X-Boat Station

The Singularity sourcebook goes into quite a lot of detail about the Express Boat Network. One thing it mentions is that every system in the network has either a scout way station or an x-boat station. I created a Charted Space campaign in My Traveller Universe and imported data from Traveller Map. There are 1935 systems on the Express Boat Network and 316 way stations. That means there are 1619 x-boat stations on the network.

The sourcebook supplies a sample scout way station, but not an x-boat station. A search through my Traveller books turned up nothing, although there are a couple of designs out in the wild.

The design on the Mongoose Traveller forums has docking space for two x-boats, but not enough space for an x-boat tender. It is also armed, which does not seem to be required given the station’s role.

The design on the Citizens of the Imperium forums has no docking space or fuel storage, and was designed using non-Mongoose Traveller (T5?) rules.

Neither works for what I picture an x-boat station doing. Given how ubiquitous the stations are, and how many Travellers come out of the scout service, it seems like there should be a sample station. So this is my take on one.

CENS-Class Station

The CENS-Class Station is a standardised, functional Scout Service installation. It is intended to be deployed in any system along the x-boat route, from high traffic to backwater systems. The design is based on the following assumptions.

• Mental health support: Singularity devotes half a page to the psychological strain on x-boat pilots. The station includes dedicated mental health staff.
• Tender-capable docking: the station has enough docking space to work on an x-boat tender.
• Fuel endurance: the station is located outside the system’s jump shadow, so it has enough fuel for itself as well as enough fuel to refuel x-boats and x-boat tenders. As it can be deployed in wilderness systems, it needs to be able to refine fuel.
• Not a defensive structure: if the Imperium is concerned about the safety of the system, they will construct a navy base or deploy a naval fleet.
• Commercial space: The Scout Service is not running a cafeteria, so a small commercial space is needed for food services.