Drop Pod Transports

[Migi]

In game there are Commercial and Military Components.  A Military vessel may have both installed, a Commercial vessel can only have Commercial Components.  Currently Jump Engines are Commercial Components, which can ALWAYS transport the ship it is installed upon, but can ONLY transport other ships with a matching drive engine type.  So having a "All Purpose" Jump Tender with both Commercial and Military Jump Engines is possible.  (However, I'd like to see such Jump Tenders be like no armour space stations and only allow Commercial components.)

My plan was to have a civilian engined general purpose jump tender with a military jump engine as well.
My fleet would have a separate jump tender for combat operations with normal fleet speed and extra fuel.

[Father Tim]

Commercial, as I understand it, isn't the same as "Civilian". The civilians use it, but so too does the military.

Correct, but you have your terminology backwards.  "Civilian" means "not Military" and describes some engine types and many non-weaponry systems and maintenance requirements and entire hulls that do not include any military components.

"Commercial" -- as in "commercial shipping" -- describes organizations that function to create wealth, and that use entirely civilian (i.e. not military) ships.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people use the two terms interchangeably the vast majority of the time, so it may be too late to try and separate them.

Terms can be confusing:

Commercial projects are different from government projects, civilian projects are different from military projects.  It is possible to have a Commercial Military projects just as it is possible to have a Governmental Civilian project.

One can take a civilian platform and turn it into a military platform (The E3 Sentry is just a Boeing 707 with some military hardware on it) or take a military platform and turn it into a civilian platform (though this can be trickier, but for example one can own a tank https://www.drivetanks.com/own-one/ which has been stripped of weapon functionality (Main gun 100% after that one gets into local weapon laws/permits)).

In game there are Commercial and Military Components.  A Military vessel may have both installed, a Commercial vessel can only have Commercial Components.  Currently Jump Engines are Commercial Components, which can ALWAYS transport the ship it is installed upon, but can ONLY transport other ships with a matching drive engine type.  So having a "All Purpose" Jump Tender with both Commercial and Military Jump Engines is possible.  (However, I'd like to see such Jump Tenders be like no armour space stations and only allow Commercial components.)

In Aurora-specific terms, we had 'Civilian' components (which only intereacted with maintenance rules at the time) years before we had 'Commercial' shipping lines.  Since said lines would build the player's own civilian ship designs, the confusion was probably inevitable.

[Pedroig]

I see.  Confusing terminology is status quo for most games though.  I believe in C# there are Civilian shipping lines, which engage in commercial activities.  And then there are commercial components, shipyards, and vessels. 

Terminology should be Civilian Components, Vessels, and Shipyards, Commercial Shipping Lines.  Then Military Components, Vessels, and Shipyards, Governmental Fleets (Military, Exploration, Logistical, Colony, etc.) 

C's are used pretty interchangeably in game, though they should be more distinguished from one another. M is fine as is really.  It doesn't really matter if the government designs/builds a military part or if a civilian commercial contractor builds a military part.

[Erik L]

Maybe rename military components to mil-spec or something like that?