Rampart RF-128 Fighter Illustration

I was laying out a Lightning Class style "race track" Hangar Deck for the geomorph book and decided I needed to model the Rampart Fighter. So here is my version, based mostly on the plan view found in Supplement 5: Lightning Class Cruisers and the box cover illustration by Richard Flory for the Fifth Frontier War game.

From Supplement 5:
    The Rampart RF-128 and RF-128-2 fighters are small streamlined combat craft with stubby wings and limited control surfaces. The wings are semi-retractable, enough to reduce the crafts diameter to 3 meters and allow use in the launch tube.
     Each fighter is a 15-ton craft constructed at tech level 15. The models have two distinct features - weaponry and crew size.
     The Single Place Fighter is laser armed, and has only one position - for a pilot.
     The Dual Place Fighter is missile armed, and has crew positions in its double cockpit. The craft is used for squadron command and control in combat situations. In addition, the dual place configuration is used for training of new pilots or for periodic check-rides for pilots within the squadron.

Of course I decided to ignore that and show a version with both lasers and missiles.

Bay Weapon Geomorphs and Illustration

A couple "edge" geomorphs from the upcoming book showing my take on bay weapons. Aside from the Azhanti High Lightning deck plans, I don't think I've ever seen them represented in Traveller canon, and those in the Azhanti appear to be in the 30 dton range. I interpret them as standardized weapon frames that can be swapped out for alternate weapons easily. For the double laser, the doors retract and the weapon extends out from the bay and rotates into position. For the missile bay (as shown in the illustration), doors retract to expose the missile launch tubes. If desired, bay weapon doors could be indistinguishable from large cargo doors.

Designer's note: The weapons shown in the deck plans reflect 50 dton weapons bays on a single deck. The illustration shows a double height bay - just an artistic decision - and therefore would be 100 dtons. I doubt the gunnery crew would actually be in the bay as the weapon moves into firing position, I just wanted to show people to get a sense of scale.

Zhodani Light Combat Armor

Essentially a stripped down version of the standard non-powered trooper armor, Zhodani light combat armor eliminates the upper arm and leg armor and utilizes a ballistic cloth body suit. The armor is not suitable for use in vacuum and sacrifices some protection for lighter weight, lower cost, and increased maneuverability. The armor can be augmented with the typical accessories and equipment. (See Alien Module 4 - Zhodani p. 16).

The armor is favored by troops who expect light combat or combat by lower tech combatants and is often the preferred armor for garrison duty and for patrolling civilian areas under occupation.

Cr16,000  TL11, Weight:  4 kg.

Pirate Attack!

A quick revision to one of my ship deck plans, showing battle damage from a pirate attack.
Click [here] for the original deck plans and [here] for additional images.

W is for Warbot

"Kerpow, Kerpow!" - JON-E Warbot


Similar in size and form to the Zhodani Tliazhashal PP04 medium warbot, the Harkuna model S3S by Ikeda Robotics is designed to be quickly reconfigured in the field to serve a wide variety of mission roles. The standard combat package includes two heavy energy weapons, usually heavy lasers, PGMP-13s or FGMP-14s.

The base model includes a basic sensor package but can be upgraded with just about anything desired. For reconnaissance missions, the heavy weapons can be swapped out for a recon mission package which includes densitometers, neural activity sensors, PRIS optics, and other miscellaneous sensors.

Two retractable light arms are located in a 360 degree swivel mount in the lower torso and are capable of handling any standard human tools or weapons. Between combat operations, the heavy weapons can be replaced with heavy work arms to facilitate field base construction and supply relocation.

For spacecraft operations, the S3S is designed to be able to go just about anywhere a soldier in battledress can go. Standard doors, airlocks, vertical hatches, and elevators are all accessible to the warbot.

At TL 15, and with the proper resources, this robot can switch out its own hardware and software to meet just about any mission requirement.

Civilian use
Most worlds view a warbot much like any other weapon, and as such they are restricted by local law level. Warbots used as personal body guards are not unheard of, but such use is rare. Actions taken by a warbot are the responsibility of the owner. Stripped of it's weapons and associated programming, the standard warbot can be reconfigured for a wide variety of non-military uses.

The Adventures of JON-E Warbot
The Adventures of JON-E Warbot, was a wildly popular children's animated tri-vid series produced in the early 1090's. The show followed the exploits of a stern voiced and duty bound E-series combat robot and his skilled, but trouble prone robot technician, Clark "Skippy" Weston. Being a children's show, there was never any overt violence against humans. Many of the adventures focused on rescue and humanitarian missions. When combat operations were presented they either featured stun weapons or were against enemy robots. JON-E's famous catchphrase of "Kerpow, kerpow!" spread to all corners of the Spinward Marches.

Funded by Ikeda Robotics, the show's critics labeled it as pure propaganda and a recruitment tool for the Imperial Navy. The show's antagonists were thinly veiled Zhodani, but never called such. There is speculation that the show stirred anti-Zhodani sentiments and glorified war, at least in the eyes of impressionable children, and possibly helped to expedite the start of the Fifth Frontier War.

Fan favorite episodes include "Skippy and the Brain Pirates", "The Return of Dr. Dredzliar", and the heart-breaking "Flowers for Sargeant Goodfellow".

"I was always very proud of that show", said Galt Trydine, retired public relations executive for Ikeda Robotics. "We had actually produced a combat model very similar to JON-E, and it's capabilities were pretty faithfully represented in the show. The voders at the time were never quite able to capture the smugness of the voice actor, but I heard some fans created vocal patches that do a pretty good job of it."
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For additional reading about warbots, check out Classic Traveller Alien Module 4-Zhodani and Book 8 - Robots.
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