Terran Alliance Tech Manual

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#1

The advantage of my travel is that I’m actually not all that busy at work (I’m essentially on-site tech support for my program’s software during a training rotation and they know what they’re doing now). I’ve finally finished transcribing notes about the universe I created to write stories (hopefully a published novel at some point) in.

If there’s any interest, I could post it here to see what people think.

First Contact Scenarios
Scenario One – Discovery of ruins of unknown origin
Scenario Two – Detection of signal in unknown language
Scenario Three – Encounter with an unknown automated probe
Scenario Four – Encounter with a manned alien vessel of unknown origin
Scenario Five – Discovery of a space station occupied by an unknown species
Scenario Six – Discovery of planet occupied by an unknown species
Scenario Seven – Encounter with an unknown species resulting in hostilities.

Governmental Structure
Consortium of Worlds
The Consortium of Worlds is the allied government consisting of the Terran Alliance, Granteth Confederation, and Fernok Republic. While each of those governments is autonomous, the Consortium exists to manage jointly-founded colonies and address other issues of common concern. However, in practice, much of its time is spent moderating disputes among the member states.

Mentras Lo
The Mentras Lo is the executive council of the Consortium of Worlds. It meets on Loron 2, the first planet jointly colonized by all three species. The council is moderated by the longest-serving member. In situations where that member of the Mentras Lo is unavailable moderation duties fall to the next most senior member. It consists of nine members divided into two categories.

The first group is representatives of the three member governments. Each of these three members is appointed by their government and serves until they are either recalled by their government or chooses to resign.

The other six members are ministers. Each minister has a specific area of responsibility and is elected by the other members of the council. Typically, they are selected for their achievements in the field they are responsible for. Ministers can be removed by a 2/3 vote of the other members of the Mentras Lo.

Current Ministerial Positions:
Military Liason (The only “minister” not referred to by that title, the Military Liason must be an active duty member of one of the three states militaries).
Minister of Colonial Affairs
Minister of Justice
Minister of Science and Technology
Minister of Finance
Minister of Trade

Planets:
Loron 2
Lajak
Geronda
Frederika
Karonon 5
Karonon 9

Terran Alliance
The Terran Alliance was created out of the United Nations in response to the discovery of an unknown alien ship on Titan in 2110. While the Alliance originally was, much like the United Nations, a coalition of independent governments, as the three colonies in the Sol system grew, people began to identify themselves more with their planet of origin than their nation. While many nations still exist in the late 23rd Century, they are subordinate to the Alliance and exist primarily to deal with internal matters.

The Alliance’s first extra-solar colony was established on Beta Centauri 2 in 2192, followed by colonies on Vega 3 and 4 by the end of the 22nd Century.

Much of the Alliance’s advanced technology is based on, though no longer identical to, technology found on The Ship (as the vessel found on Titan is known).

Planets:
Earth
Luna
Mars
Titan
Centauris (Beta Centauri 2)
Vega 3
Vega 4

Governmental Structure
The Terran Alliance government is divided into Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches.

Executive Branch:
The Terran Alliance’s head of state is a president elected to a five year term with a 1 term limit. If the president dies or otherwise leaves office, the Speaker of the Senate serves as acting president until a special election. The special election must occur within 3 months. The only exception to this rule is if there is less than a year before the next general election, the Speaker finishes out the president’s term.

Under the president are a number of department heads who run the various organizations that fall under the authority of the Alliance government. They are appointed by the president, but must be approved by the Senate.

Legislative Branch:
The Terran Alliance Senate consists of ten representatives from each Alliance planet for a total membership of 70. Currently, planetary senators also represent orbital facilities, though permanent inhabitants of some of the larger orbital habitats are pushing for direct representation of habitats with a large enough permanent population.

Each senator is elected to a five year term, and can serve up to three terms. Mid-term deaths and resignations are handled through interim appointments by the governor of the planet the senator was from.

Judicial Branch:
The judicial branch is made up of courts at various levels. Each planet has its own court system, but appeals that make it past the planetary level can be heard by the Terran Alliance Supreme Court if a majority of its seven members agree that they believe further investigation is warranted. Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the president and approved by the Senate and can serve up to twenty years.

Granteth Confederation
The Granteth are a tri-gendered species reminiscent of Earth reptiles, though they are warm blooded and have live births. In general, they prefer arid climates slightly warmer than humans consider comfortable. The average Granteth lifespan is 100 years, slightly above that of humans. Two of the Granteth genders are what humans would consider male, capable of impregnating members of the “female” gender.

First contact between humans and Granteth occurred in the year 2218 when a Granteth exploration ship entered the Vega system.

Genders:
Telom – Teloms are the larger of the two “male” Granteth genders. On average, they are both physically stronger and taller than either of the other Granteth genders, averaging 2.3 meters in height.
Chathesta - The chathesta are the other “male” Granteth gender. They average 1.5 meters in height, with few reaching 2 meters. What they lack in size and strength compared to the telom, they make up for in dexterity. Most Granteth doctors and craftsmen are chathesta, as their smaller hands make it easier for them to do precision work.
Molast – Granteth females are known as Molast. They average 2 meters in height and are typically more slender than either Telom or Chathesta. Much like their height, their strength and dexterity are somewhere between the Telom and Chathesta.

Planets:
Granteth
Grona
Deranwa
Terek Major
Terek Minor

Governmental Structure
Unlike either Humans or Fernok, the Granteth governmental system is not based on geographical location. Instead, each Granteth is a member of one of 112 recognized clans. Each clan has one representative in the Granteth Council. New clans can be formed at any time, but in order for the clan to be officially recognized, it must petition the Council. To ensure that all adult Granteth have representation during this transition, they are still considered members of their previous clan until the new clan is recognized. Individual Granteth are free to move from one clan to another, but that typically only happens in cases of cross-clan marriages or when a new clan is formed.

Fernok Republic
The Fernok are an avian species. While incapable of flight in Earth standard gravity, they can fly well in the .7 gravity of their mountainous homeworld. Because of this, they prefer large open spaces and build their ships larger than Human and Granteth ships with similar purposes. While the average temperature of the Fernok homeworld is lower than that of Earth, the Fernok have temperature tolerances similar to those of humans.

The Fernok have had spaceflight for centuries longer than either Humans or Granteth, but prior to contact, they had not established any new colonies for almost a thousand years.

First contact with the Fernok occurred when a joint Human/Granteth colony convoy entered a system containing a Fernok colony.

Planets:
Fernak
Flosa
Fokren
Defrok
Lenosa

Governmental Structure
The Fernok government operates on a parliamentary system. Members of the Fernok Parliament each represent approximately 50 million Fernok of voting age (redistricted every seven years, a year before general elections). The Prime Minister is elected from within the ranks of the parliament. Votes for a new Prime Minister are conducted in parliament after each general election or successful vote of no confidence.

If there’s interest in seeing more, I can post information about some of the universe’s core technologies tomorrow.

#2

Bring it on!!

#3

Core Technologies
Transduction Drive
The transduction drive is the system used by all known species for superluminal travel. It is centered around the transduction generator, which creates a corridor opening, allowing a ship to travel to another system in a fraction of the time it would take using sublight drives.
The power required to create such a portal is tremendous, so the opening can only be maintained for a few seconds. If the ship is not all the way through the opening when it collapses, it will be torn apart by the collapse. To avoid this, ships must accelerate until they reach a velocity sufficient to pass through the opening before it collapses. Upon exiting the corridor at its destination, the ship retains the momentum it gathered before entering. Except when jumping into a combat situation, ships go to full reverse on egress to lower their velocity.
Navigation for long distance jumps is difficult, so ships not specifically designed for long range exploration limit their jumps to at most 50 light years. For longer travel, they jump to a star between their origin and their destination, then calculate the next leg of their journey. The commonly used navigation points typically have some level of military presence to protect against pirate attacks.

Hypercomm
For communications not limited by the speed of light, a hypercomm transmitter is required. All ships are equipped with these, but power demands scale up dramatically for ranges longer than a light year. For this reason, communication between systems is only feasible for capital ships and some specially equipped civilian craft. For such transmissions, these vessels are equipped with a capacitor that is charged with the energy required for the message to be sent. The charging process typically takes 10-15 minutes for up to 100 light years, but can be shortened if power is diverted from shields or weapon systems.
These power demands are less of an issue on planets. Real time conversations from system to system are possible, but the cost is prohibitive enough that they are only used by governments in emergency situations. For normal transmissions, citizens take their messages to a communication corporation, where they are compressed and sent in data bursts to their destination when a sufficient volume of messages have been received (no less than twice per day). The fact that sometimes thousands of messages are bundled in one transmission spreads the cost enough that messages are fairly inexpensive.
Translation
Given that the Consortium of Worlds consists of three races who are all but incapable of speaking each other’s languages because of differing mouth and vocal chord structures, translation is of paramount importance.

Ship computers automatically patch in the appropriate translation program when a communications officer opens a channel to an alien ship. On the extremely rare occasions ships encounter unknown vessels, the computer runs the response through various translation algorithms in an attempt to generate a rough translation.

Every race in the Consortium has developed a simplified “trade language” that can be more easily understood by members of the other races. Additionally, translation programs can be loaded onto data pads to deal with the language barrier.

Sensor Systems
Sensors can be divided into two categories, active and passive.

Passive Sensors
Passive sensors are sensor systems that do not emit any energy. Instead, they detect energy emitted by other vessels. There are three categories of passive sensors

Energy
Energy sensors detect energy emissions, such as active sensors, laser fire, and to a smaller extent, energy leakage from ship power cores.

Transduction Detector
The transduction detection sensors read the distortions created by a transduction corridor being opened. Each race’s transduction drives create slightly different distortion signatures, which these sensors allow operators to identify. More precise detectors can identify the distortions sooner, giving more notice of inbound vessels (up to several minutes).

Visual
The most basic passive sensors are an extension of the most basic form of identification – sight. These sensors are very precise cameras placed at various places over a ship’s hull. They can be focused on phenomena up to several light minutes away, but unlike other sensors, are limited to the speed of light, making them less useful at greater distances.

Active Sensors
Active sensors are an extension of the sonar and radar systems created in the Twentieth Century. They emit a low-frequency beam of energy, which reflects off large objects. These returns allow sensor technicians to know the range to and shape of nearby objects. The effective range of active sensors is impacted by the density of particulate matter in the area. Because active sensors operate based on reflection, the sensor energy can be detected from a greater distance. This is because outside its range, it may reflect off a ship, but not be powerful enough to return to the emitting ship before being scattered by particulate matter.

Probes
Capital ships and scouts configured for long range recon are equipped with a number of probes. These probes have military grade sensor systems along with engines, a communications relay, and a power core capable of powering those systems for several days. These probes can be used to scout out previously unexplored systems or to get a more complete picture of the situation within a system.

Stealth Systems
As sensors have evolved, methods of confusing and defeating them have also evolved. Stealth ships used by the Terran Alliance Militia have three systems that reduce their risk of detection.
The first is their hull. Though more fragile than the hulls of standard ships, the material used as the outer hull of stealth ships disperses any active sensor beams directed against them. It is also dark enough to make visual detection difficult.
The second system is an energy dampener. The dampener conceals a greater percentage of energy emissions from the ship’s power core. Currently, the dampener is only effective on small ships, such as the Raven class stealth scout. Attempts to scale the dampener enough to make it useful for larger ships have met with failure, placing an upper limit on the size of stealth ships.
The third system is a variant on the transduction drive. The drive used by Ravens is tuned to minimize distortions generated on either end of the transduction corridor. Even the most precise detectors are unlikely to detect a transduction signature from more than .25 AU away. Unfortunately, this lowered detection comes at a price, slowing transit times. For this reason, Ravens must be dropped as close to their target system as possible.

Life Support
Life support is the most crucial system of any space vessel, so life support systems are the most heavily redundant systems on all Terran Alliance vessels. Every part of a Terran Alliance capital ship is served by at least one primary and secondary life support unit. Critical compartments, such as the command center and main engineering compartment have additional life support units serving their areas.
Every life support unit consists of the following components: a gravity generator, an inertial suppressor, a CO2 scrubber, an air producer, and a small power core to operate those systems if external power is lost. Additionally, the casing of these life support units is made out of a lightweight alloy as strong as that used for the outer hull. The air producer functions by mixing oxygen separated from the CO2 by the scrubber with enough nitrogen to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires.
Any area designed to be decompressed, such as landing bays and airlocks, have additional air producers separate from their life support units to allow for more rapid repressurization.
Fighters are an exception, as they only have one life support unit. This is supplemented by an additional inertial suppressor as well as the air supply that is part of the pilot’s flight suit.
Shuttles and scouts have both primary and secondary life support units, though additional units can be fitted when they are configured for search and rescue operations.

Gravity
On planets with domed colonies, such as the Moon, Titan, and Karonon 9, artificial gravity is used to compensate for the planets lower natural gravity. The gravity generators used on these planets and ships throughout the Terran Alliance are typically set to .75 G as a compromise among the various habitable worlds.

For in-system transport, the gravity on transport ships is gradually adjusted between the gravity levels of the planets.

People who need to acclimate to higher gravity can use exercise equipment to prepare their muscles for the transition.

Tomorrow, I’ll try to post details on Tactical Systems (shields and weapons)

#4

Sorry about not posting anything yesterday. Working 13.5 hours (starting at 2:30 AM) kind of wore me out :stuck_out_tongue:

Tactical Systems
Shield Systems
All ships have shields to protect against radiation and space debris. While the shields of civilian ships are not nearly as strong as those of military ships, the principles of their operation are the same.

Each ship’s shield grid is divided into sectors, each generated by a shield emitter.  This emitter gets power from a capacitor constantly recharged from the ship’s power core.  As the shields take damage the power drain on the capacitor increases.  If the power demand continues to outpace the recharge rate for the capacitor, it will eventually be depleted.  When a capacitor is depleted, the associated shield sector goes down until a fresh capacitor can be installed.  Capacitors can also “burn out” when the power throughput exceeds that which they are rated for.  

The reason for the capacitor system as opposed to emitters getting feeds directly from the power core is that it allows for a single, easily accessible, point of failure.  This allows the shield emitter to be reactivated far more quickly than if the point of failure had to be located first.  Well trained shield crews can replace a capacitor within five minutes.

Missile Armament
Both fighters and capital ships use missiles as one of their primary weapon systems.

Capital Ships
Capital ships launch missiles using magnetic accelerator tubes which remove the need for bulky engines on their missiles. Each missile tube consists of a rotary “Revolver” loader fed by missile racks that can be swapped out as they are emptied. From the loader, the missile is moved into a prefire chamber that acts as an airlock, preventing loader malfunctions from decompressing the missile deck. Once the prefire chamber is decompressed, the missile is accelerated along the missile tube.

Mark 8 Missile
The Mark 8 is the primary missile used by capital ships. It consists of a sensor package, a small fuel tank used by the missile’s maneuvering thrusters to refine its trajectory, and a large warhead.

The sensor package triggers the warhead on impact with either a shield or a ship’s hull.  The warhead is located at the missile’s aft end to allow the blast to spread over a wider area of the target.

Mark 9 “Hullcracker” Missile
The Mark 9 “Hullcracker” missile consists of a Mark 8 missile with a secondary stage strapped onto the front. At a set distance from the target, the secondary stage is separated and propelled forward. The secondary stage hits the target and detonates first, weakening or breaching the hull so that the Mark 9 has a better chance of damaging the target’s internal systems.

Fighters
Because fighters and other small craft are too small to mount useful magnetic accelerators, missiles sized for them require engines to be useful. The SM-7 missile, which is the standard missile used by all small craft of the Terran Alliance, can be equipped with two types of warheads. The first is an explosive warhead, slightly smaller than that used in the Mark 8 missile. The other is a dense metal block that is used for kinetic kills against enemy fighters. The kinetic kill warheads have fallen out of favor recently, but can still be loaded when more surgical strikes are called for.

Point Defense
Point defense lasers are the least powerful weapons on capital ships. Each point defense turret has two lasers, each capable of destroying missiles or fighters. They are typically computer controlled, though they can be targeted and fired manually.

They can also be used to disable larger ships, but the comparatively low power of their shots makes them almost useless against capital ships. The advantage of this low power is that, unlike heavier lasers, they can be fired almost continuously.

Each cluster of four turrets is overseen by a single gunner who can prioritize targets or take control of individual turrets. While individual point defense control rooms typically handle three or four clusters, they are capable of handling twice that many. This allows other control rooms to take up the slack when one suffers from battle damage.

Light Lasers
Light laser turrets are typically used in an anti-fighter capacity to supplement point defense lasers. They are powerful enough to reliably damage capital ships in addition to destroying fighters, but not as powerful as heavy lasers. This lower power demand reduces the time needed to recharge between shots to 2 seconds. The smaller turrets also allow them to track fast moving targets more easily, making them more useful than heavy lasers in some situations.

Each light laser is mounted in a ball turret manned by a single gunner. They can also be fired remotely, but at the cost of reduced accuracy.

Heavy Lasers
Heavy laser batteries are the primary weapons of Terran Alliance capital ships. The individual lasers are typically paired and can be configured to allow their pulses to hit the same point for a more surgical strike. Each heavy laser is fed by a capacitor, which during standard operation, takes 10 seconds to recharge between pulses. Power can be diverted to charge the capacitors more quickly, but that requires the power to be transferred from some other system.

Heavy lasers on Sullivan class frigates are hull mounted, giving them a limited field of fire, but on other capital ships, they are turreted. Heavy lasers on turrets are mounted on tracks that allow them to be elevated or lowered, increasing their field of fire on the Z axis as the turret itself increases their fields of fire on the X and Y axes.


Next time, I'll post about either some specific ship compartments or about ground combat technology.
#5

Decided to go with ship types instead.

Ships
Ship Identification Codes
While most ships in the Terran Alliance have names, they can also be identified by a unique identification code.

For large ships, the identification code consists of a class identifier (usually 2-3 letters), followed by the production run the ship was built in and the ship’s number in that production run.

Small craft (such as fighters) require a longer identification code, since there are so many more of them made. The first letter of the ID code identifies the ship class, followed by a three digit number identifying the production run. Next is a letter indicating where the fighter was produced, followed by the ship’s ID number.

Examples:
TAV Chicago – CS-316 (Melbourne class cruiser, Series 3, Number 16)
Freighter Mountaineer – FBS-1701 (Merchantman class freighter, Series 17, Number 01)
Lancer Fighter – F022N126 (SF-27 Lancer fighter produced at the Karonon 5 shipyard)

Civilian Ships
A variety of civilian ships exist, ranging from the large Merchantman class freighters and Temperance class transports to private yachts owned by ultra-rich executives and corporations. While these ships have shields, they are far less powerful than those used by the military, as they are only needed to deflect small space debris and cosmic radiation.

Ships carrying large numbers of passengers, such as Temperance and Sunrise transports are required to carry supplies sufficient for their maxium passenger loads for no less than three times their expected transit time as a safety precaution.

Merchantman Class Bulk Freighter
The workhorse of most Terran Alliance cargo lines, the Merchantman freighter is the largest civilian craft currently on the market and the largest Human-designed ship capable of planetary landings. Over two thirds of its volume is dedicated to segmented cargo holds, leaving only a small portion for the ship’s core systems and crew accomidations.

Most of the dividers between cargo holds are modular, allowing the holds to be resized when necessary (such as when carrying exceptionally large or bulky cargoes. At a minimum, the cargo area is divided into thirds, with pressure bulkheads separating them. The fore and aft holds have large cargo doors for rapid loading and unloading to minimize the time the ship is on a planetary surface or docked to a station.

Infantryman Class Troop Transport
While technically a military vessel, the Infantryman is a version of the Merchantman class freighter that is optimized for troop transport. The front and back compartments of their cargo bays have been modified to serve as hangars for six Okinawa class landers, while the center compartments are configured as barracks for a battalion of infantry and a fully staffed and equipped field hospital.

The shields and engines of the Infantryman have also been upgraded. While still not able to stand up to front line ships, they are capable of surviving long enough to reach orbit, deploy their landers, and withdraw, allowing the Terran Alliance to gain a foothold on a planetary surface before all enemy ships have been destroyed. Their landing systems have also been improved so they can land on uneven terrain, as they can’t count on being able to land at a shipyard.

Temperance Class Transport
The Temperance class is the most common intrasystem passenger transport produced in the Terran Alliance. Capable of transporting up to 2000 passengers, Temperances also allocate a great deal of space to comforts not seen on other ships to make transits more bearable for passengers who are typically unaccustomed to interstellar journeys. Their size makes them a common target for pirates, so Temperances are typically equipped with military grade shield systems.
(OOU: Think cruise liner)

Sunrise Class Insystem Transport
Sunrise transports are commonly used for personnel transport inside systems with more than one colonized planet. They are capable of carrying approximately 300 passengers in comfort from one planet to another.

Their lack of a transduction drive makes them far less expensive to purchase and operate, allowing even smaller spacelines to own decent fleets and keep trips inexpensive for passengers.
(OOU: Think 747)

Military Ships
Capital Ships

Jupiter Class Carrier

The Jupiter class carrier is the oldest class of ship currently commissioned in the Terran Alliance Militia, as well as the largest. While lacking heavy lasers and missile tubes, its four squadrons of Lancer fighters and two squadrons of Tempest scouts give it a solid punch against capital ships, and its point defense arrays are second to none. In addition to its aerospace wing, a Jupiter can carry several Okinawa class landers on their flight decks, though this can make recovering fighter craft more difficult.

Jupiters typically serve as fleet flagships, as they have the largest ship based Fleet Control Centers and are the most heavily protected ships in any group they are a part of.

Melbourne Class Cruiser

The largest front line combat ship of the Terran Alliance Militia is the Melbourne class cruiser. Its 10 heavy laser turrets and 40 missile tubes give it a formidable punch against capital ships, while the light lasers and point defense turrets scattered across its hull protect it against fighters.

Its landing bay is capable of handling two shuttle-sized craft and extendable docking arms allow its company of infantry to board hostile vessels.

The first two production runs were equipped to maneuver in planetary atmospheres, but after the Johannesburg disaster, the capability was removed and ships with the capability were banned from entering the atmosphere of inhabited worlds.

Johannesburg Disaster
During its commissioning ceremony, the cruiser Johannesburg suffered a severe cascade failure while overflying its namesake city. While only a skeleton crew was aboard at the time, the system failure caused the ship to crash, killing thousands who were gathered to watch the overflight.

Broadsword Class Destroyer

The Broadsword class destroyer was a common convoy escort for several decades. Though not as old as the Jupiter class, the Broadsword class was retired in favor of increased production of the new Sullivan class frigate after the frigates proved to be equally effective in the escort role while requiring less manpower.

Several Broadswords were surplussed out to large shipping corporations as privately owned escorts to be used when Terran Alliance Militia escorts were unavailable or for carrying valuable cargos. Others were used as testbeds for advanced technology, but most were scrapped.

To be continued…

#6

Sullivan Class Modular Frigate

Originally designed as a light convoy escort to support Broadswords or escort smaller convoys, the modularity of Sullivan class frigates allowed them to become far more useful than expected. Even when equipped with modules, Sullivans have the highest acceleration of any Terran Alliance capital ship.

Unconfigured Sullivans have fixed pairs of heavy lasers mounted fore and aft as well as broadsides of ten missile tubes and an optional heavy laser turret on the lower hull.

Between their tremendous acceleration and fixed weaponry, Sullivans are ideally used for hit and run attacks.

Modularity
The upper hull of a Sullivan class is flat except for interlinks to lock a mission specific module in place and connect it to the ship’s systems. The interlinks are fitted with explosive bolts to allow for rapid disconnect in emergencies.
Reconfiguration requires a shipyard, but can typically be done in less than a day. The various modules typically come with supplemental crew members that specialize in the functions of the module.
Modules increase the mass of the ship, but its engines were designed to allow rapid acceleration when fully loaded, so the impact of modules is not overly significant.
Configurations:
• Basic
• Escort Tender (Cargo Module)
• Explorer (Science Module)
• Pocket Carrier (Hangar Module)
• Heavy Frigate (Weapons Module)
• Troop Transport (Modified Cargo Module)

Sullivan with Hangar Module

Support Ships
Though most of them have transduction drives, smaller ships are usually deployed from capital ships for specific missions.

Okinawa Class Troop Lander
Okinawa class landers are used to deploy troops in combat situations. Though primarily designed for ground operations, they can also be used to board hostile vessels in situations where their motherships can’t dock with the target. Each is capable of carrying a platoon of infantry in battle armor into combat.

Since their shields can’t be operational while troops are being deployed, Okinawas have very thick armor for their size. They are armed with two naval light lasers in ball turrets and six point defense lasers. While these weapons are primarily intended for protecting the lander in flight and while troops are being deployed, they are highly effective against targets on the ground. This means that Okinawas are often used for close air support when fighters are unavailable.

Tempest Class Scout
The first new class of the Terran Alliance Militia’s modernization program is the Templest class scout. Its modular design allows it to be used in a variety of roles, from preliminary survey work to a heavily armed gunship. It is half again as large as a Nile class shuttle, making it better suited to long range transport.

The minimum crew in standard configuration is two, though in emergencies, a single pilot can operate the ship. Its interior is split into two compartments with an airtight door between them. This allows the cargo compartment to be open to space without depressurizing the crew compartment. This capability is primarily used when the Tempest is being used in a search and rescue capacity.

The standard armament of a Tempest is four lasers and two missile tubes, each with a magazine of six missiles. In gunship configuration, two more lasers are mounted on the hull and a larger magazine for the missile tubes is loaded into the cargo compartment, bringing the ship’s missile complement to 32.

Modularity
Given their size, most of the changes made to Tempests for different missions are internal. An experienced deck crew with the proper equipment can reconfigure a Tempest in less than an hour.

Configurations:
• Basic
• Gunship
• CSAR
• Long Range Recon

Raven Class Stealth Scout
Though its silhouette is virtually identical to that of a Tempest, the Raven is a far more specialized ship. It sacrifices much of its interior space for stealth systems and the most sensitive passive sensors used by the Terran Alliance. Unlike Tempests, Ravens are typically crewed by only one person except in circumstances where it is determined that a dedicated sensor technician is important to the success of the mission.

Nile Class Shuttle
Though primarily used for travel inside a system (such as ship to ship or ship to planet personnel transfers), Nile class shuttles are also equipped with transduction drives for when inter-system transport is needed. Its sluggish acceleration means that it needs a long run up to the speed required to enter a transduction corridor.

It is capable of carrying up to ten people, but for longer transit times, supplies become an issue. Niles can be used for search and rescue, but they are not durable enough to be used in combat situations.

Lancer Class Fighter
The Lancer is an upgraded version of the Slammer fighter that was developed concurrently with the Jupiter class carrier. It is armed with four lasers and two missile tubes, each armed with three missiles. Its acceleration is comparable to the later Tempest class scouts, but banks of maneuvering thrusters make it more maneuverable.

As a single-pilot vehicle, its shields operate slightly differently, using an automated cut off switch when the shields are being depleted to the point that their power drain could cause damage to the rest of the ship.

#7

Wow dude. I’d love to play Traveller with you.

#8

Well, to be fair, I’ve been developing this universe for practically a decade now. A lot of stuff has changed in that time (like the new Jupiter design which people on this forum actually helped me decide to use), but some stuff (like the Sullivan class) has stayed pretty much the same, with me just expanding details.

Hell, for that matter, a couple ship designs that aren’t on here because they’re introduced in book 2 go all the way back to a Star Trek/Star Wars crossover I did in middle school. :wink:

#9

Ground Combat Technologies
Battle Armor
The battle armor used by Terran Alliance infantry soldiers is divided into two categories, heavy armor and light exoskeletons. Heavy armor designs are used for mainline combatants while light exoskeletons are used for support personnel and boarding operations. Each armor type has a photovoltaic coating that recharges the suit’s battery. For long duration or high intensity missions, soldiers can be provided with additional battery packs to prevent them from running out of power.

Poseidon Light Exoskeleton
The Poseidon armor is specialized for naval infantry use. The reason it was made a light exoskeleton instead of a heavy armor like the other combat armors is because it needs to fit into ship corridors. The weapon load is dictated by the desire to avoid hull breaches. The primary weapons are a single low-powered laser, a non-lethal sonic weapon, and an anti-personnel flechette launcher.

Hades Light Exoskeleton
The Hades exoskeleton is optimized for special operations missions. It is colored a very dark gray to be difficult to see at night. Additionally, it has an active camouflage system that mimics the color of the surrounding. Unfortunately, it is power intensive, so it can only be operated for a few minutes at a time.

Apollo Light Exoskeleton
The Apollo exoskeleton is the only battle armor that has no weapons. Despite this, it is an important part of any unit because it is the armor used by field medics. The exoskeleton contains numerous medical instruments and sensors as well as the tools required to get a soldier out of inoperable armor.

Prometheus Light Exoskeleton
The Prometheus exoskeleton was designed from the ground up for combat engineering. It is the heaviest of the light exoskeletons to allow additional strength when it is needed to move large objects into position. It also has more armor than the other light exoskeletons to protect the wearer in combat situations. Its cutting laser and welding torch can be used in combat, but do not have the range of the weapon systems built into the heavy armors.


Ares Heavy Armor
The Ares heavy armor is the standard armor system used by almost half of the members of the Terran Alliance’s infantry force. As a matter of fact, it is the first armor system all members of the infantry are trained to use. They must qualify on the Ares armor system in order to graduate from boot camp.

In its standard configuration, the Ares armor system is armed with a triple barrel laser built into one arm, and a grenade launcher that can fire both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle rounds built into the other.

Hermes Heavy Armor
The Hermes Heavy Armor system is the lightest of the three heavy armor types. Optimized for scouting missions, it sacrifices some armor for better speed. It also replaces the grenade launcher with a double barrel laser and a target designator that can be used to direct artillery fire.

Zeus Heavy Armor
The Zeus Heavy Armor system is the artillery of the Terran Alliance infantry. In addition to the triple laser and grenade launcher of the Ares armor system, the Zeus has a shoulder mounted missile launcher. This launcher can pivot from a horizontal position (used for direct fire against heavily armored vehicles) to a vertical position (used for anti-aircraft fire). Intermediate positions are used for indirect fire outside the line of sight of the soldier. These missiles can be armed with either high explosive warheads for direct impact or airburst warheads, which scatter dozens of smaller submunitions over an area. A Zeus typically has a magazine of 10 missiles (8 high explosive, 2 airbursts). Dedicated artillery units usually have a cargo hauler loaded with missiles to reload their magazines.

Troop Transport
All Terran Alliance capital ships have groups of naval infantry assigned to them for boarding hostile vessels and repelling boarders. Frigates carry platoons (unless configured for troop transport), while cruisers and carriers carry companies. Special Forces groups and support units can also be assigned when necessary, but for the most part, the naval infantry units rely on their ships’ medical and engineering crews for support. Naval infantry soldiers are also trained to assist damage control teams when their ships are in engagements not involving boarding operations.

When ground forces are required, the Terran Alliance makes use of heavily modified Merchantman class freighters that are unofficially known as Infantryman class. While converting Merchantman class ships to Infantryman class is a costly, time consuming process, they can be modified to carry troops with minimal effort. Merchantmen do not have the improved engines or defensive systems of Infantrymen, so they would typically not enter a system until all opposition has been eliminated.

Drop Pods
Drop pods are the preferred landing technique of special forces units. They are individual atmospheric reentry pods with ablative hulls to simulate falling meteors. They can be jettisoned from cargo holds (using launch racks similar to (but largetr than) those used for missiles, but specifically designed black ops ships have launch tubes designed to accommodate drop pods. Soldiers are already in their combat armor (usually Hades light exoskeletons) when their pods are entering the atmosphere, but antigravity systems are still required to make the landings survivable.

Troop Landers
Okinawa class troop landers are the most reliable way to land troops in a hot landing zone. Each lander carries up to a platoon of soldiers and is armed and armored enough to be used for close air support when no fighters are available.

Transport Landing
Once a beachhead has been established, troop transports can land to directly deploy troops and equipment. The transports’ shields must be lowered before troops can disembark, so enemy resistance must be surpressed for at least a kilometer in every direction from the landing zone before the transports are cleared to land. Airspace must be cleared for at least 50 kilometers to give fighters time to respond to attackers before they can reach the transports.

#10

Ship Compartments
Bridge
The ship command center coordinates the activities of crew members throughout the vessel. It is centrally located to reduce the likelihood of battle damage reaching it. Carriers also have an auxiliary command center far from the main command center, where the executive officer is stationed during combat.

• Captain – The captain has a wraparound console that gives a summary of the ship’s status.
• XO – The executive officer manages damage control and serves as a backup for other stations.
• Tactical – The Tactical officer relays targeting instructions to the ship’s fire control centers.
• Flight Operations – The flight operations officer pilots the ship and coordinates small craft operations. On carriers, this position is split into Helm and Flight Operations, as there are many more small craft to manage.
• Communications – The communications officers handles the vessel’s external communication. This responsibility is shared with the Fleet Control Center communications team on flagships.
• Science – The science officer manages data from sensors and probes.
• Auxiliary – Most ships have one or two auxiliary consoles that can be configured to take over for any of the other bridge consoles in case of malfunction or battle damage.

Fleet Coordination Center
While captains can manage task forces from their bridges, larger formations are far easier to coordinate from a dedicated compartment built into carriers and cruisers. Carriers have large FCCs with a staff of a dozen or more crew members, while cruisers have smaller FCCs that can be activated when they are serving as battle group flagships.

The staff of a FCC consists of equal numbers of sensor and communication technicians plus a number of analysts.

There are groups of consoles for the sensor and communication technicians, but the main feature of the Fleet Control Center is the “plotting table” which shows the relative positions of every ship in the area. This, paired with a large screen that gives the status of every allied ship, gives the fleet commander the complete picture in a battle. The fleet commander and analysts have small consoles attached to the “plotting table” to get more details on a specific area of the battle.

Landing Bays
Terran Alliance military vessels that only have shuttles and scouts assigned to them have small landing bays to hold their support ships. For a support ship to be launched or recovered, the bay must be depressurized and its bay door opened. Crew members can only access the landing bays via an airlock built into the wall opposite the bay door.

Flight Decks
Carriers have auxiliary landing bays, but most of the time, their fighters and support ships are recovered on flight decks. These are permanently depressurized areas, though they can be sealed with armored doors to protect adjoining sections of the ship. When a ship comes in for landing, it is directed to one of several elevators. These elevators serve as large airlocks, pressurizing as they lower the ship to the hangar deck. Once on the hangar deck, the ship is moved off the elevator pad so that it can be raised to recover another vessel.

These elevators are also used to raise shuttles and scouts to the flight deck, where they are launched from. In contrast, fighters are ejected using launch tubes off the hangar deck to allow for more rapid deployment. Each side of a hangar deck has a dozen launch tubes so that an entire squadron can be launched at once.

Hangar decks have a number of large bulkheads that can be rapidly raised so that a hull breach in one section will not depressurize the entire deck.

Flight decks also have numerous personnel airlocks and garages with damage control vehicles along their sides. The damage control vehicles are used to deal with ships that crash land, either moving them to an elevator or out of the way until they can be stabilized enough to be placed in the hangar.

Landings are managed by a Landing Operations Officer who is stationed in a Landing Control room above the flight deck. This officer has dedicated communications channels to contact landing ships, but can also relay messages via light signals mounted around and in the flight deck. These light signals are mostly used to communicate with vessels that have lost communications or in circumstances where the carrier is maintaining radio silence.

#11

Would anyone be willing to take a look at an in-progress draft of one of my stories set in this universe to provide feedback? It still has a lot of placeholders, but seeing another viewpoint could help with that too.

#12

Cool stuff! I’d love to see what you’ve got. Love the ship designs!