Stock SSTO Naval Carrier

[Gonzo44v]

Hi, here's something I thought was pretty neat and looked unique, do let me know if you have any similar vessels as I would like to see them!

[Description]

This is Astro-Techs most recent innovation, an SSTO assault carrier with the facilities to move to another world to process ore, defend colonies or to just explore the system. It will eventually house up to 8 controllable missiles alongside being able to carry up to four fighters, alongside this it will have a mining ship docked on the top for a full complement of support ships. Its crew will consist of mainly engineers and scientists for its primary goal; to explore the solar system and possibly beyond while defending its assets from asteroids, hostile organisations or other.

[Sharkman Briton]

That first image looks like a goblin at the top...

Not to sound rude but do you know what you're doing? That thing has next to no armour at all and a single weak missile could destroy it, so it's more of a mining ship, or would be better for carrying utilities, armour is a requirement for military ships, of any kind except fighter, though a fighter could always do with a bit of armour, use 2x2 structural panels for high crash tolerance and wing armour if you want something more lightweight but less crash tolerant, I really like the design of the whole thing, though, especially the fact that it actually launches and I'm taking a special interest in your style, if you want I'd love to have you in my military company, as this seems promising and your other craft must'nt be terrible. You've achieved something I've never been able to do - a carrier - so I am very impressed, but even carriers need a good amount of armour so as not to be a sitting duck, you have alot to learn but your design is very good so all you do need to learn is the ways of arming and armouring, which is arguably the most complex part of military craft.

[Spartwo]

Aircraft parts have a higher impact than wings.

[Gonzo44v]

Thanks for the reply, with KSP I doubt anyone truly knows what they are doing haha!

This ship would be pretty sound if it gets shot when squad fix the connections between MK3 parts, they have a 50m/s crash tolerance after all so the armour in terms of tolerance is far higher than a regular wing part (though they flex like a sausage). The main goal of this ship was to keep the part count low, while retaining plenty of options, the main purpose of carriers is that they are far enough from the fight to not be directly engaged while being close enough for the fighters to get into the combat zone, the rockets I have planned for this will have decent range and power making this vessel fairly deadly if it needs to be. Though I would prefer if it stays mostly peaceful in its hopefully long lifespan.

I have made several other spacecraft carriers before which can be found either here:

or here:

Once again thank you very much for your time both in viewing this thread and suggesting improvements! Cheers

[Alphasus]

Thanks for the reply, with KSP I doubt anyone truly knows what they are doing haha!

This ship would be pretty sound if it gets shot when squad fix the connections between MK3 parts, they have a 50m/s crash tolerance after all so the armour in terms of tolerance is far higher than a regular wing part (though they flex like a sausage). The main goal of this ship was to keep the part count low, while retaining plenty of options, the main purpose of carriers is that they are far enough from the fight to not be directly engaged while being close enough for the fighters to get into the combat zone, the rockets I have planned for this will have decent range and power making this vessel fairly deadly if it needs to be. Though I would prefer if it stays mostly peaceful in its hopefully long lifespan.

I have made several other spacecraft carriers before which can be found either here:

or here:

Once again thank you very much for your time both in viewing this thread and suggesting improvements! Cheers

Most missiles fly at above 50 m/s, with heads of more than 50 m/s. So, one hit would unfortunately be a kill.

[Gonzo44v]

This is true lots of them do, but still the old wing part carriers did fine for the most part and I am a bit of an addict to weird looking large ships haha. My hopes for this vessel would be that she stays clear of the main combat zones and only attacks from further than load range.

[Khobai]

That thing has next to no armour at all and a single weak missile could destroy it

Yeah but even with armor, a single strong missile could still destroy it. For that reason, armoring is pretty pointless, and a waste of part count.

[Bubbadevlin]

Very cool, and i am surprised you could get it to be an SSTO, was that just an afterthought or did you plan for it being one from the begging?

[Gonzo44v]

Hi there!

The plan from the start was to make it an SSTO, which unfortunately caused the hangers to be smaller than I would have liked. Either way I am pleased with the way the vessel turned out, thanks for commenting!

[The Error]

On the armour debate; a cqrrier generally uses its fighters and/or bombers to attack, having little or no weaponry of its own. Thus, it stays faaaar away from the fight; so ar ouring it is pretty pointless unless you're also trying to make it a battlecarrier.

[Halban]

I agree, armour is pretty pointless on carriers. If you're getting into close range combat with a carrier then you know you're doing something wrong. I think it would be interesting to see a carrier that's simply framework, that way you could carry more fighters and with a lower part count... though admittedly I still choose to build carriers with hulls, otherwise they're just no fun. I do however think that armour on battleships ships is extremely important, and there are some ships out there that can withstand pretty much all weaponry, even the most OP ones. Simply due to the way they're structured, not what they're built out of. Great work by the way Gonzo, I think people have overlooked that this thing is an SSTO, which is certainly the main feature of the craft.

Edited September 7, 2015 by HatBat