That's fine for a aerospace fighter, but if those are needed then either the TCA is being invaded (in which case we're probably going to lose, due to our fleet already having been destroyed), or the other side is being invaded and we're providing assistance.Indubitably wrote:So in the outsider verse, it sounds like fighters have been relegated to second line duties due to the strength of point defense. However, the puny earthlings need something to relive scenes from top gun in, and i thought i could model something cool. let me present to you the SF-03 Kestrel, built assuming that man has discoved how to produce breathable fluid, may she satisfy all your GOTTAGOFAST urges.
For a space fighter, start with the goal of preventing it from working in an atmosphere, to reduce the chances of adding things that don't really belong, like wings. Then decide on the list of parts that're needed, assume "random-walk"/motion-preserving movements for the actual flight style, and connect everything together with a combination of struts, pipes, and armor. If you wind up with a Voyager spacecraft that has a cockpit instead of a radio dish, then you've probably got the right idea.
Incidentally, the US developed breathing fluid some time ago, maybe in the 60s or 70s. It unfortunately had a habit of inducing pneumonia if used too often, due to the fact that it was oil based, and wound up preventing evaporation of ordinary fluid that develops in the lungs. Given that we eventually decided that high speed & gees had their limitations, we presumably dropped development once we had the technology working. I think it's sometimes used to clean the lungs in cases of smoke inhalation & similar. With a decade or two of further development, we could hopefully fix the pneumonia problem, especially after a century of developing our biotech and nanotech. By the time of Outsider, breathing liquid with at most minor complications for it's users has likely been developed.
Personally, for Humanity I would expect a mixture of missiles/torpedoes and fighter to gunship sized vessels to be their best near-term post-contact warship option. The idea is that small drives should be easier to produce than capital-ship drives, so a fledgling industry in high-level drive manufacturing should have an easier time producing the small drives than the large ones. Missiles, torpedoes, fighters, and gunships would probably be the only things that could really be built at first. For transport you would use either freighters, or converted TCA warships (note: transport between star systems, not into battle).
The actual weapons would presumably be somewhat disappointing, with the possible exception of Mjolnir cannons converted for use from pulse generators, which could maybe be transported by short-duration gunships (yes, this is indeed like sticking a battleship cannon onto a PT boat, but don't worry: it doesn't have to float, so it won't sink). Miserable range, but with two or three in a "flotilla" of small craft it would provide some useful heavy firepower. Depending on the nature of the problem that the Loroi have with Historian technology, maybe we could get some extra-primitive pulse cannon or wave loom knockoffs early too, or at least use use the technology to improve the Mjolnir range.