Ship Design Philosophy

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Hulls, Engineering, and Space Whales & Bioships

The idea of spaceships or other machines that were essentially alive and able to repair and operate themselves has long been a popular one in science fiction. We'll take a look today at how that might be possible in the future, what advantages it would have for interplanetary or interstellar colonization, and how such biotechnology might lead to entire artificial ecosystems dwelling in the void of space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYEUKRHGgAg

1. Maintenance is easier in a sterile stainless steel environment.

2. An organic ecosystem has got to be more complex to maintain, the assumption would be that most of the routine operations, maintenance, and repairs would be automatic, the attractiveness of the design and creation of a bioship.

3. Blowfish variants that collect hydrogen from gas giants seems an interesting variant.

4. Octopi that burrow out asteroids remind me of the Matrix.

 

[Condottiere]

Inspiration: Starhawk Revealed | New Star Wars Ships

Spacedock breaks down the new Star Wars warship designs that just came out of GenCon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsSn14oulk

NEW REPUBLIC STARHAWK REVEALED!! Full Ship Breakdown + New Star Destroyer! | Star Wars

We finally got our first look at not only the New Republic Starhawk Battlecruiser, but also the brand new Imperial Onager Star Destroyer thanks to Fantasy Flight Games and Star Wars Armada. We'll break down both on today's special Star Wars Lore video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ZD1nr5Riw


Less than inspiring.

The Imperium might design and build these ships.

I think that for capital class warship whose primary role is being in the line of battle, I wouldn't centralize the aerospace compartments.

Red ones go faster.

 

[Condottiere]

Starships: Hulls and Star Wars: YT-2400 Freighter | Ship Breakdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feXnur-ankE

1. Two hundred tonne free trader.

2. Detachable bridge seems an obvious upgrade, which is probably the only thing I find interesting in this design.

 

[Condottiere]

Warstarships: Understanding the Role of Imperial Navy Capital Ships

Today we break down the role and purpose of each capital ship in the Imperial Navy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj6sCGbd_JU


1. Quasar Fires are I'm going to say at best light carriers with some command and control facilities.

2. Gozantis - I was going to say light frigate, but these may be maid of all work sloops, possibly similar to Littoral Combat Ships.

3. Arquitens seem more the traditional light cruisers, with fighters.

4. I suppose our interdictors would have massive jump breaker torpedo batteries; possibly tractor beams.

5. Bombardment ships, usually old battleships.

6. Strikes fear in the hearts of sophonts.

7. Anything larger may as well be a space station.

 

[Anonymous]

Warstarships: Understanding the Role of Imperial Navy Capital Ships

Today we break down the role and purpose of each capital ship in the Imperial Navy.

They are just fancy targets. Never seen one do anything but get wrecked in a star wars movie or cartoon except for that first one the start of A New Hope.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on who's driving.

And, plot armour plating.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of Rebel Alliance Capital Ships

Today we break down the role and purpose of each capital ship in the Rebel Alliance Navy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mZcGIRvtZk

1. Cee Ahr Ninety - Fast Corvette and blockade runner.

2. Hammerhead - for some reason, reminds me of the Gazelle; wouldn't really try ramming.

3. Medium Transport - looks like a duck, flies like a duck, and dies like a duck.

4. Gunship - destroyer.

5. Nebulons - very modular, construction, maintenance and repair should be relatively easy but fragile.

6. Mon Calamari Cruisers - in theory, very heavily armoured armed merchant cruisers.

Except for the Calamaris, they seem optimized for head on combat, or hit and run; if fired on broadside, seem rather vulnerable.

 

[Anonymous]

A few more in Armada

https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Imperial_Expansion_Packs

https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Rebel_Expansion_Packs

To read their stat cards - front/side/rear have black, red and blue diamonds representing weapon dice and the number is shield strength. Need to click the ship entries under "ships" heading for the stat card closeup. A couple of these are unreleased and may be missing the stat cards.

edit: Red is long range, black is short range, blue is anti-fighter.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of CIS Capital Ships

Today we break down the role and purpose of each of the larger vessels in the Separatist Alliance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKPl0JyPoGQ

1. Munificent Star Frigates - Armoured car; armour plating seems separate from primary hull, which as additional shell would be interesting.

2. Recusant Commerce Guild Destroyer - weaker structural integrity.

3. Bulwark Battlecruiser - Apple hot pocket.

4. Providence Dreadnought - Clown face.

5. Lucrehulk Battleship - Battle station, and apparently command ship; breakaway hull; seems more like an assault carrier.

6. Subjugator Heavy Cruiser - Dreadnaughty; ion broadside mount.

7. Landing Craft - Surprised it wasn't called the H Wing.

8. Hardcell Interstellar Transports - Butt plug assault carrier.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of Republic Capital Ships

Today we break down the role and purpose of each of the larger vessel in the Galactic Republic Navy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUMJNPv3eVU

1. Acclamator Assault Ship - lightly armed and protected, but capable of atmospheric reentry and direct assault.

2. Venator Star Destroyer - more carrier than line of battle ship; extensive hangars and launch facilities.

3. Victory Star Destroyer - basis for modern line of battle ship.

4. Dreadnought Heavy Cruiser - considering it's antiquity, armoured cruiser designation seems appropriate; would assume detachable for independent cruises.

5. Pelta Frigate - modular; seems more corvettish, though can't recall off hand seeing them in action.

6. Consular Frigates - cheap communications ship I buy, but gunship that can take on capital ships?

7. Mandator Star Dreadought - sounds like a Yamato.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of Each Rebel Starfighter

Today we break down the role and purpose of each Star Fighter in the Rebel Alliance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lHMm_Rb4NI

1. Quality over quantity, especially if equipment and personnel were sparse.

2. Ecks Wing - more multimission than multipurpose; long range, relatively heavily armed, hyperspace capability adds a strategic dimension; probably more Eagle than Lightning.

3. You Wing - lightly armed transport; again, hyperspace capability gives it a strategic dimension.

4. Why Wing - why not? more bomber than fighter; probably would have had more survivability against the Mandator Four.

5. Ai Wing - rocket ship; I don't see space for either a hyperspace engine nor a large sensor package; essentially a light fast interceptor, which would or should have a fast mothership handling the sensor aspect.

6. Bee Wing - more gunship.

 

[Anonymous]

RZ-1 A-Wing has a hyperdrive. The thing is actually bigger than it looks, probably because of the cockpit canopy size. Going by the actual measurements, it's probably got more space than the X-Wing because it's much fatter.

 

[Condottiere]

I just pointed out that I don't see how you could fit in a hyper drive, let alone a large sensor package.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of Each Imperial Starfighter

Today we break down the role and purpose of each Star Fighter in the Galactic Empire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyOH_Ui6niw


1. The big hole in this argument is that if fighters were that cheaply built, they should be deployed en masse, not in relatively small numbers.

2. Thai Fighter - interceptor maybe, not superiority; the concept is interesting, but wouldn't waste elite pilots in them, though there appears to be a North Korean logic in limiting the opportunities for defection by making them so short legged and fragile.

3. Interceptor - kinda the minimum you'd expect.

4. Striker - aerospacic; giving the Thai Fighter additional gravitic motors would seem to defeat the cheap aspect, unless agin it's a matter of being able to vector the manoeuvre thrust to allow it to float.

5. Bomber - you can't fault the practicality of adding an additional module; I'm pretty there's a transport variation; but it's always seemed a death trap.

6. Advanced - Vader had enough pull to have his personal squadron completely equipped with them; the choke hold must have been production.

7. Defender - Thrawn probably made a branding mistake, and should have given it a more offensive and dynamic name.

 

[Anonymous]

If my memory is correct, all rebel alliance fighters have a hyper drive. I do believe the A-wing has similar volume to the X-wing.

There is indeed a transport version of the tie bomber ... you ride in the torpedo tube. But seriously, they put seats in the bomb bay. Which doesn't seem much different to me.

 

[Condottiere]

That's always been the distinctive difference between Imperial and Rebel fighters; Vader's was probably retconned to explain how he managed to get away from Yavin. That and shields.

Star Wars is basically fantasy, but I still find the Hey Wing too small for what it's supposed to be capable of.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of CIS Star Fighters


Today we break down the role and purpose of each star fighters ship in the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBOXBhHB6bM

1. Planetary defence forces with unique local manufactured fighters - sounds about right.

2. Territorial defence split cashew nut fighter - turret; tractor beam seems redundant.

3. Fan blade - not too sure on the stealth part; let's say it does make propulsion more efficient at the cost of being easier to hit, and the increased volume permits more weapon emplacements.

4. Vulture droid - wonder how much the walking tanks/boarding aspect costs?

5. Rogue fighter - Cylon Raider.

6. Umbarran fighter - we don't have viable energy shields, but we could place the cockpit on gimbals.

7. Hyena bomber - seems a better prospect than the Thai Bomber.

8. Droid trifghter - not too sure what advantage this design supposedly gives; gimballed cockpits might be beneficial to gravity bred pilots, who might still get disorientated despite artificial gravity.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Understanding the Role of Republic Star Fighters

Today we break down the role and purpose of each starfighters ship in the Galactic Republic Navy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsUJPQfdiaQ

1. Ironically, dolphins make great pilots; presumably, navigators as well; they can also smell a trap.

2. Headhunter - probably should figure more prominently in the films due to availability and numbers, but that's retconning.

3. Aggressive Reconnaissance - rear gunner probably more useful as centralized turret; crew probably better composed of cheap specialists.

4. Torrent - folding wings, so aerospace fighters with aerofins could reduce volume, or increase it, by about five percent; one which makes them more compact and faster, the other would make them larger and slower.

5. Ann One -Ann for Anakin; space going variant of a pod racer.

6. Aethersprite - psionic powered jump drive, as well as sensor suite, at least in our iteration; the issue would be that you're going to be spending a week in hyperspace, and the ring would be more an easily slipped on drop tank that might have it's own refueling drone, so maybe thirty/seventy split, that would allow three weapon emplacements in the primary.

7. Actis - Drop in astrodroid mobile ship computer.

8. Vee Wing - probably better than the Thai Kiter.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and Planetary Environments

I wonder if fusion rockets or manoeuvre drives are carbon neutral or have other unforeseen environmental impacts?

Like local gravity fields going all wobbly.

 

[Anonymous]

In one of Niven's stories a fusion torch drive was used as a weapon to attack buildings.

A fusion drive in atmosphere will of course raise the temperature. Probably they don't change the composition of the atmosphere unless used to burn something. Probably.

Terraforming and full weather control are available around TL 12 so I think it's not a problem in Traveller. Traveller ships also don't have problems with heat management so planets should not either. Overheating is a significant issue for today's spacecraft as you can only radiate heat away, which is a slow process. Cooling fans don't work in vacuum. However, Traveller ships magically contain the heat of their fusion reactors.

To be honest the danger of climate change from sci-fi spacecraft engines seems less than the danger caused by a ship crashing on a planet with an atmosphere at orbital velocity.