Notes on shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is one of the main branches of colony development. Ships allow trade, exploration of the universe, and military campaigns.

The primary purpose of ships is cargo delivery. Most have a hold. Travel in a system needs Hydrogen H; a hyper jump needs Uranium U.

Ships carry engines. There are three main types, plus photon drive on some large hulls.

Anti-gravity engine — consumes no fuel; it is required to land on a planet and lift off. Without agrav a ship does not land. It is missing not only on the largest hulls: a corvette, Hyper interceptor, drones and combat stations also have no agrav. Stress from gravity and anti-gravity on the hull keeps it off heavy ships.

Planetary-type engine — accelerating matter and using the kinetic-energy difference. An ion engine is weak and uses no hydrogen: that is how orbital shuttles move. A diffusion engine accelerates ionized hydrogen. Hydrogen use depends on path length and the engine rating, not directly on hull mass. Some large ships mount a Photon engine: it is energy-independent and gives strong speed in ordinary space.

Orbital shuttles — Small, Medium and Large — have no planetary drive.

Hyperspace engine — in strong magnetic and gravitational fields space can jump in dimensionality. Five-dimensional space was mastered first, then higher dimensions. The higher the dimension, the greater the maximum speed of mass. In seven-dimensional space speed became unlimited and mass no longer grew with acceleration. That produced the hyperactive engine: an abrupt change of space and flight without a speed limit. It consumes Uranium U (a controlled nuclear blast). Arrival is into ordinary system space; the ship must be at rest relative to the exit, or a shift in time occurs. Tritites and foreign Hyper interceptors wait in that same system.

A large ship without agrav cannot land: its own weight would crush it. It can be assembled on the surface and left as a planetary fortress. A Large shuttle lifts up to 9475 mass off a planet. Heavier modules are lifted by an Interplanetary shuttle (up to 18840). Still heavier parts, such as a docking dock, are assembled in orbit.

Transport ships — large hold and modest consumption, the quietest speed. Tritites intercept in system space after a hyper exit; one Fighter in escort is enough.

Military ships — a shield and firepower. Laser is weak but fires many shots. Plasma is very powerful: against a small target part of the hit is lost to space. Quantum strikes every ship on that side at once, however many there are.

Special ships — radar ships find lost ships, Tritites and strangers in your system. A Hyper interceptor saves fuel in trade and is used by pirates against transports entering a system. An Aircraft carrier hauls other ships in the hold; combat drones are a separate load and launch only in battle.