Well, the question there is whether the *ship* or the *pods* would need to
be streamlined. If the "pod" were in fact capable of getting itself to and
from orbit, you're good. Or, if the pod can get itself down (say with
heat-shields and 'chutes for a orbital drop, ala Apollo capsule returns),
then all you need is a means to get it back up. Would the fueling auxiliary
that I seem to recall the clippers carrying have the capability to bring the
pod up? Or even carry it both ways between orbit and surface?
Jim
On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 10:21 AM, DED <> wrote:
>
>
> Roger wrote:
>
> DED asked about my pod idea and how it would be different from the
> Aurora/Maggart class Clippers.
>
> First, the Coalition can't afford many of these ships. Building a pod
> that can be dropped, letting the ship return to Coalition space for
> other missions while the pod was left behind presents maximum usage of
> the ship. Also pods are cheap (in construction time, credits and
> people-power) compared to building another ship.
>
> Second, the ship could be used as a freighter in and around Coalition
> space. As a salvage ship for bulky items or even small starships, items
> too big for even BUFF (see BARD) to carry.
>
> I think the big difference would be the pod would be designed to be
> cheap and something that could be left behind as a semi-permanent
> instillation, that would argument and support bootstrap operations.
>
> Also I own a copy of "Death of Wisdom" in it a Hiver colony on a member
> world is stricken with a disease. I always wondered how the Coalition
> would/could respond. Sure they would send doctors, supplies medicines
> and support staff. Mercy, on hearing of the outbreak could check its
> records for the nearest hospital/research pod. Jump there pick it and
> volunteer medical /research personal and drop the pod right on the
> doorstep.
>
> The big difference between what I'm thinking of and the Clipper pods is
> flexability.
>
> Can a Clipper pod land on a planets surface? I don't know. I think there
> are space-based only.
>
> ==================================================
>
> I'm no expert on RC ships but in looking at my copy of RCEG, the
> clippers have a lot of the same functionality. There's four pages worth
> of modules that perform various tasks running from fuel refiinery to
> cargo to troop quarters. There might even be more modules over on BARD
> but I haven't checked. You are correct that both ship classes are
> unstreamlined so their usefulness is limited to vacuum boneyards.
> Perhaps a streamlined version is in order? Not sure if that's possible
> given the necessary configuration of the ship, but I'll leave that up to
> the gearheads to answer.
>
> \_/
> DED
>
>
>