From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 5:08:09 PM UTC-7, MrAnderson wrote:   
      
     How about this; the Ardans don't have fixed ship sizes, exactly?   
      
   > maybe it's better to wait with that to moment when the design is more   
   > complete, or make ammo bays and other equipment, propellant tanks   
   > interchangeable and modular?   
      
     Have the tug carry a standardized load of several identical "core"   
   spaceframes that are each just a reactor, engine assembly and plumbing, and   
   habitat unit permanently mated to a framework of gun turrets and sockets for   
   weapons, ammo, fuel, and other    
   modules. The tug also carries a metric shit-ton of interchangeable modules of   
   all kinds plus stacks and stacks of armor "blocks".   
      
     The frames can be built up and flown independently by clipping on modules   
   and covering with armor, or can be attached together before loading up to make   
   a bigger ship, kinda like Legos. They wouldn't have names, just Alpha, Beta,   
   and so forth. If Alpha    
   and Beta are clipped together, they're still called just Alpha.   
      
     That way the admiral aboard can assess the threat level upon arrival and   
   have one or more frames made into whatever ship class he thinks he needs for   
   the mission. If he has four frames he can make either four cruisers, two   
   cruisers and one battleship,    
   two battleships, or one dreadnaught. Troop modules containing landers can be   
   included for drop-style invasions. Any class would take maybe most of a day to   
   put together and be battle-ready.   
      
   > Having a lot of shrapnel and few slugs seems like a good idea, and can also   
   > lead to some interesting plots I think, like the ship running out of   
   > penetrators and having a problem dealing serious damage to internal parts of   
   > ships.   
      
     Yeah, the enemy might have better armor than the Admiral thought when he   
   authorized ammo loadouts so his ships wind up running out too early. Egg on   
   his face!   
      
   > The crew is in suits, but a round hitting their storm cellars and changing   
   > into plasma and fragments would probably kill them,   
      
     No atmosphere, no shock wave, no "blowout" hazard.   
      
   > although there can be so many of these cellars, or even none, that it becomes   
   > hard to do anything to them. Hm, I see your point now.    
   > With the nukes comes the problem of guidance, if the ship can be hit with   
   > nuke, that won't do super-big damage,   
      
     Hm. If they get through the armor but run out of solid rounds, a nuke would   
   work near as well since it'll effectively be going off *inside* the ship.   
      
   > The EMP seems good, but same thing can be done by PBW, right?   
      
     Not really. Particle beans are basically high-amperage DC currents. Sensors   
   and antennae should ignore that.   
      
   >  gravianium   
      
     Yup.   
      
   > The fixed positions would also mean engaging multiple targets would be   
   > hardcore and cause the crew vomit, and also destroying manevuering thruster   
   > would render coilguns unusable.   
      
     Orient the ship with flywheels to save reaction mass. There won't be a lot   
   of rapid slewing- at a few hundred kilometers a ship is a very small target.   
   You get a radar or optical lock, compute a trajectory, and fire however many   
   rounds you want, then    
   wait for a damage report. Then you have to re-aim but you have a few minutes   
   to do that.   
      
     Maneuvering should be done with the main engines, differentially throttled   
   for steering aided by the flywheel(s).   
      
     Assuming fixed gun mounts and no slewing ability at all- to increase the   
   amount of time you can fire on a target when making a pass, you fire while   
   approaching then cease fire and turn slightly toward a point to one side of   
   the target and turn sharply    
   as you close to put yourself in a tight "skidding" loop around it and resume   
   firing while facing it with engines burning to kill your previous momentum,   
   then cease firing and accelerate past it back the way you came. That means the   
   main gun is in the    
   nose along with plenty of armor.   
      
     The defending ship could just spin on its flywheels and lead the attacking   
   ship as it rotates to predict its trajectory around and past it.   
      
     Two ships approaching each other could do identical loops, each trying to   
   get off more rounds than the other. If I knew my armor was inferior I think   
   I'd sit still and make them attack me because I could keep firing while they   
   were entering their turn    
   and couldn't shoot back.   
      
   > Maybe it's better to go with smaller projectiles, more hits needed to kill,   
   > but you can compensate it by targeting a few turrets on one target. Or, have   
   > one fixed, forward facing big coilgun, and the rest in turrets.   
      
     That's beginning to sound like the way to go.   
       
   > Gonna calculate the recoil strenght.   
   > Ship is expected to hold 2 gees for a few week to 2 months or so, something   
   > that could give it small percentage of c, like 0.05 or something.   
      
     That's to get in-system from where it left the tug and back after battle,   
   right?   
       
   > So, instead of bad looking radiators, a nice system that makes a hisss sound   
   > when used? I am buying that!    
   > But still I will include some radiators, I need to dig through Atomic Rockets   
   > and find one suitable for warship.   
      
     The built-in cooling system only works with say half-gee or so thrust   
   continuously and for a few hours at full military thrust, so for the in and   
   out trips you have to extend the vulnerable, ungainly radiators. For a few   
   hours of battle you can afford    
   to safely fold them up and stow them behind armor. then extend them after   
   battle to shed heat buildup.   
       
   > Ardans are not merciful folks, they will punch you with nukes as long as it   
   > takes for you to understand who is a ruler B)   
      
     Can always breed more peasants, eh?   
      
   > So, gotta do the ship math. Arrhh, estimating the structural mass and trying   
   > to put propellant so that it doesn't make ship look bulky and not fun...   
      
     I'm envisioning something like the Space 1999 modular spaceships only much   
   bigger. Maybe the bridge does have to be exposed.   
      
   > This gives me thought, why not use carbon or xenon or anything heavier for   
   > propellant? What are the pros and cons of such way?   
      
     Deuterium yields lots of energy which you need for combat maneuvering. For   
   the ferry phases (in and out) you could use big ion rockets, but that means   
   two independent engine systems and fuel volumes. Ion rockets take a while to   
   build up thrust but are    
   good efficiency-wise.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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