Original Starship Design Thread

[thekillman]

also if it was that easy then why didnt the asgard use the matter conversion proccess to just create hundreds of Oneill class warships?

Asgard tech requires Neutronium.

and that was their limiting factor.

[McAvoy]

My faction does not even know what the Asgard are, not even related to SG in fact, my faction is just tech advanced and able ot make such massive ships in the first place.

A place ot live, some have ot be big in order ot make more ships, others are big because the peopel that run them use the space. Most ship owners want as big as possible in order to store as much as possible be it goods for trading, soldiers, or otherwise

That is exactly my point. This argument size vs. numbers is old.

If you build for example a 7 kilometer vessel (throwing out numbers here) that can carry 1,000,000 troops then if that ship is destroyed you lose 1,000,000 troops. If you build ten 700 meter vessel that can carry 100,000, if one is destroyed you lose only 1/10th. See my point? Oversimplification of it yes, but the same goes for building warships.

The US Navy in WW2 designed the Montana class battleship which was more powerful than even the Yamato class on a similar displacement. However a design study leading up to the final design to look how large the vessel would be to increase speed from 27 to 33 knots would have made the vessel too large and expensive. We are talking about 60,000 tons final design vs. 66,000 tons 33 knots. This is coming from a country who was very capable of building such a 66,000 ton battleship if they wanted to.

[McAvoy]

It leads me to believe that by building 7 kilometer or larger vessels isn't about being practical or even logical. It's about the coolness factor. Who will build the bigger ship because bigger is better.

[thekillman]

In stargate, ships rarely are over a kilometer in size, and even then anything above a kilometer is usually worthless.

[lordofseas]

In stargate, ships rarely are over a kilometer in size, and even then anything above a kilometer is usually worthless.

They're nice to crash into things.

[thekillman]

producing an underwhelming explosion...

[Princess Awinita]

It leads me to believe that by building 7 kilometer or larger vessels isn't about being practical or even logical. It's about the coolness factor. Who will build the bigger ship because bigger is better.

Actually, I've been chatting with the faction creator; he says thus "I prefer the Tarkin Doctrine; Rule by Fear As such, size enhances that fear because of sheer size, and numbers of troops within said ships." I think this is a good plan. Personally for me anything over 14KM is too big for me to use.

And for me it is not about the coolness factor, it is merely about the preservation factor. Massive ships = too large a target for small splinter groups to try and take down. if you have enough of these massive sized starships you have a pretty good sized army ready for deplyment. I do not personally see what the problem is that everyone is finding with his ships, he factored in everything, mass, costs, etc. I personally like them. They Fit what he requires for them to fit. I work the same way

My rule of thumb; "if a starship cannot fit what I plan for it to fit, it is too small." My fighter craft are designed to be small, fast and highly manourevoable as possible while boasting strong heavy duty firepower. So therefore it takes a really insane person to fly a fighter that has no shields but enough armor and flight suit enough to survive vaccum if they must.

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

And for me it is not about the coolness factor, it is merely about the preservation factor. Massive ships = too large a target for small splinter groups to try and take down.

That's what the Galactic Empire thought... If only they had put a grate on that exhaust port

[thekillman]

the thing you forgot to factor in:

a ship that big has many parts. more parts = more chance of failure = more maintenance = bigger problems.

a ship 14km long will probably spend more time in the maintenance dock than in outer space.


plus, to power such a ship you need one hell of a powersource. you wouldn't need a whole lot of firepower to cripple such a ship, as the onboard powersource would be sufficiently vulnerable to blow it up.

lastly: a big ship can only target 1 thing, so to speak. a group of dogs is much harder to fight than one bull.

[Gormagon]

I have made some adjustments to the Kiruada class ships physical design, I was examining my schematics I have drawn up and corrected the design because of several key weaknesses. I know once they actually get involved in combat with the other fleets I will not be able to make changes so I figure I had better do it now,

The design is more efficient and less vulnerable to attack from certain angles.


I need to find the time and energy to upload the drawings.

[thekillman]

i am not sure how useful that is. unless you're dealing with HUGE gaps in defence, you can just maneuver out of the weak zone

[Gormagon]

It did have a huge gap actually. No heavy DEW capable of firing in an "upwards" direction. Also, my new design looks cooler and makes more sense.

[Gormagon]

Here is the latest missile drone design I have come up with.

Houjin missile drone
Size
-8m long
-5m wide
-2m high
Type: Automated assault craft

Role: Heavy duty combat drone

Classification: Type 1 small hull. Designation-042-B-AAC.

Builders: Hiati house with subcontracted parts from Yokuzaki, Mittsakou and Seronashi.

Operators: Houjin space navy.

Baseline cost: *Being calculated.*

Built: approx. 2008-present

Completed/planed: 8160 out of 20,000

Active: 4360

In commission: 2009-present

Powerplant
-LN fission cell
-Solar collector array
-4 batteries
Propulsion
Innertialess drive system
Emergency thrusters.
Defenses

-Shields: Yokuzaki/Mittsakou hybrid drone protection shield technology.
-E.W system.
-10cm nano armor.
-Anti personnel surge system.(To protect against tampering.)
Weapons
-two Drone sized plasma lances.
-Can carry 10 missiles
Other
-Shielded drone AI system.
Can support 2 human sized lifeforms in the missile bay, which can be pressurized and has a small very basic life support system. Its hull plating is the latest from Yokuzaki, 180x more resistant to impact or tearing then carbon steel and capable of resisting temperatures ranging up to 5200K.

Design: With the plans for new Kiruada class ships rolling off the assembly line, a newer updated class of missile drone seemed appropriate. The Houjin increased the new drones capabilities over the previous type commonly used, the 041-B-AAC.

Combat: This new drone is far superior to many other races fighters even on just the basis of its shielding system. The shield is not powerful enough to resist capitol vessel weapons, but in the simulations it can deflect and absorb many impacts from Death Glider cannons and rail guns. The shields main purpose is to make it nearly invulnerable to point defense weaponry so that its missiles can be deployed effectively.

Its lower yield plasma lances are prefect for slicing enemy fighters into pieces.

It uses maneuvering to avoid heavier weapons, its innertialess drive allows for fantastic maneuvers.

[thekillman]

Question:

how the hell do you intend to stuff a shield generator AND reactor core big enough to shrug off quite a bit of energy weapon fire in such a tiny ship?

i mean, the goauld had trouble fitting shields on Alkesh.

Not sure what most tank armor is made of, but it's certainly not carbon steel. i remember something along the lines of Boron Nitride.

[Gormagon]

Because it is powered by liquid naquadah fission, which can take place on a very small scale. Energy cells are pre-charged by excess power from the cell well the drones are not being used or energy transfer from the mothership. The force field is fully powered when the drone is launched. The static nature of an E5 containment shell combined with a stream of power from LN fission allows the shield to remain stable under fire from light fighter weapons.

4 glider hits in rapid succession would actually do more damage then 5 hits spread out, because the shield has time to recharge. Rail gun ammo has no E5 field.

Also, my biggest problem with designing ships comes into play with 1-the size. And two, their maximum relative velocity.

........The design and purpose of the vehicle determines the amount of armour plating carried, as the plating is often very heavy and excessive amounts of armour restrict mobility. In order to decrease this problem, some new materials (nanomaterials) and material compositions are being researched which include buckypaper, aluminium foam armour plates. Because of its high density, depleted uranium can also be used in tank armour, sandwiched between sheets of steel armour plate. For instance, some late-production M1A1HA and M1A2 Abrams tanks built after 1998 have DU reinforcement as part of the armour plating in the front of the hull and the front of the turret, and there is a program to upgrade the rest (see Chobham armour).

Partial quote from a article on tank armor. Lots of different things have been used.