How many cubic meters for each 'ton' of cargo space?

[JohnLydiaParker]

Cut-off part of title - (drawing deckplans)
Currently I'm drawing up a bunch of deckplans for smaller ships, and that leads directly to the question of how many cubic meters to allocate for each ton of cargo capacity. Pretty much a self-explanatory question, but one I rather suspect there's not much agreement.

[CRMcNeill]

The rule of thumb is 1m^3 for every 2 metric tons of cargo. This assumes you’re hauling solid cargo, as 1m^3 of water is 1 metric ton.
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"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

[pakman]

TLDR: I use 10 tons per 5' square on a grid.

That is based on averages on shipping and the types of storage one typical mixed use smaller transports (i.e. not huge vessels with large standardized cargo design).

Longer Version:
Like many status, the cargo limits on ships in most games are - a bit high.
Unless hauling stuff that is very dense and/or packed very very tight - cargo takes up a lot of space.

Also- you are correct about one thing - among gamers, there is not much agreement.... however - in shipping - there is.

A moderate weight for one pallet of cargo is about 1000lbs.
A heavy weight would be 2000lbs. But many can be more - A LOT MORE - shipping canned vegetables is more heavy than shipping cereal boxes or furniture (while heavy - furniture is large....). Scrap metal or fusion generators....a lot more.

So this can vary by cargo type /industry (I, like some others on the pit, have worked in logistics and transportation for years - shipping milk, meat and canned goods - that stuff is heavy. Shipping potato chips, toilet paper or apparel - lighter. But star wars is not "shipping simulator" so numbers that are averages - are close enough).

For more interesting reading;
https://woodrebirth.com/what-is-the-average-weight-of-a-pallet-of-freight/#Common_Weight_Ranges_of_Palletized_Freight

Going back to your question - I feel a cubic meter capacity is not as useful - well - because unless you are filling a bulk tank with water, gravel or grain - you never get to use most of an odd shaped cargo hold - especially the kind you see in game with ships that are designed to look cool over be efficient in design.

You could go into a ton of analysis on different cargo types, how they are packed - etc. But honestly - for our game of space wizards where most tramp freighters are carrying boxes or bulky things - I just use 10 tons per square on a map. (5' or 1.5m square).
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[JohnLydiaParker]

I'm convinced most light freighters are undersized (long story), and my current plan for a Baudo (currently sized at 38 meters; most plans greatly overestimate the amount of space forward) I can only summon up 22-28 square meters of floor space, perhaps a fifth or more of it at less then full deck height, and divided into two holds, a bit oddly shaped. (The 'reduced height' runs along the side, extends outward 1.5 m and perhaps 1.5 m high)

(Only 4 1.5 m square "pallets" total, plus two in the reduced height area. Plus 2 more meter square sized pallets in the full height and 4 in the reduced height, and cargo can be traded for up to 4 fully assembled speeder bikes due to exterior doors. Being able to load a small landspeeder or tiny airspeeder on either or both sides instead is within minor customization, and trading off some living space. (This is for a standard" yacht config with 35 tons of cargo; a typical smuggler/freighter conversion can easily add up about an additional 20 1.5m "pallets," or around 130+? cubic meters more by replacing some of the passenger quarters with a common area and turning the two "luxury blisters" to cargo.) (Single deck "flatter" end of the interpretation of its shape.)

Still, it's a yacht, so that might not be too much of a problem. Sound good enough?


Giving the YT-2400 the same upscale the Falcon received, I was able to fit 53 1.5m "pallets", perhaps 120-140 square meters of floor space, and around 300-350 cubic meters, depending on the how high the decks are and where. Would that make it too much of an upscale?
(10 tons per pallet sounds pretty dense...)

[CRMcNeill]

Check the www button at the bottom of my post. It links to my Google Drive, where I have a pretty extensive collection of deckplans, including one for the Baudo.
_________________
"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

[ThrorII]

Tramp Freighters states a stock light freighter can hold 100 tons and has 40 m3 of cargo space.

That yields 2.5 tons per m3.
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[CRMcNeill]

[FVBonura]

I have discussed this topic on other forums. I work for FedEx and will share what I am allowed to share about logistics with you potential customers.

FedEx charges by volume and weight, which ever is greater. If the package is large and light, we charge by volume multiplied by "Dimensional Weight". If the package is small and heavy, we charge by weight. Space on the aircraft is at a premium. Space is money!

"Dimensional Weight" is established by taking the average density of all cargo shipped by FedEx. The formula was developed decades ago and works out in metric as:

FedEx Dimensional Weight Formula

1m^3 = 200kg

Dimensional weight in kg per package = Length x Height x Width in cm / 5,000

You will note in "D6 Spaceships" on page 33:

[willg]

[FVBonura]

I was just reading Galaxy Guide 6, First and Second Edition. I noticed all the tramp freighters in First Edition have a cargo ratio of 2,500kg (2.5mt) per cubic meter. Density that high would damage an aircraft. I also noticed that all mention of cargo volume was removed from Second Edition. I suspect someone at West End Games, Eric Trautmann would be my best guess, either talked to someone in the logistics industry or read the rules for dimensional weight and left the metric ambiguous for Second Edition. D6 Space/Spaceships then finally gave us specific mass and volume of 200kg / m^3.

Increasing light freighters by +50% in all dimensions increases internal cargo volume.

1.50 x 1.50 x 1.50 = 3.375

Almost 4x the cargo space. It wont get us to 2,500 kg / m^3 but it helps a great deal.
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Star Wars Prequel Commentary

[Ziz]

Somewhere in my internet travels (here, maybe?) I found a chart from GG6 1E that was left out of GG6 2E.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54366282100_99758365c8_h.jpg

Does any of this figure into the issue at hand?

[FVBonura]

[Impaler]

[Impaler]

I've also been developing some conversion metrics for a game I'm planning which is similar to StarWars Rebellion the PC game but trying to use more lore accurate numbers or atleast the ratios between the numbers.

As this is a high level wargame the minimum 'token' of would be a Flight of star-fighters (1/4th of a squadron so 3 craft typically). So I picked 9,000 credits = 1 credit in game and a flight of TIE and X-wings cost 20 and 50 credits respectivly for nice round numbers.

That cost is further broken down into components and assembly time with everything having a specific recipie of components needed to make it with each component being 1 unit of cargo which is ~20 tons or 10 cubic meters. Most components cost 1 credit per unit but deflectors and weapons cost 2 and hyperdrives cost 3.

I put an X-wing flight (3 craft) at 13 components which cost 18 credits total then add 32 credits in assembly cost. While a TIE fighter flight is made of 8 components which cost just 10 credits plus a very low additional 10 credits for assembly because TIE's are supposed to be designed for simple assembly and mass production.

This is a fairly good match with the table provided. An X-wing officially masses 10 tons and that would presumably top tier technical equipment which according to the chart should be a half tone per cubic meter so the materials nessary to make 3 X-wings should have a volume of close to 60 cubic meters. Then if one takes the 6000 credits to be cost per volume as I described in the lat post that comes out to a total of 360,000 credits, which is quite close to the official 450,000 total that 3x 150,000 gives, we can assume a bit of support equipment (lifts, tools, fueling gear, diagnostic machines etc) are also part of any operational starfighter as well to bridge the discrepancy with a few tons of additional equipment. Likewise the density figure is not too far off, 60 cubic meters is 6 units of cargo, while I assume 13 units in components so off by about half.

[Whill]