[Pedantic] Primary Mission Codes across Traveller

[robject]

Here's what I've always wanted -- a comparison chart! (Note the wiki has charts like this one).

I've pulled in codes from CT, CT HG(2), MT's Imperial Encyclopedia, MT's Referee's Manual, Mongoose (v2), and T5. TNE, G:T, and T4 don't use mission codes.

Largely, I would say the most influential in quantity of ships is High Guard, except for those iconic, most common "Book 2" starships from classic Traveller. I would say the original CT codes used for those iconic ships are more significant in places where HG blurs what I think are important distinctions. But enough blabbering. Let's do the table.

BIAS. My bias is T5 and "Book 2 CT". You'll see that if you don't already know it. Just be aware.

Let's do this alphabetically.

	Book 2	HG2	S09 (<CT,HG2)	MT IE	MT RM	MgT	T5
A	Free Trader	Merchant	-	Free Trader	Merchant	Free Trader	Trader
A2	Far Trader	-	-	Far Trader	-	Far Trader	Far Trader
B	Boat (SB; SDB)	Battle	Boat (SDB)	Boat (SB)	Battle	Boat (SDB)	Boat; Beagle
C	Mercenary Cruiser	Cruiser; Carrier	Mecenary Cruiser	Mercenary Cruiser	Cruiser; Carrier	Mercenary Cruiser	Cruiser
D	-	Destroyer	Destroyer (DD)		Destroyer	-	Defender
E	Escort (CE)	Escort	Escort (CE, DE, FE)	Escort (CE)	Escort	-	Corvette; Escort
F	-	Frigate; Fighter	Fleet Courier (FF)	-	Frigate; Fighter	-	Freighter
G	-	Gig; Refinery	Gig (GL)	-	Gig	-	Frigate
H	-	-	-	-	Hunter	-	Ortillery
J	Seeker	Intruder	Jump Ship (TJ)	Seeker	Intruder	Seeker	Prospector
K	Safari Ship	Pinnace	-	Safari Ship	Pinnace	Safari Ship	Safari; Expedition
L	Lab Ship	Corvette; Lab	-	Lab Ship	Lab; Corvette	Lab Ship	Lab
M	Sub. Liner	Merchant	-	-	Merchant	Sub. Liner	Liner
N	-	-	-	-	Ferry	-	Monitor; Survey; Med
P	Corsair	Planetoid	Planetoid	Corsair	Planetoid	-	Corsair; Marauder; Picket; Patrol; Privateer
Q	-	Auxiliary	-	-	Auxiliary	-	(Small Craft)
R	Subsidized Merchant	Liner	-	Subsidized Merchant	Liner	Subsidized Merchant	Raider; Merchant
S	Scout/Courier	Scout; Station	Scout/Courier	Scout/Courier	Scout; Station	Scout/Courier	Sentinel; Scout; Courier; Messenger
SZ	-	-	Survey Scout	-	-	-	-
T	Patrol Cruiser; Transport	Tanker; Tender	Troop Transport (TT)	Patrol Cruiser	Tanker; Tender	Patrol Corvette	Assault; Transport
U	-	-	-	-	Tug	-	Packet
V	-	-	-	-	Carrier	-	Destroyer
W	-	Barge	-	-	Barge	-	Barge
X	Express	Express	Express Boat	-	Express	-	Express
Y	Yacht	Yacht	-	Yacht	Yacht	Yacht	Yacht
Z	Unclassified	-	-	-	Special	-	Unclassified

"Wargame" Primary Codes (S09/HG2, TNE)

	S09 (<HG2)	TNE (Battle Rider)	Agent of the Imperium
Battleship/Dreadnought "Ship of the Line"; Capital	BB	BB	B
Battle Rider	-	BR	-
Battle Rider, Light	-	BRL	-
Battle Tender	-	BT	-
Seige Engine	-	-	S
Carrier/Tender	(C)	-	V
Carrier, Fleet	FC	-	-
Carrier, Light	LC	-	-
Carrier, Strike	SC	-	-
Cruiser	(C)	(C)	C
Cruiser, Armored	CA	-	-
Cruiser, Heavy	CR	CA	-
Cruiser, Colonial	CC	CC	-
Cruiser, Frontier	CF	-	-
Cruiser, Light	CL	CL	-
Cruiser, Patrol	-	CP	-
Cruiser, Raider	-	CR	-
Cruiser, Strike	CS	-	-
Minor / Auxiliary	-	-	A
Corvette, Missile	-	CVM	-
Destroyer	DD	DD	-
Destroyer Escort	DE	DE	-
Escort, Close	CE	EC	-
Escort Destroyer	-	ED	-
Escort, Fleet	FE	-	-
Fleet Courier	FF	-	-
Clipper, Combatant	-	LC	-
Clipper, Multimission	-	LM	-
Clipper, Tender	-	LT	-
Merchant, Armed	-	MA	-
System Defense Boat	SDB	SDB	-
Sloop, Multimission	-	SM	-

 

[robject]

And now for my slant on all this.

Givens.

(1) Both the codes themselves, and proposed code changes, are almost always subjective.
(2) There needs to be a "real good reason" to change entrenched codes. Sometimes "it makes sense" is a good reason.

Now my reasonings.


A. There is a Context "Split"

From the beginning, the letter codes were split between fighting ships and private/commercial ships. When GDW ran out of letters, the codes started jostling for space. High Guard tried to divide up the space evenly, and did a good job with military ships but not such a good job with commercial ships. MegaTraveller split its mind in two, using both the original CT codes and the High Guard codes. T5 essentially admits the fact of different contexts and has more or less three meanings per code: a Military mission, a Commercial mission, and a Private mission.


B. Some things are not Missions

A few codes are attributes or characteristics, but I think they are not valid mission codes. This includes things like:

"Boat" (CT, MT, T5) - a better choice would be D "Defender".
"Gig" (HG)
"Pinnace" (HG)
"Planetoid" (HG)
"Small Craft" (T5)


C. Some codes are nearly Identical

A few codes have too much overlap to justify separate codes:

B "Beagle" and N "Survey" (both T5). N seems better.


D. High Guard's Dreadnought Codes Seem Entrenched

Regardless of whether it makes sense, there seems a long-standing and well-defined difference between Battleship/Dreadnought, and Cruiser. Merging the two lines seems as poor a blurring as mixing Traders with Merchants.

So the "B" code seems best for representing the true Battle-Class Ships.

I know. We can argue about this for a long time.


E. Codes are not Always Set In Stone

Check out the difference between High Guard's mission codes, and Supplement 9's mission codes. S09 was built on High Guard. However, where HG is theory, S09 is practice. You'll see that specific ship codes USE the High Guard codes to an extent, but they also go off and do their own thing from time to time. Think about that a moment.


F. Carriers are Tenders/Transports

There's no useful difference. I prefer no special code for "carriers". Use T.

 

[tjoneslo]

One outstanding meta question: Do we need to fill the table?

There are 24 or 26 letters we could assign codes to (modulo I and O). Do we need to have a mission for every letter?

My answer for this is no. We should have the primary mission codes be specific and broad. I think, based upon the discussions else we're currently running about 14 -16 defined codes, with the rest of the letters undefined. I'd like to leave it that way.

 

[agorski]

There's also a separate set of codes for under 100 ton vessels in T5, and codes used for these in earlier versions of Traveller.

 

[robject]

We should have the primary mission codes be specific and broad.

I like this.

T5 breaks codes down one step further: instead of leaving it at "survey exploration", it has two, three, or four sub-categories for a code. The wiki can keep codes at a higher level -- broad, like the classic Traveller skills were broad.

I tend to fill up the letter codes, but I have no problem not showing the edge cases. "They're there, but invisible, like roombas."

My druthers is these 17. There are several others I would like, but are frankly uncommon.

Code	Mission	Exemplar
A	Trader	Beowulf
B	Battleship (BCS only)	Tigress
C	Cruiser	Kinunir; Lurushaar Kilaalum
D	Defense / Destroyer	SDB
E	Escort	Gazelle
J	Prospector	Seeker (modified Scout)
K	Safari	Leaping Snowcat
L	Lab	Lab Ship
M	Liner	Subsidized Liner
N	Survey	Donosev
P	Corsair	(ask a Vargr)
R	Merchant	March Harrier
S	Scout	Suleiman; Murphy
T	Transport/Tender/Carrier	Type XT; Lurenti; Tukera AT; Oberlindes CT
X	Express	Xboat
Y	Yacht	Yacht
Z	Unclassified	(various)

 

[whartung]

There's no useful difference. I prefer no special code for "carriers". Use T.

Well I'll throw my hat in the ring and dispute this.

A transport moves inactive things. If you shove a bunch of Ramparts in to a large hold, that does not make the ship a "Carrier", it's a transport. A Carrier is designed to actively operated its parasite vehicles.

A Tender, is not a transport. Specifically, e.g. a Sub Tender does not carry Submarines, it "tends" to them. It supplies them. With munitions, fuel, food and other supplies. A "Fleet Tender" supports "the fleet". A "XBoat Tender" supports XBoats. While an XBoat Tender can store some XBoats, it's not a "Carrier". A Tender does lot more than just haul XBoats around. But this is more an exception. The XBoats do not operate from the Tender, they're more independent (albeit at the same time reliant) of the tender.

An SDB tender would be something that lets the SDBs stay on station, bringing food and supplies. The SDB Tender may have the extra duty of hauling SDBs from system to system through Jump Space, but, honestly, that should be a more dedicated SDB Transport. SDBs need to be supported a lot more than they need to be moved from system to system. A ship with a huge empty hold designed for occasional SDB transport, isn't very efficient. Better to have several dedicated Tenders and fewer specialized Transports.

 

[robject]

Those are good distinctions, and mission codes can be broader or narrower. "Type T" might include Transport, Tender, Tug... and yes even Carrier. It might be too broad -- which is what you're suggesting.

There's another reason I don't mind subsuming Carrier: it doesn't seem to be a popular ship type. It has a strong showing in Supplement 9 and perhaps the FFW board game, but I don't see notoriety around it. It's not talked about. For one reason or another, it just pales in comparison to Cruisers and Dreadnoughts and the Lurenti/Nolikian gang.

 

[Spinward Flow]

C is Cruiser OR Carrier

That way we can get CT and CV.

 

[whartung]

There's another reason I don't mind subsuming Carrier: it doesn't seem to be a popular ship type. It has a strong showing in Supplement 9 and perhaps the FFW board game, but I don't see notoriety around it. It's not talked about.

Well partially because fighters kinda aren't good in B5.

I would suggest, to be consistent, to sharpen my Pedantic Hat, that Battle Riders are born in to battle in Battle Rider Carriers, not Tenders.

And we won't comment on the utility of Chicken Tenders...

 

[tjoneslo]

In looking at this table (and the several in the wiki) and trying to reconcile with the T5 designations I have four naval missions to match. Navy in this case refers to warships. Combat is their primary mission and designed with a full complement of weapons, armor, shields, and crew to support the same.

T5 Code(s)	HG/Prior Code(s)	Mission description
C/G/V/E	B/E	Naval Fleet operations - Primary combat ships designed to operate in a groups supporting each other. Eg. Battleships, Dreadnought, Destroyers
P/R	C/P	Naval independent operation - Ship for independent operation and mobility operating alone or in small groups. Quick Reaction forces, operations behind enemy lines and supply line disruptors. E.g. Cruisers, Raiders, Corsairs
N/D/E/B	D/N	Naval Defense operations - Ship for defending assets like worlds, bases, and supply lines. E.g. Defense Boats, Monitors, Escorts, pickets, orbital fortresses
H/T/S/?	F	Naval Armed Auxiliary - Armed ship to support military operations other than the previous groups. E.g. Ortillery, planetary assault, mine-layers/sweepers gunships, fighters, customs enforcement, Patrol.

I strongly prefer using the B/C/D/F set of code based upon the prior history from canon and general (if informal) use from the real world. I'm not as sold on using the E/P/N set of codes to split the major / minor uses, but could be convinced.

Of the T5 codes, there are too many of them. These are table filling options, not well described missions. At minimum I would cut this down to the primary operation codes: C/P/N/H

 

[kilemall]

I’d like to throw one more type system into consideration- the game Imperium.

Yes technically a retcon, but retconned it is, and has all manner of resolution for ship typing.

Hmm, I suppose FFW as well.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Is this for clarification meta to seep into the (selected) universe(s) as a sort of retcon or could it be these are holdovers in-universe from previous in-universe navy classifications? How are you addressing this?

When I see the codes, I immediately see the nomenclature from old hex and chit wargames, whether terrestrial or science-fiction like Star Fleet Battles. To better address this topic, I ask why were things named this way in the first place? The were around for wargames before SFB. From the games these are the ones I recall immediately.
DD = Dreadnought
BB = Battleship, Battlecruiser
CC = Command Cruiser
CA = Cruiser
CV =Carrier
DD = Destroyer
FF = Frigate
TB = Torpedo Boat (pre dreadnoughts)
PB = Patrol Boat
PDn = pre-Dreadnaught

Just saying here the coding system did not originate in CT or SFB, did it, more like IRL, yes? Some seem obvious, but others ? What were they thinking? Back then, why double letters? Why different letters for all those "C" ships.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

If you have a good reason in-universe, say like in Millieu 0 some office of Standards and Measures say, let's standardize this ship-Class crap. Part of joining Cleon's Imperium is you must re-tail you assets accordingly. But we all know some traditions or standards die slowly. Sounds cool in-universe

 

[whulorigan]

Back then, why double letters? Why different letters for all those "C" ships.

Frankly, becasue that is the way the US Navy does it.

Probably there was originally the concept of a single letter ("B" for Battleship, "C" for Cruiser, and "D" for Destroyer) in the US Navy that gained additional letters as modifiers when needed. Since Cruisers much more typically varied in type and mission, but a Destroyer was a Destoyer and a Battleship was a Battleship, they ended up giving an additional letter code to Cruisers to distinguish them, but then later just doubled the letter for the Battleship and Desroyer codes to bring them on a par with Cruiser's codes. Carriers when first experimented with were modified Cruisers with a flat-top, so the "C" was maintained and eventually got a "Carrier-modifier" code as the class evolved (and it was probably a happy coincicence that both Carrier and Cruiser begin with the letter "C").

 

[Condottiere]

I don't recall the Empire bothering with distinct classification of their starwarships, and they were highly bureaucratic.

Star Fleet just has a number, and designator whether the starship is experimental, or not.

 

[robject]

Of the T5 codes, there are too many of them. These are table filling options, not well described missions.

There are a lot, and I think many of them can be combined. Especially if there's a "Generalized Layer"... hmm let me think about that.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Star Fleet just has a number, and designator whether the starship is experimental, or not.

I was referring to outside the in-universe part where we The Gamemasters of Triskellion are at . I know each SFB empire uses different naming systems but SHEESH!

 

[aramis]

I was referring to outside the in-universe part where we The Gamemasters of Triskellion are at . I know each SFB empire uses different naming systems but SHEESH!

The type codes in SFB are consistent across those empires that use them: Fed, Gorn, Lyran, Kzinti, ISC, Tholian. They're based upon USN coding from the 1960's.

The Klingons are coded by class reporting name. The Romuans and Hydrans by "transations" of the class name. Note that the Hydans do have the same mission labels, it's just that there are multiple variants for each... The Lord Bishop and Lord Marshal are both Command Cruisers... the counters read LB and LM respectively.
Notable exceptions being Police cutters (POL), Orions.
Freighters are F and a marker, except the APT (Armed Priority Transport)

 

[robject]

When I see the codes, I immediately see the nomenclature from old hex and chit wargames, whether terrestrial or science-fiction like Star Fleet Battles. To better address this topic, I ask why were things named this way in the first place? The were around for wargames before SFB. From the games these are the ones I recall immediately.

DD = Dreadnought
BB = Battleship, Battlecruiser
CC = Command Cruiser
CA = Cruiser
CV =Carrier
DD = Destroyer
FF = Frigate
TB = Torpedo Boat (pre dreadnoughts)
PB = Patrol Boat
PDn = pre-Dreadnaught

Thread resurrect. I wonder if perhaps ACS should (usually) be single letter codes, while BCS should (always) have at least two letters? Could that help divide the conceptual space a bit?

 

[whartung]

I wonder if perhaps ACS should (usually) be single letter codes,

No, as it doesn't make any sense. The role is the role that the fleet assigns the ship. If you live in a "small ship" universe, then those ships that fill that role will be "small ships". If you don't, then they get biggie sized. The modern Arleigh-Burke DD is 8200 long tons. The Fletcher DD from WWII is a 2000 long ton ship. Both are DD. Originally Destroyers were 80-100 tons.

If you show up to battle with your 1200 ton BB, and the enemy arrives with their 50,000 ton Frigate, well...

The terminology is the name to the fleet that runs the ship.

There was a joke, could have been a Hitchhikers Guide thing, it sounds like it, about how the Alien battle fleet arrived at Earth ready to conquer, but got swallowed by a dog. I'm sure they had DDs and BBs et al in that fleet.