Vehicle Dtonnage (for placement in ships)

Rust, you'd not flatpack each vehicle each time you put it away (doing so usually involves removing all fluids and fuel from the vehicle and probably other procedures on an advanced vehicle... and the quoted volumes are the volumes you need to operate the vehicle - which you'd need to in order to move it (unless you have some means of moving it as a heavy lump of metal and high-tech materials...).

If you can't move it, you'd need some access around the vehicle in order to strip it down and move it using its own locomotion, albeit in a "pure lift" mode... (a bit like an airport tractor pulling an aircraft).

Just some thoughts... :)
 
We do not need to argue about this, I just do not buy a grav bike with
the same volume as a grav speeder and a military grav bike with the
same volume as a fighter. :lol:
 
Nah... not arguing... debating... :)

Arguing is when we start beating each other up with various hardbacks... :lol:

In that case, just make it easier and say this: To use it (with stabilisers extended) you need the full amount (useful for knowing if it can fit through a gap...) but packed up, it takes half?

Incidently, the monobike - do people take that to be like the one on Star Wars (Darth Grevious' bike was it?) where it's a giant wheel or more like the ones in the Venus Wars animated movie where it's a normal bike, but one that sits on just one wheel and uses a gyro to keep it upright? Incidently, there's a good example of military vs civilian bikes in the Venus Wars film too...
 
rust said:
A Honda Gold Wing has a length of 2.64 m, a width of 0.95 m and a seat height of 0.75 m, giving its body a volume of less than 1.90 cubic meters.

If you aren't stacking or sandwiching it between other cargo (you put it in cargo hold last so you can use it upon planet fall), that would take up most of 1 Dton. Except for above it. 3 m x 1.5 m x 3 m
 
... sorry to make such a heated discussion! :oops:

Anyway, I agree with the statement that BFalcon said of the grav-bike being more like the Eldar bike, but domed (see below).

Some more info; Darrian Grav-bikes have a default wing config, whose fairings can shift shape to make it take other forms. They include ejector seats plus LS so they can reach orbit.
Military Grav-bikes are slightly bigger, with a chassis built around an Advanced Light AutocannonVRF Gauss Rifle (The weapon stated is a PGMP-14 = 12d6, +6 auto, so its actually a plasma autocannon, not a gauss one :? ).
 
zero said:
Some more info; Darrian Grav-bikes have a default wing config, whose fairings can shift shape to make it take other forms. They include ejector seats plus LS so they can reach orbit.
Military Grav-bikes are slightly bigger, with a chassis built around an Advanced Light AutocannonVRF Gauss Rifle (The weapon stated is a PGMP-14 = 12d6, +6 auto, so its actually a plasma autocannon, not a gauss one :? ).

Those aren't bikes in any reasonable sense of the word. They are... grav cars for lack of a better term. A bike is an open ride ON vehicle, even putting an overcage on it and still calling it a bike is stretching the term imo. Enclosing it beyond a simple windscreen/fairing creates a different class of vehicle. Adding wings creates a different class of vehicle, akin to the difference between a bike and trike. Anything over about 3m3 is NOT a bike imo but a different class of vehicle entirely.

And I'm really only going as far as 3m3 to include the monocycle mentioned above, though of course by it's very naming it is not a bike either. Bike = short for Bi-cycle, meaning two-wheel, of course.

Otherwise I'd probably limit bikes to 2m3, or 3m3 with a sidecar.

...but I suspect this is all because the designers wanted to put so much stuff into the "idea" of a grav cycle that they built these behemoths instead of sacrificing performance or features. When they should have been minding the size and sticking to a reasonable chassis. Or simply admitted to themselves they got carried away and called the things something else.

Either that or the design rules are badly broken... ;)
 
In the vehicle book, the grav-cycle (Armed, high speed with a passenger) is only 3m3. It has a top speed of 1166kph, which is a bit nnippy for a one man vehicle.

There is no picture...
 
far-trader said:
Those aren't bikes in any reasonable sense of the word. They are... grav cars for lack of a better term. A bike is an open ride ON vehicle, even putting an overcage on it and still calling it a bike is stretching the term imo. Enclosing it beyond a simple windscreen/fairing creates a different class of vehicle.
You would not call this a military bike ? :shock:

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Wiesel120mm2.jpg&filetimestamp=20101024215738

It is small and has a chassis with an autocannon and the right volume ... 8)
 
For visual reference, the Tron lightcycles are pretty close to 3m3.

So is the "Batpod" bike from the recent Batman movies, or Kaneda's bike from Akira.

My mid-90's Toyota Tercel is 13'x5'x4'. As a box, those dimensions are about 7.5m3.

This makes 10m3 work out to a full-sized sedan.
 
rust said:
You would not call this a military bike ? :shock:

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Wiesel120mm2.jpg&filetimestamp=20101024215738

It is small and has a chassis with an autocannon and the right volume ... 8)

lol

I even have a hard time calling this a military bike.

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/kettenkrad.html

...but I do, grudingly ;)
 
If you happen to have a handy field nearby, get a bunch of survey flags (from your local DIY hardware store like Home Depot) in a couple colors, a 50' tape measure, the published plans for a Type S, and a buddy. Park your car in a clear spot and then build the ship around it using the flags, starting with the air/raft bay.

The results can be quite revelatory.
 
FWIW, on the Batpod, having looked at some replica builds it looks more like 3m x 1m x0.5m for a 1.5m3 bounding box, and probably closer to 1m3 actual volume of components and rider. And trading the wheels for some grav modules would make a great military grav-bike :)
 
GypsyComet said:
Park your car in a clear spot and then build the ship around it using the flags, starting with the air/raft bay.
Yep, the entire Type S is smaller than a WWI submarine. Its price includes
guaranteed claustrophobia.
 
far-trader said:
zero said:
Some more info; Darrian Grav-bikes have a default wing config, whose fairings can shift shape to make it take other forms. They include ejector seats plus LS so they can reach orbit.
Military Grav-bikes are slightly bigger, with a chassis built around an Advanced Light AutocannonVRF Gauss Rifle (The weapon stated is a PGMP-14 = 12d6, +6 auto, so its actually a plasma autocannon, not a gauss one :? ).

Those aren't bikes in any reasonable sense of the word. They are... grav cars for lack of a better term. A bike is an open ride ON vehicle, even putting an overcage on it and still calling it a bike is stretching the term imo. Enclosing it beyond a simple windscreen/fairing creates a different class of vehicle. Adding wings creates a different class of vehicle, akin to the difference between a bike and trike. Anything over about 3m3 is NOT a bike imo but a different class of vehicle entirely.

And I'm really only going as far as 3m3 to include the monocycle mentioned above, though of course by it's very naming it is not a bike either. Bike = short for Bi-cycle, meaning two-wheel, of course.

Otherwise I'd probably limit bikes to 2m3, or 3m3 with a sidecar.

...but I suspect this is all because the designers wanted to put so much stuff into the "idea" of a grav cycle that they built these behemoths instead of sacrificing performance or features. When they should have been minding the size and sticking to a reasonable chassis. Or simply admitted to themselves they got carried away and called the things something else.

Either that or the design rules are badly broken... ;)

As I said before - the bike's dimensions include the space needed to operate it... I hardly think that a Goldwing is less than 1m long and 1m wide considering you need the best part of 2m to get on it... so your 2m3 might be a little low...

And yes, they do have "bikes" with a roll cage, roof and sides (although the sides are flexible and only used in bad weather - they're still bikes because they have 2 wheels and have a tandem configuration instead of a side by side... I just wish I could remember what they're called.

If you use a vehicle, it's got a tandem seating arrangement and you steer by leaning the whole vehicle and it doesn't fly using wings, then you have a "bike"... that's my opinion on it. You don't lean a trike (you may, however, need to lean to keep it upright - not the same thing though). Enclosing it too much though makes it a bit dodgy on the naming...

I do agree about the wings and fully-enclosed and sealed aspect though - speeder would have been a much better description of that Darrian machine.
 
The S-type has always reminded me of The Patrol's ship in the Asimov books (and others).

I certainly would not want to be cooped up in one of those for too long though... 8 or 9 days at a time?? Yikes!
 
BFalcon said:
I certainly would not want to be cooped up in one of those for too long though... 8 or 9 days at a time?? Yikes!
Yep, minus the furniture you would have about 10 square meters as your
own space and share another 20 square meters with the other members
of the crew. Some prisons are more comfortable, at least one can leave
the cell block now and then to take a walk.
 
rust said:
BFalcon said:
I certainly would not want to be cooped up in one of those for too long though... 8 or 9 days at a time?? Yikes!
Yep, minus the furniture you would have about 10 square meters as your
own space and share another 20 square meters with the other members
of the crew. Some prisons are more comfortable, at least one can leave
the cell block now and then to take a walk.

Hey, you can take a walk outside on an S class. But wear a suit...
 
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