The rules for this give us three points to consider:

1) Total of 60 Silhouette of craft can be carried.

2) No single craft can exceed (carrier's Silhouette - 2).

3) Us GM discretion on what can fit.

OK. That last one is the important bit, especially when looking at carrying Silhouette 5 ships. Is it reasonable for Silhouette 7+ ships to carry any Silhouette 5 ships? I can't imagine an Escort Carrier or Bulk Cruiser conveying Corellian Corvettes, Marauder Corvettes, DP20 Gunships or the like. Maybe one or two, but twelve is really out of the question even for a Star Destroyer.

Overall, I'm really surprised that this component allows anything larger than Silhouette 4 to be carried at all, especially as some Sil 5 craft carry fighters of their own and you could end up with a "nesting doll" effect (worst case I can think of is that Sil 8 supercarrier from Stay on Target with its 144 fighters and 10 sil 6 Nebulon-B figates in its RHB, each of those with 24 fighters and a RHB with five Sil 4 gunships--obviously violating the third point but following points 1 & 2).

I would agree that GM needs some discretion, but in Episode IV, the Devastator brings the Tantive IV into its hangar bay. I believe that is a Victory Star destroyer holding a correllian corvette. And it looked like there was room to spare.

I'm pretty sure that Devastator was an Imperial I. What makes you think she was a Victory because every source I've seen lists her as an Imperial class.

I would agree that GM needs some discretion, but in Episode IV, the Devastator brings the Tantive IV into its hangar bay. I believe that is a Victory Star destroyer holding a correllian corvette. And it looked like there was room to spare.

I think one of the oddities with the RHB is that Silhouette values are just added together. Two TIE fighters take up as much space as a Nebulon-B frigate (which itself can hold 24 TIE fighters). That's positively absurd.

I think what you need to do is look at how big the hanger is. It might be reasonable. It might not. Remember silhoette has a large amount of variation. The upper and lower limits can be very different things.

It's also an after-market upgrade, so it's not going to be as good as having a ship that was built with an internal hanger as part of the core design.

Though truthfully, I partially disagree with the official ruling, and instead use the following:

- Silhouette 5 ship, each RBH modification adds +1 Silhouette (this part I agree with)

- Silhouette 6 ship, each RBH modification adds +5 Silhouette

- Silhouette 7+ ships, each RBH modification adds +10 Silhouette

Now the need for PCs to use the RBH on anything bigger than a Silhouette 5 ship hasn't come up in any of the games I've run or played; there was talk of one group starting with a Wayfayer and then adding the RBH to accommodate a pair of Z-95s, but that game never actually got off the ground.

I was not aware of it and I had some fun reading your post. I have to say that it is the typical "flaw" in the design of a game that annoys me.

On the other hand I don't think this will be ever an issue in my games since I don't think my PCs will ever own anything bigger than a silhouette 5 ship; or if I will have to create a silhouette 7+ ship for a bunch of NPCs, I don't need to stick to the rules since I am the GM and I can do whatever pleases me

So, in my opinion

1) Yes, it is a "flaw" in the design.

2) Don't bother with it if it does not come into play or if you don't foresee it to come into play.

I hope it helps

Aren't Neb-B's Sil 6 and therefore out of the maximum Sil that this component can carry? Therefore invalidating that part of your nesting-doll argument. However, your argument is still entirely valid with Sil 5 ships modified themselves with a RHB.

And as a point in defence of the Sil 7+ ship carrying 12 corvettes. Who ever said that they are internal? Maybe it has been refitted with docking clamps all over it's hull to be able to dock with, and carry through hyperspace, all those vessels.

I do agree tho that carrying Sil 5 ships is a bit of a stretch. Why would you want to carry 12 capital ships on board in the first place? Is there a Sil 5 ship without a hyperdrive?

IPV might count. Don't remember what sil it is but it would probably be 5 and stock models have no hyperdrives.

Docking clamps and such things is really nice for the RHB.

(I've stolen this from the internetz)

In my game campaign, this is a Mandalorian Dominance class Heavy Cruiser / Fleet Carrier

Silhouette 7 with 72 fighters, 2 Authority-class corvettes

A squadron in each of the six hangar bays and corvettes docked in the front.

(However, that's the standard and not with the RHB-attachment, I just wanted to show a nice ship with some docked sil 5 corvettes)

Aren't Neb-B's Sil 6 and therefore out of the maximum Sil that this component can carry? Therefore invalidating that part of your nesting-doll argument. However, your argument is still entirely valid with Sil 5 ships modified themselves with a RHB.

The maximum Silhouette for carried vessels is two less than the carrier's Silhouette with no hard maximum listed beyond this. That means that a Sil 8 vessel can technically carry Sil 6 Nebulon-B frigates.

HappyDaze, that rule is just... silly. I am now 100% in agreement with you.

I edited the first post re: point #2. The Sil 5 limit was for a Sil 7 carrier, and since the thread is about Sil 7+, I wanted that "+" to be considered too.

Hmm.. A Praetor carrying 8 Victories each carrying 12 Corvettes carrying lots of fighters.... yup, not stupid at all...

Retrofitted hangers are basically taking a ship.. like a Bulk Action IV that doesn't have a hanger. and cutting a hole in it to make room for other ships.

Completely separate from ships that have a hanger bay built in as part of the design when the ship is built

The RHB can also be a bolt-on "shed" that extends beyond the original lines of the ship. However, the current rules start breaking verisimilitude above Sil 7.

The problem I have with the retrofit hanger bay is the rule doesn't allow sil 5 vessels to carry small transports like shuttles.

Most Sil 5 vehicles are small enough to land wherever needed and shuttles are not vital. Most ships that we would think of that have an actual hangar are Sil 6+. The marauder corvette being a big exception.

It's not really fixable though, as silhouette is exponential (I took a stab and it's on the order of ~2.5^Sil). Unless you have a cap on exponential silhouette (e.g. a ship can store 200es, and you find the es of a ship by doing 2.5^Sil.) you'll always get russian doll effects.