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External Pods on Starfighters
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, I'd been looking at this from a position that largely parallels real-world external pods for starfighters. However, some more recent computer games (Star Wars: Squadrons and Elite: Dangerous, in particular) have had me recently thinking in another direction.

As the most obvious example, I had been viewing in-flight refueling from a conventional perspective of ships in close formation extending a hose or pipe across the intervening space to transfer fuel. But the two video games mentioned above take an alternate approach: using droids or "limpets" to perform the transfer.

We already have some precedent in the films for space-going utility droids; in RotS, the hyperdrive ring that Obi-wan uses for the final jump to Utapau has a pair of small droids hovering very close to it, which I've always figured were using short-range tractor beams to hold the ring in position. And I very much doubt that's the only thing those little droids can be used for.

I'm not quite sure where I want to go with this at the moment, but I wanted to get it written down to see if anyone had any thoughts.
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Ray
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Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, North America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Sol, Western Arm, Milky Way

PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, think of it like mounting bombs/rockets/fuel tanks under the fuselage and wings of fighters since WWII (which was the basis for dogfighting in the Original Trilogy).

However, with Squadrons, it's almost more like modifications of specifications to various pieces of equipment. Adjusting the engines to do one thing rather than another, or armouring up places or changing out tougher armour for sensor-resistant armour.

Or outright changing what weapons are in the chin-mounts/wings of fighters. Heavy cannons for one mission, lighter but faster-firing and better energy usage for another.

I really, really, REALLY wish the X-Wing/TIE Fighter Sourcebook based off the X-Wing comics/novels had come out so we can figure out how to modify Starfighters (and maybe capital ships) rather than trying to backwards adjust things from Tramp Freighters...
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MrNexx
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know, a power droid with some simple manuevering abilities would work great at a refueling depot... park your frigate, send out the power droids (perhaps with tractor beams to get them to the ship, fuel them up, then have the power droids launch off, then get captured by tractor beams again.

If you're getting weird, you could use stock power droids with rocket packs. You're gonna have to teach them to fly, though...
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Ray
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Gonk." *Thud* "Gonk." *Thud* "Gonk."

"Whose idea was this?" "Yours." "Well, in my defense, I was unsupervised. And drunk."
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 12:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For the power levels needed to do what ships in the SWU do, a power droid wouldn't be enough. It makes far more sense to have a flying fuel tank that can transfer reactant mass to the onboard fusion / fission reactors aboard the ship itself/ Gonk droids are fine as portable generators or "starter carts" to run electrical systems on a ship/vehicle that hasn't powered up its own drives or reactors yet.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Ray
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, we'd be talking about a Starfighter/Capitalship Grade "Gonk" droid at this point, something likely too large for your gravity-based location.

I'd also see them quite useful as part of a repair droid, especially if the power generators are the damaged items on the ship in question. Alternatively, they could be supplying power to the smaller repair droids that can get inside the ship's biological spaces, by power cable-tethers so that they don't have to RTB because the batteries are running low.

Finally, Space Opera, Space Gonk Droids would be awesome!
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Joined: 05 Apr 2010
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The problem is efficiency. A Gonk Droid is, as near as I can tell, a walking miniature fusion reactor. From a peak output and efficiency standpoint, you're going to get far more power by providing fuel for the starfighter's own onboard fusion generators than you would by flying a smaller (and therefore less powerful) fusion reactor (which must carry its own fuel supply, as well) over to run a cable across to charge onboard batteries. You'll get far higher power output from splitting/fusing atoms than you will from a set of high-tech jumper cables.

Not that drones with onboard reactors wouldn't be feasible in other applications; one of the options in Squadrons is the Tactical Shield, which (as near as I can tell) puts a shield generator in a large missile/drone that flies formation with an allied ship to temporarily bolster its Shield Dice. A similar drone that provides Jamming or Recon support would similarly need a decent onboard power supply.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The concept of using Limpets/Drones is growing on me. It fits with how ubiquitous droids are in the SWU; they get used for just about everything. Slapping a droid brain into a cargo pod with a basic propulsion system fits well with the system. The one thing I'd do differently is to make them reusable. I'm not sure how it works in Squadrons, but in Elite: Dangerous, limpets are generic remotes that can perform a variety of different functions depending on what sort of Limpet Controller you equip your ship with, and are expended after a single use, and must be replaced. IMO, it makes far more sense in the setting to have a Drone that performs a single function, but that can return to the launching craft and be recharged / refueled for reuse.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Ray
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Joined: 31 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That would depend on the company manufacturing it hoping that their competitors more expensive, single purchase droids against their own cheaper, one-shot drones.

EDIT: But I see the Star Wars universe having something like what we saw in The Phantom Menace, where a rack of charging stands for Astromechs is close to a airlock to let them out to make repairs on the ship. Smaller ships might do something similar with, say, Mouse Droids or something of similar size (with a Droid Controller with a suitable Command skill to improve their low-end skills.).
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Again, it's a matter of efficiency and economy. The Empire, for example, might be more inclined pre-Endor to single-use disposable systems, whereas the Alliance would want to get as much use out of theirs as possible. And then post-Endor, the Empire would come to regret it...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Ray
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Posts: 1743
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, North America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Sol, Western Arm, Milky Way

PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Meanwhile corporations like Sorosuub and TaggeCo are laughing all the way to the bank.
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