Not as far as I know. Current tentative plans are to have bare minimum 1 shuttle for the ship.
Shuttle over the shuttlepods for the extra science and the probe launcher?
One could get a pair of large cargo bays into a ship this size, but that's the most that would fit. Size really matters for efficient cargo ships.
Higher warp isn't significant to in-system trade. It's already very fast, so we'd probably do more to speed it up by researching better teleporters.
... we might actually reach Warp 5 before we have any significant need for it, so building an inter-system cargo ship is probably premature.
I think we could probably manage 4, if all we wanted was a cargo ship. The two wide strip down the middle of the center hull is probably enough for everything else strictly necessary.
Question: how much range can we probably get if we build it as a survey ship?> Ovoid, 80 Ktons
Having decided on a minimum size ovoid hull, there are a number of decisions to make regarding the hull's composition and basic orientation.
Firstly, there is the question of whether to construct the ship to full modern military standards (polarized hull, etc), civilian standards, or some mix of both. The second matter is that of basic orientation- the design is currently envisioned as a simple flattened lozenge shape which could be oriented two ways. In a vertical orientation, the ship would have the ability to easily mount a shuttlebay or large cargo bay (or both) amidships, or some other large utility system. On the other hand, a horizontal configuration would potentially allow the ship to carry heavy weapons such as the Type 3b disruptor emitter more easily, though a vertical configuration could still potentially mount a pair of Type 4b disruptor cannons port and starboard if desired.
[ ] Orientation: Horizontal
A horizontal orientation would allow for large weapons systems to be more easily mounted to the ship.
[ ] Orientation: Vertical
A vertical orientation would allow somewhat greater flexibility in the placement of utility systems.
[ ] Build the ship to civilian standards [Cost: ~18 CI | 13 End. | 26 Shield Str.]
[ ] Build the ship to military standards [Cost: ~23.6 CI & 1.7 MI | 17 End. | 34 Shield Str.]
[ ] Other (Write-in) [Variable]
Initial module grid
Please Vote By Plan
Six Hour Moratorium
Mass: 375 kilotons
Hull Type: Ovoid
Secondary Hull: 1 Medium Inline
Maneuverability: Medium
Evasion: 23
Defense: 308
Endurance: 47
Tactical:
Sustained Damage: 152
Burst Damage: 196.8
Other: 26
Final Tactical score: 380
Science: 62
Engineering: 114
Sprint Speed: Warp 4.2
Cruise Speed: Warp 2.9
Independent Operations Time: Technically indefinite in maximum endurance configuration, 2.3~ Yennian Standard Years in standard configuration.
Decks: 29
Crew: 762
Shuttlecraft: 8
Shuttlepods: 8
Spare Shuttle Capacity: 4 | 8
Cloaking Device: No
That depends rather heavily on who gets the Iniative, and if the Iron Road gets to start with its shields up and if the agressor force gets to start cloaked. so probably "however many they can catch by surprise and torpedo, plus maybe like two or three after that depending on unknowable factors like positioning, relative crew skills, concentration of force, etc."
there are military planners waking up in a cold sweat from thinking about how many other transformative technologies there could be out in the void.
Oh, indutably so. But then, military planners are always fretting about unknown unknowns and hoping that having plans for everything they can think of (no matter how outlandish) will be enough. I've little doubt there's a filing cabinet in the Pentagon or something that's filled with nothing but "what do we do if invaded by [insert fictional faction here]" plans for example.
Unrelated, but important for the vote I feel: can an 80kt hull actually achieve enough range to be acceptable in a surveyor role?
I am VERY happy right now. The Type 2s replaced the Lances and 2 of the PGs. This gives it the same number of turrets as the Halberd. The other two PGs got replaced by two pairs of 3a doom beams. So our cargo ship has the same 4 guns to deal with tailgaters that the Furious Wind has pointing forward. The 8 "comfort lasers" are now 16 Type 1 PD disruptors. Decent coverage and more firepower from them then the first version had in total.
Exactly this. I can't wait for somebody to get quad light doom beams to the face as they try to attack an Iron Road from behind.
Sadly those numbers are just speculation and we can not be sure that is how it will math out. That's why we've asked the QM repeatedly to get some guidance on how much range/endurance a ship of this size will have. Knowing how much a 1 vs 2 medium cargo hold will get at this size is pretty key.
Nope. Cool in general, but wildly misguided on our species' specific techbase. Away from keyboard at the moment so I'm just gonna quote my previous screed on the topic (and spoiler it for length), but the tl;dr is effectiveness scales WAY harder with size than cost does; the only advantage of more smaller hulls is the ability to be in more places at once. If you're going to deploy them together in swarms, you don't even get to benefit from that, and that swarm would be far weaker and less capable than either its mass-equivalent or cost-equivalent in one or two bigger ships.
Probably because it's on the same page as the new sidestory threadmark and they didn't notice the date.
...oh, lawd.
Yup, this is exactly it.
And now I want to see a reaction of a friendly ambassador, asking why we are establishing colonies with heavy cruisers.
