far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Greetings one and all gearheads and aspiring Naval Architects.
I was doing a little (long overdue, like decades
) spring cleaning and came across some old model kits. Well one of the kits inspired me so I started kitbashing it with a couple others and worked up a design to go with it (T20). Problem is, unlike most other designs I do, I have a considerable volume left I'm not sure what to do with. So I thought why not see what a few other bright minds might suggest. First a brief outline of the design thus far...
T20 TL-14 3,000T Destroyer Escort
Wedge Hull with Airframe upgrade
Factor 5 Hull Armor
Model 6fib Computer and electronics
Jump 3 (with fuel for 1J3)
Maneuver 6
Power 12 (4x Power 3)
Fuel scoops and Purifier 3
Nuke Damper F5
Meson Screen F5
PA Barbettes F2 x2 Batteries
Fusion Guns F6 x4 Batteries
Pulse Lasers F4 x2 Batteries
HE Missile Launchers F5 x2 Batteries
BP Laser Missile Launchers F4 x2 Batteries
Nuclear Missile Launchers F3 x2 Batteries
each missile turret has an adjacent autoloader magazine attached
Crew of 61 including 9 Ships Troops
Frozen Watch of 30
Two Sickbays
Two Engineering Shops
This leaves me with 173.0T to play with. I'm pondering some of:
Some additional Airlocks for evac and compartmentalization.
An auxilliary/backup bridge.
A Ship's Boat to serve in an away or life-boat capacity. Or perhaps more than one. Or maybe small (1T-3T) standardized personnel escape pods.
More armor. Almost always a good thing for a DE.
More Power. Currently there are choices to be made in the power allocation, keeping the engineers busy. You can power the maneuver and weapons but lose factors off the screens (imtu the factor is the max, lower the power and it moves down the table, just like if it were damaged). Or you can power the maneuver and agility but not fire weapons (I don't like the whole 'free' emergency agility rule, or the 'cheap' weapon overpower either. In both cases if the engineers can find the power to do it by diverting from other systems then ok, and for weapons each added level of power gets another shot at the same factor, but that's just mtu).
More Ship's Troops, but its more of a killer than a capture role so I'm not so sure.
The weapons are based on the model kit's attributes so I'll not be changing that. The nukes are in pop-up turrets which in my game mean they are immune to damage (though the magazines may still be hit), being exposed only briefly while they launch (hey that x5 and double volume better be worth something). Besides even The Navy doesn't want to advertise its nuke capability in every port.
One perhaps bizzare notion I had, inspired by the model, is increasing the Structural Integrity to give it an option for ramming with less risk to itself
Problem is I see no mention in the rules about increasing the SI in a design. I'm considering starting a thread to add it as an option to the communities house rules. It seems to me that adding armor should bump up the SI a bit too but the design system only factors the overall size (no doubt for simplicity). So what say you all, is there some interest is such added detail, or is it of too limited use?
OK, lets have it, the floor is yours, what would you do to fill out the extra volume?
I was doing a little (long overdue, like decades

T20 TL-14 3,000T Destroyer Escort
Wedge Hull with Airframe upgrade
Factor 5 Hull Armor
Model 6fib Computer and electronics
Jump 3 (with fuel for 1J3)
Maneuver 6
Power 12 (4x Power 3)
Fuel scoops and Purifier 3
Nuke Damper F5
Meson Screen F5
PA Barbettes F2 x2 Batteries
Fusion Guns F6 x4 Batteries
Pulse Lasers F4 x2 Batteries
HE Missile Launchers F5 x2 Batteries
BP Laser Missile Launchers F4 x2 Batteries
Nuclear Missile Launchers F3 x2 Batteries
each missile turret has an adjacent autoloader magazine attached
Crew of 61 including 9 Ships Troops
Frozen Watch of 30
Two Sickbays
Two Engineering Shops
This leaves me with 173.0T to play with. I'm pondering some of:
Some additional Airlocks for evac and compartmentalization.
An auxilliary/backup bridge.
A Ship's Boat to serve in an away or life-boat capacity. Or perhaps more than one. Or maybe small (1T-3T) standardized personnel escape pods.
More armor. Almost always a good thing for a DE.
More Power. Currently there are choices to be made in the power allocation, keeping the engineers busy. You can power the maneuver and weapons but lose factors off the screens (imtu the factor is the max, lower the power and it moves down the table, just like if it were damaged). Or you can power the maneuver and agility but not fire weapons (I don't like the whole 'free' emergency agility rule, or the 'cheap' weapon overpower either. In both cases if the engineers can find the power to do it by diverting from other systems then ok, and for weapons each added level of power gets another shot at the same factor, but that's just mtu).
More Ship's Troops, but its more of a killer than a capture role so I'm not so sure.
The weapons are based on the model kit's attributes so I'll not be changing that. The nukes are in pop-up turrets which in my game mean they are immune to damage (though the magazines may still be hit), being exposed only briefly while they launch (hey that x5 and double volume better be worth something). Besides even The Navy doesn't want to advertise its nuke capability in every port.
One perhaps bizzare notion I had, inspired by the model, is increasing the Structural Integrity to give it an option for ramming with less risk to itself

OK, lets have it, the floor is yours, what would you do to fill out the extra volume?