Tug Vessels in Science Fiction

Spacedock delves into the little-remarked space tugs of certain sci-fi franchises.

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Spacedock does not hold ownership of the copyrighted materiel (Footage, Stills etc) taken from the various works of fiction covered in this series, and uses them within the boundaries of Fair Use for the purpose of Analysis, Discussion and Review.

[Spacedock]

Get "Designing the Perfect Space Fighter - A Spacedock Reference Book" here!

[BritBattler]

We definitely need more leaving port scenes in sci-fi.

[TheArchaos]

Infrastructure and commercial vessels are VASTLY underrepresented in sci-fi.

[mitwhitgaming]

One of my favorite instances of a "tug" inspired vessel was the shield ships from Star Wars Heir to the Empire that were specialized to protect other ships from the intense radiation of a particular star.

[benjaminodonnell]

I love the idea that the Millennium Falcon is a kind of barge tug, because it explains so much that otherwise doesn't make sense. It's a small ship with massively overpowered engines designed to push huge pallets of freight around the galaxy. Now that is something you could turn into a speedy blockade runner while making it continue to look like a tramp "freighter" (really a freight tug).

[HaloBuff]

The Salvage Corvettes and Resource Harvesters of the Homeworld games fit in here perfectly and deserved a mention. Several missions use them as integral to the plot.

[tyrreloneal]

Leaving port/docking scenes definitely have a special place in my heart!

[komo]

You know what, I really like this idea. So many hero ships are either small freighters or ex-military, so one that's a tug is pretty neat.

Imagine a small ship, with a pair of small high-efficiency engines rigged beside the huge main thruster that's like 50% the entire thing. The crew goes around doing jobs for various organizations to salvage ships and clean up convoy lanes, while doing some off the book jobs on the sides. If there's an active conflict in the area that they can operate around, all the better. Imagine all the stories you can tell without even getting into stuff that's personal to the crew!

[ParanoidMarvinMk]

An interesting take on this is in the Honorverse. Since any large vessel that can get up to a decent speed is a potential weapon vs. stations or planets, and the universe has some mind control shenanigans going on, ships have to power down their engines and wait for a tug WAY out. The tugs have dual pilots and the pilots are very highly cleared and screened.

[henryhamilton]

5:36
In Nebulous Fleet Command, tugs are actually one of the ships you can outfit and bring into combat.
They're decently fast and maneuverable but have basically paper armor, but they can fit a pretty deadly 250mm autoloading main gun and punch up against heavier ships if you fit them with missile launchers or rocket launchers.

They can also fit a fully sized reactor and act as jamming, early warning, and electronic warfare platforms.

[rhodes]

I like the concept of an orbital tug basically being a small vessel with a very big engine whose whole purpose is to ferry cargo between the ground and orbit

[PaiSAMSEN]

It's something I started appreciated heavily once I made huge spacecraft in KSP. They tend to dock awkwardly, so having a pod with extra large RCS thruster assist them during docking help a lot.

[Michael-fmxx]

In a similar fashion, I always love seeing industrial ships in sci Fi as well like the ishimura in dead space, or the mining vessels and barges in eve online. So many cool ways to take the concept!

[EnderDragonoth]

This just reminded me of the Planetes anime, where the main job of the main cast is to clean up space debris. The ship was called the Toy Box and was set up as EVA craft but also had armatures to pick up debris. It's style very much reminded me of how tugs can fill in many roles beyond just move things.

[gnomish]

I appreciate the heck out of how you put the credits for each shot at the bottom of the screen.

[AlRoderick]

You can't forget the action potential of the grappler ships from Outlaw Star. It was like watching a mecha battle between lanky mermaids.

[IdleDrifter]

Space Truckers, both from the Movie said name and from Cowboy Bebop. They are essentially barges with tugs. They would be useful for within star systems for bulk cargo. Either between stations and orbital mining platforms and fabrication factories. Delivering bulk cargo to interstellar ships. You'd also have the rough and tumble subculture of space truckers/tuggers. A bar room brawl aboard a space station adds flavor to your story. Or the occasional weird eyewitness story over too many beers and shots of rotgut.

[tymek]

I really like the look of a utility/industrial craft the multi-purpouse nature allows for some well justified little stories (distress call there, salvage here etc.) while being sufficiently small to feel like home to its crew

[Cailus]

Now I'm nostalgic for the TV show Tugs. That was a wonderful show, really.

[PraetorPaktu]

The Kushan Salvage corvette fits the bill very well. it was made to move around stuff while the mothership was being built and in combat, They can yoink enemy capital ships to be retrofitted, or salvaged.