Ship Design Philosophy

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Hulls, Planetoided, and Modularization

A. It's always sort of intrigued me at what point you could categorize a starwarship as a coastal battleship.

B. It's pretty clear that a monitor, or a battle rider, was one without an organic interstellar drive.

C. Jump factor/three was considered the current minimum for the line of battle ship.

D. Which left us with factors one and two.

E. Ignoring the fact that those were the maximums for technological level nine and eleven.

F. So, what you'd assume as local or coastal regions.

 

[Condottiere]

Spacecraft: Container Equivalent Unit

1. A 20-foot container measures 5.90 metres in length, 2.35 metres in width and 2.39 metres in height. The door width is 2.34 metres, while the door height measures 2.28 metres. The tare weight is 2,300 kilos. The payload is the maximum loading capacity, and it is 28,200 kg on a 20 'container.

2. I think I have to increase that to minimum five tonnes, similar ratios.

3. Seventy cubic metres.

4. Versus 33.13735 cubic metres.

5. A 40 ’dry container is used for transport of dry cargo, as the name suggests. The inside dimensions of a 40-foot container are a length of 12.03 metres, a width of 2.35 metres and a height of 2.39 metres. The tare weight is 3,750 kilos. The door width is 2.34 metres, while the door height measures 2.28 metres.

6. A 40-foot container can by default hold 25 EUR pallets of 120 x 80 cm. The payload capacity is the maximum loading capacity, and it is 28,800 kilos on a 40 'container. So, it is not much more than a 20-foot container with a payload capacity of 25,000 kilos. The volume of a 40-foot dry container is as much as 67 cubic metres.

7. Versus 67.566495 cubic metres.

8. 12.00 metres length, 2.39 metres height, 2.440725244072524 metres width.

9. 'Cos, five tonmnes is minimum spacecraft.

 

[Condottiere]

Spacecraft: Container Equivalent Unit

A. I suppose, that if we add a cockpit, manoeuvre drive, fuel tank, and power plant to a twelve metre container, it's now a spacecraft.

B. Insulation and water proofing the exterior.

C. Of course, what we're interested in, in this case, is that firmpoint.

D. You can put it on the back of a semi trailer, and you have yourself an artillery platform.

E. Uncertain, the future is, for Vehicle integration with High Guard.

F. (Minimum) size matters, not Vehicle chassis.

 

[Condottiere]

Spacecraft: Container Equivalent Unit

G. Five tonnes allows single firmpoint.

H. Firmpoint can be converted into either monoturret or fixed mounting.

I. Could be self contained, with organic power plant (and fuel tank).

J. One primary difference would be potential range, and actual damage.

K. For non missile weapon systems, longest would be close range, or ten klix.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Lone Trader

1. Finally got around to getting Traders and Gunboats.

2. Of course, my eye was drawn immediately to Lone Trader.

3. Egregiously, jump drive at eight tonnes.

4. However, if you can go, by default, below ten tonnes, I'd like to know.

5. Budgetted with late jump.

6. Which is a dumb idea in most instances, but that's neither here or there.

7. Assuming seven and a half tonne default jump drive, is eleven and a quarter megastarbux.

8. 8.4375 megastarbux twenty five discount, would, in theory, be correct.

9. But under current High Guard, illegal.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Lone Trader

A. How did we get from seven and a half tonnes to eight tonnes?

B. Tonnage wasn't inflated, the disadvantage chosen was late jump.

C. So, in theory, the actual tonnage would have remained at seven and a half tonnes.

D. Outside of the one shot variant, the Venture Drive remains the cheapest, if not the smallest, legal jump drive.

E. That's not by accident, since I factored in the current rules.

F. Smallest jump drive is a highly technologized deflated jump factor/two, at seven tonnes, and twenty two and a half megastarbux.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Lone Trader

G. For those running a free trader with full crew and staterooms full of paying passengers, the sight of a lone trader in a docking berth may seem rather sad.

H. Solo Handler.

I. For those looking for the top-of-the-line model, an additional MCr3.75 will remove the late jump feature of the jump drive…

J. Not true.

K. Though, the capability to jump closer from and to gravity wells, saves time and, presumably, money.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Lone Trader

L. However, for a special type of merchant, the lone trader is the key to both freedom and profit.

M. You can go anywhere, as long as it's ranged within one tank of gas.

N. Designed to be run on an absolute shoestring by a single pilot, this ship may never make its owner rich, but it can provide a good living and the ability to fly anywhere along a main.

O. In theory, nineteen and a half megastarbux is my yardstick.

P. Luckily, I've already hit thirteen megastarbux.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Lone Trader

Q. (Jo)Han Solo.

R. Breton (Côtes-d'Armor): probably a variant of Solu a derivative of sol ‘sole’ possibly denoting someone who wore shoes with soles. This surname is rare in Brittany.

S. Spanish and southern French: unexplained. Possibly also Basque: topographic name from solo ‘field meadow rural estate’. This surname is not found in the Basque Country.

T. Han So Low.

U. Millie Falcon

 

[Geir]

Spacecraft: Container Equivalent Unit

1. A 20-foot container measures 5.90 metres in length, 2.35 metres in width and 2.39 metres in height. The door width is 2.34 metres, while the door height measures 2.28 metres. The tare weight is 2,300 kilos. The payload is the maximum loading capacity, and it is 28,200 kg on a 20 'container.

2. I think I have to increase that to minimum five tonnes, similar ratios.

3. Seventy cubic metres.

4. Versus 33.13735 cubic metres.

5. A 40 ’dry container is used for transport of dry cargo, as the name suggests. The inside dimensions of a 40-foot container are a length of 12.03 metres, a width of 2.35 metres and a height of 2.39 metres. The tare weight is 3,750 kilos. The door width is 2.34 metres, while the door height measures 2.28 metres.

6. A 40-foot container can by default hold 25 EUR pallets of 120 x 80 cm. The payload capacity is the maximum loading capacity, and it is 28,800 kilos on a 40 'container. So, it is not much more than a 20-foot container with a payload capacity of 25,000 kilos. The volume of a 40-foot dry container is as much as 67 cubic metres.

7. Versus 67.566495 cubic metres.

8. 12.00 metres length, 2.39 metres height, 2.440725244072524 metres width.

9. 'Cos, five tonmnes is minimum spacecraft.

I just assume 5 and 10 tons are 20 and 40 foot equivalents because Trade and Freight both use 5 and 10 tons. Three or four tons might 'fit' better, but they're completely disconnected from the trade rules.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on intent.

The Confederation Navy controls Confederationwide trade, while the member worlds fight over regional market share, so they can set the standards.

And, after I thought about it, they'd want something that they can easily weaponize.

Not just to pass on to insurgencies and proxies, or Pearl Harbour from within, but mostly as support for the Confederation Army.

So, five tonne minimum for a firmpoint.

Hundred tonne container for hardpoint, you probably end up with a deflated medium bay, or a fully supported small bay. Though, kinda large to be discrete.

 

[Condottiere]

That doesn't mean that other Confederation shipping companies can't accept other standards, or don't have their own, internal, ones.

But, a forty foot container almost aligns with five tonnes, so logically, would be increased in size until it does.

I don't write the rules, but don't mind exploiting loopholes.

Problem is, hardpoints are named that for a reason, the structure around them is strengthened to hold a weapon system, and cope with it's recoil - modularizing that in less than hundred tonne bits seems a bit off.

Primary possibilities for understrengthened modules would be fixed mountings, turrets, barbettes, and small bays.

Firmpoints can be done in five tonne lots.

Turrets and barbettes are inherently modular in themselves.

As are bays.

But, you have to be careful once you Matryoshka them.

 

[Condottiere]

Chances are, wooden (and steel and plastic) pallets are still used to shift small pieces of cargo, around.

Let's say length is a universal standard of twelve hundred millimetres.

Then it's one thousand, eight hundred, six hundred widths.

Height has to be sufficient for the forks doing the lifting.

You'll have waste space, if the volume above the cargo isn't occupied.

So, it's possible that interstellar shipping containers are optimized to maximize one and one fifth metre long pallets.

 

[Condottiere]

In theory, you could do one metre by one and a half metres, which would neatly fit into our grid squares.

However, we do need need some buffer space, and going from my experience with shifting furnishings about, ergonometric packaging.

The dimensions of a 40-foot container are: Exterior Dimensions (in feet): 40' long x 8' wide x 8' 6” high. Exterior Dimensions (in meters): 12.19m long x 2.44m wide x 2.59m high. Interior Dimensions (in feet): 39' 6” long x 7' 9” wide x 7' 10” high.

I tend to believe that would be closer to what's reasonable, though, under High Guard, unarmoured hulls actually don't have discernable volume.

It would appear, superficially, that a shipping container would be more protective than a default spacecraft hull.

In theory, we could make the interior wider to accommodate one more row of pallets.

 

[Condottiere]

If we want to cater to Euro standard pallets, we could keep the interior width to a tad more than two and two fifths metres.

To obtain minimum five tonnes, we would need to either make the container higher, or longer.


Seventy cubic metres divided by 2.44, 28.68852459016393 square metres.

Divided by twelve, 2.390710382513661 exterior height.

That might actually fit in a spacecraft corridor.

2.44 divided by one and a half, 1.626666666666667 times.

That's never going to fit in neatly.

Anyway, it would depend on restraining devices, and from what direction, presumably above, you load the containers into the cargo hold.

Could, in theory, be a cheap form of modularization.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: Lone Trader

V. Also, the manoeuvre drive seems off centre by three metres.

W. Unless, what's happening is that exterior nozzles can be displaced from direct output from the manoeuvre drive.

X. Something, I would suppose, would require extra volume for the redirect.

Y. Though, hard to tell from the more frontal illustration.

Z. Though, you have to wonder if centre of gravity is really relevant in spacecraft design.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: μονόξυλον

An interesting word I came across.

Legiblized as monóxulon.

Defined as a canoe or boat made from a single piece of timber.

Mono translates as singular.

Like monojump, or monoparsec.

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: μονόξυλον

1. Aristotle Papadopoulos was the naval architect that designed the μονόξυλον class flea trader.

2. In the early days of interstellar commerce, Mediterranean entrepreneurs were unable to apply their usual strategy of obtaining cut price surplus merchantmen, since the jump drive had only been recently invented.

3. Anxious to participate in this newly opened market, they discovered that not only were starships in general in high demand, they were also rather expensive, being of fairly new build.

4. Papadopoulos's family had long been involved in the Terran maritime trade, but were stymied in their wish to expand this to the stars.

5. Understanding that they needed to carefully explore the market opportunities and associated costs, they reached out to established spacecraft manufacturers, but for one reason or another, were unable to establish a rapport.

6. The word cheapskate may have been bandied around.

7. Eventually, they made enquiries at the Venture Corporation, to discover that while they did manufacture the cheapest jump drive available, it came in only one size and model.

8. Despite intensive manipulation of the possible manufacturing bill of materials, the Papadopoulos cost accountants were unable to obtain their traditional net profit.

9. Then, someone quoted the old proverb, that it's hard to squeeze blood from a stone.

​

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: Forget Star Destroyers... these ships were essential to the Empire

Today we take a look at one of the most important classes of ships in the Star Wars galaxy the Bulk Freighter, without them galactic trade and prosperity would die.

1. Non sexy merchantmen.

2. Trade and money.

3.

4. Standardizations.

5. Autonomous containers.

6.

7. Are doughnut configured hulls more efficient?

 

[Condottiere]

Startrucks: μονόξυλον

A. Aristotle Papadopoulos might be the first designer of a jump capable planetoid hull based Terran starship.

B. It's quite possible that non jump capable planetoid hulled spacecraft have been operating within Sol system, already.

C. The possibility exists that other naval architects had already conceived of using planetoids as starships.

D. If so, those ideas never came to fruition, before Aristotle designed and launched the μονόξυλον.

E. It could be that no one wanted to sacrifice twenty percent of volume, of what appeared to be the potentiality of lost trade.

F. Thus, the need for greed had synchronized in the combination of the Venture Drive, and an Aristotelian asteroid.