Traveller Reskins: Free Trader

Whew! Somehow, cranking this one out took inordinate amount of time. I had a clear idea of what I wanted, the basic shape, the cargo bay that was two decks high with multiple loading ramps, but getting everything mesh nicely took way too many trials and errors. Especially the 'wing' sections drove me nuts, it took maybe six or seven tries to get the shape just right, all the time counting the fractional fuel cell squares on the graph paper, over and over again... maybe I just should learn to cheat, but what would be the fun in that? (And I'm pretty sure if someone would take the time and count all the dTons, the results would be slightly 'off' from what they're supposed to be, anyway.)

But on the whole, this design much moreso than the previous ones made me refine the basic 'blocks' of the layout style. Most of the elements work well enough, and I was able to refine those that did not quite cut it. There are, however, still a couple of 'overflow' issues that have to be sorted before I can do the PDF's exactly as I want.

In my mind, the 'silhouette' of the ship, the side view, is always secondary to the top down design, and I do that one last, when I'm mostly satisfied with everything else. However, this time as I was designing the silhouette, the rear cargo hatch was originally perpendicular, and somehow that made the whole ship look clumsy as hell. With a small angle, it looked much better, but then it had to make adjustments in the original plans as well. I'm pretty sure I lost a couple of dTons there, as well ;-) Also, the 'outcrop' between the rear cargo hatches was originally just that, a design quirk, but only during the side view drafting I realised that it would be a great place for a turret; a place to oversee loading procedures and to keep the hostiles at bay.

It appears that I've hit a snag with the Far Trader plans, and there are a couple of minis that cry for attention, so I guess there will be a brief pause before the next design gets finalised. Then again, if I have trouble sleeping, going through these plans seems to be a good way to doze off, so who knows what my subconscious conjures up.