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Detachable Outer Containers (DOCs)

Doshii Jun

Doshii Jun

Perpetual player
Retired Staff
Ketsurui Fleet Yards said:
Ke-O1-1a "Detachable Outer Container"

About:

Internal cargo bays come with one major problem -- the ship must be at port to be loaded and unloaded. Unlike some aerospace vehicles that utilize all manner of removable containers, starships must wait for loading crews to be done with their work. Depending on the port, starships must also carry their own loading and unloading crews (lumpers, longshoremen, et cetera). This hampers both the ship and the port. For the ship, extended downtime is inefficent, and only certain kinds of cargo can be fit. The port, on the other hand, has to trust the ship won't break down, or its cargo will have to be unloaded onto another starship, which also takes time. On top of this, some ports or distributors might have cargo that cannot fit on or be handled by certain types of ships, and if they cannot find the right one ...

During the development of a new war freighter, Ketsurui Fleet Yards solicited opinions from civilians and Star Army personnel as to whether they would prefer internal bays compared to containers. Both preferred containers, though Star Army officials asked about military-specific containers that could withstand a battle.

Below is what has been drafted.

1. Basic information

Organizations Using This Vessel:
Star Army of Yamatai

Type: Freighter container
Class: Ke-O1-1a
Designer:
Ketsurui Fleet Yards
Star Army of Yamatai
Miscellanious civilian consultants

Manufacturer: Ketsurui Fleet Yards
Production: Upon approval, 12 containers.

Crew: None.
Maximum human capacity: 100- 600 when attached to a starship.
Maximum cargo capacity: Depends on size. The O1-1a has 80,000 cubic meters of internal space (70,000 realistically).
Appearance: In essence, a long, flat rectangle with flat doors on the back and a rounded snubnose on the front (also acting as the front doors).

Length: 100 meters.
Width: 40 meters.
Height: 20 meters.
Decks: One.
Mass: About 15,000 kg.

2. Performance statistics

Speed (STL, FTL, aerial, water): None.

Range (Support): About two years, if installed with a limited Nodal System.
Lifespan: About twenty years.
Refit Cycle: About every two years.

3. Inside the DOC

Essentially, the container is empty. The only things that are inside of it are three Nodal food dispensers, active when a Nodal System is installed or when the container is attached to the ship, and any necessary equipment left on them by longshoremen or by the port that rents it out to other vessels. Tie-down rails, eyehooks and other securing equipment can be changed based on the load, as folding hardpoints are everywhere inside. In the middle, a fold-out control station is available. It has a very, very limited computer system, dedicated to monitoring atmospheric conditions inside of the container. These systems, of course, draw power from the vessel it is attached to. The walls are a brighter grey than those inside of a Star Army warship. Lights are along both the ceiling and floor of the container.
The DOC can attach to a ship one of two ways. Either using the long trio of rails along the top, which rise out of the hull of the DOC, or through the war freighter's unique attachment system, to be detailed in the freighter's specifications.

4. Defensive measures

Armored hull: The Star Army version is made primarily of Xintium, with a Zesuaium coating. While the DOC has no shields of its own, the armored hull was added to ensure it was not dropped by commanders who had to choose between cargo or crew. The civilian version is still in the design phase.
Click to expand...

I know, it looks very Kotori. What can I say? I'm a thief.

Yes, I'm designing a freighter. But I figure, if this doesn't make the cut, might as well scrap the current freighter for another one. It's not as simple as it could be, but David (Itkatsu Kiyoko) said "A big metal box with cool temperature controls" was too easy.
 
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What space vessels would be compatable with these units other than the freighter that was in development?

I ask mainly because these units would be ideal for use on many Star Army and Lorath vessels that require additional cargo space due to specific mission requirements. Additionaly, these containers would prove useful as emergency escape pods.

Shame they don't have thrusters or a gravity control unit to allow for manuvering if ejected from the vessel they are attached to.

Otherwise, these containers are a very clever bit of work. I like e'm.
 
Basically, any freighter that has the rails installed. The system itself is basic as hell -- think truck containers. Vesper pointed out that if you use them, however, you'd need at least two, so they remain on the line of thrust a ship has. So if you have one on the bottom, you need one on top. If you have one on the left, you need one on the right.

These Star Army grade ones wouldn't be sold to civilians, of course. But you get the idea. Essentially, attach boxes to starships. It's not new -- Sakuras and Nozomis theoretically could haul these things. But the freighter I'm designing uses a better method to secure them.
 
Technically you would only need one with KFY ships, the combined field system dosen't use action/reaction thrust to propell the ship all the time. Alternitively you could place one on the front of the ship, or directly behind.
 
Well, correct placement could always come into play if the freighter has to travel at sub-light speed with it's auxiliary engines... but Uso Tasuki is correct : as long as it'd fit inside the CFS-created bubble, intertia isn't going to hinder the ship's carrying capacity or layout much.
 
Uso Tasuki said:
Technically you would only need one with KFY ships, the combined field system dosen't use action/reaction thrust to propell the ship all the time. Alternitively you could place one on the front of the ship, or directly behind.
Click to expand...

Ohhhh. Good point. Thank you, Zack and Fred.

This is why I'm a journalist., not a scientist.
 
I hope that the stats for first ships using these will be availible soon, I wouldn't mind creating a few ships that would use this tech on the civilian side(I still think there are much less civ. ships than I would like to see), but I would prefer to see someone elses implementation first.
 
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