On 12/02/2026 16:13, Jeffrey Schwartz - schwartz.jeffrey at gmail.com
(via tml list) wrote:
> One "feature" of Makers is they're best at producing things 2 TL's down
> from the Maker's TL, and generally are limited in the types of things they
> can make.
> A TL12 Maker specialized for "Ship's Parts" is going to produce the TL10 or
> TL11 versions of them. Which means much less durable and reliable and
> effective than the part they replaced.
> Which is to say "Good enough to keep you going until you get your annual
> refit. We hope."
>
> Keep in mind that RL ships have a machine shop, and that's been a staple of
> Traveller all the way back to CT: The Kunir had a nice machine shop, for
> example.
One difference between a serious merchant/trader ship and a
scout/exploration ship is, IMO, that the latter will have proper
workshops (and a decent medical bay, plenty of lowberths for the 'dead
outside a really nice TL15 hospital', & etc.), while the former won't,
because a merchant lands at friends spaceports every week.

It's another advantage SDBs and riders have over ships, too - the former
don't need to carry their repair shops to the extent the latter might.
When I'm designing warships, this is something I consider when looking
at their mission and role - warships that are intended to operate as
part of a major, fully supported, fleet can get by with less tonnage
devoted to machine shops, spare parts storage, and so on. Those intended
to go on extended cruises, or to escort convoys through areas without
major fleet bases, or the like will need more integral repair and
maintenance capability (and probably shouldn't rely too heavily on
missiles and other expendables).

--

Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>