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Hard Vacuum: Joro Wan Armament Design Bureau

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I personally under the impression we were still discussing :/
I mean, there was not a lot of discussion about the ups and downsides, like how this thing wil probally be a little expensive.
In my opinion it is wiser to discuss more, Again about the pro's and cons of shadowclaws design
 
Lizard Knight said:
I personally under the impression we were still discussing :/
I mean, there was not a lot of discussion about the ups and downsides, like how this thing wil probally be a little expensive.
In my opinion it is wiser to discuss more, Again about the pro's and cons of shadowclaws design
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That's why I asked if you guys were done before just taking a tally and going for it.
 
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Initiating Design Resolution 1: Elitist HOTV
  • Threadmarks
    • ...So, the general zeitgeist seems to be aiming towards the Elitist class HOTV.
    write-up
    "Elitist"-class Heliocentric-Operational Transport Vessel (HOTV):
    The transport vessel is a necessary vehicle a robotic network and human colony just needed so that it can transport resources and deploy troops. Powered by a Open-Cycle Z-pinch Fusion Engine, for propulsion of the large vehicle created to transport either troops and there vehicles into combat operations, or resource transfer operations. The thing is quite bulky, and has titanium armor plating for many of the ship's vital parts (such as the engines) and just normal heavy steel for the rest. The vehicle is rather slow for s transport vessel but armored, and has the ability to provide transportation. The ship utilizes deployment pod, that are filled like the basis of Martian Rovers, metal pods that infantry can fit into and be deployed, and than the metal pods fly into the sky from the ship while the infantry are protected by the ergonomic design of the pods until about 100m off the sky, a AI utilizing gravitational proximity sensors will deploy a parachute for the deployment pods. The vehicle can also land into a planet's surface where robots and other construction and extraction vehicles can store and transfer minerals and other resources, with its launching door from its cargo hold which can also store large ground vehicles and infantry, as well as resource-filled containers. The space-faring freighter ship in its entire length is about 1,106 ft (337 m) long, with a beam of 126 ft (78) meter, of course most of its size comes from its massive cargo bay and heavy steel plating, while still room for a space-faring radar system, astronavigation system, and other basic things needed for a transport vessel. The vehicle is unarmed

    This write-up provides no bonuses or penalties. The check difficulty is Normal, on account of the use of a fusion engine at this early stage of the game.

    There will be a four hour grace period to object to the implementation of this design.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Wel...I don't think my design going to win but FFFFFuck it I am here to design shit and I want atleast one design With that standard Nobody but me is going to use.
    And Who knows, Maybe we can use it as a second design.

    Joro Wan Standardized Design Sheet
    Full name Design: Basic Spherical assault unit.
    Nickname: 'Bobby'
    Type: Infantry
    (Expected) Manufacture cost: Cheap
    Short description: A basic all Terran combat unit to bolster our forces and give us the needed offensive fire power.
    Long description:
    The Basic Spherical Assault unit or 'bobby' is designed as the first generation of Joro wan robotic troopers. It has the basic design of a metal metal sphere, it has eight armoured plates (four at the bottom and four at the top) with raised dividing them. On the connecting points, there are leg connectors to the four cardinal directions. These leg take the shape of spider like legs, being made of two parts of mettle with ring pattern dividers. At the top and the bottom the Bobby posses a ring with 4 simple camera's, allowing it to see in all directions no matter its alignment. On top of these broad camera rings is a connector where a gun can be placed, mostly only at the top of the bobby. In its interior it has two battery packs similiar to the 'Lisa'.
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    Probably not as good as the ship but hey, it is an option for moving forward.
     
    Design Selected: Elitist HOTV

    EDIT: Those rolls are F***ing insane.
    We Just Write threw 2 4-faced dice. Reason: Elitist HOTV (General) Total: 7
    4 4 3 3
    We Just Write threw 2 4-faced dice. Reason: Subsystem: Z-pinch engine Total: 6
    2 2 4 4
    We Just Write threw 2 4-faced dice. Reason: Subsystem: Drop Pods Total: 8
    4 4 4 4
     
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    Design: Elitist HOTV | Start of Infrastructure Phase 1
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    • Primary Roll: Superior Craftsmanship
    Subsystem (Z-pinch engine): Above Average
    Subsystem (Drop Pods): Unexpected Boon

    To put it quite bluntly, the Elitist HOTV is a marvel of engineering on all levels. As a test, one of the prototype hulls was targeted by one of our anti-orbital batteries, and it tanked the hit with ease. Despite this, the bulky, cylindrical vehicle contains an utterly massive cargo bay, able to easily haul around 30,000 metric tons of payload without issue. Even the heat radiators, normally a major weak point, are decently protected thanks to some clever frameworks that both keep damage isolated to a particular sector of radiator and provide structural support.

    The Z-pinch engines meanwhile do present some level of challenge, as our industry isn't yet up to the task of constructing an interstellar-grade fusion drive. That said, by loosening the manufacturing tolerances significantly, and making several other compromises on the design, a serviceable fusion drive for interplanetary work has been constructed. Though the amount of fuel that undergoes fusion is small and much inert propellant must be used to prevent damage to the fusion drive, it can still manage an exhaust velocity of around 200 kilometers per second, giving the ship 70 kilometers per second of delta v, plenty for relatively fast interplanetary transit.

    Meanwhile, the drop pods designed for use with the HOTV are amazingly well-engineered. They not only have aerobraking and parachutes, but for landings on airless worlds they come equipped with a full set of maneuvering thrusters and a decently effective Methane-Oxygen liquid fueled rocket. This not only allows them to function as short-range VTOL landers on a planetary surface, but it also gives valuable experience for making Strike Craft that work well in both atmosphere and vacuum.

    ...The only downside is the expense, sadly. Large spacecraft take a lot of metal to make no matter how you slice it, and when you armor them as heavily as the HOTV that only compounds the problem. Adding insult to injury, the fusion drive seriously strains our current infrastructure for extracting fusion fuels, and even with the looser tolerances we still need to scrap half of the drive components we manufacture.

    Transport Capacity: 1
    Mobilization: 1
    Ore: 2
    He3: 1
    Munitions

    Earthmover Charges: Repurposed industrial explosives used for mining, the composition forgoes complex hydrocarbons in favor of highly reactive metals and metal oxides.
    1 Ore (Cheap)
    Infantry

    'Liza' Construction Droid: These multipurpose robots are built a lot like an orangutan, with four limbs, each of which has a fully functional gripper capable of both dexterity and strength. Each unit is powered by a twenty kilogram rechargeable Potassium-Ion battery pack, meaning they have great endurance, but need a lot of downtime to recharge. The limitations of these droid's peak power output, coupled with the fact that their frames really aren't built to handle heavy recoil forces, means that they cannot wield any category of direct-fire weapon aside from chemical firearms.
    1 Ore (Cheap)
    Ground Vehicles
    Strike Craft

    'pancake' re-entry pod: These armored pods are designed to deploy ground forces from an orbiting spaceship. Each is equipped with both equipment for aerobraking and a full set of thrusters for landing on airless bodies. Notably, these pods can be used as short range VTOL transports on planetary surfaces. Each pod can move 120 tons of materiel.
    1 Ore (Cheap)

    Capitol Ships

    "Elitist" HOTV: A heavily armored transport craft designed for fast hauls between planets, the Elitist can credit most of its performance to its downgraded (but still rather high-performance) fusion engine. It is able to easily manage 70 kilometers per second of delta v, and can carry 30,000 tons of war materiel, providing one Transport Capacity. The HOTV is designed to carry the 'pancake' re-entry pods, suitable for planetary landings on most bodies. Sadly, our current infrastructure is not up to the task of mass-producing these ships.
    3 Ore, 2 He3 (Complex)(Expensive)

    Static Installations

    'Bludgeon' Anti-Orbital Coilguns: Hastily constructed based on the Z-pinch technology in the colony ship's fusion engine, these massive surface-to-orbit coilguns are, not to put too fine a point on it, rather low quality. While their muzzle velocity of 500 kilometers per second may seem impressive at first, it is significantly less so when you realize that their slugs are only 0.2 kilograms in mass, and each gun needs twenty seconds to recharge its massive capacitor banks after a full-power shot. If necessary, they can fire much slower shots at machine gun rates, for close-range interception of munitions or strike craft. The absolute maximum effective range is somewhere around 25,000 km. Beyond that, dodging becomes distressingly easy, even for very large ships.
    3 Ore, 2 He3 (Somewhat Expensive)
    Logistics
    Infrastructure

    Prefab Factories: Your colony ship came with a bunch of 3D printers and other such devices needed to establish manufacturing infrastructure. They do not have the precision needed to manufacture fusion-based devices reliably, meaning that the production thereof is currently complex.
    Loose Components

    Open-Cycle Z-pinch Fusion Engine: This propulsion system makes use of intense magnetic fields to crush a plasma of fusion fuels to the point of ignition, with the resulting plume of C-fractional plasma propelling the ship forwards. This engine design has immense performance both in terms of exhaust velocity and thrust, but it calls for high-grade superconductors which we cannot reliably supply at the moment, and has manufacturing tolerances that our current industry cannot reliably achieve. Thus, its manufacture is currently Complex.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Now it's our Infrastructure phase, so we can design something like that. While I like the idea of expanding to other planets when we can, I'd say the best thing to go with now would be either improving our factories or designing a new one specialized in producing fusion components. If we can get rid of the complexity penalty on fusion engines we can probably even stick them on our first missile design, and since
    They do not have the precision needed to manufacture fusion-based devices reliably, meaning that the production thereof is currently complex.
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    it might even drop the complexity penalty from the Elitist depending.

    The alternative would likely be establishing some sort of orbital infrastructure, maybe stations hosting modified construction droids which could be a starting point for further orbital development. An SSTO transport would be good both in developing our economy and in military logistics, but given that we're all robots (less radiation concerns) we may as well wait and make one with a fusion drive once that's viable.
     
    Alright, here's an infrastructure design aimed at improving production, especially of fusion devices. I'm open to suggestions on changes, but it doesn't look like there are any other proposals.

    [X] ID-1 Processing Block
    ID-1 Processing Block said:
    Currently, the Joro Wan industry consists of the prefabricated machinery sent with the ship, additional surface mines and support infrastructure set up from them, and a lot of droid labor.

    Designed as a flexible base from which to gradually develop a colony, this setup is insufficient for the needs of interplanetary war, with low efficiency, limited capabilities, and of course less size than would be ideal. In particular, high-performance materials used in fusion devices and other applications are hard to come by, and substituted or low-quality feedstock is a major contributor to the tolerance problems encountered in producing them.

    The ID-1 Processing Block is designed to be a flexible materials processing system which can both be used en masse in mining and fabrication, or as a building block of more advanced complexes. Essentially it consists of three components: an input unit, a production unit, and an output unit.

    While each of these will of course be somewhat different depending on the product or class of products a particular Block is set up for, they use standard components and interfaces as much as possible for efficiency and scalability.

    The input unit will take feedstock, ensure its quality is sufficient and prepare it for processing. The input materials will then be transferred to the production unit, which will do the main work of the Block in turning those input materials into the desired output - from cement to metals to superconductors. Because the requirements of producing different materials can vary so widely, it is expected that there will be many types of specialized production unit, producing different things at different rates but all sharing the same standardized form factor and interfaces. Finally, the output unit carries out quality tests and prepares the material for transport, either in bulk form or cast into (relatively simple and compact) components such as metal plates, electromagnet blocks, spools of wire and so on.

    All of these units will be designed to be as self-contained as possible, to prevent contamination of the product and for ease of construction and logistics. The main goals are for the system to be slotted into existing manufacturing to improve consistency and quality through better materials; and to increase the supply of Ore products through enabling production with greater efficiency and scale than the improvised systems currently operating.

    If possible, the Processing Block designs will be designed with the tolerances needed for use in space as well, but that is considered secondary to getting them working well on the ground.
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    I believe we should try for a Logistics infrastructure. We do need to get those resources in place before we can process them and what not. Perhaps a scalable train network design?
     
    Shard said:
    I believe we should try for a Logistics infrastructure. We do need to get those resources in place before we can process them and what not. Perhaps a scalable train network design?
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    That also makes sense, but I figure that even if the ID-1 runs into logistics problems and can't increase Ore on its own, it can at least potentially solve the problem with producing fusion devices.
     
    Joro Wan Standardized Design Sheet​
    Full name Design: Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) - Scalable
    Nickname:     ​
    'Tim'​
    Type: Infrastructure
    (Expected) Manufacture cost:     ​
    Cheap as fuck. Seriously these things are based on concepts invented in the 1800s.​
    Short description: ​
    A rugged machine designed to both be a miner and to make extensive tunnel and rail networks under the surface of the planet. The ability for it to dig deep underground provides additional defences to detection of sensitive facilities and orbital bombardment. This would also allow us to deploy quickly anywhere attached to the tunnel network and anywhere the tunnel network approaches the surface via surface access points.​
    Long description: ​
    Article:
    This machine uses the old concept of a tunnel boring machine that was used in the past to quickly make extensive tunnel networks underground. They can also make rooms by running several tunnel boring machines next to each other in a line and then using explosives to make holes in the wall between the tunnels. This also doubles as a mining machine as the machine can be steered to follow metal veins under the ground. The design is scalable and has several modular add-ons that allow it to lay things behind it. The primary core of the tunnel boring machine consists of several main parts. The drill head, the conveyer that outputs the rock behind the machine and the propulsion system for the machine. The drill head is the only part of the machine that cannot be replaced while in operation and it drills into rock by chipping away at the rock in front of it using compressive stress. The conveyer belt system that outputs rock behind it is only unreplaceable while in operation in small TBMs as larger ones have several conveyer belts and they can all be diverted into one another while repairs are made. This is also where the ore is outputted if the rock you are drilling in is ore. The final core component is the propulsion system, this is a series of pairs of hydraulic jacks that anchor the machine to the walls of the tunnel and push it forward, if one pair of jacks is broken they can be turned off individually while repairs are made to them and the machine keeps moving forward.
    Add-on 1: Tunnel wall installer, a conveyer belt that carries premade panels of tunnel wall and lays them down and installs them behind the TBM as it goes along.
    Add-on 2: A rail-layer, a machine that automatically creates lines of rails behind the TBM using prebuilt sections of track, can be adjusted to create multiple rail lines at a time for wide tunnels. NOTE: Any junctions and intersections must be created manually. This add-on allows for the rock to be loaded onto carts directly from the conveyer belt and taken away for processing. It also allows other rail cars acting as workshops to follow behind the machine and install other things as necessary.
     
    [X] ID-1 Processing Block

    We really need transportation infrastructure, though.

    Unless we already have designs for trains and whatnot @I just write?
     
    Shard said:
    [X] ID-1 Processing Block

    We really need transportation infrastructure, though.

    Unless we already have designs for trains and whatnot @I just write?
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    Generally how it works is that we have that kind of basic equipment, just not great models until something is designed by the players - though in this setting it may be different, as it seems to be for military equipment.

    I'd be open to voting for trains if it turns out we don't have any, but tunneling - at least in real life - tend to be slow enough it seems better to get more basic elements of transport and production up first. When we do go for a TBM - and I do think it'll be useful in the future for the reasons ConfusedPotato outlined - how about we try to make nuclear TBMs?
     
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    Dessard said:
    Generally how it works is that we have that kind of basic equipment, just not great models until something is designed by the players - though in this setting it may be different, as it seems to be for military equipment.

    I'd be open to voting for trains if it turns out we don't have anything like that, but tunneling - at least in real life - tend to be slow enough it seems better to get more basic elements of transport and production up first. When we do go for a TBM - and I do think it'll be useful in the future for the reasons ConfusedPotato outlined - how about we try to make nuclear TBMs?
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    That sounds good, using nuclear heat to soften the rock so we can dig through it quickly. I think I will be up for that.
    For the trains I was thinking of going for a full maglev set up, except maybe the magnetic rails can double as normal rails in the event of power failure.
     
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    Welp, you guys are out of time. I'm picking randomly between the two main ideas. Namely, fusion factory, and the TBM.
    1: ID-1
    2: Tunnel Borer
    We Just Write threw 1 2-faced dice. Reason: Design? Total: 1
    1 1
    We Just Write threw 2 4-faced dice. Reason: ID-1 Total: 4
    2 2 2 2
     
    Infrastructure: ID-1 Processing Block | Start of Revision Phase 1
  • Threadmarks
    • +1 for a well-engineered write-up

    Average

    ID-1 Processing Block
    This modular manufacturing unit is quite effective at its design goal of refining raw matter into high-grade materials and simple components. Furthermore, the standardization of the design allows for it to be very easily mass-produced and put into large scale use. Though it doesn't much help with mining, meaning the design does not provide Ore, the ID-1 does effectively do its job of ending the superconductor shortage, meaning that fusion drives are no longer Complex. Notably, this has almost immediately improved the performance of the engines on the HOTV by nearly tenfold, meaning it can now afford to spend delta v like crazy as it gallivants all over the system. Further improvements are expected once the engine is adjusted to make full use of the newly available high-grade materials.

    Transport Capacity: 1
    Mobilization: 1
    Ore: 2
    He3: 1
    Munitions

    Earthmover Charges: Repurposed industrial explosives used for mining, the composition forgoes complex hydrocarbons in favor of highly reactive metals and metal oxides.
    1 Ore (Cheap)
    Infantry

    'Liza' Construction Droid: These multipurpose robots are built a lot like an orangutan, with four limbs, each of which has a fully functional gripper capable of both dexterity and strength. Each unit is powered by a twenty kilogram rechargeable Potassium-Ion battery pack, meaning they have great endurance, but need a lot of downtime to recharge. The limitations of these droid's peak power output, coupled with the fact that their frames really aren't built to handle heavy recoil forces, means that they cannot wield any category of direct-fire weapon aside from chemical firearms.
    1 Ore (Cheap)
    Ground Vehicles
    Strike Craft

    'pancake' re-entry pod: These armored pods are designed to deploy ground forces from an orbiting spaceship. Each is equipped with both equipment for aerobraking and a full set of thrusters for landing on airless bodies. Notably, these pods can be used as short range VTOL transports on planetary surfaces. Each pod can move 120 tons of materiel.
    1 Ore (Cheap)

    Capitol Ships

    "Elitist" HOTV: A heavily armored transport craft designed for fast hauls between planets, the Elitist can credit most of its performance to its downgraded (but still rather high-performance) fusion engine. It is able to easily manage 700 kilometers per second of delta v, and can carry 30,000 tons of war materiel, providing one Transport Capacity. The HOTV is designed to carry the 'pancake' re-entry pods, suitable for planetary landings on most bodies. Recent upgrades to manufacturing infrastructure have allowed the engines for these ships to be more easily acquired than previously, and greatly improved performance.
    3 Ore, 2 He3 (Somewhat Expensive)

    Static Installations

    'Bludgeon' Anti-Orbital Coilguns: Hastily constructed based on the Z-pinch technology in the colony ship's fusion engine, these massive surface-to-orbit coilguns are, not to put too fine a point on it, rather low quality. While their muzzle velocity of 500 kilometers per second may seem impressive at first, it is significantly less so when you realize that their slugs are only 0.2 kilograms in mass, and each gun needs twenty seconds to recharge its massive capacitor banks after a full-power shot. If necessary, they can fire much slower shots at machine gun rates, for close-range interception of munitions or strike craft. The absolute maximum effective range is somewhere around 25,000 km. Beyond that, dodging becomes distressingly easy, even for very large ships.
    3 Ore, 2 He3 (Somewhat Expensive)
    Logistics
    Infrastructure

    Prefab Factories: Your colony ship came with a bunch of 3D printers and other such devices needed to establish manufacturing infrastructure. They do not have the precision needed to manufacture fusion-based devices reliably, but you have other things to do that now.

    ID-1 Processing Block: A modular industrial installation intended to produce high grade materials and form them into simple components. This effectively ends the superconductor shortage that led to difficulties producing fusion-based equipment previously.
    Loose Components

    Open-Cycle Z-pinch Fusion Engine: This propulsion system makes use of intense magnetic fields to crush a plasma of fusion fuels to the point of ignition, with the resulting plume of C-fractional plasma propelling the ship forwards. This engine design has immense performance both in terms of exhaust velocity and thrust. Recent developments now mean they can be manufactured reliably and affordably.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Nice! The improvement to the Elitist performance is impressive, and we should note that it looks like the bottleneck on Ore is mining.

    Now we get a revision. At first glance it seems like the two best options would be for the anti-orbital cannons - improving their quality or price, or even generalizing them from a static position to a Loose Component model; or upgrading the Prefab Factories, which could improve our Mobilization score. Does anyone have any other ideas?
     
    Logistics/Infra: Need to get mining and factories on other orbitals..
    Military: Need an Actual Military.
     
    Actually, we may be able to get some space-industry through revisions, at least asteroid mining, since we have such nice transport ships. We could either revise the Prefab Industry to hopefully make it work in space, and then use the Elitists to deploy it on larger asteroids; or we could create a revised Elitist model for asteroid mining with the appropriate components from the prefab industry inside its cargo space. The first would probably be harder but more suited to long-term growth, while the latter would probably be easier to defend as the mining ships could just run to the nearest asteroids rather than building up permanent infrastructure in a part of the belt that will eventually orbit away from us.

    I'm most inclined to either try to improve the Mobilization of our industry, or try to get asteroid mining with an asteroid mining ship. Thoughts?
     
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