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How do you plan to let ramps and loading bays, especially on the likes of the Carrack and the Aquila, work in rough terrain?

TL;DRThey're thinking hard about uneven terrain with springy landing gear and partially opening ramps, but the final implementation likely won't be in 3.0, and large ships will still need flat ground.

Matt IntrieriPrincipal Ship Technical Artist

Oh, that's interesting, because this is a Calix question. He did some prototypes for variable terrain. So we have the idea of springy landing gear, and along with that system it's going to take into account the cargo doors and whatnot. So we're thinking hard about uneven terrain and how that would actually work. And we want to keep the ship basically level, but the landing gears and things are going to fall into crevices, and the door is going to open and the ladder is going to open to a certain amount.

Jared HuckabyHost, Community

Chances are you're not going to see the final implementation of whatever that answer is in 3.0. It's going to be something that evolves just like anything else.

Matt ShermanTechnical Designer

Yeah, it presents just immediately a lot of challenges for tracking the balance of the ship, especially if we get into larger and larger ships. Now, for something smaller, you'll probably have better luck, because you're also going to probably find something that's almost more inherently flat to the shape of your ship. But if you start getting to, say, you're bringing a Caterpillar down, even with any different landing gear compression, there's only so far below those landing gear will still extend, and so you'll still need to find as big, clear and flat of a tract as possible, but you won't get screwed over by there being a little bit of variation in that.

Happy Hour›Interview: LA Ship Tech Team·
Published on this date.7 Apr 2017