a cruiser design I've made

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2007-06-04 04:48am

still a bit work in progress so any suggestion are welcome (if civil and constructive).

Starglider · Post by **Starglider** » 2007-06-04 05:19am

The inner guns on the paired (smaller) wing guns have a pointless limited fire arc; they can't rotate unless highly elevated due to the central hull on one side and the companion turret on the other, and they can't even fire directly forwards without hitting another turret in front of them. The gun placement should be staggered to maximise fire arcs; you might want to give the top and bottom surfaces of the wings some slope both to eliminate (or at least greatly reduct) the horizontal blind spot and probably improve armouring while you're at it. It is not clear what the function of the brick-like superstructure protruding from the upper surface is.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2007-06-04 02:42pm

Starglider wrote:The inner guns on the paired (smaller) wing guns have a pointless limited fire arc; they can't rotate unless highly elevated due to the central hull on one side and the companion turret on the other, and they can't even fire directly forwards without hitting another turret in front of them. The gun placement should be staggered to maximise fire arcs; you might want to give the top and bottom surfaces of the wings some slope both to eliminate (or at least greatly reduct) the horizontal blind spot and probably improve armouring while you're at it.

yeah the turrets are a problem now that I think of it, but I don't understand what you mean by improving armoring?

It is not clear what the function of the brick-like superstructure protruding from the upper surface is.

it's a Drive bridge for non combat conditions

Starglider · Post by **Starglider** » 2007-06-04 04:13pm

Lord Revan wrote:yeah the turrets are a problem now that I think of it, but I don't understand what you mean by improving armoring?

Learn about sloped armour; that thing looks like it's intended to deliver broadsides (from the battleship like limited-elevation turrets) and if the enemy are aiming for the turrets then sloping the hull they sit on will increase the effective armour thickness against return fire.

It is not clear what the function of the brick-like superstructure protruding from the upper surface is.
it's a Drive bridge for non combat conditions

Why does it have to be so big? Wouldn't something the size of one of the large turrets be adequate? Presumably you don't want to waste mass on a non-combat luxury (and it is a luxury, we had this debate a month or so back, any sane sensor configuration renders bridge windows on a warship obsolete even for non-combat purposes).

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2007-06-04 08:13pm

Aside from the problems listed above and being wholly uninteresting in appearance, I'd like the point out that the engine configuration appears not to fit within the hull; perhaps a rear view would make it more clear.

Because it was so blocky, and thus easy to model:

Minus turrets, engines, and 'this way up' block, obviously.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2007-06-05 12:54am

well I've made a new rear view using sloped armor in places, though I still think how I place the turrets (the side view here is ofc now no longer accurate). I gonna work now smaller shuttle side scout ship for now and get back to this once I've given it a bit more thought.

Kenny_10_Bellys · Post by **Kenny_10_Bellys** » 2007-06-05 04:58am

Blocky ships I can believe, but the dozens of double turrets goes against good sense and naval design evolution.

Ships tend to be longer than they are wide, which is why the 'broadside' of fire evolved. You can fit more cannons in that way, and if you use turrets you're able to stick them on the centreline of your ship and have fewer, larger guns which are able to cover either side for a broadside shot. That's partly why early triple-deckers with hundereds of small guns evolved into battleships with 8 or so huge guns in turrets on the centreline.

People seem to be obsessed with sticking a zillion guns on their large spacecraft, thinking that they can then cover all angles from all comers. All you're doing from a design point of view is splitting your fire and increasing complexity. You have a few huge guns for anti-capital ship work which you concentrate on the most dangerous threat, and enough small guns for cover from fighters and small craft.

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2007-06-05 07:31am

You could keep the general idea by moving all the big turrets to the center and put the little turrets on the wings.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2007-06-05 01:47pm

also add teirs to the turrets so as many as possible of them can fire forward or aft, whichever you prefer to have the best coverage. This would lessen the advantage an enemy would have if he places his ship in front of yours. True you can always turn but while turning you'd only have 2 turrets to fight with til you have completed the turn.