Regarding the pod/shuttle/starship model, I'm growing less convinced right now.
If manned habitat pods are lifted into orbit, moved around, and finally attached to a starship for transfer, they need not just a "space-proof hull" (seal, radiation shielding, and decent DR) like a cargo pod, they should also have a redundant power supply, life support, etc. In a big ship, I can get away with a dozen systems rated at 10% of the required capacity, so ten out of twelve must be kept running, or something like that, plus repair capacity to bring failed units back on line. In a smaller pod without engineering staff and workshops, I would probably want 200% or 300% redundancy with two or three systems, each capable of meeting a minimal demand. Of course both tugs and starships could have some reserve capacity; a loss of life support and power during docking ops would not be immediately fatal to the colonists. But that would imply specialized shuttles and ships -- normal cargo boxes don't need life support, after all. On the other hand, if the pods are to serve as habitats on hostile worlds/moons, not just as colonists transfer pods, bringing enough life support for reliable operations is a feature, not a bug. You could assemble a modular base in the home system, run checks, and then spacelift the cans separately to the destination. _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
