Do Planets need Cargo facilities?

[Triumvir Emphy]

I always love it when people talk about realism when discussing a Sci-fi game.

[Spyder]

That DOES seem to be a nonsequitur, doesn't it?

[Triumvir Emphy]

for all going "huh???"

Non Sequitur = a response that does not follow logically from anything previously said

[Suicide Junkie]

Recall that these fighters can fly to the sun, or to the edge of the solar system in one turn (depending on actual design). If they can do that, I sure that taking off from a planetary surface is no problem.

If a fighter can get to orbit by itself, you can launch as many as you want at the same time, from anywhere on the surface.

The cargo space is just to store the fighters so they don't rust in the rain .

[rdouglass]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know of many SciFi lines that have characters launching mines or sats from thier "backyard catapults". They always have some kind of infrastructure support to accomplish this. They sometimes launch fighters but usually from some kind of airstrip or something. I'm not looking to reproduce reality, just enhance the gameplay. Right now it's too easy to defend planets with mines and sats. IMO they need to have an infrastructure in place to support them (mines and sats). Also IMO cargo facilities just don't have the infrastructure. I mean, you can't launch 'em (sats, mines, and fighters) from a cargo ship without the proper components. Why would a planet be any different other than for ease of programming?

It may also make it more important to leave a fleet or two to protect the home systems behind enemy lines.

[Suicide Junkie]

Maybe, you should have to have a spaceport, shipyard, or 'enhanced' cargo facility, in order to put mines and stuff in orbit.

OTOH,
I imagine it would be fairly easy to have fighters with VTOL, but runways are really cheap too. You could use civilian airports, roads or highways as runways for fighters, and not have to worry.

If its got its own engines, it seems reasonable to assume it can take off on its own.

The problem is when the item you're launching dosen't have its own engines. If you launch something from the surface without engines, there are few options.
- Goes up & comes down. Crunch. No good.
- Fling it hard enough that it doesn't come back down. The sat goes off into space, and dosen't stay in the area long. no good
- use a moon to slingshot the object into orbit. Most planets don't have moons in SE. There would also be a good chance of the moon later flinging the object in or out.

[Spyder]

Don't forget Asimov's 'Tethered' space station....a Space Station that is tied to the earth and a massive elevator moves between the two...you could do a lot from there....