Dismantle ships into cargo

[Robbie Rocketpants]

It would be great if there was a shipyard service in which one could pay to dismantle or reassemble a ship, so that it can be transported as cargo.

For example, my Courier has an unladen mass of I think 96.3T, a fun combat ship but a rubbish jump range and no scoop. If I could pay to have it dismantled so it equalled 97T of cargo (rounding up to account for packaging maybe ) I could then carry it within my Python which has a much better range and a good scoop. It should only be allowed to unload it within a station that has a shipyard, and will sit in the shipyard as "dismantled" until such time as it's reassembled, again for a service cost.

Not only would this go someway to sorting out the hours some people spend moving their ships about, but I think this would open up for many more gameplay options in the future as well, maybe paying players for a transportation or ferry service etc.

Apologies if this has been suggested before, I didn't see anything upon searching.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Hm.. Of all the ship transportation threads out there, this one makes the most sense. I don't explicitly support it, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't make sense. I definitely like the 'requires a shipyard' aspect and would go even further to say 'requires a shipyard capable of selling that ship'.
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I think packaging aspects would take up more than 0.7 tons though. I'd say at least a 25% increase in mass.

 

[Magic Man]

Hm.. Of all the ship transportation threads out there, this one makes the most sense.

Your definition of sense is different than mine then...

We are talking about space faring ships - surely the most sense is for those ships to be ferried or ferry piloted elsewhere, not cut up and reassembled...

"...okay, we have your order of six F-22's ready."
"Great, cut them up, stick them in the back of a C5 and send them over to us. Will get the guys here to put them back together then."
"...ummm, We could just, you know, fly them over?"
<pause>
"...yep, that works too"

 

[DragoCubX]

Hm.. Of all the ship transportation threads out there, this one makes the most sense. I don't explicitly support it, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't make sense. I definitely like the 'requires a shipyard' aspect and would go even further to say 'requires a shipyard capable of selling that ship'.
.
I think packaging aspects would take up more than 0.7 tons though. I'd say at least a 25% increase in mass.

1. I'd say it requires a shipyard having a technology level high enough to rebuild it. Station's shipyards have a technology level allowing them to produce certain ships with the same or a lower technology level, but, however, don't necessarily produce every
ship it could.

2. Let's say 5-10% increase for packaging. On one hand, because you'd never need packaging stuff with a weight of >25t for a courier. Or maybe vary it: Older ships are not as modular (like the Eagle or Python), and therefore need more packaging for a few big parts, while modern ships, like the courier, can be splitted into more handy parts and therefore be packaged more efficiently -> less weight.

 

[trollson]

Okay, take your car, slice it up to fit into hand luggage, and then reassemble it.

How does it look now? Do you think that the effort will cost less than a new car?

 

[Davevti]

Interesting idea, I think perhaps shipping individual parts would be a nice idea, like rarer parts or weapons that my friends struggle to reach or find that I could bring to them.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Your definition of sense is different than mine then...

We are talking about space faring ships - surely the most sense is for those ships to be ferried or ferry piloted elsewhere, not cut up and reassembled...

"...okay, we have your order of six F-22's ready."
"Great, cut them up, stick them in the back of a C5 and send them over to us. Will get the guys here to put them back together then."
"...ummm, We could just, you know, fly them over?"
<pause>
"...yep, that works too"

Why not? Maybe my original estimate of 125% tonnage was too low and it should be closer to 150% or 200%.

If I bought a desk from the furniture store, it comes in a box. Why? Because it makes more sense to transport it in a box rather than wheel it home. Yes, a desk's purpose is not a vehicle for movement, but I think the point is still pretty relevant - if a 40 ton sidewinder can fit in 80 tons worth of canisters, why not (for a fee) chop it up and stick it in an asp and jump across populated space? Makes a lot more sense than flying it.

The issue with your scenario is that the speaker is buying or acquiring the F-22s for the first time. This is not the case in the OP. Here, we have a custom made ship of specific parts that is unique.

Ahh, I've defeated myself. If the destination doesn't have the capacity to assemble and sell the craft, they shouldn't have the capacity to pull it out of canisters and reassemble it. At that point you might as well sell the ship and buy it again at your destination. The only thing you'd lose would be 10% and any discounts you had applied to the ship, and I don't think game mechanics should cater to your discounts.

 

[Magic Man]

If I bought a desk from the furniture store, it comes in a box. Why? Because it makes more sense to transport it in a box rather than wheel it home. Yes, a desk's purpose is not a vehicle for movement,

Exactly. The desk is not a vehicle in it's own right and so it makes sense to sell it flat packed for easy transport.

but I think the point is still pretty relevant - if a 40 ton sidewinder can fit in 80 tons worth of canisters, why not (for a fee) chop it up and stick it in an asp and jump across populated space? Makes a lot more sense than flying it.

Compared to actually flying it, it makes no sense really. It would cost far more and take a considerable amount of time to cut it up, ship it and then put it back together once, let alone do that multiple times. You really want to be flying around in space in a ship that has been cut up into pieces and reassembled multiple times?

Historic aircraft that are too fragile or no longer airworthy to fly are indeed transported by disassembly and reassembly methods - it costs a fortune to do it that way, it would be far cheaper and quicker if they could fly it.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Compared to actually flying it, it makes no sense really. It would cost far more and take a considerable amount of time to cut it up, ship it and then put it back together once, let alone do that multiple times. You really want to be flying around in space in a ship that has been cut up into pieces and reassembled multiple times?

Historic aircraft that are too fragile or no longer airworthy to fly are indeed transported by disassembly and reassembly methods - it costs a fortune to do it that way, it would be far cheaper and quicker if they could fly it.

Historically, yes. However this is 3300. A ton of beer costs 300 credits. A sidewinder costs 32,000. To dismantle one would not be more than twice as difficult as putting one together.
The number one factor here: The pilot's time. The historical air force has thousands of workers. We are a single pilot. We do not have the support network of the air force and we must deal with our problems alone.

I'm pretty sure you can take a giant blade (or beam laser) and just chop the ship into cubes and stuff them in canisters. Then just haul it into the station, pour it onto the floor, sit in the spot where the cockpit used to be and click 'repair'. As long as you don't ding the powerplant, you're golden.

There's actually another reason I kind of like (but not explicitly support, as I mentioned) this post: I really want 'Ship Parts' to be a commodity that we can trade to places to increase the capacity of the outfitters or shipyard.

 

[Magic Man]

However this is 3300. [...] A sidewinder costs 32,000. To dismantle one would not be more than twice as difficult as putting one together [...] I'm pretty sure you can take a giant blade (or beam laser) and just chop the ship into cubes and stuff them in canisters. Then just haul it into the station, pour it onto the floor, sit in the spot where the cockpit used to be and click 'repair'. As long as you don't ding the powerplant, you're golden.

Sorry, but that's just daft. If you're going to that level of esoteric sci-fi just to justify and implement the request then might as well go the whole hog and introduce instant travel transporters instead.

Just give us real time ship transport/ferries/ferry pilots. Job done.

You're surety of being able to do this so simply, quickly and cheaply is based on what exactly?
How exactly could it be quicker and cheaper to disassemble, pack, transport, unpack and reassemble a ship rather than simply fly it there instead?

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Hey now, my above example hasn't introduced anything new to the game.

How exactly could it be quicker and cheaper to disassemble, pack, transport, unpack and reassemble a ship rather than simply fly it there instead?

It doesn't need to be faster. That's the point. It wouldn't matter if it took an hour to disassemble and reassemble the ship. That's not time the CMDR has to spend. That's the station's problem, just like it's their problem to refuel and repair etc.

Personally I don't like the whole ferry pilot/tow thing.

 

[Magic Man]

Hey now, my above example hasn't introduced anything new to the game.

It hasn't?

It doesn't need to be faster. That's the point. It wouldn't matter if it took an hour to disassemble and reassemble the ship.

Only an hour?

That's not time the CMDR has to spend. That's the station's problem, just like it's their problem to refuel and repair etc.

Personally I don't like the whole ferry pilot/tow thing.

It would/should be time the commander has to spend if you are the one doing the transporting. If not, and it's being transported by another method or from a remote location then why is cutting up your ship and transporting it preferable to you than simply transporting it whole?

 

[Psycho Romeo]

It hasn't?

It was a jest, but it also uses nothing that I don't expect to be possible in game. You can ram a sidewinder into a wall to smash it to bits and (as long as you don't ding the powerplant) collect the bits in canisters and truck it as 'Sidewinder bits', dump it on the floor of the pad and repair. My T6 has come back from worse.

Only an hour?

It would/should be time the commander has to spend if you are the one doing the transporting.

Because messing around with USSs for (arbitrary figure) three hours bounty hunting while your sidewinder is dismantled, putting it in your asp, then moving it across populated space once to unload it and spend another (arbitrary figure, but remember repairs are instant) three hours messing around in SC absolutely beats making the trip three times to move both ships. Cost effective? Probably not - I expect the costs to be similar or greater to the cost of the ship itself. But worth it? Heck yeah I would.

If not, and it's being transported by another method or from a remote location then why is cutting up your ship and transporting it preferable to you than simply transporting it whole?

Hangers? I'm all for hangers. Massive galactic bus routes that you can ride? I'm okay with that I guess. Hire a pilot to fly your ship from A -> B? That kind of takes me out of the picture and I don't like that.

This might be a personal thing. I feel the same way about planetary landings.

 

[ChaosCloud]

Your definition of sense is different than mine then...

We are talking about space faring ships - surely the most sense is for those ships to be ferried or ferry piloted elsewhere, not cut up and reassembled...

"...okay, we have your order of six F-22's ready."
"Great, cut them up, stick them in the back of a C5 and send them over to us. Will get the guys here to put them back together then."
"...ummm, We could just, you know, fly them over?"
<pause>
"...yep, that works too"

Don't forget this ED where sense is often just as skewed, so it might fit right in there

It sounds funny though but yeah, doesn't make that much sense. What would be nice though would be being able to ferry around equipment atleast.
That'd open a whole new branch of player driven trade: equipment dealing.

Well ok maybe not, it's not that hard to find equipment, the hardest part is that the ship computer has amnesia and can't even remember what the station has available you just took of from or what your parked ship which's loadout surely didn't change since you parked it had equipped.

 

[Robbie Rocketpants]

There is precedent for this type of thing in the modern day, just google aircraft shipping. Case in point here is a company that just "containerize" planes: http://neelaviation.com/

I wasn't suggesting a complete removal of every nut, rivet, washer and bolt; delivered to bewildered engineers at the other end. More a securing of moving parts, making it shippable and loadable in another craft.

Sure it would be cheaper to just fly it as it is a craft in and of itself. But my case is this: What if I'm getting involved in systems 200-300 light years away and once I get to a destination in my expensive big ship and I then want to take my small rebuy scout out for a bit of low risk fun I have either to a) then buy a hauler, outfit it for max range, and fly back to the original location whereupon I sell it, and jump in and then make the journey again, or b) sell the thing before I set off (loosing all discounts I may have got, cool modules etc) and buy another one upon arriving and hope I can source all the original parts in the local systems. Both completely doable, but both a pain the .... and I would pay for the convenience of just having my little baby there with me.

For more realism maybe the paintwork is at 25% after the ordeal. Cowboy mechanics.

 

[DocLooshkin]

Converting ships into cargo is both utterly daft and a magnificent solution to a problem, neatly sidestepping a swathe of development and plausibility issues - although, since it's a minor problem in the first place, I suspect it's unlikely to happen.

Ships that can be disassembled for compact storage does make some sense, in the context of space stations which can seemingly sell us an infinite number of ships, without ever running out of stock*. It might seem implausible, but unless there's some kind of extra-dimensional space inside stations, there doesn't really seem to be enough room for all the ships they sell. Flat-pack starships would solve that particular quirk of the game.

It would also help explain why some lower-tech stations will buy ships from players who downgrade, but apparently never sell them to anyone else. While it's possible there's an NPC-only second-hand market, it seems more reasonable to me that those ships would be required to be safely disassembled and shipped to an approved service-centre, to ensure that they're fully spaceworthy and don't contain any nasty surprises. Otherwise, one power or faction might find it profitable to flood an opponent's market with subtly sabotaged ships, in order to damage their economy and kill large numbers of local pilots.

*I'm not certain of this - has anyone ever actually tried to exhaust a station's supply of Anacondas? Presumably, moneygrind enthusiasts would be in hog heaven with that one.