Last weeks were crazy, between mounting for the first time the prototypes on a very odd ship, to the construction of the Colony Vessel. So last few days I took some liberty to remain on Ames and take a small break from everything; but it doesn't mean that I won't be working.
While I was doing some routine checks within our database, I couldn't help but to notice the blueprints of the "Mender" Repair Vessel, a very interesting ship by itself that it proves very efficient when needed. But then I started wandering if I could improve anything to it, or even change something.So I made a copy on my pad of the blueprints, internal and external ones, then I went back in my office, where I sit down and start studying it very closely.
The ship's design is a very simple and compact, a ship build with some cargo storage enough to contain the minimum necessary for the few men crew , for the repair tools and a bit of fueling reserves.
The ship needs to be controlled by three pilots at maximum, but even one able pilot can do it safely and make it work at it's best capacity.
The Mender uses two exhaust channels for the propulsion system , namely the civilian propulsion system, the CE-Ta Mk I , a very low cost but very efficient on the civilian market engine.
It can mount three Transport Class turret, which is a very interesting feature to the ship itself, or better rather unique for a vessel that size.
The power supply of the vessel is safe to say it's more than enough for what's needed while using it, as it has no special power draining tools or weaponry.
In the end there are the two mounts on the Mender, the two specialized mechanical arms. One is the mechanical arm which can be mounted the AI-3492 "Sparky" Nanotool Upgrade, which is a specialized tool that gives the possibility to the Rpeair Ship to basically "spray" the nanobots on the surface they are needed, so it can assure that they are slowly reconstructing the damaged parts, while the other tool is a focused laser beam generator that, depending on the intensity and the power given to it, it can either weld together metal or either cut through them.
After this brief, let's call it description of it, I started thinking on how to make and improve it, in any other way, out of the box thinking, and then it hit me. If we have this vessel that can repair other vessels, what if we develop something that can increase its protection, like something to boost the energy fields generators, known as shield generator. I really need to think about it. Maybe if I grab this pad and start playing around with the blueprints maybe I can get to something...
I'm getting to something.
I started to play around with the ship's modules, replacing them and modifying them, but at the beginning, everything was wrong. Nothing was like I pictured it, so I cancelled everything and returned to the basic blueprints, the ones I had before. So then I started questioning myself on what we lack, what would be useful for Genesis that we can't find anywhere, by simply using that Repair Ship as a base for my work.Repair Ship is used in engineering for repairing hulls, reconstructing them in a way.
I was about to simply give up, when I realized that, the Repair Ship could be used for shielding.
A ship that mounts energy field generators, yes. To modify one of the modular arms of the ship, so instead of releasing the nanobots, it can mount energy field generators.
This was a solid idea to begin with, so I started to work on the ship blueprints. I cut the mechanical arm, then I started to replace that with something similar to a gun, or better, like a tube. That's where the generators would travel through.
But from where would those be gotten? How would those be mounted? And many other questions were risen, in the intend to make this concept a working one.
But back to the arm, it should be able to move in all directions, take angles aswell, so a gyroscope would cut the issue there. Obviously, the tube should be large, so it can fit any type of shield generator; maybe it can be a special tube which can get bigger or get smaller based on the generator we want to place . The tube would do it with the help of a sensor mounted at the beginning of it, before it "shoots" the generator. At the end of it, it can mount an magnet, which, when in contact with the hull or whatsoever, would get attached so there is no risk of missing the target.
I really like where this is going...but I'm long way from being done.
Last days were quite busy, so it was even harder to work on this small project.
I've managed to make some schematics on how the internal parts of this vessel would look, and I come up with two versions: the remote controlled one and the one controlled from within the vessel.
The remote control one, would have more space to dedicate to storage while being relatively safe from any danger. Obviously that the one controlled from within, is the most effective procedure to do, as it doesn't have any latency and its response time is greater.
In the first case i'd get rid of the cockpit, as it would only be a weak spot in case it gets caught in the crossfire, and we'd have mounted on the vessel multiple cameras to have sight on everything that surrounds it.
In the second case would be required to reinforce the cockpit for the same reason, but as it is still controlled from the vessel, external view is required.
Depending by case, all systems will be re-routed according to the choice of construction, and if there are multiple vessels working at the same time and all are remote controlled, we are going to add a network that connects each of them together, so they can be perfectly synchronized, to maximize the working power.
After this, I came up with a basic cargo storage division, which would contain in having different "containers" and each of it would have a type of energy field generator, as I thought to use 3 already using devices, but I'll think about it later. Anyway, depending on the necessity, the pilot would choose which of the generators to use. To make it more convenient, and faster, the containers would all be connected to the main "tube" as the transportation requires very low energy, and it's still very efficient.
I really hope I can find more time to dedicate to this project, as I'm very pleased with what is turning out.
The Repair Ship is the perfect vessel to modify, at least in this type of modifications.
The vessel was designed to be used for very hard situations, so it's suited for hard work and modifications.
Till now, as I'm modifying the blueprints with the modifications, the vessel seems to not require much internal improvements, as it seems to have enough power to cover the modifications, without stressing the powercore too much. The advantage of this is that the generators come already ready for use, and this modified repair vessels has only the job to place them where needed and not to actually supply with power the generators, because that would be too hard to make it work with multiple generators, and would leave the vessel very vulnerable. Maybe there is a way to supply them, but now it's not the time to think about those.
Now I'm checking all the wiring and it seems to be capable of maintaining the flux of power, however we might need to add extra circuits for the remote controlled ones, as they need to be connected in live with the pilot on the installation/vessel.
Other than that, the console can be taken out as it would become useless if it's remote controlled, so it gives more space for the connection to the main frame.
However the hull of the vessel can be improved, maybe with some Iridium plating. Speaking of it I hope Jade finished the Harvesters, as we still need to pay our debt to TAZ. But that's something not regarding this. As I was saying, the Iridium plating can give the extra defense capacities needed.
After that the weapons can be decided after everything is completed, which is not such a big nuisance to deal with. Uh I hope I didn't forget anything.
It has been some time since I re-opened this,
This project was turning out amazingly well, as all the modifications were going as expected; new plating, new wires and obviously the new robotic arm: so far so good from what I'm looking at.
However, what I'm missing is the defence systems, which can be downgraded to something more easy to handle for the vessel, as we do not want to overcharge the powercore. After all it works on a normal powercore, which I think we can change with a powercell.Hmmm... yes.
But then we need to change the cooling system aswell, to maintain the powercell stable.
*Martin takes the pad and starts reworking the pieces as he fit well, in the attempt of making the powercell compatible.*
They should be wired correctly here...and we can stick to transport turrets aswell. It needs decent defensive capabilities, in case something happens.
*Martin takes a long stare to the pad.*
I think that's it. But it's all theory...I should put it to test somehow.
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