Drop Tanks... Back From the Dead?
- Thread starter Ol'Weedy
- Start date
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I don’t have a drop tank variant to test. I’ll have to work one up to know for sure. It probably would make it but I’ll find out for sure tomorrow.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Docking clamps holding 18 50,000 pods external to the ship. These have fuel but I have cargo, low berth, and passenger pods, too.
I wonder...
Getting back to the regular ship that's just saving costs by using drop tanks vs internal tankage, it seems to me there might be a case there for a cheaper version that uses compatible tanks but lacks the rapid ejection option, so you can ONLY jump with them attached, or using internal tankage if you drop them before starting the jump sequence. External fuel pods give the same effect, but I think the drop tank gear is usually smaller and cheaper than the equivalent docking clamp, and if you're making a cheaper, reduced capability one that might make sense.
Getting back to the regular ship that's just saving costs by using drop tanks vs internal tankage, it seems to me there might be a case there for a cheaper version that uses compatible tanks but lacks the rapid ejection option, so you can ONLY jump with them attached, or using internal tankage if you drop them before starting the jump sequence. External fuel pods give the same effect, but I think the drop tank gear is usually smaller and cheaper than the equivalent docking clamp, and if you're making a cheaper, reduced capability one that might make sense.
Is there any functional reason those pods could not be done as External Cargo Mounts? Much cheaper at Cr1000 per ton and no extra cost to attach. Or am I missing something?
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
No.
But, like all free lunches, you're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But, like all free lunches, you're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
This. I went with docking clamps for reliability beyond what the rules mention. The external cargo mounts seem so as hoc.
Well, they're only good for cargo. A big box without even access between the ship and itself. If you want to do anything with it other than pickup or delivery, you'd need a hull.
The clamp ship can act as a ferry or a tender.
There probably should be some rules about external cargo and incoming damage. Maybe just make it that Cargo hits don't benefit from hull armour? I could see there not being much difference between cargo held in an external box and one sitting behind an unarmoured hull anyway.
The clamp ship can act as a ferry or a tender.
There probably should be some rules about external cargo and incoming damage. Maybe just make it that Cargo hits don't benefit from hull armour? I could see there not being much difference between cargo held in an external box and one sitting behind an unarmoured hull anyway.
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boggo2300
Cosmic Mongoose
not true if you fit an Unrep system, that will let you transfer the fuel from the container on the clamps to the ships fuel tanks
Well... technically the same applies either way. Neither docking clamps or external cargo give you any built in way to transfer stuff. Drop Tanks at least have their built in fuel transfer ability. I was mostly thinking of the external cargo angle from Terry's description of delivering fuel to a depot.
An UNREP would make sense for more than just that role, but I got the impression that Terry's ship was really designed around NOT spending any time loading or unloading the pods.
Maybe take along a fuel transfer/space station pod with its own docking clamps and lots of UNREP.
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