2111: Project Abilkhan (Chassis)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
While you were dressing up the 2111 for Delhi, the rest of Team Three was hard at work finishing the Abilkhan.
The original plan had been for a straightforward, barebones ovoid pod tethered fairly closely to its mothership. It was a straightforward overhaul with a complete framework that was more than competitive with last gen designs. However, the same weight savings that had brought it in well under size targets also meant it wasn't hitting payload targets. It might be possible to bring a barebones design up to spec during final outfitting, but that'd be more difficult than creating a more powerful chassis to begin with.
Prototyping for alternate chassis had only just started when bad news hit the company. Basilisk Team had dissolved. The orbital sweeper had run into constant technical issues, culminating in the South Korean government cutting them from the bidding process over Endurance targets. While their sweeper prototype had promise, Musabayev simply didn't have the budget to finish such a long-tail product without some form of up front investment. After a long talk with the accountants, Basilisk had voted to dissolve itself and release its remaining budget to other teams.
The silver lining was that Teams Three and A had both gotten an infusion of skilled crew and hard cash, as well as several sensor prototypes. The bad news was that the pressure was on:
Musabayev needed a proper win out of its current projects, or there was a real risk the company would collapse.
You returned from Delhi to a team at loggerheads over the final chassis.
A minority of the crew wanted to continue with the current design. Some extra thrusters on the one-crew pod would bring you towards payload targets while remaining under weight. You could ignore Quebec, write-off the bribes as a loss, and simply go for the mass market at speed. Best of all, the pod was already designed.
Most of the team wanted a more dramatic shift. A segmented design, vaguely reminiscent of an arachnid, would give you more space for equipment and more flexibility in the field. Such a design would be more comfortable, have better bandwidth for drone control, and be less reliant on its mothership for basic oversight tasks, but would be larger and more expensive than a pod for the same payload.
Both designs could also be expanded to fit a second crewmember. While a significant increase in weight, it would allow the vehicle to host a dedicated drone-control station, justify an expanded cargo bay, and enable each crew member to focus wholly upon their current tasks rather than having to juggle piloting with everything else.
Chassis
Remaining Budget: 8
[ ] One-crew Pod. (+1 Payload, +1 Weight. 0 Budget.)
[ ] One-crew Segmented. (+1 Payload, +3 Utility, +3 Weight, 2 Budget.)
[ ] Two-crew Pod (+4 Payload, +2 Utility, +3 Weight, 3 Budget.)
[ ] Two-crew Segmented (+4 Payload, +6 Utility, +5 Weight. 4 Budget.)
Current Design
Payload: 3
Utility: 5
Weight: 4
Maintenance: 3
Unit Cost: Medium
Hazard: 0
The original plan had been for a straightforward, barebones ovoid pod tethered fairly closely to its mothership. It was a straightforward overhaul with a complete framework that was more than competitive with last gen designs. However, the same weight savings that had brought it in well under size targets also meant it wasn't hitting payload targets. It might be possible to bring a barebones design up to spec during final outfitting, but that'd be more difficult than creating a more powerful chassis to begin with.
Prototyping for alternate chassis had only just started when bad news hit the company. Basilisk Team had dissolved. The orbital sweeper had run into constant technical issues, culminating in the South Korean government cutting them from the bidding process over Endurance targets. While their sweeper prototype had promise, Musabayev simply didn't have the budget to finish such a long-tail product without some form of up front investment. After a long talk with the accountants, Basilisk had voted to dissolve itself and release its remaining budget to other teams.
The silver lining was that Teams Three and A had both gotten an infusion of skilled crew and hard cash, as well as several sensor prototypes. The bad news was that the pressure was on:
Musabayev needed a proper win out of its current projects, or there was a real risk the company would collapse.
You returned from Delhi to a team at loggerheads over the final chassis.
A minority of the crew wanted to continue with the current design. Some extra thrusters on the one-crew pod would bring you towards payload targets while remaining under weight. You could ignore Quebec, write-off the bribes as a loss, and simply go for the mass market at speed. Best of all, the pod was already designed.
Most of the team wanted a more dramatic shift. A segmented design, vaguely reminiscent of an arachnid, would give you more space for equipment and more flexibility in the field. Such a design would be more comfortable, have better bandwidth for drone control, and be less reliant on its mothership for basic oversight tasks, but would be larger and more expensive than a pod for the same payload.
Both designs could also be expanded to fit a second crewmember. While a significant increase in weight, it would allow the vehicle to host a dedicated drone-control station, justify an expanded cargo bay, and enable each crew member to focus wholly upon their current tasks rather than having to juggle piloting with everything else.
Chassis
Remaining Budget: 8
[ ] One-crew Pod. (+1 Payload, +1 Weight. 0 Budget.)
[ ] One-crew Segmented. (+1 Payload, +3 Utility, +3 Weight, 2 Budget.)
[ ] Two-crew Pod (+4 Payload, +2 Utility, +3 Weight, 3 Budget.)
[ ] Two-crew Segmented (+4 Payload, +6 Utility, +5 Weight. 4 Budget.)
Current Design
Payload: 3
Utility: 5
Weight: 4
Maintenance: 3
Unit Cost: Medium
Hazard: 0
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