standardised cargo containers

[PLIX]

so i have seen a lot of suggestions to do this so ill make this quick
i have seen a really good standard cargo pod design employed by the star squadron guys

Spoiler: more links to cargo pods

sorry for the rick roll here is the pod and its not a rick roll skip to 14:10

 

[nogg]

a simple design could be a similar pod with a USD dock, as that is already widely used by most people.

 

[Calhoun]

I used to be all for a standard design, but I've changed my mind. What we need is not a design, but an actual standard. IE, Dimensions and docking standards, like a USD.

 

[KiloZulu]

I found cargo containers to be too much of a headache to bother with. There's way too much effort needed to set up the logic for the ships and stations involved in loading/offloading the cargo, when all you really need to do is dock your ship and have everything feed through the rail dock connection. Even when I had created a standardized system that easily translated, few other players cared enough to take the extra steps necessary for docking, or their own ship designs.

Standardized cargo pods are all the crates that appear as your hold fills up.

 

[kikaha]

I used to be all for a standard design, but I've changed my mind. What we need is not a design, but an actual standard. IE, Dimensions and docking standards, like a USD.

On a server maybe you could implement that.

For the game itself NO WAY ! it would be like the next step is to standardize cockpits ? engine nozzles ? Medbay beds ?

 

[Nickizzy]

On a server maybe you could implement that.

For the game itself NO WAY ! it would be like the next step is to standardize cockpits ? engine nozzles ? Medbay beds ?

It'd be like USD, or USB ports. Made to be modulated and used with many different things.

 

[Stormraven]

I actually think people talking about universal cargo pods have it backwards.
What we need is universal cargo DOCKS.
An open faced and/or extendable apparatus that can easily connect to any Cargo Pod on its smallest side. Instead of worrying about cargo pods fitting inside your hangar, just keep them outside and rotate them out of the way.
[doublepost=1485463246,1485463088][/doublepost]

I found cargo containers to be too much of a headache to bother with. There's way too much effort needed to set up the logic for the ships and stations involved in loading/offloading the cargo, when all you really need to do is dock your ship and have everything feed through the rail dock connection. Even when I had created a standardized system that easily translated, few other players cared enough to take the extra steps necessary for docking, or their own ship designs.

Standardized cargo pods are all the crates that appear as your hold fills up.

Cargo pods are handy when you need a bit of EXTRA storage, like a saddle bag when your backpack is full but you still have more things to carry. And when you don't need it, just replace the cargo pod with a docked thruster.

 

[Calhoun]

On a server maybe you could implement that.

For the game itself NO WAY ! it would be like the next step is to standardize cockpits ? engine nozzles ? Medbay beds ?

If you actually re-read what I said, you'll see that I am against that. However it would be very convenient to have a standard size and dock location for cargo containers.

 

[-Moose-]

I think that dedicated freighters and couriers will always have a leg up on modular vessels.

I've played around with the idea but the pods are easily detached in battle and left behind. Furthermore in order to make a pod durable enough you have to sacrifice a considerable amount of space. Space that could otherwise hold cargo.

The closest I ever get is my "pod" being a fully functional ship for short range trade, but I can hook it up to a dedicated jump ship for longer range. Similar to how the Star Wars A-wing hooks up to a jump ring. However it still doesn't carry as much as my dedicated ships.

 

[Stormraven]

My current mining rig is a vertical ship that's about 40w by 120h. (Dept has yet to be determined as it's unfinished, but probably about 100.)

It's got a pretty rediculous interior storage already, but sometimes you just need more space. If I'm just zipping about between Asteroids, engine modules are more useful because I'm going to be flying all around and my built in storage is more than likely sufficient for any reasonable amount of mining I'm likely to do without getting bored to death.

However, if I'm saving for something BIG and I need more, I can attach the pods and go harvest a planet without fear of waste. Their great for trips across huge distances where I will be covering most of the trip via my chain drive rather than sublighting my way through space.

They also allow my miner to double as a cargo hauler.

 

[KiloZulu]

The other problem with docked storage is that you still have to build your ship with the intention of hauling it - power and thrust for your expected carrying capacity. By the time I've finished doing that, it always seems silly to make the cargo space optional.

 

[Top 4ce]

My POD version on Star Squadron has USD on it. Has both the standard Squadron docking and USD docking.

Spoiler: POD

 

[LucasAnkrum]

I use a similar design with additional docking points for stacking.

Spoiler: AG - Container - 17x9x9 - USD Type 1

AG - Container - 17x9x9 - USD Type 1

 

[Gasboy]

I've got a container that's similar in size to LucasAnkrum's, 25x9x9.

I don't know if a standardized cargo container is as important as the USD that the community uses. I do think that any sort of cargo container should be able to dock to a USD. And that cargoships should use USD-compatible docking points, so that any cargo container that fits the dimensions of the ship will dock.

I think the need for a cargo container is more roleplay-based than game-based ,to be honest. So the pressure for a standardized cargo container isn't all that huge. There's a lot of fiddling involved with cargo containers, even if you use logic and rails to dock/undock the containers.

 

[Scypio]

Where trades between players are common, having the possibility to load/unload cargo from anyone whenever we want is a good thing. Just take your freighter and trade with whoever you want. Good thing that starmade doesn't encourage that, we don't have to take care of a standardized cargo container.

 

[MChain]

Well, a universal container is a good idea, but limits ship design somewhat. As for me, it is better to develop container standarts, so anyone can build their containers according to them but in their own shape as they require.

As for the standarts themselves, they are quite simple - a simple geometric shape (cylinder, prism, etc - without any protruding elements that can prevent docking or jam the container) of reasonable size (open to discussion, better odd symmetry) and with USDs on at least 4 surfaces for stacking/docking (the orientation of USDs is open for discussion. I vote for cross-container USDs though).

As for me - I have already chosen a standard for myself and use Gasboy's containers with minor modifications for some level of automation.
GW-91 AUTO cargo containers

 

[-Moose-]

Where trades between players are common, having the possibility to load/unload cargo from anyone whenever we want is a good thing. Just take your freighter and trade with whoever you want. Good thing that starmade doesn't encourage that, we don't have to take care of a standardized cargo container.

Even if people did trade to such an extent why would someone just hand over a potentially expensive cargo container when one could just use some logic 101 and a couple USDs? Dock here to get cargo, dock here to receive cargo. Trade complete, would you like fries with that?

 

[Stormraven]

Even if people did trade to such an extent why would someone just hand over a potentially expensive cargo container when one could just use some logic 101 and a couple USDs? Dock here to get cargo, dock here to receive cargo. Trade complete, would you like fries with that?

I think the biggest utility of cargo pods comes in the form of ORGANIZED trade ships.
Cargo pods all hold a certain amount of materials. Now set your mining ships to filter their product into different groups and ship them off to different containers.
When they're full, just dock them at the home base.
When you want to sell/trade/ or use them, just pull a pod from the appropriate yard and either pull your supplies or just dock it to the cargo hauler.
That way you can make several stops along the way and sell/trade different types of goods without having to sort. Just get to the destination. Hit the "pull cargo from pod 3" button, and sell your load of cannon computers before moving off to the next sector to unload some hull blocks.

It keeps everything stored, measured, sorted, and Organized.

 

[Scypio]

Even if people did trade to such an extent why would someone just hand over a potentially expensive cargo container when one could just use some logic 101 and a couple USDs? Dock here to get cargo, dock here to receive cargo. Trade complete, would you like fries with that?

Protecting your container maybe with an inside space designed for that ? If your container is shot down, you'll loose everything on board, usually USD are outside of your ship for easier use, what you don't want for something precious.
Pirates can easily take down a ship's shield with a good alpha weapon, then destroy the USD with a few shots, grab the container with some pickup point and run away. Damn, i would love to see someone doing that in action.

 

[-Moose-]

I think the biggest utility of cargo pods comes in the form of ORGANIZED trade ships.
Cargo pods all hold a certain amount of materials. Now set your mining ships to filter their product into different groups and ship them off to different containers.
When they're full, just dock them at the home base.
When you want to sell/trade/ or use them, just pull a pod from the appropriate yard and either pull your supplies or just dock it to the cargo hauler.
That way you can make several stops along the way and sell/trade different types of goods without having to sort. Just get to the destination. Hit the "pull cargo from pod 3" button, and sell your load of cannon computers before moving off to the next sector to unload some hull blocks.

It keeps everything stored, measured, sorted, and Organized.

You can already do all this right now with one ship using simple logic and storage blocks.

If you would like I can go into detail how to do it. However I do not have the time now.

I do not see how adding more independent entities with wireless logic streamlines this.

Protecting your container maybe with an inside space designed for that ? If your container is shot down, you'll loose everything on board, usually USD are outside of your ship for easier use, what you don't want for something precious.
Pirates can easily take down a ship's shield with a good alpha weapon, then destroy the USD with a few shots, grab the container with some pickup point and run away. Damn, i would love to see someone doing that in action.

I think you have made a wonderful case why the Trader should not use detachable cargo pods.

As far as having the USD so easily accessible this is fixed simply by having an intermediatery chest that can be activated by logic.