Shipboard Manufacturing

[Warshield73]

Simple, do you think ships in the Three Galaxies have factories of some sort onboard to manufacture anything? Yes there are certainly purpose built factory ships but that is not what I am talking about. I am thinking about standard warships and especially explorers.

First while talking about this I would ignore Star Trek. "Magic" replicators aren't a good match for a setting like Phase World, way too unbalancing.
What I am thinking of is more what you see in the old Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda and RDM Battlestar Galactica. Several times it is mentioned that Andromeda could harvest asteroids to make fighters, spare parts, missiles and The Mercury Class Battlestar was said to have foundries to make Mk 7 Vipers and other things. I think these are more along the lines of what we might see in Phase World.

1. Do you have or do you think technology such as this would be on ships in the Three Galaxies?
2. What can they manufacture, what are the limitations?
3. What ships would have them?
4. Would that ship need to carry specialized spacecraft like mining shuttles.

Spoiler:

My answers:
1. Obviously yes. The ones I created where largely nano technology and I based the mechanics on the DISCuS System from page 69 of the Bionics Sourcebook.
2. I allow basic ammunition, guided missiles and spare parts. I was always kind of vague as to what couldn't be manufactured but it was usually centered on FTL components and high end weapons.
3. For CCW I said only ships like the Packmaster and the explorer ships. The TGE only allows it on a few ships and never on Dreadnoughts. The FWC puts them on every ship they can afford. Only a few private ships have them.
4. They need equipment but it can be attached to standard spacecraft, usually shuttles, to recover the resources that are needed.

The big problem with this what is stopping a player from manufacturing everything instead of purchasing them, I limited this by saying these are emergency systems and they are very expensive (time/resources/cash) to purchase, maintain, and use.

I did take a quick look through the Starship designs thread but I didn't see this mentioned on standard combat and exploration vehicles.

[ShadowLogan]

1. 3-D Printing Technology is on the ISS, so the technology to fabricate on some level should be present (IINM Navy ships do have machine shops)
2. I think the limits are going to relate more to the size of the fabricators than anything else.
3. I would think anything intended for long duration missions away from port. So something like a fighter/patrol/shuttle-craft likely no, but capital ships (especially larger ones) I would see it being a requirement. You can't always predict what's going to fail, having fabrication can also simply spare parts (at least some)
4. I'm going to say it depends. No matter what the fabricators will need raw materials, so the source could vary.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I did include a machine shop room in my augmentation to the AU:GG ship construction text (three levels: physical fab., nanotech fab. &magic fabrication.) And I included a Shipyard module option that is listed for space stations but smaller ones can be put into large ships.

At a more character level I did a write up of facturers (nano-fabrication devices).

1: it depends on who had the ship built and if the owner's real world considerations. A ship might of started off with nanotech fabricator...but after some time that equipment might of been sold off due to $$ reasons. I would say that most target ships will have a physical machine shop to fabricate parts for repairs. But smaller ships (like a firefly class) would not have one...as a typical presumption. Most ships would also have a space to store spare parts to make maintenance type repairs.

2 depends on the limitations of the machine shop they have onboard.

3: those ships with lots of molecular electronics would more likely have a nano-tech fabrication tools, where ships heavily dependent on magic will have a magic based machine shop.
Because most space faring cultures are able to manipulate gravity there might be gravity based physical or nano machine shops in the 3G.

4: If the ship doesn't have tractor beams then they will need tugs of some sort to collect the raw material from where it was collected from. Then it needs some sort of seperator that refines the different elements out of the ore. Because most of the space going cultures in the 3G are able to manipulate gravity, they should be able to do this step using gravity. (Like how this process is done in the the 1st volume of the Troy Rising novel series. ("Live Free or Die", middle of the book))

[Warshield73]

So I screwed up the original post. Long story less long I started the post around 9:00pm, baby woke up, had to feed baby change baby, rock baby to sleep, I went to bed, baby woke up again, repeat previous steps, and then because I was awake I decided to finish the post only I forgot a few points and the editing was off. Sorry if it was too all over the place.

I did include a machine shop room in my augmentation to the AU:GG ship construction text (three levels: physical fab., nanotech fab. &magic fabrication.) And I included a Shipyard module option that is listed for space stations but smaller ones can be put into large ships.

If we are talking about the same stuff I actually meant to include this in my original post, in fact it was reading through this and watching the BSG video I linked in the OP that inspired this post. I had the PDF open and was going to quote it but forgot about it.

Workshop:
General workshop for repairing and manufacturing parts. In the Three Galaxies, equipment is typically made of larger versions of the nanotech multi-tool, plus an arc furnace to cast M.D.C. parts. With a crew of two in can manufacture parts and plates from scratch about 200 M.D.C. worth or repair the same amount per 8 hour shifts.

Purchasing multiple workshops as a larger industrial facility can be used to process natural resources, be they harvested from comets, metallic asteroids or scooped from the upper atmosphere of gas giants (the latter version requires a ram-scoop, even multiple ram-scoops). Processed quantity varies by material, from a few tons per hour of gases filtrated from atmospheres to a few dozen pounds of highly processed M.D.C. materials per 8 hour shift. Depending on the raw materials and the final product, it is up to the GM to assign values

I really liked this set up especially because you can increase its capabilities by purchasing more than one and the costs are vague and left up to the GM. If standard ships are going to carry factories this is as good a description as any.

At a more character level I did a write up of facturers (nano-fabrication devices).

1: it depends on who had the ship built and if the owner's real world considerations. A ship might of started off with nanotech fabricator...but after some time that equipment might of been sold off due to $$ reasons. I would say that most target ships will have a physical machine shop to fabricate parts for repairs. But smaller ships (like a firefly class) would not have one...as a typical presumption. Most ships would also have a space to store spare parts to make maintenance type repairs.

I agree with most of this. I would say that purpose for a starship would have as much, if not more, impact on fabrication facilities than size alone.

A kilometer long cargo vessel that travels the well patrolled lanes between Phase World and Tera Prime would likely not have advanced fabrication and would get by with spare parts storage while a Firefly that routinely travels the inter-galactic void between the Corkscrew and the Anvil would likely have very good fabricators. Your point, however, is a good one.

2 depends on the limitations of the machine shop they have onboard.

3: those ships with lots of molecular electronics would more likely have a nano-tech fabrication tools, where ships heavily dependent on magic will have a magic based machine shop.
Because most space faring cultures are able to manipulate gravity there might be gravity based physical or nano machine shops in the 3G.

4: If the ship doesn't have tractor beams then they will need tugs of some sort to collect the raw material from where it was collected from. Then it needs some sort of seperator that refines the different elements out of the ore. Because most of the space going cultures in the 3G are able to manipulate gravity, they should be able to do this step using gravity. (Like how this process is done in the the 1st volume of the Troy Rising novel series. ("Live Free or Die", middle of the book))

I'm not familiar with Troy Rising but I think you are correct and in a separate thing I am working on I have ore processing in PW tech as extremely efficient. While we have no examples of tractor beams in the PW canon I think most people have added them so I think this is a good way for ships to harvest resources.

1. 3-D Printing Technology is on the ISS, so the technology to fabricate on some level should be present (IINM Navy ships do have machine shops)
I agree and this is sort of the real world basis for my question, I think I should have emphasized what are the onboard capabilities since any vessel of any real size is going to have something.

2. I think the limits are going to relate more to the size of the fabricators than anything else.

When I put mine together the size of the unit really on dictated the speed at which it could make something and the quantity it made at any given time. I Think sophistication of the equipment will have an impact as well. Simple machine shop with basic computers can make a few spare parts while an advanced nano-tech facility hooked to an advanced computer with the proper plans might be able to crank out a small shuttle or space fighter.

3. I would think anything intended for long duration missions away from port. So something like a fighter/patrol/shuttle-craft likely no, but capital ships (especially larger ones) I would see it being a requirement. You can't always predict what's going to fail, having fabrication can also simply spare parts (at least some)
4. I'm going to say it depends. No matter what the fabricators will need raw materials, so the source could vary.

I think spare parts is the big issue. If you are months out of port and long way from supplies carrying resources that can be turned into almost any part and carrying just a selection of difficult to manufacture parts would be a lot more efficient.

Not to sound to ridiculous but what I am trying to figure out is the economic, political, and even cultural aspects of this.
Is there a sound strategic or tactical reason for the CCW to put a factory on a Packmaster that can make fighters? Why not just have support ships deliver them by the squadron full?
Would the Kreeghor emperor be too paranoid to put full fabricators on a Doombringer? I mean he doesn't let even Dreadnought commanders control there escort fleets so would he really want them to be able to resupply away from the empire?
On the other hand we see in real world examples of military spending the tendency to put everything possible on a new piece of hardware, regardless of need so there is that.

One place I do see having a foundry capable of making fighters and even shuttles is the explorer ship. I mean you can only carry so much making replacements while out and about is more efficient than returning to port every time you loose a fighter.

Just some of the things I was considering on this between diaper changes. Thanks for this input.

[ShadowLogan]

I think on some level it will also depend on how their economy is structured (which gets into Political and Cultural aspects to). Those with independent manufactures likely are going to run into licensing issues with proprietary designs (like a Fighter). We see that with Naruni and Phase Tech designs, so I can totally see more complex designs like fighters or robots being restricted in terms of production even on long haul ships. I think a lot of cultures would restrict the capability, at least to be cost effective in terms of resources (time, material, available space, computer storage for parts design) unless the ship is purposely built to be/act as a mobile factory.

I can see them having the technical capability to duplicate a design (ex. a fighter), but it likely would require large quantity of computer storage (each part is going to have its own fabrication file), take a long time to produce to get to a finished product (remember multiple parts), and this doesn't consider the size/complexity of a part might be to large for a ship board fabricator (which is balanced against other needs of the ship that a factory is balanced differently). A shipboard fabricator(s) might also be slower in terms of a production rate than a normal factory (ex. 3D printing is slower than Injection Molding for a plastic part).

[Warshield73]

I think on some level it will also depend on how their economy is structured (which gets into Political and Cultural aspects to). Those with independent manufactures likely are going to run into licensing issues with proprietary designs (like a Fighter). We see that with Naruni and Phase Tech designs, so I can totally see more complex designs like fighters or robots being restricted in terms of production even on long haul ships. I think a lot of cultures would restrict the capability, at least to be cost effective in terms of resources (time, material, available space, computer storage for parts design) unless the ship is purposely built to be/act as a mobile factory.

I think the second part of your argument is more likely then the first. Given the vastness of the Three Galaxies even the Naruni would have to make the creation of at least a few replacement parts possible but those corporations within the CCW itself would almost certainly have to at least arrange licenses for it. Phase Tech couldn't be manufactured in this situation anyway, even basic repair parts could only be created by the Prometheans.

I also don't think a lack of computer space is likely to prevent this type of shipboard manufacturing. Just to repair vehicles of this type and manufacture spare parts in the field you would need comprehensive construction files so having enough to manufacture wouldn't be that much more. Also the computer systems on these ships would have to be extensive just to operate so a little more storage space for fighter construction isn't that hard to imagine.

I think the problems of time, materials and available space on ship is what is most likely to prevent a system like this, assuming the technology even allows for it. The problem I am having is two questions:
1. Is it more efficient to have parts brought to you from manufacturing centers or is it more efficient to make them yourself?
2. Basically the same, is it more efficient to to harvest the materials and manufacture replacement vehicles where you are or wait for replacements to be brought to you?

I think for the first it is probably easier to do some basic manufacturing on site but whole vehicles are a different story.

I can see them having the technical capability to duplicate a design (ex. a fighter), but it likely would require large quantity of computer storage (each part is going to have its own fabrication file), take a long time to produce to get to a finished product (remember multiple parts), and this doesn't consider the size/complexity of a part might be to large for a ship board fabricator (which is balanced against other needs of the ship that a factory is balanced differently). A shipboard fabricator(s) might also be slower in terms of a production rate than a normal factory (ex. 3D printing is slower than Injection Molding for a plastic part).

I think the speed issue really goes to this so I think if ships have this ability at all it would be for emergencies only not as a regular function.

[ShadowLogan]

Given the vastness of the Three Galaxies even the Naruni would have to make the creation of at least a few replacement parts possible but those corporations within the CCW itself would almost certainly have to at least arrange licenses for it. Phase Tech couldn't be manufactured in this situation anyway, even basic repair parts could only be created by the Prometheans.

Phase Tech is likely a bad example, but I couldn't think of any other manufactures in the 3G off hand. And while a govt could get licenses to produce the equipment themselves, the parameters of said license are also a factor (licenses aren't blank checks).

also don't think a lack of computer space is likely to prevent this type of shipboard manufacturing. Just to repair vehicles of this type and manufacture spare parts in the field you would need comprehensive construction files so having enough to manufacture wouldn't be that much more. Also the computer systems on these ships would have to be extensive just to operate so a little more storage space for fighter construction isn't that hard to imagine.

The main reason I bring it up is we do not know the storage specs of the ships computer network (then again PB has steered away from hard specs in this area to avoid dating the material like in SB1o). If the ship is expected to replace any/every part on a given design, and there are multiple designs the storage requirements will go up.

I think the problems of time, materials and available space on ship is what is most likely to prevent a system like this, assuming the technology even allows for it. The problem I am having is two questions:
1. Is it more efficient to have parts brought to you from manufacturing centers or is it more efficient to make them yourself?
2. Basically the same, is it more efficient to to harvest the materials and manufacture replacement vehicles where you are or wait for replacements to be brought to you?

Unless Phaseworld books now have information on the various production costs and rate of production for items we can not answer these questions. We have an idea of how long a part might take in transit from drive stats, but cost of the trip is not known.

I think the speed issue really goes to this so I think if ships have this ability at all it would be for emergencies only not as a regular function.

I agree it's going to be geared toward emergencies, which likely means its going to use slower but more flexible approaches. But even then there are likely going to be limits to what they can actually produce.

[Whiskeyjack]

I think on some level it will also depend on how their economy is structured (which gets into Political and Cultural aspects to). Those with independent manufactures likely are going to run into licensing issues with proprietary designs (like a Fighter). We see that with Naruni and Phase Tech designs, so I can totally see more complex designs like fighters or robots being restricted in terms of production even on long haul ships. I think a lot of cultures would restrict the capability, at least to be cost effective in terms of resources (time, material, available space, computer storage for parts design) unless the ship is purposely built to be/act as a mobile factory.

There is an easy way around this. Naruni installs their own fabrication units into the ship, and provides the workers to run it while on deployment. The client would be responsible for room and board for the employees. It would be a dream job for any Naruni workers, as the working conditions are probably far superior to what they're used to.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Phase tech....working off the phase powers...is a form of Psionic Tech. But in a form that is racially restricted to the Promethean race.
It would be dependent on having a Promethean psionic technician what tools are needed in the workshop to make/repair Phase devices/tools.

[Slider65]

Well, the best way to look at is to look at real world examples. The US Navy has spare parts for just about all the critical systems onboard (weapons/sensors/engineering) because 1) A gun that does not fire, or a Radar that does not work, or an engine down dramatically effects the ship's ability to perform it's mission. 2) Battle damage or even a fire could very well cripple a ship, and you need to be able to repair that damage and get those damaged systems back up as quickly as possible. In the 3 Galaxies, when a shipyard or a repair ship may be a long way away (particularly if you have engine damage) you are extremely vulnerable until repairs can be completed.

But, repair parts take up a not insignificant part of your cargo space, that has to be shared with other consumables, such as food/water/oxygen/fuel, etc. A fabricator would cut down on the amount of tonnage (always a precious commodity on any ship) you need to put aside for spare parts. If you can quickly and reliably manufacture a damaged circuit board that has your main gun inoperable, then yes, absolutely you would want that capability. This is particularly true of ships that are expected to make long deployments, like a cruiser or destroyer. One thing to be part of a larger Fleet with that will have replenishment and repair ships attached to it, another thing entirely to be a cruiser operating alone in the Dark.

Larger manufacturing units I would restrict to those repair ships, because that is their job after all. To replace or repair lost or destroyed items that the ship cannot do itself. It is one thing to repair a damaged fighter, it is another thing entirely to manufacture an entire fighter from the ground up. Or repair an entire engine that has been destroyed in combat, or a weapon system like a missile launcher.

[glitterboy2098]

1. 3-D Printing Technology is on the ISS, so the technology to fabricate on some level should be present (IINM Navy ships do have machine shops)

you can actually thank one of our forumites for that, btw. the old forum member Phalanx (who no longer posts, or is even registered, i believe) after making his way through most of the astronaut training program but being rejected, ended up working as a head engineer at the company "made in space", which is the company that made that 3D printer.

i'm still friends with him on FB, and i remember when he announced that printer was going up to the station.

[Warshield73]

Thanks for the input everybody, finally had a few minutes to respond to some of this.

Given the vastness of the Three Galaxies even the Naruni would have to make the creation of at least a few replacement parts possible but those corporations within the CCW itself would almost certainly have to at least arrange licenses for it. Phase Tech couldn't be manufactured in this situation anyway, even basic repair parts could only be created by the Prometheans.

Phase Tech is likely a bad example, but I couldn't think of any other manufactures in the 3G off hand. And while a govt could get licenses to produce the equipment themselves, the parameters of said license are also a factor (licenses aren't blank checks).

I agree that this would be an issue but the simple fact is most companies could never have the ability to keep up with the needs of something the size of the CAF Fleet. Galactic Armory and Wolfpack Weapons are probably the closest to it but even they would have to make allowances for long distance repairs.

I did an estimate when PW SB came out of the size of CAF and TGE using the US Navy as a template. Low end the CAF would have over 7 million hulls, that is Corvette and up so not counting fighters, gunboats and the like.

Add to that operating over tens of thousands of cubic lightyears and this would require some sort of ability to manufacture parts in the field.

also don't think a lack of computer space is likely to prevent this type of shipboard manufacturing. Just to repair vehicles of this type and manufacture spare parts in the field you would need comprehensive construction files so having enough to manufacture wouldn't be that much more. Also the computer systems on these ships would have to be extensive just to operate so a little more storage space for fighter construction isn't that hard to imagine.

The main reason I bring it up is we do not know the storage specs of the ships computer network (then again PB has steered away from hard specs in this area to avoid dating the material like in SB1o). If the ship is expected to replace any/every part on a given design, and there are multiple designs the storage requirements will go up.

I agree that computer operating capabilities (active memory and computational ability) would be an issue I don't think the storage will be an issue. I mean most of this could be kept compressed and decompressed when needed.

I think the problems of time, materials and available space on ship is what is most likely to prevent a system like this, assuming the technology even allows for it. The problem I am having is two questions:
1. Is it more efficient to have parts brought to you from manufacturing centers or is it more efficient to make them yourself?
2. Basically the same, is it more efficient to to harvest the materials and manufacture replacement vehicles where you are or wait for replacements to be brought to you?

Unless Phaseworld books now have information on the various production costs and rate of production for items we can not answer these questions. We have an idea of how long a part might take in transit from drive stats, but cost of the trip is not known.

Yeah, I agree we have no canon stats on this just looking for opinions. This is a technology that wasn't really mentioned in anything, aside from the very poorly defined Star Trek replicators, when PW came out but has become very common in sci-fi over the 20 years. Add to this advances in 3-D printing and just have to wonder if it makes sense to add to the setting.

I think the speed issue really goes to this so I think if ships have this ability at all it would be for emergencies only not as a regular function.

I agree it's going to be geared toward emergencies, which likely means its going to use slower but more flexible approaches. But even then there are likely going to be limits to what they can actually produce.

This was my thinking exactly. The system I am working on has a base percent chance of being able to manufacture a given part. Low percentage for basic system (I was thinking 50%) and higher percentage for more advanced/larger systems. Time is likely to be dependent on size and complexity of the part.

I think on some level it will also depend on how their economy is structured (which gets into Political and Cultural aspects to). Those with independent manufactures likely are going to run into licensing issues with proprietary designs (like a Fighter). We see that with Naruni and Phase Tech designs, so I can totally see more complex designs like fighters or robots being restricted in terms of production even on long haul ships. I think a lot of cultures would restrict the capability, at least to be cost effective in terms of resources (time, material, available space, computer storage for parts design) unless the ship is purposely built to be/act as a mobile factory.

There is an easy way around this. Naruni installs their own fabrication units into the ship, and provides the workers to run it while on deployment. The client would be responsible for room and board for the employees. It would be a dream job for any Naruni workers, as the working conditions are probably far superior to what they're used to.

I think for major items, like constructing an entire vehicle, that this is likely to be how it works for Naruni. But for other major manufacturers it is likely to just be licenses and computer files and even for NE they are likely to allow self manufacture of basic parts.

Noro psi tech is tough. We don't know if it is psionically created or technological. If it is tech, which I think it likely is, then if they have the specs and a supply of psilite then they could probably manufacture parts they need.

Phase Tech is the only thing that is not going to be covered by this at all. The book is clear, and this is one of the few instances that it is, that all parts for phase tech are made on Phase World by Prometheans. TW of course depends strictly on the onboard techno wizard.

Phase tech....working off the phase powers...is a form of Psionic Tech. But in a form that is racially restricted to the Promethean race.
It would be dependent on having a Promethean psionic technician what tools are needed in the workshop to make/repair Phase devices/tools.

According to the books repair parts for Phase Tech are plug and play, especially for phase drives. Something breaks pull the module out and replace that's it. Tools required would probably just be the basics like a multi-tool.

If you use phase tech you definitely need lots of room for spare parts.

Well, the best way to look at is to look at real world examples. The US Navy has spare parts for just about all the critical systems onboard (weapons/sensors/engineering) because 1) A gun that does not fire, or a Radar that does not work, or an engine down dramatically effects the ship's ability to perform it's mission. 2) Battle damage or even a fire could very well cripple a ship, and you need to be able to repair that damage and get those damaged systems back up as quickly as possible. In the 3 Galaxies, when a shipyard or a repair ship may be a long way away (particularly if you have engine damage) you are extremely vulnerable until repairs can be completed.

But, repair parts take up a not insignificant part of your cargo space, that has to be shared with other consumables, such as food/water/oxygen/fuel, etc. A fabricator would cut down on the amount of tonnage (always a precious commodity on any ship) you need to put aside for spare parts. If you can quickly and reliably manufacture a damaged circuit board that has your main gun inoperable, then yes, absolutely you would want that capability. This is particularly true of ships that are expected to make long deployments, like a cruiser or destroyer. One thing to be part of a larger Fleet with that will have replenishment and repair ships attached to it, another thing entirely to be a cruiser operating alone in the Dark.

I agree with all of this and it was the impetus for this thread. A ship like a destroyer or cruiser could never carry enough replacement parts for every vital component but it could carry some basic parts or blanks that could be turned into finished parts by some sort of sci-fi tech nano 3-D printer.

Larger manufacturing units I would restrict to those repair ships, because that is their job after all. To replace or repair lost or destroyed items that the ship cannot do itself. It is one thing to repair a damaged fighter, it is another thing entirely to manufacture an entire fighter from the ground up. Or repair an entire engine that has been destroyed in combat, or a weapon system like a missile launcher.

I think this is largely true. There might be a few types of ships (command carriers or long-range explorers) that would have the more complete manufacturing systems but I think most would have only the most basic for the replacement of critical parts and they would definitely be slow.

Ultimately this comes down to what PCs will have access to out in the field or even on their own ships without breaking the game. If you can capture a Silverhawk and then just program your auto factories to churn out a hundred more that is game breaking. On the other hand this is supposed to be a space opera setting so it should have as much cool tech as possible.

So for my games I am going to start with the workshop setup above and then I will add foundries with the following limits:
- Tie this to some sort of advanced computer system, maybe the DISCUS systems in the Bionic SB where you have to upgrade to a certain level to do certain things and it is expensive
- Some sort of single use nanites, like RMK knitters, that need to be replenished
- Space, the more capable the factory the space it takes up
- Resources, you either have to have the raw materials or buy them so this limits output
- Expense. In resources, time, money, whatever using these will always be more expensive than buying them from a real facility.

Might do a few other things but this is enough to keep it from being too heavily abused by the PCs.

[ITWastrel]

The rifts SB5 Bionics pp68 provides stats on tool kits and mobile manufacturing tech, with an emphasis on robotics and cybernetics.

That tech should provide a good basis on what should, and should not, be easily available and the space it'll take up. I figure, if a post-apocalyptic riftworld filled with monsters can develop these kits, the folks in the 3Gs shouldn't break a sweat.

[Warshield73]

The rifts SB5 Bionics pp68 provides stats on tool kits and mobile manufacturing tech, with an emphasis on robotics and cybernetics.

That tech should provide a good basis on what should, and should not, be easily available and the space it'll take up. I figure, if a post-apocalyptic riftworld filled with monsters can develop these kits, the folks in the 3Gs shouldn't break a sweat.

I do use these but we also have in the Phase World books we have some as well:
- DB 2 pg. 143 we have metal spray and Multitool
- DB 6 pg. 106 the Engineering Scanner
- DB 14 pg. 118 has the Utility robot

In addition Slade posted some Workshop Tools which I have added to Rifts and PW as well as the stuff in the Merc Ops book

[taalismn]

4. Would that ship need to carry specialized spacecraft like mining shuttles..

I imagine there's a wide range of auxiliary craft from EVA drones and EVA pods to large mining shuttles available on the market.
And, as you say, a range of equipment that can be attached to a variety of small craft platforms. So on average, a ship carrying the minimum hang space for small craft and that has the space for shipboard manufactories probably has an array of asteroid assaying sensors, grappling gear, and handling equipment that can be hung from something like the Cargo Runabout described in Fleets of the Three Galaxies , pg. 108-109.

[Warshield73]

4. Would that ship need to carry specialized spacecraft like mining shuttles..

I imagine there's a wide range of auxiliary craft from EVA drones and EVA pods to large mining shuttles available on the market.
And, as you say, a range of equipment that can be attached to a variety of small craft platforms. So on average, a ship carrying the minimum hang space for small craft and that has the space for shipboard manufactories probably has an array of asteroid assaying sensors, grappling gear, and handling equipment that can be hung from something like the Cargo Runabout described in Fleets of the Three Galaxies , pg. 108-109.

I agree with this. In my own game I even created mining pods for the Katana Fighter so I think these attachments would be available for a wide range of military and commercial vehicles.