subdivide regular traders into light, medium and heavy

[Astrobe]

<Smivs remembers the time he had the temerity to suggest that this anomaly might be corrected - not a popular suggestion at all >

Actually, bringing the Anaconda's capacity down did get the most votes … although reading over the thread again I see that in the end I was convinced by an idea of DaddyHoggy's to leave it alone:

So how about this - bulk carriers (possibly including the Anaconda) can take a certain number of physical TC cannisters BUT can take very large, bulky items, intact. So, you could limit the Anaconda to, for example, 250TCs for actual trading in TC cannisters - but its equivalent ACTUAL capacity is 750TCs, so contracts could also include genuinely bulky items that only Anacondas (core ship) and Bulk haulers (OXP ships) can carry. This way BULK Hauler would mean something. You would buy an Anaconda (core game) because you wanted to haul actual large items - with the ability to carry large but not silly amounts of TC cannisters for normal trading when no bulk items are available.

It never went anywhere, but it's still a good idea … ultimately, since I don't (and don't intend to) fly an Anaconda, it doesn't matter to me what the cargo capacity says!

Actually the rest of the post kind of suggests a mini game in which one would have to fit cargo that comes in different sizes (but same weight!) in the cargo bay.
Path of Exile does this: items come either in 1x1 squares (amulets, rings), 4x4 (helms, bootlegs), 2x3 (shields and body armors), 1x4 (swords, maces), 2x1 (knifes)... Then we can have ships with non-rectangular cargo bays or with "pillars" in the middle of it. That would make some ships more fitted to bulk hauling than others without using ridiculous cargo bay sizes or contract quantities.

Well, I don't see that one going anywhere either. Plus it's a big addition to solve a minor issue that have much simpler solutions.

Nice thread anyway Smivs. That was a lively can of worms

[Diziet Sma]

Nice thread anyway Smivs. That was a lively can of worms

There were some excellent ideas for big machinery cargo too.. a shame it never went anywhere.. a Griffified Combine Harvester would have been a sight to behold.