Playing with Inkscape and an Orion Type Ship

If I could make my own universe, I'd probably run with something like Traveller. However, the ships I have in mind are sort of WTF level.

This is an Orion Type ship. I'm tinkering with Inkscape and coming up with ship designs. This one is a Bixby class exploration ship. The difference between battleship and explorer is slight with an Orion class ship.

Typical models are 10 meters across and about a hundred meters long. The long spar from the base to the top is where the payload goes, which I haven drawn yet. The whole ship is over 600 meters long.

Orions don't scale down, period. 10 by 100 meters is an arbitrary limit that one hits if you merely want to fill a spaceship with niceties like a 50-100 kg barber chair just because you might want one.

Typical Orion type ships have HUNDREDS of kiloton nuclear devices used to push the ship forward. This one probably has thousands. The grey area above the orange is the magazine for these propulsion devices. Often, the nuclear device will be deployed by a gun like mechanism through a hole in the pusher plate. That is option 1.

Option 2 is to have the nuclear device mounted on a missile that flies out the sides of the ship and to the target area 30 meters behind the pusher plate. The delivery rate is a leisurely 1 device per 1.1 seconds and one launcher would have the ability to perform this task. However, this ramped up version has 16 launchers, each one capable of launching nukes once a second, plus the gun-like arrangement at the bottom.

Theoretically, this is an unarmed ship. You can read a story about it in action here. The tech level in this story is all over the place, no FTL, but lots of AIs and reefer sleep. The AI is beginning to think about arming itself.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 016

In the remainder of the day, we get lucky and find 2 intact PS bots. I physically rolled dice for this so it must be random.

A PS-bot is a Personal Support bot, it can provide life support to a U-suit indefinitely or to an unsuited person for 1 hour. It can keep someone at zero hits alive and it can call for medical help. It also has a built in radio. It costs 2 secs. a week to operate.

They are kind of useful and sort of annoying. All bots have a weekly run cost, which you don't have early in the game. They are in good order when I regulate them to the hold. Using them triggers the cost, so storing them is a option early on.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.

15 Fuel Units,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot,

2 PS-bots,

3 Skimmers,

1 U-suit,

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 650 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

Progress continues...

I'm still working on my Inktober project in January... I know, it's lame.

New Markers, New Drawings - Uncle Sean's Cabin

This is a tiny cabin based on many of the cabins at Schoellkopf Scout Reserve.  SSR is a wonder campsite located in Wyoming County, NY.

I have been there several dozen times over the years and it is full of fond memories. On my most recent two trips, we spent time sprucing up the cabins and campsites. I often paint during the day and sketch at night.

This cabin is a cross between Phillips Cabin and Schoellkopf Cabin pictured below. It could probably be used for a hunting lodge in a D&D setting. In my campaign, it's a structure due east of the city of Nace.

While it looks tiny, 25 by 25 feet square in the wilderness is quite spacious and homey.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 015

A variation of an Antelope Starship with 2 ship's boats.

On this the day, we get lucky and find 2 intact skimmers. I’m beginning to suspect the randomness of Google’s Roll a die feature.

Eventually, I will get to the point where becoming a Used Skimmer Dealer will be profitable. 

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.

15 Fuel Units,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot,

3 Skimmers,

1 U-suit,

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 650 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

New Markers, New Drawings - The Stargazer's Tower

This whimsical tower was the home of an astronomer and astrologer. The man retired many years ago, after serving in the war against the elves. Although it doesn't look like it, the telescope can be replaced with something ol' Harvey called a "Cannon" or perhaps, "Canon". No one is sure. Whatever it was, it helped the magician stop the elves from entering the valleys his tower looks down upon.

In recent years, the tower has been inhabited by 12 students of the stars. They don't seem to be much good as magic users, but the men and women who live here are pretty special when it comes to observing the stars and laying horoscopes.

One of them is even familiar with the foreign principles of card reading, while another has invented a game where the players pretend to be tradesmen in the distant future, trading in luxuries on a "stock exchange" and "social medias". Whatever those are...