Fanart Hypothetically

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novius
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Re: Fanart Hypothetically

Post by novius »

entity2636 wrote:@Icekatze - nice ship, very Terran, and nice job drawing it :) Not sure if I like the hammerhead prow, but that's just my taste. This ship would be relying mostly on shields for defense and not expecting to get hit by kinetics? I notice large and flat surfaces at almost right angles to the main hull that make for excellent weak spots/shell traps, especially the conning and sensor towers...
Typically I'd say such an exposed structure would make for a weak spot, but as long as the enemy has little time to "dig in" and get into position, attacks may be expected to come from the front or the sides, thus the prow offering very little in the sense of targetable surface. It was just the unsuspecting Bellarmine being caught by surprise.

In my mind, the hammerhead would mostly house delicate sensor equipment, well away from the ship's high-powered systems adding noise to the readings. Could make sense if the ship serves in a mixed scout/skirmisher role.

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icekatze
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Re: Fanart Hypothetically

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

If you want a ship with a minimum of structural weaknesses, you can always go for the classic cube, sphere, or cylinder shapes. Those aren't as fun though.

(Also like I mentioned, the hammerhead houses the screens, in the same way that the Loroi house their screens in the twin prongs on the front of their ships.)

Absalom
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Re: Fanart Hypothetically

Post by Absalom »

I'd say that rather than a fighting bridge, that window would likely be a pilot house + "wing bridge": intended for use in port operations, and as an observation platform for visual inspections of the hull.

Sweforce
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Re: Fanart Hypothetically

Post by Sweforce »

icekatze wrote:hi hi

If you want a ship with a minimum of structural weaknesses, you can always go for the classic cube, sphere, or cylinder shapes. Those aren't as fun though.

(Also like I mentioned, the hammerhead houses the screens, in the same way that the Loroi house their screens in the twin prongs on the front of their ships.)
The loroi screens seem to be better protected but it makes sense if a more primitive screen MUST have maximum exposure to function properly. Then again In the Return of the Jedi, the bridge screens of the Super Star Destroyer where knocked out by destroying the round structures on the top. I guess it was decided late that they where shield emitters, I believed them to house sensor systems and was designed to look like radar housings. A design miss of whoever came up with the star destroyers basic form. That makes me wounder where the rest of the shield emitters are. There is of course the possibility that those bulbs on the bridge really WAS sensors but their destruction caused a cascade effect that knocked out the shields and they simply didn't have the time to get them up and running again, even if it was just a couple of blown fuses.

In any case I like this ship design to such a degree that I suggest that it get's officially adopted. Designing a ship can take YEARS and as such would probably already be on the drawing board at the time of the story. Adding the shield emitters and some other modifications are then just late stage alterations, something that is normal to do anyway. It can even go to the point where a ship undergoes massive changes when they are already at the shipyard. During WW2" Japan changed the purpose of several ships from battleships to carriers when the hulls where already completed. Other nations did similar things.

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