|
Pages: [1] 2
|
 |
|
Author
|
Topic: UQM Ship Scales: Question for Paul and/or Fred (Read 5071 times)
|
|
|
PaulReiche
Toys for Bob
Zebranky food
 Offline
Posts: 13
|
This is a tricky question to answer, one I've struggled with every now and then. While hunting through my old documents the other day, I found a diagram I did of our ships relative to one another specifically for scale. I sort of shook my head and disagreed with my past self at the scale choices -- the ships were too close in size. So, starting from scratch, let's think about the relative size of an Ur-Quan Kzer-Za fighter -- it is probably around the same size as a Shofixti scout (Shofixti are smaller than Fighter Pilots, but they do carry a Glory Device, so let's call it a wash.). A Dreadnaut can carry around 40 fighters -- 20 per side. So, presuming that the main body of the Dreadnaut holds all the fighters, pointed outward and there needs to be some space between the individual launch tubes, I'd say that the Scouts would be 50-75% the size you've shown. How does that seem to you?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mormont
*Smell* controller
Offline
Posts: 253
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
|
Since Paul is reading, I have a related question...who crews the Kohr-ah Marauder? Fan speculation has included:
- Sub-sentient slaves, kind of like a talking pet
- Robots
- Other Kohr-ah - who being engineered originally for labor and war, may be be less instinctively territorial and/or more numerous than the Kzer-za?
Part of what makes it tricky is that the Syreen song works on them, though it may just be an abstraction for gameplay's sake.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: April 07, 2018, 02:42:48 pm by Mormont »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
PaulReiche
Toys for Bob
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 13
|
I think you could pick a size between 75-95% of your initial size and feel comfortable that it's reasonable accurate.
One other way of looking at would be to look at the Star Trek TOS shuttlecraft for reference...
http://www.karltate.com/?p=211
...they fit 7 humans in there with tons of leg room to spare. Scale down for Shofixti size, make the walls slightly thicker, add a small weapon system up front, a bit bigger thruster in back, and of course, a sweet, shiny bomb on the bottom.
Thinking about this has reminded me of a short story by Cordwainer Smith called, "The Game of Rat and Dragon" about using uplifted cats to fly miniature fighter escort around FTL starships.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29614/29614-h/29614-h.htm
Smith wrote relatively little and not everyone enjoys his work, but along with Jack Vance, he's one of my favorites. "Norstrilia" is probably his best-known work, but "Mark Elf" and "Scanners Live In Vain" were pretty great too.
Edit: Added link to 'Game of Rat and Dragon" and corrected names of two stories.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: April 07, 2018, 05:16:36 pm by PaulReiche »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
PaulReiche
Toys for Bob
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 13
|
For Mormont , Re: Kohr-Ah crew... let me think a sec... (reads what other people have written about this)... okay, my favorite alternative (and I reserve the right to change this in GotP) is that the Kohr-Ah have a 'treatment' applied to any sentient non-Ur-Quan entering their ships -- kind of like a de-lousing spray applied directly to the brain which removes enough higher mental functions to drop the being to a non-sentient-but-still-useful state.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Krulle
Enlightened
Offline
Gender: 
Posts: 1115
*Hurghi*! Krulle is *spitting* again!
|
Wow, that's pretty damn small.  But, in-game, the scout has a crew compliment of 6 and Commander Heyes did mention that he traveled aboard a Scout before. No mention how exactly he fit on-board, given that the Shofixti are smaller than Humans on average and their ships would more match their physiology, only that he was worried about the Glory device. Though around 75% of what we see here might work out, because like before, the Shofixti are smaller on average so they could cram more crew in such a small area. We speculated that the Dreadnought's "nacelles" are the delivery source of the fighters. But given that the fighters are one crew each to the Shofixti's 6 I'm thinking the size shown is pretty close if not 80-90% of the size shown. How does that sound? It would be up to how big the Scout would be to where it can cram six crew members. And then there's the matter of the other 24 ships. Are some of your scale sizes "non-shake-head-able"? P.S. Big thanks for taking the time to answer. Makes my day every time.
Whereas the Ur-Quan (both races) LiVE in space. No homeplanet for recreational purposes. They need to do everything on their ships.
Industrial basis, sport, privacy, education, child raising, ....
I personally imagined the ship size differnce much greater than shown, sinc they are territorial and may need lots of room to get out of each others way.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
PaulReiche
Toys for Bob
Zebranky food
Offline
Posts: 13
|
Shiver, those are good points. It's my nature to spew wild solutions, but they might just cascade into other consequences and contradictions, so for now I will ponder and muse and watch THE TERROR, part of my recent 'Violent deaths in the Arctic' TV marathon.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Death 999
Global Moderator
Enlightened
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 3873
We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
|
I like the option of there being one kind of specially bred minimally intelligent critter. I think if they were to take on and 'delouse' new aliens every time they did an extermination, that would be bringing filth aboard. And a security risk, though they'd be more likely to think of it in terms of cleanliness.
On the other hand, we do know they get up close and personal enough to fill their bone pits.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Soul Reaver
Frungy champion
Offline
Posts: 82
|
Re the Ur-Quan fighter craft:
A number of factors make me think they would be at the most 50% the size of the Shofixti:
- They have only a single crew member on-board
- They are so fragile that meteors destroy them (ie, basically no hull armour/mass)
- They actually have a limited fuel reserve (need to return to Dreadnought or they die)
All of those suggest that they are missing a large number of 'basic' systems that even the tiny Shofixti scout has. I think they literally are just a pilot seat, basic thruster system (with small fuel/life support tanks), encased in paper-thin hull and with a tiny swivelling laser gun, and not much else. I'd be inclined to think this is all to make the fighters smaller, so the Dreadnought can carry more of them.
As for the Khor-Ah:
I imagine the crew would be some sort of organic robot - basically bioenginnered, obedient, faceless clones with no real ability to dream or aspire. Their thinking ability is limited to the thinking they do to fulfill whatever task they are given. The Syreen call works on them because even though they don't have higher brain functions, they do still have a BRAIN, and if their brain tells them "I have to go to that ship over there now, time to put on that suit and step out of the airlock" they'll do it (much like they'd follow the orders of their Kohr-Ah keepers under normal circumstances).
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: April 09, 2018, 02:14:11 am by Soul Reaver »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
CelticMinstrel
Enlightened
Offline
Posts: 522
|
You said Kzer-Za but I'm pretty sure you meant Kohr-Ah? Kzer-Za are the green ones who take slaves.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pages: [1] 2
|
|
|
|
|
