All ships should have 4 ton cargo space by default (no racks needed) - Here is why.

[Nitross]

Yeah it sucks, but you'd have to decide if you want the escape pod more than the cargo you're carrying. You might be able to come back for it (if you can find it, of course). but I don't know how long ejected cargo hangs around for.

In context to the suggestion discussed here, we are talking about having a little bit of base cargo so you don't get locked out of rewards or gameplay because your ship build could not fit a cargo rack.

If you fill even that "safety space" before you go on a long trip and don't fit more cargo racks in your ship, then I guess you're the only one to blame.

But, you reply does highlight another issue with the suggestion of adding base cargo to all ships; players will find a way to use it that makes it's original intent useless. For instance, they may forget rewards in there and then complain it's not big enough to take more than one mission.

 

[Xemik]

I don't have an issue with the OP, per se, but an alternative solution is to introduce a warehousing facility. We can store ships & modules at stations, so why not cargo, too? Perhaps even add a daily storage charges of (say) 1% of the cargo's value at that station.

So, if you don't have room for mission cargo, on mission completion it would simply be stored. Then we'd just need to go into our inventory screen to sell/transfer it.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

I have no problem if FD can come up with an in universe explanation as to why we can't put another module. One possibility is that the loading tray that takes the cargo to the hold can hold canisters at a time.

Ahem; allow me to adlib if you will...

Old Pilots Federation rules stated that all ships had to carry a minimum of four tonnes of Hydrogen Fuel in cargo canisters, as a throwback to the days of the old hyperdrive systems to allow them to make one jump to the nearest scoopable star in the event of the misjump. As of 3300 with the transition to FrameShift Drives misjumps became a thing of the past, and in October 3303, once the FSD technology was sufficiently well proven, the pilots federation issued an update to its terms allowing commanders to chose whether or not to carry the fuel or enjoy the ship's improved performance having shed four tonnes of weight.

Many Commanders looked at having the outmoded formerly mandatory Hydrogen Fuel Canister Racks removed to make space for other modules. Sadly this was not possible as these HFCR's were not built in conformity with the current modular designs used for ships equipment, comprising of four individual racks located in different locations of the ship each holding one canister effectively making them half the size of even a class one module slot. After much consultation, the only thing engineers were able to do with them was modify the retention clamps to accept current specification of standardized cargo canisters.

That is how it came be that since October 3303 every ship now has a minimum cargo capacity of 4T.

By the way - plus one for the idea

 

[kingbankai]

I would love to be able to do mining and have a T6 or Keelback (w/ SLF) in a wing to store goods. Would be great for an NPC wing.

 

[DJRJ_AU]

Can we fit four unconscious, floating Sigourneys into the free space of a Sidewinder and secure them safely? Two of them, one standing on the other's shoulders, would be taller than the ship, if we don't count the landing gear.

One or two Sigourneys stored 'in the breach', as it were, makes sense - but I think four might well be pushing it a bit. Other contributors have suggested varying minimum volumes, so I'm leaning towards two, four and eight Sigourneys, for small, medium and large ships, respectively.

+1 rep for introducing the "Sigourney" as a unit of measurement.



Regards,

Doug