 August 22, 2013 - 5:44pm | Came across this article: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/07/12/air-force-begins-massive-b-52-overhaul/ Several good points for ships in the SF universe. We are approaching the 50th anniversary of the last delivery of a new B-52. That means the youngest plane in the fleet is 50. If the year is FY111 some of the ships in Spacefleet might be 100 years old or older. What would the the different capabilities be for ships made in different decades and what kind of upgrade kits could be available? (We have done some articles on different models of ships but what about some which just ain't as good as others cause they is old?) There are only about 76 left out of the 744 the Air Force took delivery of. Where are the rest? Do some minor powers have them in a military aid package? How did the militias get their ships anyway? Were they all bought new or are some Spacefleet leftovers? We have only one race on Earth but the Frontier has four major and alot of minor. Are the militia ships made for the dominant race and then adjusted for the other races as necessary or is it all one major generic brand? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 August 22, 2013 - 7:07pm | Upgrades: new weapons, sensors, communicators, computers. Refits from UPF standard to race-specific. Changes to crew requirements for new gear can force changes to internal structure. Like some aircraft and wet-navy ships, if you keep updating the wiring and software, an old hull can keep going a long time. It doesn't work so well for wet-navy ships, as the sea is a bit of a corrosive environment. Side note: 57+ years of B-52s (entered service 1955), versus 110 years of manned flight. There have been BUFFs flying more than half of the history of flight. A near-competitor would be the F-4 Phantom II (entered service 1960, 5 or 6 air forces still have them in 2013). |
 August 22, 2013 - 8:36pm | Like some aircraft and wet-navy ships, if you keep updating the wiring and software, an old hull can keep going a long time. It doesn't work so well for wet-navy ships, as the sea is a bit of a corrosive environment. In grad school I took a course on the space environment. I then went on to design the imaging interferometer of the GIFTS satellite. The take away from the work and education is that space is a rough place on space craft. Anything near a star is exposed to excessive radiation that breaks down the craft inside and out, hence why shielding is so important even on unmanned satellites. A starship that is 50 to 100 years old is going to be pretty worn just like a wet-navy ship. I would see ships starting to suffer damage from pulling heavy Gs as they age. A freighter could get by as they like to fly in straight lines. A warship however is required to change directions as it fights and will stress its’ hull is it does so much more than straight line flying. I can see militias taking old warships and getting them cheap because they are no longer suited for high-G fighting but are perfectly suitable for patrol work. They would save their money to buy one or two new capital ships as the flagships of their fleet. It also occurs to me that reflective hulls would also be protection against the harsh space environment. We must also think of the reflective hulls being broad spectrum as well so it is not just mirror finish to reflect light but also shape and outer materials to reflect low and high wavelength radiation outside of the visible spectrum. -iggy |
 August 23, 2013 - 3:15am | @ iggy: I like this for a quirk for an old hull that might come into the hands of the PCs. Vessel is old and worn thus when it pulls more than 2 ADF or 1 MR it takes one HP of damage. These damage points are saved on the side and the engineer must roll separately to fix each point but if any repair roll fails the damage becomes permanent. You get a situation where the PCs must baby the ship but in dire circumstances they could push it. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 23, 2013 - 8:28am | I admit, I didn't think about radiation damage to ships. I do like the "old & worn" rule for ships. |
 August 23, 2013 - 11:07am | Personally, I would have Militia fleets be a mix of ship types - not just a few Assault Scouts and maybe a small warship or two. Ships may include Privateers, Scoutships, Yachts, armed Freighters, and old surplus UPF warships, as noted above. Some of the wealthier worlds could afford the fancy UPF worships, but much of the smaller worlds would have to make do with whatever they can muster, and many of them would be limited to System Ships. |
August 23, 2013 - 2:13pm | Personally, I would have Militia fleets be a mix of ship types - not just a few Assault Scouts and maybe a small warship or two. Ships may include Privateers, Scoutships, Yachts, armed Freighters, and old surplus UPF warships, as noted above. Some of the wealthier worlds could afford the fancy UPF worships, but much of the smaller worlds would have to make do with whatever they can muster, and many of them would be limited to System Ships. Plus any prizes pressed into service. This would include vessels captured/impounded in system by space fleet and which space fleet did not want to bother with. Back in the 90's Auburn, Me had a 70's era Corvette as one of its police vehicles. That was a result of a joint bust involving FBI, ATF, State Police and the local townies- lots of property was confiscated and none of the agencies involved wanted the car so the town took it over, repainted it and special ordered a light strip to fit its roof. It was used primarily for parades and the DARE program but I haven't spotted it parked at the police station in years when up there visiting so they might have sold it off. So Star Law, Space Fleet, and the local cops bust some privateers and the ships get mustered into the local militia. In this case you wont have a uniform looking militia. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 23, 2013 - 5:17pm | What is uniform about a wet navy other than battleship grey.  The shapes of wet navy ship vary and have changed over time. A planetary militia made up of confiscated ships will look uniform enough when militia colors and modifications are made.I also have to take back my thought above about shape being used as radiation protection. I was thinking of current era stealth tech being expanded to reflect the radiation. Shape reflection as used in current era stelth tech does not reduce the amount of radiation on an object, it jusr scatters it away from the direction it came from so that there is little radar return. The current era stelth tech that does apply is exotic materials that absorb the radiation. This tech could mature into shielding that is replaced as it ages. -iggy |
