Gentlemen,
It has been an exciting year, with several new technologies arriving. Our biggest focus has been on resolving the fuel crisis, and as such, we've improved general fuel economy, increased engine size, and decreased power multiplier. The end result is that our latest commercial engine uses only 42% as much fuel per unit power as the one in our current transports. This, when combined with our increased fuel production, should let us supply a new colony relatively easily. We've also finished the jump gain chain to Gliese 892, so it's probably time to look at new transports.
The other major development is major improvements in our research, as our scientists have gotten better and allowed us to allocate labs more efficiently. This has paid major dividends, particularly in Construction and Production research. We also suspect we've found another civilization in the Gliese 785 system. Unfortunately, we have no direct contact, but there's a habitable planet in the system and we've discovered jump gates leading from it, so the conclusion isn't hard to reach.
Database is here.
Comments
Uh, payed? Shouldn't that be paid? (I think I write the same dialect as you do)
Yes, it should be. I think I was changing tenses and got confused. Fixed now.
I've done some sketches for future cargo/colony ships. One option is to continue the Champlain/Coureur des Bois series, and just swap out the engines:
Coureur des Bois Mk II class Transport 72,000 tons 194 Crew 665.5 BP TCS 1,440 TH 1,152 EM 0
800 km/s Armour 1-154 Shields 0-0 HTK 82 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 5 Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 50,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 3
Capitaine de corvette Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP128.0 (9) Power 1152 Fuel Use 4.55% Signature 128 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 835,000 Litres Range 45.8 billion km (663 days at full power)
Champlain Mk II class Colony Ship 72,000 tons 384 Crew 2,608.4 BP TCS 1,440 TH 1,152 EM 0
800 km/s Armour 1-154 Shields 0-0 HTK 101 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 100 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 200,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 3
Capitaine de corvette Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP128.0 (9) Power 1152 Fuel Use 4.55% Signature 128 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 560,000 Litres Range 30.7 billion km (444 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This has the advantage of letting us build them both in the same shipyard, but they're both quite large and expensive. The alternative is to go smaller, and I've prepared designs for both:
AKX class Transport 37,000 tons 105 Crew 375.5 BP TCS 740 TH 640 EM 0
864 km/s Armour 1-98 Shields 0-0 HTK 45 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 6 Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 1
Capitaine de corvette Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP128.0 (5) Power 640 Fuel Use 4.55% Signature 128 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 420,000 Litres Range 44.8 billion km (600 days at full power)
CSX class Colony Ship 26,800 tons 160 Crew 916.8 BP TCS 536 TH 640 EM 0
1194 km/s Armour 1-79 Shields 0-0 HTK 49 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 21 Max Repair 100 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 60,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 1
Capitaine de corvette Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP128.0 (5) Power 640 Fuel Use 4.55% Signature 128 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 44.2 billion km (428 days at full power)
These aren't shipyard-compatible, but they'll be a lot cheaper, and probably more efficient than the bigger ships. There's also the fact that we have a bunch of civilian shipping which will aid the effort, particularly on the colony ship side (as a number of vessels of that type are currently idle.)
Thoughts?