Freelance Traveller

Urban-class Passenger Car

designed by Ewan Quibell

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2020 issue.

Author’s Note: The range and duration of these vehicles is noticeably greater than that of nominally similar present-day cars.

Please remember that MegaTraveller and its design system, used to build these, is about 30 years old, and while it's had the benefits of 30 years of Travellers pointing out its inconsistencies and then subtly adjusting the system to better fit reality, it was and still is pretty good at turning out vehicles that approximate reality.

In this instance, the Urban-class Passenger Car has a fuel tank that is probably twice that of a car of today (26 gallons (imperial) vs 13 for a Ford Mondeo Estate), and while its MPG of around 34 isn’t the best, it’s only 4 off the Mondeo in urban driving. It has a range of around 890 miles against around 715 miles for the Mondeo (with efficient motorway driving), and weighs about 600kg less than an unloaded Mondeo Estate. It’s also (adjusting for dollar inflation over the last 30 years) about 1/3 of the price of a new Mondeo, and has 2.75 times the cargo capacity of my chosen comparison vehicle, although its top speed is rubbish.

The Urban E-class suffers the same against electric vehicles of today: it’s about twice the range, significantly cheaper with much more cargo capacity.

You can, of course, adjust the parameters to suit your game especially if you’re using Traveller rules to play a modern day Earth setting (which in itself would be pretty cool …), and I could probably play with the ratios of the power of the engine and suspension and transmission of the wheels to see if I could get the stats to better match reality, but I could also leave that as a exercise for the reader …

So, while not perfect representations of the current state of the technology, they aren’t unresonably far off, especially given that the rules were published just over thirty years ago.

Editor’s Note: The Ford Mondeo reference vehicle is marketed in the Americas, the Middle East, and South Korea as the Ford Fusion. Imperial gallons convert to US gallons at a 1:1.2 (5:6) ratio, and to liters at a 1:4.55 (20:91) ratio.

Urban-class Passenger Car

The Urban-class passenger car is a no-frills vehicle for getting commuters and families to and from their destinations designed predominantly for city travel. Built by Style Motors of Riftgate for the urban market thousands of these vehicles can be found across the planet and similar specification vehicles can be found across the old Empire.

The cargo compartment is accessed externally to the vehicle although is of limited capacity. There is a radio used predominantly to listen to broadcast news and entertainment.

Urban E-class Electric Passenger Car

The Urban E-class passenger car is the adaptation of the normal Urban class to an electrical vehicle offering the same no-frills ride for commuters and families who do not wish to use hydrocarbons to get to their destinations designed almost exclusively for city travel due to its limited range. Built by Style Motors of Riftgate for the urban market the greater expense of these vehicles means that they are not as predominant as the standard Urban class. Charging points are, however, available across major cities and larger towns. Similar specification vehicles can be found across the old Empire.

Cargo capacity is sacrificed for batteries. There is a radio used predominantly to listen to broadcast news and entertainment.

Urban A-class Autonomous Passenger Car

The Urban A-class Autonomous passenger car is the adaptation of Style Motors’ Urban class to a fully autonomous ground vehicle. Set to revolutionise ground traffic in Riftgate with a massive disruption in the urban vehicle usage and market, the licensed use of New Home Robotics NHR Low Function 10 TL8 Robot brain and the addition of radar and a second radio for GPS positioning means that driving jobs across the planet will likely come under threat. Currently under regulatory trials so far there have been no accidents reported that have been caused by the A Class.

Urban EA-class Autonomous Electric Passenger Car

The Urban EA-class Autonomous passenger car is the adaptation of Style Motors’ Urban E class to a fully autonomous ground vehicle.

The electronic version of the autonomous vehicle is the one that is likely to be put into full production following regulatory trials due to the complete absence of requirements for human interaction in re-fuelling, making the EA Class truly an autonomous vehicle.