Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

This is part of a homebrew space-opera setting of mine. I started working on it about ten years or so ago with an aborted attempt at a novel, and since then I've been filling in bits and pieces here and there. Nothing truly cohesive as yet, though.

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

Outstanding. Have you posted any setting details somewhere? Any plans on sharing?

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

Actually, I posted some of the details on this forum in a different thread some time ago.

Until this run of spaceships, I hadn't really done anything else with it. Ideas are welcome.

I do have a few other items for the setting that I haven't mentioned in the other thread:

1. Habitable planets are found in the "comfort zone" around F, G, and K-type stars; these tend to be the second to fourth planets in a system. Habitable moons around gas giants are acceptable, even if increasingly implausible - one of my races hails from a moon of a third-orbit gas giant around Alpha Centauri A. Colonies, however, can be found anywhere, but primarily on larger moons, terrestrial planets, dwarf planets/larger asteroids, and stations (possibly O'Neill colonies) in L4 and L5 Lagrange points.

2. FTL communications don't exist, or are very experimental/power-draining if they do. This means that organizations like UPS, FedEx, Roadway, and similar (one "canon" in-universe company of my own is Pony Express, Inc) do a lot of business hauling letters between systems.

3. Hyperspace acts a lot like an "onion", with "realspace" being the "skin" of the "onion". The farther a ship goes into hyperspace, the shorter its trip. However, the effects of hyperspacial compression on the human body (and, by extension, mind) are detrimental in the long term, and get more severe/acute the farther "into" the "onion" it goes. Unmanned probes are able to go faster than manned ships.

4. The setting is somewhat lacking in "nanotech", particularly the more radical nanotechnology given in Ultra-Tech.

5. As you might have noticed from some of the ship designs, force field technology is not available for extremely large ships due in part to the engineering problems of generating and projecting a shield of those sizes.

Right now, I only have a handful of alien races, none of whom fit the "humanoid" mold. So far, I have a theropod (K'Hissh), a floating crystalline rock (Sekit), a large butterfly (Glrrü), and a race that defies modern biology (Pondrur). My original aborted novel also had two other races, which may or may not be used: a large orb with three legs and three multi-tentacled arms (Hel'Axar) and a reptilian "favored slave" race of theirs (tentatively called "Dracs").

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

It all sounds very interesting. I look forward to more (going to book mark the other thread as well).

Thanks!

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

This is the first of a number of craft I intend to build to have in an adversarial and/or private ownership role.

SF-2 Gnat Space Fighter
The SF-2 Gnat is an aging design once fielded by American, Russian, and European Union fleets before and during the Glrrü War. Since being replaced by the Dragonfly and Slipjack in most services, most have been sold to planetary defense forces among the many colonies. While all of the surplus Gnats have been accounted for, pirate and insurrectionist groups across the Sol Sector appear to have near infinite numbers of these small, agile craft. Most people believe that an outside group has either reverse-engineered the craft or somehow obtained the design specs and is mass-producing them for these groups. Colonial Defense Intelligence suspects one of the Pondrur Free Trade Guilds to be responsible.

Often, the cargo hold, intended to hold emergency provisions, has been filled with ECM gear or a hyperdrive. The forward cargo hold has been replaced almost universally with a tractor beam by all parties, so much so that most people believe it came standard from the factory that way (the stats below reflect the "average" Gnat encountered).


TL: 11^
dST/HP: 15
Hnd/SR: +2/4
HT: 12
Move: 10G/c
LWt: 10
Load: 1
SM: +4 (30 ft)
Occ: 1SV
dDR: 3
Range: --
Cost: $1.62M
Notes: Light Force Screen gives dDR 15
Streamlined: Yes
Nationality of Origin: Various

Atmospheric Performance:
Speed: 7,900 mph
Move: 100/4,000
Hnd/SR: +5/5

Front:
[1] Armor, Nanocomposite; dDR 3, $50K
[2] Control Room; Complexity 7, Comm/Sensor 4, Control Stations 1, $20K
[3!] Weapon, Major Battery; 0 Workspaces, $60K
[4!] Weapon, Major Battery; 0 Workspaces, $60K
[5!] Weapon, Major Battery; 0 Workspaces, $60K
[6!] Light Force Screen; dDR 15; 0 Workspaces; $150K

Middle:
[1] Armor, Nanocomposite; dDR 3, $50K
[2] Weapon, Major Battery; 0 Workspaces, $60K
[3] Weapon, Major Battery; 0 Workspaces, $60K
[4] Cargo Hold; 0.3 t
[5] Cargo Hold; 0.3 t
[6] Cargo Hold; 0.3 t
[core] Power Plant: Antimatter; 4 PP, 20 year endurance, 0 Workspaces, $200K

Rear:
[1] Armor, Nanocomposite; dDR 3, $50K
[2!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 0 Workspaces, $30K
[3!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 0 Workspaces, $30K
[4!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 0 Workspaces, $30K
[5!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 0 Workspaces, $30K
[6!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 0 Workspaces, $30K
[core] Power Plant: Antimatter; 4 PP, 20 year endurance, 0 Workspaces, $200K

Design Features:
Gravatic Compensation; $10K
Winged; $50K

Design Switches:
Adjustable Force Screen

Forward Major Battery 1 Breakdown:
Single 3MJ Particle Beam Cannon
Option: Improved
dDam: 3d (5) burn rad sur
Range: Close/Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Forward Major Battery 2 Breakdown:
Single 3MJ Particle Beam Cannon
Option: Improved
dDam: 3d (5) burn rad sur
Range: Close/Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Forward Major Battery 3 Breakdown:
Single 3MJ Tractor Beam
dDam: spec.
Range: Close/Short
sAcc: 0
Rcl: 1

Mid-Section Major Battery 1 Breakdown:
Single 16cm Missile Launcher
dDam: 6dx4 cr ex
Range: Long
sAcc: 3
Rcl: 1
Missile Shots: 5

Mid-Section Major Battery 2 Breakdown:
Single 16cm Missile Launcher
dDam: 6dx4 cr ex
Range: Long
sAcc: 3
Rcl: 1
Missile Shots: 5

Crew:
Control Room: 1

Edit: Added a tractor beam in the last remaining forward module.

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

In accordance with a recent thread, I've edited my Gnat fighter (see above). However, that's left me with 5% of the craft without a module.

Ideas for what would be suitable?

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

A tactical array or defensive ECM unit wouldn't be a bad choice for a craft like that. You could also add in some point-defense lasers - a Medium Battery of PD lasers could have 2 PD lasers taking up two mounts and the third mount occupied by an SM+3 fusion reactor or MHD turbine, allowing the Medium Battery to be self-powered.

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

This is kind of a first for me: a luxury passenger liner intended for slow cruises similar to the surface navy liners that tour the South Pacific or Caribbean. The open spaces indicate parks on the upper deck for viewing such sights as Saturn's rings up close.

Gandhi-class Passenger Liner
The Gandhi-class passenger liner is the premier luxury cruiser in the settled regions of the Sol Sector. Its design was intended for long, slow cruises along the more exotic sights of the sector: Saturn's rings, Io's volcanos, the stellar flares of Bernard's Star, etc.

Each ship is named after a famous person; the class is named after the first of the line, the Mahatma Gandhi. Originally, the design was intended to be named the Titanic-class, with ships named after famous ships of Earth's history, until someone remembered that the original Titanic sank on her maiden voyage.

The ship is designed with an "open-air" park atop the whole vessel from which to view the sights. Beneath the park is a shopping mall with hundreds of designer-name stores, along with other recreation facilities.

One of the more controversial design decisions made was the decision to arm the ship. Various scandals, real and imagined, were reported prior to the Mahatma Ghandi's launch concerning this choice. As it happened, the ship proved a very tempting target for pirates during her maiden voyage, but the crew managed to fight them off. A number of civilian witnesses who were on the park deck reported that, "the battle was the most beautiful thing to witness in years, and well worth the price of the voyage." This success has led more than one ship captain to deliberately stray into areas pirates are known to lay in wait just for the show.

TL: 11^
dST/HP: 500
Hnd/SR: -3/5
HT: 13
Move: 1G/c
LWt: 300,000
Load: 50,598
SM: +13
Occ: 13,480ASV
dDR: 50
Range: FTL-1
Cost: $16B
Notes:
Streamlined: Yes
Nationality of Origin: India

Front:
[1] Armor, Metallic Laminate; dDR 50, $600M
[2] Control Room; Complexity 11, Comm/Sensor 13, 30 Control Stations, 30 Workspaces, $600M
[3-5] Habitat; 6,000 cabins, 90 Workspaces, $900M
[6] Open Space; 50 Areas, 30 Workspaces, $5M
[core] Cargo Hold; 15 kt

Middle:
[1] Armor, Metallic Laminate; dDR 50, $600M
[2-4] Habitat; 6,000 cabins, 90 Workspaces, $900M
[5!] Weapons, Tertiary Battery; 30 Workspaces, $1.5B
[6] Open Space; 50 Areas, 30 Workspaces, $5M

Rear:
[1] Armor, Metallic Laminate; dDR 50, $600M
[2] Hangar Bay; Capacity 10 kt, Launch rate 1kt/min, 30 Workspaces, $30M
[3!] Standard Reactionless Engine; 1G accel, 30 Workspaces, $300M
[4!] Stardrive Engine; 30 Workspaces, $3B
[5] Cargo Hold; 15 kt
[6] Open Space; 50 Areas, 30 Workspaces, $5M
[core] Power Plant, Antimatter; 4 PP, 20 year endurance, 30 Workspaces, $6B

Design Features:
Artificial Gravity; $300M
High Automation; $450M

Design Switches:
Standard Reactionless Engine acts like a less powerful Hot Reactionless Engine.

Mid-Section Tertiary Battery Breakdown:
30 30MJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
Option: Very Rapid Fire
dDam: 3d (5) burn rad sur
Range: Close/Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Habitat Breakdown:
Bunkrooms: 100 (100), full life support
Cabins: 4,500 (4,500), full life support
Luxury Cabins: 2,000 (4,000), full life supprt
Cells: 20 (20), full life support
Establishments: 500 (1,000), full life support
Offices: 30 (30)
Sickbays: 500 (500)
Steerage Cargo: 9,250 tons (1,850)

Minimum Crew:
Control Room: 30
Turret Gunners: 30
Technicians: 45
Medics: 50
Attendants: 1,000
Specialists: 1,000
-----------------------------
Total: 2,155



Note that I have NO idea if the number of attendants and specialists is valid.

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

Edited the Gandhi-class Passenger Liner (above). Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, criticisms, critiques, flames?

Re: [Spaceships] New carrier design
 

It would make a heck of a lot more sense to stage phony pirate attacks as opposed to deliberately inviting the real thing. After all, by this point the pirates would have pretty good idea what the firepower of the "Ghandi" class would be, and would only attack if they thought they had enough juice to make a go of it.