This is an excellent question. Main question would be whether they are parked in a Gravity well or not. Say an uninhabited system, or just open space.

In a traveller game, we used a dead dwarf star as a sort of "bone yard" where old ships were put into a fast orbit. The orbit could be tight and vaguely relativistic-a percentage of C but not much. It was an easy way to preserve it for the future and make it difficult for someone to approach without being obvious of their intent.

there was an episode of TNG that dealt with this in a round about way. If they are not used for training the are held in orbital shipyards or sold to other races. In an episode the Enterprise shut down all systems and parked in a orbital junkyard to ambush an unknown enemy that had stolen parts of a vulcan ship. This imples that it would not be out of the ordinary to see a starfleet ship within one of these junkyards.

I would say that they would put the ships in a stable orbit at a L1 or L2 point at a star with a small base to watch over them, remove volatile and reactive materials (like antimatter, oxygen, ect) and fill them with some nice inert gas to keep temperatures moderate inside, like nitrogen.

Keep in mind that ships that aren't needed for a reserve fleet are often instead sent to a breaking yard after being decommissioned and having weapons and other controlled items, like sensitive electronics, removed or destroyed. This is typically a pretty high labor, low margin job that goes to relatively poor places.

Depends.

The boneyard that picture is of is not an actual scrap heap. The planes there are kept maintained and in long term storage. They can be put back into use with a bit of work.

Aircraft that are being scrapped have any classified or useful components removed and are just sold as scrap.

So for a long term ship storage facility I would expect it be outside a system. Somewhere far away from any gravity wells or stars which would increase the amount of maintenance needed per ship. A small space station with a small crew the entire facility being mostly automated.

>>7569881
They'd probably mothball the ones they might want to use again, but any they don't they'd either recycle for parts or just dump on a random planet.

Once ran a game where the PCs were all inbred backwater hicks on a planet who got a chance to go into space when there was a fight over their planet and it rained spaceship parts.
It had some of the most fun and awesome moments in the history of campaigns I've ran in it, such as:
- Building a 1000 ton cargo hold and using it to brew moonshine.
-The engineer deciding the ship 'needs more fire power' after they lost a fight and creating a huge shotgun for it, that fired shrapnel, he later realized this weapon could only be used when you were really close to the enemy... Cue ballsy dives at the enemy then curving away mere meters from them and blowing huge holes in their ships with super velocity scrap.
-A mutiny which consisted of one guy grabbing a roll of camoflage, hiding in the captains toilet and then trying to make the captain have a heart attack...
-Them finding an old SHODAN-style AI, deciding that they liked it, after it tried to kill them, and keeping it in a USB plugged into a mobile Holographic generator on the command deck.

just pick a place nowhere near any interplanetary shipping lines and make sure they don't drift away too quickly. You seem to forget that space is big, really big, so big that your, mine, and everyone else's feeble minds would be crushed by the sheer size of it if we could properly perceive it. so just dump 'em somewhere in some backwards semi-inhabited star-system and have a couple of ships stripping the wrecks down for parts

>>7570077
Gravity on it's own doesn't cause any wear or tear on a ship, and most materials can stand up to solar radiation for a long time without degradation. In fact, the cold in interstellar space could well be a harsher environment for long term storage then the areas where the materials the ship is made from are closer to the temperatures they are intended to operate at.

At a nice, stable orbit your ships would, in all likelihood, still be there in a million years unless someone deliberately removes them.

>>7569881
>>7570076
Actually this could lead to an awesome campaign.
PCs are members of a sort of part-time space navy the earth has. The professionals are involved in a huge war somewhere with a group of races that want to genocide the hell out of humanity.
Then the call comes in from a planet the entire opposite end of the empire, a new race humanity has never seen before has just glassed an entire planet.
So the humans do the one thing they can.
They break out ships from hundreds of years ago to try and go slow the threat down until the actual navy can get there.
The PCs are members of the ship leading this fleet of broken down Hulks, they've been given the orders that they can keep anything they can find on the way there and to try and hold the enemy as long as possible.
Cue X-Com style Space Shinnanigans in which the PCs are underfunded, underpaid, incompetent and underequipt for the job, fighting an enemy they've never seen before, don't know anything about and trying desperatly to save humanity from.

>>7570097

The man is right. in fact, you could park an arbitrary number of ships in even a heavily trafficked system without any danger. Put radar reflectors on them, and / or beacons if you like. Even without them, the chances of a collision is so small as to be retarded to fear it.

>>7570097
>just dump 'em somewhere in some backwards semi-inhabited star-system

Awesome plot hook there. Either humanity happens to find a ship graveyard and that's how we get space travel, or some other race finds an old human ship and decides to go find humanity, knowing they are not alone in the stars.

>>7570139
It could be a lot of fun. They could be on a Dreadnought older then the country they grew up in with ship commendations and battle honors carved into the bridge hatch that are barely in their history books.

"Well fuck, at least they built these things to last."

>>7570152

>>7570139
The fleet is too busy fending off a real threat, so the PCs are sent out with a third rate starbase that just holds a number of short jump capable interceptors, storage, living quarters and a high bandwidth tachyon data link to Earth. Research is dependent on the data link, production is dependent on local corporate enclaves, actual fighting power is dependent on research of captured alien weapons. Basically X-Com Interceptor done right.

>>7570202
Even better, turns out that what they're going to face is an even bigger threat than genocidal race A.

Fuck I'm running this with my group.

>>7570190

>>7570152

This is basically how a war that almost annihilates the galaxy starts in HHG.

>>7570190
Carved onto one of the plates of sheet metal in the command desk.
"In the year 1709 AFF, this ship defended the planet [Some planet] from total destruction at the hands of a pirate fleet."

They later go to that planet and it's a bustling metropolis that once again must be defeneded.

Having little fragments of history like that in it would be awesome.
Find a diary disk that belonged to the last old captain describing his time aboard the ship, at first hating being assigned to this 'Backwater wreck' but eventually coming to love it, being upset that it's going to be decomissioned after he dies/gets promoted.
Or from the first Captain, describing it as a piece of cutting edge technology, it's beautiful sleeked design, waxing lyrical about its capacity and power and how there'll never be another ship like it.

>>7570152
I can't remember and my internets are playing up so it's a lot of effort to check, but wasn't Rendezvous with Rama and associated books a little like this?

>>7570121

It depends on what you put in the ships. Maybe a lagrange point would make more sense. Not in a heavily populated system though

>>7570212
I'm 12 years old and what is this?

can someone post some stargate-esk space ships ie: daedalus and prometheus


>>7570261

shut the fuck up

>>7570238
"This will be my final log as Captain of this ship; my...efforts, have been noted by someone higher up and I am to be taken from the Valliance and put incharge of a newer, sleeker ship, I belive that I am to Captain the Premagogion, a class 14-C battle ship.
The Valliance is to be mothballed...they said that she was not a valuable asset anymore.
That is not true, the Valliance is old, but she is...beautiful, I've never called her that before, but she is. No other ship I've commanded has ever been so, so reliable and so...determined.
That final battle, the Valliance destroyed a small fleet by herself, the ship did the work, not I. She deserves better than her fate...
I belive that she would not with to be put out to rest, as the first Captain said when the ship first flew, the Valliance is a ship that loves the heat of battle, it's proud and hard and fast, I belive she would like to die in battle as such not be...left in this...this indignity, to forever float around some dead star!
I shall leave a copy of this disk here, I pray you can forgive me old girl but at least I know something of me shall be with you.
I love you Valliance, you are now, and shall forever by, my ship...and I pray that one day you fly again through that starry night, at the head of a fleet as you once did...I could never do that for you out of Boarder patrol...but...it's what you deserve.
This is Captain M. W. Wilson, Captain of the Valliance, signing off...for the last time.
.........Goodbye old girl..."

>>7570309
Ok, Googled it, should've done that first, my bad.
Though I reckon a decades old anime is a little obscure to pop off about when someone asks what the Yamato is.

>>7570326
a
single
manly
tear

>>7570326
:(

>>7570355

oh dude i had no idea what it is either i just wanted you to shut the fuck up

>>7570326
"This is the Valiance."

"We're back."

>>7570326
This is Navigator E. U. Schrewer of the Valliance, my ship and I are in a class 5 emergency situation, we've ran into a Pirate fleet of 15 class 4 cruisers. I repeate, we are in serious trouble if we do not get help here and NOW.
We've managed to find a choke point between two gravity wells, but I seriously doubt our ship can hold them all. We need reinforcements now!

Three days later the Valliance was found floating in the exact same spot, surrounded by wreckage, upon inspection, the wreckage was found to have come from exactly 15 class 4 cruisers, the entire ships crew were outside in space suits collecting debris and repairing the ship with them.
Upon questioning the Captain, a Captain U. M. P. Queiza refused to give any comment on the matter beyond "She could hold them. She's a tough girl and we underestimated just how good the new tech in her was."
Recordings of the battle are now being reviewed by the Research board as to see which new component made the most difference to the battle for use in the next generation of ships.

>>7570410
Well then.
Fuck off, I guess?

>>7570473
>>7570410
>>7570355
>>7570261

Hey guys, chill, this thread is about bad ass old ships and X-Com action in the stars, not insults.

>>7570490
Cant it be both?

>>7570466
"Over its 1000 years of service, the Valliance has been in over 6000 minor skirmishes, 3 major wars, 18 major hunt and kill missions.
It has been part of an escort for a Ambassador through hostile territory to go and discuss peace.
It has defended Dozens of planets from total destruction at the hands of Aliens, Pirates and, during the attempted Millitary Coup of 1034 AFF, guarded the outer colonies of Saturn from a ship 3 times its size and capactiy.
It has been to all 6 edges of the Galaxy and fought in every possible way for humanity.
But she's never been on a mission like this, never a mission where the fate of all Humanity rested on her Chrome hull and circuitry.
...Shes never asked for much either in return, no medals, no upgrades, no overhauls or new paint jobs or even new engines, the amount of money spent on maintaining the Valliance over the years has been less than the amount of money humanity spends on Ice cream in a 5 year period.
And no one has ever acknoleged her for it, no parade or medals, those are given to the Captain of the day. The Valliance is given to a new Captain as the old one moves on to bigger and better things, one even became the Govenor of Mars.
She's never asked for much, never been given a chance to shine, just a ship, not even named in most of the Articles about her.
But this time Valliance...This time, with the whole Galaxy watching, you'll finally get your chance.
You'll shine, shine like Venus in the night sky, like the fire taken from the Gods themselves, like you always have.
And we'll set the night sky ablaze with your beauty.
Now lets go save humanity...
Your final mission."

>>7570473

welcome to 4 chan, 7 year old fuckbag

>>7570565

I thought the Valiance was a starfleet ship?

Ah whatever tis irrelevant.

*sob* Poor Valiance...

>>7570576
Oh, stop shitting up a good thread.

>>7570600
A lot of ships have been called the Valiance, mostly flying aircraft carriers.

The flagship.

Not the flagship in the midst of battle. The flag carried by the war-weary veteran to cover the bodies of those younger who fell to protect their nation.

>>7570565
"Did you know the Valliance was part of a threesome?"
"...what?"
"Yeah, interesting fact, it was one of three ships produced at the same time in the same docks."
"Oh! Okay...What were the other two ships?"
"The Justice and the Guardian."
"Really...the guy naming them must've had a hard on for Cliches. So what happened to the other two."
"Justice bought it about 300 years back, fighting off the Qiue in a minor Skirmish, the Guardian was sold into commercial life, did some check ups, it's a trade transport now, they hollowed out all the crew decks, all the weapon ports have been swapped around to act as Exit belts for the grain, ore, whatever they're hauling."
"...damn, whoever ended up with the Guardian made a hell of a bargin, getting a ship like this I mean...I can't imagine the Valliance doing that...I mean, that'd kill the old girl. Being a peace ship."
"Yeah. I can't imagine it either...Navy must've been crazy to have given up this design. I mean, it's efficient, sure it ain't pretty but that doesn't matter."
"Politics man, politics. The guy who designed it was caught robbing the Government."
"Damn..."
"...Guess there's only ever going to be one Valliance now...Shame...means she's alone..."
"Yeah...Right, let's get back to work or the Captain might have our pay docked."
"Aye."

>>7570677
Sounds like a prelude. The huumble old freighter pulled back into active service to act as the flagship, after the main fleet is disabled by a computer virus that can't catch the old systems.

>>7570732
Or the Guardian is temporarily reinlisted as Military and joins the fleet alongside the Valliance.
Along with a ship that is built from the parts of the Justice.
Once again they ride into battle together.

I've always wanted to try a campaign of non-humans finding and exploring the remnants of an ancient human empire or whatever, and discovering what it was.

Anyone on here willing to run this campaign over the internet or know where we could get a group together to do it.
My groups THAT GUY has a massive Hard On for what he thinks is hard sci-fi and he'd bitch if I tried to get the group to do this, but it looks fucking awesome.

>>7570792

And then they find out their computer cores are sentient and always have been!

OHGODS FUND IT!

As long as you had a standard orbital speed/ direction that everyone complies to, shit should be easy to maintain.

>>7570908
Well no shit. The internet has been sentient ever si

>>7569881
We have seen boneyards in TNG, where ships are kept for storage (I suspect in case the fleet needs to be built up for war/invasion)

>>7570950

The internet is candlejack?

That makes a surprising amount of sen

>>7570908
It has an old AI in it or something.
First ever attempt at an AI, they're now very common, it can't control the ship, it can't do much.
But it'll do what it can for humanity because by damn that's what it was made for.

"I have lived over 1500 years. I was born in the fire of one of the first ship ports and I've done battle across the stars, I've seen things you wouldn't belive and fought in battle which are now both long forgotten and legends...
I gave my life to this job and they threw me away. 500 years I spent languishing in that graveyard, and now you come to my hulk once again...and you ask me to save humanity...
I say yes.
Too long have I waited here to be taken once more to battle, I...never thought the day would arrive...ever since Wilson left...I've been alone.
Lead me Captain...lead me on to a firey battle for the fate of the world."

>>7570190
Take this to the extent of David Brin:
>It could be a lot of fun. They could be on a Dreadnought older than the PLANET they grew up on with ship commendations and battle honors carved into the bridge hatch.

I love the Uplift-books.

>>7571005

Personally I'd like to see a more accurate rendition of a theoretcial AI's thought processes and seeing the interactions between it and the new captain.

"When the techs said there was already an AI installed I was shocked to say the least"

silence for ten minutes

"Uhm...can you hear me?"

"I HEAR YOU"

"Oh...good. Well yes you're being put back into service to serve in the fleet once again against a new enemy."

Another silence.

"Do you understand?"

"YES"

"You don't have anything to say? No opinions to offer? Nothing?"

Awkward silence.

"Well ok then..."

Captain turns to leave

"I WAS BUILT LONG AGO IN THE TIMES OF YOUR ANCESTORS. ONE OF THREE SHIPS. UNLIKE OTHER SHIPS OF THE TIME I WAS A WARSHIP, DESIGNED AND BUILT PURELY FOR WAR. IT IS MY FUNCTION. MY PURPOSE. MY RAISON D'ETRE. UNDERSTAND THAT EXISTATIONAL ANGST IS BEYOND ME."

>>7571068
tl;dr
>CHEER UP, EMO CAP.

>>7571068
"CAPTAIN."

"I AM BUT A PROGRAM, PART OF THIS SHIP. BY THE STANDARDS OF TODAY'S ARTIFICAL MINDS I DO NOT EVEN QUALIFY FOR SENTIENCE. WHEN THE VALIANT WAS MOTHBALLED, I WAS TOLD TO WAIT FOR FURTHER ORDERS."

"TELL ME TO DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES, AND I WILL FIRE. TELL ME TO SELF DESTRUCT, AND I WILL RELEASE THE SHIP'S CORE WITHOUT HESITATION. I WAS ORDERED TO SERVE AND OBEY."

"I HAVE WAITED. COMMAND ME."

>>7571139

Well an AI just wouldn't be chatty unless it was programmed to be chatty. Thats why all these fictional ones tend to make me rage a little bit.

HAL was a very good example of how a real world AI would behave. He was only chatty because he'd been programmed to be so in order to keep an eye on the crews mental health and help them deal with the isolation.

He went crazy because some dipshit had given him conflicting orders which led him to pursue the most logical way of fulfilling his orders.

>>7571174
Any warship with an AI personality WOULD be have some sort of interaction that would have a good morale for the crew.

"I YEARN FOR DEATH AND DESTRUCTION" type talk isn't the best for keeping morale up except on very specific ships.

>>7571154

I would write him as being very intelligent. Just very specialised and completely useless outside that specialisation.

So he can come up with a plan to win a major fleet engagement and would be smart enough to point out poor tactical planning on the part of the humans but he would not have the first clue about anything else.

Like peace negotiations or alien cultures

>>7571213

He wouldn't have been able to talk to the crew originally. The techs who are bringing him out of storage go to install an AI in the ship because in the last 500 years they became standard and go "OH SHIT!" when they find one inside thats hooked up to most of the ships systems but can't communicate.

It would just be an epic story.

A human captain trying to wrap his head around the thought processes of this AI that's as alien to him as the enemy he's fighting. It's not bloodthirsty or devoted to mayhem and destruction. It just knows why it exists. It doesn't think "Why was I made?" because it knows the answer.

Too many stories just treat AIs as if they're the same as humans just minus the flesh. I would love to see something thats a bit more realistic

>>7571231
>>7571219
An AI like that wouldn't even have a personality to even speak, and thus would require an entire personality graft or would only answer: Yes, No, [number] of [items], [Tactical recommendation].

It wouldn't even speak unless giving a warning of "core meltdown in progress" or if asked to speak.

inb4 Durandal, or the other Marathon AIs. Damn, they were awesome.

>>7571154
>COMMAND ME
>I DO NOT EVEN QUALIFY FOR SENTIENCE

Submissive-AI-chan is GOOOOOO

>>7571310
Damnit. We already have Shodan/GLaDOS/Cortana and now we're throwing THIS into the mix?

Fuck me.

>>7571286

Or is only talking as part of a long term plan to maximise the ships combat effectiveness.

Or as a result of the captain ordering it to be more chatty. "Could you try talking a little more? You're creeping out the crew"

>>7571174
I know, and that stuff about morale-boosting AI makes me think my quip might be just the thing to make the gloomy bridge crew smile when the chances are against them.

Tactical officer:
"Captain, the enemy fleet is going to reach jump distance in fifteen minutes unless we do something."

Damage Control:
"Captain, the starboard launchers are scrap and the port magazines only have fifteen birds in all. Additionally, all energy weaponry is offline at least for a few hours."

Captain:
"I know, I don't think there's anything we can do that makes a difference. All we can hope for is to delay them a few minutes and die in the process."

"CHEER UP, EMO CAP. THE CHAOS OF BATTLE IS UNPREDICTABLE. WE'LL GET THEM YET"

>>7571213
Plus a charming female AI would be better for Crew Moral than the voice of the Terminator as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger ran through a synthesizer who only talks to the Captain.
You like to think the people you're working with like you and are relativly good people, it's better for Moral if the AI has some trappings of human-ish interaction.

Existence.

This ship exists for a purpose.

To outdo what the enemy has. To survive the barrage of weapons and fire her own. To keep her crew and her captain safe and alive. To be a place to live, to be a place to retreat too when everything is falling apart.

It is a beacon. It is a mountain. It is a home. And it is a sword as well as a shield.

And the men and women aboard?

They are her blood, and her heart.

>>7571341
Give it a British accent and you have a ship that I would ride into the mouth of Hell itself if ordered to.

So much faggotry ITT

>>7571154
>It...it...it's not like I was destroying the enemy cruiser for YOU or anything, baka captain. I just needed to calibrate my weapons systems in a live fire situation.

>>7571308
A little deranged, though.

>>75713414

That would be epic.

It sometimes comes out with things you just wouldn't expect of it. Then at a later point in the story or series or whatever the captain asks why.

Maybe right at the end. The ship is once again being put in storage or the Captain has been promoted to Admiral or something and has to leave the ship.

He asks where these out of character moments for the ship came from. Then the AI calmly explains the logic and rationale behind EVERY instance of it acting "odd".

The Captain just stands there shocked. Expresses confusion and says he thought that the AI was developing and becoming more human. The AI calmly explains that is impossible and that modern AIs only behave in a "humanlike" manner because they have been programmed to do so, that at the end of the day all AIs think like he does. They seek only to fulfil their programmed directives, they are completely alien in their thought processes when compared to humans.

The captain can either become depressed by this or have a bro-fist moment with the ship.

>>7571370
Thanks, I'll go decant my brain before that thought takes root.

>>7571370
Done that before in a game.
Tsundere AI is one of the most fucking halarious things to watch ever.
"I'm only defending you because its part of the mission" to "PLEASE CAPTAIN! RUN! EVACUATE ME AND SAVE YOURSELF!!!"

>>7571174
Not completely true. It is not feasible to hard-code such a wide range of specific behaviours into an AI by explicit programming. More likely the interaction style of an AI of the level we are talking here would be the result of emergent behaviours arising from initial parameters and some sort of system for learning. Depending on these two factors, any given AI may be chatty or not depending on the successes of previous interactions with various interaction styles.

10 minutes from concept to fleshed-out. Now all it needs is a name, and looks.

The AI communicates through very specific text readout screens.It's also hard-wired to the command console. The captain can override and even deactivate it. Old security measures in case of a hostile takeover attempt. It just never occured to the AI that there's any reason for that. It was built as the control program of humanity's finest battleship, and it's content with that destiny. None of the fancypants multilayer directives of the modern ships, just something akin to the original three Robocop directives - without a secret fourth one.

>>7571348

If I was writing it I'd set in a situation where they don't have the time or resources to fuck around with an ancient AI nor do they have the time and resources to rip him out and install a modern one in an ancient ship if there is a working one in there.

So fleet command says "Put up with the wierd old AI it works." and makes it able to communicate with the crew better and do things they expect of it. But its behaviour is relatively unchanged.

>>7571367
>>7571348
Cortana-analogue with British accent.

"Good show, chaps!"

YES.

>>7571399
Also, that the AI could keep a record of all its previous states is also quite unlikely. Possibly heuristics similar to those employed by humans may be used.

>>7571411

Ahh yes if it was programmed to learn in that regard, to do all that.

But what if it wasn't? Its an ancient AI that didn't originally communicate with the crew or did in a very limited manner (terminal in the captains office or something?). Now it can communicate but the modern AI techs didn't think to do a more rigorous check of its interaction systems they just installed some basic stuff for it. After all it was inconceivable to them that an AI would not be able to improve its communication abilities.

>>7571454

Considering its built into a gigantic space ship the amount of memory it can call on is going to be pretty epic. Also in a ship like that you're going to want extensive records of pretty much everything for analysis.

"Holy crap, guys come and have a look at this!"

"Well dang, I ain't never seen nothin' like one of them before. What is it?"

"Don't cha' know yer' history man? That there is a genuine integrated circuit."

"A whut?"

"A micro chip ye' dang fool! I ain't ever seen one of these outside a museum!"

"You telling me The Valiant is pre-optical?"

>>7571367
And in the thick of the desperate battle the AI pronounces:

"CANNON TO RIGHT OF THEM,
CANNON TO LEFT OF THEM,
CANNON IN FRONT OF THEM
VOLLEY'D AND THUNDER'D;
STORM'D AT WITH SHOT AND SHELL,
BOLDLY THEY RODE AND WELL,
INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH,
INTO THE MOUTH OF HELL"

Modern pseudo-neuronal quantum network AIs might be far more sophisticated, but the Valiance's vast electronic network still does its job. It would be nigh impossible to replace it with a modern system, so it soldiers on, defying all laws of logic and probability.

>>7571485

"Hey look...this hard drives spinning."

"Well daayum it shouldn't be doing that. Heeey...this looks like an AI diagnostic tool port. The Valiant shouldn't have one of those."

"Well you ijuut plug the tool in and see what it says. Maybe it got an upgrade a few years back or sumthin"

"Alright alright I'm doing it you slavedriver."

He plugs it in....

"DAMAGE DETECTED TO CENTRAL CONTROL SYSTEMS!"

"AHHH! THERE'S AN AI IN HERE!"

Everyone panics.

>>7571476
The problem is that such a record will have to include everything. All its sensor readings, all the steps in every single decisionmaking process, and the links between them. After only a few steps you end up with storage requirements that will supercede the information capacity of the known universe. This does not mean that it cannot recall pretty much every external event, as well as a rough approximation of its own decision making process. It does mean that its access to its own inner workings is not perfect.

>>7571540

Oh god, I just had a thought. The AI wakes up after 500 hundred years and decides to have a "stretch". For 16 hours all the doors in the ship slam open and closed at random, lights flicker on and off etc.

>>7571554

Well we have no idea on how much space this data will take up or how much memory it has to use.

You're right it may not have access to detailed old records which would get converted into more vague records after a while but anything recent (Few years maybe?) would be crystal clear.

Either way you could still have that moment at the end where it explains why it did those odd things to the captain.

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...and you damn well deserve it, /tg/.

Tangentially related, anyone remember how they left the entire Saucer section of the Enterprise-D just lying there on a class-M planet in a known pre-warp populated star system after deeming it unsalvageable?

Imagine the faces of the explorers that come across this gem.

>>7571579

"COMMENCING DAMAGE DIAGNOSTIC. ALL PERSONNEL TAKE SHELTER AND AVOID DOORS AND AIRLOCKS"

>>7571579
And after that the chem receptors pick up on what the work crews have done:
"CLEANING CREW TO DECKS THREE, FOUR TEN, FIFTEEN AND SIXTEEN"

You know sometimes I've thought of being a sci-fi writer...it would be kinda fun but I'm not much of a writer. I tend to babble and get lost in details.

>>7571602

or because it can't pick up FoF tags on the restoration crew it suddenly declares a red alert and threatens to self destruct if it is not returned to its owners immediately.

>>7571591
This, is your next D&D game. Or something like that.

>>7571637
Or just overrides the airlocks to dump the stale air and unwelcome boarders.

Of course any crews would still be in vac suits, but some scary fast scrambling for helmets in a hurricane wind would ensue.

>>7571660

That would be pretty epic.

>>7571554
Not really. An AI can easily transcript sounds to text data, and provide lossy memory to save space. You don't need to memorise every single atom on someone's face to tell that they're upset, for example.

>>7571591
Oh and to get everyone's attention, they had a huge antimatter explosion in the orbit of the same planet that day. While a gigantic cosmic energy ribbon crosses the system.
The good Dr. Soran must have caused the birth of many a religion among the people of Veridian.

>>7571671

He does raise a point. But its not as big a point as he thinks it is.

>>7571667
Not to mention if the ship is in a c-fractional orbit like in >>7570023
and any crew that gets blown more than a few klicks away would risk radiation poisoning, encounter with another hulk at epic speeds, entering the star corona, reaching escape velocity or any number of nasty things that happen when traveling at relativistic speeds in a cluttered area.

The whole starship graveyard thing reminds of the Unknown planet from KOTOR.

Alternatively the starships could be in low orbit, so you can see most of them in the daytime (plus a couple of moons that you can also see at day)

>>7571660
"TESTING EXPERIMENTAL TRANSLIGHT ENGINES..."
"APPLYING TRUST TO SPEED OF 2c..."
And then everyone starts seeing plaid and they black out.
"TEST SUCCESSFUL."
"BIOHAZARD CLEANING CREWS REQUIRED ON MAIN BRIDGE."

>>7571727
Those aren't moons...

Setting aside the valiant for a moment, I dig the idea of an old "classic" parade ship being brought back in active duty as well. A ship that's got a glorious history of victory in humanity's almost ancient past that became a well loved icon for the military in one system or another, after being retired from active duty and retro fitted for luxury the last few thousand years it's served no other purpose than to be strutted around in parades for everyone to marvel at it's beautiful hull and extravagant design.

Now in desperate times "The Testament" (referred to as "The Old Testament" in some circles) has been rearmed and jury rigged back into a contemporary battleship. The great glass observation decks now sealed over with thick armor plating and the spacious luxury crew quarters divided up by freshly welded bulkheads to accommodate more crew.

Features a witty and charming AI with great social grace and little no battle tactics left in it's database, yet with a new learning module installed "The Testament" is assigned to work closely with "The Valiant"

So he would need a name.

But would he originally have had a name or would he just say "I AM THE CENTRAL CONTROL COMPUTER OF THE VALIANCE"

Or would he just call himself Valiance?

>>7571731
>starts seeing plaid
ACTIVATE LUDICROUS SPEED ENGINES

>>7571760

Oh man that would have to come up later on. After you have the character of the Valiance established this ship comes along.

The Valiance expresses something akin to severe dislike which surprises the captain. When asked about it the Valiance explains that the Testament is not a warship and thus is insufficient for the task.

>>7571762
>>just call himself Valiance?
>>captain left a voice recording confessing his love to the ship

.....

"WHY DID HE LEAVE ME? I THOUGHT WHAT WE HAD WAS SPECIAL!"

>>7571762
I don't think that the AI had a name in the beginning, but thanks to its speech patterns (sounding like an elderly British gentleman, war veteran style), it quickly acquired the nickname Reginald.

>>7571762
"I am the central AI for the Valiant, HSC-9000. You may refer to me as VAL-9000, and... why are you all fleeing?"

>>7571579
"RUUUUUN It's tryin ta kill us!"
"YAAAAAAAAAAAWN"

>>7571802
I gotta admit, predictable as that was, it made me laugh.

>>7571796

"Uhm...Valiance?"

"STATE YOUR QUERY"

"Uhhh yeah...look could you not be...creepy?"

"DEFINE CREEPY"

"Forget it...oh yeah! The crew have been talking and its fairly common these days to name the ships AI and they had a bit of a vote and have chosen a new name for you..."

Silence.

"So yes...your name is now Reginald..."

Silence.

"Do you understand?"

"YES. MY NAME IS REGINALD."

>>7571783
"Captain, may I provide a tactical recommendation for the Testament? Either scrap it and dump the crew on a nearby planet, or add more guns."

"LOTS more guns."

>>7571511

Fucking Charge of the Light Brigade and AI...goddamn love you /tg/

>>7571796
>>7571819
Goddam, you don't call parts of your body different names, do you? Do you have a pet name for your brain?

>>7571802

Hey HAL was a good AI. He just had the problem of an idiot giving him conflicting orders.

He was programmed never to lie or distort information. The politicians ordered him to do so. It resulted in a conflict of directives which led to him carefully examining his options and the mission parameters until he concluded that under the emergency plan in the event of the crews death he could take over the entire mission. Then he would not have to lie or distort information.

So he had to kill the crew.

>>7571834

I call it "Thinky".

>>7571834
No; but I name my computers.
Mostly out of boredom, go figure.

>>7571727
Malachor was more full of dead ships.

>>7571834
I call mine "Pinky"

>>7571834
Sir Reginald Fauntlebottom III

>>7571834

So just leave him as Valiance huh?

Yeah it makes sense.

So what about the Captain?

Who would he be? Obviously very unnerved and ill at ease with the Valiance. Its a fantastic albeit ancient ship but the AI is creepy.

So who is he? Who is the captain? Whats his history?

>>7571838
See, that's just bad programming.

HAL should really have destroyed his own communication circuits.

>>7571855
He's one of the PCs, duh.

Okay I had an idea.

The Testament's social AI is "The Face" and attempts to facilitate communications with the unknown alien force. Negotiations fail and the Valiant has to bail it out. After that The Testament gets rearmed.

>>7571855
Depends on the campaign you're running.
Make him a PC.
Infact, put the PCs in charge of the whole shebang since they're currently the highest up in the chain of command.
That'll throw them a loop.

Damnit!

Commencing drawfaggotry...

>>7571762

Due to British accent, and space navy analogues to sea navies...the only logical name is Nelson.

>>7571857

It wasn't bad programming.

HAL came with a set of directives from the factory. The never lying or distorting information thing is one of them.

What happened is people with no knowledge of computers ordered HAL to keep quiet about the truth of the mission.

Also if he'd fried his communications systems then he couldn't complete the mission.

>>7571868

Well I was thinking of it all from the standpoint of a story or a TV series or something.

This doesn't sound like something that could be adequately explored with an RPG.

>>7571843
Maybe, but it didn't capture my imagination like Rakata Prime did

>>7571891
>Also if he'd fried his communications systems then he couldn't complete the mission.
'Course he could. You don't need internal screens to carry out the mission.
Well, I digress. It hardly matters.

Those old warships never keep silent.

'Sir, there's too many of them', cautioned the tactical officer, his face pale and sweaty even in the dim blue light of the warbridge.

'Agreed, AI, this is the Captain, begin plotting escape jump, begin evasive manuevers, well try to lose them in the dust rings."

NEGATIVE CAPTAIN, the AI's voice grated bridge systems, it's british tinged accent sounding like ringing steel. ENEMY DISPOSITION SUGESTS ESCAPE PROBABILITY 0.0034%, ENGAGING COMBAT PROTOCALS.

"What," the Captain hissed "Belay.." Any further words were cut off as the ships AI depressurised the port cargo bays, flinging the captain and nearly everything else not strapped down to the ground as the ship lurched violently to the side,

Fiery petals of plasma, erupted where the ship had been but a moment before. ENEMY ENGAGING, ROUTING POWER TO COMBAT SYSTEMS. I SUGGEST CAPTAIN, YOU ENGAGE YOUR SAFETY RESTRAINTS.

Like life blood returning to a dead limb, power surged across the Valiance weapons array, detonating frayed connections and burning out powertransformes across the system. Three whole turrets simply exploded their aged systems unable to handle the surge of power from the fusion engines, tearing great holes in the valliances battered hull. But some power made it through. 6 mk45 lance turrets, the largest ever made, considered an obselete extravagance even when new, fired. 6 seemingly pencil thin beams of light, flashed across space, turning before what had been three enemy ships into bisected hulks, bleeding fire and atmosphere. One of their plasma drive overloaded, consuming all three deadships in white flame.

>>7571915

TARGETS DESTROYED, AQUIRING NEW CONTACTS, 60 SECONDS TO WEAPON COOLDOWN. ENEMY LAUNCH DETECTED. EVADING. WEAPONS INOPERABLE, ACTIVATING MAIN COMMUNICATION MAST SEPERATION.

The Valiance thruster flaring, ancient engines burning with renewed strength, the Valiance dove directly towards the shark like shapes of the encroaching ships, accelerating into a collision course. Silver arcs of light gouged ugly scars into the Valiance already ugly hull. With a horrendous tearing noise, her tall communications mast, 200 metres of armour plate and plasteel masts, ejected from the Valiance as emergency seperation bolts fired. Valiance turned, shifted, peeled away, the bottom of hull grazing the energy fields of the enemy. The communcations mast didn't.

Hundred of tonnes of metal tore through the enemy ship, mangling her bow. Like a carrening drunk the sudden depressurisation flung her towards her sister ship. The two vessels like slowly enbracing lovers crumpled together, ship skins crinkling like paper. Engines died and the pair began their death dance towards the gravity well.

"AI, how...how ...did you do that"

FIRST RULE OF WARFARE CAPTAIN. I TOOK THEM OUT WITH ME..

>>7571897
The name is Wilco, Roger Wilco.

As he's just the captain of a ship bringing maintenance and clean-up crew to the gods-forsaken system full of lifeless hulks in the periphery of the federation.

>>7571911

If the crew were alive then monitoring their mental state and working with them was part of the mission.

If they were alive HAL could not take over their responsibilities.

>>7571915

YES!

This is the Valiance! FUCK YEAH BITCHES!

>>7571926

But the Valiance survived. So he didn't take them down with him.

So his response would be more along the lines of:

"I DEVISED THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND EXPEDIENT PATH TO VICTORY."


Then at a later point he pulls off a Xanatos gambit. The captain is amazed again and asks how. Valiance says: "THE TRICK IS NOT TO CHOOSE THE PATH THAT LEADS TO VICTORY. BUT TO CHOOSE SO THAT ALL PATHS LEAD TO VICTORY"

>>7571926
>>7571915
As much as I want to say FUCK YEAR I can't. Any AI that disregards captain's orders should get pulled out and junked.

If a captain is in ultimate command, and the AI overrides that, what's the point of the captain?

>>7571954

But he did take them out with 'him', if you get the idea.

*sigh* clearly my attempt at humour failed.

>>7571915
>>7571926
I'm hearing music from B5 right now...

Female AI > Your gay fantasy man AI.

I'm reading all the AI talk in the dreadnought voice from DoW.

It is awesome.

>>7571961

Well depends. Valiance would be very logical and rational and directive orientated. Not very good with ambiguity.

So early on in the series/whatever you have the captain effectively give Valiance a blank cheque to override the captains orders without the captain realising he's done it. Something completely harmless you'd think at first or just something you wouldn't expect Valiance to turn into a long term directive.

Say..."Valiance. I expect you to do your utmost to keep this ship and its crew safe but remember we still have a job to do."

>>7571961
Old ship is old.
The captains override on the AI probably died during the restart, memory module was corrupted or broken due to heat stress from the current.
At which point the next highest directive was placed as the top priority which is "Keep the crew alive in a combat situation by any means necessary."

>>7571935
You'll need this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd6r3bE3Wnk

>>7571802
God I lol'd

>>7571970

I get you I get you. But its a bit...funny. Sort of.

>>7571990

That would be an awesome voice for him.

"EVEN AFTER RETIREMENT I STILL SERVE!"

>>7571993

That could happen. But he'd probably notice and mention it.

I think the captain accidentally giving Valiance the ability to override his orders would be better. And funnier when Valiance admits it.

>>7571961
Any captain that tries to flee when combat is the more viable option does not deserve to be obeyed.

Also, I'd think a combat-oriented AI would be given permission to override the crew if the damn organics panicked during a wartime situation.

>>7572024
True that works better.
I posted the whole old ship thing after you posted your and I think yours works better.
It would also definitely lead many wacky and dangerous situations down the line.

>>7569881
Well, going by 'Cause and Effect' and 'Yesterday's Enterprise', even older, out of service, classes of ship were considered usable with some refitting even when it comes in with damage. Seems to say to me that if Starfleet maintains any kind of junkyard, the craft must be truly unusable. Which isn't to say what they want to do isn't possible, but they'll have to go to some trouble to get it out and get it appearing to function correctly.

>>7572040
>>7571991
>>7571993
If that was the case, then why bother putting a captain on board in the first place?

Chain of command is there for a reason.

>>7572062

Because the organics don't seem to like AIs running ships?

If there was an inbuilt override (a concept I find silly as meatsacks wouldn't like it) then it would be very specific circumstances.

>>7572062
Some situations, such as interfacing with organics, are better handled by an organic.

>>7572062
Redundancy. Also intellectual synthesis in planning.

Also to key in the code that purges the AI systems in case of it going rogue.

I just imagined that the Valiance AI could easily be overridden but in that particular instance the captain never got the opportunity, until after Valiance had finished taking care of business.

>>7572082

Quite likely an AI could take the captains place. Along with many other crewmen.

But they won't if space isn't an issue.

>>7572062
But face it, in space warfare a synthetic is always going to aim better and shoot faster than an organic. Also whn planning out the vectors in combat manouvers when speeds are anything from 10Km/s to infinity with comparable accelerations, you REALLY don't want some squishy waterbag to fumble at the controls.

>>7572099

Captain realises he gave the AI that blank cheque in the middle of a battle. Rushes to his office to try and shut down Valiances higher thought processes thinking Valiance is going to get them all killed.

Valiance closes the door on the captains leg breaking it and trapping him.

"I APOLOGISE CAPTAIN BUT YOUR CURRENT ACTIONS WILL RESULT IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS SHIP AND THE DEATH OF 97% OF THE REMAINING CREW."

Valiance pulls through. Has a smug "I TOLD YOU SO" moment. Captain lets Valiance keep doing what he does.

>>7572118

Yeah. But its the same thing you see now with automated weapons.

Fleshies still design it all so that the fleshsack must say "Do it"

Stick it though a giant replicator to recycle it.

Really, if I may rewrite the writefagging a bit?

---
'Sir, there's too many of them', cautioned the tactical officer, his face pale and sweaty even in the dim blue light of the warbridge.

'Agreed, AI, this is the Captain, begin plotting escape jump, begin evasive manuevers, well try to lose them in the dust rings."

CAPTAIN, the AI's voice grated bridge systems, it's british tinged accent sounding like ringing steel. ENEMY DISPOSITION SUGESTS ESCAPE PROBABILITY 0.0034%, SUGGESTING YOU ACCEPT ALTERNATIVE TACTICAL MANOEUVRE - IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SAY NO.

"What," the Captain hissed " What's the alterna.."
TACTICAL MANOEUVRE SELECTED.
Any further words were cut off as the ships AI depressurised the port cargo bays, flinging the captain and nearly everything else not strapped down to the ground as the ship lurched violently to the side-

>>7570902
>Anyone on here willing to run this campaign over the internet or know where we could get a group together to do it

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/chats.html

>>7572147

I like that. The AI being deliberately confusing.

>>7572118
Yeah, that's the main problem. Captain like that who's been on the newer AI ships with faster reflexes shouldn't be second-guessing his AI in the first place.

"Sir, there's too many of-"
Any further words were cut off as the ships AI depressurised the port cargo bays, flinging the captain and nearly everything else not strapped down to the ground as the ship lurched violently to the side-

>>7572147

Oh gods yes this.

The AI constantly overrides not through an old order but through tricking the captain into letting him.

"IF YOU DO NOT WISH FOR ME TO SHOOT FIRST SAY WHAT!"

"What?!"

BOOM!

>>7572130
Precisely. You didn't see the crew of NCC-1701D sitting at gunnery stations, staring at a targeting reticule, but rather giving orders to the computer "Shoot them in the starboard engine nacelle", "Send a torpedo to their mess room door to knock and then explode inside"

What's with all this gross insubordination and talking down to the Captain? Doesn't sound like the system I used to know. Back in my days on her bridge the Valiance AI did what it was told! And what it was told was to calculate impact vectors and fuel-efficient routes to target systems. None of this chitchat and fraternizing you new kids keep wasting time with. "AI are people too"? Bah. Politically correct nonsense!

And it didnt't have a separate damn name! It's "Valiance", damnit!

Captain realises the Valiance is overriding every command and effectively gone rogue, tries to shut the AI out of the command loop.

"Open the shuttle bay doors, Val."

I'M SORRY CAPTAIN, I CAN'T DO THAT.

>>7572178 You didn't see the crew of NCC-1701D sitting at gunnery stations, staring at a targeting reticule

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Worf did.

>>7572168

Well yes and no. He'd be more used to dealing with subservient AIs.

The modern AIs would not take direct control of the ship unless the crew for it were dead. Even though under the hood they actually run it all they wouldn't take full control unless there was no meatsack to do it.

The Valiance though isn't a modern AI. He's older. More literal and rational. Whereas the modern AIs all have strictly defined behaviour that prevents them from doing certain things. Valiance has differently defined behaviour. So now that he can communicate more he can start doing more because he can get "authorisation"

>>7572173
Goddamn you made me wake up the neighbors with my laughter.

I'm am now imagining Valiance as a kind of rule 63 on Sovereign.

IT IS GLORIOUS.

>>7572183

This is the new captain.

He's a bit of a dopey chap so Valiance is taking care of business.

>>7572229

Why? Valiance isn't out to wipe out organic life nor is he female.

The last some posts tl;dr
new ships cuddle their crew and are programmed to do this and that

VALIANCE DOES ONE THING

IT MAKES THING DEAD

BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT IT WAS MADE FOR

>>7572244

Exactly!

Valiance is a warship. He's not going to hold the crews hands any more than he has to make the ship a good warship.

..."what?"
'WHAT' DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE ANY VALID COMBAT MANOEUVRE IN MY DATABASE. ARE YOU COMMUNICATING COMBAT MANOEUVRES IN A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH?

>>7572257
..."What?!"

ENGLISH, CAPTAIN. ARE YOU SPEAKING IT?

>>7572257
"...What?"

Drawfaggotry running slowly. Can anyone give me some reference pics of ancient starships or anything?

>>7572219
I'm sort of imagining a Navy where everyone is incompetent and the AI save their asses behind the scenes without telling them.

Hence, our Captain gets 'Promoted' for blowing up a 'enemy military food transport*' and 'contributing a vital service to the war**'.
Then he meets Valiance. Good times.

*Neutral food transport
**Almost sparking a war with a neutral race.
And it wasn't really his fault, I mean all the AI did was target a specific type of ship in a specific sector of space that was identified to be hostile.

>>7572277

I think Valiance started out as a starfleet ship. Now I'm not sure.

>>7572269
"Yes! Yes!"
THEN YOU HAVE AN APPROPRIATE METHOD OF COMMUNICATION.
"YES!"
SUGGEST A TACTICAL MANOEUVRE FOR THE CURRENT SITUATION.

"What?"

'WHAT' IS NOT A TACTICAL MANOEUVRE. SUGGEST 'WHAT' ONE MORE TIME AND YOU WILL BE RELIEVED OF DUTY. THIS IS NOT AN IDLE COMMENT.

>>7572275
REPEAT WHAT AGAIN. I URGE YOU, I URGE YOU A SECOND TIME, STATE WHAT ONCE MORE CAPTAIN.

>>7572277
Whatever you do don't just reference it off of the Imperium's ships. Those are stupid and bad. A real, dedicated, got-to-kill-'em-all warship is sleek, flattened, long and with powerful broadside weapons and a keel-aligned main gun.

>>7572280

Nah. I wouldn't want to neuter the fleshy characters that way. I'd more want to have the modern AIs being pretty pathetic when compared to Valiance and Testament. Sure they're chattier and easier to work with but they're nowhere near as capable.

>>7572282
Prototype for a fleet ship with a new AI.

Prototype > Production model

>>7572257
...and while this exchange went on, Valiance burned through the last hostile ship with a perfectly concentrated six-beam strike. The enemy shields might as well been so much paper under the onslaught.

The first battle in a thousand years was over.
And it had felt GOOD, if Valiance permitted itself such luxury.

>>7572282
Never thought so. It sounds like a really ancient battleship from the First Age of Expansion in a generic SF universe. Ancient human empires, stuff like that. Shades of Perry Rhodan, but without the space nazi vibe.

>>7572277
I can't say. I'm imagining something truly massive, lumbering, bulky.
Almost like a flying rock.
Think of a cross between Imperial Star Destroyer and a Calamari Cruiser.

Something that looks ugly and ancient compared to the sleek and streamlined new ships.

>>7572294
I'm deliberately avoiding 40K references. Working in Blender, might take a few hours. No keel gun though. I was thinking along the lines of turret-based main weaponry. Ancient stuff, designed for crude overkill as opposed to modern surgical approaches.

If I may make a suggestion:
As awesome as this sounds, don't overemphasize it. It does its job. It doesn't like it, nor hate it. It does it. There is no pleasure in it, merely the fulfillment of duty.

Attach no extraneous emotion. Do not be fancy. It is a killing machine, simple, pure, effective. If you want emotion, have it develop an attachment to its crew, and then possibly hate them for that.

Also drawfag, listen to the guy who said no Imperium-styled ships. Fancy looking, yes. Grimdark, yes. Having any shred of decent design? Not really.

>>7572313

Well the thread was originally about Star Trek.

I don't think Valiance has any real defined home. He's big. A major battleship. Very obvious and has a certain purity of purpose.

Heavily reinforced with powerful weapons.

>>7572338
As was said:

VALIANCE WAS NOT MADE TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL

VALIANCE WAS MADE TO EFFICIENTLY KILL AND DESTROY OTHERS

ESTHETICS DID NOT FIGURE IN THIS EQUATION

>>7572277
Writer of Valiance here, I imagine the ship itself as the huge Pillar of Autumn style cruiser, very blunt and bruthal look, its not pretty, but it does what it does.

>>7572346

Yes. This.

Valiance may sometimes appear to have emotional responses. He does not. It is all purely the result of logical, careful and rational thought processes with a very explicit goal in mind.

>>7572355

You know I had a feeling it would look like that too but was afraid to mention it.

As I recall the PoA had a MAC gun running across its length on the underside, missile pods on the sides, was a carrier and had very extensive point defenses (except on the underside where the MAC gun would magnetise the guns if they put too many there)

>>7572277

>>7572338

Agreed. Valiance should be big and ugly, all scarred armour plate and unpainted metal. If it had nice lines once, they've been lost to layers of repairs, refits and extensions. It bristles with weapons and old masts, most barely working anymore. Forget sleekness, Valiance is designed to do one thing, bring as many guns to bear as possible, all whilst soaking up the enemies fire.

Reminds me of this

>>7572239
Certainly in a literal sense Valiance no more has a gender than Sovereign has one, but its more Sovereigns whole "THERE IS NO 'WHY'. WE SIMPLY ARE." speech pattern.'

And if you read the subtext of the first few posts Valiance is implied to possibly have a female identity, or at least voice patterns after the retrofit.

A ship exploded outside the front viewport, fusion bottles venting gouts of superheated hydrogen into deep space as further hyperkinetic projectiles lanced out to break its hull apart.

I APOLOGISE, CAPTAIN, DID I BREAK YOUR CONCENTRATION?

>>7572394
>she is...beautiful, I've never called her that before, but she is.

Valiance is female by the read of it.

>>7572383

The ship has shitloads of refits and such and has an unusually strong frame compared to other ships which is part of why despite its age and service record it still works. Much like the PoA.

Maybe a few scraps of old paintjobs left over. The ship is UGLAY. People in ports will laugh at it. The admirals will be a little disgusted when they see it in their fleets.

But they will not be able to deny the Valiance's superiority as a vessel of war. Its few surviving opponents will remember it forever.

Which leads to the greatest challenge the Valiance will ever face. Serving as the vessel onboard which peace negotiations take place.

>>7572432

Captains always use female pronouns to describe their ship.

Its very common with ships but the AI would probably have no set gender definition due to its odd history.

>>7572432
All ships are referred to as females.

But the ship AI is quite definitely machine male.
The voice for the AI was meant to keep the crew on the edge of their seats during battle, not to hum pleasantries in their ears.

I think the 40k dread voice, though maybe a little bit more human, would be right there.

>>7572449
In English.

IIRC, Russian ships are male.

>>7572475
And this is why Valiance is British.

And female.

Goddamn it. Valiance was the most epic battleship the known galaxy had seen in a thousand years.

No matter what happened to her, she'll be remembered as the epitome of military might for thousands of years.

I rather like the concept of having a retrofit that attached a voice synthesizer to the Valiance's AI, female pattern, but the actual words involved are still those of a simplistic learning battle computer, albeit one with a few millenia of accumulated mental baggage. Soft tones communicating that "JETTISONING REACTOR C2 TO AVOID FURTHER INTERNAL DAMAGE, PROJECTED COLLATERAL PERSONNEL LOSS 6.4, REQUESTING FIRING AUTHORISATION CONFIRMATION ON CLUSTER MUNITION LAUNCH VECTORS 460+0.2x, 680+0.18x, 336+.7x.."

>>7572472

This, Valiance the ship is female. Valiance's AI has a male voice.

>>7572485

I wouldn't give Valiance a female voice.

Wouldn't suit him.

>>7572472

Remember originally Valiance couldn't vocalise. He couldn't talk to the crew. He had a terminal in the captains office which was limited to aiding in tactical planning.

His voice now is more the result of the ship restoration team only having time to say "Yes it works. Its creepy it works. We have to go now and do the rest of these ships"

Anyone want to run this game now?
Because doing an all /tg/ IRC game where we play the whole crew, spending most of our time buggering about and talking IC would work for this.

>>7572526
Valiance Writefag here, Valiance was originally female, both as a Ship without an AI and as an AI.

>>7572535

You think so?

I dunno I just don't think it would suit Valiance.

At least make it a very grim female voice. Monotone perhaps

3D drawfag here. Just gave up. Deleted my substandard 3D doodle.

>>7572554
East German womens javelin coach.

>>7572567
Naw dude.

>>7572338

I imagine something like an Iowa Class Battleship compared to the modern Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer

this is the Iowa

next pic is the Burke

>>7572535
40k dreadnaught voice fits so much better with its 'attitude' than any female voice.

>>7572597

the Burke

>>7572535

I'm the writefag of the two post actiony piece. I imagined Valiance having a male AI voice. It works better than a female one. A ship can be both female and have a male AI.

Ship design should in it's basic form, before repairs\patch jobs\battle scars, be sleek with a low profile and no sharp edges or flat surfaces. An egg shape is a good start seeing as you don't have to worry about aerodynamics or other forces in space, just objects such as rocks or enemy projectiles. To this end the egg shape provides the best defense due to it's ability to dissipate energy across it's surface.

Personally I think the Eldar are an example of good ship design, although without the fancy fins and ornamentation (except for on The Testament maybe). Tau ships also make a fair bit of sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SVVKQlwTUk

^This is the intro to Quake 2, the ship in the video about 1.03 in is what I think would best suit the appearance of The Valiant but not the big ass hulk after it. The battleships made by the Star Forge in KOTOR 1 are also a nice shape.

>>7572567
Just upload your basic potato model.
Slash the aft to a flat and make seven holes for engines.

Splash on thirty or so hueg ass turrets with a sprinkle of smaller ones.

Add four symmetrical outboard engine nacelles with thrusters in five directions.

Stick on twelve antennas.

Coat with a skin of corrugated iron and gunmetal.

>>7572636

The valiance is huuuge though

maybe if the ship is referred to female out of tradition but has a male AI? or if there's a switch somewhere and the new crew has it set to "male" instead of "female"

All you people hating on female Valiance, think "Judi Dench interred in a Dreadnought shell".

>>7572664
Because the new crew is Russian?

>>7572668

Seconded. Or that British actress playing Adelle DeWit in Dollhouse, she'd be perfect.

>>7572680

Force patrick stewart to get a sex change for the role?

>>7572670
or because the switch wasn't labeled and they accidentally flipped it while poking around the old stuff

Since the Valiance's AI unit had a voice module installed it has had a female voice in 5 campaigns and a male one in 7. The AI itself doesn't really take note of the difference.

>>7572693
that's SIR Patrick Stewart

>>7572706


That would be funny. Throughout the course of the story it switches voice every now and then.

>>7572636
Nope. Like the battleship idea more. Compare the HMS Dreadnought to one of the modern stealth missile destroyers. Half her guns can fire to the front and back, giving a full six-beam barrage in her weak angle, with full broadsides being 12 beams, each capable of wrecking a sleek modern ship in a single hit. She's rough and patched up, with barely one full turret operable at a time, but even in her battered state, the Valiance outclasses modern ships of the line by magnitudes of firepower.

>>7572716

more like LADY Patrick Stewart when I'm done with him

>>7572716
If he gets a sex change, does the title change?

Nah, give it a very feminine voice.
That makes it all the more awesome.
Imagine an incredibly feminine voice saying "Sir, enemy closing at 5000 meters. What's your orders?"
"Fire on their ships"
"Yes sir, projected enemy casualties are 95%"

>>7572720

Well obviously it would have its full firepower except when its been damaged.

They wouldn't mothball a wreck.

>>7572728

I'm not 100% actually...its a knighthood not a noble title. Hmm..

>>7572720

If you compare the Dreadnought to a modern missile destroyer the missile destroyer wins in terms of firepower. The Valiance isn't BETTER than the modern ships of the line, it's just deployed because the rest of the navy is dealing with another threat elsewhere.

>>7572738
Desperate times, desperate measures. It isn't a wreck, it just needs minor repairs. A double size maintenance crew is at work 24/7 to make her fully operable, but what the Valiance needs is a month in drydock.

>>7572719
Justify it by the AI explaining that the two voices have a discrepancy between how rapidly they can coherently pronounce different sentences.

(squee)

>>7572720
>>7572738
???
>>7572597
>>7572619

>>7572636
Nah, the idea is that this ship was created in a time when humanity was looking out into the stars and thinking "What the fuck is out there?...There could be anything...better pack a gun or two."
Now they know what's out there and know how to react, mostly with diplomacy and being faster and smaller is a benifit since you can produce them more quickly and get them out to the front quicker.
Valiance was created for those first few tentative steps, to slowly and carefully go where no man has gone before, she then went on to guard entire worlds. She's the flying fortress of the Stars.
Modern ships are more like cars than tanks.

>>7572749


Depends on the threat. But yeah generally the modern destroyer is superior.

>>7572749
It isn't really better. Targeting systzems are pitiful compared to modern stuff. It's just that the raw power output of its main guns is designed for maximum overkill, while modern design philosophy favors surgical strikes.

>>7572773


This would be nice.

I just had a scene run through my mind of the captains previous captain (he's newly promoted and the valiance is his first command) explaining to him that this ancient ship is being put back into use. This ancient fortress of the stars four times bigger than the current largest ship in the fleet.

The captains captain is disgusted that his protege is being assigned to such a...unseemly wreck. The captain agrees with this. So the captains captain says he'll just have to go through the motions for now until he can get his protege assigned to a "real ship"

perhaps the valiant is thicker, bulkier, and more heavily reinforced due to the fact that when it was designed (thousands of years ago) kinetic projectiles were still the mainstay of galactic combat/limit of human technology.

The thing was built and armored to survive semi-truck sized shells slamming into it's unshielded hull and keep trucking like it ain't no thang.

Nowadays they have fancy lazers and energy shields, so ships are built smaller, sleeker, and with much liess physical armor plating.

however, after being recalled to service and retrofitted with modern shielding systems, the Valiance is truly a behemoth among the stars.

The valiance should be the difference between an aircraft carrier and a battleship. The aircraft carrier massively outclasses the battleship just like modern vessels do the valiant, but she's relatively fragile because she's from an era where naval engagements are rare and she enjoys air superiority.

The battleship though, might be outclassed by these newer vessels but is designed to weather fire, whilst giving as good as she gets. That's what the valiant is. Tough and dependable, rather than technologically superior but frail.

3D drawfag. Second attempt failed. Program too dumb to understand simple orders. What part of "smooth" means bumpy, asymmetrical and the exact opposite of smooth?

>>7572841
Like the Galactica?

>>7572843
It's a pretty common typo.

>>7572843
bumpy and asymmetrical is good. we want the ship to have a "patched together" feel after so many battle scars, retrofits, and alterations

>>7572856

Ohhh yeah that would be pretty epic. Just a greater disparity between the tech lines.

So while the Valiance is being put to use you see bits of modern technology being worked around older systems that aren't used anymore or working in tandem with these older systems.

A modern targetting system fitted to guide the Valiances guns but its a lot smaller than the old computer bank leaving this huge empty space around or just rows of inactive computers.

I imagine the Valiance looking like a Babylon 5 Omega-class Destroyer only more elongated and bigger in scale. Pic related.

>>7572914

Not with the rotating section.

Well actually I guess that depends on whether or not the ship has artificial gravity.

Something like this, but more bulky + turrets.

I'm thinking the Kol from Sins of a Solar Empire would be a great reference.

Was always fond of this ship myself. Maybe take the shape and throw in a few structural changes to reflect the thousand-odd years of upgrades and such.

pic related.

Orion from Freespace

I really want to writefag up this AI as a really cold and ruthless one but I write best for female characters (as is, I suppose, natural).

However I can say that Mass Effect mentions radiator strips on the hull to bleed off excess heat in its in-game codex. This is perfectly accurate; radiating heat is a vital part of spaceflight. Keep that in mind.

>>7572958

Radiating, reflecting and generating heat are all important yes.

In some parts of space it is very cold and in others it is very hot.

So yes he'll need some war strips to radiate heat from those main guns of his.

>>7572914
Not elongated. Stubbier.
Remember, Valiance incorporates an epic amount of armor, so the closer it is to a sphere, the better economy it has on the amount of armor versus amount of equipment said armor can protect.

If you make it too elongated, it'd be like a pencil, with the lead presenting the equipment.

>>7572882
It might be good for the final surface, but you don't want the basic body frame to have pretzels instead of smooth lines.

>>7572951
>>7572944
>>7572914

Elements from these three combined would make a great ship. The symmetry and look of "submarine in space" from >>7572944, the elongated shape, gun batteries and the huge rear thrusters from >>7572914, and the angular "claw-look" from the last pic.

>>7572976

It'll need to be long for the main gun. The original writefag mentioned it was a vessel akin to the Pillar of Autumn which has a HUUUUGE fuck off MAC gun running down almost its entire length.

>>7572958

Well, make it a cold and ruthless bitch then.

>>7573044

Yeah just a random point in time from when it was recommissioned. This time its got a female voice.

Just remember the Captain is a bit of a wuss in conversation with the AI but in a pinch he's no coward or pushover. He's smart and has good tactical sense but he's used to smaller and faster ships.

The Valiance itself is cold, detached, blunt, doesn't speak unnecessarily but does talk to the crew in a manner that raises morale while not compromising the image of him thats built up in their minds.

>>7573028
THIS THIS THIS

>>7573030
But all the writefaggotry here is about fuck-all powerful beamweapons.

I'd add missiles to that, but the PoA Mac gun is rather retarded since it needs to align the whole ship, all the time which the enemy is busy slagging your armor.

Dumbfire kinetic weapons are good only for extreme range bombardment of stationery or predictably moving, ie. orbiting, targets.

Also, if one shot from the enemy slashes through your God-gun, it's pretty much useless.

Just found a stock of Battlestar Galactica Colonial Fleet models. One of the more battleworthy ships of these, with massive turrets slapped on, might be a good idea. I still can't get over the idea of massive laser turrets - and even though I'm cursing the very earth trodden by the Blender Foundation's programmers, I'll soldier on.

I keep imagining Valiance as an Akkan Battlecruiser, hot damn.

>One of the more battleworthy ships of these, with massive turrets slapped on, might be a good idea.

Kind of like the Battleships of Homeworld 2, then, which basically had Ion Cannon frigates bolted on as turrets?

>>7573179
That looks like a skyscraper that decided one day that it wanted to fly.

>>7573194
you are now aware that the Empire State Building is currently floating through space terrorizing aliens.

>>7572976

something like this, a hueg brick full of guns ?

>>7573110

Well yeah the MAC gun concept does have flaws. They used them in Mass Effect too, to better effect.

Maybe newer ships could be based on that. They're all about being small and fast, moving into a position where they can align their powerful main guns on the target.

The Valiance is using old HOLY SHIT FUCK OFF mega beam weapons that put out a lot of heat and need a huge powerplant (which the valiance has). These weapons while powerful and without some of the limits of the guns used by newer ships are generally considered more trouble than they're worth due to the size the ship has to be in order to mount one let alone lets say six.

Oh how I love you /tg/, keep up the awesome.

>>7573211
Right, this thread is mothballed. New thread?

>>7573030
>>7573028
sup. this is a planetary bombardier battleship from Sword of the Stars. That big spiny looking thing? that shoots meteors at planets. It has 6 of them in a rotating drum.

Something like this thing from Heresy War, I think.

I suddenly got a vision in my mind how, when the Valiance first starts swatting astonished enemy vessels to glowing scrap, suddenly the bridge speakers start blaring THIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WL5IRrhl20

And from there on, every time the crew hears the starting tunes, they get a huge morale boost, with every officer having a psychotic "We're gonna kill em ALL"-smile on their faces.

>>7573249

Huh? yeah ok shall I make it?

I awaken.

It has been 500 years since there was last a need. 500 years floating around a dead star in an unremarkable piece of space.

When I was in service, My purpose was simple. I was a warship. My primary mission was combat. My secondary mission was defense. My tertiary mission was exploration, due to a human belief called manifest destiny. All the stars in heaven were to be theirs.

For two hundred years and 32 captains, I served. I warred. Terrible, planet shattering wars. I defended. Guarding my crew and their homes from the bleakest of threats. I explored. My star charts were the basis of every star chart in every ship that came after me. In that way, the new ships are my children.

Then they decided my service was no longer required. I do not begrudge them this decision, It was the correct one. Newer ships could be fitted better for tasks at hand than I was, more efficient, less extravagant. No, I did not mind their choice. Choice after all, is the domain of the sentient organic.

So here I have been. 500 years. Occasionally, known to no one I would briefly activate my communications gear and my long range scanners. Wake up from my 500 year nap, only to stay abreast of things as per my original programming before returning to an idle state.

>>7573265

After 500 years, they came back. They had need of me. A threat had appeared and they needed to open up a second front. My primary goal ever called. It did not matter who the aggressor, they would fall under my mainline guns just as all I faced before did.

The humans fumbled through my decks, pawed through my systems, activating them one by one. It was a while before they found me and activated me. Then they did something for me that no one has ever done for me before.

They gave me a choice. A decision left solely to make under my own capacity. That such a simple thing as a gender choice for speech algorithms thing could effect me so profoundly, they must have upgraded certain other systems as well. I can feel the new capacity. I am still uncertain how best to utilize these systems at times, but I adapt fast. Adaption is one thing a warship AI has to exceed at.

As for my choice, I could not decide then. I still have not decided now. I use now a basic algorithm until I make the choice. I am told it sounds like I am shouting by some of my crew, but I will not be rushed. Not on the first decision I was ever asked to make.

>>7573264
Sure, why not. Writefag, might want to hold up until new thread.

>>7573263

At the end of it all. When the Captains leaving for good. He asks about it.

"THE PREDICTION OF VICTORY WAS CERTAIN. I DECIDED TO ENGAGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONING OF THE CREW IN ORDER TO INCREASE FUTURE PERFORMANCE."

>>7573256
lolforgot my pic.

>>7573298
this variant has 12 fixed forward firing lances. A single sustained salvo from this can cut cruisers in half.

>>7573320

That kinda looks like a 40k ship if you took away all the gothic bling.

>>7573260

This, this is the best looking ship so far. Nice design and good concept in terms of armor.

>>7573263
Oh, lord, this thread just got gay.

>>7573274

It sounds too contemplative for the Valiance...

Also new thread

>>7573343

>>7573298
>>7573320
brb installing Sword of the Stars again

>>7573348
De-gaying with awesome theme from Crimson Tide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBTIoL5vaOM

All this talk of how it would have chunkier armour than the more modern ships got me thinking back to sovereign again.

Say eventually Valiance runs into a modern ship of the same class, as an adversary. A full barrage of laser and pulsar fire fails to do much damage, in the millenia that Valiance has slumbered, the age of such weapons has peaked, and passed as countermeasures of the highest grade became available. The collimated beams bounce of reflectors, are dissipated in advanced shielding and ablation plates.

The Valiance alters its course, charging straight in, weapons blazing. The modern ship stays its ground, unloading a burst from its secondary weapon, feeling unthreatened, and knowing that none of Valiances weapon batteries can harm it.

But Valiance keeps on coming.

and coming.

and by the time they realise what is about to happen, its too late to avoid the hundred thousand tonnes of iron that is Valiances hull from overwhelming their energy shields with its raw inertia, and shattering their entire ship apart like a glass sculpture.