Distant Worlds II Event DW II - Roles - Fleet Truckers

REGISTRATION FOR Rare Commodity GATHERERS IS OPEN HERE
Discord for Fleet Truckers, here.
08/12//2018 - Outfitting guide released:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/462605-Distant-Worlds-II-The-Outfitting-Guide?p=7228549

Fleet Truckers


In Distant Worlds II, Fleet Logistics is a roleplay role that calls on the expedition's best haulers, truckers and traders, to keep the fleet afloat.
It is a meta-game that adds an added sense of realism to the distant worlds endeavour that is loosely based on the original Distant World's Cargo Haulage role.

It is said that our first encounter with the Thargoids will determine our relationship with them. If we are hostile, expect to die. If there are Thargoid outposts out there that we somehow stumble upon, and they allow us to dock, having trade goods may be a good idea. Just don't take bug spray, they may get the wrong idea!

There is one major and two supporting roles in Fleet Logistics, The Truckers, followed by the warehouse and the gatherer.
Truckers
Some of you may remember me as the pilot of the flagship of the Distant Worlds Expedition.

4gcjaxn.jpg

Photo credits to CMDR simonharrison.
I flew a type 9 before there were engineers with a measly jump range of 18.2 ly. But most importantly than that, I didn't bring a type-9 out in the black for no reason. I brought Cargo to trade!
64 tons of cargo was collected a day before the expedition, some by myself, others donated with credits to themselves or their faction, written in a manifest. The idea was the bring these rare commodities from the bubble to the other end of the galaxy, in hope to trade with new found alien races or for our mutual enjoyment at the party at the edge of the abyss. It was an amazing experience to be a carrier of a collected assortment of rares, each with their own stories and histories.​

This year, We should go bigger!

There are a total of 129 available rare commodities found in the galaxy and I think we should bring one of each (and probably a few spares) to Beagle Point.


I only managed to acquire 40 different rares from the bubble to Beagle Point and only had a day to gather them. This year... this expedition, with much more time to plan this, we can haul all of them with redundancies to boot!
Truckers will be preloaded with one of 45 tons of rares for their platform. The current idea of how to allocate rares based on platform is in the Discord. If you wish to sign up as a trader, you must sign up for the distant worlds expedition and join us on the journey.

The support roles
Before the expedition begins, we'll need volunteers to help collect and stores rares. Here is a description of two support roles and what will occur.

Gatherer
Gatherers are pilots who will gather all the rare commodities prior to launch. They may not be coming on the expedition so anyone can help, not just expedition members.
Gatherers will drop their rares off with a CMDR who will be flying a warehouse ship.
When it gets closer to launch day, Tradeships will be preloaded with these rares.
A medium ship to gather the rares would be best. Join the discord at the top of this post to help out.

Warehouse
Warehouses are ships involved in helping store rare commodities that the gatherers pickup for safekeeping until before the expedition for preloading onto the Truckers.
They require a large ship with large cargo space. A type 9 at least with an Imperial Cutter at best. They wouldn't be able to play using their warehouse account very much as it may risk losing the rares.
This is an advance CMDR role only recommended for CMDRs with multiple spare accounts... to spare.

Prep Week Preload
Gatherers will gather all rares and store them in warehouse ships. This should be completed at latest, one month before the expedition.
one-two weeks before the expedition launch, truckers will be preloaded with rare commodities from the warehouse ship from a private group.
They will sit tight until launch date.

Outfitting Guide

There will be an outfitting guide for folks interested in trucking located here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...II-The-Outfitting-Guide?p=7228549#post7228549
Watch this psace.

Let me know if you have any questions or feedback. If you like this, or know someone who's interested, share it. See you! ^^

Notes:
With regards to carrying the water needed. I refer you to this diagram which I've yet to figure out how much water would be needed based on Transhab.​
Personally I think it's too tedious for a meta-game mechanic and if we really needed more water, in universe wise, we could just mine it from ice asteroids. Food is much harder to come by. With regards to the gargantuan amount of food we have to bring, remember that it's dependent on how many people will be coming, and we can definitely make it easier or harder depending on how we feel about the outcome and what we deem to be the efficiencies of hydroponics in limited spaces in our ships.
dTWbz9B.jpg
List of all rares and their locations produced from the fine folks in the Rare Commodity List thread, updated 2018-02-15​
16 LyraeBudrys RingLyrae Weed
17 LyraeLangford EnterpriseUltra-Compact Processor
36 Ophiuchi (Independent)Katzenstein Dock (4,218,813ls)Ophiuch Exino Artefacts
39 Tauri (Independent)Porta (990ls)Tauri Chimes
47 Ceti (Empire)Glushko Station (600,000ls)Aepyornis Egg
47 Ceti (Empire)Kaufmanis Hub (600,000ls)Ceti Rabbits
9 AurigaeHunt Enterprise (66,200ls)Saxon Wine
Aegaeon (Federation)Schweikart Station (11,600ls)Chateau De Aegaeon
Aerial (Independent)Andrade Legacy (180ls)Eden Apples of Aerial
Alacarakmo (Independent)Weyl Gateway (16ls)Alacarakmo Skin Art
Alpha CentauriHutton Oribtal (0.22ly)Hutton Mug
Alpha Centauri (Federation)Hutton Oribtal (0.22ly)Centauri Mega Gin
Altair (Federation)Solo Orbiter (667ls)Altairian Skin
Alya (Independent)Malaspina Gateway (540,000ls)Alya Body Soup
Anduliga (Empire)Celsius Estate (626,220ls)Anduliga Fire Works
Any Na (Federation)Libby Orbital (581ls)Any Na Coffee
Arouca (Independent)Shipton Orbital (410ls)Arouca Conventula Sweets
Arque (Alliance)Baird Gateway (586ls)Shan's Charis Orchid
AZ Cancri (Fedration)Fisher Station (16ls)Az Cancri Formula 42
Baltah'Sine (independent)Baltha'sine Station (356Ls)Baltha'sine Vacuum Krill
Banki (Federation)Antonio De Andrade Vista (531,869ls)Banki Amphibious Leather
Bast (Federation)Hart Station (202ls)Bast Snake Gin
Belalans (Empire)Boscovich RingBelalans Ray Leather
BentoSnow MoonCrystalline Spheres
Borasetani (Alliance)Katzenstien TerminalBorasetani Pathogenetics
CD-75 661 (Empire)Kirk Dock (339ls)CD-75 Kitten Brand Coffee
Cherbones (Alliance)Chalker Landing (576,740ls)Cherbones Blood Crystals
Chi Eridani (Federation)Steve Masters station (2,184ls)Chi Eridani Marine Paste
Colonia (Independent)Jaques StationJaques Queintian Still
Coquim (Empire)Hirayama Installation (606ls)Coquim Spongiform Victuals
CromChorel SurvayCrom Silver Fesh
Damna (Independent)Nemere Market (2,532ls)Damna Carapaces
Delta Phoenicis (Empire)Trading Post (3760ls)Delta Phoenicis Palms
Deuringas (Federation)Shukor Hub (798ls)Deuringas Truffles
Diso (Alliance)Shifnalport (284ls)Diso Ma Corn
Eleu (Independent)Finney Dock (333ls)Eleu Thermals
Epsilon IndiMansfield Orbiter (143ls)Indi Bourbon
Eranin (Independent)Azeban City (290ls)Eranin Pearl Whiskey
Eshu (Empire)Shajn TerminalEshu Umbrellas
EsusekuSavinykh Orbital (275ls)Esuseku Caviar
Ethgreze (Alliance)Bloch Station (348ls)Ethgreze Tea Buds
Fujin (Independent)Futen Spaceport (559ls)Fujin Tea
Geawen (Independent)Obruchev Legacy (426,261ls)Geawen Dance Dust
George Pantazis (Fedration)Zakam Platform (45ls)Pantaa Prayer Sticks
Geras (Federation)Yurchikhin Port (1,052,931ls)Gerasian Gueuze Beer
Goman (Empire)Gustav Sporer PortGoman Yaupon Coffee
Haiden (Federation)Searfoss Enterprise (561,080ls)Haidne Black Brew
HarmaGabriel EnterpriseHarma Silver Sea Rum
Havasupai (Federation)Lovelace Port (601,314ls)Havasupai Dream Catcher
Hecate (Independent)RJH1972 (525ls)Live Hecate Sea Worms
HeikeBrunel CityCeremonial Heike Tea
HelvetitjFriend OrbitalHelvetitj Pearls
HIP 10175 (Federation)Stefanyshyn-Piper Station (4850ls)HIP 10175 Bush Meat
HIP 112974La Cosa CityOnionhead Beta Strain
HIP 118311Lubbock MarketHIP 118311 Swarm
HIP 41181Andersson Station (536,714ls)HIP Proto-Squid
HIP 59533Burnham Beacon (529,600ls)Burnham Bile Distillate
HIP 80364Stasheff Colony (2632ls)HIP Organophospates
HolvaKreutz Orbital (22,000ls)Holva Duelling Blades
HR 7221 (Empire)Veron City (1,886ls)HR 7221 Wheat
IrukamaBlaauw CityGiant Irukama Snails
Jaradharre (Federation)Gohar Station (526,178ls)Jaradharre Puzzle Box
JarouaMccool CityJaroua Rice
Jotun (Independent)Icelock (80ls)Jotun Mookah
Kachirigin (Federation)Nowak Orbital (340ls)Kachirigin Filter Leeches
KamitraHammel TerminalKamitra Cigars
Kamorin (Independent)Godwin Vision (445ls)Kamorin Historic Weapons
Kappa Fornacis (Independent)Harvestport (918ls)Onion Head
KaretiiSinclair PlatformKaretii Couture
Karsuki TiWest Market (28ls)Karsuki Locusts
Kinago (Independent)Fozard Ring (1,723ls)Kinago Violins
Kongga (Federation)Laplace Ring (250ls)Kongga Ale
Korro Kung (Federation)Lonchakov Orbital (622,040ls)Koro Kung Pellets
Lave (Alliance)Lave Station (284ls)Lavian Brandy
LDS 883Smith Reserve (54480ls)Chameleon Cloth
Leesti (Alliance)George Lucas (261ls)Azure Milk
Leesti (Alliance)George Lucas (261ls)Leestian Evil Juice
LFT 1421Ehrlich Orbital (773,000ls)Void Extract Coffee
LHS 3447Bluford OrbitalGalactic Travels Guides
LP 375-25 (Alliance)King Gateway (514,700ls)Honesty Pills
LTT 8517Euclid Terminal (~700,000ls)Non Euclidian Exotanks
LTT 9360 (Federation)Smeaton Orbital (1,872,590ls)Ltt Hyper Sweet
Mechucos (Fedration)Brandenstein Port (534,137ls)Mechucos High Tea
MedbVela Dock (1,686,844ls)Medb Starlube
MokojingNoli Terminal (539,400ls)Mokojing Beast Feast
Momus ReachTartarus Point (420ls)Momus Bog Spaniel
Mukusubii (Independent)Ledyard Dock (505,430ls)Mukusubii Chitin-os
MulachiClark Terminal (690,000ls)Mulachi Giant Fungus
Neritus (Independent)Toll Ring (524ls)Neritus Berries
Ngadandari (Empire)Napier Terminal (502,357ls)Ngadandari Fire Opals
Nguna (Independent)Biggle Hub (1870ls)Nguna Modern Antiques
NguriiCheranovsky City (1265ls)Soontill Relics
NjambalbaPersonal Gifts
NjangariLee HubNjangari Saddles
NotiWeber GatewayMaster Chefs
Ochoeng (Independent)Roddenberry Gateway (484ls)Ochoeng Chillies
Orrere (Independent)Sharon Lee Free Market (961ls)Orrerian Vicious Brew
Phiagre (Independent)Greeboski's Outpost (85ls)Giant Verrix
QuechuaCrown Ring (120ls)Albino Quechua Mammoth Meat
Rajukru (Federation)Snyder Terminal (117ls)Rajukru Multi-Stoves
Rapa BaoFlagg Gateway (2,338ls)Rapa Bao Snake Skins
RusaniFernandes MarketRusani Old Smokey
SanumaDunyach Gateway (6,000ls)Sanuma Decorative Meat
Shinrarta DezhraJameson Memorial (346ls)Waters of Shintara
SothisNewholm StationSothis Crystalline Gold
TanmarkCassie-L-Peia (414ls)Lucan Onion Head
TanmarkCassie-L-Peia (414ls)Tanmark Tranquil Tea
Tarach Tor (Independent)Tranquillity (359ls)Tarach Spice
Terra Mater (Independent)Gr8minds (504LS)Terra Mater Blood Bores
ThrutisKingsbury Dock (288ls)Thrutis Cream
TiolceGordon Terminal (158ls)Tiolce Waste 2 Paste
Toxandji (Independent)Tsunenaga Orbital (7,622ls)Toxandji Virocide
Uszaa (Independent)Guest Installation (4,350ls)Uszaian Tree Grub
UtgaroarFort Klarix (171ls)Utgaroar Millennial Eggs
UzumokuSverdrup Ring (505,300ls)Uzumoku Low-G Wings
V1090 Herculis (Federation)Kaku Plant (1,233,592ls)Herculis Body Rub
Vanayequi (Independant)Clauss HubVanayequi Ceratomorpha Fur
Vega (Federal)Taylor City (1,100Ls)Vega Slimweed
Vidavanta (Federation)Lee Mines (556,882ls)Vidavantian Lace
Volkhab (Federation)Vernadsky Dock (408ls)Volkhab Bee Drones
Wheemete (Empire)Eisinga Enterprise (551,628ls)Wheemete Wheat Cakes
Witchhaul (Fedration)Hornby Terminal (219ls)Witchhaul Kobe Beef
Wulpa (Independent)Williams Gateway (28ls)Wulpa Hyperbore Systems
Wuthielo Ku (Empire)Tarter DockWuthielo Ku Froth
XelabaraNavigator MarketOnionhead Alpha Strain
XiheZhen Dock (1941ls)Xihe Biomorphic Companions
Yaso Kondi (Empire)Wheeler MarketYaso Kondi Leaf
Zaonce (Alliance)Ridley Scott (390ls)Leathery Eggs
Zeessze (Federation)Nicollier Hanger (489ls)Zeessze Ant Grub Glue

Depreciated version of the Trucker role
This was the original trucker role that is here only for reference and is not being carried out.
An army marches on its stomach and so does the Distant Worlds II Fleet. There will be thousands of explorers on this expedition. The one thing we all need is food, water and air.

The truckers will be in charge of carrying all the food required for 2000+ people on a 10 month voyage into the abyss...We are going to be out in the black for a very long time and there's no promises we can grow all of our own food. As explorers we need to bring everything that our crew will need for this journey and that includes food.
I have done the calculations for this based on the wonderful resource that is Atomic Rocket's page on life support, I have come to these numbers based on a few assumptions in green and yellow.
Ships2250 Ships
Crew6750 Crew
Duration304 Days


Total daily per person2.3kg
Frozen0.7kg
Chilled1.3kg
Fresh0.3kg
Food Storage0.012m3
1 shipping tonne2.832m3


Total4722187.5kg
Daily Frozen1369434.4kg
Daily Chilled2691646.9kg
Daily Fresh661106.3kg
Storage24637.500m3
Total food tonnes8701.0 units
10% of Fleet if Truckers39
No. of Ships with 128 units to carry food68
Note: These values will change depending on how many CMDRs come on the expedition.

The bottom line is, if our fleet can carry near 9000 units of food. And this can be Meat, Fish, Algae, Food Cartridges, Grain, Synthetic Meat, Fruit and Vegetables or any of the rare commodity food that we could in roleplay, actually supply the entire fleet with all of its daily needs!

This role requires you CMDRs to join up and pledge to help carry cargo. Hopefully together, we can reach that near 9000 unit target by distributing this demand to as many members of the expedition as possible to make the burden less problematic. I hope to see CMDRs interested in this role during the expedition. We're counting on you. o7

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Maybe we'll have other commercial ships (panther clipper ?) in Q4. It's going to be a very interesting gameplay.
 

Deleted member 110222

D
I only fly a Cobra. And I'll be on Xbox.

But I'll be happy to fly it in a cargo configuration. No matter what happens I'll be able to maintain at least 16t cargo. That's 16 different rare goods. Not sure if being on Xbox will have any impact though. :s
 
I like the idea of it so please have some rep.

But i always like to think of Livesupport modules also being capable of generating food and purifying water, rather than just being an 80 ton air filter and a couple of pumps and vents. Not sure if it's necessary to bring meat and fish and water out as well. Rares on the other hand - or alcoholic beverages for that matter - may be a good idea. There's no great story involving a vegan and alcohol free party that i know of :-D

o7
 
I only fly a Cobra. And I'll be on Xbox.

But I'll be happy to fly it in a cargo configuration. No matter what happens I'll be able to maintain at least 16t cargo. That's 16 different rare goods. Not sure if being on Xbox will have any impact though. :s

Well I’m on Xbox too so I hope it doesn’t matter. Maybe a set of rares per platform? Or share them between all?
 
But i always like to think of Livesupport modules also being capable of generating food and purifying water, rather than just being an 80 ton air filter and a couple of pumps and vents

This is my impression, too: that our life support systems are closed to some degree - oxygen isn't something we resupply in port (save for emergency oxygen in our remloks), so clearly the life support system handles that. Presumably we recycle water, as well - they're starting to experiment with that on the ISS, so it's not a stretch. Looking at food cartridges, too, we clearly have ways of "3D printing" food. The big open question to me is "can our life support systems recycle waste into food, or do we simply bring a bunch of food cartridges with us?" Since food isn't something we resupply in port, I'm leaning towards the former. Looking at the sorts of things which are resupplied (remlok oxygen, fuel, ammo of various sorts), I think this is intentional.

That said, looking at the description of food cartridges, it sounds like they're reasonable at producing facsimiles of processed, homogeneous food (hot dogs, etc), but maybe aren't so great at producing heterogeneous, unprocessed food (tomatoes, etc). Looking at the mass difference in different grades of life support, too, suggests that the D rated systems we favor as explorers probably produce fairly monotonous fare. This suggests to me that leaning towards fresh foods and rare trade goods is the way to go, but also that we could possibly handle bringing a smaller amount.

In other words, I love this idea, and I want to math with it. ;)
 
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This is my impression, too: that our life support systems are closed to some degree - oxygen isn't something we resupply in port (save for emergency oxygen in our remloks), so clearly the life support system handles that. Presumably we recycle water, as well - they're starting to experiment with that on the ISS, so it's not a stretch. Looking at food cartridges, too, we clearly have ways of "3D printing" food. The big open question to me is "can our life support systems recycle waste into food, or do we simply bring a bunch of food cartridges with us?" Since food isn't something we resupply in port, I'm leaning towards the former. Looking at the sorts of things which are resupplied (remlok oxygen, fuel, ammo of various sorts), I think this is intentional.

That said, looking at the description of food cartridges, it sounds like they're reasonable at producing facsimiles of processed, homogeneous food (hot dogs, etc), but maybe aren't so great at producing heterogeneous, unprocessed food (tomatoes, etc). Looking at the mass difference in different grades of life support, too, suggests that the D rated systems we favor as explorers probably produce fairly monotonous fare. This suggests to me that leaning towards fresh foods and rare trade goods is the way to go, but also that we could possibly handle bringing a smaller amount.

In other words, I love this idea, and I want to math with it. ;)

Exactly, a D rated will supply you with powerbars of your favorite flavor whereas the A rated will bring along a regrowing cow or two and a few hens that lay eggs plus a Quentian Still and a mobile brewery for those special moments when having a blast just involves beer or so
 
I don't see Buckyball Beer Mats on the list! You get them from Rebuy Prospect in the Fullerene C60 system. I forget the distance to the station but it's not far - about 300 ls or so.
.
This is a good idea but if there's a fleet carrier or megaship, then I don't see the need to have everything on our own ships. It would still be nice to have a few rares for potential trading, especially if the megaship doesn't have a commodities market. Perhaps the megaship would only have regular foodstuffs... .
.
In my EDRPG campaign, which is set on the Imperial Frontier where there are no agricultural economies, the industrial economies manufacture food cartridges. These are collections of proteins, sugars and other basic ingredients that can be synthesised from raw materials, such as the hydrocarbons and ices found in icy rings. They are not healthy for long periods as they do not contain enough of the other/heavier elements that people need, like iron and calcium. Vitamin molecules can be quite complex and the 'food chefs' that combine these ingredients, heat and print them are unable to completely address all the nutritional requirements. Famine and malnutrition are recurring problems on the frontier as a result and shipments of fresh food from the core worlds are very important. Perhaps the megaship could have a hydroponics bay where fresh food can be grown? Perhaps a CG to construct the megaship would have a hydroponics bay as one tier, or part of the facilities gained upon reaching a certain tier?
.
On DW1 I brought 1t of Sothis Crystalline Gold and 1t of Rajukru Multi-stoves iirc. I never got a chance to do anything with them and sold them when I got back, along with the occupied escape pods I picked up during the expedition. (Is there a Search and Rescue role in the fleet?). I would not count on having any opportunities to trade, so this is just role-playing for fun. I'll think it over but whether I decide to carry cargo or not I can hopefully help out as a Gatherer since I have all the currently-available permits (CQC system excepted). Right now my main concern is whether I will even be able to run the game post-Q4 of Beyond; I may need a new computer to take part, as my laptop will be four years old by then.
 
But i always like to think of Livesupport modules also being capable of generating food and purifying water, rather than just being an 80 ton air filter and a couple of pumps and vents. Not sure if it's necessary to bring meat and fish and water out as well. Rares on the other hand - or alcoholic beverages for that matter - may be a good idea. There's no great story involving a vegan and alcohol free party that i know of :-D

o7

There's a diagram in one of the spoilers for transhab's life support system that provides oxygen and water. Even then, some water, and methane are lost from the system, either vented into space or what not. No system will be perfect there will always be losses. t "gather some ice."While I couldn't wrap my head and precisely calculate the losses, I believe it is no less than 550 units. which isn't a lot of losses for a 2000+ fleet. Fortunately for us in this future, it's quite easy to go up on an ice asteroid and just "gather ice"

It's harder to do that with complex molecules that make up our food sources. Maybe they'll help a tiny amount with upkeep but they will not be "regrowing cow or two and a few hens"

This is my impression, too: that our life support systems are closed to some degree - oxygen isn't something we resupply in port (save for emergency oxygen in our remloks), so clearly the life support system handles that. Presumably we recycle water, as well - they're starting to experiment with that on the ISS, so it's not a stretch. Looking at food cartridges, too, we clearly have ways of "3D printing" food. The big open question to me is "can our life support systems recycle waste into food, or do we simply bring a bunch of food cartridges with us?" Since food isn't something we resupply in port, I'm leaning towards the former. Looking at the sorts of things which are resupplied (remlok oxygen, fuel, ammo of various sorts), I think this is intentional.

I think this is mostly done for gameplay reasons. Hunger meters work in survival games, but they break up and slow down the pace of the game in an already difficult and tedious galaxy. Water is easier to recycle than food. Food requires us to have... according to Atomic Rockets, I love that the galaxy runs on mostly 3D printed food and Algae as well. It's so authentic to the issues of food production. I think we can probably reduce the amount of food we need to bring (owing to a small amount of farming we'll all have to do in our ships)

latest

However... there are issues with that approach
Chris Wolfe (2016 said:
Feeding a person requires about 40m³ of hydroponics volume (including row spacing, aisles, nutrient storage, equipment, seeding areas, etc., etc.)...

Plug that into the equations and you get:​
Hydroponics units per crew14.13 units
Total hydroponics volume95352.5 units
10% of Fleet if carrying423.79 units per ship

Hydroponics for a Closed Ecological Life Support System stakes up a lot of space. A lot more than if we carried the food ourselves.

As much as I'd like to do it with that approach. It's simply not viable yet because we aren't going to be out in the black long enough to warrant this.
5BIyaDK.png
 
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I don't see Buckyball Beer Mats on the list! You get them from Rebuy Prospect in the Fullerene C60 system. I forget the distance to the station but it's not far - about 300 ls or so.
Oh you found a new one! Post it on the rare commodities thread list!
Perhaps the megaship could have a hydroponics bay where fresh food can be grown? Perhaps a CG to construct the megaship would have a hydroponics bay as one tier, or part of the facilities gained upon reaching a certain tier?
I like the idea of CGs or Non-CGs to build, stock and fuel the carrier before launch.

This is a good idea but if there's a fleet carrier or megaship, then I don't see the need to have everything on our own ships. It would still be nice to have a few rares for potential trading, especially if the megaship doesn't have a commodities market. Perhaps the megaship would only have regular foodstuffs... .[/QUOTE]
We're not sure what we'll be getting from the fleet carrier implementation at the moment. The trucker role prepares for that just in case.

I would not count on having any opportunities to trade, so this is just role-playing for fun. I'll think it over but whether I decide to carry cargo or not I can hopefully help out as a Gatherer since I have all the currently-available permits (CQC system excepted).
My idea for the trader role is that at beagle points, you can give cargo to people. You'd be gift givers. There are porbably other ideas that you folks may think of, Please share them! :) I want your ideas. But yes this is very roleplay and very inspired by the old cargo haulers role. That said, we could do something that's not been done. Bringing a hundred and thirty rares! to the other side of the galaxy! Wouldn't that be cool?

Right now my main concern is whether I will even be able to run the game post-Q4 of Beyond; I may need a new computer to take part, as my laptop will be four years old by then.

Gatherers will definitely be needed. finding the most optimal route to gather rares will be good.

I only fly a Cobra. And I'll be on Xbox.

But I'll be happy to fly it in a cargo configuration. No matter what happens I'll be able to maintain at least 16t cargo. That's 16 different rare goods. Not sure if being on Xbox will have any impact though. :s

Of course! having different truckers and traders on various platforms is good for all of us! We'll make it the first cross platform project we can contribute to. everyone across platform contributes to the required amount of food and rare commodities.
 
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Deleted member 110222

D
Oh you found a new one! Post it on the rare commodities thread list!

I like the idea of CGs or Non-CGs to build, stock and fuel the carrier before launch.

This is a good idea but if there's a fleet carrier or megaship, then I don't see the need to have everything on our own ships. It would still be nice to have a few rares for potential trading, especially if the megaship doesn't have a commodities market. Perhaps the megaship would only have regular foodstuffs... .
We're not sure what we'll be getting from the fleet carrier implementation at the moment. The trucker role prepares for that just in case.


My idea for the trader role is that at beagle points, you can give cargo to people. You'd be gift givers. There are porbably other ideas that you folks may think of, Please share them! :) I want your ideas. But yes this is very roleplay and very inspired by the old cargo haulers role. That said, we could do something that's not been done. Bringing a hundred and thirty rares! to the other side of the galaxy! Wouldn't that be cool?



Gatherers will definitely be needed. finding the most optimal route to gather rares will be good.



Of course! having different truckers and traders on various platforms is good for all of us! We'll make it the first cross platform project we can contribute to. everyone across platform contributes to the required amount of food and rare commodities.[/QUOTE]

Awesome, cheers.

Already know how to outfit my brig then! Just need to buy some lightweight parts. :)
 
Oh good idea! Count me in as a trucker or trader, whichever role is needed most. I'm planning on bringing my 'conda "Green Giant", so it's only fitting if it's hauling vegetables and Diso Ma Corn, right? :D
 
I'll bring a Hutton Orbital mug. It'll probably take me at least as long to get to HO as to BEagle Point anyway
 
Closed Ecological Life Support Systems

tl;dr: I think our ships are more successful at managing food recycling than you're giving them credit for, which would put the focus on rares and the sorts of heterogeneous "real" foodstuffs that our food printers probably aren't great at producing. I'm not trying to shoot down this RP idea for what are effectively RP reasons. Instead, I'm just suggesting that the RP reasons inform our choice of what to do for the RP idea.

Wall o' text version:

Most of our ships are old designs, from a time when hyperspace travel took a very long time. The advantage here is that, especially in light of modern miniaturized components[1], they're probably relatively roomy inside. Couple that with the mass of a life support system, food cartridge technology, and the tremendous amount of power produced by our power plants, and I think a compact CELSS is feasible.

Recycling air and water are not terribly difficult. There are working systems today. Call those things solved. Where we really run into issues is food production. We need a way to recycle waste into food. Or, at least, into whatever goes into a food cartridge. My suspicion is that makes it easier. The food doesn't have to be palatable. It doesn't have to be varied or tasty or anything other than nutritious.

Experiments and calculations[2] suggest that algaeculture is capable of converting waste to algae with a yield of between 2.5 and 100 grams per liter per day. 2.5 g/l sounds too pessimistic (it's based on Chlorella, which is not the most nutrient dense algae, in a 1953 experement with a crude CELSS) and 100 g/l too optimistic, so let's assume 20 g/l. 1 gram of Spirulina is about 10 calories, so 540 grams is a 2500 calorie diet. Of green slime. However, that green slime contains all the basic building blocks of food, so if we could convert it to food cartridge refills, we're golden. Let's assume, for pessimism's sake, that the conversion process is inefficient, and so we need 5 grams of algae to produce 1 gram of food cartridge material. Our 540 grams per person turns into 2700 grams. At 20 g/l, that's 135 kg. Since the lightest life support system on a Sidewinder is half a ton, this seems to work. 135 for food printer material (I imagine the food cartridge material would feed directly into a food printer, without the use of cartridges), and the other 365 kg for heat, air, and water recycling. Add a small store for the additives that you can't produce this way (the spacer's equivelant of vitamins and minerals, tailored to their diet), and you've got a perfectly servicable CELSS.

Now, food printers sound like they don't do a great job at making really compelling food. Hot dogs taste good, but would you want to eat them every day? That's where you'd possibly want to get into hydroponics, but that requires space that might not be there on a small ship. But it's possible, by dedicating cargo bay space or making unwarranted assumptions about the ancestry of a ship.

I fly an Asp Explorer, for instance. It's the civilian version of the Asp II, a military ship used as a courier or to insert and recover military squads[3], and a crew of 2. To make the thing worthwhile, it probably needs to be able to carry at least 6 marines (total guess), so the lifesystem is sized to support up to 8, and there's likely a bunkroom and living space in the ship for those 6 marines. The Asp Explorer probably reuses this space for something else, but in my own roleplay my ship is a military surplus Asp II that's been repurposed into an exploration ship. In my ship, that space has been converted to hydroponics, producing easy to grow vegetables to suppliment what the food printer makes. With the proper application of handwavium, you could imagine that the additional space provides some small supply of things like cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and Lavian starfruit. None of which is needed for life (the algae-to-food-printer-material thing handles that), but they make printed food a little easier to take on a long voyage.

[1] Sidewinder description ("Modern, compact drives...").
[2] http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/lifesupport.php (algaeculture).
[3] Elite Dangerous RPG rulebook. I'm on the fence as far as its canon-icity goes, but it's got a license, so I'll run with it.
 
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