Ship configuration rewrite

[Proneutron]

The ship configuration as written is nonsensical and internally inconsistent.

Here is the corrected version:

Ship Configuration

A ship may have any of three configurations – Standard (a wedge, cone, sphere or cylinder), Streamlined (a wing, disc or other lifting body allowing it to enter the atmosphere easily) or Distributed (made up of several sections, and incapable of entering an atmosphere at a speed higher than 100 kph and being incapable of landing due to its geometry and lack of landing gear).

Standard

A standard-hull ship may enter atmosphere but it is not very agile due to lack of atmospheric controls surfaces. It may only land and take off from bodies having less gravity than its M-Drive rating. A standard-hull ship may have scoops for gathering fuel from a gas giant but is a little more difficult than doing so in a Streamlined ship. Larger ships of this type will often carry a specialized sub-craft to perform the actual atmospheric skimming.

Streamlined

Streamlining a ship increases the cost of the hull by 10%. This streamlining includes a lifting body of some type, atmospheric control surfaces, fuel scoops which allow the skimming of unrefined fuel from gas giants or the gathering of water from open lakes or oceans. Streamlined ships may land and take off from bodies with an atmosphere that have gravity equal to or less than its M-Drive rating. It may land and take off from bodies with trace or no atmosphere that have gravity less than its M-Drive rating. Streamlining may not be retrofitted; it must be included at the time of construction.

Distributed

A distributed ship reduces the cost of its hull by 10%. It is completely non-aerodynamic and if it enters an atmosphere at a speed greater than 100 kph or gravity greater than its M-Drive rating it will suffer structural failure and crash. It cannot land on a planet and it cannot mount fuel scoops.

 

[Timerover51]

I take the view that if a ship is built on a world with a Thin to Dense atmosphere, and at least size 4 or larger, there is no extra cost for streamlining, as that will be the type of ship primarily built.

 

[Straybow]

The extra cost for streamlining is the heat dissipating materials, control surfaces and equipment, and the need to pack fuel tanks and some equipment into minimal spaces for body blending.

 

[Proneutron]

I take the view that if a ship is built on a world with a Thin to Dense atmosphere, and at least size 4 or larger, there is no extra cost for streamlining, as that will be the type of ship primarily built.

Why would that be the type of ship primarily built? A standard hull can operate in those conditions just fine. Why would you want a lifting body?

 

[Proneutron]

The extra cost for streamlining is the heat dissipating materials, control surfaces and equipment, and the need to pack fuel tanks and some equipment into minimal spaces for body blending.

I think the heat dissipation requirements are the same for streamlined and standard hulls unless you are accounting for the heat from induced drag caused by high speed flight or something I am missing. If a streamlined spaceship has too little thrust to land other than by entering the atmosphere at suborbital speed it won't attempt it as there is no way to take off from the surface. In any event hulls as listed can easily handle those heat loads with no additional treatment. These Trav ships with grav type drives (basically unlimited ∆v ) will slow to low speeds above the atmosphere and come down fairly slowly.

 

[whartung]

I take the view that if a ship is built on a world with a Thin to Dense atmosphere, and at least size 4 or larger, there is no extra cost for streamlining, as that will be the type of ship primarily built.

Just because the ship is the most common built doesn't remove the material and labor requirements that add to it.

 

[Condottiere]

1. Planetoids.

2. Transformers.

 

[Proneutron]

1. Planetoids.

2. Transformers.

???? Oh! LOL. I haven't worked out #1 yet as far as details.