[gurps] Vehicle outline: TL13 Colonization Support/Disaster ReliefNano-Factory ship

[Troy Guffey]

Onno Meyer wrote:
> Troy wrote:
>> Heavy body structure, underbelly skid, living-metal, self-sealing,
>> total compartmentalization; Very Good streamlining, lifting body
>>
>> 12 pop turrets 4 forward rainbow laser ring (Top,Under,Right,Left);
>> 4 rear rainbow laser ring (Top,Under, Right,Left); 2 grav(combo
>> beam, gravy) each Right, Left
>
> Just how common are surface landings? Of we're talking about an 'every
> now and then' option, a redundant streamlined deflector might be
> enough and you can get the boxy, massive look-and-feel beloved by the
> movies. That also helps with modular options (see below).

There are probably things which are going to need to be dropped off on the 
surface, so at least a few times on every mission.  And the main ship has 
the BIG TRACTOR....

> Talking about those laser rings makes me thing of a roughly
> cylindrical shape, possibly with little control surfaces from the
> lifting body. How did you envision it?

That sounds about right.

>> Power: Cosmic Energy Generator, ruggedized with additional 200DR
>> advanced laminate. 3 generators, each 2/3 necessary power
>>
>> Motive: Grav Drive, non-limited (planetary surface to space)
>> vectored-thrust (includes contra-grav), 16g sAccel (w/ 300lb/cf
>> cargo load); Warp-drive, Jump-drive
>
> What about redundant 'engine rooms', each with power plants and
> engines, and the ship able to operate on one or two 'engine rooms'
> out of three or four? That way you don't have half your power plant
> capacity sit idle.

I was actually thinking about running all three at 2/3 power.  I don't quite 
get what you said.

>
>> Armor: DR 200 expensive laminate all over, thermal-superconducting,
>> PF 100k radiation shielding
>
> For the size, that sounds rather thin. A large ship should have a
> solid physical hull in proportion.

Yeah, I kind of noticed that was kind of thin, too after I sent in the 
initial design.  Up to 512DR, or more?


>> Force-field grid: 1000 DR, engery phasing surface,variable, no
>> overload
>
> Not enough for a ship of this size, either ...

That was just an initial estimate based on vague memories of the TL7 tank in 
Vechicles.  Going up to at least 4096DR

>
>> PD 8 deflector generator, shaped (extreme streamlining)
>
>> Spinal gravity-beam mount capable of lifting 2xEwt (usable as
>> combo-beam, grav-beam)
>
> Would you want a tractor beam in a spinal mount, and not in the belly
> pointing downward?

The energy phasing surface lets you point it whichever way you want it.  And 
in gravy mode you'd probably want to face the enemy.

>> Macroframe computer; neural-net, high-capacity; SAI
>
> Classic Vehicles makes sentience an option of the computer. How
> about taking a page from TS and having the AI resident both in
> the main computer cluster (redundancy!) and smaller systems?
>
>> Force-locks 2 8-person, 8 2-person
>
> Forcelocks don't have to be rated for persons - they don't have
> chambers like normal airlocks.
>
>> 8 extreme-range comms; 1 gravity-ripple, 1 neutrino, 4 radio, 2 laser
>
> Neutrino comms are extremely tight-beam. Two ships with one neutrino
> com each can talk to each other. Several ships with two coms each can
> form a 'ring', any unit can reach any other unit through relays. But
> the loss of any two units breaks the ring. Three or four are needed
> for a redundant net. Same for lasers.
>
>> 2 very long range multi-mode radar(front), 1 ladar(front)
>
> A FTL ship needs FTL sensors or really, really tough frontal armor :-)

I'm not sure how to justify that in my head.  The physics I'm using are like 
Travis Taylor's "Warp Drive" series:  anything traveling FTL must have a 
"warp bubble".

>
> Last but not least, IFFs would be nice.
>
>> Bridge with roomy crew stations for captain, pilot, engineer,
>> sensor-op, gunner. Crew stations have crashweb, gravweb. (combine
>> sensor and gunner to tactical?)
>
> Plus lots of commo staff to coordinate relief.

Good point, adding CIC.

>> Advanced emission cloak, basic stealth, basic chameleon
>
> Why more cloaking than stealth?

Because emissions shout, "Here I am" to passive sensors, but stealth is 
useful against active systems which announce their own prescence.

>> How long should sensor range be for ANY TL for operation inside a
>> stellar system?
>
> Moving at 'realistic' in-system velocities:

Thanks for the range/detection data.

v2 coming in separate post.

--
Troy Guffey
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