Nyrath Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 http://www.rocketpunk-manifesto.com/2009/10/spaceship-design-101.html This is for boring, realistic, near future spacecraft, but the article might spark an idea or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 The first part had a lot of cool design considerations I hadn't thought of. . . . Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 I don't understand all the maths on your site Nyrath, but I have learned that real spaceships will look nothing like anything found in Hollywood (unless the movie's taken pains to get the design right). We're not going to be building a Star Wars-style star destroyer any time soon, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 Cool! I can make good use of this site. Thank, Nyrath! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted October 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 That site has some other interesting entries, I think I've posted some links before. Again they are boring, realistic, near future spacecraft, but they may give you some useful ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 I don't find realistic near-future spacecraft boring. My campaign is full of those things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 I don't find realistic near-future spacecraft boring. My campaign is full of those things! Agreed! Though I run a more space-operatic theme generally, it's still fun to find "an old hulk" drifting through space somewhere.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 Though I run a more space-operatic theme generally' date=' it's still fun to find "an old hulk" drifting through space somewhere.... [/quote'] Look, Captain, it's an old DY-100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 '... But where is its propulsion section?' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraven Kor Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 While not exactly sticking to "possible near-future" my ship designs for my upcoming campaign are pulling heavily from your site. "Up" is the front of the ship as "artificial gravity" is provided by the thrust of the ship (I'm assuming this would still hold true when the ship flips around and decelerates?) Pretty much every surface is designed as a floor, chairs and controls are all on gimbals to help the pilot (and crew / passengers) maintain orientation and for safety in zero-g or during maneuvers (some entire command sections of combat ships are designed to rotate on one or more axis to assist in high-gee maneuvers.) While most ships aren't entirely modular, they all follow a similar design. Human ships are basically large, flying tubes. The command section of warships are deep within the ship, not at the front, though this is not the case on most freighters, which have their control center either forward of the payload, or in a rotating ring behind the payload section. Freight ships are basically a long spine connected to engine, reactor, and fuel storage, designed to have cargo modules clamped to the spine. Non-freight ships, combat ready or no, are just big tubes with engine and reactor at the back. Some are ovoid, some cylindrical, all have partitioned sections which can rotate around the central spine of the hull for "gravity" if the need arises, but again "up" is usually the front of the ship, and again multiple surfaces can be the floor. These partitions all rotate around the central spine of the ship, which is the main fairway for travel fore and aft. Docked at a station, the cylindrical sections can rotate, with the floor being the outermost surface. In transit, the floor is the surface facing away from the direction of thrust, which is generally a constant .5 to 1.2 Gee's and then higher gee burns when needed. About 60% of the craft is engine, fuel storage, reactor, and heat sinks or the like. Power is provided by an antimatter reaction using artificially created heavy elements, highly efficient, but the main non-FTL drive is just a plasma torch, basically. Most of the fuel is created by the Matter-Antimatter reaction (heavy element is obliterated in MAM reaction, but not entirely, the remnants are recycled into He3 and a few other useful elements) but still a lot of space is needed for spare fuel and oxygen and the like. Almost no ships are designed for both deep space / FTL flight, and planetary flight. Most rely on the LEO or Beanstalk relay stations, or on shuttlecraft. A very few long range survey ships can do this, as can a very few specialized military dropships. These military dropships are designed like aircraft, but when flying in space the main drive is on the "bottom" of the craft, giving complete VTOL capabilities when operating in an atmosphere. Warships rely more on highly advanced materials and countermeasures than thick armor, but they do have thick armor, and again critical systems are generally protected by being as far inside the craft as possible. Reflective and refractive properties protect against lasers, electromagnetic countermeasures help to protect against plasma and particle weapons, and energy-absorbing ceramic gels and layered materials protect against kinetic weapons. Missiles are simply shot down or detonated by various countermeasure systems. Ship-to-ship combat is, however, practically unheard of, at least at the start of the campaign - most combat that occurs is boarding actions or planetary conflict, with opposing ships blockading or attempting to disrupt their enemy with electronic warfare or the threat of overwhelming force. There are no luxury liners. There are no tramp freighters. Every ship is either owned and operated by the military of the various governments, the UTC, or one of a very few megacorps who contract out for colony supplies, terraforming, system surveys, mining, etc. Every ship has a remotely accessed "kill switch" in case it is used as a "kinetic kill" ship, and any permanent colony has military installations with high-powered particle weapons capable of vaporizing any craft that can't be stopped with the kill switch. Alien ships follow somewhat similar designs with variations that suit their physiology and technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 I don't understand all the maths on your site Nyrath' date=' but I have learned that real spaceships will look nothing like anything found in Hollywood (unless the movie's taken pains to get the design right). We're not going to be building a [i']Star Wars[/i]-style star destroyer any time soon, unfortunately. If you have the tech, it's not a terrible design for a warship overall. For a ship that's intended to be on the attack, the wedge shape presents a shallow angle to incoming fire from the front, and allows all the weapons to fire forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraven Kor Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 If you have the tech' date=' it's not a terrible design for a warship overall. For a ship that's intended to be on the attack, the wedge shape presents a shallow angle to incoming fire from the front, and allows all the weapons to fire forward.[/quote'] Actually, other than the giant fracking conn tower at the back, yeah you're right. Especially the SSD design - long, thin both from the front and side. Perfect for forward fire or broadsides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 Actually, other than the giant fracking conn tower at the back, yeah you're right. Especially the SSD design - long, thin both from the front and side. Perfect for forward fire or broadsides. I forgot to include your first comment in my post, but I had been thinking the same thing earlier in the day when I was considering the starship design. The flying bridge at the back is a purely cinematic touch, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paladin.oa Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 I forgot to include your first comment in my post, but I had been thinking the same thing earlier in the day when I was considering the starship design. The flying bridge at the back is a purely cinematic touch, I think. Perhaps, or perhaps its a holdover from real world warship bridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted November 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 How about a little Life Support? http://www.rocketpunk-manifesto.com/2009/10/spaceship-design-102-life-support_31.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paladin.oa Posted November 1, 2009 Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 Re: Spaceship Design 101 "Cascading life support malfunction.":ugly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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