RE: Gas Skimmers

The high losses the previous week were unusual losses.	I estimated
normal losses at about 1 every 3 months for this, which gives a skimmer
fleet of about 15-20 ships servicing the station.
The reason for the VW hull, is that full streamlining eats so much mass,
plus powerful enough drives to escape a gas giant's gravity well doesn't
leave much.  Everything is built to the minimum required to maximise
tankage.  As soon as I increase the hull, the mass doubles to maintain
the same tankage.

'Neath Southern Skies
http://users.mcmedia.com.au/~denian/
*****
They seek him here, they seek him there;
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That damned elusive, Pimpernel.
	- 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', Baroness Emma Orkzy

-----Original Message-----
From:	Sean Bayan Schoonmaker [SMTP:schoon@aimnet.com]

<Brendan.Robertson@dva.gov.au> wrote:
Three ships lost in a week seems excessive to me. Not even hardhat
divers,
experimental pilots, or even high risk miners loose that many people.
Look
at the economics as well. For the ships alone, that's a 264 MUcr loss.
Idoubt they'll make that up with sales.
>*****
>Model XIV Aeroglide Gas Skimmer
>Mass: 40 (4,000 metric tons)
>Cost: 88 (88 MUCr.)
>Hull: Very Weak (Fully Streamlined)
>FTL: none
>Main Drive: 10
>Damage Track: 4; [o/o/o/*]
>Crew: AI + 1 pilot
>800 ton compressed gas storage tanks

I'd consider increasing the hull integrity. If operations in the
atmosphere
are that dangerous, I think they want something that could withstand a
"bump" or two.

Schoon