The Colony Ship project. Help me build my ship!

Why?

So you're expecting that the colonists want to arrive and immediately restart life as it was at home?
How much SF have you read on colonisation?
Try Heinlein's Time Enough For Love for example: each and every colony ship goes off and starts from scratch.
Chopping down trees, sawing wood, building log cabins etc in the promise of a better society for their descendants.

 

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Yes I have read Scifi and yes I know most of them start from scratch and that to me is retarded. Why would you not take the best of what there is too offer and use it after all you are using a highly advanced space ship to traverse vast distance's of the universe why would you then shun modern things. In my mind and I many others I am sure at least I would hope this to be true it would not be realistic why not just stay were you are and die like the rest. It would be a kin to the Amish getting into formula one racing it does not make sense.

 

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Because "the best of what there is to offer" is the end product of an entire civilisation and all that that entails.
Cars?
Fine, where's the gas station?
Aircraft?
Where are the runways, ground-control radars and fuel?
Machine tools?
Oops the entire metal-extracting and processing industry is missing.

Colonists go and live sustainably, they don't cart entire factories, cities, infrastructures and societies with them.
You would need a moon-sized vehicle, and considerably more than 1,000 people.

 

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Yes exactly this is what I am saying and it is rediculous too think people would leave everything they have for nothing really. To be realistic they would need to bring things with them to make a colony if they wanted nothing then create a hyper gate that will jump you to a new world but not back instead of a ship.

 

Will you have the means to grow food? What if something weird happens and contaminates some or all the stored food? Will there be a need for seeds too? Its a bitch going hungry.Just thinking.

 

Human history is full of people doing exactly that. How did the US get colonised?

To be realistic you couldn't do it even with a gate: how do you transport an entire infrastructure? Factories? Refineries? Offices, shops, homes?
At least going in a ship will give you options of where to land (e.g. which planet) and provide a source of pre-processed materials to be steadily cannibalised.

 

Under the "captain is god" model, I don't see why anyone would volunteer, unless they were criminals with no hope of a good life here. The odds that the captain abuses his power and treat the civilians like peons or slaves is nearly 100% if any real human being were at the helm. What sane person would want to live in that colony? Is it a cult? I guess that would explain it.

 

I will post here the design of the ship as soon as it is ready. I am slowly drawing it and being guided by a friend. Lets see how it goes. =)

 

I already have the plot ready. This thread is just to help me with details because I'm not familiar with the Sci Fi theme. I write mostly about Medieval Fantasy. I can write medieval fantasy stories with my eyes closed. I can write it nonstop. But Sci Fi, I need to learn some about it, first.

 

Not everything is supposed to be well thought out or fail proof. This is a story. There must be room for mistakes, problems, errors, conspiracy, etc.

Tests and challenges are part of the Hero's journey.

As for the complete cross section of all the skills in the modern world, the idea is to pick those vollunteers who can contribute the most to the immediate necessities of the colony settlement.

The size of the ship is something decided more by the plot of the story than practicality or plausability, but thanks for the inputs. =)

 

Thank you for those numbers. That's something I really want to discuss next. How much room is needed in each area of the ship. I read somewhere that, in average, 1 person eats 1tonne of food per year. Give or take a little. That means 1.000 tonnes a year, 5.000 tonnes for the trip to the planet. Since the tripulation is going back to earth and they are 200 in size, that means another 1.000 tonne, total. So, 6.000 tonnes of food! Now, how much space is needed to store 6.000 tonnes of food?

Then what about water?

Now, if each bedroom has two single beds, then we need 500 bedrooms. If each bedroom has 12ft by 12ft, we are talking about 144ft² x 500 = 72.000ft² in area.

And so on and so forth! I will try to organise that later in a post so we can follow the calculations we ahve done and the ones that are still needed to be done.

 

Nice calculations on the oxygen consumption! I will have to update everything later. I'm a bit busy right now, but I will soon put it all together!

 

I understand what you are saying, but because of the plot fo the story, humans wont be able to build this ship. It will be found! They didnt develop this technology. IT is actually waaaay ahead of their time. It is a risky adventure and that's why people will volunteer. Those who are brave enough and aware of all the risks and regulations, will then be selected and embark in this journey. This is definitely not a completely controled environment. Much to the contrary!

But I dont want to give away too much. =)

 

You might find some useful stuff* here: Winchell Chung (Nyrath the Nearly Wise) has done a lot of work and made it available to SF fans/ rocket geeks everywhere.

* When I say "you might find" that's an understatement: I'd be highly surprised if there was nothing new/ useful to you in those pages.

 

Some can be grown in the Botanic Bay of the ship, but not enough that they wont have to storage most of what is to be consumed.

Then we have a very interesting situation for the characters!

They are taking seeds, but it is not guaranteed that those seeds will be successfully planted in their new planet! Unless they build a hydroponic farm at the beginning, which is something probably planned.

 

I would volunteer. =)

Captain is God may be an exageration. What I mean is that there is a hierarchy inside the ship and the Captain is at the top. The mission will be controled by the military, at least while inside the ship.

Once they arrive at the new planet and start the new colony, then people will vote on their representatives, just in our planet.

 

Thanks a lot. Will check it out asap!

 

Calculating the area of the ship

Ok, some of you have some interesting insights on how big each arae of the ship could be, so lets do this!

***********COLONY SHIP AREAS********************

A) BRIDGE: Where the captain and the Helm is.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

B) GENERAL GOODS STORAGE BAY: This area storages food, tools, medicine, seeds, etc.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?
TOTAL VOLUME OS STORAGED GOODS: ___m³?
TOTAL WEIGHT: ___tonnes?

C) ENGINE ROOM: Well, that's where the engine is. And the engineers. duh. =P

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

D) MEDICAL BAY/SICK BAY: An area to treat people.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

E) CIVILIAN LIVING QUARTERS: Nobody will be alone in a room. Each room will have multiple people living in it. The ammount of people per room has yet to be decided.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: 57.600 square feet

If we take into account that each bedroom has two beds, and that there are 800 civilians, then we are talking about 400 bedrooms. Considering an average size of 12ft x 12ft, that gives a total area of 144 square feet for each bedroom. Since there would be 400 bedrooms, 144 x 400 = 57.600

F) SHIP CREW LIVING QUARTERS: Nobody will be alone in a room. Each room will have multiple people living in it. The ammount of people per room has yet to be decided.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: 14.400 square feet

Since there are 200 ship crew members, that's 1/4 of the civilians, so 1/4 of the area occupied.

G) LABORATORY: This would be a place apart from the Sick Bay, to run tests.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

H) CARGO BAY: I'm not sure yet how this would be different from the General Goods Storage. For some reason I just think there's a need for a Cargo Bay. Go figure. =P

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

I) BOTANIC BAY: This would be a place where we could cultivate algae to produce oxygen for the ship, as well as grow some food and have a garden where people could walk and relax.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

J) DOCK: This Colony Ship is supposedly big. It also has some smaller crafts inside it, like a couple scouting ships and mining ships.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

K) LOUNGE AREA: An area to relax, sit at a bar, drink something, listen to some music, eat some snacks, shoot some pool, play cards, etc.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

L) CANTINA: A place where people can go in turns to eat their meals.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

M) COMPUTER BAY

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

N) EXERCISE AREA

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

O) MACHINE SHOP: This will be a place to fix machinery of any kind.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

P) ARMOURY: Here is where all the weapons and ammunitions will be kept.

TOTAL AREA SIZE: ___m²?

 

Just a thought: have you looked at any of the role-playing game supplements?
Traveler, MegaTraveler, Traveler The New Era or 2300AD/ 2320AD all have ship design tables, giving crew space, passenger space, powerplant sizes (for different power plant types) etc etc. Or Fire, Fusion & Steel which is an all-in one supplement covering all forms of transport AND weaponry.
Or even (recommended) BTRC's VDS (Vehicle Design System): the writers have done most of the legwork for you in quantifying space requirements and storage capacities. Downloadable (after paying) as a PDF.
If you Google there's probably one or two spreadsheets done by fans to aid design that may cover most of what you need.

 

Doh! How didn't I think about that? I have a friend who has lots of GURPS books about space campaigns. I will check it out. Thanks once again!