Hey, everyone!
One of the things that I'm looking forward to most from this game is the ship design. More specifically, the design for the most effective and deadly combat ships possible! So, out of boredom given the quarantine, I thought I'd take a shot at predicting the optimal forms that some different sizes of ship may take. I'd love to hear others' opinions on how combat vessels will turn out.
Starting from the smallest:
The Mobile Gun Rig:
Reference image.
This "ship" aims to be the absolute smallest platform that you can still strap some weapons to. It would carry machine guns to out-gun dismounted pilots, and a missile or two for if it gets the drop on an unaware fighter, or to fend one off in a worst case scenario.
The ideal habitat for this would be in a dense asteroid field, or even interior areas if they're large enough. It absolutely does not want to be out in the open, but is a major threat to dismounted pilots, and to a fighter what an anti-tank infantryman is to a tank (provided it has cover to exploit).
Because this is basically a ball of whatever components are necessary to make it move and shoot, there aren't many design considerations to be made, except have it out-gun pilots and maybe add an auxiliary weapon to whack fighters from cover.
The Fighter:
Now, we all know what a fighter does. And being more than a ball of components, we can move stuff about for a proper design philosophy. I'm going to be detailing a generic single-pilot "swirls around shooting guns" fighter as opposed to something that lurks behind an asteroid with an array of missiles.
Firstly, we'll lose the generic fighter plane cockpit. We're slapping the pilot either right on top of the nose like an A-10, or literally in the nose itself, for maximum sight radius.
Now, you want the guns to be as close to the centre of the craft as possible, concentrating fire on where you aim it. Preferably right in the nose, or surrounding it if there's a cockpit there.
With that done, all we need are a couple small reverse thrusters and the front of the craft is done. We now want to put as much of the craft as possible behind this front, as to minimise the frontal profile (which is what will be getting shot at). Additionally, you may want to extend an armour shield outwards around this front section, as so that the back of the ship can't be seen even if the front is seen from a bit of an angle.
Ultimately, this will produce a diamond or teardrop shaped craft. We don't want wings or other extensions, because these just increase the surface area of the craft and make components easier to break off.
Finally, we will place the large majority of thrusters on the "bottom" of the craft, not the back. This is because we want to be moving tangentially to the enemy while keeping our guns on them. We're focusing almost all thrusters at the bottom rather than equally across the sides and top because we can just roll to change the direction of thrust, rather than wasting weight on separate engines.
All-in-all, this will produce a compact (and sturdy) craft with a small front profile to shoot at, which can keep guns on-target and concentrated, with high manoeuvrability.
The Destroyer:
Lastly, I will be detailing the 'destroyer' (name inspired by the naval classification). This is a multi-crew vessel relying on turrets instead of a fixed armament.
The shape will be that of a triangular prism. The turrets will be placed along the edges, not the sides, as so that when one edge is pointed at an enemy all the turrets on the ship will be able to point at it. This also has the added bonus of angling the armour that faces the enemy, causing ricochets and increasing its thickness.
The cockpit will be on the "main" edge (the one preferably pointed towards the enemy when fighting) towards the front, allowing it to see clearly up (the direction of the enemy), forward, and downward towards the front and sides.
The engines will be recessed into the back of the ship for extra cover.
The majority of delicate externals like radiators and hatches will be on the side opposite the "main" edge, which will be most protected during combat.
Additionally, most of the armour will be placed on the two sides connecting to the "main" edge, while the opposite side doesn't need so much.
Ultimately, the destroyer will thus have impressive all-around firepower that it can concentrate entirely onto a single main target (which wouldn't be possible with any other shape of ship). It would be very well armoured also thanks to angling and its compactness. Given the use of turrets, the weaponry will be easily adaptable, replacing machine guns for missile turrets if expecting a battle against larger ships rather than fighters. Finally, this design can be hugely scale-able, from a four-crew to a capital ship.
One of the things that I'm looking forward to most from this game is the ship design. More specifically, the design for the most effective and deadly combat ships possible! So, out of boredom given the quarantine, I thought I'd take a shot at predicting the optimal forms that some different sizes of ship may take. I'd love to hear others' opinions on how combat vessels will turn out.
Starting from the smallest:
The Mobile Gun Rig:
Reference image.
This "ship" aims to be the absolute smallest platform that you can still strap some weapons to. It would carry machine guns to out-gun dismounted pilots, and a missile or two for if it gets the drop on an unaware fighter, or to fend one off in a worst case scenario.
The ideal habitat for this would be in a dense asteroid field, or even interior areas if they're large enough. It absolutely does not want to be out in the open, but is a major threat to dismounted pilots, and to a fighter what an anti-tank infantryman is to a tank (provided it has cover to exploit).
Because this is basically a ball of whatever components are necessary to make it move and shoot, there aren't many design considerations to be made, except have it out-gun pilots and maybe add an auxiliary weapon to whack fighters from cover.
The Fighter:
Now, we all know what a fighter does. And being more than a ball of components, we can move stuff about for a proper design philosophy. I'm going to be detailing a generic single-pilot "swirls around shooting guns" fighter as opposed to something that lurks behind an asteroid with an array of missiles.
Firstly, we'll lose the generic fighter plane cockpit. We're slapping the pilot either right on top of the nose like an A-10, or literally in the nose itself, for maximum sight radius.
Now, you want the guns to be as close to the centre of the craft as possible, concentrating fire on where you aim it. Preferably right in the nose, or surrounding it if there's a cockpit there.
With that done, all we need are a couple small reverse thrusters and the front of the craft is done. We now want to put as much of the craft as possible behind this front, as to minimise the frontal profile (which is what will be getting shot at). Additionally, you may want to extend an armour shield outwards around this front section, as so that the back of the ship can't be seen even if the front is seen from a bit of an angle.
Ultimately, this will produce a diamond or teardrop shaped craft. We don't want wings or other extensions, because these just increase the surface area of the craft and make components easier to break off.
Finally, we will place the large majority of thrusters on the "bottom" of the craft, not the back. This is because we want to be moving tangentially to the enemy while keeping our guns on them. We're focusing almost all thrusters at the bottom rather than equally across the sides and top because we can just roll to change the direction of thrust, rather than wasting weight on separate engines.
All-in-all, this will produce a compact (and sturdy) craft with a small front profile to shoot at, which can keep guns on-target and concentrated, with high manoeuvrability.
The Destroyer:
Lastly, I will be detailing the 'destroyer' (name inspired by the naval classification). This is a multi-crew vessel relying on turrets instead of a fixed armament.
The shape will be that of a triangular prism. The turrets will be placed along the edges, not the sides, as so that when one edge is pointed at an enemy all the turrets on the ship will be able to point at it. This also has the added bonus of angling the armour that faces the enemy, causing ricochets and increasing its thickness.
The cockpit will be on the "main" edge (the one preferably pointed towards the enemy when fighting) towards the front, allowing it to see clearly up (the direction of the enemy), forward, and downward towards the front and sides.
The engines will be recessed into the back of the ship for extra cover.
The majority of delicate externals like radiators and hatches will be on the side opposite the "main" edge, which will be most protected during combat.
Additionally, most of the armour will be placed on the two sides connecting to the "main" edge, while the opposite side doesn't need so much.
Ultimately, the destroyer will thus have impressive all-around firepower that it can concentrate entirely onto a single main target (which wouldn't be possible with any other shape of ship). It would be very well armoured also thanks to angling and its compactness. Given the use of turrets, the weaponry will be easily adaptable, replacing machine guns for missile turrets if expecting a battle against larger ships rather than fighters. Finally, this design can be hugely scale-able, from a four-crew to a capital ship.
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