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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

[miauw62]

Yeah. Selling to pirates is not an option. Our current plan is basically to secure trading routes and then slowly destroy the pirates.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

My first month was quite successful

Due to time constraints we didn't manage to develop AI good enough to make Oculus drones cooperate nicely and act like one big AI, but still they can transmit radio and\or optic signals to the Hiram space station. It's computers should be able to analyze the whole picture and inform friendly ships about pirate activity

We developed a nice if a bit expensive set of sensors. Surely we'll use it for future designs, too

I am proud of hull designed, it should be the first 95% plastic drone, ever. And it's made from the most inexpensive and widely available plastics I could find. The only disadvantage that I was forced to cover them with thin ceramic reflective coating to protect it against melting on the sun.

Installing micro fusion reactors is almost impossible, so we used the most logical option for power generation: solar panels

We failed to develop propulsion system that would fit nicely and don't cost more than rest of the drone, so it was decided to have none

The best thing is that Marten liked the design and promised that 100 oculus drones will be made next month


Our second project have seen some nice progress, too. This girl is really a genius and with my assistance she made state of the art planer for Valhalla project and nice 2000m³ hull is basically finished. It's complex to make (0.5 IC) but very durable

To my disappointment I failed to design a fusion generator with desired characteristics. Those corvette-sized fusion reactors are tricky to design especially when you need to save cargo space and account aerodynamic shape. I may try again or think about another energy sources

Engine progress is going slowly, while I know that laser powered jet engine will work, it's quite complex technology for a such backwater planet.  Also, Tara said that one should be an idiot to not use conventional jet engines on planet that is rich in oil and  oil products and declined to assist me in the main engine design.

We didn't touched auxiliary engines design at all, as this is too early to do that. But both rocket boosters and ion engines should be trivial to design later

Max proposed to make the ship automated, to save space needed for pilot and life support


From other news, I learned that we'll get an election this month and most likely government that I'll get a new set of ministers to work for. 

[GreatWyrmGold]

Really, most large production facilities around here are either governement owned, or pirate owned, and something says to me that the pirates are not going to pay royalities.

Unless you're willing to be paid in not dying...well, not being killed, close enough.

Any word with the superiors?

[racnor]

 GreatWyrmGold, would you mind if we added some missile interception capability to the Hiram?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Modify it however you like. Just change the name if it doesn't have some kind of machine gun for a main armament, I pulled the name from the Wikipedia page on machine guns.

[RAM]

Pirates are people too, and unless they have self-sufficient colonies and just really like keeping great mounds of booty around the place then they are doing 'something' with their winnings and it probably involves some sort of exchange of resources... If a perfectly legitimate business is selling vehicles to private entities and some of those vehicles happen to end up performing illegal activities then who would blame the manufacturer? Especially if the vehicles in question did not actually directly incorporate any weaponry...
 Piracy is an income, it doesn't dictate what is done with that income.


P.S.
Here is a rough draft of a combat drone designed to alternate between fast and manoeuvrable. Typically all of its engines would face the same direction while in transit and once in combat it would fold in half and rotate its engines for maximum manoeuvrability in a sphere around its target.

[evilcherry]

Pirates are people too, and unless they have self-sufficient colonies and just really like keeping great mounds of booty around the place then they are doing 'something' with their winnings and it probably involves some sort of exchange of resources... If a perfectly legitimate business is selling vehicles to private entities and some of those vehicles happen to end up performing illegal activities then who would blame the manufacturer? Especially if the vehicles in question did not actually directly incorporate any weaponry...
 Piracy is an income, it doesn't dictate what is done with that income.


P.S.
Here is a rough draft of a combat drone designed to alternate between fast and manoeuvrable. Typically all of its engines would face the same direction while in transit and once in combat it would fold in half and rotate its engines for maximum manoeuvrability in a sphere around its target.

In an ideal world, no.

In a crapsack like this, definitely. Remember our main patron is the navy chief, and unless he wanted to keep this stalemate on forever (which is amusingly a fair choice), we might got ourselves out of favour.

[Maxinum McDreich]

Actually, we're hired by the navy to do these designs. Our resources come from the navy. Our capital is from the navy. We are an employee of the navy. Any designs we do go straight to the navy and they decide how and where it goes from there. They're the ones that sell it to the merchants, not us.

If we want to sell designs to pirates (which, let's be honest, more than likely steal their ships than make them), we'd have to do it behind the navy's back. That's INCREDIBLY dangerous territory there for... little gain, let's be honest.

So no. Our designs go the navy. It's success from there determines our pay.

[tryrar]

Ok, so you guys know, I'm resubmitting my fighter design for this turn:

Spoiler: Laser Fighter (click to show/hide)

XSR-1 "Valkyrie" Fighter
Desired Volume: 200m³
Team:Us, Mark, Anton
Time: 2 Months
Description:Basically the smallest ship you can get while still having a fusion plant, engine, weapon, and cockpit, the Valkyrie is designed as a one-man fast escort and antishipping fighter. While not very durable at all(it barely has any armor), this rough hexagonal craft is extremely fast and maneuverable, making it very hard to hit in the first place; and thanks to its micro-fusion plant, it can easily accommodate the power requirements for a single spinal-mounted frigate-class heavy laser. It also boasts good range for a fighter, able to reach from Haven to the TR-12 III astroid belt and back(though this is pushing it a little). While it has some atmo capability(which allows it to be launched from the planet), it is mainly for use in space, as drag and friction can cause unacceptable heat/load stresses at top speed.
Priorities:1 Maneuverability, 1 Laser output, 1 cheaper materials(using ceramics and composites whenever possible), 1 efficient powerplant(reduce size), 1 efficient engine(increased range and overall faster)

Critiques would be most welcome

[RAM]

My design of a pirate ship would still be valid as a rescue ship.

[tryrar]

.....Umm, we already said no pirate ships. You want a rescue vessel? Fine, design it, but don't call it a former pirate ship.

On a side note, I like how we are all generally going for a Norse theme with our ship naming(with a couple exceptions)

[10ebbor10]

Maybe we should wait for the turn to be finished before posting the next turn's actions?

[RAM]

Name
Julius Sigrún
Desired volume
90 m³
Team
Brian O'Donald
Anton Jones
Mark Volkov
Estimated time
2 months
General description of the idea
A transforming mecha drone that can alternate between high speed and high agility by repositioning its engines. To be mounted with twin lasers with 180x90 degree coverage. In speed mode an armour plate should be mounted such that it covers one half of the forward arc of the vessel while the lasers are positions to fire towards the unarmoured side. This should allow it to operate at high speed in a complex battle situation without any obvious vulnerabilities. In agility mode the armour plate and engines should rotate 180 degrees and the laser batteries and sensors should penetrate the armour. The engines should divide their coverage equally to allow acceleration in any direction without repositioning. This should allow it to operate at close range against a single target. Rotational adjustments should be handled by standard microthursters.
Priorities
2-centre of gravity
1-evasion A.I.
1-awareness A.I.
1-tranformation mechanisms

Name
Pythagoras
Desired volume
8000 m³
Team
Brian O'Donald
Anton Jones
Mark Volkov
Estimated time
3 months
General description of the idea
Dedicated recovery vehicle for salvaging equipment and crew from damaged vessels. Equipped to defend legal salvage operations and, if need be, escape with any accumulated salvage. Its armament should consist of the capacity to carry and swiftly deploy up to 8 large drones. This would grant it the option of carrying sensory drones to maintain a complete field of view to detect hazardous environmental factors prior to contact. It should also grant it the capacity to effectively engage most light vessels capable of pursuing it with minimum risk to the crew and cargo. It would also grant it the ability to leave the drones to destroy valuable equipment in hostile territory without requiring a commitment from the vessel itself. any particularly sensitive property that the owners wish to prevent being recovered by other agencies.
 It should possess the capacity to recover an intact fighter class craft. A forward-mounted, space-accessible cargo compartment of approximately 1200 m³ capacity would be appropriate.
 Salvaged vessels may possess hazardous environments so the ability to gain access at any point is required. Additionally a salvaged vessel may become unstable, so rapid egress is vital. To this end the vessel requires a rearside-mounted docking port with external breaching equipment and some measure of armouring.
As salvage tends to exist in hazardous environments, the vessel should be capable of rapid acceleration and early detection of potential hazards.
Priorities
2-Speed
1-drone/fighter launching and recovery
1-boarding apparatus
2-ship to ship alignment A.I.
1-sensors

[tryrar]

Update: My fighter now comes with pics!

Spoiler: Valkyrie (click to show/hide)

Oh, BTW, I do believe we ARE on the next turn 10ebbor since UR updated with the first month

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Update is ready. It's a bit messy...

I'll think how to improve the format for the next turn