Technetium 98
Cosmic Mongoose
I argue that leaving some things up to the designer (such as being able to access a clamped ship in a shirtsleeve environment) is completely acceptable in this context. And also that y'all should calm down.
Docking Clamps vs. Spaces
- Thread starter Technetium 98
- Start date
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
You must be new here. This is calm.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Spirited rules and setting discussions are kind of the norm here.
Technetium 98
Cosmic Mongoose
With respect - there's 'spirited rules and setting discussions', and 'chilling all other topics of conversation to carry on an unrelated argument'. That's not a cute affectation, that's annoying.
Technetium 98
Cosmic Mongoose
Tell that to anyone who looks at the thread title. But now I'm being a hypocrite, so I'll drop it.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Airlocks cost money and volume.
Corridors just take up space.
Corridors just take up space.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Truth.I mean, it is the thread he started. The AMA title was wishful thinking, not something Matt agreed to.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
And hatches are undefined but take up less space and money. Seemingly little enough to be rolled into a docking clamp.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Are you saying that you can't read who started the thread? Right there next to the title of the thread along with the date the thread started. Not the poster's fault if people don't read the information that is in front of them.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Yeah. For example, all cargo ships have a cargo hatch. These aren't defined anywhere in the ship construction rules, but they exist everywhere. Nowhere does it state their dimensions, we just assume it is big enough to fit cargo in and out, whatever that means.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Exactly.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
I guess you could build a cargo ship without a cargo hatch, but that would be stupid. Seems the same with docking clamps. You can make them without a hatch, but why?
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
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tenor.com
Yeah. The game doesn't particularly care about a lot of the details. The only access points required to be documented in the design is airlocks. The rest is up to the artist. Docking clamps don't explicitly exclude connectivity like external cargo mounts, but they also don't explicitly include it. Likewise, Docking spaces are such a tight fight you can barely load passengers and crew, but they don't actually restrict you to a particular vehicle, just a particular volume. Even if that volume is radically different in configuration. It's just a simplicity thing. You can put sensible restrictions on that at your table or not, as suits your gaming style.
Cargo handling is another area where details are not provided. There's a bunch of cargo equipment, but no actual information on how it is used or what works best in what situation. Not even basics like whether the fat trader's single long cargo bay is more efficient for loading/unloading purposes or not than the same space divided into fuel/cargo containers. Is it faster to unload with a gantry? Or is it just there to use against an alien monster during an infestation scenario?
Turrets are another one. They clearly have firing arcs. It is impossible that they don't. But it isn't relevant to the ship combat game systems and you are reliant on the "art" (aka the deckplans) if you need to know firing arcs because your ship is on the ground and you want to know if you can sand canister the onrushing native horde
Each table has to decide what level of detail is important to them.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Well said.Yeah. The game doesn't particularly care about a lot of the details. The only access points required to be documented in the design is airlocks. The rest is up to the artist. Docking clamps don't explicitly exclude connectivity like external cargo mounts, but they also don't explicitly include it. Likewise, Docking spaces are such a tight fight you can barely load passengers and crew, but they don't actually restrict you to a particular vehicle, just a particular volume. Even if that volume is radically different in configuration. It's just a simplicity thing. You can put sensible restrictions on that at your table or not, as suits your gaming style.
Cargo handling is another area where details are not provided. There's a bunch of cargo equipment, but no actual information on how it is used or what works best in what situation. Not even basics like whether the fat trader's single long cargo bay is more efficient for loading/unloading purposes or not than the same space divided into fuel/cargo containers. Is it faster to unload with a gantry? Or is it just there to use against an alien monster during an infestation scenario?
Turrets are another one. They clearly have firing arcs. It is impossible that they don't. But it isn't relevant to the ship combat game systems and you are reliant on the "art" (aka the deckplans) if you need to know firing arcs because your ship is on the ground and you want to know if you can sand canister the onrushing native horde
Each table has to decide what level of detail is important to them.
AnotherDilbert
Emperor Mongoose
That was CT.
Now we have more detailed rules...
Internal hangars and external clamps are different, with different properties and different costs.
If you want shirtsleeves access to the exterior of carried craft you need internal hangars, and pay for the privilege.
If you want shirtsleeves boarding you only need a dedicated airlock (or even hatch if you don't care about safety), which is much cheaper.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
If only surface area were a design parameter you could then specify that the hatch on the ship equipped with the docking clamp is in the middle of the clap machinery, and that carries craft have hatches that line up when they are clamped.
A bit of silicone sealant around the clamp and you can open both doors, unless you stupidly have both doors hinge so they swing outwards...
solved.
Or put another way, all of this is beneath the granularity of High Guard or the AEH, just put the bloody hatches where you want, but don't open them unless you have internally depressurised the compartment.
By the way is the internal artificial gravity magically conjured by the grav plates of a ship felt on its hull?
A bit of silicone sealant around the clamp and you can open both doors, unless you stupidly have both doors hinge so they swing outwards...
solved.
Or put another way, all of this is beneath the granularity of High Guard or the AEH, just put the bloody hatches where you want, but don't open them unless you have internally depressurised the compartment.
By the way is the internal artificial gravity magically conjured by the grav plates of a ship felt on its hull?
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Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Donno enuf.
Suspect it depends on deck configuration.
And you can wonder about whether the inertial compensation field does as well.
Suspect it depends on deck configuration.
And you can wonder about whether the inertial compensation field does as well.
AnotherDilbert
Emperor Mongoose
Agreed, that is up to the deck plan designer, i.e. basically free-form.
An airlock is safer though. On larger ships there is generally a few free airlock available.
I believe not.
IIRC artificial gravity is generated between grav-plates, not outward, not outside the hull, but I can't recall the source at the moment
Edit:
Might be this I'm thinking of:
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