The Dispatch Boat Appreciation Thread

DBs carry information, which has the highest possible value for its size/weight. The limit is how small/light the storage medium is designed. Look at DNA, which codes for proteins, usually using RNA to transfer the information. The proteins then code for functions by assembling into active shapes. Said functions then cooperate to code for cell actions, whether by multicell organism's interactive organization, or single cell's direct reaction to the external environment. That is several layers of coding stored in one very information dense storage medium. Of course DBs also need to have security and fast retrieval, which would reduce the info density, and likely eliminate DNA or similar storage as a usable medium.

Elsewhere I suggested having, whenever there is a planned battle, one or more DB('s) with sensitive receivers kept outside the hyper limit, collecting a steady stream of data sent from your warships. This would make it hard to have repeated surprises from tactical or technology improvements, although there would still be the problem of figuring out just how to overcome them. Even so, that information should be of much higher value than, for example, news reports, which we are told use DBs.

IIRC, at the beginning of the Safehold series, something like this was used to get needed information about the Gbaba from the first battle back to the Federation.

Dispatch Boats can also afford to travel one (or more) bands higher than a military ship because crew sizes.

A DB only has a crew of perhaps 50 people, tops. Even with Manticoran crew automation, destroyers have larger crews than that, and prior to using that automation a destroyer had way more.

I believe right now the majority of the galaxy believes the Iota wall is "unbreakable", and Alice Truman bounced off it 2 days out of Yeltsin back in HotQ which made Hamish flinch at the thought of how dangerous that was.

And DB's probably do rise pretty close to that wall frequently.

DDHvi wrote:DBs carry information, which has the highest possible value for its size/weight. The limit is how small/light the storage medium is designed. Look at DNA, which codes for proteins, usually using RNA to transfer the information. The proteins then code for functions by assembling into active shapes. Said functions then cooperate to code for cell actions, whether by multicell organism's interactive organization, or single cell's direct reaction to the external environment. That is several layers of coding stored in one very information dense storage medium. Of course DBs also need to have security and fast retrieval, which would reduce the info density, and likely eliminate DNA or similar storage as a usable medium.

Elsewhere I suggested having, whenever there is a planned battle, one or more DB('s) with sensitive receivers kept outside the hyper limit, collecting a steady stream of data sent from your warships. This would make it hard to have repeated surprises from tactical or technology improvements, although there would still be the problem of figuring out just how to overcome them. Even so, that information should be of much higher value than, for example, news reports, which we are told use DBs.

IIRC, at the beginning of the Safehold series, something like this was used to get needed information about the Gbaba from the first battle back to the Federation.

Data Storage really shouldn't be an issue - currently, a gallon of 200 GB micro-SD cards (the last I checked that was the largest size) contains around 5 petabytes of information. A box the size of an average US refrigerator should hold ~50x that (~1/4 of an exabyte). So even with current technology, a DB should be easily able to carry several exabytes of information in the volume of a TEU container. (Though it would have to be delivered as cargo, since we're talking about a huge pile of data cards and no readers.)

Somtaaw wrote:Dispatch Boats can also afford to travel one (or more) bands higher than a military ship because crew sizes.

A DB only has a crew of perhaps 50 people, tops. Even with Manticoran crew automation, destroyers have larger crews than that, and prior to using that automation a destroyer had way more.

I believe right now the majority of the galaxy believes the Iota wall is "unbreakable", and Alice Truman bounced off it 2 days out of Yeltsin back in HotQ which made Hamish flinch at the thought of how dangerous that was.

And DB's probably do rise pretty close to that wall frequently.

Depending on what quotes you look at and how, i wouldn´t be surprised if DBs are down in single digit crew sizes sometimes, or at least not far from it.

Tenshinai wrote:

Somtaaw wrote:Dispatch Boats can also afford to travel one (or more) bands higher than a military ship because crew sizes.

A DB only has a crew of perhaps 50 people, tops. Even with Manticoran crew automation, destroyers have larger crews than that, and prior to using that automation a destroyer had way more.

I believe right now the majority of the galaxy believes the Iota wall is "unbreakable", and Alice Truman bounced off it 2 days out of Yeltsin back in HotQ which made Hamish flinch at the thought of how dangerous that was.

And DB's probably do rise pretty close to that wall frequently.

Depending on what quotes you look at and how, i wouldn´t be surprised if DBs are down in single digit crew sizes sometimes, or at least not far from it.

The Havenite DB at Hades had about 30. That's probably 8-10 on duty at any given time while under way. Solarian or Manticoran DBs could cut that number some, but at some point they hit the minimum floor of needing at least three engineers, three pilots and possibly three com officers, in addition to any other crew requirements. Those ships go on quite long trips sometimes.

IMO, 12's as low as you can get for the crew of an interstellar starship. I suppose stripped down dispatch boats designed for short trips of up to three or four days could cope with fewer.

Tenshinai wrote:

Somtaaw wrote:Dispatch Boats can also afford to travel one (or more) bands higher than a military ship because crew sizes.

A DB only has a crew of perhaps 50 people, tops. Even with Manticoran crew automation, destroyers have larger crews than that, and prior to using that automation a destroyer had way more.

I believe right now the majority of the galaxy believes the Iota wall is "unbreakable", and Alice Truman bounced off it 2 days out of Yeltsin back in HotQ which made Hamish flinch at the thought of how dangerous that was.

And DB's probably do rise pretty close to that wall frequently.

Depending on what quotes you look at and how, i wouldn´t be surprised if DBs are down in single digit crew sizes sometimes, or at least not far from it.

If memory serves, the DB that was orbitting Hades had 10 or 20 people on Styx Island, and about the same still on the ship, giving a crew of between 20 and 40. So I fudged a little on the conservative side and say max of 50, or 40 + passenger room.

Single digit crew on a DB seems a little excessive on crew reduction however, and for at least some social aspect they'd probably keep around 15 even in that (under?) sized sardine can masquerading as a ship.