Essay:JumpShip Manufacturing

See also: Category:JumpShip classes

The most common and best known JumpShip types are the Invader and the slightly less common Merchant. The Monolith has the best DropShip capacity (9) of all civilian JumpShips and also of most WarShips; only the huge Potemkin class troop cruiser can carry more DropShips (an unmatched 25).

As of 3055, approximately 3,000 JumpShips were said to operate in the Inner Sphere (up from some 2,000 in 3025). However, this has been dismissed in recent publications as being inadequate to meet the observed shipping of bulk goods in the Inner Sphere, and off by one or two orders of magnitude.

JumpShips nearly became LosTech after the First Succession War, which was a large driver for the move away from total warfare, as the loss of the ability to produce and repair these ships would end interstellar civilization. However as a result of the large scale loss of facilities and the prioritization of military projects, production capability is minuscule compared to during the Star League era, and there were almost no new designs introduced from the beginning of the Succession Wars until after the discovery of the Helm Memory Core. The supposed total number of JumpShips produced per year in all of the Inner Sphere combined as of 3025 was given as "about twelve" but this may have been in error.

Known JumpShip classes include (sorted alphabetically):

Name	Tonnage	Year	Tech Base	Collars	Grav Decks	L-F Battery	Notes
Aquilla	100,000	2148	Inner Sphere	0	0	No	Primitive JumpShip, only capable of 15 light-years per jump. The lack of Docking Collars forced it to rely on onboard Small Craft for passenger and cargo transit.
Bright Star Auto Scout	60,000	2539	Inner Sphere	0	0	No	Automated scout JumpShip, intended to explore and chart star systems. A one-off, it left its planned ten-jump course and disappeared from known space.
Chimeisho	245,000	3056	Inner Sphere	2	1 (95 Meters)	Yes	Reminiscent of the Star League-era Tramp class, built by the Draconis Combine and initially purchased by the DCMS.
Comitatus	250,000	3035	Clan	1	1 (95 meters)	No	Fighter carrier Clan Jade Falcon JumpShip created by modifying a flawed Clan Snow Raven design for an armed freighter originally conceived in 2995. Meant to defend jump points in the fashion of a light WarShip.
Conestoga	700,000	2310	Inner Sphere	0	4 (250 meters)	No	Primitive JumpShip that used DropShuttles and Small Craft to convey passengers and cargo. Extinct in the Inner Sphere from 2600, but examples survived in the Deep Periphery until the 30th Century.
Explorer	50,000	2703	Inner Sphere	0	1 (80 meters)	No	Introduced at the height of the Star League as a touring craft to ferry VIPs and the wealthy elite, the Explorer class is the smallest JumpShip design still functional (though not in common use) in the modern Inner Sphere. Unarmed and unable to carry DropShips, it relies on Small Craft for interplanetary transit, but includes a Grav Deck.
Hunter	95,000	2832	Clan	1	0	No	Clan Ghost Bear scout JumpShip meant to seek out enemy fleets or explore new systems, featuring a tiny emergence signature and an onboard HPG. The lack of a Grav Deck limits typical deployments to no more than six months.
Invader	152,000	2631	Inner Sphere	3	1 (65 Meters)	No	The most common JumpShip in the Inner Sphere, featuring a pair of hydroponic garden domes.
Leviathan	410,000	2468	Inner Sphere	8	2 (90 meters)	No	Early-model JumpShip, popular with crews and passengers and well-equipped, easy to repair and maintain. However, it proved an easy target for pirates and was eventually supplanted by later large JumpShip designs.
Liberty	203,000	2461	Inner Sphere	4	1 (45 meters)	No	The first "modern" JumpShip, i.e. the first one designed to make use of the newly developed hardpoint/docking collar technology which has since become a defining feature of JumpShip construction. Still somewhat primitive, now very rare, but not extinct.,
Magellan	175,000	2960	Inner Sphere	1	0	Yes	Produced for the ComStar Explorer Corps as a long-range vessel with heavy fuel bunkerage and armor and weapons loadout. Mounts an HPG and a Lithium-Fusion Battery as standard equipment, along with high-technology medical facilities. However, the lack of a Grav Deck poses problems to crew health and morale.,
Merchant	120,000	2503	Inner Sphere	2	1 (40 meters)	No	Interstellar freight JumpShip, often co-opted for military use, typically entirely unarmed.
Monolith	430,000	2776	Inner Sphere	9	2 (105 meters)	No	The largest class of civilian JumpShip ever built, using a unique system of docking collars mounted on arms arranged in three groups that form rings down the vessel's spine and allow the vessel to accommodate even the largest DropShips.
Odyssey	345,000	2887	Clan	4	2 (110 meters)	Yes	A large and well-armed transporter that also features a Lithium-Fusion Battery.
Quetzalcoatl	90,000	2876	Inner Sphere	0	0	No	Began as a field refit variant of the Scout-class and is therefore also known as the Quetzalcoatl-Scout; it has since come to be regarded as a class of its own. Rather than Docking Hardpoints, it features fighter bays, technically making it a Jolly Roger. Lacks a Grav Deck like the Scout class, but shares the known advantages: a tiny emergence signature, a faster quick-recharge rate for the K-F Drive, faster jump sail deployment, 0.2g acceleration, an up-to-date medical bay and bridge, and backup generators for the life support system.
Scout (JumpShip class)	90,000	2712	Inner Sphere	1	0	No	Smallest JumpShip class still in common use. Lacking a Grav Deck and with only one hardpoint, it is primarily used for military operations or exploration instead of commercial use.
Star Lord	274,000	2590	Inner Sphere	6	1 (110 meters)	No	Second-largest JumpShip class ever constructed, almost exclusively used by militaries, large megacorporations, and large mercenary units.
Tramp	250,000	2754	Inner Sphere	3	1 (140 meters)	No	Relatively rare, but well-armed enough to be used as a trader in the "wilder" parts of the Periphery.