Ship Design Philosophy

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and Ramscoops

1. Minimum size ten tonnes.

2. Five tonnes of hydrogen collected, per tonne of ramscoop, per week.

3. Therefore, fifty tonnes of hydrogen per week.

4. 7.142857142857143 tonnes per day.

5. 0.2976190476190476 tonnes per hour.

6. 0.0049603174603175 tonnes per minute.

7. 0.0297619047619048 tonnes per six minutes.

8. Requires active manoeuvring.

9. No fuel scoops or fuel processors required, as bio hydrogen is produced as the collection process automatically purifies it.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Terra achieved TL9 in the 2050s and TL11 in the 2120s to 30s, skipping TL10 almost entirely thanks to "technology transfer" from the Vilani

(reverse engineering, trade and education missions, espionage, theft)

 

[Condottiere]

I don't doubt that there was massive industrial espionage, technological transfer, and reverse engineering; it's just something that we do.

So where are these dates drawn from?

 

[Sigtrygg]

GT:ISW

 

[Condottiere]

I'm rereading Interstellar Wars, and trying to reconcile the dates given.

In 2052, it was an UNSCA lab on Luna which produced the first practical “grav modules,” offering Terrans control of gravity for the first time.

That's technological level eight.

A UNSCA research station on Ceres also produced the first working reactionless thrusters in 2064.

That could be a prototype.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and Ramscoops

A. One tonne of reactionary rocketry consumes one and a quarter tonnes of fuel per hour, one eighth tonne per six minutes.

B. Fuel efficiency factor one - one tonne of fuel per hour, one tenth of a tonne per six minutes.

C. Fuel efficiency factor two - three quarters of a tonne of fuel per hour, seventy five kilogrammes per six minute

D. Fuel efficiency factor three - half a tonne of fuel per hour, one twentieth of a tonne per six minutes.

E. If you're using reactionary rocketry to actively manoeuvre and accumulate hydrogen, you're looking at around a half tonne rocket with sixty percent fuel efficiency, per ten tonnes of ramscoops.

F. Or in a twenty tonne gig, factor one and a quarter gravities.

 

[Ol'Weedy]

Construction Rule Grey Areas

Sooo...Building a 100 ton ship, 79 tons used up, and I add a Type 1 docking clamp bringing it up to 80 tons total. Drives are rated for a full 100tons.
Can the ship jump if it isn't carrying it's 20 ton launch?
Idea originally came about from trying to create a 'jump sled' for a ship's boat/pinnace. I can make it work fine using docking space, but i'm trying to keep the price down.

Another thing I wondered about was using the drives and sensors of a docked small craft. In the case of the jump sled, I'd leave the manoeuvre drive off the sled part, or maybe just use a mnoeuvre-0 drive to keep it in orbit.
Might not be the right place to post this, but OP seems to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about this stuff....like me ;-).

 

[Geir]

I would venture that if the jump drive was for a 100 ton ship, you could still jump at 80 tons (not going to go into the whole bubble vs grid thing, because it's not worth it). But that's just my opinion; I could be wrong.

As for sharing sensors and drives, looking at a breakaway or modular ship rather than a clamped sled might be a clearer (or murkier) choice - be interesting to see how it would vary.

 

[Condottiere]

Short answer - yes.

Longer one - all you need are a hundred tonnes of volume; the rules don't say how you achieve that, as long as that volume remains stable throughout the transition.

As regards to tinkering around with the placement of ship components, you might consider a breakaway hull to centralize control, or rather more thoughtfully distribute them amongst independent primary/secondary hulls, as an independent hull can then be used as the primary mover.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Economies of Scale

1. Not really, optionally you have efficiencies achieved by advanced technologies.

2. I was looking at crew size, and wondering how much you actually save in salaries (and life support).

3. At five kilotonnes, thirty seven and a half hundred tonnes.

4. At twenty kilotonnes, seventeen and two third kilotonnes.

5. At fifty kilotonnes, thirty seven and a half kilotonnes.

6. At a hundred kilotonnes, sixty six and two thirds kilotonnes.

7. Presuming same percentage of engineering.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Why Does Rice Sink Ships?

In this video, we investigate the dangers of carrying grain cargo on merchant vessels and have a quick look at the reasons why special precautions need to be taken.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Construction and Modularization

On average, assume that it takes one day per million Credits to build a spacecraft at an average commercial shipyard. At the Referee’s discretion, very large ships can be built in a modular fashion allowing simultaneous construction. This means the total construction time can be reduced by up to 90%. This is typically done only on ships exceeding 50,000 tons.

That places me in a dilemma: fifty kilotonnes does not exceed itself, and breakaway hulls probably wouldn't benefit.

 

[Geir]

Spaceships: Construction and Modularization

On average, assume that it takes one day per million Credits to build a spacecraft at an average commercial shipyard. At the Referee’s discretion, very large ships can be built in a modular fashion allowing simultaneous construction. This means the total construction time can be reduced by up to 90%. This is typically done only on ships exceeding 50,000 tons.

That places me in a dilemma: fifty kilotonnes does not exceed itself, and breakaway hulls probably wouldn't benefit.

"typically" (and not "only") is the key word in that sentence as it allows for variance. I liked the v1 rules better with times for various hull sizes. And in any case a breakaway hull seems like a perfect use case for a modular build.

 

[Condottiere]

Yes, especially the part that evenly distributes hull points; less so, the two percent wasteage at two megastarbux per tonne.

You could assembly line fifty tonne fighters, and that probably could qualify for that ninety percent reduction, so there are probably a number of other factors to consider, which we'll assume that hull components below five kilotonnes aren't suitable for that block time reduction.

 

[Condottiere]

Inspiration: Blake's 7 (1978-1981). The Great British Blake Off.

Stam Fine Reviews looks at the BBC Science Fiction Classic Blake's 7, created by Terry Nation.
Blake's 7 follows the adventures of the Liberator Crew as they attempt to bring down the authoritarian Terran Federation ruling the galaxy. Blake (Gareth Thomas) is an idealist; Avon (Paul Darrow), a cynical computer expert; Vila (Michael Keating) is a talented thief; Jenna (Sally Knyvette), a smuggler; Gan (David Jackson), a big guy with no particular skills; Tarrant (Steven Pacey), a space captain; Dayna (Josette Simon), a weapons designer; and gunfighter Soolin (Glynis Barber). Then there's their main nemesis: Servalan (Jacqueline Pearce).

In Part One, we take an overall look at the show, its characters, origins, developments and its legacy.
In Part Two, we look at each of the series' 52 episodes. If there's anything not in this first video, chances are it's in Part Two.
In any hypothetical part Three, we will talk for five hours about apostrophes in titles.

0:00 Intro
0:39 What is Blake's 7?
5:45 Roj Blake
6:53 Jenna Stannis
8:03 Kerr Avon
10:50 Vila Restal
11:44 Cally
13:29 Olag Gan
14:27 Zen
15:02 Travis
16:25 Servalan
17:27: The Liberator
18:33 The Drama
20:44 Series A (1978)
21:20 Orac
22:30 The First Year
23:26 Origins
28:45 Ship Design
29:49 Trek Wars Who
30:29 Before Blake
30:55 In the Studio
32:05 Series B (1979)
34:29 Death!
35:40 Star One
37:44 Modelwork
38:34 Series C (1980)
39:43 Dayna Mellanby and Del Tarrant
41:27 Ongoing Nothing
43:20 Very Special Effects
44:06 The End of Blake's 7, first attempt
45:34 Series D (1981)
45:55 Soolin and Slave
49:09 Endgame (Spoiler Alert)
50:55 Finale
53:30 Scorpio
54:26 Music and Sound
55:19 Merchandise
56:00 Legacy, Best and Worst Episodes
57:20 After Blake
58:35 Summary

It's uneven.

And a lot less humourous than depicted.

Metacheesey?

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Breakaway Hulls and Docking Clamp Victor

1. Docking clamp Victor capacity two kilotonnes plus one plus, fifty tonnes, and eight megastarbux.

2. Breakaway hull two percent volume, at two megastarbux per tonne.

3. Fifty tonnes at two percent is twenty five hundred tonnes.

4. Eight megastarbux would be four tonnes of breakaway hull wasteage, at two percent would be two hundred tonnes.

5. Advantage would be even distribution of hull points at twenty five and hundred kilotonnes total.

6. Disadvantage is even distribution of firm and hard points.

7. Presumably, advantage might be economy of scale crewing at total tonnage, assumedly evenly distributed.

 

[Condottiere]

8. If volume is a factor, try to keep the separate hulls at around twenty five hundred tonnes and below.

9. A type three docking clamp at three hundred tonnes maximum, is ten tonnes at two megastarbux, so it gets competitive around two hundred tonnes.

 

[Condottiere]

Starwarships: TRUMAN CLASS DREADNAUGHT | The old backbone and workhorse of the UN navy | The Expanse

Generic greetings and welcome to science insanity. Today a video on the old, the venerable, the chunky truman class dreadnaught. The workhorse and backbone of the united nations navy for decades and an aging warship by the time of the show. So settle in and enjoy as me and steve joke, laugh and meme our way through this fat lad.

0:00 Intro
0:46 Patreon shoutout
1:39 History & Use
8:22 Dimensions
11:19 Weapons
13:16 Defenses
16:56 Upgrades
20:21 Story time
22:13 Additional stuff
27:48 Outro

1. Bigger is better, survivability is king, and flexibility is everything.

2. Will of Earth.

3. Huge stocks of supplies.

4. Secondary crafts.

5. Terran humans in better physical shape.

6. This flag did not hang itself (out to dry).

7. Lots of point defence.

8. Technicals.

9. One command bridge.

A. Non popup point defence cannons.

B. Advanced medical facilities.

C. Roomy accommodations.

D. Workshops, fabricators.

E. Thick ass boi.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Armaments and Planetary Aerospace Defence Missile

1. I'm not quite sure why you need an extra (lift off) booster stage.

2. If you think about it, (ship) missiles have enough fuel for ten rounds, or an hour at full thrust.

3. This thrust is provided by additional boosters and a high-burn initial drive stage.

4. How is high burn defined again?

5. As I understand planetary lift off, any amount of thrust above the local gravity well is enough.

6. Even at a nominal ten minus one gravities would still give nine gees, which should eventually overtake most civilian spacecraft, and any military craft flying towards the planet.

7. Is the cost per missile, or per tonne?

8. If per tonne, how many missiles in a bundle?

9. Or is it just the cost of the booster rocket?

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Armaments and Planetary Aerospace Defence Missile

A. The way this is explained, has implications for spacecraft in general.

B. How naïve we are to think it matters whether a free trader lifting off from Terra with a factor one manoeuvre drive can reach orbit, on it's own.

C. When a factor nine gee fighter is going to need an external boost to do the same.

D. If the issue is a question to ensuring that the missile in question manages to occupy the same space at the same time as the target, one would assume that long range sensors and a large enough bandwidth on a computer would ensure that.

E. Also, assuming we're using reactionary drives, technological level seven caps that at factor three.

F. Factor ten needs technological level ten.