On the other hand an organic ship might not use a drive that it (at first) recognizable to sensors made to look for more "tech" signatures. My thinking currently, (and this as good a thread as any to solict opinions :) ) is that Zurraquor bio-ships actually use a form of telekenisis for propulsion that at first won't register on energy sensors but once they are adjusted they pick up just as well. (Really radar is obviously going to show a change in vector even if the ship doesn't have a "drive" signature and I'm going to assume even biological/psionic process produce some heat which will be clear)

Any of the above though Klikk and Sathar haven't "evidenced" any such prior to this point. I chose the Zurraquor becasue they show no evidence of a space infrastructure and I an see them "shooting" a ship-seed kernal towards a likely looking asteroid, where it grows and assemblies itself. (Admititidly I'm using a specifically more fractus and "colony-insect" outlook to justify an already existing, but needs to be re-written, scenerio/adventure of a similar insectoid species used in another game system long-ago :) )

I was going with that as a given no matter the source. I was also having them produce "water" for masking screens and generate EM shields but biologically rather than mechanically.

We already do a basic type of "bio-mining" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomining) which with advanced bioengineering would make the process simpler. Ion even nuclear drives are possible given a sophisticated bioship that can produce and use processed metals and bio-chemical process' for other materials and combining them with a biological rather than technical basis. I was trying to avoid another similar drive system and was thinking that the TK propulsion along with the bio-ship basics would make them harder to "lock-onto" and hit. (In this case the "reflective" skin would be more akin to an absorbing skin to keep the energy rather than deflect it away. Reflec-hull in my SFU raises a ships "signature" level making it somewhat easier to hit but taking less damage from laser weapons)

Part of my reasoning is that I wanted to greatly differentiate between the Zurraquor and the Vrusk as insectiod aliens. Having them "cooperate" with the Sathar in building a new combat vehicle (possibly the same one that built Juggernaut) is certainly possible. Having it as a ancient, wandering super-weapon (ala-ST-TOS "World Eater") which threatens the Frontier or Rim (as it would "eat" asteroids, spaceships, what-ever to replenish biological supplies as well as energy) would be a great adventure seed as well.

Hadn't actually seen that one.

Randy

Technically? :) Biological process tend to have "water" as a waste product yes but think about how useful water is for other process' and systems...

Randy

Where would I get it at? My google fu has failed me

RAndy

That from an original $9.00 retail.

Randy

Randy

Like the "Nightflyers" (novella version, not the film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightflyers) I have the Zurraquor using telekinisis as a "drive" and no way of any other race being able to 'technically' adapt it for their ships.

I am thinking what if there is a critter like barnacles out there... that latch onto floating by space objects & build colonies in the past it would be some hunk of rock, but they could do ships. The question is what do they eat, how do they fit into the eco-system. They would be hard to get rid of critters I would think.

Seems to me in a novel there is a race of aliens that only travel STL because they have some sort of relationship with a huge space critter that is STL. 

Far Scape had a critter that attacked the living ship. It reminded me of a big fungi (not mushroom like, but the stringy sort)

Then there is also the possibility that Void Space is more complicated than just 1 Void space? What if a ship can get "stuck" between "levels" that no one knew existed, or enter a sort of different Void frequency with all sorts of weirdness, life forms etc. 

In the Marvel Movie Guardians of the Galaxy, they have a mining colony/illegal colony in the head of a giant dead being in space: Knowhere.

Living Space Hazards could be a real problem, rare but real.

Cybernetic or cyberbio engineered life could also be a problem.

 

I was also thinking what about a critter that loves to yum up radiation... it would be attracted to ship exhaust & engines, could be big or small...

It would be a real downer to discover your fuel pellets are no longer radioactive cause something had a snack, could be bacteria or a blob creature or something else altogether.

A creature like in Star Wars that sucks energy off of the cabling would seem like a nice pest compaired to a fuel pellet muncher. Though I think an electricity eater should be able to generate a good zap.

Or how about something like this from Niven's stuff: " very advanced, fragile aliens shaped like cats o' nine tails that, according to Ringworld, probably evolved on a cold, low gravity world resembling Nereid. Most of them live on big ships, crossing interstellar space at sublight velocities and trading in information and technology. According to A Gift From Earth, they find hyperspace vulgar. In the Fleet of Worlds books it is suggested that hyperspace might actually be lethal to them, as their body chemistry relies on real or artificial sunlight. Because of the nature of their 'ships' this light would be absorbed by the 'blind spot' that manifests in hyperspace. They possess inertial dampers and planetary drives.  The Outsider ships' follow starseeds. The starseeds are gigantic, non-sentient space-dwelling animals that travel from the galactic core to the rim by their solar sails. At the rim they lay their eggs, then travel the 50,000 light-years back to the core. In the Fleet of Worlds books it is suggested that the Starseeds might carry Outsider 'spores' on which the species relies to replenish its numbers."