Why would space freighters be significantly different from modern long distance trucking and shipping?
Large/bulk/time insensitive cargo The longest haul transports would be the biggest, and have the lowest crew per ton(huge cargo ships over water) >From those hubs you transport using smaller, and thus more expensive transports to smaller destinations until you get ships that make several deliveries/pickups on a set route from a local hub(long trains over land to depots, large trucks from train depots to stores and other large destinations/depots, smaller trucks on routes to smaller destinations[USPS/UPS/Fed-Ex delivery trucks]). Every step of the way uses the cheapest method for getting the cargo to an area that approximates the destination, and that generally means huge transports with small crews(people cost money for *every* trip, so you off-load as much as you can to things like common repair/maintenance facilities) And once automatic driving becomes available, Trucking will no-doubt be the first and biggest customer as much as the law allows it(at $0.40/mile and 50mph average, that is still a $20+/hr job where you average 12+hours/day[I think my state regulates 8 hours on/8 hours off for truckers], so a $5k self-driving rig modification pays for itself in 12,500 miles, or about 20 days(10 days if you use tandem drivers to keep your truck on the road 24 hours a day)) So: what does a freighter look like if it is either fully automated or has a minimum-wage security guard that just watches the radar and hits the panic button when the ship is damaged or under attack? Time sensitive cargo(costs a premium) Jets to Depots(possibly transferred to a truck if the depot is off-site or there is a sub-depot) and then trucks for final delivery in the local area(delivery trucks) For time-sensitive cargo you can use courtiers and other more expensive stuff because the total cost is not the ultimate driver, but when you are dealing with a CEO who needs bulk transport for bottom dollar, automated is probably the way to go(at least as far as the local laws allow). On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Abrigon <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry my end is having burps and like.. > > Not sure if its the cold weather, bad service, or my PC/laptop acting up > again.. > > I think I was going with the idea that a freighter might be mostly > automated, but an organic element would have to exist to keep hackers > or like from taking over remotely, or corrupting the system and the > system taking over and delivering the cargo with out much effort and > loss of life. > > Either from someone boarding the freighter or .. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> > http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l > _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
