cargo hold, along with the newly aquired
X-11 airspeeder. i lose a little physical cargo space, but since it primarily a bounty hunter ship, thats not a problem. I still have the entire Starboard hold

I have added an engineering console to the Engine room, which can act as an auxilary control for most ship functions. Installation of 'Mothership' aka 'Ma' a customised Artificial Intelligence into the ship has a lot of uses, but the Engineering console has a system to disable her. Just in case.

Engine room contains a hybrid Ion engine created from the original 3-Z and a YT1760. Its a wee bit faster than the regular 3-Z engine. This is accompanied by an X1 hyperdrive and an X5 backup. The original decentralized hyperdrive system has been replaced with a conventional main and backup system, though in theory the wiring and tech is still intact to go back to a decentralized system. All this is powered by Twin Quadex power cores, the original and the one from the wrecked YT1760, with cryogenic reserve batteries as standard backup.

Add ons

Medical:
Medical bay installed with med bed, bact tank and med bed.2-1b droid in attendance.

Technical
Workshop with automated machine shop

Flight/ ship related.
N-crab nav com bypass
SLAM - Sublight Accelerator Motor.
Advanced slave circuitry
Recall Slave circuitry

Defensive:
Regenerating Shield generator
Fire supptessor Foam

power
Solid Fuel converter.

Security
Console lock
Console deadlock


Apart from the weapons i mentioned, thats what i have.

Id like a ground buzzer weapon in there. I Like the IDEA of an.ion cannon but i dont see it getting used in offensive/ defensive situations.

Ok, thoughts?

[willg]

I'm inclined to agree with you there RE:the Engine pods. I tried to find two pics in scale, but it looked a terrible ,Kludged together effort...although the Yt 1760 style cpckpit looked good on the 3-Z

If theres one feature of the 3-Z I dislike, it has to be the sensor dish placement. Id consider swapping it for a smaller model and moving it over to the side, Ala the Falcon and Install a Heavy Laser Turret in the same space.

I like the ship as an alternative to 'oh look, yet another YT-1300.' As its based on a YT-1200 Series, it shares similar design lineage as the other YT's, and yet has its own unique properties.

[willg]

Last night was a most productive night. I have managed to fit a new, smaller crew lounge with galley kitchen, a resized full bathroom 4 sleeping berth, which if bunks are used the ship could easily hold . One side has a second head, but no shower. I have left plenty room for a medibay , and finally added an auxiliary control console, and had just enough space for a laundry room...well, alcove or short corridor.


Since relocating the workshop area to the port cargo hold, it also serves as the garage for the X11 speeder and arsenal, Yargin has a collection of slugthrowers, blasters and rifles he has obtained, some he purchased, others were confiscated from his prey. Plus with the droids as well as the ship maintainence, having a workshop for repairs and upgrades makes sense.

Also, have completley restructured the engine room, its now much more powerful, but in a compact form. This allowed restructuring of the engine room wall and elimination of two exits I found wasteful space wise.

Minor update on the cockpit, added two consoles to the back two seats. The idea is they can become tactical stations, since the ship lacks the Falcons gunwells, all the weapons depend on automation. The consoles allow manual firing controls, with a little computer assistance in targeting.

My 3-Z is definitly non stock, shes been around, changes were made. She now reflects this better.

[CRMcNeill]

Did you decide not to use the solar sail drive I statted for you?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[willg]

No, I certainly added that. The.benefit of being a freighter that doesnt carry cargo. The solar sail drive is kept in reserve for emergencies or the odd occasion for cruising. Im working on a silent runnning protocol, were the sail and only life support are running. The sail generates,power and acts as a means of propulsion.

[willg]

Also forgot to add the sensor absorbant material on the hull, the graphite black paint that helps the ship evade casual detection.

[CRMcNeill]

[willg]

In either instance, its backup propulsion and emergency power or a laidback cruise n slow recharge. I can certainly see the former happening. I want as versatile a ship I can get. I decided an X1 Hyperdrive was fast enough, simply because you cant get parts for anything higher.
Im content to let the Outrider, Slave 1 and The Falcon be faster. If those ships served as any kind of inspiration for my own, thats quite deliberate, considering my character, Yargin Makol is a bounty hunter who owns a light freighter and his crew are droids and an.AI.