[Spaceships] New carrier design

[Phantasm]

Andromeda-class Carrier
The flagship design of the Colonial Defense Force, the Andromeda-class carrier was designed for two reasons. The first was to provide the CDF with a carrier capable of housing multiple wings of fighters, providing the area in which these carriers were assigned much greater air cover than would otherwise have been provided.

The second reason was purely political: By fielding a carrier of its size, the CDF intended to prove that it was superior to any force prior to its inception as well as superior to many of its contemporaries.

While the Andromeda-class does meet both demands, much has been remarked - behind closed doors, at any rate - of its giant price tag, which is equal to or greater than the GDP of many of the CDF's member nations! Because of this price tag, only six of these craft have been built: Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Athene, Artemis, Kali, and Parvati. Each of the six has been adopted by a System Admiral as hir flagship.

The Andromeda is capable of carrying between 6,000 and 20,000 fighters of varying designs; its normal complement is around 3,000 fighters and additional support craft. Once, however, one of the System Admirals tested the capacity of the hangar bays by permitting his ship to carry six Xia-class light carriers on board, one per hangar bay system, each with its own full complement of fighters!

TL: 11^
dST/HP: 1,000
Hnd/SR: -3/5
HT: 13
Move: 2G/c
LWt: 3,000,000
Load: 794,928
SM: +15 (2,000 ft)
Occ: 33,280ASV
dDR: 500
Range: 1x
Cost: $278.8B
Notes:
Streamlined: No
Nationality of Origin: Colonial Defense Alliance

Front:
[1] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[2] Control Room; C12 Complexity, Comm/Sensor 15, 60 Control Stations, 300 Workspaces, $6B
[3] Habitat; 20,000 Cabins, 300 Workspaces, $3B
[4!] Weapons, Secondary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[5!] Weapons, Tertiary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[6] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M

Middle:
[1] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[2] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M
[3] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M
[4] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M
[5] Cargo Hold; 150 kt Capacity
[6!] Weapons, Tertiary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[core] Power Plant: Antimatter; 1 PP, 35 year endurance, 300 Workspaces, $15B

Rear:
[1] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[2] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M
[3] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M
[4!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 300 Workspaces, $10B
[5!] Stardrive Engine; 300 Workspaces, $30B
[6!] Weapons, Tertiary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[core] Power Plant: Antimatter; 4 PP, 20 year endurance, 300 Workspaces, $60B

Design Features:
Artificial Gravity; $3B

Forward Secondary Battery Breakdown:
5 100GJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
dDmg: 2d x 50 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Long
sAcc: -2
Rcl: 1

5 Fixed-Mount 80cm Launchers
Option: 10MT Nuclear
dDmg: 8d x 10,000 burn ex rad sur (plus 6d x 20,000 cr ex in atmosphere)
Missile Shots: 150
sAcc: 4
Range: Extreme
Rcl: 1

Forward Tertiary Battery Breakdown:
30 300MJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
Option: Very Rapid Fire
dDmg: 3d x 5 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Middle Tertiary Battery Breakdown:
30 300MJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
Option: Very Rapid Fire
dDmg: 3d x 5 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Aft Tertiary Battery Breakdown:
30 300MJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
Option: Very Rapid Fire
dDmg: 3d x 5 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Habitat Breakdown:
Bunkrooms: 7,500 (7,500), full life support
Cabins: 800 (800), full life support
Luxury Cabins: 40 (80), full life support
Cells: 400 (400), full life support
Briefing Rooms: 200 (200)
Establishments: 400 (800)
Labs:
Science!: 200 (400), $6B
Offices: 500 (500)
Sickbays: 1,000 (1,000)
Steerage Cargo: 41,600 tons (8,320)

Minimum Crew:
Control Room: 60
Turret Gunners: 95
Ship Technicians: 3,000
Hangar Technicians: 1,800
Medics: 100
-------------------------
Total: 5,055

Luxury Cabins:
Admiral
Captain
First Officer
Second Officer
Chief Medical Officer
Chief Engineer
Quartermaster
Commander Air Group
Marine Commander

So, please critique.

Edit: Reworked the Habitat layout, and adjusted the Load to account for the steerage cargo. A ship like this may also use one of the hangars for cargo space.

Edit: Added in details on the Secondary (Main) and Tertiary (Point-Defense) Batteries. Adjusted Crew for turret gunners. Altered the Occ and Load to account for reworked math on the accomodations capacity.

Edit: Separated the Weapons and Habitat breakdowns from the sections.

[Sanity]

UNused bunk space? Hm - some reserve, little vegas for the admiral (or: you miss a flag bridge etc.). or f anything fails just storage. With that amount of people you may need a lot more storage - armor, uniforms, stuff here and there. I also miss something like a meeting / conference center. Yes, this is a warship, but where do you do larger planning things? With that amount of people you will have some larger meetings very regularly.

[Langy]

You should probably give the bunkrooms and cabins total life support - that doubles their size. Also, you seem to have an awful lot of cells for the crew size.

[Peter Knutsen]

Why so much point defence? You could probably drop all weapon modules except one tertiary battery in the MID section. That frees up a lot of modules, since you can also drop one power plant.


Also, what kinds of ships is the carrier carrying?

I favour the distinction of transport craft (for cargo and passengers - not something that a carrier specializes in, although it should have some - and possibly also dedicated tanker craft to move fuel or reaction mass), fighter craft and scout craft, with carriers usually carrying a mix of scouts and fighters, plus a few transports and tankers.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Why so much point defence? You could probably drop all weapon modules except one tertiary battery in the MID section. That frees up a lot of modules, since you can also drop one power plant.

ICly, it was designed by committee, and someone decided that a ton of point-defense is better for a carrier than massive offensive weaponry.

My personal reasons (OOCly) for giving it a lot of point-defense lays along the same lines. A carrier relies on its smaller craft to provide the majority of its offense, and while it can and does rely on smaller escort craft to provide defense, I'm of the mind that a carrier should have defensive weapons of its own. I kinda got carried away with this craft's point-defense, but better more defense than a dead ship.

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Also, what kinds of ships is the carrier carrying?

I favour the distinction of transport craft (for cargo and passengers - not something that a carrier specializes in, although it should have some - and possibly also dedicated tanker craft to move fuel or reaction mass), fighter craft and scout craft, with carriers usually carrying a mix of scouts and fighters, plus a few transports and tankers.

I haven't statted out all of the smaller craft yet, but I have a few ideas to work from. I see it as carrying a large number of fighters, a squadron of bombers, a few SWACS craft, probably a long-range patrol boat or two for scouting missions, and a number of assault shuttles and dropships for any marines on board, as well as shuttles for the flag officer's staff. It probably can have smaller transports and tankers land on its flight deck.

[Phantasm]

Black Widow-class Battleship
The Black Widow-class Battleship is the longest, most heavily-armored, and most heavily-armed ship ever built for the Colonial Defense Force. The ship is designed in such a way that one is never sure when viewing it which side is "up"; only the numbers on the side give it away.

The Black Widow was originally designed as a destroyer, but kept growing as more and larger guns and requisite crew were added to it, to the point where its price tag per ship grew to higher than the GDP of many of the CDF's member states. Currently, there are five Black Widows in the CDF Navy: Black Widow, Tarantula, Arachne, Mantis, and Venom. Like the Andromeda-class carriers, each Black Widow has been adopted by a System Admiral as hir flagship.

TL: 11^
dST/HP: 1,000
Hnd/SR: -3/5
HT: 13
Move: 2G/c
LWt: 3,000,000
Load: 294,928
SM: +15 (2,100 ft)
Occ: 33,280ASV
dDR: 1,000
Range: 1x
Cost: $448.3B
Notes:
Streamlined: No
Nationality of Origin: Colonial Defense Alliance

Front:
[1] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[2] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[3] Control Room; Complexity 12, Comm/Sensor 15, 60 Control Stations, 300 Workspaces, $6B
[4] Habitat; 20,000 cabins, 300 Workspaces, $3B
[5!] Weapon, Secondary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[6!] Cargo Hold; 150 kt

Middle:
[1] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[2] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[3!] Weapon, Medium Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[4!] Weapon, Medium Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[5!] Weapon, Secondary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[6!] Weapon, Tertiary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[core] Power Plant, Antimatter; 4 PP, 20 year endurance, 300 Workspaces, $60B

Rear:
[1] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[2] Armor, Diamondoid; dDR 500, $30B
[3] Hangar Bay; 100 kt Capacity, Launch Rate 5 kt, 300 Workspaces, $300M
[4!] Hot Reactionless Engine; 2G accel, 300 Workspaces, $10B
[5!] Stardrive; 300 Workspaces, $30B
[6!] Weapon, Secondary Battery; 300 Workspaces, $15B
[core] Power Plant, Antimatter; 4 PP, 20 year endurance, 300 Workspaces, $60B

Design Features:
Artificial Gravity; $3B

Forward Secondary Battery 1 Breakdown:
7 100GJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
dDmg: 2d x 50 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Long
sAcc: -2
Rcl: 1

3 Fixed-Mount 80cm Launchers
Option: 10MT Nuclear
dDmg: 8d x 10,000 burn ex rad sur (plus 6d x 20,000 cr ex in atmosphere)
Missile Shots: 150
sAcc: 4
Range: Extreme
Rcl: 1

Mid-Section Medium Battery 1 Breakdown:
3 300GJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
dDmg: 3d x 50 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Long
sAcc: -2
Rcl: 1

Mid-Section Medium Battery 2 Breakdown:
3 300GJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
dDmg: 3d x 50 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Long
sAcc: -2
Rcl: 1

Mid-Section Secondary Battery Breakdown:
10 100GJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
dDmg: 2d x 50 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Long
sAcc: -2
Rcl: 1

Mid-Section Tertiary Battery Breakdown:
30 300MJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
Option: Very Rapid Fire
dDmg: 3d x 5 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Short
sAcc: -3
Rcl: 1

Aft Secondary Battery Breakdown:
7 100 GJ Particle Beam Turrets
Option: Improved
dDmg: 2d x 50 (5) burn rad sur
Range: Long
sAcc: -2
Rcl: 1

3 Fixed-Mount 80cm Launchers
Option: 10MT Nuclear
dDmg: 8d x 10,000 burn ex rad sur (plus 6d x 20,000 cr ex in atmosphere)
Missile Shots: 150
sAcc: 4
Range: Extreme
Rcl: 1

Habitat Breakdown:
Bunkrooms: 7,500 (7,500), full life support
Cabins: 800 (800), full life support
Luxury Cabins: 40 (80), full life support
Cells: 400 (400), full life support
Briefing Rooms: 200 (200)
Establishments: 400 (800)
Labs:
Science!: 200 (400), $6B
Offices: 500 (500)
Sickbays: 1,000 (1,000)
Steerage Cargo: 41,600 tons (8,320)

Minimum Crew:
Control Room: 60
Turret Gunners: 70
Technicians: 3,900
Medics: 100
---------------------
Total: 4,130

Luxury Cabins:
Admiral
Captain
First Officer
Second Officer
Chief Medical Officer
Chief Engineer
Quartermaster
Artillery Chief


Two massive ship designs in two days. People might think I'm planning a game or something. Or at least a setting. ;)

I admit I copied the habitat section from the Andromeda into the Black Widow, but for both ships I could not figure out how to actually split the habitats. I've got enough people space in both ships for six times the skeleton crew, or as much as twice the amount of crew a ship with three duty shifts would require. It's probably overkill.

Edit: Overhauled the layout to split the Weapons and Habitat breakdowns away from the sections.

[Langy]

For your habitats, you're missing the life support requirements. You should really consider giving the ships total life support - this doubles the size of all cabins/bunkrooms and will help with your excess-cabins problem.

[Diomedes]

The Andromeda's secondary battery, and all of the Black Widow's particle beams, should have -2 for sAcc, not -3 (+1 for greater than 300MJ). Also, I think you meant Cassiopeia as Andromeda's sister ship.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Langy

For your habitats, you're missing the life support requirements. You should really consider giving the ships total life support - this doubles the size of all cabins/bunkrooms and will help with your excess-cabins problem.

*checks page 17 for the life support kits*

Yes, "total life support" doubles the space of all cabins and bunks, but it also pretty much indicates that the food is grown or manufactured on board the ship. Which is good if the ships were "stand-alone" vessels like one would find in Star Trek, complete with food replicators. The standard "full life support" that comes with the habitat suits my needs.

I probably should point out that I intended these vessels to be flagships of fleets which could have as high as fifty ships, once the tenders are included, not stand-alone craft. When you face off against an Andromeda or Black Widow, you don't just face off against these ships; you face off against these ships, three to six cruisers, a pair of strike carriers, eight to ten destroyers, a dozen or so frigates, and assorted other craft.

For those who may not know, tenders are supplementary craft which provide additional logistics support, such as storing food, fuel, ammunition, spare parts, and other sundry items that the ships may not have the cargo space for. No modern-day fleet operates without them.

And besides, in the setting I'm designing these ships for, they don't have replicator technology, nor are there any places on board these warships to actually grow the food - I'm planning on additional ships dedicated to hydroponics farms and stem-cell meat plants - a so adding the "total life support" isn't actually supported or even desired.

[Peter Knutsen]

I think that in general, it is best to start with a "compact"-style writeup of the ship where each module gets a maximum of 2-3 lines, and then any modules needing further detail are detailed after the "compact" writeup.

Like this

Stats
(SM, DR, cost, and so forth)

Modules
FRONT
1 stuff
2 stuff
3 stuff
4 stuff
5 stuff
6 stuff
C stuff

MID
1 stuff
2 stuff
3 Weapons
4 Habitat
5 stuff
6 stuff

READ
1 Weapons
2 stuff
3 stuff
4 stuff
5 stuff
6 stuff
7 stuff

Weapons module 3/MID breakdown:
details
details
details
details
details

Habitat module 4/MID breakdown:
details
details
details
details
details


That way, it is much easier to see at-a-glance what the ship is about.

Ideally, only one line should be used per module, in the "compact" writeup, but I never followed that rule myself in those writeups that I have posted.