Re: [FT]Modular Ships

***
While y'all are fixated on the wet navy analogies right now, don't
forget we're discussing a space combat game...and given the topic
of modularity in space, may I point out my favorite topic - The
Hubble Space Telescope. It was *designed* to be modular, completely,
***

While not a total negation of your point, I would like to add that the
HST
is not designed for high-G manuevers, which a warship would most likely
be.

How easy to swap in and out might have a bearing on it's stability:
drop-in
containers are sensible in a cargo ship while dropin warship sections
might
well require serious work in attachments and cross-bracings.

On the other hand, any craft with deadfall or externally mounted weapons
could be considered 'modular' in a sense. Hardpoints are expensive, but
not
so ruinous that they aren't hung on every place you can manage.

PSB could fall in either direction, methinks. I know I have my bias in
this
area, and feel comfortable maintaining it in my universe, given the
arguments above.

In the end, though, if you have to maintain large stocks of modules that
are significant size percentages of complete ships, I'd argue that the
savings should not be too game breaking.

If I buy the crew section of a ship for 50% of cost, and each group of
modules to complete the ship costs 50%, for two complete changes of
ships,
I'm paying 150% of a single base cost, but only have a single ship
available at a time. How you break the crew section and module sections,
even by pieces, will still give you pause, and that's not even with the
appropriateness of a cost penalty for the flexibility.

The_Beast

-Douglas J. Evans, curmudgeon

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