Freighters/Merchants question

There is a third way which mixes both methods. If the cargo pods are long
Hexagonal shapes, then both methods could be used at once.

The main spine is hexagonal (and the same dimensions as the standard cargo pod
or same dimensions as set of 6 pods); you get multiple layers of 6 hexagonal
pods (with some overlap). Depending on the spine length, you could easily have
four or five sets of pods with maximum contact area. On the outside layer, you
could attach any sphere pods (as they would have at least two connection
points onto the hex pods; more likely four). Or the spheres could be buffered
between the stacks of hex pods along the spine.

ascii art:
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|
       |XXXXooooXXXXooooXXXXooooXXXX|
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|
    TUG|----------------------------|ENGINES
COMMAND|------------SPINE-----------|ENGINES
    TUG|----------------------------|ENGINES
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|
       |XXXXooooXXXXooooXXXXooooXXXX|
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|

Block of "xxxx" and "XXXX" are multiple layers of hex pods (4:1 ratio for
length) and each block of "o" is a single sphere pod. In 3 dimensions, the
above picture has 96 hex pods (in 4 blocks of 24; 3 layers) and 18 sphere pods
(in 3 blocks of 6; 1 layer). This way it covers both solid cargo and liquid
cargo. The two tugs are for emergencies and planets without their own orbital
facilities.

The only problems (like all stacking methods) is to get to the central set in
case of emergency. In zero gravity, its easy enough to just jettison them all
and collect them again after the emergency is over.

Brendan 'neath southern skies

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