The rear cargo door leads to the water recycling system. The front door, however, leads to space. But that door can't be opened unless the ship is docked at a base and there is equal pressure on both sides of the door.

()


Seriously, I need to tweak Deck One anyway (to make the shuttle hatch more obvious) and just wanted to know if I should account for the hard-points / mounting brackets, even it it's just by adding a storage cabinet someplace.


Garth L. Getgen

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 06:30 pm: Edit

Sci-Fi tv and movies tend to ignore them, but I think it's a safe bet that (even in the SFU's timeframe) most spacecraft will still have handholds and restraint points for people/equipment on the exterior.

They might be recessed and hidden away behind panels (or Franz Joseph's "magnatomic adhesion areas"), but I'd bet they'll still be there. Those mounting points are the way to keep tools and parts from floating away and, if the suit's jets fail, they can get you back inside an airlock, when you really need to.

The Matt Jefferies trek aesthetic is clean, partly because he had a stated aversion to putting equipment outside the pressure hull, where fragile humans would have to service it, at-risk. There is a lot of sense to that.

However, some things (weapon ports, antenna, radiators, vents, etc) just have to be outside and sometimes that broken widget just absolutely has to be fixed right now. If it can't be done from inside a shuttle or other small vehicle, that means putting somebody in an environment suit and they'll need latch-points and an emergency path back.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 07:01 pm: Edit

The brackets fold into the shuttle's spaceframe. They are "stored" on each shuttle and just have to be folded out and locked in place. There is no need for a storage locker for them. No deck plans ever showed such a thing. This came up years ago and that's the same answer I gave then.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 07:22 pm: Edit

Okay, thanks, Steve. That's what I needed to know. Sorry, if you told me that before and/or had posted it on the BBS, I completely forgot.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 04:33 pm: Edit

Garth L. Getgen:

Well, I did say it is "a little known design feature of all shuttles."

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 09:03 pm: Edit

Petrick, I have no idea how, but I totally missed your post "The Secret of the Scatter-Pack" before now. Always love a story that starts "This is the really true story, honest" or some variation thereof.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jack Bohn (Jackbohn) on Friday, February 22, 2019 - 10:04 am: Edit

In the navy they say the difference between a sea story and a fairytale is that a fairytale begins, "Once upon a time," and a sea story begins, "Now, this is no bull." (At least for family-friendly audiences.)

By Steve Cain (Stevecain) on Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 06:39 pm: Edit

I don't recall if people were totally satisfied with the crew size meaning everyone work 7 day weeks. Could it be explained that the crew actually has folks that are reserves doing one tour a year, or planet side UFP police being rotated through for required 'space duty'?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 10:21 pm: Edit

No, they police aren't reservists, (some troops could be, obviously), and while there are many, many ground stations (on both planets and bases), space patrol would be the predominate duty station.

That said, in my mind, there'll be an extra cutter assigned to each precinct, so patrols would typically run about three to six months, four being average, and then rotate back to a base for a month. Also, ships on patrol will be able to make port-of-call once or twice a month for a day or two of shore leave.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Cain (Stevecain) on Friday, March 01, 2019 - 02:13 am: Edit

That works. I just didn't recall if it had been sorted out and was running crew counts for other things when I stumbled back across references to cadet cruises and stuff like that.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, July 07, 2019 - 08:22 pm: Edit

I don't think this thread needs to be purged, but I have saved off all posts to this point.


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 09:31 pm: Edit

Samples of different types of crew quarters on the cutter.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 11:39 am: Edit

Garth:

As per usual, nice job. I can't speak for others, but I think you are doing a wonderful job on the various deck plans that you have posted. ATTA boy! Grin.

That said... (and this is a question, not a statement) should there not be only one default choice for officers quarters that uses a double bed? Leaving aside the question of occupancy for married officers cohabitating, it seems to me that there needs to be some difference between the quarters for senior officers (commander or lt. commander) mid grade officers (senior lt.or first lt.), and junior officers (2nd lt. or lt. J.G. ), ensigns etc.

At least, that's how I perceive it.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 05:28 pm: Edit

Jeff,

Yes, I did not make any rooms with double-beds for married couples.

The enlisted beds are 100x200 cm. Officer / Chiefs rooms have wide-twin beds at 125x200 cm. Married couple may request a set of enlisted "one-plus-one" rooms be converted to a two-room suite (similar to Officer's state rooms) with a 150x200 cm full-size bed.

Also, while not shown in any rooms, crew members who are taller than 190cm / 6'3" may request longer 225 cm beds. If that's still too short, you're too tall to be in the police force.

The commander and exec (first officer) have the the suites adjoining their day office. All other officer quarters are the same. If there are more than fourteen total officers assigned, the junior officers are given Chief's quarters.


Garth L. Getgen

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 08:06 pm: Edit

Garth;

According to PD20, Brecon males are 6'9"+2d8", and Brecon females are 6'7"+2d8" Do you intend to block an entire Federation Member species from serving in the Marshals service?

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 09:09 pm: Edit

Adm:

A 225 cm bed would still allow for a 7'4" individual, so a majority of Brecon females and a substantial fraction of Brecon males would still fit within that tolerance.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 10:47 pm: Edit

adm: Only the tall ones. {grin} I'd have to check, but I think the police cutter predates the Brecon joining the Federation. If someone really needs it, I suppose 250-cm long beds could be found. But remember that the ceiling heights are 275-cm, not 300-cm. Also, door openings are 225-cm high.


Garth L. Getgen

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 11:02 pm: Edit

Fair points, I just thought that this should be noted early.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Friday, July 19, 2019 - 06:33 pm: Edit

I want to put a label on the cargo bay but am having trouble finding the right words. This is what I have now, which seems kind of clunky to me:

Cargo Bay Doors Can Not Be Opened In Vacuum Of Space.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Friday, July 19, 2019 - 11:27 pm: Edit

VACUUM - Doors Will Not Open Until Pressure Is Equalized

VACUUM - If you open this door, you will die. It will hurt.

BURST HAZARD

AIRLOCK - For Emergency Use Only

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, July 20, 2019 - 09:58 am: Edit

I don't know, Steve Z. That wording makes it sound like the cargo bay can be put into vacuum, which is the exact opposite of what I want.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Saturday, July 20, 2019 - 10:21 am: Edit

Do not open until docked and pressurized.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Saturday, July 20, 2019 - 02:38 pm: Edit

CARGO HATCHES CANNOT BE OPENED AGAINST VACUUM. WILL ONLY OPEN IN PRESSURIZED ENVIRONMENT.

Really, it's the same as an airliner's passenger doors, or a spacecraft's.

Those are designed so the pressure differential is pushing them outward, against their stops. The structure of the door is larger than the structure it would try to pass through and literally cannot be opened until that pressure is equalized and the door "plug" manipulated, and that cannot be done without fighting air pressure.

If you want to borrow how they work -
When they do open, moving the handle does several things in a mechanically coordinated sequence; any residual pressure is equalized by an integral valve, the door moves laterally (up, down, to the side, often some diagonal combination of them) to clear the stops, and often "tips" at an angle to pass through the structural doorway opening.

For a large cargo hatch, like something on the Pol, just have the hatch panels have to be pulled inward some small amount, before they can clear their stops, and then hinge outward (or slide into pockets in the hull plating).

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, July 20, 2019 - 03:31 pm: Edit

I think that's it, Will. Not enough area on the deck plans for the second part, but "Against Vacuum" is less clunky than "In Vacuum Of Space". Of course, it'll be spelled out in the descriptive text.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Saturday, July 20, 2019 - 09:13 pm: Edit

I'm assuming the label is on the inside of the bay, in which case a door labeled "VACUUM" should at least cause random crewman to pause before trying to open the doors (and then spend the rest of shift struggling with a door that won't open).