Curiosity - What IAV stands for?

[Lalande]

I'm just curious. I have seen light IAV, medium IAV, and heavy IAV, but I don't know what IAV means and it just bug me...
So anybody know what the official meaning of IAV? Is it an acronym?

Don't tell me it means Interesting Anonymous Vehicular thingy or something.

[RPC]

It could mean Improvised Armored Vehicle.

[george moromisato]

It could mean Improvised Armored Vehicle.

Yes.

[erik dela cruz]

RPC, you're awesome dude.

[RPC]

Eric dela cruz: actually, I asked the guys on IRC, which may be accessed by the blue userbar in my signature.
I was reluctant to say Improvised Armored Vehicle because they kinda look too standardized to be improvised.....

[shanejfilomena]

at some point I could have sworn I read a description of the IAV and what it meant.....but I failed to find it.

I DO REMEMBER the AV stood for Armored Vehicle.......
I think the I was Improved, not sure. And another search of descriptions failed to find it. but I could swear I saw it in the game at one point, it could have been in a version I lost like between 1.01 and 1.05 : cleaned the computer, it thought it was 2006 when I stated it back up......it was made in 2009....so I had a few things to fix but the versions I lost are not downloadable anymore.

[Lalande]

So that what IAV means. The IAVs doesn't look 'improvised' to me. So, who flying it? Civilian or private military contractor?
I always wondering, where the civilian spacecraft anyway? Or IAV represent whatever ordinary civilian flew in 25th century.

[Lmoy]

I figured the IAVs were initially serviceships of some kind (possibly for manouvreing repair plates onto the armour segments of truly massive ships such as superfreighters).
Then one day someone made a cheap spaceship out of the hull of a serviceship by adding a reactor, fusion drive, armour, and a gun. Other people began making IAVs in the same manner. Then some small production companies began producing cheap spaceships based on the most popular IAV designs (accounting for the apparent standardization).

[RPC]

Oh cool. That makes sense. It explains both the popularity and apparent standardization.
*RPC adds to Sandbox*

[shanejfilomena]

So that what IAV means. The IAVs doesn't look 'improvised' to me. So, who flying it? Civilian or private military contractor?
I always wondering, where the civilian spacecraft anyway? Or IAV represent whatever ordinary civilian flew in 25th century.

THIS is a description that i did find still in my computer: from all stock ships playable :
desc= "The Medium IAV is a well-known civilian multipurpose ship."
but being as there are many at military installations, I suppose there are ,military pilots flying them as well

[Lalande]

I figured the IAVs were initially serviceships of some kind (possibly for manouvreing repair plates onto the armour segments of truly massive ships such as superfreighters).
Then one day someone made a cheap spaceship out of the hull of a serviceship by adding a reactor, fusion drive, armour, and a gun. Other people began making IAVs in the same manner. Then some small production companies began producing cheap spaceships based on the most popular IAV designs (accounting for the apparent standardization).

Nice theory. I also figured that IAVs akin to custom car or motorbike today, where various people or small company make small ship (and saying 'TAKE THAT PASIFICA!'). Maybe there are IAV Gang with black leather jumpsuit and roaring exhaust. (OK that is implausible)
But I think Transcendence world need more civilian ship even if they only spawned near CW colonies. I'm talking about every kind of shuttle service ship, cause I can't imagine people travel inside a cargo bay. Or maybe the common people hate or seldom traveling? Most of us never left our feet from this small blue world after all.
Now I got epileptic tree.

[Lmoy]

No, most people would likely not leave their station enough to warrant having their own ship. Food and supplies would be shipped in by corporate shipping companies, meaning people wouldn't have to go anywhere for basic nesessities. If they did want to go to a different station, people would most likely take a shuttle (like a modern day bus or taxi) or rent an IAV. IIRC over 100 million Commonwealth citizens live in Eridani alone. Compare that to the number of ships in Eridani...

[Ttech]

No, most people would likely not leave their station enough to warrant having their own ship. Food and supplies would be shipped in by corporate shipping companies, meaning people wouldn't have to go anywhere for basic nesessities. If they did want to go to a different station, people would most likely take a shuttle (like a modern day bus or taxi) or rent an IAV. IIRC over 100 million Commonwealth citizens live in Eridani alone. Compare that to the number of ships in Eridani...

Also relative siZe of a cargoship or cw tranport

[shanejfilomena]

No, most people would likely not leave their station enough to warrant having their own ship. Food and supplies would be shipped in by corporate shipping companies, meaning people wouldn't have to go anywhere for basic nesessities. If they did want to go to a different station, people would most likely take a shuttle (like a modern day bus or taxi) or rent an IAV. IIRC over 100 million Commonwealth citizens live in Eridani alone. Compare that to the number of ships in Eridani...

Also relative siZe of a cargoship or cw tranport

"The EI100 class freighter was designed for fast interplanetary transportation. Early in its history, it even carried passengers"

Just as in Star Wars, Star Trek and many other space adventures the question of population transports and controls are integral to the understanding of the mechanics of the civilization.
A walking population is easier to control. in Space, basically you have this "walking" population because ships are expensive to obtain and just as costly to keep running.
The game does not say or suggest how the player gets the ship : how they afforded it, etc.
Absolutely no history there in the game at all. and this is sad because you have the middle and the end......but no beginning?
no tale of growing up on a planet, the child of a freighter pilot, memory sticks full of images of you and your parents cruising the stars or planting the latest thing that made the home life a little less bleak during economic down turns?.......

no ROMS randomly showing up at a station's " mail call " from home for you.......there is an idea here , I know it........
a dock screen option to " check messages" ????........interesting.
I would have to think on that but I do not think Ill do it so straight forward...too obvious, I am more evil then that...Ill find another way to do it, but there is an idea for someone to work with.

the fact that the populations of stations have no escape pods: suffer losses of life during attacks and those that escape are left to die even by corporate cruisers because I would think that if the cruiser docks, it takes the staff : maybe it does......but shouldf they not have more escape pod abilities like I enjoy and RPC made famous?......

[TheLastBrunnenG]

THIS is a description that i did find still in my computer: from all stock ships playable :
desc= "The Medium IAV is a well-known civilian multipurpose ship."
but being as there are many at military installations, I suppose there are ,military pilots flying them as well

Remember, I wrote all 150+ descriptions myself for that mod. They're not exactly canon!

My thought at the time was that the Ronin, Centurion, and similar ships were purpose-built military (or police) vessels. Some find their way into private hands (Jenna / Rama), but the majority are in government service. IAVs, Manticores, Wolfen, etc. seem to me more like civilian armed vessels - not typically used by the military. But in an era where civilians are advised to travel armed (even in the St. Katherine system!), finding civilian and militia vessels armed as well as or better than military ships wouldn't be uncommon. And while some appear to be purpose-built gunships (Wolfen), others are improvised by desperate or clever owners. I can picture somebody strapping armor and a cannon onto his space garbage scow and taking a couple of escort missions or entering an Arena melee for cash. Or maybe they were settlers heading across dangerous territory, and took their civilian vessels and strapped any available scrap of metal on as armor to try making a dash for a faraway system to make a better life (or to be a claim-jumper!).

My guess is that IAVs represent a wide variety of homebuilt, improvised, and thrown-together armed and armored vessels, all with basically similar stats. This would be a great candidate to make <ImageVariant> work with ships, so that a single set of stats could apply to vessels with widely different appearances. I'd also love to see the ability to randomly determine installed armor based on a <table><group> the way we can for devices and items.

Finding IAVs and other vessels docked at Commonwealth Militia stations makes sense - after all, that's what a militia is, a group of "irregular" armed forces. I think we see these vessels in military roles for the same reason that I can go from doing just a couple of Militia assignments to walking onto the bridge of a CSC and being given a squadron-command mission straight from an Admiral. That is, the Fleet is so hard-pressed by wars against the Ares and constant attacks by Sung, Ranx, etc. that they'll let anybody help who cares to.