Re: Tugs and Such

At 3:29 PM -0700 10/8/01, Don M wrote:
>By the way, does anyone else thing FTL engines are awfully cheap in the
>Tuffleyverse?
>
>And as a result, tugs are totally uneconomical.

To do what? Carry around Non FTL ships? Well, that's an additional 
edge that you can add to the combat ship versus the mass carried in 
the Non Front line ship. On an economic front, tugs do make sense for 
non FTL applications for moving immobile objects around a system. Or 
from a recovery standpoint, moving a disabled vessel that has had 
more than critical damage to its TK drive system and can't move 
itself to a depot to be repaired.

Strike boat tenders make sense from a standpoint that you could use 
them to tend more craft than they could carry based on the fact that 
the strike boats don't really need to dock all the time, just for 
servicing and re-arming. You could theoretically deploy a tender and 
several strike boats to a system via the tender and a few cargo 
vessels. The cargo vessels then return for more stores while the PT 
boats and their tender establish a zone of control and surveillance.

Likely smaller non FTL combatants like Patrol Craft, Cutters and 
other small combatants are better off with no FTL drive based on size 
and maneuverability constraints in system. Many of those small craft 
could also be utility vessels like lighters, mine sweepers, "harbor" 
tugs, floating dry docks, scows, barges, and support/auxiliary 
landing craft and heavy shuttles.  Small combatants should not make 
up the bulk of a navy's fleet unless the preponderance of their space 
is very limited.

If you look through various US navy (and related) we sites one can 
see the large number of yard craft and other support equipment that 
has some hull number but one wouldn't expect to get from Port to port 
on its own power. That's where the Float on Float off ships help. An 
equivalent craft in FT would be some sort of cargo vessel that just 
had docks/latches on its length for smaller craft to be fitted to for 
transport.

 From looking at the Joint Modular Lighter System and Side Loading 
Warping Tugs (sectional causeways with their own power) has me 
wondering if there would be some means of a major military deploying 
what amounts to a portable Beanstalk or not.

That or perhaps cargo containers that could be easily dropped on 
their own using some sort of Aerobrake/heat shield and then would 
land in a given LZ after a automatic controlled decent through the 
atmosphere. Both capabilities for even non manned cargo containers 
would have a profound effect on the ability to support an opposed 
landing of a given planet.

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