Re: [FT]Modular Ships

Alan and Carmel Brain wrote:
> 
> From: "mary" <r2bell@home.com>
> 
> > I accept that this is close enough to ten percent; however, it
> > conclusively shows that the modules have extra hardware(including,
but
> > not limited to those little cabinets) which must increase their
cost,
> > and add some premium the the cost
> > of a reconfigurable warship.  You must also concede that the
> > reconfigurability
> > is limited to sensors and weapons.
> 
> Limited to sensors and weapons? Yes.
> 
> Additional costs? Not really. The initial cost is a tadge higher, but
after
> you've built a few, the cost decreases due to less training,
maintenance
> etc.
> This was not a design consideration, but has proven to be true for a
lot of
> vessels. Hence the popularity of the Meko concept, where navies that
have
> no intention of ever swapping to different types of module still like
the
> modularity, because maintenance is a lot cheaper. It's a bit like
having
> sound cards, video cards etc rather than having everything built on to
> a single very expensive motherboard. You may pay a bit more to have
the
> additional bus slots, but the first time you want to upgrade, or the
first
> time a chip dies, you save heaps.

The minimal extra cost for a module is the containerization that allows
it to be quickly slotted into a socket, or be safely stored portside. 
Un-modular components do not need these as they are only installed once
and the ship protects its innards from the outside.