Question on the Imperial Courier. In FE2 and FFE this ship didn't have fuel scoops as I recall. In Oolite, as with any other ship, you're able to add fuel scoops.
This is a bit of a problem for my story as I need an assassins ship and the Courier is the obvious one and the lack of a fuel scoop gives it away.
Is there a reason why the courier has a scoop in Oolite, or can I get away with perhaps a 'standard' courier without the scoop for the purposes of the story.
And what's the explaination for why the scoop no longer works in FE2 and FFE?
There are no hard rules about ship equipment specs in Oolite: they're pretty much based on the whims of the designer. Putting aside technicalities of the game itself, my take on it is that most ships over a certain size would usually be capable of being fitted with fuel scoops - it's hardly a hi-tech extra and for most pilots, especially those who have to do a lot of long-distance travelling, it's regarded a piece of standard equipment.
You could argue some ships have specific design constrains that prevent additions being bolted on to the hull - this could be particularly appropriate for the Courier what with its curved surfaces. Alternatively, maybe the pilot doesn't want a bulky fuel scoop spoiling the outline of such an elegant ship.
The Imperial Courier used in Oolite is a redevelopment following backwards engineering of a captured Imperial version. It uses none of the Imperial/Federal technology of military drives and such.
Instead, it uses a custom-built quirium type hyperdrive with the witchspace egress emitters split from the main drive and fuel tanks and fitted into the nacelles. The main fuel tank is mounted centrally between the nacelles in the main body of the ship, below the main cargo bay.
Using this configuration, a fuel scoop can be fitted, since the fuel and cago areas are both accessible through the same section of the hull, allowing the scoop to be fitted about two-thirds of the way up the hull towards the forward end.
) lines up with my story timeline for why Couriers are such a rare sight in 3138!