Interesting I didn't think of the heat shield - parachute delivery ... that may make a pod more of a one use system, but the cost effectiveness may be retained is it's intended to be used for years - decades even. hmmm
T
--- On Tue, 11/30/10, Jim/Mathias <> wrote:
From: Jim/Mathias <>
Subject: Re: [Traveller_TNE] Re: Support Ship Contest
To:
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 10:53 AM
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