OBT Forum

I could see Periphery realms going after those as a cheap alternative to building yards of thier own for full scale production.

I have to agree with a lot of what Walegrin said. Just looking at some of the Jihad fiction, or the Historical: War of 3039, (in reference to a lost Fortress DropShip) it seems salvage operations are a fairly lucrative and saturated market. Meaning, if you're not transporting cargo or troops, you were probably looking for salvage - even pirates gave salvage operations "a go" every now and again - it was lucrative.

And for the most part, just like today's car thief and modern day chop shop, cars stripped of their parts are worth more broken apart or separately than kept together. Given the disposition of "LosTech" during the long years of the Third Succession War, it seems like salvage operators were constantly on the look out for derelicts to cannibalize for parts.

Sadly, I don't see a damaged JumpShip being left alone until someone "might" be able to fix them into working order at some unfixed future date.

Now if a salvage team came across a misjump derelict there's a chance it might be worth salvaging wholesale if the ship's condition left that option viable. But like I said before, even if the vessel was of great historical importance - the salvage might be far easier to sell and transport in pieces.

There's also the question of quality and cost. Derelict vessels (depending on the amount of time and original damage) suffer a lot of fatigue just floating around in space. Micro-meteors, stress fractures, radiation, on so, take their toll. If a JumpShip in the 1st Succession War suffered an accident that ruined its K-F Drive, how long could said derelict float about until it was past the point of worthwhile repair? Clearly local conditions would determine that span of time, but lets say for argument's sake that at some point someone did want to repair this JumpShip at some unfixed future time when the ability to fully repair was available. What would the owner have to do to ensure their JumpShip was still a viable repair?

Answer: Mothball the damaged JumpShip

Mothballing a ship is a lot of work. The process requires manpower, resources, equipment and time. And while mothballing can be done in the "field," at that point is the ship even worth it? Keep in mind that the same time and resources spent trying to mothball a ship where it was found, or in transporting it back to a ShipYard for the same work, can be spent stripping the damaged JumpShip for parts. The difference between the two is that salvaging the ship for parts makes a real impact on the present by providing equipment for still functioning JumpShips and making a decent amount of C-Bills when the deal is done. Valuable, necessary and (un)common resources aren't just lying in wait under the assumption that some day these non-functional JumpShips will be able to be placed back in working order.   

Lastly, keep in mind that mothballing a damaged JumpShip for a later date (especially during the long years of the Third Succession War) is like asking the dwindling stock of functional JumpShips to decline further for lack of parts and asking the salvage operator to decline instant retirement...

I just don't see that happening.
     

Just a question: how difficult is it to repair a JumpShip? Do the Inner Sphere have the knowledge to put together the salvaged pieces into something coherent that could work?

KM, look up Bush Mechanics on You Tube and see the ultimate in jury rigging with wood tech, quite literally.

Well thanks for all the responses guys. It doesn't appear that Salvaging Jumpships would be a worthwhile national effort at this time. The scraps of their remains seem likely to have been picked over and stored or become one with stellar matter. Fixing up such craft seems like an individual task for those dedicated individuals with enough time and love or those truly desperate to have a jumpship without any means of possessing them normally.

Sidebar; would I be correct in assuming that the largest Spaceship Salvage Yards would be around the Core Worlds of the InnerSphere. The are at the center of such traffic. Planets like Terra, New Earth, or former Hegemony worlds with shipyards at one time could be good candidates.  Thoughts?

Sidebar; would I be correct in assuming that the largest Spaceship Salvage Yards would be around the Core Worlds of the InnerSphere. The are at the center of such traffic. Planets like Terra, New Earth, or former Hegemony worlds with shipyards at one time could be good candidates.  Thoughts?

It depends on the era.
During certain periods of time, those planets were no longer the centres of such traffics.

vacuum is a great way to avoid decay!

Not exactly. Vacuum storage is home to a host of domestic problems. Radiation, micro-fractures, metal fatigue, micro-particles, the list goes on.

People naturally assume that the absence of heavy gravity and the low temperature the vacuum is fantastic for long term storage. It can be, but requires some serious preparation first.

When you think of a salvage yard in space what you're really talking about is a junk yard in space - a place to store bulk material scrap, not usable or recoverable vessels.