Exterminatus all the way.

>>4135077
How far are you traveling
Faster or slower than light?

RNC= Republican National Convention? They are a bunch of right-wing exiles from a socialist utopia Earth ...?

Little did the Russian Hind engineers know how widely srpead their "non designed" cockpit design would become.

>>4135085
Faster, but not too fast. I'm thinking the trip to the new world should take about a year. Add a little bit for the players to find out about whatever's going to threaten the galaxy before a return trip home once the colony can support itself for a little while without the Heinlein, and when the get back to warn humanity, there's enough new technology around to be useful and cool but not enough to be unrecognizable. Or something.

If it doesn't sound too much of a rip-off, I was thinking of taking the FTL drive from Mass Effect, minus the Mass Relays themselves, but I'm open to suggestion.

>>4135114
>No, I'm not sure what "RNC" stands for, right now it's three letters that sound awesome together.

Truth be told, I was thinking of a ship from Freelancer, where it probably stood for "Rhineland Naval Cruiser", but this isn't Freelancer, so...

RNCS: Real Nice Colonization Ship

RNC = Rhineland Navy Cruiser.

The Heinlein has an onboard AI which is extremely powerful and intelligent. Plant some hints that it's about to go rogue, everyone's always expecting that. Twist is, it's perfectly sane and will remain so during the entire mission. Only the players should be too paranoid to make full use of it.

>>4135134

Hmm, well in that case the biggest deal will be securing resources and preventing Pirate/Asteroid attacks. You might want to set up an orbital research facility for high energy tests, a possible orbital ring for particle acceleration (and SUPER FUCKING WEAPON) tests.

You also should try to follow a Megaroad style formation (thats like Homeworld) since these are decent journeys, and have a small resource/recovery fleet along with the separate naval units.

What your ship should have:

- Power source. What powers the various engines? What about the life support and utility devices?
- Living quarters. When the people aren't cryo-sleeping, they gotta sleep the traditional way. Or why not? Anyway, chemical replacement, cramped rooms, luxurious apartments?
- Control deck. Where do the captain and his aides stand? What tools do they have in their disposal, how well can they control the ship, how can they communicate with whatnot?

RNC could be like the tau XV-88 et al. stuff.

Vessel Size - Crew - Purpose

If they are going beyond the normal reach of governments, it might be a good idea to reflect on what kind of legal system they intend to take with them, to govern themselves.

Even if it's something as straightforward as, "When we get there, we elect a colonial council, a sheriff, and a judge, to keep the common law."

The reason I ask this is, it will become important to know who your PCs answer to. If there's any ambiguity or if they don't like how things are going, do they set themselves up as the leaders — effectively staging a military coup? Or do they support the civilian leadership?

RNC=Randy Nickle's Cabs

RNC: Republic Navy Cruiser. The Republic is the supergovernment sending out the colonists. It's being opposed by the two other superpowers, the League and the Union.

>>4135130
what do you mean by "non-designed" if i might so ask ?

>>4135150 but this isn't Freelancer

Maybe it should be... maybe it should be...

Is this a government colony or one funded by a private company?

I know you mentioned military folks would be there, but, you gotta remember that companies like East India had their own private military in the 17/18 hundreds.

This makes me think of a book called Chasm City. Part of the book happens on a flash back to a colonization ship that is slower than light and how they keep it going for so damn long is that while the majority of people are in cryo there is a skeleton crew that basically lives and keeps the ship running for the long number of years its traveling, I'm talking decades because these people have kids and their kids grow up to have kids. Also political intrigue, who gets to be the next captain.

RNC = Republic of Nations-Colonization

You could then have a simple system for designation of ships based on the RN"X"
for example: RNT = transport (passenger liners), RNL = luxury (cruise ships etc) RNW = warship

Republic of Nations could be like an intergalactic United Nations-esque system of allied countries/planets that retain local soverignty, but adhere to RN identification codes for simplification or whatever.

The military could have a sub-identification system to specify combat roles. RNW-C (warship-carrier) RNW-D(destroyer)

Just quick brainstorming

>>4135246

Oh I forgot to mention that there are other ships and they compete to see who will make landfall first, like they almost go to war over it, actually in the end they did go to war over it.

>>4135077
Royal Navel Calvary?
Besides throwing words up, the acronym is going to bug me.
If the vehicle is that important is there going to be more than one, as such are they going out at the same time, or is the vehicle picking up and departing constantly?
Most long distant ships that use sleep bays of some sort are one way trips especially for colonies. The ship can become part of the colony. Two way journeys wold have fuck huge ships with the ability to drop supplies from orbit to not stress the hull unnecessarily.
If you up the Sci Fi level (Star Trek to Star Wars) ships that are designed to come and go planet-side as they wish as transports are cool, but a little too fantastic for my tastes.

Re-Entry Navel Cruiser

I always argue SciFi settings with a 'logic balance'. With one thing being the way it is there are assumptions that can be made as to the tech tree in current application. Alien is a good movie example of heavily used ships in re-entry situations, Event Horizon for an alternative tech (grav couches).

Religions?

>>4135246

And the main character in that book justasplans the entire colony fleet by jettisoning like half the cryostasis pods (with people in them) in order to reduce the ship's weight and increase its acceleration, thereby ensuring it gets to the planet before the rival ships in the fleet do... I loved that.

>>4135211
Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind. Mass Effect, "the middle of nowhere in Halo", "the second FTL ship from the System Shock world", and Stargate all came to mind. None of them were quite what I was going for.

>>4135186
I was thinking that the civilians would be led by an elected leader once they land, but en-route, they'd be led by a council of the ships crew. The PC's would be led by... hmm... a Rear Admiral? There's going to be at least five or six other ships going out around the same time as the Heinlein, I'm not sure how far up the food chain I should go here.

>>4135180
Megaroad? Does that refer to a fleet formation or the formation of the story itself?

>>4135245
> you gotta remember that companies like East India had their own private military in the 17/18 hundreds.

You don't say! What strange times those must have been.

>>4135269

>Royal Navel Calvary?
>Navel

>>4135269
If you are going for a one way CRASH BUILD COLONY you can make it armored, but you will need either ultrafusion, Anti matter, or some sort of Degenerate Matter Engine to run this.

Weirdly enough, OP, I suggest you read the 'Bug Hunters' section of d20 Future.

It actually has a ton of useful, relevant background info for running a campaign almost exactly like this.

>>4135282

Yes, Sky was such a bastard but he was awesome at the same time.

>>4135077
Will the ship be under military or civilian command?
either way, the army units would need to be barracked/sectioned off in their own part of the ship so they don't fraternize with the colonists very much. Would give you more story options for interactions between the soldiers/civilians.

If it's a colony ship I would imagine it wouldn't be armed, or at least not heavily. I would also think it would have significant manufacturing/processing capabilities since it's pretty much going to be the only source of power/water/shelter/everything on the planet for at least a few years.

>>4135292
belly button

>>4135291

I may be mistaken, but IIRC companies like Blackwater sell their services to nations rather than private companies.

So I'd say the Mexican drug cartels are a better analogy, albeit an illegal one.

>>4135269
>Navel

Holy shit you're unintentionally funny.

Traveller material would serve you well.

Depending on how fast the ship reaches its destination will be the ultimate determining factor in how big of a support fleet it has as well as the design and loadout of the RNC Heinlein.

>>4135180

If you're looking to make hard-ish fantasy, don't have asteroids be common.

Space is HUGE and to find anything, you have to go out of your way. The chances of just stumbling upon anything in space are infinitely small. When I say infinitely, I dont mean "extremely," I mean infinitely. Space is fucking enormous.

>>4135372
engrish,
I RUVE IT!

>>4135287
> I was thinking that the civilians would be led by an elected leader once they land, but en-route, they'd be led by a council of the ships crew. The PC's would be led by... hmm... a Rear Admiral? There's going to be at least five or six other ships going out around the same time as the Heinlein, I'm not sure how far up the food chain I should go here.

An interesting variation along these lines that I think might work for you.

In order to participate in a colonization effort, the colonists form a company (perhaps "company" is the C in RNC?). It's a non-profit cooperative corporation with its own charter, and that charter will lay the foundation for the legal system that they'll use to govern themselves when they land. As members of the coop, the colonists are like "voting shareholders", which makes them citizens of the colony.

The PCs are employed by the company. You should decide whether your colony will be big enough to support a division between commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers. If you have COs, the leader might be a Commander or Colonel. If you only have NCOs, the leader might only be a Warrant Officer or a Sergeant Major.

Do the PCs have families that they brought along? Or are they just young guys looking for adventure and fortune Out There in the dark corners of space? Are they basically glorified mercenaries, or are they pros? Do they think of themselves as part of the colony, or as something over and above the colony?

>>4135169
>Plant some hints that it's about to go rogue, everyone's always expecting that. Twist is, it's perfectly sane and will remain so during the entire mission.
Make the AI alternate between teasing the players' for their distrust and being glum/emo about it the next.
Tl;dr, make the AI pretty damn cute

>>4135287
Megaroad is the name of the first pure colony ship in Macross, its a converted battleship but the later models are... this is the colony 15 miles long a mile high, and has a tiny ship ..

>>4135396

Yeah, even if you're flying through an asteroid field, it wouldn't be a big issue since fields like that aren't anywhere near as dense as they are depicted in things like Star Wars. If they were that dense, they wouldn't be asteroid fields because the gravitational forces would have caused them to coalesce into a planetoid.

>>4135428
More like the big deal is that if you are going anywhere fast STL (I assumed he was going STL) rocks = BIG BOOM due to the fast speeds.
Megaroad, 3.2 miles long, its tiny compared to the Island 1/New Macross class model.

Valkyrian Republic's Naval Carrier, first of all. VRNC

Secondly, you'll need a couple of things.

1: You're going to need a captain and crew Quarters. These intergalactic trips, no matter if they are instantaneous or long, are going to need a Captain's Room (Which is, for the most part, off limits) and a crews quarters.

2: Engine room, and Engineer's quarters. It's a ship, so it's going to need repair, and it's going to need engineers.

3: Marine's Quarters. If it's a Colony ship/exploratory vessel, then you'll need a couple of Roughnecks to have quarters, and a place to relax and store their weapons. This is where they'll be when not responding to a military threat or maintaining the peace.

4: Civilian Proper. This is the Civies' (and the ship in general, that is) place to hang out, body build, drink socially, dine, etc. Just throw as many amenities as humanly possible in there, and you'll be good.

5: Cyro-pod bay. You've got the idea, so there ya be.

6: If it's an exploratory vessel, it's going to need Diplomat ships and Marine deployment vessels and Fighters. Better throw a Fighter bay in there.

7:Science Division and Medical Pavilion. This'll be where people go to get help with their stubbed toes, fevers, and chopped off limbs. The lab's dual use, to cut back on taking up too much space.

That's all I got now. Hope you can use it.

You could make it travel at relativistic speeds.

Sort of like Ender's Game.
The speed of light is still an impassible barrier, but the closer to it you get, the slower you experience time. So, while a ship may have say a 5 year journey to get to it's destination, once it arrives and decelerates to normal speed something like 20 or 30 years have passed in "normal" time. This also makes communication with the ship traveling at hyper velocities extremely difficult and resource-intensive.

Effectively it would isolate the ship for however long you want to journey to last, creating a small "world" that consists of whatever crew/settings are on the ship. Once they drop out of near-light speed, they would be faced with different political situations, new commanders back home, maybe their mission has changed/modified, etc etc

It also completely cuts them off, for any reinforcements they request will take a generation or two to arrive.

Well, the ship is going to be home to the people who maintain it while its floating around through space, so it needs to have the kinds of stuff that people who live on a space ship need. A gym, somewhere to eat, an entertainment center, relaxation areas, somewhere to get markers so they can draw on the cryo-pods, somewhere to get tools and supplies, a lava lamp, bathrooms, somewhere to get clothes, somewhere to get non-essential supplies, somewhere to dispose of people who die, churches, somewhere to repair damaged equipment, somewhere to store stuff, somewhere to dispose of waste, a brig, somewhere to grow food, a lot of water, and all that kind of stuff.

Unless the ship is maintained by robots, but then you'd need somewhere to store them when they aren't in use, somewhere to get spare parts if one is damaged, a place to dispose of destroyed robots and damaged parts, somewhere for them to be refueled or recharged, and everything else robots need. You'd also need people to maintain the robots if they can't do it themselves, so you might need all the above stuff anyway.

>>4135471
This.

also search /rs/ for Traveller High Guard. It's got a pretty hefty sections dedicated to designing fuckhuge shapeships and goes step by step to include everything >>4135471 has said.

>>4135208
That they only took into consideration Field of View, Aerodynamics etc. and went with the first idea they got. Instead of designing it as an visual object too.

they come back home to find something has gone horribly, horribly wrong?

OP, it sounds a lot like you're looking to do a Macross-styled plot. If everyone doesn't mind, I'll post some pictures of the Macross 25, a colonization ship.

>>4135677
The inside is a near perfect layout of San Francisco. With a semi-holographic inside shield, residents can go about their daily lives as if living on Earth

>>4135654
I had read the whole manual before starting the game, and I was expecting something along the lines of a "go out, do stuff, come back, repeat" type of game, slowly building up the planet so a few more motherships could be built and ferry everyone back home.

Then I hit the second mission.

Pic related.

>>4135696
There are commuter rails all along the shield, and there's plenty of open space, all nicely temperature controlled

>>4135710
Everything is recycled, including the bodies of the fallen (Macross has some very freaky-dinky tech). This cemetary is only full of headstones.

>>4135363
Mercenaries just don't technically exist anymore because the UN illegalized them. So it's not like they became 'obsolete'.

>>4135721
an 'open-air' mall

>>4135730
Er, point is that a change in politics can easily justify them.

>>4135730

People listen to the UN?

>>4135731
City 25's dome (the outer shell) can replicate the day-night shifts (as well as make a bitching ultra-wide-screen monitor). In the event of an emergency, it can 'shell-down', closing like a clam

Okay, let's see what we have so far:

RNC Heinlein

-Captain's Quarters
-Command and Control Center
-Research / Scientific Bay
-Maintenance / Fabrication Bay
-Sick Bay
-Cryo Pod Bay
-Aviation Hangar (Marine, Diplomatic, Worker ships)
-Civilian Hangar (Utility Ships and Vehicles, for use in colonization)
-Mess Hall and other Non-Sleeping Crew Facilities
-Mining / Ore Processor

It's probably also going to need an Observatory of some sort and maybe a room for the AI (I liked that idea. It could serve as a neat NPC who whistles the Ballad of Rodger Young when bored or something), depending on the level of available computer tech. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a powerful quantum computer be able to fit in a 55 gallon drum? Or perhaps I can save that advancement for something that happens back on Earth while the players were away.

>>4135363
I was using Blackwater as an example of a corporate army, to show that corporations have private armies. It's a corporation, and it has a private army.

Their business is "contracting"/mercenary work, which makes them different from the BEIC, whose business was colonization. So I acknowledge the distinction you're making. But they're both examples of profit-motivated corporations with their own fighting force.

>>4135750
The main colonization ship is split into two parts; the larger City, and the 1km long Battle-class cruiser outlined in blue here. It is normally attached

>>4135772
Battle 25 is one of many "Battle"-class carriers, carrying hundreds of Variable Fighters, as well as serving as a flagship for the thousands of other vessels in the colonization fleet

>>4135786
it... uh, also does this

>>4135793
The Macross 25 fleet engaging in some shenanigans.

>>4135786
>>4135823

Here I was thinking this Macross stuff was kinda neat... then I see this.

>>4135823
I'll post some schematics now, for your campaign builder in you.

From top left, clockwise; battleship interior, outside the main theater, battleship CIC (the large orb projects the 3D battlespace), and bridge of a smaller cruiser

ok, the ship itself? Here's what you'll need.

Cockpit.

Engines (duh)

Defensive system. Shields, armor, point-defense lasers, machine gun, doesn't matter. As long as it can negate the threat of micro-meteors impacting the hull. Scale concept up or down to match tech level in campaign.

Storage, industrial. All the gear and prefab buildings the colonists will need when they arrive.

Storage,personal. Bay of small storage compartments that allow colonists to carry their personal possessions.

Storage, Maintenance. Store room of spare parts in case of damage or malfunction on board the ship.

Maintenance control. Location where repair crews, human or robot, can be equipped and dispatched to deal with damage.

Life support systems.

Computer core, storing all the data the crew will need upon arrival. Essentially, a backup of the current internet of Earth circa the time they left.

Bulkheads. Easily sealable bulkheads and doors to prevent catastrophic decompression in the case of a hull rupture.

>>4135841
ya, there's two kinds of impressions people get when they first see Macross:
1) hey, neat, a space colonization story. WTF, there's robots in it?
2) hey neat, its transforming robots. WTF, why is it always about love triangles and coming to equal terms with the bad guys? Where's my explosions.

Either way, take what you will.
Next up: City 7 schematics. Basically the same as previous, except the city is much much smaller. Only supports a million persons.

OP, you should listen to this man.
>>4135409

>>4135881
Schematics showing the shell's mobility. Also notice the battleship attached to the front

>>4135892

>>4135903
rough drawing from forward 3/4 without battleship attached

Here's an idea, jacking from the story of EVE Online.
Basically, there's a human being with a spinal jack (like The Matrix) that plugs into the ship itself, and this single person essentially controls the ship, with a skeleton crew makes sure everything keeps running smoothly.
If you want an analogy, the 'pilot' is the conductor, and the crew is the orchestra.
If you had to stay in a pod like that for a decade at a time, you might go a bit loopy. Maybe the SURPRISE part is that it turns into a game of survival when the entire ship turns against its inhabitants on the return trip when the pilot finally snaps.
Just an idea.

Depending on how h4x their drives are (are you using STL, FTL, or some kind of handwavium hyperspace thingy?), they will need some way of shielding the ship from micrometeor impacts, especially over the habitable sections, although IIRC ramscoop fields (at least in the Known Space universe) seem to provide some kind of protection against this. I don't know, I'm not a scientist!

>>4135921
Public transportation options

>>4135969
Schematics of military vessels: bridge

>>4135951
>jacking from the story of EVE Online.
>human being with a spinal jack (like The Matrix) that plugs into the ship itself, and this single person essentially controls the ship
>single person
>plugs into the ship itself

Say wha?

>>4135992
fighter launch bays

>>4136031
more bridge pics, as well as in-series pics

Just some questions and suggestions:
What do you plan on the players doing en route to the planet?
Pirate attacks seem unreasonable because you said the ship would be going faster than light.
Are they just going to be fighting with the other chartered ships or dealing with people stirring shit up on their ship?
How many people are going to be starting the colony, millions, hundreds of thousands, thousands?
Is the ship going to have any other weapons other than the fighter planes? I recommend a mass driver so it can double as a offensive weapon and a take off platform (my fucking bullets are planes bitch).

>>4136041
battleship-city seperation mechanisms

Isn't the whole "the dude in the pod is hardwired to the ship, yet the ship still needs a crew of thousands to keep it running" canon EVE fluff?

>>4135886
I should. How the fuck did I miss this post?

>>4135409
>Do the PCs have families that they brought along? Or are they just young guys looking for adventure and fortune Out There in the dark corners of space? Are they basically glorified mercenaries, or are they pros? Do they think of themselves as part of the colony, or as something over and above the colony?

I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking that they should be pros from a government military of some sort looking for adventure IN SPACE. I hadn't considered bringing families along, but that's something I'm definitely considering now.

If all goes as planned (HA HA HA), the players should feel like part of the colony. You know how in the beginning of System Shock 2, you get to plan out your three years in the service before joining the Von Braun? Well I've been looking through various systems that offer lifepaths, and the basic phases I'm looking for are Before Enlisting, Training and Specialization, the Trip, -with an intermission there to play out landing and picking the site for the colony- and a year or so of colonial life. By the time the adventure begins in earnest, they should feel like an extension of the colony. Patrols should have the dual purpose of prospecting goods for the colony, they should be on a first name basis with at least a few colonists, et cetera, et cetera.

By the way, please tell me if the whole lifepath thing is a good idea or not. I've never used a system that featured it, myself. Do they generally work well?

>>4136050
City 5; same size as City 7, and smaller than City 25

>>4136059
There's a number of issues to go with that. In addition with what >>4136043 is asking, there's also questions of:

how long is the overall colonization effort's mission? 5 years, 20 years, lifetime?
This, I imagine will dictate quite a lot; the longer the mission is, the more massive a fleet you'll need, not just for provisions and faculties, but also for the biological and socio-psychological needs of the crew.
If its like a 15 year mission, you might get away with smaller, modern ship-like conditions. But much longer, and you'll be dealing with all sorts of psychological and social issues.

The Macross Fleets are multi-generational colonization efforts, so they require large revolving-door style population mechanisms

Ah, there's also the question of personal mobility for the PCs. How do they get to a planet's surface? What if there are aliens in space (kind of a redundant question, but one that needs to be answered, nonetheless)
Do they use spacesuits, or space fighters, or what?
Is it more Starship Troopers, or Star Wars?

>>4136059
>they should feel like an extension of the colony

Well, I'm finished dumping Macross images, so unless anyone wants to see some 1-kilometer long battleship gut-punching another one (in .gif form, too!), I'll dump some campaign-building pics.

Starting off: you know how on comercial airplanes they have those in-flight brouchures where you can buy ludicrously expensive stuff from. This, Anehiem Journal, is the same, but IN SPACE!

>>4135186

Hey, this is your friend from
>>4135409
>>4136059
again.

I've never played a game with a lifepath system, but it's probably a good idea in this case. Commissioned officers in the colonial force are likely to be vets from national/planetary forces who have served their commission and are now looking to move on to something more challenging. So they've already had a bit of a career. If there are hostile aliens in your universe, these guys may have a few scars to remember them by.

Why are the colonists undertaking this dangerous effort? Colonies are hard enough to run without having to worry about the kind of hostility that requires a standing fighting force, which your premise assumes. Maybe some or all of them are members of a religious group, not well regarded on Earth (maybe persecuted, or maybe just thought of as kooky), looking for a place to call their own? Like the Puritans, or the Sikhs. Then the church structure will be important for governance, and will be built into the company charter. The PCs, though a minority on Earth, earned their chops serving Earthside, and are now hoping for some kind of new society.

>>4136251
letter from the CEO of Aneheim Electronics. This also brings up an interesting point; what are the economic dynamics aboard your colonization fleet? How Laissez faire could it be without interrupting military interests?

>>4136279
More questions; how is gravity dealt with? Is artifical gravity available? is it available to the extent where even small vessels may have them. From this contents page, you can see that the smaller civilian flights do not have artificial gravity, so they have ingenious solutions to the problem, like chairs that fold vertically so you can sleep.

>>4136302
What about advertising and control of public information? These things are relatively important since the military must work extremely close with the civilian populations

>>4136322
What kind of planets would you colonize? Are they mandated to say, we need a base in so and so area, so go there and find a suitable rock, or is it more, lets find a nice green and blue marble in the sky

>>4136121
I'm not sure what you're asking. How long is the trip? How long are they supposed to be there?

The Heinlein is going there to set up a permanent colony. Farms, mines, settlements, the whole nine yards. The only reason the Heinlein later leaves is because it's really, really hard to make an FTL ship from scratch and the only one around would be the Heinlein itself.

>>4136172
Think Aliens. The Heinlein makes a sweep of the planets surface, compiles data, and gives it to the military branch. They organize missions using dropships where they fly over, drop off the PC's in a small land vehicle (say... a Warthog from Halo or a Mako from Mass Effect), who then do some up-close and personal inspections. After that, the Heinlein lands in the nearest sea and off-loads everyone.

>>4136335
I think I'm asking: how long is the trip to the planet going to take? Longer trips will require much more consideration than just increased resources.
Also: is McDonalds still around? (its a question of how centrist the economy would be)

>>4136355
Cargo shipment issues

>>4136370

>>4136385

>>4136399

>>4136411
A little bit of /tg/, /k/, and /m/ in this one

>>4136431

>>4136441

>>4136449

>>4136355
The trip should take something in the neighborhood of one to three years. And of course McDonald's are still around! How relevant that would be is a question to be decided later.

>>4136464
Notice how the fruits are all square/rectangular shaped; how would your colony ship manufacture/process food-stuffs for your crew/citizens?

>>4136466
ah, okay. So the last, like, 20 pics I've posted wouldn't really be as necessary as if it had been a much longer journey. Oh well. Here, have some fictional company logos

>>4136503
Can I just make a point here; This picture shows civilian and commercial space-highway routes in the Earth-moon vicinity. This, my friends, is campaign building

>>4136520
Layout of a completely fictional space-port, complete with labels for everything from post officies to snack bars, restaruants to restrooms

>>4136528
... shuttle layouts and in-flight menues

>>4136535
space.. err, shuttles

>>4136545
Pictured: Better advertising than most real advertisments

>>4136559
Moon city layout

>>4136568
trollies... in space!

>>4136578
Pictured: confusing censorship and the fact that sex still sells, in space!

>>4136585
well, that's about it, unless anyone has any requests. Hoped this gave you guys some neat ideas

archived
(admittedly poorly)

What system are you going to use for this? With all this stuff, I think it'd probably be better to use a generic system and customize it than to take something made for space.

>>4136712
I'm not OP, but I'm the guy who posted all the setting pics, and in my experience with this genre, I'd definitely agree with you; most space-specific systems aren't all that flexible, and usually devolve into canon-wank. That's fine if you're using that setting (I do like my SWSE), but for a novel setting, generic systems are the way to go. In fact, I'd posit that if you're going to use a d20 system, even core 3e and 4e are better choices than d20 Modern and its ilk.

>>4136568
>Von Braun

fffffffffffffffff

>>4136967
in the setting its the city that occupies the lunar crater Von Braun, obviously named after Wernher von Braun

>>4136967
OH GOD FLASHBACKS NO I DON'T WANT TO JOIN THE MANY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>4136712
I'm going to use SilCORE and try to adapt a lifepath system to character creation. The only thing slowing me down really is trying to figure out how to make psychic powers work to any real degree.

>>4136255
>Why are the colonists undertaking this dangerous effort?

FTL Technology has just been developed and of course, someone has to be first. While there are hostile aliens in the setting, humanity has yet to make first contact, and there are (of course) non-hostile aliens.

Whee! Pioneers IN SPACE!

>>4137009
>>4137038

The Machine Mother speaks

projectrho.com/rocket/index.html

>>4135841
punching the foe with a mile long battleship is the manliest thing. Nothing says fuck off like DAEDALUS ATTAAACCK

>>4135077

Name an escort 'Rickenbacker'.

Nothing will go wrong at all.

>>4137304
I'm sure. Which reminds me, I need to read up on cybernetics.

On a side note, time to figure out roughly how big the Heinlein is and how many carried craft it has. So far, I'm thinking it's somewhere on the same scale as one of the GTD Carriers from Freespace, perhaps a little smaller. It's certainly larger than -say- the USS Enterprise (the aircraft carrier, not the Starfleet vessel). It should have at least a dozen each of Worker units (like the ones from Homeworld 2), Multipurpose large ground transports, and oversized walking construction units (like slightly bigger Powerloaders from Aliens), and assorted smaller ground transports for civilian vehicles. Military vehicles should consist of various adjustable light four-wheel drive vehicles (like Warthogs), larger rovers (Makos), convertable air transport / gunboat dropships, and various space superiority fighters. Basically, the starter fleet from Homeworld, with equipment for both air and ground. Anything i'm missing? Anything seem redundant?

Oh, the Heinlein carries a crew (sleeping colonists, military personnel and all) around the tens of thousands. I don't think I mentioned that earlier...

>>4135951
Homeworld was Here
EVE is a slowpoke

>>4137693
for the people not sleeping, where is the food being made, and what water do you use for drinking.

Massive corporately owned ship on essentially a one way trip to the planet. The probes report a minerally rich but lifeless planet. Upon landing, unfolds into a giant nearly automated factory/mining colony preparing loads of processed raw materials for transport back to the home world. The "colonists" are employees of a large industrial consortium and are very well paid. Since the colony essentially eats the planet it's illegal for them to land on a life bearing world, the ship lands in a desert region. Unfortunately the world is full of life, even has indigenous bronze age aliens but with very advanced biotech living on it. The government observer is killed, the scouting party's shuttle is sabotaged, every colonists pay is doubled, the main ship lands in a lifeless desert, and the ship's computer starts having androids patrol, looking for anyone disloyal to the company.

>>4137693

The Ground forces seem about right. Because when weight (or rather mass) is at premium in space, the military would propably focus on mobility and tactical flexibility rather than heavy armor and superior firepower.

I am assuming that the HW-like worker units can be used to maintain/repair the ship aswell as mine asteroids, but can't operato far away from the colony ship so some kind of larger support craft that would carry the workers to resource rich asteroids and return to drop off raw materials for processing. I would add "skimmer" crafts that harvest gasses such as Helium3 from upper atmosperes of gas giants, to use as fuel.

Also i would add an prefabricaded space station with an skyhook or even an full orbital elevator that would act as an orbital dock and prosessing plant for the harvesting craft when the colony ship leaves back to earth.

>>4137869

The water is most like recycled and most food such as vegetables and fruits would be grown hydrophonic farms and there would also be massive tanks full of edible algae, that would also be used to grow fish, crabs and shrimps. Naturaly the plants and algae would assist in keeping the atmosphere breahtable.

>>4137985
So you can't just PURGE THE PLANET? Makes sense I guess, the big deal is you MIGHT have to steal a comet, since you said 10,000 I'll round up and get you some ROUGH numbers on how much water you need to feed the entire crew and not die of dehydration is about half a galon per man woman and child per day if this website is correct. At that you use up 5,000 gallons of water DAILY for drinking so ... yeah you will need a refill if even .01 leaks to space or is not perfectly recycled.

>>4138042

And this goes to show why people should not post at 4am..

To continue a bit, the Heinlein would be way too small if you plan on cramming tens of thousands of colonist + crew and military, and all the supplies for the journey to a ship that is about one kilometer in length. The GTVA Colossus would be about the right, in my personal opinion. The size would not be a problem, because the ship would probably be mostly made of cargo bays and fuel tanks. During the journey there would be very little use for crew as the AI could take care of the common maintenance tasks and day-to-day running of the ship. However there should be at least several hundred crew member (not colonist) awake at any given time as an precaution for emergencies and provide distractions for the AI to keep it from going insane.

>>4137985

Sounds really cool, but, how is this cost effective? Transporting natural resources between planets is very expensive as they take up a lot of space and are a giant pain in the ass to get out of the planet's gravity well.

Unless you have a method of transportation that makes this a non-issue, each world needs to essentially be self-sufficient. Interplanetary trade would be restricted to finished products and biological goods that cannot be grown/bred elsewhere. These would, needless to say, be luxury items. Strip mining larger asteroids / smaller planetoids could be worthwhile, but then there's no need for a colony.

>>4138272

Hmmm... two or three kilometers, then? Exactly how big was the Mothership from Homeworld anyway?

I ask because six kilometers seems absurdly large, especially when considering the measuring sticks of some of the series I'm drawing from (good god, six kilometers is three times the size of Sovereign! How in the hell is that going to land in an ocean?).

>>4138546
Why not have two ships? Have a ship with scouts and military, as well as a small construction team which sets down and starts the colony and then a ship full of colonists in cryosleep which arrives to find the first ship turned into power plants, water and food productions units, etc etc

>>4138273
It's not a mining colony, it's a self replicating factory that eats an entire planet, then eats itself. Building fleets of freighters to haul everything back to Sol. Reason it's banned for use on habitable worlds is because within a few decades there won't be a planet there anymore. Everything back in Sol has been claimed by someone already, and they're not about to stop building things just because there's nothing left to mine.

>>4138573
Thematic reasons, mainly. As much as possible, i'd like for the Heinlein to remain the main capital ship the players rely on, much the same way the Mothership was the focus early on in Homeworld before the shit hit the fan and everyone had to buck up and fight a war.

Or in this case it'd be a bit more like the Somtaaw mining vessel. As an aside, I deeply regret never finishing that game. I didn't get past the second mission the first time around before I changed computers, the next one wouldn't run it without crashing, and I've since lost my copy of the game. And this didn't bother me until that time /tg/ spent a week going "HOMEWORLD, FUCK YEAH!".

Dammit.

I also suggest using traveller at least as a ruleset if not incorporating your storyline into their universe altogether. the mongoose version is coming along well and seems easily modifiable for just about any purpose.

bump

If you still need a name for the ship how about
Republic neo-colonization ship

>>4135169

Fucking nice. I'm about to start a scifi game, think i'll use this one just to mess with them for a bit.

>>4138886
Man, if I knew the better half of the thread would be taken up by deciphering the ships designation, I wouldn't have mentioned it. Come to think of it, RNC probably wouldn't be able to stand for anything. "Royal Navy Colonist", assuming that this was the ship Great Britain paid the lion's share for, which would make it unlikely that they'd name it Heinlein.

"United Nations Colonial Carrier Vehicle" or just "Colonial Carrier Vehicle" could probably sound cool after getting used to the term. The CCV Heinlein...

CCV Heinlein

Length: 2500 m
Mass: ~3,000,000 tons
Crew: 250 and 1 Sentient AI
Passengers: 9,750
FTL Drive: Inertialess Drive
Sublight Drive: Fusion Torch
Defenses: Kinetic Energy Shield
Offensive Weaponry: Point Defense Systems, Carried Interceptors and Marine Dropships.


Sections:
Central Hangar, Command and Control Center, Crew Quarters / Habitat Area, Cryo Banks, Engine Bay, Engineering / Fabrication, Hydroponics, Life Support / Aux Storage, Main Storage, Observatory, Planetary Vehicle Bay, Science Bay, Space Vehicle Bay.

Coming up with actual stats for this is going to be a stone bitch, let me tell you. But at least the concept work is done.

OH FUCK!

How did I forget this? To everyone who contributed ideas, and especially the image dump guy, thanks. Seriously. You're all awesome.

Does anyone have a copy of the Mechwarrior rules for download? Traveller's lifepath system doesn't have enough branches open for civilian life, and Twilight: 2013 doesn't have any lifepath cycles for occupations in space.

bump

>>4140204
Traveller High Guard, /rapidsearch/ it.

lol RNC.

That's the initials of the police force in my province.

OH SHIT THE COPS IN A GIANT COLONY SPACE SHIP, HIDE THE WEED

>>4141474
"DOOD I THINK THEY'RE GONNA TRY AND LAND ON THE HOUSE"

>>4135269
"Royal Naval Calvary" Is that like dolphin riding?

>>4141962
More like kingly water-bound place where Jesus died.

>>4135269
Compared to COMMON navel cavalry?

>>4142047
Which is a group of dudes who ride bellybuttons.