NCGD - Babylon 5 - Earthforce Standard Shuttle

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Earthforce Standard Shuttle:

These ships are very important to both the Earth Force militaries and to various civilian companies. Along with the atmospheric shuttles, the shuttles carry most of the short range cargo that is transported within Earth Alliance space. These ships cannot enter an atmosphere and do not have jump engines. The shuttles do use jumpgates but operate using jumpgates that are close to each other. Some smaller merchants use the ships for trade and use jump gates to travel from place to place being careful to chose jump gate locations that are very close to each other.

These shuttles are not armed as a rule but a good engineer could put some weapon systems on the shuttle in expense of some or all of the shuttles cargo. Shuttles owned by the Military have improved sensors, better computers, and improved evasion software.

Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the shuttles velocity and distance traveled:

Class: Earth Alliance short-range Crew Shuttle
Crew: Two but can easily be run by a single pilot
Passengers: 25 in a passenger compartment. The ship can carry 50 additional passengers in cargo holds with special seating pallets.

MDC by Location:

	[1] Engines (2):	350 each
	Reinforced Pilots Compartment:	200
	[2] Main Body:	1,000

Notes:
[1] The Destruction of one engine reduces the ships acceleration by one half. The destruction of both Ion Engines means that the maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[2] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Shuttle out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

Speed:
Driving on Ground: Not Possible
Space Propulsion: The starship does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Crew Shuttle can reach a top acceleration of 2 G but due to high fuel consumption and extra strain on the engines, the ship will normally travel at 0.5 G for any extended trips. Top acceleration is only meant for emergencies.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The Earth Force Crew Shuttle cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: The shuttle does not have a jump drive but can use already formed jump points such as those formed by jump gates. While in hyperspace, the shuttle can reach a maximum of 5 lightyears per hour. This means that the shuttle could theoretically cover the Galaxy in about 24 month (will need to refuel very often and no shuttle is meant to operate very far from their home base or ship).
Maximum Range: The shuttle has enough fuel for 4 days at maximum performance. If the shuttle is operating at less maximum performance, the ships range is vastly increased. The shuttle has 16 days of endurance if operating at only .5 Gs. Consumption of reaction mass double at 1 G and doubles again if operating at 2 G of acceleration. The Shuttle uses hydrogen for fuel for a fusion reactor. The shuttle can operate with engines on standby to increase shuttles range.
The shuttle has supplies for a crew of two for up to twenty days

Statistical Data:
Height: 54.5 feet (16.7 meters)
Length: 164 feet (50 meters)
Width: 54.5 feet (16.7 meters)
Weight: 308.6 tons (280 metric tons)
Power System: 1 Fusion Battery (At maximum output, duration is 4 days)
Cargo: 250 tons in main cargo bay. The shuttle also has small lockers for the shuttles crew for personal items.
Cost: 30 million (Shuttle is sold on the open market)

Weapons Systems:
None

Combat Bonuses:

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Technical Information from Babylon 5 Technical Manual!

By Kitsune (kitsune@addr.com ).