Ships that ride comets! An Asteroid Miner and Colony Ship for hitchhikers.

[xenoscepter (OP)]

Inspired by Steve's Tutorial which I have been reading through, where in he talked about the ability to set the number (if any) of guaranteed comets that would spawn in a system. . .  and the dangers that could of mining them. . .

The Millennium-Class Comet Miner:

 - Designed to hitchhike a ride on a comet for up to a thousand years, then return with the spoils. . .  hopefully.

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Millennium class Comet Miner    702,300 tons     5720 Crew     43972.8 BP      TCS 14046  TH 3000  EM 0
213 km/s     Armour 6-703     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 500     PPV 0
MSP 19566    Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12000 months    Spare Berths 67   
Cargo 200000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 80   
Asteroid Miner: 48 module(s) producing 480 tons per mineral per annum

StarTech Systems Model A (24)    Power 125    Fuel Use 8.84%    Signature 125    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 7,800,000 Litres    Range 22.6 billion km   (1225 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


The Gypsy-Class Comet Colony Ship:

 - Even riskier to use then the Millennium-Class above, the Gypsy-Class is designed to use a comet to hitchhike rides to distant places. . .  hopefully.

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Gypsy class Comet Colony Ship    115,000 tons     305 Crew     5887.4 BP      TCS 2300  TH 500  EM 0
217 km/s     Armour 4-210     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 10     PPV 0
MSP 320    Max Repair 31.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 120000 months    Spare Berths 19   
Cargo 50000    Cryogenic Berths 100000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 20   

StarTech Systems Model A (4)    Power 125    Fuel Use 8.84%    Signature 125    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 6,000,000 Litres    Range 106.0 billion km   (5656 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes



[Michael Sandy]

Why bother with the cryo?  That greatly increases the cost for only RP benefit.

Also, Aurora4x doesn't care about the crew endurance for non-survey commercial ships.  That endurance VASTLY increases the cost.

What is the purpose of the armor?  That is a hell of an expense that only helps at all if the enemy is purely missile armed.  A beam enemy would just chew up your expensive ship.  You would be better saving the duranium and building a dedicated patrol fleet to stick with your 40K BP investment.

I suggest having a bunch of Deep Space Tracking Systems in cargo, that you plop on whatever asteroid or comet you are mining from, and perhaps a mass driver as well.

If you build it as an orbital habitat, you simply need a small cryo so you can transfer the people to cryo when you move it, and all your patrol fleet needs to worry about is crew endurance.  So a simple carrier with ridiculous maintenance life can house the patrol ships proper.

[xenoscepter (OP)]

That's really helpful! Thanks! 

[Father Tim]

I think the armour is fine.  I also think that (almost) everyone else builds absurdly under-armoured ships.

I think that because I always play with 'Real Stars' turned off, so I frequently encounter Nebulae, and in a Nebula system a ship's speed is reduced by the thickness of the dust to some X per layer of armour.  Numbers like 63 or 72 or 212 km/s per layer of armour are not unusual.

[Michael Sandy]

Armored commercial ships are certainly useful once you encounter nebulae, but they seem an odd choice for someone who has never encountered any, and they are SO much more expensive that I would likely build a separate class just for the Nebulae, and ONLY if there was something really lucrative in it.

[Father Tim]

There almost always is, since

A) Nebula systems get a bonus to TNE mineral generation

and

B) Nebula systems increase the chance of adjacent (as-yet-undiscovered) systems also being part of the same Nebula.

Therefore, a huge chunk of my empire (or potential empire, at any rate) tends to be in, or on the other side of, Nebula systems.

(Although, I suppose this is sonewhat of a selection bias, since if I didn't explore Nebulae so vigourously, I wouldn't find as much cool stuff in and/or beyond them.)