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Thor (heavy frigate)

0 (0%)

Hiram (Railgun drone)

0 (0%)

Occido MI (exploding mimic dron)

0 (0%)

Lux (Laser corvette)

0 (0%)

Stone (Solar sail transport)

0 (0%)

BIFROST (Laser drone)

0 (0%)

Pythagoras (Recovery ship)

0 (0%)

Julius (transforming drone)

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: December 13, 2012, 01:24:40 pm

[Aseaheru]

yep.

[mesor]

So design them to scavenge.

He did say they'd accept almost anything and I expect they'll see the value in being able to get the metals we're gonna need.
Hard to give them a fleet with nothing to build it out of.
The best design in the galaxy is worthless if they can't build it.

[adwarf]

So design them to scavenge.

He did say they'd accept almost anything and I expect they'll see the value in being able to get the metals we're gonna need.
Hard to give them a fleet with nothing to build it out of.
The best design in the galaxy is worthless if they can't build it.

Not our problem.

[mesor]

Kind of is with the whole.

you'll get 5% of the cost of every produced ship as your salary.

If they can't produce ships we don't get paid.
So helping them to produce ships helps us to make money.
To make better ships.
To make more money..

[GreatWyrmGold]

Two things to keep in mind.

1. Put four-person team isn't the builders, it's the designers.
2. We have glass, plastic, and presumably stone...ask what kinds of plastic? Maybe we can make a cheap plastic drone? Hopefully with enough weapons and armor that a swarm of the cheap drones would be able to defeat at least one enemy ship...

Oh, and GM? Can we get a list of what we can put on our ships/bots, and how much can be put on?

[racnor]

It is, because right now they don't have salvagers or the military to protect them. However, designing a decent atmosphere capable ship would be a good first step.
As for the drones, a salvage drone makes sense. The electromagnets we planned to use for our military drones could double as gatherers, and maybe we could use  some kind of railgunesque system to launch collected scrap to a previously selected position (make sure we don't accidentally bombard a planet). It's basically EM's idea, except with a railgun instead of a laser, and more emphasis on efficiency than speed.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Guys, forget that - ships that we'll use for A, B and C

You'll not own any ships. Neither you will decide how to use those ships. Basically you provide ship designs for the government. (Or rather for the ministry of Navy that then will sell ships to the government ) Government may to sell your ships to other systems, add it to the Navy (no, don't hope to  command admirals), give to police or ministry of transport, find some civilian clients or just say that your design is straight useless

The Government does give you full freedom in designing right now but expect direct orders sooner or later.
Oh, and metals aren't huge problem, but your employers will be happy if you find ways to use cheaper materials. Do not expect that ships with titanium hull will be something they like

We have glass, plastic, and presumably stone...ask what kinds of plastic? Maybe we can make a cheap plastic drone? Hopefully with enough weapons and armor that a swarm of the cheap drones would be able to defeat at least one enemy ship...

You have a variety of plastics, some are pretty hard, but you can't  really substitute alloys with it. Plastics melt way to easily, and you need to operate quite close to a hot F class star.

Oh, and GM? Can we get a list of what we can put on our ships/bots, and how much can be put on?

No lists. Use creativity and common sense

[GreatWyrmGold]

It is, because right now they don't have salvagers or the military to protect them. However, designing a decent atmosphere capable ship would be a good first step.

At no point do we need to worry about what four people can make themselves, however. Which is exactly what I said before...

As for the drones, a salvage drone makes sense. The electromagnets we planned to use for our military drones could double as gatherers, and maybe we could use  some kind of railgunesque system to launch collected scrap to a previously selected position (make sure we don't accidentally bombard a planet). It's basically EM's idea, except with a railgun instead of a laser, and more emphasis on efficiency than speed.

Probably.

We have glass, plastic, and presumably stone...ask what kinds of plastic? Maybe we can make a cheap plastic drone? Hopefully with enough weapons and armor that a swarm of the cheap drones would be able to defeat at least one enemy ship...

You have a variety of plastics, some are pretty hard, but you can't  really substitute alloys with it. Plastics melt way to easily, and you need to operate quite close to a hot F class star.

Good to know.
Plastic drones will be strictly for work in the outer parts of the system.

Oh, and GM? Can we get a list of what we can put on our ships/bots, and how much can be put on?

No lists. Use creativity and common sense

Alright. A list of how big ships of various classes are supposed to be would be nice, though.

How about this for a drone:
Hiram-I Railgun Defensive Drone
Drone-class
Armor: None
Weaponry: Railgun, rapid-fire
Engine: Moderately powerful
Other Systems: Minimal
Description: A cheap drone made for building in bulk and using in swarms. It is mostly made of plastic, ceramics, and other cheap materials; even the ammunition is 15% iron to 85% polymer (made specifically to poke holes in spaceship hulls). Hiram-I's are not impressive one at a time; their railgun fires a measly 150 rounds per minute, and said rounds tend to leave only small holes in armor. However, when a swarm is used, the hundreds of tiny holes can render a smaller ship little more than an airless husk, full of little holes. They are pretty frail and have only crude evasive AI, so a determined attacker could easily destroy them with a few shots, counting the missed ones. With luck, they will be numerous enough when used to avert this risk somewhat...
Suggested Use: Defense of important areas where they can be easily replaced and reloaded. Possibly as an assist with attack, but probably not suitable as a primary attack vessel except in impractical numbers.

[Aseaheru]

do we have tungsten? any at all? whatabout clay for ceramics?

and if they are selling ships, we want something that can be used both by our navy and anyone else. besides, what will carry the drones?

[Thecard]

There's a tactic I like to use, especially in space-based rts'.  A powerful ship can only shoot one ship at once, so even if they all have one hit-point enough weak fighters can take down a powerful cruiser.  So, if we can find some really cheap kind of alloy to use for plating, we could always try doing that.  It means you have a guaranteed loss, but weak ships won't take too much to make.  If you only design them to be tough enough that one hit will kill them, you won't lose that much when they die. 
We can always try to make cheap swarming drones for attacking and eliminating the pirates.  Basically, flying plastic guns with a couple ammo boxes attached.  Maybe make them rc, that wouldn't be as resource intensive as creating a separate computer for each.

[GreatWyrmGold]

That's more or less what the Hiram-I's I suggested are.

[Aseaheru]

still, i would like to see about ceramic parts.

[racnor]

this world doen't run on video-game logic. Ships will have point defense cannons.

[Maxinum McDreich]

Ok, having  just looked at the OP, and followed a few comments, I see we are the RnD department, and all we care about is designing ships that appease customers.

Considering the backround of the system with the pirates, the need for successful trade, our local resources and our relative skills, I suggest our first build be sensor drones.

Cheaply made using outer ceramics that insulate the plastics within to ensure they do not melt and using simple propulsion methods to move around along with good ai and sensor equipment to alert ships with certain codes (merchant ones) of any unidentified ships. Since our dear coder has very hard to hack code himself, the pirates will struggle to pretend themselves as merchants. We also have silicon as one of the main exports on the planet, so making the sensors shouldn't be an issue of cost.

It's simple, cheap and merchants will be interested in buying and deploying them for their own trade routes. If it was possible, I'd love simple cloaking, but the emphasis is on a cheap early-alert system.

We can work on a combat ship/drone afterwards... as a suggestion anyway.


Sensor Drone (someone can name it. I suck at names )
Drone-class
Armor: None
Weaponry: None
Engine: Simple, but effective (mostly deployed from a ship before slowly moving to designated areas.)
Other Systems: Sensor intensive, along with inter-drone ai communication.
Description: Cheap early-warning drone to alert merchants of danger to avoid. Emphasis is on cheap but effective, especially as replacements will be required as pirates will eventually start targeting them. Only ships with the right codes are identified by the drones as friendly, with the code itself hard to hack. Outer layer is ceramic with an inner layer of plastics. Drones ai interlink with each other, making it possible to get a larger picture.
Suggested Use: Deploy along the important stretches of trade for the planet, along with selling to other merchants that could benefit from it.

[Thecard]

That's more or less what the Hiram-I's I suggested are.

Hirmam-Who?

Oh.  The ship.  Yeah, that's what I mean, but I'm thinking the pirate's bases are far enough from the sun that plastics don't melt, right?  So, why not make some drones out of plastics and glass?  They won't take many hits, but they don't need to if we have cheap drones spilling out every one of our cavities.