Two Sphere Ship

[77topaz]

Proposing a new ship design...
(the current version)

The ship consists of two large spheres connected by a bridge, which is also the bridge. It has both passenger/yacht functions and cargo functions - the port sphere is mostly cargo, the starboard sphere mostly passenger. Each sphere has five decks. There are three turrets (or hardpoints, I'm not sure what the difference is) (shown as "Weaponry"), and the fuel tank covers one deck in the port sphere.

Layout (just simple as of now):

Port sphere:
Top deck: Cargo
Upper-middle deck: Cargo, Cryo Storage (low berths), Bio/Hazardous Storage
Middle deck: Passageway, J-Drive, M-Drive, Engineering
Lower-middle deck: Fuel tanks
Bottom deck: Weaponry

Bridge:
Upper-middle deck: Weaponry
Middle deck: Main Bridge
Lower-middle deck: Passageway, Captain's quarters, mess room

Starboard sphere:
Top deck: "Panorama suite", Restaurant
Upper-middle deck: Passenger quarters
Middle deck: Passageway, J-Drive, M-Drive, Engineering
Lower-middle deck: Crew quarters, Main AI, sick bay
Bottom deck: Weaponry

Obviously there's still a lot to be invented... but pass comment, if you feel inclined to.

 

[aramis]

A turret is mounted in a hardpoint; A weapon is mounted in a turret, and thus indirectly also in a hardpoint.

 

[77topaz]

A turret is mounted in a hardpoint; A weapon is mounted in a turret, and thus indirectly also in a hardpoint.

Ah! That clarifies something, thanks!
So, the bottom decks of the two spheres and the upper deck of the bridge carry hardpoints (but not neccessarily only that).

 

[aramis]

Ah! That clarifies something, thanks!
So, the bottom decks of the two spheres and the upper deck of the bridge carry hardpoints (but not neccessarily only that).

You're most welcome.

 

[77topaz]

You're most welcome.

Does this seem to you as a realistic and/or interesting ship?

 

[aramis]

Does this seem to you as a realistic and/or interesting ship?

Neither particularly realistic nor particularly unrealistic. But then, someone described my deckplan preferences as "flying phallus"...

Interesting? No more so than any of the dozens of others I've skimmed. It's memorable, if nothing else, for being a flying old-school dumbbell.

The division of areas is sensible, save for having drives in both pods. You really don't want passegers anywhere near drives; I'd put the drives in the bridge module, and all crew spaces except the captain's in the PAX pod; the Skipper (and maybe Chief Engineer) might have quarters in the Cargo Pod, simply so that their quarters are nearly immune to a "night watch putsch"...

 

[77topaz]

Okay, a revision of the layout:

Port sphere:
Top deck: Cargo
Upper-middle deck: Cargo, Cryo Storage (low berths), Bio/Hazardous Storage
Middle deck: Passageway, Cargo, Captain's quarters, Air/Raft and Shuttle Storage
Lower-middle deck: Fuel tanks
Bottom deck: Weaponry

Bridge:
Upper-middle deck: Weaponry, "Top Bridge"
Middle deck: Passageway, J-Drive, M-Drive, Engineering
Lower-middle deck: Main Bridge

Starboard sphere:
Top deck: "Panorama deck", Restaurant
Upper-middle deck: Passenger quarters
Middle deck: Passageway, Crew quarters, mess room
Lower-middle deck: Main AI, sick bay, kitchens, food storage
Bottom deck: Weaponry

 

[DangerousThing]

The division of areas is sensible, save for having drives in both pods. You really don't want passegers anywhere near drives; I'd put the drives in the bridge module, and all crew spaces except the captain's in the PAX pod; the Skipper (and maybe Chief Engineer) might have quarters in the Cargo Pod, simply so that their quarters are nearly immune to a "night watch putsch"...

Or make it a three-sphere ship. Passengers, Engineering, and Cargo.

I think it would look interesting.

 

[Whipsnade]

Interesting ideas, 77topaz.

You may find the spherical designs here intriguing.

 

[jshiggin]

Does this seem to you as a realistic and/or interesting ship?

Not terribly realistic.
If nothing else, the turret atop the bridge is partly masked by the upper decks of the spheres to either side. Remember, field of fire is important, and should only be restricted when absolutely necessary.

Also, what's supposed to be the advantage (economic or otherwise) to the shape? Or is it just some rich-kid's toy?

 

[77topaz]

Interesting ideas, 77topaz.

You may find the spherical designs here intriguing.

Isn't the Broadsword class spherical?

 

[77topaz]

I have a couple more ideas:

Three disk ship: a variation on Two Spheres, but then military, with a cargo/ammo - bridge/engineering - weaponry layout.
Aerodynamic Shuttle design: a more aerodynamic, "normal" design, with fuel tanks and drives in the wings like Terran aircraft. This would be a passenger transport ship.

Do you want me to post more info here, or in separate threads, or somewhere else?

 

[Whipsnade]

Isn't the Broadsword class spherical?

Yes it is, but the canonical deckplans from A:7 are badly broken.

 

[Travellerspud]

why do this?

if you can answer that question, the rest will follow....

real world designs like this are usually a fore/aft arrangement, with the drive and power plant radiation in one globe, that is connected via a long tube to the other sphere with living quarters and bridge and cargo (sometimes a 3rd cargo sphere is in the middle). At lower tech levels before gravity plates, a central space-station like wheel is added that spins (to simulate gravity).

alternately, perhaps the passengers are in one pod, and the crew, drives, and cargo in another for security reasons (with the connecting tube full of security systems). This could drive an adventure where the PC's sneak outside the hull to get to the goodies (and avoid the security systems).

or perhaps it is for redundancy reasons (2 complete ships connected via a tube, allowing for one to continue on if the other is damaged).

rarely does anyone do something like this purely for looks (unless they are Nobles, then anything is possible)

answer why, and the rest follows.

 

[DangerousThing]

why do this?

if you can answer that question, the rest will follow....
...
rarely does anyone do something like this purely for looks (unless they are Nobles, then anything is possible)

answer why, and the rest follows.

I'll admit that the economics of this is very important. *However* the esthetics of a device/vehicle/building are often the driving force behind the appearance.

The spheres could just be because it is somewhat of a trademark of a naval architecture house.

Maybe the people of planet X happen to really be into spheres, in which case I would expect a simple house to look like a hemisphere and for complex buildings to have spherical outcroppings.

And yes, perhaps it is a good separation of types.

Or perhaps the shipyard can't build jump drives that don't occasionally explode, so it's a good idea to have them in a separate pod.

With gravitics and improved structural materials, strange shapes can be indulged in.

One advantage the OTU has over MTU is that the ships use H2 fuel so odd shapes can filled with fuel. This might have the advantage that if hit in the fuel tank in combat only 1/3 of the fuel might be lost.

IMTU I typically have individual nations have a characteristic ship type. The Phoenix Empire has blocky-horizontal ships (they look like collections of blocks laid on their side and are typically wider than they are either across or high), the Aquarian Federation is blocky-vertical, the Lirrian Commons have organic ships. However, individual worlds in a nation may have a different style like flying clusters of baseballs.
-
Jay

 

[77topaz]

Three Sphere + Central Module Ship

A different (but related) design, with three spheres (five decks) and a Central Module (three decks)...
(this would probably be from the same polity)

Port sphere:
Top deck: Cargo
Upper-middle deck: Cargo, Bio/Hazardous Storage
Middle deck: Passageway, Cargo
Lower-middle deck: Captain's quarters, secure storage
Bottom deck: Weaponry

Back sphere:
Top deck: Cryo Storage (low berths)
Upper-middle deck: Fuel tanks, Power plants
Middle deck: Passageway, J-Drive, M-Drive, Engineering
Lower-middle deck: Docking, Air/Raft and Shuttle storage
Bottom deck: Weaponry

Starboard sphere:
Top deck: "Panorama suite", Restaurant
Upper-middle deck: Passenger quarters
Middle deck: Passageway, Crew quarters, mess room, meeting area
Lower-middle deck: Main AI, sick bay, kitchens, food storage
Bottom deck: Weaponry

Central Module:
Upper deck: Weaponry
Middle deck: Main Bridge
Lower deck: Sensors

Connectors:
Port sphere - Central Module: Passageway, extra docking space, assorted storage
Starboard sphere - Central Module: Passageway, information center, luxury/panorama suite
Back sphere - Central Module: Passageway, ammunition storage
Port sphere - Starboard sphere: Passageway, Weaponry, Forward Observation
Port sphere - Back sphere: Passageway, assorted storage
Starboard sphere - Back sphere: Passageway, Crew quarters, crew meeting area

 

[BlackBat242]

Interesting ideas, 77topaz.

You may find the spherical designs here intriguing.

Sorry, but the document you requested was not found on this server. Please inform the webmaster on the referring site.

You can try searching for the information you want, or you can go directly to SFF Net's Home Page

 

[77topaz]

Oh dear...
Hmm, I remember that link did work before.

 

[far-trader]

Yep, it would be a shame if the site is gone as it seems to be. There seems to be no listing in the main directory for it any longer.

 

[DeltaX15]

If I remember correctly, the first published ship design to use the sphere-cylinder-sphere was the Discovery in 2001 (the film, not year ) [yes, before you start shouting I know the rear 'sphere' is actually an oblate spheroid.]
The premise for this design is that the ship can't carry suficient sheilding to protect the crew from the drive's radiation, so the the drive pod, and the crew pod are seperated.