Massive mothership with up to 48 ships in the hangar

[Nemzeh]

I was messing around with the cargo bays one morning, and came up with an unorthodox way to use them. One thing led to another, and suddenly I had a huge carrier.

Introducing the Ursa Majoris aka "Mama Bear"

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Parts: 784

Deplacement: 845 tons wet / 330 tons dry

Maximum crew: 9+16+196

8 seamless hangar doors per side, each with three nodes (centerline sz1, sz0 on top/bottom walls) for flexible deployment of anything from a couple of SSTOs, up to 48 small craft.

Two exterior sz2 nodes with ample clearance, four small drone bays, and 16 shielded docking ports spread along the hull for a total of 70 different options for docking.

Total LFO stores of 7 large sz3 fuel tanks, of which 2 are earmarked for refueling parasite vessels.

For those who wish to adapt it with modded parts, the engines are easily replaced without need for thrust-balancing. There are 8 optional turret foundations if weapons are desired. Additional tanks for other resources (like for ex. xenonfuel or kethane) to be accessible inside the hangar can preferrably be placed on top of the RCS tanks if sz2, or "inside" the cargo bays that form the hangar doors if smaller.

Downloads:

Just the ship

With launcher

Edited October 25, 2014 by Nemzeh

[Guest]

Big. Cool. Bad. File?

[Nemzeh]

Ah, forgot to include those links. Fixed now!

[Redshift OTF]

Woah, this is incredible. You're not the first to implement the cargo bay doors in that manner but I like the fact that the ship is functional and the hanger space is huge! I like the idea of using the science pods as parts of the bridge as well.

[Spartwo]

One of the best carriers I've ever seen.

[Nemzeh]

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm not claiming dibs on the idea or anything. Just meant that the ship wasn't planned, but came to be after I played around with the parts and realised what could be done with them.

While it's certainly feasible to fill up every docking port in the bay, I would recommend a more conservative approach. Both to keep the part count from skyrocketing, and also to give some leeway with manoeuvres. The ports are mostly there to give flexible options.

The forward section behind the bridge is mostly empty, and can easily fit extra parts needed/desired with various mods, like life support or what have you.

[Azimech]

Beautiful!