NationStates Jolt Archive

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7847789&postcount=57 for preliminary reference.

>PRESS BRIEF COMMENCES<

Amidst questions leveled against the Godulan Governate about the enormous ship skeleton undergoing construction over Archona, a report detailing the stats of a Vessel to be called the "Long Arm of the Law", or "Longarm", was leaked to the public by an unidentified Godulan officer who was later run over by a herd of stampeding wildebeests that mysteriously disappeared afterwards.

When asked about the report, Grand Poobah Cassius Longarm responded with "DAMMIT! That was supposed to be made public AFTER the damn thing was built! SOMEBODY'S gonna... >cough< eh heh..."

The new vessel, deemed the first in the "Archonal Command" line, which will eventually consist of twenty five vessels, is considered to be something of an untried ground in Godulan Ship construction, and is expected to be the largest vessel constructed by the Godulan Shipyards. Indeed, two shipyards had to be joined together to enable consturction to commence, essentially chopping DawnRunner Fleet construction in half.

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Archonal Command Ship "Long Arm of the Law" Stats:

Length: 30km

Width (At base of each cell): 7.5km

Max Velocity: Impulse Velocity

Drive: Spatial Flux Engine

FTL Unit: Probability Drive

Armor: Heavy Reinforced Neutronium Carbonide Armor

Sensors:
-Mass/Gravity Detector
-CE Passive Array
-Drive Tracer
-AudioVisual Sensors

Communications:
-Gravwave Transceiver
-Laser Transceiver

Defenses:
-Voidshield Generators
-Ablative Shielding
-Holoprojection Matrices
-Heavy Comm/Sensor Jamming Mechanisms
-Point Defense Flux Cannons
-Gravitonic Countermeasures

Armament:
-1250 Heavy Flux Cannons
-150 Protium Arc Disintegrators
-750 Phase Torpedo Launchers
-1000 StarBolt Fighter Craft
-1 Plasmatic Pulse Disintegrator Cannon

Troop Complement:
-45,000 StarNavy Personnel
-15,000 Godulan Marines and M'Lekk'Torr Special Forces
-5,000 Cougar Type Robots, Starship Defense Mod
-750 StarSpider Assault Units

Service Time Before Resupply Required: 5 years
Under Heavy Usage: 4 years

Appearing somewhat like a typical DawnRunner, save the fact that it is somewhat like three triangles superimposed over each other, rather than two, and the fact that it sports a support ring located 1km from the back of the vessel, the Archonal Command Ship expands somewhat on the DawnRunner's focus for frontal assaults.

Bristling with weapons, launch tubes, and other forms of generalized unpleasantry, the Archonal Command Ship is purported to be "One of those ships that ends fights before they start." It will also utilize its Probability Drive to great affect, zapping about the battlefield in a manner not typically available to a ship of its size.

It will also be the only type of vessel incorporating the exceptionally devastating Plasmatic Pulse Disintegrator, fully capable of laying waste to an entire planet and chopping entire chunks out of enemy fleets. However, how it will be utilized in concert with the VoidShield system is still under debate.

Construction of the "Long Arm of the Law" is expected to be completed in approximately 22 years.

______________________________________________________________

When asked later about the stampede and the unfortunate officer who leaked the report, Cassius responded by saying "You never CAN trust those Siberian Wildebeests... they pop out of nowhere, run rampant for a few seconds, then vanish into the frosty mists of the russian tundra! Its quite majestic... and convenient too!"

>PRESS BRIEF ENDS<

Bump fer Questions/Comments/stuff

how about a picture

If only I could. These don't exactly fit any particular stereotype, and I'm not certain what would work as a decent rendering engine.

((OOC: Isn't this going to break your economy into shambles?))

A ship like that would bankrupt even me! My fleets are powerful, nearly 1,000,000 souls in total (small in comparision to population, but I do inhabit about 300 systems at this point), but even we don't have the technology to construct comething this large

OOC: I fail to see the advantages of a 30km ship over a fleet of smaller, more plausible ships. A 30km space station, perhaps, but not ships. A fleet will have the advantage over an ubership every time. Why?
Well, they have more surface area to hold more weapons overall.
They can be dispersed to increase their firing arcs, so that more of these weapons are firing at a time than an ubership could manage against any single target.
A fleet is infinitely more flexible than a giant ship, capable of dividing to attack two targets simultaneously or simply surrounding an enemy.
A fleet divides enemy fire, whist an ubership draws it -- whereas an ubership might take longer to destroy, when it's the only target it will actually be crippled a lot quicker.
A fleet can engage in strategy; while a fleet is making two-pronged attacks or engaging in evasive manoeuvres, an ubership is... well, just sitting there, really. Move it too hard, too fast, and no matter how many structural reinforcements you've put in place it will tear itself to pieces.
Then of course, there are the serious technical difficulties you face building an ubership rather than a fleet of ships. How do you make it move without leaving its rear end behind?
Not to mention the age-old 'eggs in a basket' argument. A single ship in a fleet breaks down/is destroyed, you still have the rest of the fleet to fall back on. The large ubership breaks down/is destroyed, and that's it. And building technology that never breaks down, certainly on this scale, is likely impossible no matter what time period you're in. Plus the resources this will consume...

There's only one real reason for having gigantic ships. Prestige, and psychology. Neither will win a battle against a superior foe, though. And this will consume so much that you probably won't be able to afford to fill its fighter bays, let alone build more capital ships. And you plan on building 25 of these?!

I agree with the above. My fleets each number 100 battle ships. Some r slower, with a little more in firepower and defense, but also some are very quick. The Defiant (yes, I take my ships from ST) class ships are pinacle achievements. If I combined the 1000 ships, I would take on a ship of these proportions. But a space station is a different matter. That is a difficult target. Also, with a ship this large, if a multiple points are breached by my Colonial Marines, then we have a further advantage. Surely, you cannot deploy 18,500 souls equally across 30 km? and if you can, they are thinly dispersed

1) Given that the ship is being constructed over a 25 Year Span, shouldn't be TOO much of a strain at all.

2)We aren't pinning all hopes on this one ship alone. Rest assured we have plenty of fleets capable of skirmishing along with the best of 'em.

3)Gonna edit to up the number of personnel somewhat.

4) This Vessel does not "Just Sit There". If it finds itself surrounded, it can do a quick Probability jump and bring the enemy fleet that previously surrounded it back into a full frontal assault line. Also, the enemy fleet is undergoing full assault by the vessel's support craft.

Yes, the vessel draws enemy fire, it is also much more heavily armored, in order to withstand a concerted assault while the support fleets move to destroy the enemy fleet relatively unharassed. Its actually a major point of Godulan tactics to make certain that the enemy always has its guns pointed in the wrong direction, but it would be nice if the wrong direction could fire back, too.

Sadly, it is also the only vessel capable of firing a Plasmatic Pulse Disintegrator, as the thing essentially requires enough power to light an entire continent for a year.

5) Actually we'll prolly only build 3 at most. This first one is being built just to make sure we can, then we'll see about further plans. The leaked report is something of an... optimistic estimate.

1) Given that the ship is being constructed over a 25 Year Span, shouldn't be TOO much of a strain at all. Yes it will actually, a 30km ship requires alot of materials to just build an assembly line, to train and hire workers costs alot of money to. And if you are building multiple ships then you have just blown your whole economy away.

2)We aren't pinning all hopes on this one ship alone. Rest assured we have plenty of fleets capable of skirmishing along with the best of 'em.But are you not sucking all the money those small ships need away? Ensuring that they are under supplied and in disrepair?

4) This Vessel does not "Just Sit There". If it finds itself surrounded, it can do a quick Probability jump and bring the enemy fleet that previously surrounded it back into a full frontal assault line. Also, the enemy fleet is undergoing full assault by the vessel's support craft.

The problem is it will always find itself surrounded, and jumping all over the place is bound to have its own sever affects.

Yes, the vessel draws enemy fire, it is also much more heavily armored, in order to withstand a concerted assault while the support fleets move to destroy the enemy fleet relatively unharassed. Its actually a major point of Godulan tactics to make certain that the enemy always has its guns pointed in the wrong direction, but it would be nice if the wrong direction could fire back, too.

Sadly, it is also the only vessel capable of firing a Plasmatic Pulse Disintegrator, as the thing essentially requires enough power to light an entire continent for a year.

Well this is another problem, you are firing one large superweapon against many small ships, thats a waste of power and resources; as it would only be affective against planets and stations.

5) Actually we'll prolly only build 3 at most. This first one is being built just to make sure we can, then we'll see about further plans. The leaked report is something of an... optimistic estimate.
Building even one will crush your economy and make you invasion bait for empires like mine....

Yes it will actually, a 30km ship requires alot of materials to just build an assembly line, to train and hire workers costs alot of money to. And if you are building multiple ships then you have just blown your whole economy away.

Several Years went into constructing the requisite shipyards, Dedicating Ship construction yields we usually use for Normal fleet construction means that training costs are simply little more than transitional.

And we're not building multiple ships AT ONCE, binky. Geez, we're not stupid enough to over-extend ourselves.

But are you not sucking all the money those small ships need away? Ensuring that they are under supplied and in disrepair?

Nope. We've been hunting down raw-materials and other requisite stuff for ages. Building up trade relations as much as possible in order to make DAMN certain we can build this AND keep ourselves going with as little trouble as possible.

The problem is it will always find itself surrounded, and jumping all over the place is bound to have its own sever affects.

The thing is, try keeping it surrounded when it keeps poofing out from the middle of you. All it needs to do is keep you running at it while it pounds away at your face.

Well this is another problem, you are firing one large superweapon against many small ships, thats a waste of power and resources; as it would only be affective against planets and stations.

PP Disintegrator + Manually Targeted Voidshield = Shatterspace Anomaly capable of knocking a big fat chunk out of ANY fleet. Its like fishing with hand grenades.

Building even one will crush your economy and make you invasion bait for empires like mine....

Try it, dead man. We've got friends of our own. I'll eat you and your homeworld if you even LOOK like you're trying anything. We don't start stuff, but we will make certain that we finish it.

Several Years went into constructing the requisite shipyards, Dedicating Ship construction yields we usually use for Normal fleet construction means that training costs are simply little more than transitional.
Construction of a shipyard capable of building something 30km long and who knows how wide and tall is still a large amount of cash and a heavy strain on your infrastructure. Building 1 new aircraft carrier costs about 10 billion dollars, and about a fourth of that comes from building the new assembly line and shipyard for its construction.

And we're not building multiple ships AT ONCE, binky. Geez, we're not stupid enough to over-extend ourselves.
Ok my mistake, but building three ships that are larger then most counties is still a costly venture.



Nope. We've been hunting down raw-materials and other requisite stuff for ages. Building up trade relations as much as possible in order to make DAMN certain we can build this AND keep ourselves going with as little trouble as possible.
And how much did that cost? Storing enough material for something larger then most cities isn't easy or cheap either.


The thing is, try keeping it surrounded when it keeps poofing out from the middle of you. All it needs to do is keep you running at it while it pounds away at your face.
A ship of that size wont be able to move very fast, and the resources drained from frequent jumps would be hazardous and wastefull. Not to mention the fact that the time it takes to start up said engines again is a factor.


PP Disintegrator + Manually Targeted Voidshield = Shatterspace Anomaly capable of knocking a big fat chunk out of ANY fleet. Its like fishing with hand grenades.
And building this weapon, creating the targeting systems, getting to resources for it to fire, and keeping it from falling apart doesn't cost a pretty penny either?


Try it, dead man. We've got friends of our own. I'll eat you and your homeworld if you even LOOK like you're trying anything. We don't start stuff, but we will make certain that we finish it.

And that was a direct threat how? And who is to say I dont have friends or a fleet that is worthy of taking you on? As you said in your first sentence, try it dead man.

Now children...

I do have a thought, while your giant awesome ubership can jump around, can't the enemy vessels also do the same? It's not like they're going to sit around and let you jump around them while they're fighting...

Sometimes nations can argue over such petty things. Let us accept the following points:

i) He could build the ship, but it is more than likely that his economy will suffer greatly as a result

ii) He has skirmish fleets, designed to support the capital ship, rather than engage head-on

iii) The superweapon, whilst effective against enemy starships, would be of greater use in targetting planets and space stations where its energy could be more effectively used

iv) The engine systems of this capital ship are again unrealistic. The sheer amount of potential energy to even start the sub-light engines would be truly epic, and the 'Proportion' drive suffers from the same problem. Th energy generators for the weapons and drive system would take up almost 3/4 of the ship by my calculations

Anybody wish to add any more points?

Construction of a shipyard capable of building something 30km long and who knows how wide and tall is still a large amount of cash and a heavy strain on your infrastructure. Building 1 new aircraft carrier costs about 10 billion dollars, and about a fourth of that comes from building the new assembly line and shipyard for its construction.

We built four Shipyards, actually. Capable of maintaining an overlapping construction schedule for the DawnRunner fleets. Again, expenses were merely transitional as we built the shipyards with respect to adaptability. Plus, we have like $2.8 trillion in budget surplus... has ta go somewhere (at least, that's how I understand the NSeconomy stats). Also considering we have a massive corps of Robotic Construction Workers, all we had to do was give them a new set of blueprints and priorities.

And how much did that cost? Storing enough material for something larger then most cities isn't easy or cheap either.

You'd be surprised. Our space is relatively uncrowded, for the most part, we could pretty much just dump it on the moon and cover it with a tarp. Not like we have to worry about Metal getting enough oxygen.

And building this weapon, creating the targeting systems, getting to resources for it to fire, and keeping it from falling apart doesn't cost a pretty penny either?

45 days of research went into it. I.E. 45 years sitting around plugging, chugging, spending, and then, blowing up an asteroid 90km in diameter. We spent a LONG time working it out.

And that was a direct threat how? And who is to say I dont have friends or a fleet that is worthy of taking you on? As you said in your first sentence, try it dead man.

When you say "Empires Like Mine", we call that "Getting Uppity". Do not make idle little "Oh, but this might just make you a target to people like me!" statements in earshot. This makes us nervous. That makes our trigger fingers itchy.

"Probability Drive", not "Proportion"

Basically it uses quantum fluctuations to pull a Quantum Tunneling Effect and effectively pull a spontaneous teleportation. Size only matters in a minor sense. The engines themselves are not that... massive, as it focuses its motility on being able to zap about with quick Probability Jumps. They are highly effective at jumping short distances, but somewhat less efficient at interstellar distances, as the distance traveled affects the calculation time required to establish a targeting solution.

And with regard to Point III you made, SE, the Archonal Command Ship will only use it on targets such as that. Only using it on fleets in case it is absolutely necessary. We prefer to keep VoidShield systems up and running while we pound away with conventionals.

And Kyanges: Main issue is that while they're doing that, the support fleet is STILL pounding away at the enemy. Don't think this will be the only ship out there. Doing that will get you very very dead very very quick.

And Kyanges: Main issue is that while they're doing that, the support fleet is STILL pounding away at the enemy. Don't think this will be the only ship out there. Doing that will get you very very dead very very quick.


(OOC: TBH, never had that thought... (About the "lone ship" thing.) But can't the enemy have a support fleet too? Don't think that the fleet fighting you will be the only fleet out there, as the same result can befall you as well. It all depends on the circumstances of a battle I think, like everything else.

Just to avoid confusion, I like the idea, I like uberships, and I wish you good luck with it.)

"Probability Drive", not "Proportion"

Basically it uses quantum fluctuations to pull a Quantum Tunneling Effect and effectively pull a spontaneous teleportation. Size only matters in a minor sense. The engines themselves are not that... massive, as it focuses its motility on being able to zap about with quick Probability Jumps. They are highly effective at jumping short distances, but somewhat less efficient at interstellar distances, as the distance traveled affects the calculation time required to establish a targeting solution.

And with regard to Point III you made, SE, the Archonal Command Ship will only use it on targets such as that. Only using it on fleets in case it is absolutely necessary. We prefer to keep VoidShield systems up and running while we pound away with conventionals.

And Kyanges: Main issue is that while they're doing that, the support fleet is STILL pounding away at the enemy. Don't think this will be the only ship out there. Doing that will get you very very dead very very quick.

Fair enough, and sorry about the misunderstanding with your 'Probability Drive', I misread. By the way, my nation had been in existence since last April, so taking that in days... aprox 316 NS years, and yet why do you feel it necessery to advance so quickly? Take it slow, trust me, working in MT is so much easier than FT, at least for some things

I'll prolly do a ten day "Economic Recovery" period after this thing is finished.

My reason? To me, being able to duke it out with the big guys feels a lot like the "End Game" of NS. So I'm trying to advance myself at a swift, but hopefully reasonable pace.

And Kyanges: Fleets with Support Fleets? Already thought of that. Our fleets pretty much embody assault and support fire with Overlapping Kill-Zones. Our DawnRunners have support fleets as well. Basically, its Archonal + DawnRunner Support Fleet + DawnRunner Fleet's Support Fleets. If this sucker pops up, it'll be with LOTS of company. Heavy artillery, Skirmishers, Ships of the Line, they'll all be chugging away.

And Kyanges: Fleets with Support Fleets? Already thought of that. Our fleets pretty much embody assault and support fire with Overlapping Kill-Zones. Our DawnRunners have support fleets as well. Basically, its Archonal + DawnRunner Support Fleet + DawnRunner Fleet's Support Fleets. If this sucker pops up, it'll be with LOTS of company. Heavy artillery, Skirmishers, Ships of the Line, they'll all be chugging away.

Nice. :D As I said earlier. Good luck with it.

Bump for more comments/questions if needed.

And would anybody happen to have a link to the Rendering Program I've heard about? Can't remember the name of that thing for the life of me.

Bump for more comments/questions if needed.

And would anybody happen to have a link to the Rendering Program I've heard about? Can't remember the name of that thing for the life of me.
Rendering program? new to me

I suppose "Modeling" program would be more accurate. There's some program out there that allows for somewhat rudimentary design of various MT/FT stuff like tanks and starships.

I've heard it mentioned every now and then, but I can't remember the name of the durn thing.

DoGA. Sort of 3d legos.

http://www.doga.co.jp/english/

Aw... ya mean I'd have ta pay fer it?

Guess its back to 3DS max fer me then...

Y'know, I wonder what 200 5X5km pieces of "tinfoil" would do to it... But seriously now - 30km is a bit much... and assuming you don't want to godmode, it's going to be vulnerable to FTL interdictors.

Not to mention that people will probably have a special weapon designed for Super-dreadnought destruction.

Not to mention that people will probably have a special weapon designed for Super-dreadnought destruction.

That's where our VoidShields come in. Sure, the Archonal won't be able to use its own superweapon, but neither will the enemy, if they know what's good for 'em.

The only FTL Interdiction method that works on a Probability Drive is that using gravwell generators. Basically causes the Targeting Solution Calculations to go wonky, because there's a gravity well, but no requisite mass... TOO MANY ZEROES TOO MANY ZEROES...

This usually means that FTL Interdictors are the first to die.

And as for the sheets... so you'd try to contain a ship of this magnitude by wrapping it up for leftovers?