NationStates Jolt Archive

It's been awhile. People who know me know I've put forward quite a few of these NS-spinoffs, and some have had moderate success. However, there's one thing I've never done. In January this year, Gauthic created a hard-science setting, which was slightly popular. However, no-one really got into it, and it died.

As it stands, FT in NS isn't such a bad thing. However, the "F" more often stands for "Fantasy" than it does for "Future", which can be irritating at times.

A hard science setting for interested nations has been something I've been throwing up for awhile, and I've decided I want to create it. Even if only two or three people join, and we spend the majority of our time maneuvering ala Cold War, it should still be fun. The lack of any standards in FT proper has often led to a huge amount of wankery, and a proportionally huge lack of realism.

Thus, this. There will be a few rules, and by joining this you agree to them. If you don't read them, and later fall afoul of them, tough luck.

(1) Hyperspatial Travel is the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to the rules, and the applications thereof. I consider myself lenient, and going mad with power is hardly going to help an RP I want to enjoy doing. However, unless I leave and pass the authority on to someone else (or if this grows to epic proportions and I give people similiar powers), I remain the arbitor of this universe.

(2) Your claim will be made with your Nationstates population. This is the population of one nation, puppets and allies are, obviously, not included. Secondly, as the construction of ships in this game is expressed as a dollar value, your nation's GDP per capita will be determined by the order of signup. So getting in early will advantage you, despite your size.

(3) In the vein of the previous universe, the Vanguard (http://www.vanguardrpg.com/vspace.pdf) design system for building ships will be used. Kindly regard the non-monetary statistics (rolls to hit, etcetera) as mere aids to roleplaying, not actual rules. However, the system is detailed, and gives people a strong place to start from.

(4) The FTL given in the Vanguard system will be used. The map will show routes between systems, as well as the systems themselves. Note this is an instantateous FTL. Wormholes cannot be created, they merely exist. Interplanetary travel is a matter of reaction drives.

(5) You may claim one system, regardless of who you are. You may, of course, claim new colonies and the like during the course of RP in different systems, but you are restricted to one system, and one world, during your original claim. This is to prevent the map being filled up unduly. Obviously, this extends to puppet nations - only one system per player.

(6) You may play as a human race. Minor genetic engineering and nanotechnology advances exist, however, abhumans (anthromorphs, dwarves, elves, etc), do not. If you have a well-thought out, viable, reasonable alien race to play, that has everything from its own biology to history, I will consider it, however, if you want to introduce "OMG LOL UBER SPACE GODS!", you can fuck right off right now.

(7) Obviously, godmoddery or wankery are not to be tolerated. Unlike NS in general, where nothing beyond ignores can be given to godmodders, godmodders in HSFT will be banned. Angrily.

(8) The only arbitrary decision regarding the composition of people's systems in the game, all wormholes will be at a distance of 30 AU from their star. High-performance binary plasma drive, the most expensive and efficient drives in the game, allow travel at the rate of 1.5 AU a day, provided half the ship's mass is reaction mass. Therefore, assuming wormholes are on opposite sides of a system, crossing systems will be, on average, a 40-day affair. This increases trade times, makes colonies realistically hard to keep, and means warfare isn't a "IM IN UR SYSTEM LOLSPLODING UR PLANETS" affair.

(9) The planet Earth, and the system Sol, do not exist in this game. This is a non-Milky-Way region of space, and bears no resemblance to actual galactic geography whatsoever.

(10) Due to different governmental systems, the GDP per capita establishes your nation's wealth. Assume that, at maximum, 1% of that per year can go towards the upkeep and construction of the military, except in wartime.

Claiming: To claim, you need a factbook. A factbook needs to have only the population of your nation, the GDP per capita, the star system claimed (you can either describe it, ie, "the leftmost star up the top, with one red and one blue wormhole links), or circle it in Paint and link the image on this thread.

Keep in mind your GDP/capita will be 90% of that of the previous nation.

Therefore:
First Claimant: $50,000/person
Second: $45000/person
Third: $40500/person
Fourth: $36450/person
Fifth: $32805/person
Sixth: $29524/person
Seventh: $26572/person
Eighth: $23914/person
Ninth: $21523/person
Tenth and onwards: $19371/person

This may seem unfair, however, note that people RPing kickass economic RPs, and the like, will gain GDP bonuses. This number is merely to establish a certain level of fairness in the game, so that older, more established nations, are rewarded for being so. Furthermore, anyone signing up within the next twenty-four hours will be counted as a "Second Claimant". I am, obviously the First Claimant.

Map:
http://i22.tinypic.com/168izau.png

Guide:
White Stars are unclaimed stars. You may post the contents of your claimed system, from gas giants to the actual star itself.

Dark blue stars are property of the Makedovian Empire.
Dark green stars are property of the Telrosian Federation.
Brown stars are property of the Principality of Angolia.
Mauve stars are property of the Pirates of Jackal.
Light orange stars are property of the Immyrian Theocracy.
Light purple stars are property of House Keramen of Eorđe.
Red stars are property of the Jir'an Trade Confederacy.
Light green stars are property of the Gurguvii Star Union.
Light pink stars are property of the Confederation of the Comyns.
Light blue stars are property of Incognita.

Red lines are unstable wormholes. These are active approximately only 50% of the time. If you are the first owner of a star bordering a specific red wormhole, you may decide (note that this is a single irrevocable decision) the nature of that wormhole - whether it disappears monthly, yearly, or even daily. If you claim a system next to a red wormhole which leads to an already-claimed system, you will be subject to the owner's decision.

Blue lines are stable wormholes. These are open 100% of the time.

- - - - - - -
Nations Existing:
Makedovian Empire (Hyperspatial Travel)
Principality of Angolia (Angermanland)
Telrosian Federation (Telros)
Pirates of Jackal (Bull Horns Rule)
Immyrian Theocracy (HFT)
House Keramen of Eorđe (Relative Liberty)
Jir'an Trade Confederacy (Candistan)
Gurguvii Star Union (Gurguvungunit)
Confederation of the Comyns (The Comyns)
Incognitia (Terra Incognitia)


Also, a decent list of spaceships designed by other people are in this (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=515778) thread. Kindly do not lift designs from here without prior permission from the creators of the designs, however, it may be a useful guide to see how other people have designed ships.

The Makedovian Empire:
Population: 8.473 billion
GDP/Capita: $50,000
Star System: Hellas
Planets: Konstatine

Description: The Makedovian Empire is a fairly ancient institution, founded around the Basilieus, lord and ruler of the Empire. It is a corrupt state, and rarely finds its full efficiency. However, it has survived many years, and many twists and turns. Despite a somewhat luddite view on genetic engineering, the Makedovian Empire has remarkable industrial capacity, and sells off many ships and ship designs. Focused on warfare as it is, the Empire is a threat to most states around it, but lacks the follow-through in many cases to consolidate any imperialism.

I want the system in the top right. My second ft attempt.

Principality of Angolia:
Population: 3.8 billion
GDP/Capita: $45,000
Star System: Angolia
Planets: Zeelandia

Description: Zeelandia is a rather small, inhospitable world, and the Angolia system as a whole is not very forthcoming when it comes to living space. with three gas giants, four asteroid belts, and only one habitable planet, and no moons in the entire system, mineral and gas resources are plentiful, but useful living space is not.

the jump point from Angolia towards galactic west is unstable, opening and closing as a function of the alignment of planets on both sides of it. this means that, for all intents and purposes, it's useless. sometimes it remains open for months on end, and other times closed for years.

Angolian lasers are, due to a combination of skilled engineering and the slightly unusual gems found in the system which can be used as focusing lenses, slightly more powerful than most. [in practical terms, this means an Angolian medium laser's going to get off a shot before anyone else's medium laser. it's still going to get utterly owned by a heavy laser etc. assuming I'm allowed this. I'll take it out if I'm not]

Angolia is a constitutional monarchy which is functionally, for most intents and purposes, many separate vassal-nation-states which owe their allegiance to the prince. [quite why he's called a prince rather than an emperor is a mystery lost to the sands of time.] at least on planet. once you get into space it becomes a whole lot of minor fiefdoms, in effect, all owing direct allegiance to the prince and, frankly, lacking the capacity to survive if they revolted.

the fleet answers directly to the prince. no prince in history has been stupid enough to allow the vassal states to acquire orbital weapons platforms, let alone ships capable of destroying entire mining operations in a single barrage. the fleet consists entirely of cruisers, designed and built to operate independently for months at a time. [this, of course, does not count support ships etc, only combat ships]

at this time over population is becoming a serious issue.

i'll take the system in the lower left there with the unstable wormhole to the dead end, and the stable to the rest of the err.. galaxy?

ok, factbook is suck so far, but it's what i got.

The Telrosian Federation

Population: 3.134 billion
GDP/Capita: 45,000
Star System: Telrosia (The left-most white star in the middle of the map, with a star extending a red line below it.)
Planet: New Telros

Description: The Telrosian Federation is a Federation made up of the different nations on New Telros who had agreed to work together to make a better future for their people and ensure that they can continue to spread across the stars. It is geared towards trade, although it has a large military in order to keep itself safe and to ensure that if they do take colonies, they can protect them. However, due to the nature of the wormholes they do not wish to take colonies, as they want a strong economy before they even consider the notion. For now, colonizing their system and extending trade contacts is the priority.

You're both accepted. Map will be updated momentarily. Bull, you have no factbook.

Pirates of Jackal
Population: 612 Million
GDP/Capita: 36,450
Star System: Jakal (top right)
Planet: Salova

Description: The pirates of jackal are not really pirates. Their ancestors were pirates washed up on the icy planet Salova. Life is rare but does exist.

This sounds like fun. I would like to claim the star in the center/top/left area, connected by the three blue lines.

Immyrian Theocracy

Population: 2.11 billion
GDP/Capita: $32,805
Star System: Omicron
Planet(s): Eden

Description:

The Immyrian Theocracy is a wholly religious entity dedicated to the "enlightenment" of it's people. Ruled by a Council of Bishops, the foremost of which is the Arch-bishop, the aim of the Theocracy is to extol the virtues of the One God and return his wayward children to the fold.

Historically isolationist, the Theocracy has only in the last 2 decades begun to come out of its shell, reaching tentatively for the stars.

HFT, you're accepted. Map will be updated momentarily.

What about regions like The Republic, of which Marionetonia is a member? The Republic is a FT region where the individual nations act as provinces of a larger macronation. If TR chose to join this, would each member nation have to enlist separately, or could they pool their resources? If they did enlist separately, what would prevent them from "ganging up" on the non-allied participants around them?

I know what the Republic is, being a member, and all. And yes, you could join up. Simply not in the same way the Republic exists now (utilization of IC resources with OOC permission wouldn't happen), and, to be honest, since pre-existing alliances and nations aren't imported direct from FT, I doubt the Republic would exist in its present form.

As well as the fact that Tal isn't big on science. Just on flashy explosions.

im VERY interested in this RP.

The Imitators

Population: 1.21 billion
GDP/Capita: NONE: has no use for money
Star System: Cryopolian
Planet(s): P3X-000

Description: Will give very soon

OCC: can i get the white star system and the far bottem left?

Keep in mind GDP/capita isn't a actual measure of your nation's material wealth - it's a measure of the amount of industrial strength it can afford to put towards making starships. Therefore, nations without a monetary system still need a GDP/cap so they can get about the business of building starships.

Also, I get the feeling I'm going to need to know more about "The Imitators" before I approve your application.

If I undertand you right, the GDP used in this RP has nothing to do with hte NS page?

If so:

House Keramen
Population: 5.903 billion
GDP/Capita: see above question
Star system: Go one star up form Kadoz adn then diagonally up to the left. The star with two stable and one unstable wormhole.

Description: I'll have it up later today.

So when do we start rp ing?

personally, I'm still trying to design functional ships. i finally managed one that looks promising, but it's not done yet :S

haven't even Started on my nation it's self, but that, at least, can useually be put together as i go, at least to some extent.

so, yeah, not sure if that affects anything.

Relative Liberty, yes. The GDP is assigned from this page, and is only assigned as GDP because the .pdf file used to design ship expresses everything in dollar costs. It is only an expression of your society's shipbuilding and upkeep abilities.

Also, you can start RPing at any time. Just put (HSFT) after your RP, as opposed to (FT), and post a little disclaimer asking only members of this RP to join.

EDIT: RL, you'd have a GDP/capita of $29524/person.

I would like to join:
Theocracy of Tigna:
Population: 4.446 billion
GDP/Capita: $26572
Star System: Fell
Planets: Tigna
Location K(across)15(Down including the top half square)
Description: The World of Tigna was united several decades ago. As a technocracy the government is run mostly by corporations. This has led to the rapid exploitation of space with a world wide consensus to keep the ecology of the homeworld in a stable state. Now with the introduction of wormholes the people of Tigna Seek to expand their power across the stars
Systems
Fell
The fell system contains one main sequence star and 6 planetary Bodies. Two of the outer ones are gas giants. The two outer inner planets have fairly large asteroid rings surrounding them and a larger asteroid belt circling the system. Currently there is a major effort to launch colonists to the other planets in the system to establish a larger industrial base and increase defensive opertunities should there be any alien races throughout the galaxy. To this end the numerous corporations have recently been joining together to form a government that takes more care of its people rather than banks. There have been great strides to this end but still officially the classification of the governing bodies are "corporations"
Planets:
Tigna:
Tigna is a relatively temperate M Class planet with many resources. These recources have led to the creation of many corporations. However, a recent strike by many of the citizens of tigna have led to the protection of the natural ecology of Tigna and has led to the creation of an ecology protection act which has led the many corporations to invest in space technology. Currently The planet is surrounded by two medium sized moons and a fairly large number of space colonies each holding 10-20,000 people.
Moons:
Tigna I:
Tigna one is a fairly large moon with a M class atmosphere that contains numerous resources used to build the massive space colonies, and ships that exploit and defend the system. The mines used to make these facilities are then converted into a large military base. Thus these mines have an organized structure that has provided a near impregnable fortress. on the surface of the moon are numerous solar collectors to collect energy and produce water from the ice at the poles. The capabilities of this base are secret and is jointly operated by the corporations that control Tigna.

House Keramen of Eorđe

Eorđe:
Population: 5.903 billion
GDP/Capita: $29,524
Star system: Go one star up form Kadoz and then diagonally up to the left. The star with two stable and one unstable wormhole.
Natural satellites: 1 (Mōna)
System of government: Elective monarchy
Political description: Eorđe is ruled by the Ealdorman and his ministers. The Ealdorman is elected by the Alþing - a gathering of the ruling Houses. The current Ealdorman is Knútur Sörkvirsson of Keramen, elected four years ago.
The four Houses of the Alþing are Keramen, Petrov, Pérez and Xuē, although several smaller families are attempting to gather enough wealth to be made Houses.

Description of House Keramen:
The House of Keramen is divided into the two septs of Sörkvirsson and Fjalarsson, who traditionally fight over the leadership of their house. The current ruler of the House is Ealdorman Knútur son of Harald of the Sörkvirsson sept. The leader of the Fjalarsson sept is Njal son of Eskil, who is banished from the surface of Eorđe.
Keramen is the second smallest House, greater only than Petrov, but is the second wealthiest of the four, and therefore occupy a disproportionate number of seats in the Alþing. It is rumoured that much of this wealth is made illegally through smuggling and piracy along the trade routs that pass through the system.

yes! finally [with much help from our illustrious leader, i must admit] got a ship designed.

Huston, we have spaceships!

1. Gross mass 20,000 tons
2. FTL drive yes
3. Fusion drive type hp binary plasma
4. Acceleration, drive mass, cost 1g, 2000 ton thrust
5. Fuel capacity and max speed 1,915 km/sec, 1.105 au/d 40% of mass is fuel
6. Hull structure 2,400
7 Communications advanced, 10X
8. Scientific equipment basic planitary servey, basic astronomy (nav backup)
9. Sensors enhanced, 10X
10. Targeting 6
11. Weapons medium laser, 20X
12. Evasion rating -2
13. ECM -2
14. Passengers 0
15. Prelim. crew 50?
16. Medical regular, 25 patients,
17. Docking large airlock, 2
18. Spin Hab. present [basic], does Not contain living quatuars
19. Lifeboats basic 10 man X8
20. Hardpoints nill
21. Hangars holds 2 100ton shuttles, l/r rate 1
22. Cargo none
23. Stealth none
24. Repair/RMD 0.5, ship cost X8
25. Automation little to none.
26. Crew 56, 2 2nd class, 54 3rd class.
27. Armor advanced, 4736X [total value 7104]
28. Empty Mass 11,800
29. Damage Ind’x 26.63899908
30. Construction 108.6278049 days, plus or minus weirdness
31. Final Price $13,200,520,000

uses 9.6tons fuel per hour
3,000,000s (34.72r days) fuel at max thrust

crew costs roughly $200 000 per person per week

crew:
captain
first officer
3 nav/helm
3 sensors/com
3 aerospace tech
3 ftl astrogation
3 weapons officer
30 computer(20%) and electronics(80%) techs
3 drive techs
3ftl techs
3 life support tech

[presumably some of them have a primary or secondary specialization in medicine. i only realized we hadn't counted the medical staff sometime afterwards]

sorry that's not the nicest way for the stats to be laid out. i mostly just copied the first two columns of the spreadsheet i was working in [no, it doesn't include most of the calculations. i did them out by hand, or got HT to do 'em :D] then made a couple of clarifications

now i just gotta figure out what the heck else I'm doing.

i can edit the stats in here if you like.Please do.

ship stats added.

I'm thinking I'm gonna call it a tiger or a panther or something... anyone see why? [HT already knows, so if there were a prize for getting it right, he'd be ineligible :P]

If there is still room, may I join in?

I can have a write-up in a day or less, as well as a few good ideas for ships.

As long as there's white stars on the map, there's space.

16. Medical regular, 25 patients,A regular infirmary or a regular sick bay?
Also, how many patients can a regular infirmary or a regular sick bay hold, without paying for extra patient capacity, and what are the benefits of a sick bay over an infirmary?


crew costs roughly $200 000 per person per weekHow did you arrive at this?

The crew costs $200,000 per week (this is including all expenses as their jobs may pertain to the ship) idea was introduced by me - primarily because averages of old crew costs and ship costs ended up being around that margin, partially because the calculation of crew costs the long way can take as long as constructing the ship itself, and is an even less productive way to spend time.

A regular infirmary or a regular sick bay?
Also, how many patients can a regular infirmary or a regular sick bay hold, without paying for extra patient capacity, and what are the benefits of a sick bay over an infirmary?


How did you arrive at this?

HT explained the crew bit.

i honestly can't remember about the infirmary or sickbay, as that's all i wrote in that section [could probably work it out from the cost list though] .. it was the second thing on the list.

all the sick bays/infirmaries only hold 1, from memory. you pay for additional capacity per extra patient

the difference escapes me, as i wasn't paying a lot of attention to that bit. figured on a warship, either one's going to include the ability to handle injuries, you know?


edit: the bit on sick bays is one of the Less confusing parts of the process, actually :S

Insidious Intent
Type: Cruiser (A large, very dangerous warship. Usually FTL. Light cruisers are in the range of 6000-10,000 tons. Standard cruisers are in the range of 10,000-20,000 tons. Heavy cruisers are 20,000-30,000 tons or more.)
Mass: 18,000 tons
Empty Mass: 10,751.46 tons
FTL drive: None
Fusion drive: High performance binary plasma drive (mass 4,500 tons; cost $1,350,000,000; fuel consumption rate 108 tons/h)
Acceleration at full load: 1.25 g (25% of ship's mass devoted to fusion drive)
Fuel: 7,200 tons (40% of total mass)
Total mass of fuel system: 7,776 tons (cost $3,888,000)
Maximum cruising speed: 1,900 km/s
G tolerance: 2.5 g
Hull structure mass: 3,150 tons (cost $31,500,000)
Communications equipment: 2 advanced communication suites, 1 basic comm suite (cost $110,000)
Sensor equipment: 2 enhanced sensor suites (mass 2 tons; cost $200,000)
Weapon targeting system: 6 (mass 64 tons; cost $1 billion)
Weaponry: 2 Large Aperture Lasers (mass 800 tons; cost $230 million), 4 Medium Aperture Lasers (mass 400 tons; cost $80 million), 2 Scatterguns (mass 600 tons; $12 million) (total mass 1,800 tons; total cost $322 million)
Evasion: -2
ECM: -2 (mass 500 tons; cost $90 million)
Passengers: None
Medical facilities: Minimal sick bay (mass 10 tons; cost $75,000) + extra acommodation for ten patients (total mass 30 tons; total cost $125,000)
Docking ring and airlock: 2 Large air locks (total mass 8 tons; total cost $60,000)
Simulated gravity: yes
Life boats: 4 basic ten-person lifeboats (2 tons; cost $40,000), 2 basic four-man (total mass 5 tons; total cost $50,000)
Hardpoints: None
Hangars: None
Cargo holds: 0
Stealth: None
Required Maintenance Demand: 1
Crew: 46 persons
Crew acommodation: One 2nd class room (mass 6 tons; cost $25,000), thirty-six 3rd class bunks (mass 108 tons, cost $360,000), ten hibernation storage pods (mass 10 tons, cost $100,000) plus artifical gravity (total mass 144 tons; total cost $635,000)
Armour value: 21 (mass 123 tons; cost $123,000)
Damage index: 30
Build time: 134 days
Final cost: $2,624,891,000
Crew cost: 200,000 per person per week (total cost $920,000 per week)

Am I doing this right?

EDIT: Vanguard says that "heavy laser batteries can have effective ranges of up to 100,000km, though more common lasers have half this range". A Very Large Laser Aperture has a stated (effective, I presume) range of 40 units. If we take this 40 to mean 100,000,000 metres, this means than 1 unit equals 2,500,000 metres (less than one percent of a light-second).
This also means that the effective ranges of large lasers are 1,250,000 metres, the effective range of a medium laser is 625,000 metres and that a small laser has an effective range of 125,000 metres.

well, given that, i believe, the worst armor gave you an armor value equal to HALF it's mass, that one's not right.

and given how low it is, and that your ship's smaller than mine, the fact that it's somehow able to take More damage doesn't seem right either [that last could be that i screwed up My numbers, but that seems unlikely]. I'm also not sure where you got a maximum speed from.

given the lack of hangers, I'm assuming this ship is capable of making atmospheric landings by it's self.
that, or it never stops anywhere other than pre-placed orbital facilities.

not sure what the point in a G tolerance higher than your ships maximum acceleration is, nor, for that matter, how you worked it out.

not sure if that's things done Wrong or not. personally, i began to hate the ship creation process about half way through the second attempt at making something with it :) but they are things that need looking at.

oh yeah. lack of FTL drive means the thing's never getting out of the system you built it in. is that worth it?

edit: also, i don't know why we did it that way or you didn't, but when HT and i were working the numbers, we gave the large, rather than the very large, laser batteries the stated range.

I was wondering if I could claim the open star system between the Light and Dark Blue Systems in the Middle under the name of the Jir'an Trade Confederacy.

Population: 2,773,000,000
GDP/Capita: $27,536.71
Star System: Abkhazia
Planets: Eminance (Abkhazia 4)
Major Installations: Threshold (Military Satellite in orbit of Eminance), Ascension (Abkhazia 5, Occupied Planet), Quarantine Zone (Abkhazia 3, 15% of the planet is under control, the rest is under quarantine by a source which will be elaborated later)
Government: Representative Confederacy
Government Descreption: The Representative Confederacy of the Jir'an contains 100 seats in the Senate and 400 seats in the House of Officers. The Senate contains one member from each district of Eminance while the House of Officers contains two members from each district on Eminance and four from each of the Colonial Districts. The 100 districts of Eminance are presided over by the Viceroys, a council of ten Governors, one Viceroy for ten districts.

Sorry, I've been away from the computer/without an internet connection. I'm still working it out, but for the moment I'm plugged into an ethernet cable that seems to be doing the trick. So, if this is still open:


The Gurguvii Star Union
Population: 8.003 billion
GDP Per Capita: $23914/person
Location: The star left of Eord, with two stable wormholes and one unstable one.
Description:
The Gurguvii Star Union is a nation of shopkeepers in the traditional sense. Avowedly liberal-market, the Star Union utilizes its relatively well connected jump nexus to form the basis of a small but efficient trade sector. Gurguvii as a people are generally hard working and intelligent, but often tend towards cultural fopishness and a certain undeserved pride that will almost certainly rankle with other, larger nations.

The Gurguvii Space Navy is a small system defence force, made up primarily of high DeltaV sloops and the more robust but still nimble frigates. Outclassed by larger space navies, the GSN is forced to rely upon quick strikes and, less gloriously, privateers to form a credible system defence. However, its lack of stand-up fighting power is in some ways ameliorated by the quality of its officer corps, which benefits from the small size of the GSN with extended deployments and plenty of action seen. An officer of the GSN is dedicated to his work, understanding that he will very likely not have the time to see family dirtside.

Inhabited Worlds: 2 (1 planet, 1 large moon)
-Raleigh: The capital world of the Star Union is a remarkably well terraformed world. Boasting forests that rival those of Old Earth itself, Raleigh is a destination point for sightseers and businessmen alike.
-Bowman's World: The second of two worlds in the Star Union, Bowman's is not nearly as idyllic a place as Raleigh. Orbiting a gas giant, the large moon is home to much of the Star Union's manufacturing infrastructure as well as a fair portion of mineral wealth. While some pains may have been taken to keep Raleigh a beautiful place, none such were taken with Bowman's. A bleak world by nature, strip mining and rampant development have left Bowman's a blasted and arid rock, able to support life because of the extensive habitat domes that cover its surface. Little grows there save the poor of the Star Union, and it is a haven for criminals as much as Raleigh is for eco-tourists.

More later, if necessary.

Gurguvungunit and Candistan are, of course, accepted. I'll update the map in a bit.

RL, you've got the basics right. And this system is really complicated (the upside being, of course, that when people know it, RPing in this setting will involve everyone knowing the capabilities of other people - not a chance for wank involved)

well, given that, i believe, the worst armor gave you an armor value equal to HALF it's mass, that one's not right.

Yes, that's certainly not right. Standard armour is one point per ton, advanced is one-point-five, and plate is point-five.

and given how low it is, and that your ship's smaller than mine, the fact that it's somehow able to take More damage doesn't seem right either

He has 2.5 g tolerance. You have 1. Given that his ship's empty mass is almost equal to yours, it'd be quite surprising if his ship couldn't take a fair whack more damage than yours.

given the lack of hangers, I'm assuming this ship is capable of making atmospheric landings by it's self.

I'll be honest, here. Ships aren't going to make atmospheric landings. They have giant fusion-bottle drives, massive fins to disperse heat - they're designed for space travel, not for ground travel. It's not going to be an issue.

that, or it never stops anywhere other than pre-placed orbital facilities.

Or waystations, or asteroid colonies, or.. there's lots of places a ship could stop and get repairs.

not sure what the point in a G tolerance higher than your ships maximum acceleration is, nor, for that matter, how you worked it out.

As I said earlier. Damage tolerance. In fact, I recall having this exact conversation with you a bit earlier, as well.

oh yeah. lack of FTL drive means the thing's never getting out of the system you built it in. is that worth it?

Yes, we had this argument earlier. System defence is a perfectly acceptable thing to have. Don't let him deter you. (Most of my ships don't have FTL drives).


also, i don't know why we did it that way or you didn't, but when HT and i were working the numbers, we gave the large, rather than the very large, laser batteries the stated range.

It was perception from our side. "Heavy" translated to "Large" in my mind. Because it didn't have a description (like "very"), that's just the way it went. It's by no means automatically correct, so, like most things, if you have a problem with it, tell me.

In any case, though, the vast majority of what you've done is correct. Good job, RL!

well, given that, i believe, the worst armor gave you an armor value equal to HALF it's mass, that one's not right.No, that's definately wrong. One of the figures is right, but I don't know which. I'll have to re-calculate.
EDIT: the armour value is the right one. The mass and the cost are left-overs from an earlier draft.

and given how low it is, and that your ship's smaller than mine, the fact that it's somehow able to take More damage doesn't seem right eitherAs HT said, g tolerance. I'm also not sure where you got a maximum speed from.Maximum velocity while retaining enough fuel to stop. Point 5 in the design guide.

given the lack of hangers, I'm assuming this ship is capable of making atmospheric landings by it's self.Nope.
that, or it never stops anywhere other than pre-placed orbital facilities.As HT said, there are plenty of places.

not sure what the point in a G tolerance higher than your ships maximum acceleration is, nor, for that matter, how you worked it out.You decide what g tolerance your ship will have by calculating you maximum acceleration is. In my case it is 2 g (since 40% of my ship's mass is fuel). Add safety margin (which might be excessive in this case), and you arrive at your desired g tolerance.

oh yeah. lack of FTL drive means the thing's never getting out of the system you built it in. is that worth it?I'm not sending this heap of junk in an expeditionary force. Planetary defence and control of jump points would be this ship's main missions.

edit: also, i don't know why we did it that way or you didn't, but when HT and i were working the numbers, we gave the large, rather than the very large, laser batteries the stated range.The figures come out a bit different then. Double every value, and that should be it.

Okay, how about this position (http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa87/lex_nex2006/newft.png) and a light pink color?

The Confederation of the Comyns or CoC

Population: 4.439 billion
GDP/Capita: $19,371
Star System: A'lbeth
Home Planet: Zur

So, I'll be getting: 19,371 /person or 4.439 billion x 19371= 85,987,869,000,000 GDP and a capital ship budget of 859,878,690,000.

More later tonight or tomorrow.

To what extent are we going by Vanguard's rules for combat? I mean, am I going to need six-sided dice and a calculator to do this, or is Vanguard really just a rough guide for ship design?

....

He has 2.5 g tolerance. You have 1. Given that his ship's empty mass is almost equal to yours, it'd be quite surprising if his ship couldn't take a fair whack more damage than yours.

edit: and i got this bit wrong. which means My ship is probably wrong in this section. i'll have to look at that.




As I said earlier. Damage tolerance. In fact, I recall having this exact conversation with you a bit earlier, as well.

Yes, we had this argument earlier. System defence is a perfectly acceptable thing to have. Don't let him deter you. (Most of my ships don't have FTL drives).

wasn't really an argument even then. in this case i'm just wondering and making sure that had been noticed.


In any case, though, the vast majority of what you've done is correct. Good job, RL!

agreement goes here.


edit so as not to take up more space with a new post:

ok, now i start to look silly. i have a max speed calculated as well and just forgot that i had.

reguardless, step 5, so far as i can tell, gives

RL: 1.25 g
angermanland: 1g

which is acceleration. how are you getting the g tolerance figure? [I'll admit, i couldn't get my head around those numbers] because if the g tolerance is higher, so is my damage index. and if g tolerance is dependent on structure, then i should shift some mass from armour, probably.

also there's probably a few other numbers that are off.

[did i mention I'm REALLY starting to hate this system? i see the advantages, but... argh! 'tis maddening.]

To what extent are we going by Vanguard's rules for combat? I mean, am I going to need six-sided dice and a calculator to do this, or is Vanguard really just a rough guide for ship design?

It's a guide for ship design and tech - although there's no doubting a calculator would certainly help. Although rough sketches for ships can be drawn up, and used, ship design is also on the cards. Obviously, no dice are needed, but the Vanguard system (primarily the range figures, and the battle time figures, as well as the six dicta of space combat) has a large amount of useful information.

Obviously, things like vskill are more guides to the capability of a ship to hit, as are things like ECM - they're not in any way definitive, but I've found that having a baseline set of stats that can be compared to the other guy's stops most arguments dead in their tracks - you can look up a ship, it has longer range, and bam! No disputes about who's ship is better, just comparable numbers.



which is acceleration. how are you getting the g tolerance figure? [I'll admit, i couldn't get my head around those numbers] because if the g tolerance is higher, so is my damage index. and if g tolerance is dependent on structure, then i should shift some mass from armour, probably.

Tolerance is dependent on structure, yes. Much in the same way that more-or-less everything we build is dependant on its structural strength to withstand certain forces.

Also, Comnys, I'll put you in momentarily.

Greetings all. I posted the first of what I hope are many posts for the Theocracy within the HSFT universe. I'll link it here just for the sake of reference.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=541484

I just wanted everyone to know that I posted this thread without completing the design for the Redeemer-class light cruisers. Ship design has proven to be fairly complicated for me and I didn't want to wait to get the Theocracy's story rolling. That being the case, I will be finishing up the design ASAP. Just bear in mind that it is a very lightly armed exploratory and science vessel. Communications and science capabilities will be first rate. It was also be above average in terms of both maximum velocity and rate of acceleration. Please feel free to join in the thread if you feel you have reason to do so. I'm looking forward to RPing with this group.

edit so as not to take up more space with a new post:

ok, now i start to look silly. i have a max speed calculated as well and just forgot that i had.

reguardless, step 5, so far as i can tell, gives

RL: 1.25 g
angermanland: 1g

which is acceleration.Acceleration at full load, mind you. You burn fuel when the engines are running though, and as my ship's mass is 40% fuel, it means that it will weigh considerably less the more it accelerates.
In the example given in Vanguard, they have a ship the mass of which is half fuel. It's maximum acceleration therefore is twice its max acceleration at full load. My ship is only 40% fuel, so the max acceleration is 1.25 x 1.6 = 2. If the max acceleration of a ship with 50% fuel is twice its acceleration at full load, it follows that the max acceleration of a ship that is 40% fuel is 1.6 times acceleration at full load, does it not?
how are you getting the g tolerance figure?Your g tolerance should be a bit above your maximum acceleration. As we have already determined max acceleration, it is simply a matter of adding a safety margin that you feel comfortable with. As my ship has a max acceleration of 2 g I decided that my ship should have a g tolerance of 2.5.

EDIT: Damage index = cube root of (g tolerance x empty hull mass + armour rating), so the g tolerance is actually more important the the armour plating it would seem.

I think I will back out from this the combat system is too complicated for my brain to comprehend, sorry

actually, the Combat system is just going to be standard RP ....

it's the ship creation that's a bitch.

Hey I was actually around for the original thread and I had to admit it was very interesting. Ill check back in with factbook and all...

I'm actually making a spread sheet to crunch numbers for me. Soon as I am done I'll pass it on to anyone who wants to use it.

If all goes well I'll have an exploration cruiser, tender/tanker and some cutters designed for my coming out RP this week. Sort of an "Antares Dawn" scenario.

I'm actually making a spread sheet to crunch numbers for me. Soon as I am done I'll pass it on to anyone who wants to use it.

If all goes well I'll have an exploration cruiser, tender/tanker and some cutters designed for my coming out RP this week. Sort of an "Antares Dawn" scenario.

if you can make it work, then you sir, deserve some suitable reward. that thing is evil! Evil i tell you!

closest i ever got was that mine'd add up the mass and cost for you.

Ugh, this ship design is a pain. I really don't have time to design my own from scratch here, does anyone think they'd be willing to give me a hand with some of the more complex aspects? I'd do it myself, but this is college app season for us seniors...

so far, Gurguvungunit, i think HT's the only one NOT hitting that wall, at least to some extent.

I've changed my nation. Revolutionized it. I am now an evil empire. Of sorts.

Incognitia (no Republic of, or anything).
System: the one bordering Angermanland and Candistan (the white one with three blue wormholes towards the bottom left).

Pop: 5.8 billion
GDP/Capita: $19371
Potential military spend: $1123 billion.

Governmental system: Elected Council rules Incognitia. Various regulations attempt to prevent the emergence of a political class, including term limits and requirements for candidates for office to have experience in other areas of life.

Incognitia has a strong economy, much of which is based on biotechnology. The best 'product' from this industry is the 'fins, or neo-dolphins, which are now as intelligent as the humans whose society they have found themselves part of. Extremely capable as commercial pilots, it can only be a matter of time before naval vessels are modified to allow those naturally suited to manouever in a 3-dimensional environment to take over from human pilots.

Unfortunately, given a lack of resources Incognitia's shipbuilding capability is distinctly limited, along with any other resource-intensive industries. When hyperspatial technology was discovered not all that long ago, the immediate thought was to supplement the already well-developed asteroid mining with extra-system resources. Plans to do so were disrupted by the Civil War over Uplift (the process undergone by the 'fins) and have only just been returned to as reconstruction nears completion.

The Incognitian system consists of several barren rocks, Incognitia herself being the only planet in the habitable zone; then there are Giaour and Clio, two gas giants in the outer system, each having several sizeable moons.
Almost all the sizeable rocks in the system have some inhabitants; pirates and anti-Uplift remnants from pre-war exist in many of the more out-of-the-way nooks and crannies of the Belt.

The Navy consists of in-system patrol vessels, mostly remaining from pre-War, and more recently constructed FTL-capable ships, most of which are of Kadozian design - these designs being capable and sold at a very reasonable price.
Design efforts for ships specifically to meet Incognitian needs are ongoing.

ok, need to know a little more of the science behind the jump points...

that aside, i've added more stuff to my fact book way back on page one. it's still rubbish, but it actually has information now.

including on that red jump from my system to the one next to it.

it's possibly the most unreliable jump point, ever. sort of.. you can actually predict when it's going to open and close ok... if you know all the mathematics for it. on the other hand, there's no way to control it, and the results are so all over the place that it's not practical to trade or anything through it... well, not if you have a choice, anyway.

Incog, you're in.

Ugh, this ship design is a pain. I really don't have time to design my own from scratch here, does anyone think they'd be willing to give me a hand with some of the more complex aspects? I'd do it myself, but this is college app season for us seniors...
With what aspects, more specifically, do you need help?

Empire: Cas Coalition
System: The star in the far right middle, with one red and one blue wormhole.
Population: 2.803 billion
GDP/Capita: $19371
Star system: Castor
Planetary Holdings:
Tallia, an earth like moon that is slightly more arid with smaller oceans then terran norm. Orbits the gas giant Irat, 6.3 AUs from Castor.

Quillin is a Mars like planet with a thicker atmosphere with enough oxygen to sustain life. Liquid water is available but not in abundance making polar ice mining very important to the planet's population. Orbits Castor 2.2 AUs out.

System Points of Interest:
Yenta Wormhole, located in the stellar 'North West' 29.7 AUs from Castor. Stable.
Upaun Wormhole, located in the 'South West' 31.1 AUs out. Unstable, it is believed to be linked to Castor's sunspot cycle by some unknown mechanism. Follows a 16 year cycle, being large enough for heavy FTL usage during Castor's peak sun spot periods then shrinking down till it is non-existent at Castors sun spot low peaks.

Government: Cycles between an elected council and a dictatorship. Currently under the benevolent rule of Dictator Antonov Westwind. A council of territorial governors, whom are elected by the people they represent, acts as the legislator at the federal level, forming a weak central government. A Prime Minister is elected as from the council, requiring a 2/3 vote, who manages the day to day affairs. During times of crisis a special session of the Council of Governors can be called to elect a dictator, requiring a 3/4 vote, who serves until he is recalled by the council, which also requires a 3/4 vote. The dictator cannot pass any new laws but can make decrees that carry the force of law as long as (s)he is in power so long as they do not violate the Coalition's Guarantee of Rights. (S)He has full command of the military during his/her reign.

History: The Cas Coalition was formed after a series of long and bloody wars in the Castor system involving the Tallia Federation, Belt Miners, Quillin Colonial Services, and the Union of Vaulla. Lasting over 25 year the Tallia Federation and Belt Miners fought against the combined might of the Quillin Colonial Services and Union of Vaulla. The loses rose to billions of lives and much of the infrastructure of the various factions was annihilated. The last 2 years of the war were the most deadly as Vaulla-Quillin forces began to use nuclear weaponry against the Belt Miners, destroying many of their larger space habitats. Horrified at what was an extremely unpopular war for the Quillin people the Free Quillin League began a popular uprising against the Colonial Services. As the Colonial Services began to use more and more brutal tactics against the populace the Belt Miners and Tallia Federation unified their fleet and military to form the Cas Coalition and met the Vaulla fleet in a head on battle. The Battle of Waymore was a victory for the Coalition, saving the Waymore space habitat from destruction, but came at a terrible cost for all involved.

With both Vaulla forces and Coalition forces fleets being decimated neither could mount a decisive blow against the others homeworld. Vaulla began to launch waves of long ranged IPBMs against Tallia in the last year of the war, killing millions of civilians. Unable to intercept but a fraction of the IPBMs the Coalition also resorted to desperate measures, and in the final month of the war they mounted thruster onto asteroid 351S and sent it on a collision course with Vaulla. Unable to destroy or deflect the asteroid the Vaulla Federation broken down into anarchy. On 3rd Cyclic 20th rotation, 280AC asteriod 351S effectively killed the planet Vaulla, with over 500 million dead during the initial impact and another billion dead first Cyclic after impact.

With their ally destroyed the Quillin Colonial Services surrendered to the Free Quillin League and the Cas Coalition. The FQL joined the Coalition a week after the QCS surrender and aided in one of histories biggest rescue operations, as over a half billion people were evacuated from Vaulla using any ship available. The majority of Vaulla survivors relocated and integrated with Quillin and Tallia populations. A small minority elected to stay on Vaulla and attempt to use terra forming bring the planet back to its former state. Scientists estimate that Vaulla will be considered terran norm again no sooner the 362AC .

The Dandy Highwayman
Type: Corvette (The smallest warship, with light armament, not intended for prolonged autonomous deployment. Usually STL. 500-1500 tons. Similar to a cutter but more heavily armed and without boarders.)
Mass: 1500
Empty mass: 701.5
FTL drive: None
Fusion drive: Standard binary plasma drive (281.25 tons; cost $57,250,000)
Acceleration at full load: 0.75 g
Fuel: 750 tons (50% of total mass)
Total mass of fuel system: 810 tons (cost $30,000)
Maximum cruising speed: 1039.7 km/s
G tolerance: 1.5
Hull structure mass: 157.5 tons (cost $1,575,000)
Comm equipment: Basic (cost $10,000)
Sensor equipment: Advanced sensor suite (mass 1 ton; cost $100,000)
Targeting system: 3 (mass 8 tons; cost $16,000,000)
Weaponry: Two small aperture lasers (mass 100 tons; cost $4,000,000), one medium aperture laser (mass 100 tons; cost $20,000,000)
Evasion: -1
ECM: None
Passengers: None
Estimated crew size: 20
Medical facilities: None
Docking ring and airlock: Small air lock (mass 1 ton; cost $10,000)
Simulated gravity: None
Life boats: None
Hardpoints: None
Hangars: None
Cargo holds: 50
Stealth: None
Required Maintenance Demand: 2 (cost reduced 25%)
Crew: 12
Crew accommodations: One 1st class stateroom, two 2nd class staterooms, nine 3rd class bunks (total mass 49 tons; total cost $190,000)
Armour value: None
Damage index: 10
Construction time: 26.5 days
Final cost: $74,373,750
Crew cost: about 33% of the loot

Yarr, landlubbers! Bring me a noggin' o' rum, Jim!

Sarcastically Deadly Class Cruiser.
Gross Tonnage: 30000
Empty Mass: 17919
FTL: Yes (1075 tons, $2.15 million)
Drive Type: High-Performance Binary (1g, 5000 tons, $1.5 billion)
Max acceleration, full load: 1g
Fuel: 40% of mass (12000 tons)
Total Mass of Fuel System: 12960 tons, $480000
Delta-V: 1915km/s, 1.1 AU/day
G-Tolerance: 3
Structure Mass: 6300 tons, $63000000
Comms: Advanced *5 (0 tons, $250000)
Planetary Survey Gear: Basic (10 tons, $200000)
Sensors: Advanced * 10 (10 tons, $1000000)
Targeting Level: 6 (64 tons, $1 billion)
Weaponry: 5* Large Laser, 3* Scatter Gun, 15* Medium Laser (total 3800 tons, $893 million)
Evasion rating: -2
ECM rating: -2 (500 tons, $90 million)
Passengers: None
Crew: 43
Medical Facilities: Regular Infirmary, 25 beds (55 tons, $97000)
Docking: Two Large Airlocks (8 tons, $60000)
Spin Hab: All accommodation (23 tons, $150000)
Lifeboats: Advanced 10 man *6 (30 tons, $600000)
Hardpoints: Nil
Hangars: Nil
Cargo: Nil
Stealth: Nil
Repair/RMD: 0.75 (*2.37 to cost)
Automation: 50% of all military functions (targeting, weapons etc) ($9 million)
Crew Accommodation: 46 3rd class, 2 2nd class (150 tons, $510000)
Armour: Nil
Damage Index: 38
Construction Time: 134 days
Final Cost: $8.438 billion
Upkeep: $6.9 million a week.

Mostly getting my tonnage right, I'm both without a decent sci. calculator and without the time/energy to figure it out using the crappy widget one on my mac. I can give you general information and some specifics (length, tonnage, armament, armour, equipment types etc) but really I need someone to do the maths for my first ship or two, after that I might be able to take over. It's these next few weeks that'll be killer, after that I'm gonna be okay.

Yeah, I figure it can get quite hard doing all them square and cube roots without a scientific calculator.
But give me gross mass, over all goals and vital equipment, and I'll see what I can do.

---

I need someone to have a diplomatic ship attacked by pirates (such as the one recently posted). This incident will spark a cold war spy RP, if everything goes as planned.

---

TI: Why do you have scientific equipment on a warship? Also, I'm missing an acceleration figure.

My ship is equipped with planetary survey gear because I had a few tons spare, and it seems reasonable that a large warship would have some capability to survey a new system. It's only ten tons, and a pittance in cash terms, so...

Which acceleration figure are you missing?

I would volunteer the diplomatic ship, but if things go as expected, I wouldn't be able to carry through that part of the RP (Angermanland is going to invade me).

Finally, I'm going to be busy-busy til Tuesday, then have a bit more time free. At that point I may be able to assist people on ship design, as I've put together a spreadsheet that does most of the legwork on calculations. Given a bit more time to refine it I might be able to design a ship around basic constraints (max cost, weaponry, rough tonnage, etc) in as little as ten minutes.

My ship is equipped with planetary survey gear because I had a few tons spare, and it seems reasonable that a large warship would have some capability to survey a new system. It's only ten tons, and a pittance in cash terms, so...Oh well. I would have used the extra mass for armour instead, but each to his own I guees.

Which acceleration figure are you missing?Maximum acceleration at full load.

I would volunteer the diplomatic ship, but if things go as expected, I wouldn't be able to carry through that part of the RP (Angermanland is going to invade me).It seems Angermanland is very fond of invading. At least your nation didn't have its emperor assassinated by a Swiss official.

Ah, that. It was there, just under the specs for the engine. I've edited it in for completeness' sake.

As to the Emperor...hehehe. I still give you kudos for that, I'm just sorry the full plan never came off.

... 'twas Incog who did that one, you know :D

[to be fair, i designed the plot. and originally i don't think incog was going to be the one to initiate it.. hehe]

and i'm not actually fond of invading, i just keep ending up in situations where it's either me invading, me getting invaded, or nothing happening. given those choices, the former is preferable :D

also, after much frustration, angst, hate, and help from various people, i present my cruiser, now functional [the previous posted version was borked all to hell and gone as it had lost 0's in a bunch of numbers, among other things]

note: any fields that are Absent in the following have either 0 or null values.

Bitter Triumphclass cruiser.

empty mass: 14,853 tons.
gross mass : 25,000 tons.
construction cost:$7,248,670,280
construction time: 122 days

FTL capable
High Performance Binary plasma engine.
max acceleration (fully loaded): 1 g.
max speed: 1,915 km/sec, 1.105 au/d
max fuel: 10,000 tons
fuel consumption: [haven't bothered recalculating/finding this again yet]
max burn time: [haven't bothered recalculating this yet]

G tollerence: 3
targeting: 6
weapons: 20 medium lasers
evasion rating: -2
ecm: -2
damage index: 35

crew:
(captain and first officer have 2nd class accommodation. all others have 3rd. accommodation is located in a spin hab.)
captain
first officer
3 nav/helm
3 sensors/com
3 aerospace tech
3 ftl astrogation
3 weapons officer
20 computer(20%) and electronics(80%) techs
3 drive techs
3ftl techs
3 life support tech
3 automation maintenance techs
3 medics

military equipment maintainance is somewhat automated [50%]

regular infirmary can accommodate 25 patients.


docking facilities: 2 large airlocks
lifeboats: seven basic ten man lifeboats.
hangers: accomodate 2 seventy ton 'base-mobile' shuttles

communications: 10 advanced units
sensors: 10 enhanced units
scientific equipment: basic planetary survey, astronav.

RMD: 0.75
crew and upkeep costs: $406,992,857.1 per year [assuming a year of 365.25 days]

aaaand.. i think that's everything. i know i left out a lot of the raw numbers, but that's the resulting ship.

edit: interestingly, after running the numbers based on the rules for combat in the document containing the ship design stuff...

there is absolutely no point, ever, in having more than 5 tons of armor, nor of having quality greater than the worst. nor, for that matter, of having Any armor if you're going to take less than 5. in both cases it's better to put it into structure [adds far more to the damage index, and the armor is lost in 20% chunks, so no matter how much you've got, it'll only take 5 armor hits to strip it completely]

note that this sections means absolutely nothing in RP terms, as in RP terms more armor will stop projectile weapons weaker than a certain amount, and reduce the effect of more powerful ones [more powerful still will pretty much ignore it though] as well as acting as "hit points" before you start taking actual damage from lasers in a given location. in this case more is better, as is better quality.

Well, HT still hasn't okayed me, but I might as well post the ship I've been working one at least for the sake of others.


Vagabond class tramp freighter

The Vagabond class of freighter is a newer Cas Coalition design, meant to take on a broad range of roles. While limited in cargo capacity compared to non-FTL freighters the Vagabond's built it FTL drive all frees it from the need to link with Jumpships to traverse worm holes, which allows it to be many times more independent then other cargo ships. While it has a modest acceleration of only 0.1 G a large fuel capacity allows it to obtain speeds of .6 AU/day while still being able to make turn-over. A 2700 ton cargo capacity ensures that all but the largest of cargo can be transported in the Vagabond's enormous bay, while integrated sub-dividers allow for sections of the bay to be enclosed to make smaller bay areas as needed. Three 2500 ton hard-points, 2 of which include medium sized airlocks, allows the transport to carry cargo too bulky to fit in its bays. 25 Hibernation storage chambers give the Vagabond a limited passenger carrying role for long distance routes. While the Vagabond requires only 16 crew members 20 2nd class cabins are provided for the comfort of the crew on their long journeys, while a small spin-habitat filled with eating and recreation facilities helps keep the crew healthy and happy.

What sets the Vagabond apart from other transports is its military grade communications and sensor suites as well as the fact that the transports are armed. These components were paid for by a subsidy from the Cas Coalition, with an agreement between the government and the ship purchasers that the Coalition can make use of the transports when there is a national security concern.


1. Gross ship mass.
10000 tons

2. FTL drive.
Mass= 409 tons
Cost= $818,000.

3. Fusion drive type selection.
Standard binary plasma drive.

4. Acceleration and drive mass & cost.
Acceleration= 0.1 G
Drive Mass= 250 tons
Drive cost= $50,000,000

5. Fuel capacity and maximum speed.
Fuel Capacity= 5,000 tons (50%)
Fuel Equipment Cost= $200,000
Mass= 400 tons
Max Speed= 1039.7 km/s or .6 AU/day

6. Hull structure.
Structure Mass= 350 tons
Structure G Load= .5 G
Cost= $3,500,00

7. Communications equipment.
Advanced comm suite x 2
Cost $100,000

8. Optional scientific equipment.
Planetary survey gear
Mass= 10 tons
Cost= $200,000.

9. Sensors.
2 X Enhanced sensor equipment
Total Mass= 2 tons
Total Cost= $200,000

10. Weapons targeting.
Vskill= 3
Mass= 8 tons
Cost= $16,000,000

11. Weapons.
1X Laser Medium Aperture
Mass= 100 tons
Cost= $20,000,000
1 X Scattergun
Mass= 300 tons
Cost= $6,000,000

12. Evasion and Maneuverability
Evasion= +1

13. Defensive ECM.
None

14. Passengers.
25 X Hibernation storage
Mass= 25 tons
Cost= $250,000

15. Preliminary estimate of crew size.
20

16. Medical facilities.
Regular 2 man infirmary
Mass= 9 tons
Cost= $28,000

17. Docking rings and airlocks.
2 X Medium Airlock
Mass= 4 tons
Cost= $50,000

18. Simulated gravity.
Small spin-habitat
Mass= 20 tons
Cost= $150,000

19. Lifeboats.
2 X Basic ten-person lifeboat
Mass= 2 tons
Cost= $20,000

20. Hardpoints.
3 X 2500 ton Hardpoints
Mass= 150 tons
Cost= $75,000

21. Hangars.
None

22. Cargo hold.
2748 ton capacity
83 ton handling equipment= $8,300

23. Stealth.
None

24. Repair and maintenance demands (RMD factor).
RMD= 1

25. Automation and final crew requirements.
No Automation
20 crew members

26. Crew accommodations.
20 X 2nd class accommodations
Mass = 120 tons
Cost= $500,000

27. Armor.
Ordinary armor
Mass= 10 tons
Value= 10 armor value
Cost= $10,000.

28. Final Empty Hull Mass.
Mass= 2252 tons

29. Damage Index.
Damage Index = 10

30. Construction time.
48 days

31. Final Cost
Cost= $98,109,300

I know this is unorigional, but since I have basically no experience/clue how to design a staship within the specifications of this RP, are ships such as the CCS-Class cruiser that the Covenant from the Halo series uses feasable in this? And if not, can I have a little help on how to make one that is?

i think the closest you could come would be a ship with a very strong hull that uses lots of lasers to represent the pulse lasers on the CCS. You could probable put on some large missile tubes loaded with x-ray tipped fusion missiles to represent the plasma torpedoes.

So in short a very large ship ( 30,000+ tons) with a strong hull (2G+ tolerance) good acceleration and fuel capacity with lots of lasers and a few big missile tubes would be the closest you could get.

Hard FT pretty much rules out anything with artificial gravity, plasma cannon, pulse lasers, or any other nonsense like that. Consult further: Atomic Rocket (http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html).

Hard FT pretty much rules out anything with artificial gravity,Only artificial gravity as seen in SW or ST and the like. As that site you linked to explained, there are three ways of creating artificial gravity, of which one is the most practical (spinning, that is).

Ah, I'm thinking something in the range of 20,000 tons with a standard binary plasma drive, probably non-FTL with an appreciable armament and some armour. A crew of 9-12, I think, with mostly CIWS-like systems for PD (35mm radar guided cannon) and a bunch of missiles. Lasers... too much of a power drain? I'm not sure, that's up to you when you figure out the power needs. If possible, lasers instead of CIWS.

Since this ship is designed for detecting and engaging enemies within the system, it probably has enhanced and redundant sensor systems. It's gotta be pretty fast (but not absurdly so) so a lot of mass'll end up going to the fuel for maximum ∆V. Also, as a patrol ship, a centrifuge'll be important for crew comfort.

For some of my other starships, would it be possible to buy them from one of you guys? Seeing as the Star Union isn't the richest of places, it might make more sense to do that anyway.

I've had a quick look at this 'patrol ship'. I think the mass of 20,000 is far too high for the rest of your requirements, so I've put together something different, based on a mass of 10,000. Also took a few liberties with exact specs on drives, weapons etc.
Have a look and let me know if the rest of it suits your requirements.

Patrol Vessel Gurg Class.
FTL: No.
Drive: High performance binary plasma. 1000 tons, $200 million, max loaded accel 1g.
Fuel capacity and delta-v: 4000 tons (40% mass), 1915 km/sec, 1.10AU/day.
Hull structure: 2g, 1400 tons.
Comms: Advanced *5
Sensors: Advanced *5
Targetting: Level 5 (32 tons, $256 million)
Weapons: 5 medium missile launchers, 10 medium missiles, 8 medium lasers (1830 tons, $320.15 million)
Evasion rating: -2
ECM: -1 (200 tons, $30 million)
Crew: 20
Medical: Infirmary for 10 patients (25 tons, $52000)
Docking: Large*2 (8 tons $60000)
Spin hab: All accommodation (20 tons $150000)
Lifeboats: Basic 3 man (3 tons, $30000)
RMD: 1. Ship cost multiplier thus also 1
Automation: All possible. $5.5 million
Crew accommodation: 1 2nd class, 20 3rd class (66 tons, $125000)
Armour: 1090 tons advanced armour, protection 1635, cost $2.18 million
Empty mass: 5997 tons
Damage Index: 24
Construction cost: $832 million
Time: 77 days
Weekly upkeep: $4 million.

Edit: Also thinking a slightly amended version of the aforesaid will probably be joining my fleet. In other news while I've no time to post it right now, I've come up with an uber-huge battleship thingy (well, 50,000 tonner, anyway).

Just wondering, what RPs have been started in this universe. As far as I know the only one around is the one HFT started, and it's a bit far from my star ( if I'm even allowed to RP, still waiting on acceptance). Has anyone else started an RP?

i'll bite .. factbook to follow

Updated my Fact Book with my nation's history and slightly better celestial information. Let me know what you guys think.


http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13166422&postcount=54

Incog and i are going to have something going, but he's swamped with *gasp* Real Life stuff until... tuesday?

so it'll start then.

Yah, Tuesday evening (GMT).

never mind other threads have priority

That looks fine, actually. I'm gonna rename it though, since 'Gurg Class' is pretty... awful. Thanks a lot for the maths and the time, saved me some brain cells.

Hm... Lancer class? Anyway, RPs going on? Linkz plox.

Kay, November is NaNoWriMo month. If I turn up, it'll be rarely at best.

right, assuming i haven't screwed up, an IC thread begins Here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=542509). it is my invasion of Incognitia.

you know, i look like an aggressive nation, but in truth, I'd rather be isolationist.... but that hardly makes for good RP, does it? so I'm left attacking a lot :)


i'm just glad the writers block that's hit my other projects doesn't seem to have affected this one.

WAR!
(Damn you for posting this today, I'm going to want to respond to it, when really I should leave it till tomorrow. heh).

well, it IS Tuesday [and you did say 'until Tuesday', if i remember correctly] hehee.

blame the timezones and ambiguous wording :P