Gazelle Class Close Escort

[AnotherDilbert]

I don't believe the design system limits simple hatches or iris valves. I agree that air locks are desirable in this case, but not really necessary, as the original Gazelle and Subbie shows.

[baithammer]

The only items that are spelled out to combine are the forced linkage arm and the boarding tube.

[AnotherDilbert]

Docking
Two spacecraft may dock if they are close together and neither ship attempts to resist the docking manoeuvre. Many airlock designs across charted space are compatible; for incompatible airlocks, ships extend flexible plastic docking tubes that adapt to the target airlock.

Forced Linkage and Breaching Tubes are used to board, i.e. dock against someones will. No special equipment is needed for willing docking.

Note that the Annic Nova does not use airlocks, but simply mates an iris valve with the pinnaces held in docking clamps (HG, p145).

[baithammer]

Forced Linkage and Breaching Tubes are used to board, i.e. dock against someones will. No special equipment is needed for willing docking.

Under breaching tube is mentioned docking tubes which are required for ships without hangar or docking space.

As for the Annic Nova, that would be better used with the docking spaces as it would take a trivial amount of displacement from the cargo to implement and get the desired effect.

[AnotherDilbert]

Under breaching tube is mentioned docking tubes which are required for ships without hangar or docking space.

No, docking tubes are only necessary if the locks or hatches are incompatible, or the ship's shapes makes direct docking impractical.

Docking
Two spacecraft may dock if they are close together and neither ship attempts to resist the docking manoeuvre. Many airlock designs across charted space are compatible; for incompatible airlocks, ships extend flexible plastic docking tubes that adapt to the target airlock.

If we specifically design a ship with docking clamps we can trivially make the hatch connection match.

As for the Annic Nova, that would be better used with the docking spaces as it would take a trivial amount of displacement from the cargo to implement and get the desired effect.

Since the ship relies on the docked pinnaces for thrust they probably have to be external, so Docking Spaces would be impractical.

The additional cost of (~MCr 25) would not be trivial.

[Condottiere]

Pretty sure there was an airlock added to docking clamps in a subsequent semi official errata after publication.

[AnotherDilbert]

Pretty sure there was an airlock added to docking clamps in a subsequent semi official errata after publication.

MgT1e had this to say in "High Guard errata":

The docking clamp allows access between the two vessels.

This has no obvious bearing on MgT2e.

[baithammer]

Since the ship relies on the docked pinnaces for thrust they probably have to be external, so Docking Spaces would be impractical.

Or use breakaway hull.

[AnotherDilbert]

Or use breakaway hull.

I agree that that would be a better fit for the Annic Nova, but it would require specific breakaway sections instead of the standard pinnaces.