How do ships in space dock, for instance allowing transfer of crew and cargo. Do ships like firesorays have docking tubes or airlocks? Or does the so have to pressurise the cargo bay, open the landing ramp and spacewalk?

Kinda depends on the ship I would think.

Yeah tubes. At the end of Empire Strikes Back, the Falcon is docked to the frigate through a tube (although it may be refueling). In TCW S1 E9, they show a good docking sequence at around the 1:20 minute mark. A tube comes out of the side of the hangar and connects to the docking ports on the side of a republic cruiser. The Falcon has two of those side docking ports.

I would imagine the Firespray is small enough to fit into a hangar though.

Airlock to airlock if shape and design permits, docking tube if not.

Depends how big the other ship is I guess!

They can clamp onto ships as that happens in Empire (presumably, Fett follows the Falcon after it releases off the the star destroyer). Maybe there's an airlock through that.

Yeah, if both ships are willing to dock with each other, it's not a problem to just run a tube that connects the two airlocks. If one ship is unwilling, you'd have disable it's engines/hyperdrive and/or catch it in a tractor beam, and then clamp onto it. Best way would be to immobilize it though, since they could shake you off with sufficiently rigorous piloting.

But if both ships are willing, it's a completely mundane matter to dock with each other. Make sure you're both immobile, or drifting in the same direction. It'd get hairy if you needed to start flying suddenly, like if you were ambushed by fighters right in the middle of a docking exchange!

Just checked the ICS and it doesn't appear the Firespray has an airlock or docking ring. So it can only be used inside a pressurized hangar, just like an X-Wing.

Just checked the ICS and it doesn't appear the Firespray has an airlock or docking ring. So it can only be used inside a pressurized hangar, just like an X-Wing.

In EU sources, Slave I can dock with other ships in vacuum.

Depends how big the other ship is I guess!

They can clamp onto ships as that happens in Empire (presumably, Fett follows the Falcon after it releases off the the star destroyer). Maybe there's an airlock through that.

It's your table and your game. If your ship needs to have a docking hatch then I'd say it has one. If you are GM and players want it as a mod then I'd say you've got a minor little side story ship in dry dock scene. I'd do whatever works for you and your game.

Most ships will have docking rings or hatches. Only some of the larger ones will have proper airlocks.

The Firespray might have a docking hach on the backside of the ship, but it definitely appears to not have any airlocks.

There is some ambiguity in desgins and floor plans as well as fan made "stab in the dark" , but there is some speculation that the Airlock on the firespray was directly behind the Pilot seat. only good for a human sized body to slip through

also i really liked this idea for the Yt-1300 deck plan ... take note of the port and starboard docking. They double as egress for the 1 man escape pods

with an explanation on how they work below

every ship beyond a one (or two) man starfighter should have some way to dock, and be able to use escape pods

I bet a Firespray at least has a hatch and given the multitude of ship classes in the galaxy I would imagine there is some sorts of configurable docking tubes that provide a seal between oddly shaped ship hulls and what not.

I bet a Firespray at least has a hatch and given the multitude of ship classes in the galaxy I would imagine there is some sorts of configurable docking tubes that provide a seal between oddly shaped ship hulls and what not.

Plus that, it's designed as a "patrol craft." You'd think it would have some sort of rudimentary docking capability for when its crew needed to board another vessel. The tractor beam is also telling, I think.

From a comic

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Boba_Fett:_When_the_Fat_Lady_Swings

It's as good a spot as any.

..yes I could easily imagine a floor hatch / docking ring out of the back-side of the Slave 1. That wouldn't contradict the schematics that others have created for the Firespray either. The Falcon had a top hatch and some sort of elevator if you can recall Lando using it to grab Luke under Cloud City.

My only issue would be which craft has the, "tube". Is it a collapsible tube that retracts into the Firespray or do most capital ships have tubes themselves to help smaller craft? It would probably make more sense for capital ships and stations to commonly have retractable tubes, especially if they don't have much hangar space. The large craft/stations can have several tubes without having to cram them into the much smaller craft somehow. That also helps for all of those deckplans of transport-sized ships out there that don't have a tube already drawn in.

These pics (not from the movie) of the Nebulon frigate has 4 docking tubes if you look closely:

My only issue would be which craft has the, "tube". Is it a collapsible tube that retracts into the Firespray or do most capital ships have tubes themselves to help smaller craft? It would probably make more sense for capital ships and stations to commonly have retractable tubes, especially if they don't have much hangar space. The large craft/stations can have several tubes without having to cram them into the much smaller craft somehow. That also helps for all of those deckplans of transport-sized ships out there that don't have a tube already drawn in.

The smart money would be that smaller craft have something, especially a patrol craft like a Firespray. Perhaps a collapsible tube that works but isn't much more than thin plastic so that it can pack down nice and tight and really is only intended to be used in emergiencies. You don't want to be in there long and it's probably thin enough it'd be fairly easy to tear. Whereas the larger ships would have something that's more substantial and less prone to damage.

That sounds good.

Never really thought of it before, but the rings on both sides of the Falcon or sometimes referred to as "docking rings". It would make sense to have a retractable tube be part of these side rings, but when the Falcon docked with the Rebel Medical Frigate, instead the top hatch is used? Why not use the larger side docking rings? I suppose it can be explained away that the frigate didn't possess the matching CEC docking ring, so instead the generic emergency tube was used to mate up with the frigate.

Flexible material doesn't need to be flimsy, look at Kevlar. A company named Bigelow in RL is working with what are inflatable hulls.

That sounds good.

Never really thought of it before, but the rings on both sides of the Falcon or sometimes referred to as "docking rings". It would make sense to have a retractable tube be part of these side rings, but when the Falcon docked with the Rebel Medical Frigate, instead the top hatch is used? Why not use the larger side docking rings? I suppose it can be explained away that the frigate didn't possess the matching CEC docking ring, so instead the generic emergency tube was used to mate up with the frigate.

Or, the side docks are soft ports and the frigate has a hard port that is easier to mate with and be towed along by. Just think about the torque if the Falcon was attached by one edge of that large ring as opposed to near the center of the flat disc. Plus it keeps the ships oriented relative to each other so down is down in both ships.

Flexible material doesn't need to be flimsy, look at Kevlar. A company named Bigelow in RL is working with what are inflatable hulls.

Yeah, in Star Wars there's plasteel, plexisteel, nylasteel, etc. Make up a flexible material that is stronger than plastic and more pliable than steel, and you have Star Wars Docking Tubes

Flexible material doesn't need to be flimsy, look at Kevlar. A company named Bigelow in RL is working with what are inflatable hulls.

True, but flimsy is relative. I'd assume that an emergency "soft" docking tube wouldn't be as sturdy as a "hard" docking tube on a capital ship or space-station.

True, but a Firespray by default is flimsier than a capital ship.....