The Opportunity Class Light Trader is the latest spacecraft release by Independence Games. Pitched as a small craft useful for small trading runs and courier work, it is equipped with a Zimm Drive capable of a two parsec range. The book is available as a PDF from Drivethru RPG for $5.99 and a combined price of $14.99 for the PDF and softcover book.
The design of the ship is simple but attractive; cockpit at the wedge-shaped front with good front-facing visibility, a streamlined main body containing the staterooms and cargo hold with a couple of stubby wings, two tail fins, fuel scoops and engines at the back. Cargo is loaded via door at the left side and capacity depends on model and variant. The ship is aimed at customers of Corolys Shipbuilding Company who want to have the chance to own a small spacecraft and have the freedom to trade and ply the space ways. Corolys have made efforts to improve the design over the years by introducing variants meeting a number of requirements and reducing the initial cost with the introduction of new powerplant technologies.
Depending on what model you opt for, the cargo space can be a bit limited; this impacts on the running costs and some traders have had to get rid of their ship due to not being able to make the repayments. Other captains take on high-risk and high-value cargos to try and keep on top of their running costs; to defend itself the ship features one hardpoint to mount a weapon. The craft is designed for a typical crew manifest of four but can have up to eight depending on the requirements and number of passengers. In addition, the Austere-class variant can accommodate a ship’s vehicle of up to four tonnes in size, typically a grav vehicle.
The book itself is 30 pages long and is split into the following sections:
Background and Development
Specification (and internal arrangements, layout and features)
Game stats and deck plans for the following variants:
Opportunity I Class Light Trader
Austere-class variant
Opportunity II Class Light Trader
Maximus-class variant
Engagement-class variant
Dispatch-class variant
Star Reach-class variant
The book is interspersed with plenty of high quality colour and monochrome illustrations by Ian Stead, Jennifer Leonard, Valeriy Kachaev with deck plans supplied by Michael Johnson. Though its relatively short on page count, there is plenty of detail and background material including several variants of the Opportunity-class, which makes for a flexible and resourceful product. This is an ideal starship for a small group of player-characters, perhaps just starting out on their adventuring career; you could think of it as a modern ‘Type S’ Scout/Courier from Classic Traveller.
I would consider that this book is well worth adding to your collection as it provides plenty of content and a useful starship for travelling in your Earth Sector campaigns. Another high quality product from the team at Independence Games; I would like to thank John Watts of Independence Games for kindly sending me a copy to review.
Alegis Downport 