captnchuck
SOC-8
What do they look like. I mean we kind of know what The Zho , Aslhan and Vagr look like but I am stumped at what I would use as proxies for these guys in miniature
Solomani Ships
- Thread starter captnchuck
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GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
There are pictures in the CT Solomani book, the MT Solomani book half, and (IIRC) in the MGT book, as well as one from FASA (CT era), and a few around the web.
In short, there is almost no common "look" to Solomani ships. The windowed "bomber nose" first seen on the Empress Marava recurs on the Bulk Freighter and the Courier, but is modified or absent on the Patrol Cruiser (Endeavor, from FASA) and the Trader.
Some ships are symmetrical, some are not. There is no common hull form.
In short, there is almost no common "look" to Solomani ships. The windowed "bomber nose" first seen on the Empress Marava recurs on the Bulk Freighter and the Courier, but is modified or absent on the Patrol Cruiser (Endeavor, from FASA) and the Trader.
Some ships are symmetrical, some are not. There is no common hull form.
Bill Keith borrowed from Chris Foss and another sci-fi artist to create some of the ships. The Solomani Scout has a pretty strong resemblance to the Star Wars' B-wing fighter, designed by Joe Johnston and Bill George of ILM. The Soli Free Trader is a marriage between some art from Stewart Cowley's "Great Space Battles" and saucer for a mid-section. Back in the 90s Bill Keith and I exchanged emails regarding the Stewart Cowley books, and he has all three of them.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Actually, more than that.
- The TTA Histories (Stuart Cowley)
- Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD (by Stewart Cowley, 1978) (UK and US Editions)
- Great Space Battles (by Stewart Cowley and Charles Herridge, 1979) (UK/US)
- SpaceWreck: Ghost Ships and Derelicts of Space (by Stewart Cowley, 1979) (UK/US)
- Starliners: Commercial Travel in 2200 AD (by Stewart Cowley, 1980) (UK/US)
- The Galactic Encounters line (Cowley credited as Steven Caldwell)
- Aliens in Space: An illustrated guide to the inhabited Galaxy (1979, UK/US)
- Star Quest: An incredible voyage into the unknown (1979, UK/US)
- The Fantastic Planet: A World of Magic and Mystery (1980, UK/US)
- Dangerous Frontiers: the fight for survival on distant worlds (1980, UK) (Printed as Settlers in Space: The fight for survival on distant worlds in the US)
- Worlds at War: An Illustrated Study of Interplanetary Conflict (1980, UK/US)
- Space Patrol: The Official Guide to the Galactic Security Force (1980, UK/US)
- The Morrigan Press titles
- The Terran Trade Authority Roleplaying Game (by K. Scott Agnew & Jeff Lilly, with foreword by Stewart Cowley) (October 2006)
- Spacecraft 2100 to 2200 AD (by K. Scott Agnew, Jeff Lilly & Stewart Cowley) (July–August 2006)
- Local Space: A Guide to the TTA Universe (November 2006)
Citations taken from the TTA page of Wikipedia. They all use the same universe, albeit the Morrigan Press ones revise the timelines a century.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Hmm, given that nuclear submarines are very good at keeping pressure out, have nuclear reactors and drive systems, plus can get quite large, I could see Solomani ships looking a bit like streamlined nuclear subs.
I forgot about the Starliners book (I didn't buy that one until this last year).
I forget which page it's on, but there's a vessel labeled as a kind of EW / AWACS kind of ship orbiting mars that has the classic inset cockpit windows that became all the rage for some Traveller ships sketched by Keith.
Not to get too off topic, but I also bought the "Space Patrol" book this last year as well. The Cowley books aren't deep reads, but they were fun. The "Space Patrol" book wasn't engaging in the least, and spoke about sci-fi in generalities about the genre.
Still, the art was very interesting. I don't see any evidence that Keith stole from from the second series of books from the UK. His starport hotel module, on the other hand, the cover sketch that is, is directly lifted from Syd Mead, famous industrial designer and futurist whose worked on scores of films.
Still, the art was very interesting. I don't see any evidence that Keith stole from from the second series of books from the UK. His starport hotel module, on the other hand, the cover sketch that is, is directly lifted from Syd Mead, famous industrial designer and futurist whose worked on scores of films.
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Dark Nebula was a GDW game, a sister game to Imperium, that featured Solomani ships. If I remember correctly, the Solomoni favored beam weapons over missiles.
Dark Nebula Review
http://www.blackgate.com/2014/11/23/when-stellar-empires-clash-gdws-dark-nebula-and-imperium/
Dark Nebula Review
http://www.blackgate.com/2014/11/23/when-stellar-empires-clash-gdws-dark-nebula-and-imperium/
Also in Imperium. This is detailed in GURPS Interstellar Wars. The then Ziru Sirka favored fighters with missiles (nuke them from orbit mentality), and the Terrans reacted with beam weapons. I suppose that 3000 years of what works stays on to the Solomani.
With regards to 3rd Imperium Era designs:
CT AM Solomani had the "fixed mounts" on ships to double up on weapons.
MgT AM Solomani describes military ship design philosophy as small starships (read classic small ships) and large battlewagons with fewer in-between tonnage ships. Often the smaller ships are called on to perform tasks which mid-range tonnage, if available, might have been suitable. But if the large ships are called in it is overkill smackdown.
The imagery I always get from that is like the Rebel fleet in Star Wars VI. Hundreds of tiny fighters and ships, with a few hulking cruisers trying to keep up against the evil Third Imperium.
Solomani über alles I always say.
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Do the Solis have a Colonial III transport (or equivalent) from the TTA books?
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
That's the big one that looks like a pink eraser painted grey and green?
The Terrans (before the term "Solomani" came into use) planted shake-n-bake colonies all over Diaspora, Daibei, and Old Expanses, and presumably into the sectors in the other directions, during the breaks in the Interstellar Wars. The use of cold berth technology would allow a relatively small ship to carry a lot of people, but the distances would not have called for that and CT establishes that the later Solies still tolerate higher berthing density than average. So the truly huge colony ships were probably not ever a need. Why build a million-ton big colony ship when you can build a hundred 10k ton ships instead? Plant colonies on a third of the worlds in a sector in, as far as the Vilani were concerned, an eye blink.
After the Wars, putting people on as many Vilani worlds as possible became the goal, as well as filling in the gaps the Vilani found unattractive, so again it seems more likely the Solomani (now that the term was becoming popular) would have stuck with transporting a thousand villages instead of one metropolis.
