> Of course all that is true Jeff, forgot about docking rings - perhaps the
> destinations have one of the right sort. Of course the frozen prisoners
> could be considered cargo and offloaded via one of the cargo doors too. The
> aircars of course were primarily for the crew. But I will look at adding
> docking rings - perhaps a later version (I like variants)
>
> Antony
Dunno if this is canon or not, but IMTU low berths are designed in two components: a small capsule that holds the person and basic life support equipment, and a larger frame that provides external power, computer support, and what have you. Purpose is exactly this- you can hook up a small power cell and load/unload a low berth as cargo without having to wake the occupant. So you could probably handle bulk transfers as cargo.
One idea for a variant: a ship for a more "frontier" type system, where not all places have the time or inclination to low-berth a convict before the ship arrives, so the ship sometimes has to take on conscious prisoners and low-berth them onboard. You'd definitely want a small launch for that version (access control, you don't dock until the conscious prisoners transfer and are berthed), a sickbay, and a small security detachment to make sure there's no funny business. Depending on how space-opera your setting is, you might also want some armament. If there are organized militant or paramilitary groups (including the dreaded Space Pirates), this thing could potentially be a high-value target for a boarding-and-seizure op.
-JTD
"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."
-Jimmy Buffet
> destinations have one of the right sort. Of course the frozen prisoners
> could be considered cargo and offloaded via one of the cargo doors too. The
> aircars of course were primarily for the crew. But I will look at adding
> docking rings - perhaps a later version (I like variants)
>
> Antony
Dunno if this is canon or not, but IMTU low berths are designed in two components: a small capsule that holds the person and basic life support equipment, and a larger frame that provides external power, computer support, and what have you. Purpose is exactly this- you can hook up a small power cell and load/unload a low berth as cargo without having to wake the occupant. So you could probably handle bulk transfers as cargo.
One idea for a variant: a ship for a more "frontier" type system, where not all places have the time or inclination to low-berth a convict before the ship arrives, so the ship sometimes has to take on conscious prisoners and low-berth them onboard. You'd definitely want a small launch for that version (access control, you don't dock until the conscious prisoners transfer and are berthed), a sickbay, and a small security detachment to make sure there's no funny business. Depending on how space-opera your setting is, you might also want some armament. If there are organized militant or paramilitary groups (including the dreaded Space Pirates), this thing could potentially be a high-value target for a boarding-and-seizure op.
-JTD
"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."
-Jimmy Buffet