Tractor beams suggest that ships are able to "scoop" cargo from space into their cargo bays. I assume the reverse would also be possible, to jettison cargo into space. How does this work on whips where there are not bulkheads between the crew compartments and the cargo holds?asked by Jomanda

Really great question, that's actually something we're digging into right now in the design. We're actually trying to figure out exactly how we bring cargo in from space.Like if you're a pirate and you're just gone and spaced someone and they've jettisoned their cargo, how do you bring it in to your cargo bay?So one way would be to have a tractor beam to help out, and the other way we're talking about is some level of EVA. You could actually get into your space suit and take a little space sled out to pick up the cargo and bring it back into your cargo hold.Obviously the ships, most of the ships that are designed for pulling cargo should have an airlock door between the cargo hold and the pilot or living quarter area so that you can space the cargo hold and you don't have to space the living quarters. If you actually had a ship that didn't have that, if you were opening up your cargo hold or spacing or whatever, you would have to basically space the whole ship. You would have to be in a EVA or space suit, whatever you want to call it, to survive that.Obviously something like an Aurora isn't really designed for that, but its cargo pod is external, so you can eject it. But most of the ships we're actually going through and designing and going:"Ok, well we probably need an airlock door here. How do we actually physically get the cargo in if we're trying to bring it in from space or not in space."Because we recognize that a lot of people will actually be doing that in space besides just picking up stuff on the ground and dropping it off on the ground.In Star Citizen there actually will be much more of a game mechanic around collecting your cargo than there has been in say Privateer or Freelancer or other space sim games where you basically just run over the cargo and it's magically in your hold. You actually have to tractor it in or you have to go out and get it and put it in your hold.I think that will actually be a really cool game mechanic, and add to the fun.