[Idea] Lympet Towed Cargo Array

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Hi,

Ok here is the concept...

• Lympet
  Unarmed Towed Cargo Array
  
  Class: M7
  Speed: 10.0 m/s
  Accel: 1.0 m/s2
  Turn: 15.0 rpm
  Built-in Equipment:
  • Tractor Beam
    2GJ Shield
    Transporter Device
    Jump Drive

You could have 3 different types of Lympet (Marines, Cargo, Ships). A Lympet would work as a unit slaved to the ship it is told to attach itself to. In the case of Marine and Cargo Lympets they would automatically transfer Marines/Cargo to/from the connected ship as instructed to (e.g. if number of marines decreases a marine lympet would automatically transport marines it is carrying to the parent ship). A lympet would use the tractor beam it is equiped with to attach itself to it's parent ship (or another Lympet). If the parent ship initiates it's jump drive the Lympet will try and use e-cells from the parent ship to fuel it's jump drive for the same jump and then re-attach itself afterwards.

What do you guys think?

[Killjaeden]

Why does the Lympet need a Tractor Beam if it is towed by another ship?
Anyway i also had an idea like this but with dockable smaller freightmodules that expand the cargospace of a ship with internal/external docks.
It reduces available dockingports but increases cargospace -fair deal imo.

Maybe the tractor towing provides some difficulties in handling (jumping)- don't know, didn't use tractor beam that much.

Another idea could be to create a tow-ship that can move faster then those containers (they only need speed to dock somewhere).
This tow-ship could either have multiple (external) dockingports alligned around the ship OR one single and each container has also a single dockport so you could make a nice freightliner^^
Only the handling of option 2 would be insufficent because to access the last container you have to go through each container that is inbetween.

[imperium3]

Could you use marine lympets for boarding enemy ships? Now THAT would be interesting!

It's a good idea overall, mainly would be useful for acting as an extra Ecell pod or for ammo resupply on large ships. Handy on ships like Tyr with limited cargo space.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Why does the Lympet need a Tractor Beam if it is towed by another ship?

My initial idea was for the Lympet to fire the tractor beam and then be pulled along by the parent ship, but thinking about it more carefully this probably would not work due to tractor beam mechanics. However, the tractor beam could be used to attach to other Lympets since the towing ship would not be able to fire the tractor beam again without loosing it's lock on the existing lympet.

Anyway i also had an idea like this but with dockable smaller freightmodules that expand the cargospace of a ship with internal/external docks.
It reduces available dockingports but increases cargospace -fair deal imo.

Falcon Hauler?

Maybe the tractor towing provides some difficulties in handling (jumping)- don't know, didn't use tractor beam that much.

Could perhaps be scripted providing the Lympet is registered with the towing ship. Would probably require the autopilot to be used while Lympets are attached.

Another idea could be to create a tow-ship that can move faster then those containers (they only need speed to dock somewhere).
This tow-ship could either have multiple (external) dockingports alligned around the ship OR one single and each container has also a single dockport so you could make a nice freightliner^^
Only the handling of option 2 would be insufficent because to access the last container you have to go through each container that is inbetween.

That was my basic idea, but using tractor beams instead of physical docks.

An alternative might be some kind of fleet cargo management script perhaps?

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Could you use marine lympets for boarding enemy ships? Now THAT would be interesting!

Kind of the idea I was thinking of... with some ships marine attrition is pretty bad so having a Marine Lympet towed behind you could provide a partial solution to needing more marines (the only catch is that your speed would be limited while towing a Lympet array.

It's a good idea overall, mainly would be useful for acting as an extra Ecell pod or for ammo resupply on large ships. Handy on ships like Tyr with limited cargo space.

Yup... that was my idea... shame that the Tyr can not use a tractor beam though.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Does anyone know if any of the Vanilla scripts support some form of fleet cargo management?

I have noticed some Special Commands like Re-supply ships or some such... has anyone used these commands or know what they do exactly?

[imperium3]

Could you use marine lympets for boarding enemy ships? Now THAT would be interesting!

Kind of the idea I was thinking of... with some ships marine attrition is pretty bad so having a Marine Lympet towed behind you could provide a partial solution to needing more marines (the only catch is that your speed would be limited while towing a Lympet array.

What I was thinking of would be for the Lympet to attach itself to the enemy ship (like a tough but slow boarding pod) and then unleash its marines. Depends on the lympet's defences though, trying to board capships it might get fried pretty quick.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Could you use marine lympets for boarding enemy ships? Now THAT would be interesting!

Kind of the idea I was thinking of... with some ships marine attrition is pretty bad so having a Marine Lympet towed behind you could provide a partial solution to needing more marines (the only catch is that your speed would be limited while towing a Lympet array.

What I was thinking of would be for the Lympet to attach itself to the enemy ship (like a tough but slow boarding pod) and then unleash its marines. Depends on the lympet's defences though, trying to board capships it might get fried pretty quick.

Hmmm... M3 type ships that act as breaching pods kind of idea?... say a hybrid between a boarding pod and a freight drone?... interesting idea... I think this could be called a "Breaching Pod" ... carry upto 20 marines say... and is usable from any marine capable ship (TM/TP/M6/M7/M7M/M1/M2/TL)... for balance these things would have to consume a bit of cargo space (say 100 L cargo)... be reusable... but illegal in Commonwealth systems (a pirate/yaki invention)... the pod could approach to within say 1-2km then teleport the marines one by one onto the hull (say 2 per second) then return to the parent ship like a freight drone perhaps

EDIT: This is a seperate concept but perhaps a good one... mine may be a bit of a limp biscuit but the alternative of fleet cargo management system could be a better idea (where transporter device is used to automatically transport cargo between elements of the fleet... slave to master idea)