GT: Starports and Deep Space Stations

[mike wightman]

There is no lanthanum hull grid, the MT authors got it wrong. Lanthanum is used in the jump drive to make 'drive coils'. This is explained in MWM's definitive Jumpspace article in both the GDW JTAS and MgT JTAS.

Jump Coils: The jump coils that channel
a ship's energy within the jump drive
are constructed of lanthanum, a rare
earth which has exactly the correct properties
for the purpose. Lanthanum coils
are used to control the drive energies
during jump. Other materials have been
used or substituted, but none function
with enough reliability or efficiency to
make them practical.

 

[tjoneslo]

The Traveller5 rules describe two types of Jump drive: The Jump Bubble which does not have a grid, but projects a spherical bubble around the ship. This uses more fuel than the normal drive.

The other uses a hull grid (of unknown materials) using a pattern of the grid to generate a jump. This uses less fuel than a bubble (the normal or reduced amount of fuel).

For this use case having a Jump Bubble around the ship would allow a large external tank to be filled with fuel and jump without having to be specially constructed with a jump grid.

 

[mike wightman]

The jump drive that produces a bubble jump field requires no more fuel than the hull grid jump field according to the latest version of T5 - unless I have missed something.

 

[daryen]

Wouldn't using a hull grid be exceptionally vulnerable? I mean a single laser hit would damage the grid. Perhaps there is some redundancy built into the grid, but at some point simple cosmetic damage will cause the grid to be inoperable which, presumably, would presumably prevent jump from working irrespective of any actual internal damage. It would seem to me that the only possible option for any ship expecting combat is the bubble jump field.

Obviously I am missing something, but the whole idea of a jump grid never made sense to me.

 

[DaltonSpence]

Thanks for the ideas but since I want to continue with GT: Starships rules maybe the external fuel bladder isn't the way to go. I may go the drop tank route though to avoid carrying that much empty tankage back. This has made me consider looking at the other Traveller versions more closely for their starship construction rules since they seem to have some interesting options. (But please, no debates on which is better; I have no perspective on this yet.)

Dalton “Jump grid vs. bubble? Didn't have that in GT:S.” Spence​

 

[whulorigan]

Wouldn't using a hull grid be exceptionally vulnerable? I mean a single laser hit would damage the grid. Perhaps there is some redundancy built into the grid, but at some point simple cosmetic damage will cause the grid to be inoperable which, presumably, would presumably prevent jump from working irrespective of any actual internal damage. It would seem to me that the only possible option for any ship expecting combat is the bubble jump field.

Obviously I am missing something, but the whole idea of a jump grid never made sense to me.

In T5, if enough of the Jump Grid is damaged it will prevent Jump initiation (or perhaps cause a misjump). Repairs are usually made using bolt-on "Jump plates" to cover the damaged area. Jump grid repair is somewhat expensive.

 

[whartung]

Wouldn't using a hull grid be exceptionally vulnerable?

JTAS 24 says:

Starship hulls contain as an integral part of their structure a network of wiring which maintains the jump field around the ship.

So that suggest that the grid is IN the hull, not necessarily on top of the hull. So, that should offer some resilience.

That said:

Breaks in the protective network within a starship hull are a primary cause of the loss of ships in jump.

So, yes, in theory hull damage can impact the jump grid. I think it would be fair to say something like "anything that breaches the hull has a 10% chance of breaking the grid".

Whether a single break is enough to break jump, it's hard to say.

You could perhaps make it based on surface area. For a sphere, a 1000 dTon hull has 2800 m^2 of area. Maybe 1 hit per 1000 tons? disables jump?

Zero tolerance policy? Little Timmy bored on his week long trip trapped in his stateroom carves through the wall material and makes a cut in the jump grid with his pocket knife, losing the ship?

 

[Spinward Flow]

So, yes, in theory hull damage can impact the jump grid.

Curious then that in a backwards compatibility (fail) condition, LBB5.80 assigns damage to the jump drive only from the internal explosion and critical hit tables ... not from the surface explosion or radiation damage tables.

Needless to say, different versions of Traveller will subscribe to different rules, but it's interesting to know the evolution of those rules over time in different contexts.

 

[Condottiere]

1. You could drape a jump net over the ship, and apparently there's a tile variant that you could use to cover the area (from within the starship) of some or all of the lanthanum grid, damaged or not.

2. Jump bubble being an option, that can ignore a great deal of any conflicting details related to other methods.

 

[DaltonSpence]

How did this become a "grid" vs. "bubble" debate? This has all the earmarks of being an ancient Traveller schism where no one convinces anyone of anything. I'm glad GT: Starships has none of this nonsense. (It has other nonsense, but that's GURPS.)

Dalton “I want to get back to my jump tankers” Spence​

 

[aramis]

How did this become a "grid" vs. "bubble" debate? This has all the earmarks of being an ancient Traveller schism where no one convinces anyone of anything. I'm glad GT: Starships has none of this nonsense. (It has other nonsense, but that's GURPS.)

Dalton “I want to get back to my jump tankers” Spence​

Almost every topic that involves jump generates such a digression. THe common digressons...
Deep space stations are a hot button topic for some, and a so-what for others... but, since TCS was published, canonical.
Empty hex jumps have been absolutely OTU canon since The Traveller Adventure.
Jump grids of some form have been canon since JTAS 24 and Sup 9 (see the tug and it's net), but a lot of grogs didn't get JTAS or only had spotty access to issues. It was also canon in MT.
I don't know GT well enough to know if GT is specific about which model(s) are used.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Jump grids of some form have been canon since JTAS 24 and Sup 9 (see the tug and it's net)

The fun thing is having that explicit example of the Jump Ship from LBB S9 specifically built for hauling external cargo ... and then watching people double take and recoil at the very idea of external cargo capacity at the expense of drive performance even being possible or allowed by the Rules As Written.

Drop tanks retained ... sure.
External cargo ... fire the non-sequitron spinal mount.

 

[DaltonSpence]

Here is my new Jump Tanker design as produced by my old GURPS Traveller Ships program made by Thomas Bont in 2000. I just pasted the HTML output of the program into the editor here. (Please somebody, isn't there a newer GT program I can use?) I didn't include my custom 800-dton Drop Tank although I did include the mass and cost of the 1,200-ston capacity hardpoint for it.

4,000-ton Verrada Turley-class Jump Tanker, TFS 2324-1 (TL10)​

A basic J-2 Jump Tanker used on the Saeghvung-Turley-Exile Run from Turley (2523) which serves both DSS 2621 and DSS 2324. The collapsible tanks in its cargo bay can hold half of a Deep Space Station's weekly jump fuel requirements. Its 1,200-ston capacity hardpoint will hold a full 800-dton drop tank to send it on its way to the station while its 800 ton internal tank will bring it back. Each ship has a duty cycle of four weeks; two are spent in transit, 3½ days at the station refueling it and 10½ days in their base system being refueled and refurbished (the crew is given some liberty at this time). The ship is highly automated (as evidenced by its software list) and while not truly robotic the computer can be considered an additional crew member.

Crew: 27 Total. 15 Command and Control, 4 Jump Drive, 3 Maneuver Drive, 1 Medical, 1 Turret Gunners, 3 Flight Crew.

Hull: 4,000-ton VGSL, Medium Frame, Standard Materials, Durasteel (Standard) Armored Hull (DR 100), Standard Compartmentalization.

Control Areas: Basic Bridge(Complexity 7), Basic Security.

Communicator Range (mi)	Radio​	Maser​	Laser​	Meson​
Basic Bridge	50,000,000​	0​	100,000,000​	0​

Sensors Range/Rating (mi)	PESA​	AESA​	Radscanner​
Basic Bridge	20,000/37​	100,000/41​	2,000/31​

Engineering: Engineering, 120 Jump Drive, 74 Maneuver Drive(1.00 / 1.38 Gs, 2,960 stons thrust), 802 Cryonic Internal Tank(Fire 13, Loaded with 800 stons, 2 Scoops), 17.5 Small Cryonic Collapsible Tank(Each tank will expand to hold 60 tons of fuel in the cargo bay.), 2 Fuel Processor(50 hours to refine Cryonic Internal Tank), 5 Sm Utility(Doesn't cover the fuel tank and cargo bay.), 113.1 Man-Hours/day Maintenance.

Accommodations: 10 Stateroom, 3 Luxury Stateroom, Bunk Room, Sickbay(2 Patients), 6 Low Berth(24 Cryoberths), Complete Workshop(3 Users), Hall/Bar/Conference Room(50 Users), Sm Entry Module(4 Users).

Misc: 1200 Hardpoint(Per ston of hardpoint load.).



Armaments: 1 Pop Turret Battery of 1 (DR100).

Stores: 2100 Hold, Vehicle Bay(10-ton Launch).

Statistics: EMass 2,147.11 stons, LMass 2,947.11 stons, Cost MCr554.95, HP 135,000, Size Mod 11, HT 12, CP 726.

Performance: Jump-2 (2), Acc L/E 1.00 / 1.38 Gs, Airspeed 1,571 mph, Skimming Airspeed 4,443 mph, Aerostatic Lift 2,960 stons.

Sample Times (Earth Std, Full Load): Orbit 0.23 Hrs, Escape Velocity 0.32 Hrs, 100D 6.37 Hrs, Earth-Mars 109.39 Hrs.

Software Package	Qty	% Utilization	Description
Anti-Hijack	1	5.0000	C6, Criminology 15
Astrogation (Normal Space)	1	5.0000	C6, Normal Space Astrogation 16
Astrogation Jump 2	1	5.0000	C6, Astrogration (Jump) 15
Autonomous Operations	1	50.0000	C7, Starship Ops 14
Auto-Pilot (Jumpspace)	1	5.0000	C6, Jumpspace Pilot 16
Auto-Pilot (Normal Space)	1	5.0000	C6, Normal Space Pilot 16
Computer Navigation	1	0.0005	C2
Damage Control	1	5.0000	C6, Damage Control +6
Datalink	9	0.0004	C1
Internal Security	1	5.0000	C6, Electronic Ops (Sec Sys) +5
Library Data	1	0.0001	C1
Personality Simulation (Full)	1	0.5000	C5
Totals		85.5010

System Name	Crew	% Crew
Basic Bridge	15 (15)	55.6
Jump Drive	4.8 (4)	17.8
Maneuver Drive	3.71 (3)	13.7
Vehicle Bay	3 (3)	11.1
Sickbay	1 (1)	3.7
Pop Turret	1 (1)	3.7
Recommended Maintenance	0.0	N/A

Options
Crew arranged into 3 shifts

Printed 3/4/2022 1:50:22 AM

Copyright © 2000 by Dalton S. Spence

The ship name stands for Turley Fuel Services, the hex where the station it serves is and the number of the ship in the station's fleet. (Two ships a week times a 4-week duty cycle means each station would have a fleet of eight ships.) The end planets of the run could use these ships too but there would have to be someone there to refill the drop tanks.

Dalton “I'll work on the total fuel issues later” Spence​

 

[daryen]

Here is my new Jump Tanker design as produced by my old GURPS Traveller Ships program made by Thomas Bont in 2000. I just pasted the HTML output of the program into the editor here. (Please somebody, isn't there a newer GT program I can use?)

First, I'll say that Thomas Bont made two outstanding programs for GURPS Traveller. That Ships one and a Character Generator. I know he dropped and stopped distributing the Character Generator when SJG included him as part of the team to make an official for-pay character generator program. I don't remember if there was ever any kind of official for-pay version of the ship creation program.

Both programs were great. I even went and extended the module file for Ships so I could use more components than were included in the program by default. (All official components; I didn't make anything custom.) Again, I heartily recommend both programs, if they still work on current versions of Windows.

Anyway, back to our ship discussions ...

 

[DaltonSpence]

Both programs were great. I even went and extended the module file for Ships so I could use more components than were included in the program by default. (All official components; I didn't make anything custom.) Again, I heartily recommend both programs, if they still work on current versions of Windows.

The only problem I have with it is that I can't save custom changes to the module repository (I get a "clipboard cannot be opened" error). I would like to see your extended module repository. There was a file containing ships and a repository connected to the Stellar Reaches 16 fanzine and while many are classic designs some are specific to the adventure setting described in that zine.

I tweaked my ship design a bit to add the mass of the hydrogen contained in the collapsible tanks and had to adjust the M-drive in a way that made it more Turley specific. The ship could still land and take off from Sahale at the Imperium end of the Saexile Run without any trouble but taking off from Saeghvung at the other end with a full load could be tricky. Fortunately there are gas giants in both systems to skim for fuel but they would both need drop tanks to get to their respective Deep Space Stations. See below. (Note the TL is using the GURPS scale. I probably should have increased it to GTL 11 given Turley's tech level but I thought a lower tech level might be easier to maintain.)

4,000-ton Verrada Turley-class Jump Tanker, TFS 2324-1 (TL10)​

A basic J-2 Jump Tanker used on the Saeghvung-Turley-Exile Run from Turley (2523) which serves both DSS 2621 and DSS 2324. The collapsible tanks in its cargo bay can hold half of a Deep Space Station's weekly jump fuel requirements. Its 1,200-ston capacity hardpoint will hold a full 800-dton drop tank to send it on its way to the station while its 800 ton internal tank will bring it back. Each ship has a duty cycle of four weeks; two are spent in transit, 3½ days at the station refueling it and 10½ days in their base system being refueled and refurbished (the crew is given some liberty at this time). The ship is highly automated (as evidenced by its software list) and while not truly robotic the computer can be considered an additional crew member.

The M-drive has been sized so that its loaded acceleration is slightly more than the maximum expected gravity calculated from Turley's UWP so it can take off directly to space. The stall and max ground speeds and the takeoff/landing runs are calculated for Earth.

Crew: 27 Total. 15 Command and Control, 4 Jump Drive, 3 Maneuver Drive, 1 Medical, 1 Turret Gunners, 3 Flight Crew.

Hull: 4,000-ton VGSL, Medium Frame, Standard Materials, Durasteel (Standard) Armored Hull (DR 100), Standard Compartmentalization.

Control Areas: Basic Bridge(Complexity 7), Basic Security.

Communicator Range (mi)	Radio​	Maser​	Laser​	Meson​
Basic Bridge	50,000,000​	0​	100,000,000​	0​

Sensors Range/Rating (mi)	PESA​	AESA​	Radscanner​
Basic Bridge	20,000/37​	100,000/41​	2,000/31​

Engineering: Engineering, 120 Jump Drive, 74 Maneuver Drive(0.59 / 1.39 Gs, 2,960 stons thrust), 802 Cryonic Internal Tank(Fire 13, Loaded with 800 stons, 2 Scoops), 17.5 Small Cryonic Collapsible Tank(Each tank will expand to hold 60 tons of fuel in the cargo bay.), 2 Fuel Processor(50 hours to refine Cryonic Internal Tank), Utility, 113.0 Man-Hours/day Maintenance.

Accommodations: 10 Stateroom, 3 Luxury Stateroom, Bunk Room, Sickbay(2 Patients), 6 Low Berth(24 Cryoberths), Complete Workshop(3 Users), Hall/Bar/Conference Room(50 Users), Sm Entry Module(4 Users), Safe.

Misc: 1200 Hardpoint(Per ston of hardpoint load.), 2100 Hydrogen Fuel(Fire 13).



Armaments: 1 Pop Turret Battery of 1 (DR100).

Stores: 2100 Hold, Vehicle Bay(10-ton Launch).

Statistics: EMass 2,136.91 stons, LMass 5,036.91 stons, Cost MCr554.53, HP 135,000, Size Mod 11, HT 12, CP 726.

Performance: Jump-2 (2), Acc L/E 0.59 / 1.39 Gs, Stall Speed 339 mph, Airspeed 1,571 mph, Skimming Airspeed 4,443 mph, Aerostatic Lift 2,960 stons, Ground Speed 340 mph, Takeoff Run 1.08 mi, Landing Run 0.81 mi.

Sample Times (Earth Std, Full Load): Orbit 0.39 Hrs, Escape Velocity 0.55 Hrs, 100D 8.33 Hrs, Earth-Mars 143.01 Hrs.

Software Package	Qty	% Utilization	Description
Anti-Hijack	1	5.0000	C6, Criminology 15
Astrogation (Normal Space)	1	5.0000	C6, Normal Space Astrogation 16
Astrogation Jump 2	1	5.0000	C6, Astrogration (Jump) 15
Autonomous Operations	1	50.0000	C7, Starship Ops 14
Auto-Pilot (Jumpspace)	1	5.0000	C6, Jumpspace Pilot 16
Auto-Pilot (Normal Space)	1	5.0000	C6, Normal Space Pilot 16
Computer Navigation	1	0.0005	C2
Damage Control	1	5.0000	C6, Damage Control +6
Datalink	9	0.0004	C1
Internal Security	1	5.0000	C6, Electronic Ops (Sec Sys) +5
Library Data	1	0.0001	C1
Personality Simulation (Full)	1	0.5000	C5
Totals		85.5010

System Name	Crew	% Crew
Basic Bridge	15 (15)	55.6
Jump Drive	4.8 (4)	17.8
Maneuver Drive	3.71 (3)	13.7
Vehicle Bay	3 (3)	11.1
Sickbay	1 (1)	3.7
Pop Turret	1 (1)	3.7
Recommended Maintenance	0.0	N/A

Options
Crew arranged into 3 shifts

Printed 3/4/2022 8:45:46 AM

Copyright © 2000 by Dalton S. Spence

The datalink programs are assigned as follows: one to each active comm and sensor system (including Basic Security), one to each drive system and one reserved for the pop turret if any weapon systems are installed.

Dalton “Bont's program makes ships too easy to tweak” Spence​

 

[daryen]

I would like to see your extended module repository.

(Note the TL is using the GURPS scale. I probably should have increased it to GTL 11 given Turley's tech level but I thought a lower tech level might be easier to maintain.)

I will see if I can find it somewhere.

I focused on GTL10. For the record, I disagree with how they did the top level of TL conversion. I would group TTL 12-14 into GTL 10 and make TTL15 the only one making it to GTL 11, with nothing at GTL 12. It can be argued that TTL12-15 should all be GTL 10.

 

[Orffen]

The tug accelerates the canister, pushing it inwards towards the main system, lets it fly, and then another tug captures it and delivers it to wherever.

This is quite a fascinating idea. Since each tug has to accelerate, detach, decelerate and return to where it came from, would it be more efficient for the tug to take the canister all the way?

 

[Spinward Flow]

This is quite a fascinating idea. Since each tug has to accelerate, detach, decelerate and return to where it came from, would it be more efficient for the tug to take the canister all the way?

Depends on how many you have in circulation and the "tolerance" for allowing them to simply coast on momentum/inertia towards their destination. Less acceleration overall, but a quicker turn around time for the maneuver tug can result is a larger throughput capacity at a cheaper overall cost.

 

[Orffen]

Depends on how many you have in circulation and the "tolerance" for allowing them to simply coast on momentum/inertia towards their destination. Less acceleration overall, but a quicker turn around time for the maneuver tug can result is a larger throughput capacity at a cheaper overall cost.

Tens/hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel free-floating unguarded through a systems just seems like a risky idea

In GURPS Traveller (unless I'm misunderstanding - I'm not particularly familiar with GURPS), jump fuel modules cost the same as M-Drive modules (0.16MCr per ton).

This means a 10,000-ton fuel canister costs 1610.2MCr (adding hull cost and hull sealing) - not particularly cost-effective. This is just a sealed hull full of jump fuel modules.

Meanwhile, a 9,765-ton capacity fuel hauler with 0.5G acceleration comes out to 1672.54MCr with a cockpit bridge and a datalink program - which I think would allow for a remote-command course to be given to the computer, no crew required. Again, I'm not too familiar with GURPS so correct me if I'm wrong here. Seems to me like 62.34MCr would be worth paying to be able to skip the tug manoeuvres and to allow the fuel to adjust course as needed, not to mention accelerate in the most time-efficient way throughout the journey.

Then again, a 200-ton tug that can push around 10,000 tons of fuel and itself at 0.5G (9.7G when flying free) is only 32.62MCr and should be able to get to any canisters needing mid-course corrections. I guess like you say it depends on the corporation - for the minimal savings, the corporation may think it's worth accepting the risk of losing that much fuel to spoilage. Or, the extra cost of an unmanned fuel hauler outweighs the cost of tug pilots.

 

[DaltonSpence]

I'm not interested in tossing fuel canisters around a solar system, I'm interested in moving fuel to Deep Space Stations using Jump Tankers. As a reminder here is part of the original post.

Providing fuel to these stations is a bit tricky since any jump tanker on the route would have to carry its own fuel for the return trip before allocating space for the fuel being delivered. There are three worlds that supply fuel for the stations on the Saeghvung-Turley-Exile Run:

1. Sahale (2227) which serves DSS 2225,
2. Saeghvung (2618) which serves DSS 2720, and
3. Turley (2523) which serves both DSS 2621 and DSS 2324.

The first two systems have gas giants that can be skimmed for unrefined fuel (some of which will needs to be processed for the first jump) while the third (Turley) has no gas giants but its Class V (A) starport can provide refined fuel processed from the planet's abundant (90%) water supply. While Exile (2423) is on this route it has no fuel to provide.

I've been working on this for most of this month and came up with the following which contains many quotes of mine in other threads and conversations.

One point to remember: the stations I was using for my setting have a weekly fuel requirement of 4,200 tons. From my notes:

Based on early feasibility studies, the DSS Project estimated an annual flow of 15,000 passengers and 300,000 dtons of cargo through these artificial starports. Those figured implied 300 passengers and 6000 dtons of cargo per week, or approximately five trade vessels per day. Unlike planetary starports, which may have multiple highports and downports, a single deep space station must manage all passenger and freight transfers coming through their region of space. To prevent each station from being overwhelmed by the occasional heavy traffic volume, naval architects created the deep space station design under the assumption that they may occasionally have as much as double the expected passenger or freight flow.
See the History of the Deep Space Station Project

Example: For ships traversing the Saeghvung-Turley-Exile Run the maximum jump distance is two parsecs. According to “Determine Tonnage of Starships Served” on T:ST page 64 the raw figures would imply 10,500 dtons of shipping per week, which doubled for safety gives us 21,000 dtons per week. This traffic would use 4,200 tons of hydrogen per week (or 600 dtons/day) for the outgoing jumps. (Note: The estimated annual flows imply these stations have a port size of 5.)

Here is where my mind goes when I'm not paying attention. I was basing my tanker operation out of Turley where there was going to be a massive electrolysis plant to convert its ample supply of water to hydrogen. It suddenly occurred to me "Why bother?" Water itself is a more compact source of hydrogen than LHyd; why not ship water to its destination and have it converted on site? You could have a smaller ship that uses less jump fuel and provide extra O₂ for the station's life support. Sure I'll need a larger M-Drive to handle the mass of the oxygen and I'll have to design a smaller drop tank (it won't have to be streamlined since would have to be refilled and attached at the highport anyway) but since a collapsible tank couldn't hold the mass of the water a regular hard tank would have to do. It looks good so far. (I thought it wouldn't work but that was sleep deprivation.)

A point just occurred to me. The shipping tonnage calculated above was "doubled for safety" which means the average amount of fuel actually used would be about half what I estimated. That doesn't mean the station's tanks should be reduced (having an emergency reserve just makes sense) but the amount delivered by the tankers would have to be. This means yet another redesign d**mit! Oh well!

Well the redesign is finished and apparently cutting the tanker payload in half reduced the size of all the associated ships and drop tanks by 40%. I'm still a bit worried; if emergency reserves start getting low an order for extra fuel might take three weeks to arrive. This could interfere with the smooth flow of shipping traffic through the Deep Space Station but it can't be helped.

Following is a list of my most recent ship designs. The list below is included as a text file in an archive of GURPS Vehicle Builder files. If anyone is interested I can update and attach it.

SHIP FILE NAMES	HTML?	DESCRIPTION
TL10 360-ton Drop Tank	N	Used with 1,800-ton Gunga Din-class Tanker. Requires 1,000-ston capacity hardpoint.
TL10 480-ton Drop Tank	N	Used with 2,400-ton DSS Support Jump Tanker. Requires 1,500-ston capacity hardpoint.
TL10 800-ton Oiler	Y	Supplies 606 tons of unrefined hydrogen to Drop Tank Recovery Vehicle for processing.
TL10 800-ton Super-Skimmer	Y	Skims 600 tons of unrefined hydrogen for Drop Tank Recovery Vehicle from Gas Giants.
TL10 Deep Space Station	Y	Refueling stations located in empty hexes along the Saeghvung-Turley-Exile Run.
TL10 Drop Tank Recovery Vehicle	Y	600-dton unstreamlined non-starship processes unrefined hydrogen to load drop tanks.
TL10 DSS Support Jump Tanker	Y	2,400-dton streamlined starship delivers unrefined hydrogen to DSS 2225 or DSS 2720.
TL10 Gunga Din-class Tanker	Y	1,800-dton streamlined starship delivers water from Turley to DSS 2324 and DSS 2621.

A few extra notes:

1. The "Super-Skimmer" is basically an "800-ton Oiler" (T:FT137) with a fuel processor included.
2. Drop Tank Recovery Vehicles are paired with an Oiler or "Super-Skimmer" which is parked in the DTRV's external cradle when not gathering fuel or waiting for a drop tank to be refilled. The DTRV itself typically orbits the planet it gets its fuel from when not searching for discarded drop tanks.
3. DSS Support Jump Tankers work the outer ends of the run and skim their own fuel from the local gas giants.
4. Gunga Din-class Tankers service the inner stations and land at Turley downport to get their water and return jump fuel.
5. Both tankers need a DTRV in their base systems to provide the appropriate filled drop tanks for their outgoing jumps.
6. Since each tanker has four week duty cycle and each DSS receives two tanker visits a week, each DSS will have an eight tanker fleet assigned to it.
7. Turley's highport is essentially another DSS but only needs two Gunga Din-class Tankers to supply its fuel needs. (They retain the capability of jumping but don't need to.) The downport will need at least six large berths to meet its tanker needs.

Dalton “Sorry I was gone so long” Spence​