The Macchi (an updated Qasar Scout Cruiser) has a major design flaw and one minor flaw.
1) NO AIRLOCKS!
The only way in or out is through the drone launching tube or depressurizing the cargo/vehicle bays. Airlocks should be fitted amidships at the Low Berth section starboard side and on the opposite side in the crooked wall section.
2) Lifeboat is nearly inaccessible in normal circumstances. In an emergency the boat becomes very inaccessible especially to those in vacc suits. Access hatches needed in the top left corner from the cargo bay and another between the two boats from engineering. These spots are roomier and makes access easier than squeezing through the under 2' gap between the ships boat and interior bulkhead. Making at least one of those new hatches an airlock wouldn't hurt. Another hatch leading to the SB's hatch also wouldn't hurt as the only entry is the cargo hatch. Converting the cargo bays small iris valves to airlocks would be a nice option but eats up cargo space.
Also the Telemon is a bit airlock deficient. A rather out of the way lock is in the starboard cutter well and another (in theory) amidships to enter cutter. Port side has no fixed airlock just an extendable one. A portside lock is easily added at the bridge/electronics section by adding 1 exterior and one interior iris valve and another can easily be fitted in any of the stateroom corridors by moving the stateroom doors one space inboard and adding two iris valves and thicker bulkhead creating an airlock.
So I redesigned my Macchi into a new cruiser the Folgore Class.
Changes:
Cargo Bay 3 becomes Gym & Physical Rec Room. Exercise & game equipment. Sunken floor with storage and small pool underneath a movable deck.
Add airlocks port and starboard at junctures by Low berths on starboard and exact opposite port side.
Removed three back up drives.
Backup M-Drive becomes new Cargo Bay 3 with exterior bay hatch.
Backup Power Plant eliminated and now divided into Ships Office, Sickbay, Utility Room with cleaning, linen supplies and laundry room. Machine and Elec shops.
Backup J-Drive becomes part on M-Drive system that is enlarged to 4.
Obs blister has meeting table and 2 desks forward. Doubles as Captains office. Accessible from either lift.
Area under blister has full wall visi-screen, mess hall capabilities and general meeting and common area functions. Cubicle type walls in cargo hold allow construction of temporary office/staterooms etc in this area as needed per mission.
Also Mess area too small and one cabin inaccessible w/o entering another cabin. Shuffled cabins and galley about, transferred mess to forward cabin area.
Added some freshers for Eng/boat crew in aft of ship.
Hatches added in power room and at power room/cargo bay juncture to give easier access to lifeboat.
Exterior air lock added in starboard corridors adjacent to Primary Jump Drive Room on lower deck.
Added Bonded Superdense armour in place of backup drives making ship less likely to need backups from combat damage.
Cleaned up hatches, a number of hatches led nowhere. Added lower deck dotted-circles to show down hatch.
OPINION
In my view a PP-1 as a backup is worthless. It degrades all other drives to a 1 even if primaries are undamaged. Also since a M-3 is lighter than a 2 & 1 combined so I altered that. I'd rather have backup fuel than backup drives. If you jumped into a system and got attacked having a spare J-1 does no good w/o the fuel to escape.
I dropped all backups and used the recovered volume to add amenities a long range ship needs. Added armor to protect existing drives. Slight loss of cargo space.
1) NO AIRLOCKS!
The only way in or out is through the drone launching tube or depressurizing the cargo/vehicle bays. Airlocks should be fitted amidships at the Low Berth section starboard side and on the opposite side in the crooked wall section.
2) Lifeboat is nearly inaccessible in normal circumstances. In an emergency the boat becomes very inaccessible especially to those in vacc suits. Access hatches needed in the top left corner from the cargo bay and another between the two boats from engineering. These spots are roomier and makes access easier than squeezing through the under 2' gap between the ships boat and interior bulkhead. Making at least one of those new hatches an airlock wouldn't hurt. Another hatch leading to the SB's hatch also wouldn't hurt as the only entry is the cargo hatch. Converting the cargo bays small iris valves to airlocks would be a nice option but eats up cargo space.
Also the Telemon is a bit airlock deficient. A rather out of the way lock is in the starboard cutter well and another (in theory) amidships to enter cutter. Port side has no fixed airlock just an extendable one. A portside lock is easily added at the bridge/electronics section by adding 1 exterior and one interior iris valve and another can easily be fitted in any of the stateroom corridors by moving the stateroom doors one space inboard and adding two iris valves and thicker bulkhead creating an airlock.
So I redesigned my Macchi into a new cruiser the Folgore Class.
Changes:
Cargo Bay 3 becomes Gym & Physical Rec Room. Exercise & game equipment. Sunken floor with storage and small pool underneath a movable deck.
Add airlocks port and starboard at junctures by Low berths on starboard and exact opposite port side.
Removed three back up drives.
Backup M-Drive becomes new Cargo Bay 3 with exterior bay hatch.
Backup Power Plant eliminated and now divided into Ships Office, Sickbay, Utility Room with cleaning, linen supplies and laundry room. Machine and Elec shops.
Backup J-Drive becomes part on M-Drive system that is enlarged to 4.
Obs blister has meeting table and 2 desks forward. Doubles as Captains office. Accessible from either lift.
Area under blister has full wall visi-screen, mess hall capabilities and general meeting and common area functions. Cubicle type walls in cargo hold allow construction of temporary office/staterooms etc in this area as needed per mission.
Also Mess area too small and one cabin inaccessible w/o entering another cabin. Shuffled cabins and galley about, transferred mess to forward cabin area.
Added some freshers for Eng/boat crew in aft of ship.
Hatches added in power room and at power room/cargo bay juncture to give easier access to lifeboat.
Exterior air lock added in starboard corridors adjacent to Primary Jump Drive Room on lower deck.
Added Bonded Superdense armour in place of backup drives making ship less likely to need backups from combat damage.
Cleaned up hatches, a number of hatches led nowhere. Added lower deck dotted-circles to show down hatch.
OPINION
In my view a PP-1 as a backup is worthless. It degrades all other drives to a 1 even if primaries are undamaged. Also since a M-3 is lighter than a 2 & 1 combined so I altered that. I'd rather have backup fuel than backup drives. If you jumped into a system and got attacked having a spare J-1 does no good w/o the fuel to escape.
I dropped all backups and used the recovered volume to add amenities a long range ship needs. Added armor to protect existing drives. Slight loss of cargo space.
