Ship Design Philosophy

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Accommodations and Ambiance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imzDk6dfP54

And that's why you drill portholes through the hull.

While it might seem rather cynical to sort of ignore cattle class in what seems like an infomercial, for us cattle class is very close to just a chair/extendable couch.

The other extreme would be:

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceship: Space/Raft

Hull
. 10 tonnes
. 3 points
. technological level nine
. non-gravitated
. lightened hull
.. MCI 0.3
. streamlined configuration
.. completely streamlined
. armour
.. none
Engineering
. manoeuvre
.. factor one
.. technological level nine
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. zero point one two five tonnes
.. MCI 0.15
. solar panels
.. none
. power plant
.. early fusion
.. eight scotts
.. technological level eight
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. one tonne
.. MCI 0.3
.. energy requirements
... basic
.... 2
... manoeuvre
.... 1
... weapons
... systems
. bunkerage
.. one tonne
.. endurance
... forty weeks
Bridge
. cockpit
.. one point five tonnes
.. MCI 0.01
. computer
.. bandwidth five
.. technological level seven
.. MCI 0.03
.. software
... library
... manoeuvre
. sensors
.. basic
... lidar
... radar
... dice modifier minus four
Armaments
. firmpoints
Craft
. none
Systems
. none
Accommodations
. staterooms
..
Cargo
. ship's locker
. dry
.. six and five eighths tonnes
Access
. airlocks
.. one free

MCI 0.79


Notes:
1. Basic model costs more than three times a default air/raft, but probably can carry five times more payload, and range out to the edges of the solar system.
2. One gee constant is like thirty six thousand kilometres per hour.
3. Default airlock, though, even free, still occupies two tonnes; could just have a cargo hatch out back.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceship: Space/Board

Hull
. 10 tonnes
. 3 points
. technological level nine
. non-gravitated
. lightened hull
.. MCI 0.3
. streamlined configuration
.. completely streamlined
. armour
.. none
Engineering
. manoeuvre
.. factor three
.. technological level ten
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. zero point three seven five tonnes
.. MCI 0.45
. solar panels
.. none
. power plant
.. early fusion
.. eight scotts
.. technological level eight
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. one tonne
.. MCI 0.3
.. energy requirements
... basic
.... 2
... manoeuvre
.... 3
... weapons
.... none
... systems
.... none
. bunkerage
.. one tonne
.. endurance
... forty weeks
Bridge
. cockpit
.. one point five tonnes
.. MCI 0.01
. computer
.. bandwidth five
.. technological level seven
.. MCI 0.03
.. software
... library
... manoeuvre
. sensors
.. basic
... lidar
... radar
... dice modifier minus four
Armaments
. firmpoints
Craft
. none
Systems
. none
Accommodations
. staterooms
..
Cargo
. ship's locker
. dry
.. six and three eighths tonnes
Access
. airlocks
.. one free

MCI 1.09

Notes:
1. It's a technological level ten upgrade from a space/raft, using the excess power output to install a larger manoeuvre engine.
2. Acceleration is now three gee constant, probably about as fast as you'd want to expose your crew and passengers to uncompensated travel, and only for a short duration.

 

[Subzero001]

Couldn't something like this be used in "Staterooms" https://www.wallbedsbywilding.com/murphy-bunk-beds/ :shock:

Then you could have a Sleeping cabin or convert it to a working / relaxing cabin? you could even put at least two per cabin converting to a sofa or computer desk etc... when not in use. from my understandings they have something of the like on trains now. 8)

 

[Condottiere]

Fittings isn't really an issue, more exactly how much do we want to pay for per tonne of accommodations, since we even have the above option.



Speaking of which:


Happy Holidays to One and All

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and Maximum Atmospheric Speed

As I like pointing out, I'm not an engineer.

As I understand it, the maximum speed a craft can travel within our atmosphere is a tad over twenty eight thousand kilometres per hour, about eighty percent of acceleration factor one. At least, not without some catastrophic structural failure.

Then there's meteoric re-entry; how fast can a spacecraft go without really burning up, or being able to disgorge it's assault troop complement, within a reasonable period of time?

Why does this matter?

I thought it was time to see if it's worth resurrecting gliders for planetary assaults.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

As I understand it, the maximum speed a craft can travel within our atmosphere is a tad over twenty eight thousand kilometres per hour, about eighty percent of acceleration factor one. At least, not without some catastrophic structural failure.

I do not understand what you mean.

Acceleration is not speed. Acceleration is rate of change of speed. "kilometres per hour, about eighty percent of acceleration" makes no sense to me.

Max speed (without burning up) would depend on the density of the atmosphere which depends on height. Max speed at sea level would be much less than max speed at 100 km. Where did 28000 km/h come from?

 

[AndrewW]

I thought it was time to see if it's worth resurrecting gliders for planetary assaults.

There's Re-entry Capsule and Re-entry Pod.

 

[Condottiere]

The encapsulated are paratroopers.

As regards twenty eight thousand kilometres per hour, that figure came from the re-entry speed of the space shuttle.

I always thought how neat it's to fly through the atmosphere at full speed, whatever full speed is for the assault shuttles, forgetting the barrier of an unforgiving atmosphere, which meant there would be limits to the exact speed you could getaway with at sea level, though well within how fast our spacecraft can actually go.

At some point I came to the conclusion that it would be rather dumb, except in the case of an unexpected commando raid, to actually use a starship in the direct assault role, so I wondered which real life analogue to try and flesh out, a Huey, an Osprey, or a Chinook?

Then I considered the attraction of a cheap, expendable delivery vehicle that could land ground forces and their equipment, without the (immediate) necessity of trying to get it to fly back.

Hence, a (powered) glider.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Hulls and Technological Levels Seven Eight Nine

Any real spaceship design has to default to technological level nine, because that when all hulls become self-sealing.

Normally, I'd try to go for the lowest viable technological level, if we ignore steampunk, would be technological level five, or the realm of Space Nazis; after all, hulls would still cost twenty five thousand schmuckers per non-gravitated schmuckers, and fifty thousand per. gravitated tonne, probably out of ordinary steel. Wait, that can't be right.

So when did we invent artificial gravity? Can't be seven, because we'd have it now; might be eight, because we're still haven't got fusion right. Likely nine, though it would appear to me that the design sequence fails to mention it.

Lower technological level hulls aren't cheaper higher up the production food chain, so nine becomes the logical starting point, or higher, since there's no price difference. Certainly seven is an unworthwhile technological level.

That's why nine eight seven.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

So when did we invent artificial gravity? Can't be seven, because we'd have it now; might be eight, because we're still haven't got fusion right. Likely nine, though it would appear to me that the design sequence fails to mention it.

MT makes starship artificial gravity and inertial compensators available at TL 10.

 

[Sigtrygg]

1980 CT HG2e
TL7 maneuver drive is limited to 2
TL8 maneuver drive is limited to 5 max (this is the TL the air/raft and fusion power show up on the CT TL tables)
TL9 maneuver drive is now the full 6.
CT also states that it was Terran research into gravitics in the latter part of the twenty first century that lead to their discovery of jump drive, so TL9.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceship: Modular Lighter

Hull
. 35 tonnes
. 12 points
. technological level nine
. non-gravitated
. lightened hull
.. MCI 0.7875
.. modular
. streamlined configuration
.. completely streamlined
. armour
.. none
Engineering
. manoeuvre
.. factor one
.. technological level nine
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. zero point four three seven five tonnes
.. MCI 0.63
. solar panels
.. none
. power plant
.. early fusion
.. eight scotts
.. technological level eight
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. one tonne
.. MCI 0.3
.. energy requirements
... basic
.... 7
... manoeuvre
.... 3.5
... weapons
.... none
... systems
.... none
. bunkerage
.. one tonne
.. endurance
... forty weeks
Bridge
. cockpit
.. one point five tonnes
.. MCI 0.01
. computer
.. bandwidth five
.. technological level seven
.. MCI 0.03
.. software
... library
... manoeuvre
. sensors
.. basic
... lidar
... radar
... dice modifier minus four
Armaments
. firmpoints
.. none
Craft
. none
Systems
. none
Accommodations
. staterooms
.. none
Cargo
. module
.. twenty five tonnes
.. MCI 0.5625
. ship's locker
.. none
. dry
.. 4.0625 tonnes
Access
. airlocks
.. one
.. two tonnes
.. free

MCI 1.7575 (2.32 with module)

Notes:
1. While total energy requirement is ten and a half scotts, the lighter can function at seven scotts, with one scott in reserve.
2. While I'm not that keen on the thirty tonne module, at least not for the Confederation Navy, I thought that Solomani commercial entities might not be that finicky; imagine my surprise when I suddenly found myself stonewalled at twenty six plus tonnes: you need at least a forty tonne spaceship to do that, and it's possible if you squash the components a bit.
3. Lighters are really only meant for short range transfers, and if it's orbit to planetary surface, one gee constant is more than enough; also the reason they're streamlined.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering, Inertial Compensators and I Feel The Need, The Need For Speed

One issue with accelerating in Einstein's backyard and Traveller design is, why we can't just fill up half the spaceship with manoeuvre drives and/or rockets.

Inertial compensators of the right type was always the elephant in the room, though that wouldn't stop someone at technological level ten just devoting nine percent of the spaceship to the manoeuvre drive modules creating factor nine thrust, compensated by factor three inertial compensators, switching off artificial gravity, taking bath, and gritting your teeth for the remaining three or four uncompensated gees.

Or just send in a droid to pilot it.

And even if compensators would be a requirement for manoeuvre drives, you can always install rockets, of which you can install twelve factors without violating the rules, or even bending them.

So inertial compensators aren't the limiting factor, except in the sense as the crew can't function under heavy uncompensated thrust.

So, there's no satisfactory answer or solution to this. So far.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Orbital Range

This manoeuvre drive only functions when the ship is within short range (up to one thousand two hundred and fifty kilometres) of a planetary body ... requires two
disadvantages.

Earth's diameter is 12'742 kilometres.

Orbital range should be one tenth of a planetary, or celestial object's diameter; possibly adjusted by standard gravity.

That would mean for the Moon, the spacecraft couldn't go further than 3'474 kilometres divided by six, therefore 579 kilometres.

 

[Condottiere]

Starships: Hulls and Cruise Liner

Speaking of cruisers:

It's a conceptual design:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LKgtdNFi-g

Explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm5RKsewmCk

Instead of a gondola, you might prefer a penthouse view, though it's quite possible that you might have both, and passenger liners actually have the bunkerage and the engineering in a central core, while the passenger cabins and common areas are spread across just under the hull, and you may even have a hamster cage acting as a revolving restaurant.

 

[wbnc]

Starships: Hulls and Cruise Liner

Instead of a gondola, you might prefer a penthouse view, though it's quite possible that you might have both, and passenger liners actually have the bunkerage and the engineering in a central core, while the passenger cabins and common areas are spread across just under the hull, and you may even have a hamster cage acting as a revolving restaurant.

That definately ahs potential. I know one complaint astronauts have.."NOT ENOUGH WINDOW SPACE" they spend a lot of their down time looking out portholes. These are guys who are seasoned sorts, with daily exposure to the view and they never get tired of it. giving passengers a wall length window they can set beside and enjoy dinner with open space as scenery yeah you can get high passage rates for that alone.

jumpspace views may not get the same response. A cloud of roiling hydrogen plasma isn't the most interesting view in the universe. Then again depending, on whether or not you get that lovely St Elmo's fire effect along the hull grid...it might be. it would definitely be great mood lighting.

 

[Condottiere]

Starships: Engineering, Dry Jumping, and Jump Nets

A jump net consists of special field cables attached to the rear of a ship that extend the vessel’s jump field to include additional cargo contained within the net. While this can look exceedingly crude, a great deal of engineering goes into making it work and it remains both cheap and effective.

A jump net consumes one tonne per hundred tonnes of cargo carrying capacity, at a cost of three hundred thousand credits per tonne.

Obviously, what happens is that you spread the jump net over the hull of your starship, fire up the jump drive, and energize the jump net.

There's no need to process the hydrogen through the jump drive to create the jump bubble, since you now have a jump field.

While you have to spend an extra thirty million schmuckers per hundred tonnes of hull, you can make that up by converting all that unused bunkerage into cargo holds, or shrinking your designs if they're larger than a hundred tonnes.


Oops, I misread that.

The netscaping dry jumping would only cost an extra one tonne, and three hundred thousand credits per hundred tonnes of hull; so quite a bargain.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Hulls and Flipping the Bird

Couldn't locate a gif of the Simpson's rotating couch gag, nor the secret swivel wall from Scooby Doo.

So, the idea is that on both sides you attach a docking clamp; this allows the docking clamp in the outside to have one spacecraft ready to launch or dock, while on the other side, the spacecraft can be serviced. Then you flip the hull section.

 

[Condottiere]

Starship: Torpedo Class, or Smallest Possible, Well, Cheapest Anyway

Hull
. 35 tonnes
. 12 points
. technological level nine
. self-sealing
. gravitated
. lightened hull
.. MCI 1.3125
. streamlined
.. MCI 0.2625
. armour
.. none
Engineering
. manoeuvre
.. factor one
.. technological level nine
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. 0.4375 tonnes
.. MCI 0.525
. jump
.. factor one
.. technological level nine
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. ten tonnes
.. MCI 9.0
. power plant
.. early fusion
.. eight scotts
.. technological level eight
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. one tonne
.. MCI 0.375
.. energy requirements
... basic
.... 7
... manoeuvre
.... 3.5
... jump
.... 10
... weapons
... screens
... systems
. high efficiency batteries
.. basic
.. 0.25 tonnes
.. ten scotts
.. MCI 0.025
. bunkerage
.. ten point one tonnes
.. range
... one parsec
.. endurance
... four weeks
Bridge
. six tonnes
.. MCI 0.5
. computer
.. bandwidth five
.. MCI 0.03
.. software
... library
... manoeuvre
... jump control one
.... MCI 0.1
. sensors
.. basic
... lidar
... radar
... dice modifier minus four
Weapons
. hardpoints
.. turret
. firmpoints
Craft
Systems
. fuel scoops
Accommodations
. staterooms
.. half
.. two tonnes
.. MCI 0.25
. common areas
.. none
Cargo
. ship's locker
. dry
.. 2.1625 tonnes
... compressed gas tank
. jump net
.. technological level ten
.. 0.65 tonnes
.. MCI 0.195
. collapsible fuel tank
.. 0.65 tonnes
.. MCI 0.000'325
Access
. airlocks
.. one free
.. two tonnes
. cargo hatch

MCI 12.575'325

Notes:
1. It's possible that a six tonne bridge might impose a minus one modifier on astronavigation calculations, but six tonnes is already overlarge for a fifty tonne spacecraft.
2. Jump drive is kicked into gear by the high efficiency battery.
3. Prior to jump, the jump net is ejaculated to the rear, and the fuel bladder is inflated to fill out sixty tonnes volume of gas.