The Expanse: ‘Hyena Road’ – A Utility Space Vehicle.

If you have not already seen the TV adaptation of The Expanse series (by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) then I suggest you find it online and see it forthwith. Read the books as well. The series had it’s genesis in a RPG game that I think had it’s origins in a game loosely based on GURPS: Transhuman Space. It is hard scifi with one major woo-woo which is the Epstein Drive – a sort of super efficient fusion drive that allows constant acceleration (which give a simulated gravity on board ships). When asked how it worked, the authors responded “very efficiently”.

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Ships are effectively buildings with the floor being ‘down’.   This deckplan is of a small dual purpose passenger and cargo vessel.  I used GURPS Spaceships to give me an idea of size and components, but as far as the amount of fuel carried and performance – I just winged it. In The Expanse ships are plot devices so I didn’t bother too much on the details. I figure that the ship has water tanks for reactions mass, and a shielded ‘fuel tank’ to hold some sort of nuclear fuel/reactors.

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Attached it the GURPS: Spaceships template I used to sketch out the major components of the ship. It is a PDF file.

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Deckplans: (Click for larger image)

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