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The
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The Traveller Campaign - Firearms (463k spreadsheet) - System Search Campaign Log
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Imperial Library Search Results
Number of like terms found for Boat: 7 Boat Any defensive non-starship. In general, the term boat is reserved for craft produced for local defensive operations. While non-interstellar in nature, they are heavily armed and armoured. Also, any small craft used interplanetary. See also Gunboat, System Defence Boat.Express Boat Rapid communication ships which are designed to make optimum use of jump technology in communicating information within the Imperium. Because the Imperium is so large, ordinary communication must depend on ships travelling along established trade routes, making Regina nearly 4 years out from the Imperial Core. The express boat (abbreviated Xboat) system, established originally in 624 and expanded to cover the entire Imperium by 718, cuts this communication time by nearly 75 percent. Selected locations along major trade routes are established as sites for express stations, which are orbital facilities which service and refuel the Xboats on their communication runs. As an Xboat arrives in a system, it beams its recorded data to the express boat station, which then retransmits it to an Xboat standing by for a jump outsystem. Time between jumps is almost always under four hours and has been recorded at under seven minutes, making the speed of communication nearly the speed of jump (since Xboats carry jump-4 drives, speeds near four parsecs a week). In practise, this speed is somewhat reduced by the fact that trade routes do not follow straight lines and that not all jumps are made at jump-4. Nonetheless, the system achieves approximately jump-2.6 per week. Gunboat Ultimately, the distinction between ground, air sea and space craft disappears for military vehicles, and a single type of vehicle assumes all of the roles for system defence. Called gunboats, they are capable of extended operations in vacuum, atmosphere and water, ready to continue resistance to enemy action. Individually, the vessels are strongly armed, and can fight enemy ships while later supporting ground troops or bombing enemy installations. Further, they can continue resistance for long periods, hiding in oceans or local gas giants, and coming out only when there is promise of enemy losses. Typically, a gunboat is fast, well-armed and well-armoured. It is capable of a wide variety of military responses, and has a high survival potential. Displacement is 200 to 600 tons. See also System Defense Boat.System Defence Boat A nonstarship specifically intended for defensive operations inside a star system. Developed on the principle that a nonstarship (because of the increased armament made possible by its lack of jump drives) can normally defeat a starship of equal tonnage. System Defence Boats are typically stationed at the vital points of a system (the gas giants, the asteroid belt, the major world, and so on), and they attack invading vessels according to one or more predetermined plans. System defence boats range in size from displacements of 100 to 5000 and are constructed at all tech levels from eight to fifteen. There are hundreds of different types, tailored to their specific mission. See also Gunboat.Xboat See Express Boat. Xboat Station Facility for handling Xboats at a star system. At each system served by the Xboat network, an express boat station is maintained to handle the message traffic and to manage incoming and outgoing Xboats. Usually located near the edge of a star system, the station picks up messages beamed to it by incoming Xboats and relays the data to the local world for delivery. Messages destined for worlds farther down the line are transmitted to a waiting Xboat which jumps for the next world in the network. The Xboat station contains receiving and retransmitting equipment; refuelling and support facilities for the local staff and waiting crews are also provided. The Xboat station maintains a local office on the system's major world for the acceptance of Xboat messages, as well as to handle delivery of the messages to addresses on the world. Xboat Tender These 1000-ton displacement vessels are intermediaries between Xboats boats and their stations. They retrieve the Xboats, prepare them for their next jump and provide routine maintenance requirements. An internal Ship bay can hold up to four Express Boats, or two Scout/Couriers, and so are often used by the IISS as field repair workshops. In the more remote parts of the boat network, small groups of one to three such vessels act as the entire boat station with no permanent facility whatsoever. The Imperial Navy have pressed approximately 144 of these vessels into tanker duty, supporting fighter squadrons patrolling frontier worlds. They are also popular as bulk ore carriers and as corsairs, where the ship bay comes in useful for boarding procedures, allowing captured vessels to be stripped at leisure. |