AeroSpace Design Quest
- Thread starter FC Error
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
Hey @Commander Error how long are these contracts? The Strikefighter should be just under 3 years as it was four years and the contract that created the Nova was only one year...
So do we have time to do one of the contracts then do another? Do we have time to try and do two at once like we could last time?
So do we have time to do one of the contracts then do another? Do we have time to try and do two at once like we could last time?
FC Error
Missileer
- Location
- Aware of where I am not
You can go for two if you want. I will specify contract length from here on out (forgot to add it to this vote, wups) but none of these are shorter than 3 years, so if you want to SPEEDY SPEED BOY through them, that is entirely possible.
FC Error
Missileer
- Location
- Aware of where I am not
- Location
- earth
[X] Take two contracts
-[X] The Strikefighter and the Corvette contracts
-[X] The Strikefighter and the Corvette contracts
Kornet
Quite possibly a sloth abomination
- Location
- Mother Russia
[x] Try out the corvette contract
That's an interesting line of thought given that we have hust designet what might as well be a dedicated corvette-hunter.
And I don't see the appeal of working on two prijects simultaneously given that tgey are too different ti share componentscand design ideas. That's jyst asking for subpar results.
That's an interesting line of thought given that we have hust designet what might as well be a dedicated corvette-hunter.
And I don't see the appeal of working on two prijects simultaneously given that tgey are too different ti share componentscand design ideas. That's jyst asking for subpar results.
Project 2348-1, Phase One
FC Error
Missileer
- Location
- Aware of where I am not
[X] Try out the corvette contract.
After clearing your head slightly with coffee strong enough to serve as a personal defense weapon, you spend only a brief time pondering before settling on the corvette contract. The team assents easily, and work begins to wind up.
Project 2348-4 Modular Multi-Mission Corvette
Required: Hyperdrive, Interplanetary sublight range, modular weapons array, Cost 20 or less.
Preferred: Particle weapon module, laser battery module, SWACS module, crew of 5-8.
The UNFPC was impressed with the performance of the Nova F.1 fighter craft on your previous contract, and would like to expand their aged and ailing fleet of corvettes. Preference for a craft of %150 million (Cost 15) or less; no craft over $200 million (cost 20) will be considered.
Modular design required; weapons, sensors arrays, and (optionally) crew modules should be reconfigurable by any carrier or fleet base. Exact armament is Solar Dynamics' prerogative, but loadouts for anti-fighter, anti-corvette, and SWACS duties would be strongly preferred.
Corvettes have a fairly narrow size range for their hulls; either heavy-bomber-sized* "small", or a frame roughly twice that size as "large". Blant and Carson both suggest the smaller hull, to emphasize speed and maneuverability as much as possible; Jardin points out that the larger hulls, while more unwieldy, would allow for easier integration of the module systems and for the extended range the contract specifies.
[] Small hull (Cost 5)
[] Large hull (Cost 7)
Regardless of size, however, are the drives. Jardin makes a fairly convincing argument for using fighter engines - possibly even FN31s, for parts compatibility with the Nova - and simply mounting them in podded pairs or threes. Blant argues (rather passionately) for the use of a larger system; preferably a downscaled variant of the large plasma drives used on frigates, which would provide exceptional thrust and improved fuel efficiency both.
Carson seems ambivalent, save to comment that the podded-fighter-engines idea could also be mounted on gimbals, providing vastly improved agility.
[] Fighter engines - parts compatibility and/or maneuverability is werf.
>[] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
>[] GE620-100s - an older design from company warehouses, but reliable and efficient. (Cost+2)
>[] Shop around for more offers.
[] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
_______
*For those curious, a 'small' corvette hull is maybe 120% the size of a B-1 Lancer.
Phase 2 onwards will have a running tab of your total Cost, for the record.
After clearing your head slightly with coffee strong enough to serve as a personal defense weapon, you spend only a brief time pondering before settling on the corvette contract. The team assents easily, and work begins to wind up.
Project 2348-4 Modular Multi-Mission Corvette
Required: Hyperdrive, Interplanetary sublight range, modular weapons array, Cost 20 or less.
Preferred: Particle weapon module, laser battery module, SWACS module, crew of 5-8.
The UNFPC was impressed with the performance of the Nova F.1 fighter craft on your previous contract, and would like to expand their aged and ailing fleet of corvettes. Preference for a craft of %150 million (Cost 15) or less; no craft over $200 million (cost 20) will be considered.
Modular design required; weapons, sensors arrays, and (optionally) crew modules should be reconfigurable by any carrier or fleet base. Exact armament is Solar Dynamics' prerogative, but loadouts for anti-fighter, anti-corvette, and SWACS duties would be strongly preferred.
Corvettes have a fairly narrow size range for their hulls; either heavy-bomber-sized* "small", or a frame roughly twice that size as "large". Blant and Carson both suggest the smaller hull, to emphasize speed and maneuverability as much as possible; Jardin points out that the larger hulls, while more unwieldy, would allow for easier integration of the module systems and for the extended range the contract specifies.
[] Small hull (Cost 5)
[] Large hull (Cost 7)
Regardless of size, however, are the drives. Jardin makes a fairly convincing argument for using fighter engines - possibly even FN31s, for parts compatibility with the Nova - and simply mounting them in podded pairs or threes. Blant argues (rather passionately) for the use of a larger system; preferably a downscaled variant of the large plasma drives used on frigates, which would provide exceptional thrust and improved fuel efficiency both.
Carson seems ambivalent, save to comment that the podded-fighter-engines idea could also be mounted on gimbals, providing vastly improved agility.
[] Fighter engines - parts compatibility and/or maneuverability is werf.
>[] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
>[] GE620-100s - an older design from company warehouses, but reliable and efficient. (Cost+2)
>[] Shop around for more offers.
[] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
_______
*For those curious, a 'small' corvette hull is maybe 120% the size of a B-1 Lancer.
Phase 2 onwards will have a running tab of your total Cost, for the record.
- Location
- earth
[] Small hull (Cost 5)
[] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[]Use the gimbal idea.
[] Large hull (Cost 7)
[] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
Not casting my votes yet - I don't know which option I prefer more - straight-line speed and efficiency or agility and handling.
[] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[]Use the gimbal idea.
[] Large hull (Cost 7)
[] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
Not casting my votes yet - I don't know which option I prefer more - straight-line speed and efficiency or agility and handling.
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TortugaGreen
Constantly out of the loop
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
F A S T
[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
F A S T
Kornet
Quite possibly a sloth abomination
- Location
- Mother Russia
[X] Small hull (Cost 5)
[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[X]Use the gimbal idea
A tough choice for me. In the end, I chose cost and practicality over performance. It seems to me that what they want is a do-everything machine to be stationed every fucking where, including and especially in small backwater garrison with little to no maintenence facilities. If I am right, mist if all the vehicle needs to be easy to suppkyvand maintain, reliable, inexpensive and merely good enough to do it's job.
[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[X]Use the gimbal idea
A tough choice for me. In the end, I chose cost and practicality over performance. It seems to me that what they want is a do-everything machine to be stationed every fucking where, including and especially in small backwater garrison with little to no maintenence facilities. If I am right, mist if all the vehicle needs to be easy to suppkyvand maintain, reliable, inexpensive and merely good enough to do it's job.
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- Location
- Elsewhere
[X] Small hull (Cost 5)
[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[X]Use the gimbal idea
[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[X]Use the gimbal idea
- Location
- his hidden lair
[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[X]Use the gimbal idea
It'll be expensive and we'll likely be a bit overbudget, but an agile heavy weight gunboat is going to be a solid platform to put mission modules on. We made a fantastic transatmospheric Interceptor and got a reputation boost for it, let's take that and leverage it into something genuinely impressive and capable of its mission if a bit expensive. Our buyer's design philosophy is capability over cost after all.
[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
[X]Use the gimbal idea
It'll be expensive and we'll likely be a bit overbudget, but an agile heavy weight gunboat is going to be a solid platform to put mission modules on. We made a fantastic transatmospheric Interceptor and got a reputation boost for it, let's take that and leverage it into something genuinely impressive and capable of its mission if a bit expensive. Our buyer's design philosophy is capability over cost after all.
Kornet
Quite possibly a sloth abomination
- Location
- Mother Russia
A weird thought: do we actualky have to choose 1, @Commander Error ?
We seem to have two distinct aporoaches to this project, so can we actually pursue this simultaneously, with the understanding that one project branch will be most probably dropped down the line?
[X] Split the project into two independent branches
-[X] Branch A
--[X] Small hull (Cost 5)
--[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
--[X]Use the gimbal idea
-[X] Branch B
--[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
--[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
We seem to have two distinct aporoaches to this project, so can we actually pursue this simultaneously, with the understanding that one project branch will be most probably dropped down the line?
[X] Split the project into two independent branches
-[X] Branch A
--[X] Small hull (Cost 5)
--[X] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
--[X]Use the gimbal idea
-[X] Branch B
--[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
--[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
FC Error
Missileer
- Location
- Aware of where I am not
...you could, but be aware you'd be getting penalized pretty harshly on rolls for trying to split your 4-person team two ways.
Kornet
Quite possibly a sloth abomination
- Location
- Mother Russia
Noted. By the way, wouldn't that also be the case if we took two contracts simultaneously?
FC Error
Missileer
- Location
- Aware of where I am not
I thought the idea of doubling up on contracts was doing them sequentially, not concurrently.
[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small. -fuel efficiency is paramount for corvette duties, they have to do the most maneuvering in the fleet. Plus this engine doesnt cost any more, AND its more powerful? Literally the only problem is from a durability standpoint, as there would be less engines on the ship, meaning more likely to be disabled in case of a hit.
[X] Large hull (Cost 7) -I actually had a good long think about this one. If we pick a small hull, it would be FAR more likely to be taken out of a fight by targets on the same weight class (especially since I really want to go with frigate engines). But the contract states that they want an anti-fighter and anti-corvette ship.
If we have a super fast, large hardpoint number corvette we take care of the two issues:
1) The increased speed from the large engines means outmaneuvering and escaping fights is much easier, a bigger deal against corvettes, as simillar sized ships or smaller optimized for other anti corvette actions will have fewer hardpoints, and bigger weapons. This decrease in fireing angle+increase in fire power means that the only way our ship can reach parity with its hull disadvantage (bigger target) is to either increase speed or load up on simillar weapons to overpower the enemies firepower. We are doing a modular ship so the weapons part is somewhat out of our hands. But we CAN make the ship flat out faster, which with the frigate engines is totally possible.
2) the increased amount of weapons hardpoints due to a bigger hull (plus the increased durability) is a great anti-fighter design. Fighters are made for destroying simillar sized craft, so beefing up the ship should counter those weapons. The extra surface area gives more points on the ship to put weapons, meaning a better field of fire than on a small ship. A single fighter pilot will have to knock out more weapons, more engines, and more critical systems to bring the ship down. All the while being shot at by said weapons, and trying to keep up.
In opposition:
[] Small hull (Cost 5)
[] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
The entire point of this plan, is to hope and pray you make it through the fighter screen alright, then slug it out with corvettes normally (with an advantage against larger corvettes).
All for the Same Cost
Hopefully ive made my case good enough.
[X] Large hull (Cost 7) -I actually had a good long think about this one. If we pick a small hull, it would be FAR more likely to be taken out of a fight by targets on the same weight class (especially since I really want to go with frigate engines). But the contract states that they want an anti-fighter and anti-corvette ship.
If we have a super fast, large hardpoint number corvette we take care of the two issues:
1) The increased speed from the large engines means outmaneuvering and escaping fights is much easier, a bigger deal against corvettes, as simillar sized ships or smaller optimized for other anti corvette actions will have fewer hardpoints, and bigger weapons. This decrease in fireing angle+increase in fire power means that the only way our ship can reach parity with its hull disadvantage (bigger target) is to either increase speed or load up on simillar weapons to overpower the enemies firepower. We are doing a modular ship so the weapons part is somewhat out of our hands. But we CAN make the ship flat out faster, which with the frigate engines is totally possible.
2) the increased amount of weapons hardpoints due to a bigger hull (plus the increased durability) is a great anti-fighter design. Fighters are made for destroying simillar sized craft, so beefing up the ship should counter those weapons. The extra surface area gives more points on the ship to put weapons, meaning a better field of fire than on a small ship. A single fighter pilot will have to knock out more weapons, more engines, and more critical systems to bring the ship down. All the while being shot at by said weapons, and trying to keep up.
In opposition:
[] Small hull (Cost 5)
[] FN31s - keeping in theme with the Nova can only help ease logistics. (Cost +2)
The entire point of this plan, is to hope and pray you make it through the fighter screen alright, then slug it out with corvettes normally (with an advantage against larger corvettes).
All for the Same Cost
Hopefully ive made my case good enough.
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- Location
- Belgium
[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small. Efficiency would probably be important, and is somewhat reuired because of
[X] Large hull (Cost 7) which is needed because of modularity requires space.
[X] Large hull (Cost 7) which is needed because of modularity requires space.
Kornet
Quite possibly a sloth abomination
- Location
- Mother Russia
Now that I am not sleepy as hell, I see you are kind of right (when it doesn't come to formating the vote. Seriously, delete the x from yhe options your are not voting for). Although I doubt that the engine will not cost extra, the option looks more like it will just lead to a subvote on what frigate engine to install.
While it is not stated in the latest threadmark for some reason, the one before it clearly states that the main mission for this corvette is long-range patrol. With the added demands of modular mission modules (which are by their nature more bulky), we need the corvette to be big to carry all the fuel, amenities and mission modules it needs on the long-range patrol, and it needs the increased fuel-efficiency of the frigate engine, making maneuvrability an unfortunate yet inevitable casualty of the design demands.
[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
Edit: holy hell so many typos why
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- Location
- Elsewhere
[X] Frigate engines - you can cram one, maybe two, downscaled S.210 plasma torches on a Large hull, or a single one on a Small.
[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
I've been convinced to change my vote because of the discussion. Now that I think about it, the faster corvette would help a lot.
[X] Large hull (Cost 7)
I've been convinced to change my vote because of the discussion. Now that I think about it, the faster corvette would help a lot.