Docking Collar

Invented in ca. 2470, a Docking collar is a standardized structure that allows it to safely attach a DropShip to a JumpShip so that the JumpShip can move both of them to another star system by means of its FTL jump drive. Accordingly, virtually all DropShips are equipped with a Docking collar.

Docking collars can generally be used to connect to the Docking collar of another spaceship or space station, allowing for the transfer of data, power, supplies, cargo and passengers between the vessels involved.

A regular Docking collar costs 10,000 C-Bills in construction. It does not require extra mass to be allocated during construction, being an integral part of every DropShip's structure.

JumpShip Hardpoints

Docking collars on JumpShips are called (Docking) Hardpoints or JumpShip (docking) collars. They differ from regular Docking collars in that they have a base cost of 100,000 C-Bills and have a mass of 1,000 tons each, and also dramatically increase the cost of the Kearny-Fuchida drive. They include Kearny-Fuchida field conducting (KFFC-)booms and other special equipment to ensure that the JumpShip's jump field completely encompasses all docked ships, something that is not necessary on other ships. JumpShips typically have several Hardpoints, enabling them to jump with several DropShips (up to 9 on the civilian Monolith class and up to 25 on the Potemkin class troop cruiser).

Associated rules

The BattleTech construction rules assume that all DropShips automatically have a Docking collar because they need to dock with JumpShips for interstellar travel; accordingly, no mass is indicated for DropShip collars.

Unusually, the K-1 DropShuttle (considered a Small Craft) is also explicitly described to possess one, without having allocated any mass towards the item.

According to the BattleSpace construction rules, DropShips massing over 60,000 tons (up to their maximum size of 100,000 tons) required a second hardpoint on JumpShips, which means they could not be carried by JumpShips with only one Hardpoint. This ruling has been abandoned since in newer rulebooks that take precedence over Battlespace.

Sources

• BattleSpace rulebook
• Technical Readout: 3057