Let's combine!...

[Leon The Lion]

...And I'll form the head! ^_^

Okay, let me explain. How would you handle combining ships?

The situation is thus:
The characters in my campaign own a light freighter. Recently, for various reasons, they wanted to acquire another ship. Problem is, they don't want to simply switch ships, but want to have both ships available simultainously. This could be simply done - one of them would fly one craft, and the rest would travel in the other. I'm affraid this is out of the question though. It would essentially mean splitting the party for the duration of any interplanetary trip - sometimes for a week or more. And I just can't have that.

So we came up with this:
The second ship (which I will now call doughter-ship for clarity) will be smaller, some kind of small scout ship, which is all they need. And it will travel piggy-back, docked to the freighter's (which I will now call mother- ship for clarity) upper hull with an airlock and a heavy-duty cargo clamp. Now, if the doughter-ship would simply sit there, to be dragged around by the mother-ship, which is not rated for hauling external cargo, it would mean some big losses in performance (sub- and hyper-speed and maneuverability) for the mother-ship. So we want to "combine" the ships. When docked together, the controls of the mother- and doughter-ship will be linked, and the doughter-ship will run it's engines and maneuver thrusters in concert with the mother-ship, to help, quite literally, to pull it's own weight. You with me so far?

So what would you think the performance of such a "combiner" craft should be relative to the specs of it's components? I'm pretty set on the idea that, if the linking of the ships and synchronising of their drives, repulsors and whatnot was done well enough, the maneuverability, space speed and hyperdrive multiplayer of the mother-doughter combined unit would be the average of both craft. Do you think I'm being too generous? I'm much less sure about the atmospheric performance of such a ship. I suppose the stress put on the coupling in a planet's atmosphere and gravity would be far greater than in open space. Do I even allow the "combiner" to enter atmo? And if so, what should it's performance be? I'm pretty sure I won't allow the craft to land when combined - the mother-ship would then have to bear the entire weight of the doughter-ship on it's hull and landing gear, which seems way too much.

And that's it. What do you all think?
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[Ankhanu]

I think it would require being designed and built from the ground up with that function in mind (Think Star Trek Galaxy class ship). I would not allow two completely separate ships to be modularly combined. The logistics of such a proposal are incredible and would require teams of dedicated designers and engineers.

That said, what you mentioned earlier, locking the ships together, allowing them to move as a unit with rather reduced performance, has merit and has precedent in established canonic EU material. Really, I think a docking clamp is about the only realistic option. In the source material they can fly in atmosphere, but I'd raise piloting difficulties 1 or more levels depending on the situation.

That said, since you want to do it, and it has no impact on me I'd allow shields to overlap, intensifying protection (perhaps +1D of the base?), weapons coverage would be whatever they have... I'd reduce Maneuverability and Speed only slightly instead of more heavily (-1D Man, -2 or -4 speed), Sensors could act independently, giving better coverage. Perhaps increase the difficulty of manoeuvres in space a level or more... a table of modifiers might not be a bad idea.
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[Rerun941]

I've wanted to do something similar with a light freighter and an A-Wing.

Take the light freighter and cut a hole in the back-underside of the cargo area so the A-Wing can fly underneath the ship and dock. The freighter's hole perfectly aligns with the upper surface of the A-Wing and creates a seal. There's a mini-airlock inside the cargo bay that pressurizes and the A-Wing can pop its canopy so the A-Wing pilot can climb aboard the freighter.

GM's discretion: Very expensive (have to modify both the freighter and the A-Wing), Docking in space requires VERY precise manuevering, Docking in atmosphere is impossible due to wind shear effects, When docked the A-Wing must shut down and the freighter loses speed and manueverability due to the extra "dead weight" of the A-Wing, Might be able to enter atmosphere combined and design it so the A-Wing's landing gear supports its own weight on the ground.

Real-world analogies: Zeppelins had biplanes that they could launch and retrieve. There were experiments back in the 1950's with bombers having fighters stored in the bomb bay, but it was very tricky. Star Wars might be a little bit more forgiving.
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[Leon The Lion]

Ankhanu:
And I thought I was being generous ^_^ No, I don't think I'd allow for the shields to overlap. I imagine shields forming a rather conforming envelope, instead of a spacious bubble, around the ship. It would be different if the doughter-ship was even smaller, like a fighter, but as it is neither of the two ships will really fit inside the other's shields. Anyway, I think that in battle the ships will most often separate and fight independently anyway.
Good thought on the sensors, haven't thought about them yet.
And if I allow the combined craft to enter atmo there will most assuredly be some heavy penalty to aneuvers. And in general, flying such a "combiner" will take getting used to. But our pilot's an ace from hell, I have no doubt he'll manage ^_^

Rerun941:
Well, it depends on the freighter you'd like to use (and the deckplan you use for it), but with some I think you wouldn't need to cut any holes. An A-Wing is small enough to fit in many cargo holds. Just modify the hold with an external cargo door and an atmosphere integrity force field, basically making the hold into a small hangar. Then I wouldn't make the freighter take any penalties to performance - the mass of an A-Wing should comfortably fit inside a freighter's cargo capacity. And it would be much easier to perform maintenance on the fighter in flight. All in all much easier done and cheaper than what you're proposing.
But if you're set on carrying the fighter externally, I still don't think you need to cut any holes or engage in other extensive modifications. I think there is some kind of externally mounted fighter docking device that contains an airlock that fits over the cockpit. I'm pretty sure there was some ship that carried a complement of fighters this way, but I can't recall any specifics.
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Remember why the good Lord made your eyes! So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize... Only be sure to call it, please, "research".
- Tom Lehrer

[Rerun941]

Yep, it definitely depends on the freighter. A HT-2200 or Mobquet Medium Cargo Hauler could probably fit an A-Wing comfortably in their cargo holds. (Might need to widen the cargo bay doors.) Of course, maintaining an A-Wing comes with problems of its own.
_________________
Han - "How're we doin'?"
Luke - "Same as always."
Han - "That bad, huh?"

[garhkal]

While i cannot tell you the cost associated with doing this type of upgrade i have been a player in a group which did have a ship capable of doing this (Ghtroc 1200 iirc).
We went from 7 to 4 space when we had it attached, and 485kph to 315kph atmospheric. Our Mvr went from 2d to +2, and shields were the best of either +2 pips.
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[Leon The Lion]

Rerun941:
Oh yeah, in a properly modified medium freighter you could fit an entire squadron ^_^ And not only A-Wings, at that. I was always partial to the HT-2200. It's ugly, but it's an ugliness you quickly grow to fond of ^_^ All in all, I feel similiar about the Mobquet, but I always found it's design to be very un-ergonomic.

garhkal:
Ther penalties sound somewhat harsh to me, but the GM does have the last word ^_^ What was the other ship that combined with the Ghtroc?
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Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes! So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize... Only be sure to call it, please, "research".
- Tom Lehrer

[garhkal]

Y wing, 2 seater..
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[bobenhotep]

i would make it cost a lot of money. perhaps it could be a work in progress. at first it is a near jury rig thing that gets the characters "redneck points" at the bottom of their character sheet.

These are points to consider-
-at first the characters' ship would have a lot of penalties. it would be hard to land, hard to fly, and top heavy. id describe the scary creaking sounds and weird vibrations it makes (like an overloaded dryer).

-then make them spend money. you might say after the characters go parts hunting " (tech character) finds out that the local mining corporation used to special order a version of this ship modified to haul mining equipment. they have heavier repulsor coils, heavier landing legs, and a dampening system to strengthen the hull"

-after they go to the junkyard moon (i had one of those in my game) they find the parts,(and spend money) and meet npc junkyard characters, and the mechanics that work in the shop.

-the characters could come back for goodies from time to time, and get them installed. (and spend money). then describe how the ship vibrates and creaks less. take away some penalties.

-also, i just thought of this, you could spare the characters dramatically inappropriate death by having the scout ship get blown off their ship by the attack that would normally kill them...

[schnarre]

...I recall in one published WEG module, a pirate band had converted a Corellian Action VI Bulk Freighter to carry up to 15 Z-95s.


...The biggest elements are the craft to be combined: an HT-2200 can carry up to 4 A-Wings comfortably in it's holds, along with the supporting equipment, but trying to cram more than that means that something has to give (Hull could be thinner, as interior walls are removed to make space, for example). Similar craft could be linked with some work, smaller ships can be linked with bigger craft...all within reason.

...The Outbound Flight is perhaps a fair example of combining: 6 Dreadnaught cruisers linked to a center section.
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