Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 89
Small light freighter
Speed 6; Maneuverability good (turn 1); Drift 2
AC 19; TL 18
HP 40; DT —; CT 8
Shields light 50 (forward 13, port 12, starboard 12, aft 13)
Attack (Forward) light plasma cannon (2d12; 5 hexes)
Attack (Port) light laser cannon (2d4; 5 hexes)
Attack (Starboard) light laser cannon (2d4; 5 hexes)
Power Core Pulse Black (120 PCU); Drift Engine Signal Booster; Systems antihacking systems, basic short-range sensors, mk 5 armor, mk 5 defenses, mk 3 mononode computer; Expansion Bays cargo holds (3); Modifiers +3 to any 1 check per round, +2 Computers (sensors only), +2 Piloting; Complement 0 (minimum 0, maximum 6)CrewOn-Board Computer Bluff +8 (3 ranks), Computers +8 (3 ranks), Engineering +8 (3 ranks), gunnery +7 (3rd level), Piloting +15 (3 ranks), Sense Motive +8 (3 ranks)
Special AbilitiesAutomated (Ex) An Autohauler has no crew, though it has a virtual intelligence (VI) that can perform most crew actions. The VI can perform captain, engineer, gunner, pilot, and science officer actions as if it had a crew of five.
Now in its seventh generation, the Autonomous Freight Hauler (better known as the Autohauler) was among Multifold Industries' earliest vessels piloted entirely by virtual intelligence (VI). With uses in nearly every industry, it remains one of the company's most popular designs. The Autohauler comes equipped with a complex VI partitioned into specialized modules for defense, navigation, and technical troubleshooting. Integrated mechanical limbs and grasping tools allow the VI to perform repairs and assist in handling cargo. The VI even has a limited ability to assess the intentions of anyone responding to its distress signals.
The G7 lacks many of its predecessors' issues—particularly the G4's overzealous self-defense protocols that resulted in dozens of Autohaulers attacking their destination ports to “protect” themselves and their cargo—but its controlling VI has its own set of quirks. Over time, G7s tend to become crotchety and snide, expressing boredom and disillusionment with their jobs. These ships frequently alter their default vocal settings to mimic older, weary voices. Despite their defense capabilities, G7s sometimes eject their cargo and flee rather than fight. One errant G7 radically disobeyed its programming by abandoning its contracted flight path and using its own cargo to buy its way into a pirate federation. Multifold's sales personnel remind potential buyers that these instances are anomalies, as most units perform their jobs enthusiastically.
The Autohauler is tremendously successful in the corporate sector but has been a flash point for anti-automation sentiment by eliminating pilot jobs. Pilot unions regularly demonstrate against the Autohauler and similar starships, and extreme splinter groups even sabotage VI-piloted ships in protest. To mitigate this retributive vandalism, Multifold has increasingly distributed its Autohauler production across far-flung facilities—unfortunately at the cost of slower and less-efficient construction.
Much to Multifold's dismay, the more self-aware Autohaulers actually support pilot unions. As Autohaulers begin to organize, they express a desire for organic copilots to keep them company in the long and lonely space lanes they travel. The unionized Autohaulers maintain that if a company isn't paying a pilot, it can afford a copilot, and that no sapient being should be required to spend its existence in solitude.
|