On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 8:03 AM Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

On 22Jun2020 2348, xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:

> Really, a product like this ought to have an official online build
> tool. With that, the community could crank out a lot of designs fairly
> quickly (and the tool could do calcs of the number of standard deck
> plans squares the gear occupies - a la Ships for Windows III from Hugh
> Foster which does that).

For a product that came out in 1993 I think that's a pretty big ask.
That said, there were some fan-made spreadsheets out there that were a
great help in making FF&S ships, though they largely showed out after
GDW was gone (and Windows 95 + Office 95 made Excel common and
accessible to many more people).

Was looking at what should be the way things should be done today, not then.

I realize well the technical limits then.

>
> There should be standard storage containers in sized that optimally
> would fit in standard bay designs. I know ship designers like a blank
> canvas, but if you've noticed, cargo ships, barges, the gear for
> unloading cargo ships, tractor trailers, and even forklifts and trains
> all work to some similar standards. I can totally see that in the
> OTU's busier areas. It would *so* speed up goods handling.

I like mine containers to be 3m x 3m x 6m for 54 m^3, or 4 DTons. That's
a bit taller and wider than a standard 6m/20-foot container of today,
but in the same ballpark. Maximum weight would be about 40 tonnes gross.

Likely there might be multiples (1/2 that, 1/4 that, twice that, etc) in at least 2 of the dimensions. I doubt there would be but a single container size.

That said, if you design the containers first, then the ships are designed to integrate them, that might make a lot more sense.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>

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