transport

[ravells]

The reason why I'm taking a break from the starport is that I'm building a ship as I was bit burnt out on ideas.

Andrew 'outed' me on the sci-fi meshes board :0 so here's the latest version (lots of placeholders that need to be filled - it's going to be slow). The design was given to me by Valarian - it's a ship on which non-jump drive ships ride piggy back .

Ravs

 

[Malenfant]

Interesting, what's the big plate under the head for though?

 

[ravells]

Erm... they break up the very predictable forward structure and make the ship look a bit more organic or something (like a fish)?

I'm going to put some fuel scoops on the back and was thinking that the foreward fins could fan outwards to encourage more atmo in the fuel scoops? What do you think? will it fly?

The foreward section is still just a place-holder in which I'm playing with ideas, but if you could give me a function for it which would require it to be more than just a box, that would be great.

Ravs

 

[Malenfant]

I think the plate makes it look too asymmetrical, plus there's no way that would make the thing streamlined enough to go through an atmosphere to scoop fuel - the plate would just snap off.

Personally I think it'd look fine without it, you don't have to do something that extreme to make the front more interesting!

 

[ravells]

But then it just a becomes boring box on the front? You don't think that if the plates swivelled so the edges were pointing forward that it wouldn't ruin the ship being aerodynamic?

Can you think of a 'feature' I can put on the front which would work from a functional point of view?

Ravs

 

[Malenfant]

Well I guess you could make the head more streamlined, put some smaller flanges all around the back that flare backwards?

 

[ravells]

I'll give it a go! Wasn't sure what to do with the sides on the back and that gives me something to put there with a purpose.

Ravs

 

[Scarecrow]

Keep the plate on the head. I like it. Come up with a reason for it. Like you say, it's just too pedestrian not to have it. You can either ignore the streamline issue or have it hinged so it folds horizontal behind the head when in atmospheric flight.

Crow

 

[Valarian]

The ship is a Terran jumpship - T20 stats are available on my website. The ship is designed to aid merchant traffic over the jump-2 gaps in Terran space and can carry up to six 1000dt vessels through jumpspace. The vessels dock against the central spine of the vessel.

It's unlikely that the ship would gather fuel for itself. Instead it would take fuel from a tender vessel to reduce lay-over times. The tender would do the skimming and processing of the fuel. However, it'd be nice for the ship to be able to do this in an emergency, say in the event of a misjump.

 

[ravells]

Oh, have I misread the description? I thought it said that it had fuel scoops?

The idea of having a detachable tender vessel (with the fuel scoops and refining equipment) is just too cool an idea to pass up though!

Ravs

 

[Valarian]

Not a detachable tender - just a fuel tender vessel that will rendezvous with the jumpship. The ship has got fuel scoops and fuel processor (I tend to include these as standard). I envision this being for emergency use only, or in the unlikely event that a fuel tender is unavailable. I see the ships having a short turn around time between jumps, aided by the fuel tenders serving them. The fuel tenders will be non-jump vessels, transported to the jumpship served systems by the jumpships themselves.

Now I need to go away and do some stats for the fuel tenders .... coming soon(ish).

As an aside, I like that we are now playing in the Terran Federation ATU. I'm getting more set down in setting than I have for some time, even if I make it up as I go

 

[ravells]

But think of the advantages of a detachable! You don't need to move the whole huge mass of the ship deep into a gas giant's gravity well. Just send out the tender to ferry back the fuel! (In case of emergencies).

Ravs

 

[Valarian]

Too big ... it'd have to use one of the merchant vessel slots making the venture less profitable. It'd also have to detach, get the fuel, process it, refuel the jumpship ... all after the jumpship arrives. If it is in-system already, then the tender can collect fuel while the jumpship is in jumpspace. The turnaround of the jumpship is reduced to just a rendezvous and refuelling.

In fact, there may also be a jump station out on the 100d limit where the merchant vessels gather while waiting for a jumpship to arrive.

 

[atpollard]

Carve off just enough of the ship to create the fuel tender. Thus the fuel tanks, purifier, some of the MD, some of the PP, and a small secondary bridge detatch to form the fuel tender.

The ship emerges from jump space, launches the EMPTY fuel tender and picks up a waiting FULL fuel tender, loads up with ships and is ready to jump again. The EMPTY fuel tender has a week to refuel and await the next Jumpship.


FORWARD WINGS: do not fold back in atmosphere but fold out to the side to function as canards. If they contain thruster plates (for a boost in grav wells), then they can be turned in a variety of directions for a "vectored thrust" to aid in maneuvering, boost acceleration or slow the craft. Like a tug boat mounted directly to a supertanker. With that overall shape, the ship would probably enter atmosphere at air-raft speeds and not hypersonic.

 

[atpollard]

In a low traffic system, a Jumpship might only depart every 2-4 weeks, waiting for enough ships to fill the hull. In that system, the fuel tender has plenty of time to get fuel and return.

In a very high traffic system, a steady convoy of Jumpships might depart daily. In that system, there would be a steady convoy of fuel tenders travelling to and from the gas giant.

 

[Valarian]

Intriguing .. I'm beginning to come around to the idea of a detachable fuel tender. The ideal location is the large offset area under the top set of drives. If the central spine is moved up slightly, then this whole area under the top drive section could detach. It's even a more or less streamlined shape.

I'll have to do some fiddling with the design and come up with how much of the total ship is the jumpship and how much the tender. The jumpship has huge fuel tanks (4 parsec range with jump-2 engines at full loaded tonnage).

The jumpship would end up with just the jump engines, no jump fuel. It would require the fuel feeds from the tender in order to fuel the jump. There would also have to be an additional docking hardpoint on the jumpship to dock the tender.

I'll try the modification when I get some time.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I'm not sure about the staggered drives. Looks unstable to me.

 

[atpollard]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
I'm not sure about the staggered drives. Looks unstable to me.

That's why it needs the grav plates at the front to counteract torque - like the tail rotor on a helicopter.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Originally posted by Scarecrow:
Keep the plate on the head. I like it. Come up with a reason for it. Like you say, it's just too pedestrian not to have it. You can either ignore the streamline issue or have it hinged so it folds horizontal behind the head when in atmospheric flight.

Crow

I agree, leave it. Though it definitely needs a reason to be there. (Form follows function.) So what is it and why does it need to be there?

 

[fredofmars]

Perhaps the "plate" at the front is actually the fuel tender? It detaches for the fuel run, then reattaches for fuel transfer. The plate, by itself, would be streamlined.