Drop ship for class M ships

[bberger89]

I find it annoying that my giant class M ship lands at ports, especially at New Atlantis.  It would be nice if when we land on a planet, we land with a small drop ship instead but the drop ship has the same cargo and crew limit as our main ship 

[aurreth]

Copied from my response to a similar thread last November:

Quote

You're not asking for a capital ship, you're asking for a moveable space station, built with Class M parts.  There's a specific keyword that allows a station to remain in orbit rather than land.

Yes, this much is possible.  There is a space station mod, that just needs tweaking to allow Class M parts, and you could build the Vigilance above your outpost.  I've built a crude station with that mod, then used the console to spawn in a pilot seat and fly the station to another star system.  The station remained in orbit above the new location.

BUT, there are problems.

1.  As soon as you pilot the "station" it becomes your home ship.  Whatever ship you had docked to it goes back in your fleet limbo storage place.  You are now stuck on the station.  You can use console commands to move yourself to a ship technician, pick a new home ship (sometimes you have to switch around a couple times), then walk out on the landing pad and fly away.  You can even fly to your freshly moved "capital ship" and dock with it, etc.

     a.  Placing a ship builder terminal does not work, because you can't switch home ships while you are IN your home ship.  I have a ship terminal in my Guardian, stolen from an outpost landing pad (if you delete the outpost or the landing pad the terminal goes away, it's tied to that damn pad).  Convenient if I don't feel like running back home when I get an idea for a new ship.  Remember, as soon as you moved your "capital ship space station" it became a really big ship, and you can't swap while you're inside of one.

2.  Each planetary body (planet, moon, whatever) has a designated fast travel point.  The rocks or debris outside may change, you always jump into the same spot, and when you take off from a planet you go to that spot.  So, you fly your "capital space station" to your home world, and console your way back home.  Climb in your shuttle, take off... and appear INSIDE your station.  You can wiggle the controls and bang your way out, but it's annoying.

3.  All the big ship and station parts?  With one or two exceptions they are EMPTY.  As in funny shaped bricks.  Even the vanilla attachment points on them are screwy and may or may not allow attaching normal ship parts or weapons.  I know of one that will only allow attaching fuel tanks or the weapon mount adapter.  Basically if the devs needed something they would fix one or two points, and those are the only ones you can use.  Basically there's a huge amount of work that needs to be done just on the parts before they are useable without a LOT of cheats.  As it is currently you are building a tiny ship to connect cockpit to landing bay and docker, then wrapping a huge ship around it.  That seriously limits you.

Number 1 is the biggest issue.  Find a way around that and the rest is doable right now with the right mods.

 

Edited August 29 by aurreth