Sorry about the double post--I'll just use the second one for spaceships. [hider=The Sundiver] The Sundiver is, in short, the galaxy’s most useless time machine. It is similar to the Alcubierre drive in that it requires the creation of a “warp bubble”, but the Sundiver’s requirements for activation are considerably easier (and more dangerous) to fulfil. A spacecraft (hereafter referred to as “the ship”) activating the Sundiver’s warp bubble does not require exotic matter like the Alcubierre. Instead, the bubble can only be formed while the ship is subject to a very steep gravitational gradient, such as that found within a star’s chromosphere or near a black hole (oddly, the black hole is a safer approach here). When the ship Sundives, its velocity does not change, nor does it suddenly arrive at its destination. From a perspective within the warp bubble, the outside universe, save for gravity is completely undetectable but otherwise nothing has changed. Externally, on activation, the ship vanishes in a flash of gamma radiation. Any attempts to detect or interact with the ship fail (save for gravitational disturbance, covered below). While the ship’s absolute timeframe has not changed, it has gained a complex steady-state term, as though multiplied by an imaginary exponential αt*[i]e[/i]^(iφ) Thus, the ship is not travelling forward in time at the rate of 1 second every (external) second, but at a changing complex rate. It will travel forward in time, up in time, down in time, and back in time many times over the course of its journey. The crew (and the spacecraft) will spend just as much time in transit (potentially thousands of years) as they would if they had not activated the Sundiver, but externally the ship would appear at its destination moments after Sundiving. If altered or subjected to significant trauma (engine exhaust) while in operation, the warp bubble will collapse asymmetrically and violently spaghettify the spacecraft across several hundred years. In fact, the warp bubble cannot be safely deactivated from within. Only when encountering a gravitational gradient separate from the one used to Sundive can the warp bubble be collapsed safely. The requirements for this are significantly more reasonable—the ship could emerge very close to a gas giant or within an Earth-sized planet’s atmosphere. While within the warp bubble the external universe is, for the most part, unobservable—an indistinct blur of colors which don’t seem to have any connection with the normal universe. Prolonged exposure will drive any sapient species mad (in an Event Horizon fashion), but cryo-sleep can counteract this. [/hider] [u]Warships[/u] [hider=NPn Bessel v1B] Articulated robotic atomic spacecraft (Corvette) [img]http://i.imgur.com/afz8aiK.png[/img] 36.3 x 19.5 x 14.1 meters Neumann Pneumatic's flagship design, mass produced before and during the First Contact War. Bessel is extremely well armored for its size, presenting over 430 mm of spaced, sloped tungsten-carbide armor to the fore. It is almost impervious to explosive damage and kinetic projectiles. While small and lightly armed, Bessel has been by far the most cost effective design to date. It is launched by SSTO. 1100 tons displacement Crew of 3 (pilot, engineer, reactor technician) [img]http://i.imgur.com/HOlVMRV.png[/img] Despite its weight, powerful SAS and RCS systems coupled with gimbaled engines on robotic mounts give Bessel unmatched manuverability and VTOL landing capabilities. 16 meganewtons AT 31 km/s T/W of 1.47 Total dV: 15 km/s [img]http://i.imgur.com/ni8eObA.png[/img] Earlier versions of Bessel had to contend with low thrust and abysmal dV, restricting their use to Akheron, Mnemosyne and the moons of Scylla. Replacing the NERVA engines with open-core molten plutonium engines helps turn Bessel into a more well-rounded fighting machine. This refitted version of Bessel also is equipped with the highest end computer systems on Asphodel: a state of the art Ming microprocessor from Sanctus, which operates at a whopping 1.44 MHz. Armament: (Fore) 2 x2 76mm Armor-Piercing Nuclear Submunitions (1 kiloton yield), can also fire flak. Engines double as low-output thermal reactors; backup battery and radioisotope power systems. Double spaced armor ranging from 430 mm to 180 mm tungsten carbide No FTL capabilities Full ISRU refinery system Three hundred and seventy-four Bessel ships are still in use (most are retrofits). More than seven hundred ships were produced and launched before the end of the First Contact War.[/hider] [hider=OpA Serber] Rapid-launch laser platform (Corvette) [img]http://i.imgur.com/LSmkfT2.png[/img] 48 x 15.9 x 15.9 meters Serber is a laser platform designed toward the end of the First Contact War, intended to replace the obscenely expensive Ulam battlecruiser. 650 tons displacement Crew of 2 (optical technician and reactor technician) [img]http://i.imgur.com/DWniR3E.png[/img] Serber uses four open-core molten plutonium atomic motors, similar to Bessel's but less powerful. Propellant flow can be adjusted to optimize exhaust velocity (high gear) or thrust (low gear). Even with atomic engines, Serber does not have enough fuel for both interplanetary travel and manuvering in combat when it arrives. It requires support of larger ships or fuel tugs to be effective. 7 meganewtons AT 27 km/s (high gear) T/W of 1.1 (low gear) Total dV: 9 km/s (high gear) [img]http://i.imgur.com/zqI68pg.png[/img] Armament: (Fore) 1 1.75 GW laser cannon (1.8 m aperture, 58% effeciency, microwave to near infrared) 1 Optical Atomics "Model 7" fission reactor (4.8 GW output) with backup radioisotope generators and battery systems. 2.2 meters of frontal conductive armor (refractory tungsten carbide) No FTL While Serber has impressive heatsinks for its size, it has few radiators and must rely on venting liquid lithium or reaction mass to operate its reactor or fire the laser. Serber's heatshield reflects 60% of gamma and x-ray spectrums and can absorb microwave to near infrared spectrum to boost its own laser or engines. Only 5 Serbers are still in service (left in orbit of Asphodel). A couple dozen are kept in reserve, ready to launch, but the design is very cheap to produce and launch.[/hider] [hider=OpA Saint Ulam] Rapid-deployment battlecruiser (Battlecruiser) [img]http://i.imgur.com/LyrDUj5.png[/img] 357.6 x 226.8 x 226.8 meters Before first contact, Optical Atomics was comissioned to construct twenty-nine additional Von Braun exploration ships, with which to explore the newly discovered universe beyond the veil. When the first contact war begun, Asphodel was nearly defenseless--any ship launched was destroyed by lasers before it could reach orbit. Trippling the number of engines on the Von Braun and attaching a prototype heatshield intended for Project Icarus transformed the exploration ship into a nearly indestructible warship. Ironically, the ship's namesake is anything but a saint--Stanislav Ulam helped develop the atomic bomb, and is single-handidly responsible for several of the worst nuclear disasters to befall pre-FCW Asphodel. 1,600,000 tons displacement Crew of 112 (mostly reactor technicians) [img]http://i.imgur.com/E9lI0Wy.png[/img] Six Optical Atomics gas-core plutonium engines drive Ulam--and they can be vectored by up to 30º, giving it decent manuverability in combat. 15.8 giganewtons AT 60.8 km/s T/W of 1 Total dV: 47 km/s [img]http://i.imgur.com/fAsGtVc.png[/img] Armament: (Fore) 1 145 GW laser cannon (7.2 m aperture, 58% effeciency, microwave to near infrared) (Sides) 2 2400mm Gattling Defense Systems (2.4 kiloton warheads, ferro-flak or tungsten ball-bearing canisters fired at 8 km/s, fires 5000 rounds/minute) 68 laser-driven drones carrying 15 megaton warheads (individual dV ~15 km/s when boosted by 1 Ulam) 1 Optical Atomics "Aegletes" pulse fission reactor (400 GW usable thermal power) 24 meters (average) of frontal conductive armor (refractory tungsten carbide). Deflects 60% of x-rays and gamma-rays. Bubbles of ferro-ablation fluid can liquify and be spread across heatshield to act as ablative armor. Ulam can absorb microwave to near infrared light to boost its own laser or engine systems. The heatshield itself acts as a giant radiator and, when combined with active cooling systems allow Ulam to dissipate almost two terrawatts of waste heat. The "Saint" retrofit adds a powerful electromagnet system to the heatshield, which, when driven by the Aegletes reactor, can produce an electromagnetic deflection field. Additionally, retrofitted Ulams are equipped with the Sundiver FTL system--their heatshields and radiator systems make them very depentable, if inflexible, Sundivers. [img]http://i.imgur.com/ELd14CO.png[/img] Of the twenty-nine Ulams produced during the First Contact War, seventeen of them survive and are still in service. Eleven of the twelve destroyed during the war were shot down before reaching orbit. [/hider] [hider=OpA Icarus] The Sundiver (Titan) [img]http://i.imgur.com/xqu75NX.png[/img] 453.6 x 309.6 x 309.6 meters Built immediately following the First Contact War, Icarus was initially designed to test the Sundiver FTL system. It is fully capable of diving into a star and not only surviving, but operating within a star's chromosphere for months at a time. 2,000,000 tons displacement Crew of 256 (very rarely does Icarus operate with a full crew--even Asphodelians are hesistant to serve aboard a giant radiation kaleidoscope). [img]http://i.imgur.com/UPmKXdU.png[/img] Icarus uses an impulsive confinement fusion engine based on alien technology. It emits considerable amounts of lethal radiation. 43.2 meganewtons at 341 km/s T/W of 2.2 Total dV: 59.5 km/s [img]http://i.imgur.com/FyQWmZO.png[/img] Armament: 4000 thermonuclear warheads (average yield of 1 megaton). (Fore) 1 16 TW graser cannon (11 m aperture, gamma spectrum, 11% effeciency) Icarus detonates a 1 megaton fusion bomb directly against the heatshield, transfering gamma- and x-ray radiation through the hull via bremsstrahlung, where it is converted into a coherent gamma-ray beam via a lithium-tantalum lattice (total efficiency of 0.385% bomb-to-laser). 1 Fermi-Teller prototype fusion reactor (operating at a reduced output of 130 GW) 6 "Model 1C" fission reactors (60 MW output) Icarus' heatshield is composed of nanoscale sheets of carbon and tungsten, and it can alter their composition to reflect any spectrum of light (between 90-60% efficiency; higher spectrums are less efficient). Each hexagonal shell on the heatshield can be used as a microwave laser (typically ~50 GW, but shorter range than normal) [img]http://i.imgur.com/y1QjeQ0.png[/img] Icarus has an incredibly impressive heatsink array, capable of dissipating almost 50 terrawatts of waste heat (less than 20 TW when radiators are retracted). Icarus is outfitted with a Sundiver FTL system, and is ideally designed to make use of it--between an aft-facing heatshield and powerful radiator systems, it can survive even the most dangerous dives. [/hider]