Shipbucket

I'm not going to comment on technical issues, etc. (because I know very little about construction of actual spacecraft, and nothing at all about the game that's apparently the background for this) but Your effort is impressive.

Thanks, working on the front end now...

I have been working on some of the weapons systems as you build your ships around them, not the other way around!



This is a yet unnamed or RPed missile concept that will be the primary armament of the embarked fighter wing on the HX. Details:

Class: ASMS (Anti Ship Missile Space, ie not surface boost capable)
Size: 9.5 meters
Warhead:25 Mt nuclear warhead
Primary Propulsion: Nuclear Salt Water Rocket
Secondary Propulsion: Conventional Solid Chemical Rocket

So basically this is what I would imagine a missile designed solely for space use would look like. I used the P-70 Moskit as my size guide as its a big robust ASM with hefty engines. It measures 9.7 meters so I am close. Given the speed needed in a short period of time I opted to go two stage. The first is a nuclear salt water rocket for which the fuel is a solution of 20% enriched Uranium Tetrabromide in water. The tanks around the center body are for water. The fuel is kept in a series of boron carbide coated pipes acting as a neutron damper that keep the fuel from reacting (these are inside the ring of water tanks). As the fuel leaves the pipes it enters the plenum immediately aft where the uranium in the fuel reacts, essentially a continuous explosion, which vaporizes and ejects the water and reacting fuel that exits the exhaust bell to provide thrust. I haven't done the calculations yet but this engine should provide extreme thrust so it will meet the needs of a missile. Targeting is provided by a secure link to the HX's fire control but more likely a dedicated sensor ship or fighter via the antennas on the warhead.

As for the picture:

-The first frame shows the two parts of the missile as they are stored in the magazines. The missile was designed to be in two parts so that each is small enough to be moved inside the carriers cargo conveyor which can only accommodate items with a maximum of 6m length. Since this is a two stage missile this was easy to design. Both sides are encased in a protective storage casing which when joined in the hanger ammo handling room also acts as the fighter hardpoint hookup (this can also double as the magnetic launch harness if being launched by a shipboard launcher)

The HX has a standard size four missile launcher intended to handle sensor buoy launches and other specialized munitions but as this is a size four missile the HX could launch these itself in needed.

- The second frame shows the assembled missile as well as a cutaway of the missile inside the casing.

- The third stage shows the primary burn configuration. The casing has been jettisoned and the exhaust end cap blown off during engine ignition. The radiator panels unfold to remove heat from the engine.

- In the fourth frame the primary engine has finished its burn and has been jettisoned. The remaining warhead and secondary engine will coast towards its target. This engine consists of a small solid chemical rocket to provide a single large maneuver if needed and a ring og RCS thrusters for fine homing maneuvers.

Updates, very much still a WIP but its starting to look somewhat like my imagination envisioned!





I'll tell you what, no more curves! It makes sense from a design perspective sometimes but I simply am not a good enough artist to get the perspective right. Thats really what I end up spending most of my time on, or building it in sketch up just so I can see the angles correctly before drawing.

Very impressive project.

Wow, almost a year since I posted here last. Time gets away from you.

So below is the Conveyor-class in system cargo transport. This is the first successful commercial cargo vessel capable of regular manned missions produced and the three versions of this class served as the backbone of the colonial support missions that maintained Mars, Europa and her sisters and Titan during their long and arduous pioneer days. This class also has an infamous place Terran history from is use in the first Colony War, but more on that later.

Shown is the first version using the smaller standard containers used by the first Earth space elevators. It also features conventional rocket motors as opposed to the nuclear rockets of the follow on types. Three large solar arrays are present to provide electrical power. Solar power was abandoned on later versions due to limited utility beyond the orbit of Jupiter and the arrays were replaced with expaned radiators in future hulls, the conventional solar powered vessels being relegated to resource runs to the automated mines of Mercury and Venus as well as service to Ceres when its mines came online. It was the first non experimental vessel to feature simulated gravity, slightly predating the contemporary Prospector-class geological survey vessels.

Conveyor vessels were built and operated extensively by both the Earth Confederation (via CASA) and multiple commercial shipping outfits. They were retired from government service shortly after the formation of the Terran Confederation in favor of the more capable Star-class freighters though they remained active in limited civilian service from many more decades.



The drawing is based off artwork by Marrekie at Deviant Art, used with his permission. His original was a robotic cargo transport so there are major departures there but besides minor tweeks here and there I remained mostly true to his vision. I wasn't sure how to credit under these circumstances.

Obviously this is a WIP, so any ideas on how to improve this especially from a pixel art perspective are welcome. I don't want to polish her too much if there are any major errors to work out. Enjoy and thanks!

EDIT: I forgot the link to the base image!

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Saddling-Up-295290593

I wonder where the fuel tanks are?

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Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

This is the conventional rocket version, so the forward module in the engine assemply is the rocket fuel, the after module is the rocket itself. The fuel module would be swapped out for a full one for the return (or further should that be the case) journey. This conventional version rarely traveled further out than Mars which had fuel production facilities on Phobos to recycle modules. These were not particularly fast, I don't remember the game speed off the top of my head but it was a several month journey to get to Mars assuming favorable orbital positions.

The next two versions will have nuclear rockets with large remass tanks. I have not decieded if I will make those integral to the ship or have them be tanks that use cargo slots (probably both). That would mean reduced cargo but also a plug and play capability regarding range to the outer colonies. Range as in enough burn time to get enough speed on trips to the outer colonies (Titan and its sister moons is the farthest traveled in its operational lifespan) to make it worth it.

Interesting, very interesting.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Nice work.