Space Stations

[Ran Targas]

Has anyone toyed with designing space stations?

I've drawn up some deckplans in the past but since the stations never meant as anything other than a back drop, I never bothered to be true to any rules.

Now I need to institute some rules.

I imagine you can build them as if they were starships without J or M drives. Still, there may be some need for thrusters for station keeping or stability. Everything else (powerplant, fuel tankage, habitat, weapons, cargo, vehicles, etc.) could still be calculated the same and based on desired cargo tonnage. Computers would still need to be of the starship variety to handle station operations, data storage, processing, and station defense.

Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

TNE FF&S had rules for stations, as does GURPS, but you're ideas are essentially correct. Whatever system you use, you design them as capital warships and substitute fittings (Large Workshop templates for shipfitters, etc). Obviously, the absolute key item will be the powerplant.

 

[TKalbfus]

Space Stations also have additional options, such as Solar Power. Fusion reactors undoubtably require more maintenance that a Solar Power Plant. A reaction engine might be more economical for station keeping than the thruster plate technology used in starships. Since the station is not intended as a vehicle, it doesn't need grav plating, it could simply rotate and not require any additional power input to keep things on the floor. A military space station might want to put back in the fusion reactor, as a solar power array might be fragile. The full power output of the station could then be devoted to weapons systems and shields.

 

[Ranger]

FASA's Adventure Class Ships II has a design for a 500 dTon space station which looks like it was designed using Book 5 rules without any modification. No J Drive, no M, type 4 power plant and a note about station keeping thrusters (presumably run off of the power plant some how).

It's not big enough for a real highport, but very servicable for a way station or transfer point for passengers.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

My Lords,

I have been doing some experiments with the High Guard Shipyard Program along these lines... They first few are Orbital Grav Cities from my homeworld, Sidur Haski, Here are a couple:

Ship: Type A10
Class: A10
Type: Planetoid Base
Architect: BeltHab
Tech Level: 15

USP
A-A700262-000000-40004-0 MCr 368.465 1 KTons
Bat Bear 4 3 Crew: 30
Bat 4 3 TL: 15

Cargo: 138 Fuel: 0 EP: 50 Agility: 0
Craft: 2 x 25T G9 Beltrunners, 2 x 10T GHaulers
Fuel Treatment: On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 3.225 Cost in Quantity: MCr 303.972


Detailed Description
(T20 Design)

HULL
1,000.000 tons standard, 14,000.000 cubic meters, Dispersed Structure Configuration, 100.000 Structure Points

CREW
Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Medic, 7 Gunners, 6 Flight Crew, 9 Other Crew, 4 Additional Crew (User Defined)

ENGINEERING
Jump-0, 0G Manuever, 25.000 Ton Power Plant, 50.000 EP, Agility 0

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/6 Computer, Model/7 Sensors, Model/7 Communications

HARDPOINTS
10 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
6 Triple Missile Turrets organised into 3 Batteries (Factor-4), 4 Triple Beam Laser Turrets organised into 4 Batteries (Factor-4)

DEFENCES
None

CRAFT
2 25.000 ton G9 Beltrunners (Crew of 2, Cost of MCr 22.000), 2 10.000 ton GHaulers (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 1.000)

FUEL
0 Tons Fuel (0 parsecs jump and 392 days endurance)
No Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant


And:


Ship: Domus OHS
Class: Domus OHS
Type: Orbital Habitation Structure
Architect: BeltHab
Tech Level: 15

USP
1-1700131-000000-00000-0 MCr 43.425 100 Tons
Bat Bear Crew: 2
Bat TL: 15

Cargo: 21.200 Fuel: 0 EP: 2 Agility: 0
Craft: 1 x 10T StS Launch

Architects Fee: MCr 0.334 Cost in Quantity: MCr 36.740


Detailed Description
(T20 Design)

HULL
100.000 tons standard, 1,400.000 cubic meters, Dispersed Structure Configuration, 75.000 Structure Points

CREW
Pilot, Gunner

ENGINEERING
Jump-0, 0G Manuever, 1.000 Ton Power Plant, 2.000 EP, Agility 0

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/3 Computer, Model/3 Sensors, Model/3 Communications

HARDPOINTS
1 Hardpoint

ARMAMENT
1 Triple Mixed Turret with:

DEFENCES
None

CRAFT
1 10.000 ton StS Launch (Crew of 0, Cost of MCr 10.000)

FUEL
0 Tons Fuel (0 parsecs jump and 364 days endurance)
No Fuel Scoops, No Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
6 Staterooms, 6 Low Berths, 1 Autodoc, 1 Additional Airlock, 21.200 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None

COST
MCr 33.759 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 0.334), MCr 26.740 in Quantity, plus MCr 10.000 of Carried Craft (Hardpoints and Turrets charged)

CONSTRUCTION TIME
38 Weeks Singly, 30 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS


And Furthermore...


Ship: Kanishaandur Capital City
Class: Type G
Type: Orbital Environment
Architect: Sidur Haski Design Consortium
Tech Level: 15

USP
U-T701194-003300-00709-0 MCr 51,550.500 300 KTons
Bat Bear 1 Y Crew: 2100
Bat 1 Z TL: 15

Cargo: 200,801 Fuel: 30,000.000 EP: 6,000 Agility: 0 Shipboard Security Detail: 300 Marines: 400
Craft: 10 x 8T Grav Limosines, 20 x 10T Grav Haulers, 40 x 30T Launchs, 10 x 1000T Fuel Tankers
Fuel Treatment: On Board Fuel Purification
Backups: 1 x 1G Maneuver Drive 20 x Model/3 Computers
Substitutions: Y = 120 Z = 200

Architects Fee: MCr 515.205 Cost in Quantity: MCr 41,246.400


Detailed Description
(T20 Design)

HULL
300,000.000 tons standard, 4,200,000.000 cubic meters, Dispersed Structure Configuration, 750.000 Structure Points

CREW
126 Officers, 1574 Ratings, 400 Marines

ENGINEERING
Jump-0, 1G Manuever, 3,000.000 Ton Power Plant, 6,000.000 EP, Agility 0
11G Manuever Backup

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/9 Computer, Model/8 Flight Avionics, Model/7 Sensors, Model/9 Communications
20 Model/3 Backup Computers

HARDPOINTS
200 50-ton bays, 100 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
200 50-ton Missile Bays (Factor-9), 100 Particle Accelerator Turrets organised into 1 Battery (Factor-7)

DEFENCES
Nuclear Damper (Factor-3), Meson Screen (Factor-3)

CRAFT
10 8.000 ton Grav Limosines (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 3.000), 20 10.000 ton Grav Haulers (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 0.000), 40 30.000 ton Launchs (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 0.000), 10 1,000.000 ton Fuel Tankers (Crew of 0, Cost of MCr 0.000)

FUEL
30,000 Tons Fuel (0 parsecs jump and 280 days endurance)
No Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
2,200 Staterooms, 2200 Low Berths, 10 Engineering Shops, 10 Vehicle Shops, 10 Laboratories, 10 Sick Bays, 10 Autodocs, 100 Additional Airlocks, 200 Tons of Missile Magazines (holding 4000 missiles), 200,801 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
4 Horticultural Gardenss (100.000 tons, Crew 0, 1.000 Energy Point, Cost MCr 10.000), 1 Palace Sidur Haski (1,500.000 tons, Crew 0, 10.000 Energy Points, Cost MCr 1,500.000), 4 Robot Factorys (2,500.000 tons, Crew 0, 100.000 Energy Points, Cost MCr 250.000), 1 Exchange (200.000 tons, Crew 0, 10.000 Energy Points, Cost MCr 50.000), 1 Library (50.000 tons, Crew 0, 10.000 Energy Points, Cost MCr 50.000), 1 Art Pavillion (1,000.000 tons, Crew 0, 10.000 Energy Points, Cost MCr 20.000), 1 Exportation Plant (2,000.000 tons, Crew 0, 100.000 Energy Points, Cost MCr 500.000)

COST
MCr 52,035.705 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 515.205), MCr 41,216.400 in Quantity, plus MCr 30.000 of Carried Craft (Hardpoints and Turrets charged)

CONSTRUCTION TIME
219 Weeks Singly, 175 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS?

 

[Tom Schoene]

Nice, but rather small

The B5 thread prompted me to look up the stats for the Babylon 5 station. It's got an enclosed volume of around 200 million displacement tons and a population somewhat higher than 250,000 people.

A true O'Neill Island Three colony (the big cylindrical thing you may think of when you think space station) has a volume of around 70,000 million displacement tons (times two, since they really have to come in pairs). Population is somewhere between 5 and 10 million per cylinder.

 

[sandman]

Space Station design would make a nice TA, no?

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Tom Said:

"Nice, but rather small

The B5 thread prompted me to look up the stats for the Babylon 5 station. It's got an enclosed volume of around 200 million displacement tons and a population somewhat higher than 250,000 people."

That's cool, Lord Tom, but my home system has a full time population of 2000 Citizens... Most everyone else is either a Robot or a tourist..
I must confess to getting the two mixed up, what?

 

[Vargas]

I regret not knowing it off the top of my head, but a later volume of print JTAS had an artcle on O'Neil style colony design (1984 or -85 I think).

 

[campbell]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andyslack/

this leads you to Andy Slack's halfway station. if you look at his 2300ad download there is an article on space stations. as well as his articles for 2300 there are also white dwarf articles on traveller and a gurps take on stargate. I can not recomend this guys stuff enough and its well worth any time taken to peruse it.

 

[fredofmars]

Originally posted by Vargas:
I regret not knowing it off the top of my head, but a later volume of print JTAS had an artcle on O'Neil style colony design (1984 or -85 I think).

Travellers Digest vol. 2 (from DGP) has rules for designing space habitats, and GT:Starports has extensive rules.
- Joseph

 

[Jame]

What about space stations constructed out of asteroids?