Another size problem...

Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:08 pm by WapCaplet

Ok, I know the issue of planet sizes and distances has been discussed, and as far as I am concerned, the issue has been laid to rest. They are like that for playability.

However, there is another inconsistant size problem that is bothering me...well, sort of bothering me. More of a curiosity really.

Anyway, I am currently flying a Humback which carries 250 units. The exact dimensions are not listed, but I am going to make some assumptions here. Bare with me:

Let's assume each "unit" of commodity is 1 square meter. Therefore, the Humpback can carry 250 square meters of cargo. This would have to be a cargo bay that has dimensions similar to 10 long X 5 meters wide X 5 meters tall. This sounds reasonable. And in looking at the ship itself, it appears to be about 20 meters long, so the cargo area would fit nicely into the ship. Everything looks great.

Here's the problem.

We have all seen transport ships that can carry upwards of 800,000 units of cargo. What the?! Ok, well first it looks like they are actually hauling four seperate cargo containers. So let's assume each container holds 200,000 units of cargo. Using the same 1 square meter rule, these containers would have to be 100 meters long X 50 meters wide X 40 meters tall. And since there are 4 of them, that means the transport itself is over 400 meters long. That's the same distance as 40 Humpbacks!!! And it would have to be almost 10 times taller!

Now, I don't know if any of you have flown up close to one of those transports, but there is no way they are 40 times longer than a humpback. They barely look twice the size of a humpback.

Regardless, even if my calculations are off a bit here or there, the difference between being able to carry 250 units and 800,000 units is huge!! Those ships need to be bigger...and I need to be able to buy one...

Those are my thoughts, not yours, I'm WapCaplet[!

Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:13 pm by Artic

only a small part of the humbback is cargo space, the rest is armor, engine, powercore, lifesuport, weapon slots, nanobot/shield batt containers, neural net coputers.

Why dont you try it the other way around? From transport to humbback.

Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:27 pm by Mr_nStuff

All I know is thoughs Cargo Containers look about the size of a person. And there's no way you can fit 20 people in the back of a Starflier.

Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:33 pm by WapCaplet

But even with the way I did it orginally, the cargo space itself would only be 10 meters long X 5 meters wide X 5 meters tall in the Humpback. You could even say the humpback is 40 meters long and 10 meters tall. That means that less than 15% of the humpback itself is for cargo space and the other 85% is for the systems you mention. If that were the case (and from looking at the size of your pilot in relation to the rest of the ship, it seems that the ship itself is still only about 20 meters long), let's give the humpback the benefit of the doubt and say it's 40 meters long. That would make the transport ships still 10 times longer and that's not including any of those systems for the transport itself, which would just make it even longer.

No matter how you do the math or figure the dimensions, based on the way they appear in the game, there is no way those transports should be capable of carrying 800,000 units of cargo and the humpback can only carry 250. The math alone shows that the transport is capable of carrying three thousand and two hundred TIMES more than the humpback. It doesn't add up when you compare the sizes of the two vehicles. For the math to work, the transport would have to be CONSIDERABLY bigger OR we would have to assume that the humpback is using less than 0.5% of its total capacity for actual cargo and the other 99.5% is for ship systems. I wouldn't call that a freighter...

Anyway, it seems obvious that the transports are not as big as they should be. They either need to be bigger OR their cargo capacity needs to be considerably reduced.

Those are my thoughts, not yours, I'm WapCaplet[!

Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:51 pm by Weadge

WapCaplet,

You are thinking way too much ...

Oon-tee-dee!

Thu Apr 03, 2003 8:02 pm by Sapient6

The answer is simple, really. Just a bit of Gallifreyan technology-- it's very expensive and a closely guarded and controlled technology, but it's there. The cargo holds on the NPC transport ships in question are dimensionally transendental.

Thu Apr 03, 2003 8:11 pm by Zamboni

LOL... I see you've gone back to the "bag of holding" magical explanation eh? Perhaps they also have technology that shrunk the items... you know like in that movie where a bunch of kids were shrunk to the size of ants.

Thu Apr 03, 2003 8:16 pm by Nephilim

Well, just about EVERY ship/planet/base in FL is dimensionally transcendent, so I'm not surprised.

Fri Apr 04, 2003 3:48 am by Unpro

Worry about how much cargo they can carry? Maybe they just compact it, and by the time it reaches the destination they puffed it back up.

Ever wonder how 10 small ships can dock in a battleship? Not to mention it has docking hull inside is bigger than what you can see from the outside. And you even have a double storey dock ports...

Fri Apr 04, 2003 6:29 am by Shoelip

And while we're at it lets ask how Han Solo could have finished the Kessel Run in less that 12 parsecs.

Why didn't I register the day after?

Fri Apr 04, 2003 7:45 am by Zamboni

See that's a common mistake, that even though parsec is used to measure distance Han Solo seemed to use it to measure time. In the story, he was describing his wealth of knowledge of the trade routes that he knows such short cuts that can make the run with less distance...

Most everything can be explained away if you try hard enough...

Fri Apr 04, 2003 11:33 am by Warp Phantom

I believe one of the Cargo Ships' description in-game states that "the ships can hold more than ever thanks to nano-something or other technology". Basically as other have stated, cargo is miniaturized for transportation.

XYZZY

Fri Apr 04, 2003 1:01 pm by Crash-Drive

What's really a shame is that when you blow up one of those transports, you only get a few measly units of cargo... and not the creation of a small, man-made cargo nebula!

Fri Apr 04, 2003 1:36 pm by Dibber*UF*

i was in a system once where i'd just jumped in and was watching lucifer wreaking havoc near a planet docking gate and the transports he was killin left loads of cargo....i spent fifteen mins just undocking tractoring cargo and redocking it was class.......for huge ships you need to be checking out eve-online the stations are vast

Important Message

You are browsing the archived Lancers Reactor forums. You cannot register or login.
The content may be outdated and links may not be functional.

To get the latest in Freelancer news, mods, modding and downloads, go to
The-Starport