The Instant Colony

[kristof65]

Are you doing deck/floor plans for your module(s)? Based on the tug or landing procedure, does the module have to be a specific shape?

If you're doing deckplans, and you don't have any shape constraints, you may want to consider something like a donut or ring shape for your module. That gives the colonists a central area that can later be closed off with construction materials - a floor on the bottom, and roof on the top, and viola - more space. Before it gets closed off, it provides a "safe" area where equipment and such can be stored.

 

[rust]

If you're doing deckplans, and you don't have any shape constraints, you may want to consider something like a donut or ring shape for your module. That gives the colonists a central area that can later be closed off with construction materials - a floor on the bottom, and roof on the top, and viola - more space. Before it gets closed off, it provides a "safe" area where equipment and such can be stored.

I was thinking of an elongated flattened disk with the parts that will not be
disassembled in the center and all the other stuff around it for an easy ac-
cess from the outside. Once the outer rings have been disassembled, the
central part would remain as a normal sized building.

Your idea is an interesting alternative, I will have to see which approach
is easier to turn into deckplans - although they will mostly be just symbo-
lic plans, I am too lazy to draw real detailed plans for something that will
last only a couple of months of game time.

 

[Captain Jonah]

A disc with a curved roof and the modules contained in the sides. Roughly 4 stories tall and 40 metres in diam.

If your side walls hinge up in sections you get the spokes of the roof for your newly expanded main building adding roughly 15 - 20 meters to the diameter then fitting wedge shaped roof panels into the gaps where the sidewalls fold up.

This gives you a new 60 metre roof supported by the structure of the main ship so very strong.

All of the removable modules come out to free up the area round the core and you end up with a mushroom like main building.

Temporary tough plastic hostile enviroment walls and mesh floors till you can make proper ones or prefabricated walls and floors in cargo fill out the space vacated by the modules and the new space created by the expanded roof.

That more than doubles the hull tonnage of the main body and you still have all the modules out there. Also has the advantage of having a very large core building that is roofed in starship hull for standing off any hostile weather.

Floor plans wise you have a central core of rooms in a circle or oval with your bridge power etc. Around that you have a series of wedge shaped modules making up the sections of the outer hull. Then once down you have a larger circular or oval core inside bulkheads and a surrounding circular building to be filled with walls and rooms.

Also since the modules are wedge shaped if the inhabited ones make up a single floor once removed they can be put together to make the donut shape with the empty middle which can then be roofed over giving you a larger habitat unit.

 

[rust]

That more than doubles the hull tonnage of the main body and you still have all the modules out there. Also has the advantage of having a very large core building that is roofed in starship hull for standing off any hostile weather.

Thank you very much, I love that idea - bought. :wink:

 

[Captain Jonah]

That more than doubles the hull tonnage of the main body and you still have all the modules out there. Also has the advantage of having a very large core building that is roofed in starship hull for standing off any hostile weather.

Thank you very much, I love that idea - bought. :wink:

Sold to the happy customer over there on the new colony world

 

[Dave Chase]

Hmm, modules that make up a base,
Expandable modules and ship (once on the ground),
A ship that is specificially designed for hauling and containing the modules.


Sounds familar, wonder from where.

Dave Chase

 

[Captain Jonah]

Utopia Colony Initiation Unit

Another quality product from Angelman and Stern, your one stop supplier for all your colonial needs.

This fine unit is designed to form the core of a thriving colony structure, deployed by a number of interstellar tugs and bulk cargo movers it can be quickly set up once at its new home. The modular hull contains as many as 60 ten ton prefabricated pods which are custom built to meet the exact needs of your new colony before you even take off from your home world.

Please contact our sales agents at any of our offices for a Tri-D brochure today.

Built as a disc the hull is 800Dton , 12 metres tall at the outer edge and 36 metres in diameter with four internal decks. The C.I.U. has 600 Dtons of module space around the outside of the hull and a central core protected by fixed bulkheads.

The prefabricated pods are wedge shaped and 3 metres tall fitting into the frame of the hull and locked in place for the journey to the new colony. The outer hull of the ship is made up of numerous flat panels each roughly one metre wide and 12 metres tall. These are hinged at the upper edge. The panels are dropped down and sealed into place once the pods and cargo have been loaded.

To ensure a secure air-tight fit an inner wall made of very tough hostile-environment proof plastic sheeting is sealed to the C.I.U. roof and floor.
Life support for the unit is split between the central core and the Habitat pods. Each 10ton inhabited pod has life support to provide a comfortable environment of 5 people and in emergencies can support up to 10 adults. The central core has limited accommodation for as many as 10 colony staff and can support twice that number if required.

For use in hostile environments a single 10ton life support pod can be permanently fitted to one of the pod bays providing for as many as 50 adults or emergency support for up to 100.

The lower floor of the C.I.U. contains a cargo lock and an eight person airlock. Both are permanent but can be converted into a loading bay and entry chamber respectively on worlds with benign atmospheres.

On deployment the C.I.U. should ideally be deployed in a sheltered area with enough room for both the main unit and any secondary units but screened by local hill or other terrain features to provide protection to the sides of the unit when deployed. The roof being star ship hull grade alloy is proof against anything the weather on the colony can produce.

Once down the survey party and ground preparation team drop the cargo ramp and drive out the All Terrain Vehicles, one or more with dozer blades and one Mule class vehicle with side jacks, a powerful rear mounted winch and a 20ton rated grav enhanced crane set behind the cab. One A.T.V. tows a 20 ton rated All Terrain cargo flat bed trailer. Well financed colonies may opt for a fully grav capable crane and vehicles.
The ground survey team mark out and level the base areas for the habitat block and other buildings.

Once the ground has been prepared the Mule parks itself rear on to the C.I.U., deploys its side jacks and using its winch and crane it pulls out and lifts up the pods which are stacked on the cargo flat bed.

The premade habitat pods are moved to an area no more than 20 metres from the C.I.U. and set down. Adjustable legs allow the units to be level in cases where the ground may slope as much as a metre. The wedge shaped habitat pods are locked together to form a ring, the inner void has a prefabricated floor and roof added and where required an additional floor can be set on the roof of the habitat block. This is covered by a hostile environment sealed tent of the same plastic used for the hull. In this way the volume available to each habitat block can as much as triple providing plenty of room for your new colonists.

Once the colony has its industry up and running alloy panels can replace the plastic tent and the void space under the habitat block can be filled with concrete to provide a solid base. If needed addition stories can also be added to each habitat block at this stage.

Each habitat block has one pod that forms the entry chamber, an eight person airlock pod is available for use with hostile environments. The habitat blocks can be connected to the C.I.U. by a sealed walkway allowing the colonists to travel to their work areas in the main unit while protected from the worst the planet can throw at them.

Research and industrial pods are removed and assembled in the same way but unless the colony is a dedicated mining or science unit these modules will be assembled into much smaller curved units which again can be connected by walkways to the rest of the colony structures.

Because of the modular nature of the pods, buildings can be assembled from any combination of pods. For example science pods can be combined with habitat pods to form a research block where the scientists live in the same building.

Vehicle hangers and other extra areas have a prefabricated frame and a hostile environment plastic tent .

Once the pods have been removed from the main hull the hinged side panels are all locked into the upright position forming the spokes of the new roof, a support ring is set up round the outer edge and support beams are put in place from the C.I.U.s internal frame to the new roof.

Purpose built wedge shaped roofing sections are welded into place between the spokes expanding the diameter of the C.I.U. by as much as 20 metres. Prefabricated floor sections are dropped into place as well.

The hostile environment proof plastic curtain used to seal the C.I.U.s hull during the journey here was removed to allow unloading of the pods, this is now re-attached and sealed to the ring that supports the new roof and floor.

Where the cargo and passenger entry ways are on the hull is left open providing a sheltered five metre tall and 10 metre deep area open to the outside allowing for easy access to the cargo lock or loading bay and somewhere to park several of the A.T.V.s out of the rain.

Once the curtain is in place prefabricated floors are added, these are light alloy mesh to minimise cargo space but are easily capable of supporting offices and other such non industrial areas.

The curtains will be replaced with alloy panels and the void under the outer floors will be filled with concrete once the colony is able to do so.

A Solar farm can be set up outside the main area of the colony to supplement the main reactor in the core hull. All functions of the colony are controlled from the C.I.U. bridge which is able to handle the daily operations of a colony four times the size of that deployed by the C.I.U. allowing for considerable expansion.

For additional security each separate building can be provided with Solar panels, life support and computing capability allowing sections to be set up some distance from the C.I.U.

Every need of a new colony can be met by either prefabricated pods or by specialised units carried as cargo and set up after landing. Frame tents made of the hostile environment proof plastic expand the sheltered work areas of the colony with minimum cargo use and provide significant protection against natural environmental or weather threats, the plastic is even proof against light projectile fire.

 

[rust]

Sounds familar, wonder from where.

I think I know from where ... :lol:

However, this time I want to offer the players something slightly different,
so I had to modify your ideas. :wink:

 

[rust]

Utopia Colony Initiation Unit ...

Thank you very much indeed for this nice description.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Shame you can't have nano-fabricators... this colony project would be so much easier.

 

[rust]

Shame you can't have nano-fabricators... this colony project would be so much easier.

Ah, but I do not want to make it any easier, quite the contrary ... :wink:

 

[Captain Jonah]

Hmm, modules that make up a base,
Expandable modules and ship (once on the ground),
A ship that is specificially designed for hauling and containing the modules.


Sounds familar, wonder from where.

Dave Chase

Not wishing to miss crediting any people in the area

Where from came the basic concept, from the 1960s onwards NASA. the ESA, a couple of science papers, at least one childrens space adventure annual, several score sci fi books and games and several discusion and planning groups with friends many many years ago.

Other than that its all my work

 

[Dave Chase]

I never claimed that it was my work (even if I dabbled in it a bit )

I was just pointing out that this all sounds familar.

NASA, Science Fiction, Traveller expandable base and Modular ships, Several users posts and threads.

:lol:

It is almost always amusing to see how others read things into others words.

Old trick to see if one is beating their own drum or just posting/commenting,

Remove the name or don't think of the person saying it, and see if they are tooting their own horn or just commenting.

:lol:

Thanks for the laugh this morning.

Dave Chase

 

[Captain Jonah]

I never claimed that it was my work (even if I dabbled in it a bit )

Thanks for the laugh this morning.

Dave Chase

Bah, be off with your sire afore I set the Vagyr on you :twisted:

 

[phavoc]

Now how would you go about naming your far-and-away colony? Especially if the first three were sabotaged, the fourth disappears right before its supposed to come online, and the fifth manages to get all the way to being finished and inhabited?

Would it be a wayport for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs and wanderers? And what about lights? Will it be all alone in the night? Or will humans and aliens come together and work out their differences peacefully?

But more to the point, will they worship the Goddess Ivanova?

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

You forgot the AIs.

They demand equal rights too!!!

 

[Captain Jonah]

You forgot the AIs.

They demand equal rights too!!!

Or what. Are they going to start a war, launch a sneak attack that wipes out your population then chase the handfull of survivors in a rag tag fleet across the statrs. Oh wait

 

[Jame Rowe]

You forgot the AIs.

They demand equal rights too!!!

Or what. Are they going to start a war, launch a sneak attack that wipes out your population then chase the handfull of survivors in a rag tag fleet across the statrs. Oh wait

No, they'll just take over every computer everywhere and collapse the 3rd Imperium in a howling ruin. :twisted:

 

[rust]

Okay, I understand - no AIs in my setting, never. :shock:

 

[Captain Jonah]

You forgot the AIs.

They demand equal rights too!!!

Or what. Are they going to start a war, launch a sneak attack that wipes out your population then chase the handfull of survivors in a rag tag fleet across the statrs. Oh wait

No, they'll just take over every computer everywhere and collapse the 3rd Imperium in a howling ruin. :twisted:

Never happen, the Imperiums tech is far to good to be taken down by a bunch of upity computer chips. Besides which what kind of backward computer still uses anything a silicon virus can effect.

Hello, hello. You still there, lots of static and buzzing on the comm like. Must be getting a crossed comm chanel. You still there?

Hello? ? ? ?

Hey the lights just went out :shock: