[Spaceships] Habitat observations

Mgellis · 01-28-2009, 06:59 AM

When I first got Spaceships, I was very impressed, but a little disappointed because it didn't look like you could really design space habitats--the armor rules didn't really cover the kind of massive, thick shielding one needed to protect a population from cosmic radiation over the long term.

But I think I was wrong...

Roughly speaking, you need about one meter of steel (or two meters of loose gravel, soil, etc., or about five meters of ice) to protect people from cosmic radiation over the long term.

You can do it. One meter of steel would correspond to about dDR 280, which is what you get with four levels of steel armor for an SM+15 hull. (You need to apply this to all three hull sections, about 60% of the total mass of the ship.)

(By the way, its not DR that matters but having about 5-7 tons of mass per square meter between you and the radiation of space...any armor would do, probably, but you need four levels of it and a SM+15 hull. I'm not sure if the "four levels" rule would apply to smaller craft...the DR goes down but is that because the armor really isn't as thick? It's still 60% of the overall mass of the craft. It's probably a moot point, though; if you're talking a true space habitat, something you can landscape on the inside for a quasi-Earthlike environment, you usually need at least SM+15 anyway.)

60% of your mass (twelve systems) gives you plenty of room for habitats, open space, solar power (or power plants), factories, hangers, etc. You have a lot of design freedom.

Assuming a ring design, you can probably treat it as a "saucer" to determine actual diameter, so we're probably talking about a 500-meter-wide torus. Not too shabby!

Thank you, Mr. Pulver. :)

01-28-2009, 06:59 AM	#1
Mgellis Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Flushing, Michigan	[Spaceships] Habitat observations When I first got Spaceships, I was very impressed, but a little disappointed because it didn't look like you could really design space habitats--the armor rules didn't really cover the kind of massive, thick shielding one needed to protect a population from cosmic radiation over the long term. But I think I was wrong... Roughly speaking, you need about one meter of steel (or two meters of loose gravel, soil, etc., or about five meters of ice) to protect people from cosmic radiation over the long term. You can do it. One meter of steel would correspond to about dDR 280, which is what you get with four levels of steel armor for an SM+15 hull. (You need to apply this to all three hull sections, about 60% of the total mass of the ship.) (By the way, its not DR that matters but having about 5-7 tons of mass per square meter between you and the radiation of space...any armor would do, probably, but you need four levels of it and a SM+15 hull. I'm not sure if the "four levels" rule would apply to smaller craft...the DR goes down but is that because the armor really isn't as thick? It's still 60% of the overall mass of the craft. It's probably a moot point, though; if you're talking a true space habitat, something you can landscape on the inside for a quasi-Earthlike environment, you usually need at least SM+15 anyway.) 60% of your mass (twelve systems) gives you plenty of room for habitats, open space, solar power (or power plants), factories, hangers, etc. You have a lot of design freedom. Assuming a ring design, you can probably treat it as a "saucer" to determine actual diameter, so we're probably talking about a 500-meter-wide torus. Not too shabby! Thank you, Mr. Pulver. :)