NationStates Jolt Archive

Greetings, all.

I have finally been able to upload pictures to my website, so I can finally display pictures of my nation's hardware. I don't know much about military stats and the such, so please bear with me. Any feedback would be welcome.

------------------------------------

Goliath Transport:

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/goliath.jpg

The Goliath is Sharina's largest transport. It is capable of carrying 300,000 tons of cargo or personnel across the vast seas. It also employs 0.5 meter thick armor, as well as several Mazer point defense batteries. The Goliath transports measure in excess of 2,400 feet long, and 600 feet wide, dwarfing even the mighty super oil tankers and the Ningbo super cargo ships. (To compare how large the Goliath is, the Ningbo and its sister ships has roughly 100,000 to 120,000 ton capacity, and the Ningbo class of cargo ship is the largest in the world.)

Ningbo:

http://www.ship-photo.de/modules/myalbum/photos/340.jpg

(Visualize the Goliath as two times longer and wider than the Ningbo to get a good scale comparison).

------------------------------------

Levithian Battleship:

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/levithian1.jpg

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/levithian2.jpg

The Levithian is Sharina's pride of the seas. It weighs in at a hefty 150,000 tons, is equipped with 1 meter thick armor, has several batteries of the unique Sharina COIL - Railgun hybrid cannons, and dozens of Mazer point defense batteries. The Levithian truly is the beast of all warships, boasting a length of 1,400 feet and width of 250 feet.

------------------------------------

Juggernaut Frigate:

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/juggernaut1.jpg

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/juggernaut2.jpg

The Juggernaut is a scaled down version of the Levithian. It stands at 18,000 tons, employs 0.15 meter thick armor, has two batteries of heavy COIL - Railgun batteries, and also is equipped with Mazer point defense systems. It is also capable of housing and firing missiles or torpedoes.

------------------------------------

Sagittarian Cruiser:

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/sagittarian1.jpg

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/sagittarian2.jpg

The Sagittarian is Sharina's multi-purpose cruiser. It can act as a missile ship, a floating sensor suite, a role of a small battleship, or even become a mini aircraft carrier as the Sagittarian can launch ten aircraft off its broad decks. The ship itself weighs in at 24,000 tons and is equipped with 0.25 meter thick armor as well as the standard Mazer batteries.

------------------------------------

The Mazer is Sharina's uniquely developed laser weaponary. It is based off industrial cutting lasers, but with far more strength. It is capable of effectively destroying incoming missiles and aircraft bombers.

Industrial lasers are modern tech, as lasers are used to cut gemstones and create delicate designs in computer circuitry. The Mazer is based off these lasers, but at greater stength and intensity.

------------------------------------

Feedback, suggestions, or recommendations are more than welcome.

Bump!

I'd like feedback. :)

Nice photography ;)

Vastiva has recently developed its LMS (Laser-Maser-Sequence) weaponry, for use primarilly as anti-aircraft and missile defense weaponry, though the larger SUNSPOT can be used for anti-ship operations (or will, once a few bugs are worked out...)

And a Maser is a "microwave-laser" to oversimplify.

Overall, nice. :)

cool

I'd be grateful if anyone could help me out with specific stats for my ships (turn ratio, knots, displacement, keel, etc.)

I don't know anything about designing specific military / naval stats or info. I'd like to have help and feedback with this. :)

I'd be grateful if anyone could help me out with specific stats for my ships (turn ratio, knots, displacement, keel, etc.)

I don't know anything about designing specific military / naval stats or info. I'd like to have help and feedback with this. :)

I'd suggest talking to IDF and Freethinkers (see NATO). Both have a grasp of realistic naval information.

You may also find reading through this thread handy:
http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=292413

Lasers don't make effective point defence systems... they aren't powerful enough yet, they're too bulky, they're unreliable, and only effective in clear weather. Industrial lasers are far too fragil, large, short ranged, and weak to be the basis of a legitimate point defence system. If you insist on using them, fine, but be prepared to RP their faults... like the fact that after a single missile hit anywhere on the ship most of the focusing lenses would shatter.

you need calibers of guns, numbers and types of missiles...

a good site to get a basis for this information would be:

http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/index.html

or

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/index.html

What type of engines may I ask for the Levithian battleship?

You see, take the thickness of the armour, the length and the width of the ship. Then put on some modern technolgy engines (Nuclear reactors) and that thing could just about reach 10 knots.

If your a future tech nation (which I'm beinging to think you are) then it doesn't matter. But if your not, then i'd like to know the type of engine used.

From what I can figure, the Levithian mounts 20 inch diameter COIL - Railguns, in groups of 3. It has 4 of these turrets.

The Juggernaut mounts smaller versions of these cannons, at 12 inches. There are 2 turrets of 3 cannons.

The Sagittarian can add turret modules to it, with cannons of 12 to 14 inch diameter, depending whether it is to serve as a pocket battleship or a heavy cruiser.

The Goliath can mount turrets, but only 12 inch diameter despite its huge size to conserve space for cargo storage.

These figures are based off Smoke Jaguar's thread. The thread is as follows.

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=292413

------------------------

All my ships use hydrogen fuel cell engines, which eliminates the danger of radioactivity from nuclear based engines.

Hydrogen fuel cells are being researched right now, and is likely to be feasible for widespread distribution and usage by 2010 - 2015 (well within Modern Tech times).

Here's a couple of links...

http://www.humboldt.edu/~serc/h2faqs.html

http://www.humboldt.edu/~serc/fcfaqs.html

------------------------

In regards for the Mazer point defense, take industrial cutting lasers and increase its power. This increase also provides more range, and the Mazer functions by slicing off parts of jets or missiles (mostly their fins and such), destroying their guidance / aerodynamic systems. In addition, the closer the warhead of either a ICBM or jet launched missile gets to the target ship, the Mazers become more potent, becoming capable of slicing apart the incoming explosives.

To get a good visualization and idea of the slicing process, the lasers in the computer corridor in the first Resident Evil movie cuts apart the special ops team.

This web link shows that lasers are known to cut steel. Missiles and ICBM's are made of lighter metal, so cutting through them shouldn't present a problem.

http://www.essayworld.com/essays/science/976.shtml

It also says that laser guns would be as large as the Egyptian Pyramids if it was built in 2000. My nation has researched lasers and how to produce weapon grade lasers for a while.

Are you aware of the Star Wars program in the 1980's? Using lasers to blow nuclear ICBM's and missiles. Instead of giving up like the USA, Sharina has poured billions upon billions more into these types of projects instead of funding development of nuclear weapons. Sharina considers nuclear weapons a colossal waste of time and resources to research and develop, as nuclear weapons serve no practical purpose other than rendering lands unhabitable.

As a result of the massive funding towards lasers, Sharina has discovered methods to reduce the size of the laser weapons to manageable levels, approximately the size of a large car or an average truck. These can fit on naval vessels due to the vessel's size.

Infantry laser weapons as seen in Terminator 1, 2, and 3 aren't too far off in Sharina R&D. By real world estimates, it'd be available by around 2020.

Remember technology progress keeps accelerating. 10 years ago, we were barely beginning to understand and use DVD's. Now they're widespread and get even better with 2x, 3x, 4x memory capacities. In addition, 10 - 20 years ago, cutting lasers were bulky. Now they're much more efficient.

Same could be said for computers. 15 years ago, we had computers only capable of 100 MHZ or less processors, 100 Megabytes of total memory, 2 Megabytes of RAM, no DVD, no CD's. Now we have 3+ Gigabyte MHZ (300x faster than 100 MHZ), 100 Gigabyte total memory (1,000x as much memory as 100 Megabytes), 1 Gigabyte RAM (500 times as much as 2 Megabytes), DVD playing 2 - 3 hour movies, countless CD's games and software, etc.

Hence, I'm basing my Mazers, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, and COIL - Railgun designs off what technology we are likely to see between 2010 - 2025. In addition, the reason why I consider 2010 - 2025 tech as modern in Sharina is because Sharina places heavy emphasis on education. Sharina produces many scientists, Information Tech is 2nd largest industry in Sharina, and Sharina put billions upon billions of dollars into these technologies instead of researching & developing nuclear weapons.

------------------------

Hope that clears things up somewhat. In addition, these ships may look futuristic, but we are fully capable of building futurstic exteriors today. We can slap on a futuristic automobile chassis for movies and such (Think the Demolition Man movie with Sly Stallone, and the Minority Report movie with Tom Cruise), but the inner workings are modern era.

You need to include some Curtis Fabus Battleships, Kluxer Klass Kruisers, and Nathan Bedford Forrest Pocket Battleships.

*cough* cheap pushing *cough*

:D

Ok, some major points.

Anti missile lasers exist today... their problems are size, massive power requirements, poor performence in bad weather because of the diffusion of the laser in the atmosphere, and fragility. Admitedly, these can be overcome, but only at great expence, and you will never get around the problems of the diffusion and power requirements. Why? because it takes a lot of power to burn through a missile, and light diffuses when it hits particles.

About laser rifles being available to infantry by 2020... that's silly. No, they won't. or rather, there may be a laser that an infantryman can carry then, but it will be so heavy and so inefficient that guns will still be far far better.

Also, you have misconceptions on how lasers would attack a missile. The idea is to heat a specific portion of the missile up quickly so the thermal shock causes the missile to break appart. They don't slice bits off... that would take a far far more powerful laser. The industrial cutting lasers are cutting thin metal over short distances, and they need to fire for some time before they can cut through it. You don't have the luxury of a stationary target when you're shooting at a missile... the missile is moving, you don't get a chance to heat it up to the point where you can slice through it.

Hydrogen fuel cells are absolutely terrible choices for powerplants, because of the poor energy dencity of hydrogen... I've written rants on the subject. Here's an excerpt:

Hydrogen
Making hdrogen
Hydrogen is a fuel that, per unit mass, has an ectermely high energy releace when combusted with oxygen into water. It is, however, a terrible fuel, and hard to make.

But wait, I here you cry. You just said that hydrogen and oxygen can be combined to make water. According to what I learned in chemistry, that means it works the other way, and it would only take the same amount of energy as it took to make the water because, according to thermodynamics, energy/mass can not be created or destroyed, just turned into another form.

You are right. However, some energy is lost as waste heat in all reactions. Taking water, removing the hydrogen, and then burning the hydrogen, and so on takes a LOT of energy, electrolocis is terribly inefficient. A far better way is to take gasoline and strip off the hydrogen. That takes way less energy... but you need the gasoline.

Transporting the Hydrogen

Ok, so assuming you understand that, have devoted a nuclear power plant or two to making hydrogen, you still have a problem. How do you store it? Although hydrogen has an amazing energy density by mass (about 40000 joules per kilo as compared to the next best one, propane with only about 14000 joules per kilo, or gasoline with 13500 joules per kilo) it has an absolutely abysmal energy density by volume. At standard atmospheric pressure, it would take more than 3000 liters of H2 gas to equal the energy of one litre of gasoline. If you pressurize it to 150 bar, the safes maximum for pressurized containers (after that, the exponencial pressure/volume curve becomes too shallow to get any real effect) it would still take about 22 times the amount of H2 as Gasoline. Not to mention that another term for any pressurized container at 150 bar is 'bomb,' ignoring the fact that it's filled with explosive gas too. Liquified hydrogen still takes 3 liters per liter of Gas, and it needs to be supercooled, which takes energy. The only reasonable solution would be to combine the hydrogen with another element, like almuminum, and then have the oxygen 'burn' that in the fuel cell. but gasoline is still more efficient. An interesting note: there is more hydrogen in a liter of gasoline than there is in a liter of STP H2.

Fuel Cells

This is how a fuel cell works... It takes hydrogen, and combines it with oxygen to make water. But it performs this combustion without much waste heat, which is why scientists think they will become efficient engines. I hate fuel cell technology, and I will explain why.

It's not so much the tech that I hate as the misunderstandings. Fuel cells don't run on nothing, and they don't run on water either. THey run on hydrogen. 'But wait' I hear you cry. "I've got you there. There's hydrogen in water' This is very true. But since water is the exhaust, a fuel cell can't run on it any more than a car can run on CO2. To see why, check out the Hydrogen section above.

Why are they efficient? Because there are no moving parts. This means that more of the energy being produced is converted into electricity. A friend of mine is currently working on a fuelcell at a lab. it's a fuel cell that burns methane at 800c, and it works pretty well. It's still too big to fit in a car. But the best thing about fuel cells is that they rarely break. The one my friend is helping make is rated for 20 years... how many gas generators last that long? That's why fuel cells are good. In industrial applications, they are wonderful. But no tank, or car, will ever last that long, so it's a waste to use a fuel cell on it.


About your education priorities... chardonay is older than you in NS, our main priority is in education and in technology (we are a member of TAPRES and are technology director for our region) If you want to be futuretech, that's your perogative, but what you have here is not modern, or even near moderntech.

wheres your subs

Chardonay, I understand your points.

However, my nation is quite different than RL nations. Sharina has specific research and development priorities.

The USA and USSR spent billions of dollars on developing more nuclear weapons and such, and the USA spends billions on automobile infrastructure and industry.

Sharina doesn't research or develop nuclear weapons, so thats billions of dollars saved. Sharina also doesn't have extensive automobile industry / infrastructure like the USA or Europe.


The beauty of playing NS is that nations don't have to follow exact RL priorities such as nuclear weapon research, waste money on pointless things (research common sense things... IIRC, USA did some dumb research, several million dollars spent to actually prove whether Santa Claus was real or not real) etc.

My nation focuses its research on lasers, energy, and construction, at expense of automobiles, genetics, water treatment, and several other fields.

As a consquence, as a nation in the 2000 - 2010 era, Sharina would have 2020 - 2040 era technology in lasers, energy, and construction, while only having 1940 - 1970 era technology in automobiles, genetics, etc.


I wouldn't call myself future tech, as in sci-fi stories, novels, TV shows, etc. with anti-gravs, force fields, teleportation, phasers, disrupters, faster than light travel, etc.

My nation merely took a different path of research than the USA or USSR. Sharina got boosts in energy and construction technologies because it discovered geo-thermal vents in the Grebev mountains during the 1600's. This led to development of steam power 50 years earlier than in the real world.

I am simply putting more research, money, and effort into current prototype technologies in the modern world like hydrogen fuel, smaller laser weapons, etc. than the USA and the real world is currently doing. This results in more development and advances in these fields than normal. An example of this would be the Space Program the USA did. It poured tons of resources into it to beat the USSR, but then after the USA reached the moon, it cut back on its space program.

If the USA kept the same funding for NASA during the 1990's as it did during the Space Race during the 1960's - 1970's, then we could easily have outposts on the moon or even a manned mission to Mars by now.

Hope this helps you guys understand why and where I'm coming from.

I understand where you're coming from totally. I'm just pointing out some problems with the decisions you've made and, whether you throw billions at it or not, the problems still need to be dealt with.

It makes for a more interesting RP than 'my lasers shoot down all your missiles'. You need to figure out at about what range are the lasers effective at, what do they do to the missiles they hit. Are they any good at killing ships and aircraft? Does the entire laser rotate to face the target, or is it reflected using a series of mirrors? Do you use lasers for secure communications as well? How do you engage submarines? How would you deal with missiles that can deploy anti-laser aerosol agents?

Aditionally, pure hydrogen as a fuel is a dead end area of research. It's inefficient to produce, and will always be. To make it efficient, you'd need to violate the laws of thermodynamics. As well, there will never be a way to effectively store hydrogen other than compressing it and cooling it, both which turn it into a bomb waiting to explode AND take energy.

Alternate paths of research are fine, Chardonay, for example, is the largest exporter of Zeppelins in the world. We developed hybrid deisel electric and gas-electric engines early on, but we lag in high speed automobiles. We have no rail network to speak of. In biotech and pharmasuticals, and materials science we're very advanced, but we import most of our most powerful computers and information technology.

Alternate paths are fine, what's important is picking the right paths. lasers are acceptable, as long as you RP the advantages and disadvatages (More accureate, less powerful, faster responce time, lower rate of fire, longer range, more fragile). Hydrogen as a fuel, however, is a dead end. As I said above, there is more hydrogen in gasoline than in an equivelent volume of hydrogen.

Hydrogen is a pretty silly choice for a large naval vessel... And radioactivity isn't a problem on most naval vessels, because you can shield them, especially now with the new meltdown proof PBRs...

In any case, hydrogen power isn't a choice for blue water naval vessels for the reasons Chardonay has described... Doesn't offer any advantages over nukes other than the green factor, which nobody in the Navy would really care about. Maybe as a power source for silent short range subs, but not capital vessels.

THat's the thing... it's not green. You need to get the energy to MAKE the hydrogen from somewhere... either nuclear reactors, hydro-electric damns, or by burning petrolium. The enviroment suffers regarless.

Chardonay, thanks for the feedback. I needed and appreciate it.

I'm trying to develop a different type of energy production and engine than your standard diesel / gas engines or nuclear reactors. I'm trying to do something different.

I might consider adding hydrogen fusion or something. I'm trying to make engines and power plants use renewable energy sources, so my nation won't go bust if no more oil, gas, or uranium. Also, I believe hydrogen fuel cells has potential to solve water shortages and problems. Cities can be built in middle of the Sahara desert yet have plentiful water. Spaceships will have surplus of oxygen and water, so colonies on Mars and other oxygen and water deprived planets will be feasible.

In fact, I think hydrogen fuel cells would be one of the best terraforming tools. But thats for another time, when I enter the space scene.

Any ideas or suggestions on an original or new power design and engines would be welcome. :)

Well, chardonay runs on pebblebed reactors, but that's nuclear. Fusion has the potential to be quite good... I'm not a fan of it myself (I'm a terrible skeptic =) aren't I) but enough people believe in it that you could get away with being 'Post Modern' in that area. I hate biodeisel and ethanol, for the same reason I hate hydrogen... but again, I'm in the minority there.

I'd go with nuclear, personally. PBRs are virtually impossible to get to melt down, and the waste is remarkably safe. Further... it's the cheapest source of electricity around, Chardonay exports it for 32 cents a watt. And uranium isn't likely to disapear either... but if you want something more advanced and more clean, I'd suggest bubble fusion, all the way.

Space is another issue entierly, in space, there's no volume constraints so you can make your hydrogen tanks just as big as your heart desires. There's also no oxygen, so there's very little chance of fire. An, since mass is the biggest problem and hydrogen has a rediculously good energy to mass ratio... go crazy.

Hmm...

I'd like to know if there are any good sites or diagrams of pebblehead reactors laying around?

Besides, I think hydrogen fusion is feasible. After all, there are plans to build a prototype fusion reactor within the next decade. In addition, perhaps I could bleed off some energy off the fusion process to production of hydrogen fuel cells.

It could all work out. :)

http://web.mit.edu/pebble-bed/

We're actually begining work on a pebblebed powered train =)

sure there are plans to build one... but they still aren't getting more power out of it than they put in. And yes, you'd have to use some of that power to make hydrogen to fuse into helium... and some of that you could use to power fuel cells... but the transportation and storage problem remains.

If you do go through with it... dibs on all the helium =)

Be warned... if you use fusion reactors, some people will judge you to be futuretech.

I found some more info about Hydrogen fuel and hydrogen based power generation. This diagram and article explains where and how Hydrogen is gained, generated, and used as an energy source.

http://www.humboldt.edu/~serc/solarh2cycle.html

Hope this helps.

In addition, hydrogen fuel is already being used in over 600 applications. They also have plans for vehicle engines using hydrogen. Here's a brief example of existing hydrogen fuel cell generator that produces electricty for a building.

http://www.humboldt.edu/~serc/zweig.html

Another example of how Hydrogen generators produce electricty.

http://www.humboldt.edu/~serc/animation.html



I'm thinking of having two power systems. Hydrogen fusion reactors to generate the initial energy, then divide the energy into two categories. Half of the reactor's energy will be directed towards the hydrogen collection for fuel cells, and the other half of the fusion reactor's energy will go towards powering infrastructure.

This will provide Sharina with a solid energy system. This means that if a city's fusion power plant fails, the city will have plenty of power to sustain it for weeks or months at a time via extensive hydrogen fuel cell networks. That would be enough time to rebuild the ruined fusion power plant.


Here's some examples of Fusion being feasible in modern times.

http://pa.essortment.com/fusionpower_png.htm

Work is being done on the ITER and JET prototype reactors in real life.

Some people place feasible commercial fusion power at the 2020 era, others place it at 2040. Not too far off from modern times, and a quite feasible Modern technology, as it is being developed and built even today (the ITER and JET for instance).

In Sharina's case, it pours considerable more money and resources into energy, laser, and construction technologies and industries than real life Earth nations do. At this rate, the 2020 - 2040 energy level of tech is present in 2004 - 2010 in Sharina.

I can understand why fusion power might be considered future tech. However, Sharina is only able to build large fusion reactors, for power plants and the largest Sharina navy vessels like Goliath and Levithian.

Miniature fusion reactors that power cars, houses, trains, etc. would definitely be considered future tech, even by me, as the technology to do that would most likely be in the 2150 - 2250 AD range. The most advanced technologies Sharina has would only be energy, lasers, and construction (all 3 are intricately connected... energy to produce lasers, which aid in construction). These tech levels would be 2020 - 2040 era, while ALL of its other techs would be 1940 - 2005 range.


Hope that helps you guys, with hydrogen power and fusion power. :)

As I said, fusion is contentious... I'm not sure it will work. But since it does in NS... Mazel Tov.

Your first article is wrong. Photovolitic cells are the anti-christ. Here's another part of that article I wrote =)

Solar power and Wind farms
It's an interesting fact too that it actually takes more energy to make a solar panel than the panel will collect in it's lifetime. The only good solar power plants are the ones that use fields of mirrors to beam light at a glass water containers which boil and turn a turbine. But unless you have a few square miles to spend on mirrors... Also, consider. When do you need the most energy? WHEN THE SUN ISN"T SHINING!!!

I wouldn't split power half and half.... just say 'we devide the power between the two systems optimally'. Also remember, how do you move and store all that bulky, explosive hydrogen?

Chardonay, here's a link to my energy development RP I just started 5 minutes ago.

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=359427


Thanks for pointing out the error, Chardonay.

In addition, I would be happy to export the helium byproducts of the planned fusion plants to you. You can build even bigger zeppelins. :)

mwahahaha.... excelent. Glad to trade with you...

mwahahaha.... excelent. Glad to trade with you...

No problem.

I'm curious, do you have pictures or stats for your Zeppelins? I'd like to have some idea how much helium to export to you. :)

Here's a description of the two earliest zeppelins we designed... they are the chasis for all our other designs, though we are working on some larger and smaller ones even as we speak.

Ar-1 Air Freighter

Length: 250m
Diameter: 60m
Propulsion: (3+5) 2500 hp hybrid gas/electric engines
Max Speed: 100kph
Range: 10 000km
Ceiling: 2500m
Payload: 150 tons
Lifting Gas: Helium
Price: $20 million

An idea who's time has come, the Ar-1 Air Freighter is an astounding vehicle, and absolutely vital for any major logistical operation. A semiridgid airship that can operate practiaclly indefinately, the Ar-1 is the ultimate transport vehicle. Two or three times as fast as most ships, not requiring an airfield like aircraft, and able to go crosscountry above forests, swamps, and lakes, the Ar-1 can resuply an army ANYWHERE. It is remarkably resistant to damage too.. the gasbags are partitioned into 20 sections, and should one be perforated, it would take hours to deflate, and the loss of boyancy can be balanced by the discharge of water balast.

Civilian applications are even more interesting than the ability to feed 25000 soldiers for 14 days with a single trip. Turbine casing transport is made easy with a Ar-1... broken tractor-trailors can simply be lifted off the road with a minimum of fuss. And all using less fuel than a 747 uses when taxiing, thanks to the boyancy and the noise reducing electric motors.

Ar-2 Engineering Zeppelin

What do you do when your 70 ton Abrams tank rolles into a swamp, and can't get out? You call for an armourd vehical retreival vehicle, which goes in and gets stuck too, or can't move the tank. How much easier if you could simply jerk the tank up out of the mud, and fly it somewhere dry.

Well now you can. The Ar 3 builds on the success of the Ar-2 Air Fr(Three plus Five)er, with some distinct differences. For one, the Ar-3 is slightly smaller and handier, but is only (3+5)0 tons boyant without ballast. It also has, internally, room for 50 men with equipment, or an equivelent volume of cargo. Second, the airframe is ridgid, making this a proper zeppelin with an internal skeleton. Thirdly, the skin of the zeppelin is ridgid, which means that trim adjusting balloonets are no longer nessisary. Fourth, it has a three harpoints on the internal gondola for auxilery cranes in aditional to the standard sling arrangement , making this a moveable construction platform. The hardpoints can also mount modified 20mm vulcan cannon in manned cupolas ventrically, one in the nose, one amidships on the port side, and one off the starboad stern. Finally... it's armoured. Not heavily mind you, we don't expect it to be sent into firefights, and it's not meant to closly engage enemy tanks with it's vulcan cannon. But the underside is armoured against 20mm fire, and the topside agains smallarms fire, using resin bonded armind strands with carbon fibers and wiskers liberally added to the mix. This means that it can operate at low altitudes without damaging the envelope on trees, and doesn't need a hanger.

All 8 engines swivil 180 degrees in any direction, giving this zeppelin unpresidented manouverability

Length: 300m
Diameter: 40m
Propulsion: 8 2500 hp hybrid gas/electric engines
Max Speed: 130kph
Range: 5 000km
Ceiling: 3000m
Payload: 80 tons
Max vertical lift: 120 tons
Lifting Gas: Helium
Price: $30 million


We have a total of 10 types of zeppelins currently operational, each serving a distict purpose, and we have ideas for many, many more...

I'm upgrading my power plants on my naval vessels to MFE fusion reactors. They are being developed in this thread....

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=359427


Just letting you guys know. MFE reactors are feasible in modern tech, if the USA poured billions more into fusion research instead of researching nuclear weapons.

Sharina researched energy and fusion power technology instead of wasting money on nuclear weapons.

Chardonay, thanks for the feedback. I needed and appreciate it.

I'm trying to develop a different type of energy production and engine than your standard diesel / gas engines or nuclear reactors. I'm trying to do something different.

I might consider adding hydrogen fusion or something. I'm trying to make engines and power plants use renewable energy sources, so my nation won't go bust if no more oil, gas, or uranium. Also, I believe hydrogen fuel cells has potential to solve water shortages and problems. Cities can be built in middle of the Sahara desert yet have plentiful water. Spaceships will have surplus of oxygen and water, so colonies on Mars and other oxygen and water deprived planets will be feasible.

In fact, I think hydrogen fuel cells would be one of the best terraforming tools. But thats for another time, when I enter the space scene.

Any ideas or suggestions on an original or new power design and engines would be welcome. :)

As a civilian power source, might I suggest Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)? Safer and less flammable then gasoline... easier to produce once you get the machinery and technology in place... *FAR* more plentiful then oil... easier to produce once you get methane into the mix, which is virtually inexhaustible as a fuel source...

You might want to take a look at this before making a decision... this is RL
World Technology thats available now. So no one could call it future tech.

http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0108/3001.html