Future Tech Advice and Assistance Thread [O.O.C.]

[Sunset]

[snip]

[holy huge snip!]

This. This right here is why I feel that people who rush in with an eleventy-hundred-billion population are giving themselves the short end of the stick. They are losing all of those chances to make their nation that which will make it truly unique and interesting.

My analogy is that of the model train;

I have a model train layout. It is very nice, takes up the whole basement. It has a dozen different trains, all with their own tracks, running through cities and towns and fields and fjords. (With moose. A moose bit my sister once...) It has taken me years (12) to make this model train set and have everything in it perfect. Even the alien tripod destroying the town war-of-the-worlds style while the armored ram-train takes a... Off-topic! But on-topic. But again; It's a very nice setup that I built, myself, over so many years. I know how everything works, how it all comes together, and if need be I could rebuild my set in a few years with some work.

You do not have a train set.

However, you have money. So you see my train set and think that it is very nice. So you go and buy yourself a train set. It is much the same as mine, but you know all of nothing about it. That alien tripod? Weird, but hey, you spent a thousand bucks to have it put there so you'd have the same tripod destroying the town and lasering down your mini-Tom Cruise like a little bitch. But what investment do you have in it? If it goes away tomorrow? You'll just buy another one, right? So then, how much is that train set really worth to you?

When you put the time in, build those mountains out of chicken wire and paper machete, paint those white mountain peaks, make those fake lakes out of corn syrup and food coloring, tack those tracks down one nail at a time... Then the train set will mean both something to you, and it will mean something to me. It will mean you have made that investment and that what happens to your train set is as important as what happens to mine. Then I'll start looking at running that tunnel between your house and mine, and letting the little people from my setup visit yours. But when you're just going to blow up your set Mythbusters-Style and try to take mine with it?

No thanks.

[The United Remnants of America]

Snippity-snip.

Hey Zerin.

The problem is, that when people see such a large empire, they're going to expect to be dominated. I'm not saying you'd do it, but people are just going to expect it, as they very well should.

My largest, most insane FT nation is the Vresh Hive, which resides in something like 6 galaxies with a couple dozen systems. That's only story since an RP usually only ever covers one galaxy at a time, and thus a couple of my colonized planets at a time. Since the Vresh Hive is a Tyrranid/Alien-esque nation that's supposed to have that "we're everywhere." feel, it works.

But as an actual, substantial nation, it's neigh impossible for you to RP as a nation that controls so much territory, so many millions of systems and worlds and potentially quadrillions of people. It's not fathomable.

I know it doesn't sound fun to you, but the people here are just trying to get you to a place where people want to RP with you.

[Nazis in Space]

Hey,

What is the best overall navy size for a FT empire that controls 45% of a 250,000 wide galaxy, and has other pockets of colonies in other galaxies.

Loosely related.

[Sunset]

[ouch, I cut myself!]

As a bit of a second aside...

This is also why I suggest large amounts of handwaving when it comes to weapons, technology, and even things like star systems and population. All of these things exist as a backdrop to what is truly important...

Nowadays, though, things are different. Because of the smaller scope, readers recognize certain locations and names and form an emotional attachment with them. You tell a FT player that three hundred planets have been conquered, you get "Oh, um, okay. That's interesting..." because our minds naturally glaze over at numbers. You tell an well-informed FT player that the Kiith Federation has invaded Foer, they go "Oh wow, really?" because they know that Foer has a history. You tell an FT player that fifty thousand men were killed in orbit, the response will be "meh". You tell them that Sal'Suveen's ship was shot down and he's MIA, and they care because Sal'Suveen is a well-known character.

No amount of technology, aside from the odd Macguffin will make Sal'Suveen interesting to you. No one cares that he carries the Blade of a Hundred Deaths, the Sword That Lost Itself Under the Couch, The... You get the point. Sal'Suveen is interesting to you because he's the older-brother figure to K'rath of House Elv, who just happens to be in a long-running feud with your President when K'rath stepped on his foot at the last barn dance. That is also why you care about what happens to Kyrusia, or to Sunset, or to...

Actually, no one really cares about Sunset. We're just here to be The Good Guys. But I digress.

Technology is important in science-fiction because it gives us that little twist to our perceptions of the modern world that change how we view events as they happen. It is not important that a SDF particle pistol will reduce a man to chunky salsa; It is important that ubiquitous faster-than-light communications will result in a society that is at once connected but yet distracted. It is important because having 'aliens' on every street corner will serve to (hopefully) remind us that our differences are not so large as to be insurmountable even if our girlfriend doesn't have a vagina, or is even a girl. Or is a plant.

That the weapon will do what it does is purely window-dressing on the stories about people and places, the questions of morality, society, and civilization to be explored. In ten years, no one will remember Sunset for that pistol (Okay, people will remember the Doujin's and Super-Doujin's and...) but they will remember the Triumvirate-Ardan Conflict. By working with others, creating that history, that story, you can avoid your nation being less than a footnote.

[The Fedral Union]

[ouch, I cut myself!]

As a bit of a second aside...

This is also why I suggest large amounts of handwaving when it comes to weapons, technology, and even things like star systems and population. All of these things exist as a backdrop to what is truly important...

Nowadays, though, things are different. Because of the smaller scope, readers recognize certain locations and names and form an emotional attachment with them. You tell a FT player that three hundred planets have been conquered, you get "Oh, um, okay. That's interesting..." because our minds naturally glaze over at numbers. You tell an well-informed FT player that the Kiith Federation has invaded Foer, they go "Oh wow, really?" because they know that Foer has a history. You tell an FT player that fifty thousand men were killed in orbit, the response will be "meh". You tell them that Sal'Suveen's ship was shot down and he's MIA, and they care because Sal'Suveen is a well-known character.

No amount of technology, aside from the odd Macguffin will make Sal'Suveen interesting to you. No one cares that he carries the Blade of a Hundred Deaths, the Sword That Lost Itself Under the Couch, The... You get the point. Sal'Suveen is interesting to you because he's the older-brother figure to K'rath of House Elv, who just happens to be in a long-running feud with your President when K'rath stepped on his foot at the last barn dance. That is also why you care about what happens to Kyrusia, or to Sunset, or to...

Actually, no one really cares about Sunset. We're just here to be The Good Guys. But I digress.

Technology is important in science-fiction because it gives us that little twist to our perceptions of the modern world that change how we view events as they happen. It is not important that a SDF particle pistol will reduce a man to chunky salsa; It is important that ubiquitous faster-than-light communications will result in a society that is at once connected but yet distracted. It is important because having 'aliens' on every street corner will serve to (hopefully) remind us that our differences are not so large as to be insurmountable even if our girlfriend doesn't have a vagina, or is even a girl. Or is a plant.

That the weapon will do what it does is purely window-dressing on the stories about people and places, the questions of morality, society, and civilization to be explored. In ten years, no one will remember Sunset for that pistol (Okay, people will remember the Doujin's and Super-Doujin's and...) but they will remember the Triumvirate-Ardan Conflict. By working with others, creating that history, that story, you can avoid your nation being less than a footnote.

Good god your making me feel old, ARDA vurses ToY.. man that was pre jolt.. *sits in a rocking chair*

[Alidina]

I have always had an Idea for what my space empire is like, but I have also always struggled with how to turn that into a reasonable factbook. I am able to maintain some consistence by going off of memory, there are times though when I wished I could just direct some one to an awesomely detailed factbook.

Does anyone have some recommendations for a good way to start a factbook? I think It is about time I sat down and wrote one out.

[Vocenae]

As is the normal advice for this, I highly suggest you check out Huerdae's factbook located here: viewtopic.php?ns=1&f=23&t=15010&p=541629#p541629

[Sunset]

Steal Mine.

What you can do, if you don't find sufficient inspiration, is do something like that.

http://www.nationstates.net/page=create ... dit=192016

Open the link, then you can go in and start shuffling things around, writing what you want in place of what already exists, then just copy and paste the whole thing over into your own factbook. What this will give you is something to start with. A template. It will also give you something to compare and contrast with; How does your nation differ from mine? How is it similar? What are points that you would like to cover that you don't see in mine?

Don't worry about getting the whole thing done at once. I still work on mine, on and off, every few days. Even just going in and editing a paragraph for clarity, or removing the odd it's-vs-its mistake, can sometimes turn into a whole new section. Make some quick notes, add some ideas, get a general structure going, and move forward from there.

Some technical-side suggestions; If you can, get access to a link-able image host where you can edit and post your own images, rather than link from sources on the web. Sizing pictures down to a more reasonable 1/2 to 1/3rd of a standard monitor width will make your factbook look a lot more professional and more importantly personal.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Space Russia fears neither numbers nor technobabble, the Vatican Gun defeats all such nonsense:

http://imgur.com/a/qmEEi

[Doppio Giudici]

Hey I have a question.

My warships are few in number due to the fact that my people don't control the first system and the other two aren't very fertile, so we are few in number as people. At the same time my these warships are made from 500m long cargo ships, which are in turn based on the two colonization ships that were used as shelter during the first steps of colonization.

So I have these big, heavily armed ships with lots of space and almost no automation, as they had lots of people to work everything. My question is two-fold.

How many people would a 500m ship hold comfortably with three years of colonization supplies for all of them and what could fill that space in the warship models?

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Hey I have a question.

My warships are few in number due to the fact that my people don't control the first system and the other two aren't very fertile, so we are few in number as people. At the same time my these warships are made from 500m long cargo ships, which are in turn based on the two colonization ships that were used as shelter during the first steps of colonization.

So I have these big, heavily armed ships with lots of space and almost no automation, as they had lots of people to work everything. My question is two-fold.

How many people would a 500m ship hold comfortably with three years of colonization supplies for all of them and what could fill that space in the warship models?

There's a rather good book in the Honor Harrington series which deals specifically with the problems of converted merchant/cargo ships, I believe it's "Honor among Enemies," give it a read if you've got time.

Your question depends heavily on the recycling capabilities of your ship. If you're talking about packing three years worth of rations into your holds...it's going to be pretty cramped in there. If you're growing food, you're going to need a fairly hefty hydroponics suite with some fancy technology to make recycling waste into fertilizer viable.

IIRC the Q ships of Manticore in the volume I mention filled their extra space with midrange attack craft and missile launchers, meaning they could hit reasonably hard but (due to structural issues lack lack of compartmentalization,) were fragile compared to actual warships.

[The Fedral Union]

Hey I have a question.

My warships are few in number due to the fact that my people don't control the first system and the other two aren't very fertile, so we are few in number as people. At the same time my these warships are made from 500m long cargo ships, which are in turn based on the two colonization ships that were used as shelter during the first steps of colonization.

So I have these big, heavily armed ships with lots of space and almost no automation, as they had lots of people to work everything. My question is two-fold.

How many people would a 500m ship hold comfortably with three years of colonization supplies for all of them and what could fill that space in the warship models?

There's a rather good book in the Honor Harrington series which deals specifically with the problems of converted merchant/cargo ships, I believe it's "Honor among Enemies," give it a read if you've got time.

Your question depends heavily on the recycling capabilities of your ship. If you're talking about packing three years worth of rations into your holds...it's going to be pretty cramped in there. If you're growing food, you're going to need a fairly hefty hydroponics suite with some fancy technology to make recycling waste into fertilizer viable.

IIRC the Q ships of Manticore in the volume I mention filled their extra space with midrange attack craft and missile launchers, meaning they could hit reasonably hard but (due to structural issues lack lack of compartmentalization,) were fragile compared to actual warships.

Additionally, the TEC from Sin of a Solar Empire can be a handy thing to gawk at too. (Fun game)

[Sunset]

A tricky question. Are we talking survival rations? And were the inhabitants in cold sleep/chemical hibernation/dehydrated like sea monkeys?

2,000 calories a day, 365 days, assuming the calories have the density of body fat... Around 400 pounds for one person to live. On lard! Which isn't really a lot of volume either. Though we don't know the dimensions of these 500m ships either. Let's call it 50m x 50x x 500m for the volume. Figure about 30 cubic meters per person, including shared ships systems, their food, etc, etc... About 40,000 people.

For the military ships? Military systems! Double and triple redundancy, meters of armor, armored bulkheads, weapon systems that are each 100-200 cubic meters... Ordinance. Sub-craft/shuttles. Maintenance areas for all of those systems. Spare parts. A nice lounge with a smart-ass bartender.

[The Fedral Union]

A tricky question. Are we talking survival rations? And were the inhabitants in cold sleep/chemical hibernation/dehydrated like sea monkeys?

2,000 calories a day, 365 days, assuming the calories have the density of body fat... Around 400 pounds for one person to live. On lard! Which isn't really a lot of volume either. Though we don't know the dimensions of these 500m ships either. Let's call it 50m x 50x x 500m for the volume. Figure about 30 cubic meters per person, including shared ships systems, their food, etc, etc... About 40,000 people.

For the military ships? Military systems! Double and triple redundancy, meters of armor, armored bulkheads, weapon systems that are each 100-200 cubic meters... Ordinance. Sub-craft/shuttles. Maintenance areas for all of those systems. Spare parts. A nice lounge with a smart-ass bartender.

Yeah cargo ships are already pretty big, but.. They may not be designed inherently with carrying high powered energy weapon systems in mind, so my suggestion is as sunset said. Bolt some extra armor on, and put in some missile tubes. A dedicated warship today has a much different internal wiring and system configuration than a freighter does. Fire control, sensors, computer systems..

[Doppio Giudici]

Hey I have a question.

My warships are few in number due to the fact that my people don't control the first system and the other two aren't very fertile, so we are few in number as people. At the same time my these warships are made from 500m long cargo ships, which are in turn based on the two colonization ships that were used as shelter during the first steps of colonization.

So I have these big, heavily armed ships with lots of space and almost no automation, as they had lots of people to work everything. My question is two-fold.

How many people would a 500m ship hold comfortably with three years of colonization supplies for all of them and what could fill that space in the warship models?

There's a rather good book in the Honor Harrington series which deals specifically with the problems of converted merchant/cargo ships, I believe it's "Honor among Enemies," give it a read if you've got time.

Your question depends heavily on the recycling capabilities of your ship. If you're talking about packing three years worth of rations into your holds...it's going to be pretty cramped in there. If you're growing food, you're going to need a fairly hefty hydroponics suite with some fancy technology to make recycling waste into fertilizer viable.

IIRC the Q ships of Manticore in the volume I mention filled their extra space with midrange attack craft and missile launchers, meaning they could hit reasonably hard but (due to structural issues lack lack of compartmentalization,) were fragile compared to actual warships.

Missile launchers sounds good actually.

What kind of attack craft are we talking?

I was thinking mine would be really armored, but be slow because they are so so big.

[The Fedral Union]

There's a rather good book in the Honor Harrington series which deals specifically with the problems of converted merchant/cargo ships, I believe it's "Honor among Enemies," give it a read if you've got time.

Your question depends heavily on the recycling capabilities of your ship. If you're talking about packing three years worth of rations into your holds...it's going to be pretty cramped in there. If you're growing food, you're going to need a fairly hefty hydroponics suite with some fancy technology to make recycling waste into fertilizer viable.

IIRC the Q ships of Manticore in the volume I mention filled their extra space with midrange attack craft and missile launchers, meaning they could hit reasonably hard but (due to structural issues lack lack of compartmentalization,) were fragile compared to actual warships.

Missile launchers sounds good actually.

What kind of attack craft are we talking?

I was thinking mine would be really armored, but be slow because they are so so big.

Rule of cool would be ok with using space fighters. Drones space fighters, gunships drop ships..Are around the norm?


Question is, are you converting these quickly , or do you have time to properly retrofit and experiment on them ?

[OMGeverynameistaken]

There's a rather good book in the Honor Harrington series which deals specifically with the problems of converted merchant/cargo ships, I believe it's "Honor among Enemies," give it a read if you've got time.

Your question depends heavily on the recycling capabilities of your ship. If you're talking about packing three years worth of rations into your holds...it's going to be pretty cramped in there. If you're growing food, you're going to need a fairly hefty hydroponics suite with some fancy technology to make recycling waste into fertilizer viable.

IIRC the Q ships of Manticore in the volume I mention filled their extra space with midrange attack craft and missile launchers, meaning they could hit reasonably hard but (due to structural issues lack lack of compartmentalization,) were fragile compared to actual warships.

Missile launchers sounds good actually.

What kind of attack craft are we talking?

I was thinking mine would be really armored, but be slow because they are so so big.

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2012 ... ver%29.jpg

About 140 x 23 x 21m. Honorverse doesn't really go in for small craft.

The thing is, there comes a point where it becomes easier to build a new ship rather than refit an old one. Generally speaking, civilian ships are probably not going to have a lot of basic structural features military ones are...ESPECIALLY colony ships and cargo ships, where space is at a premium. Less space means less cargo or fewer people, which means that there's a lot less incentive to tack on that extra reinforcing beam and that they're going to want their hull to be as thin as possible so they can cram more cargo (and therefore, profit,) into their holds.

You can't really just 'tack on' extra armor without seriously compromising that armor's defensive capability. Further, armor adds exponentially to your ship's mass, meaning that you're going to need to add a new drive system. New drives mean you need a new power plant. A new power plant means you're probably going to have to overhaul the ship's electrical systems. That probably means you're going to have to replace all of the ship's computers because they don't make the right kind of hookups anymore. Think of it in terms of putting a computer together. You can't plug a ten year old processor into a modern motherboard. It just doesn't work.

I'm not saying you CAN'T do it, just that it seems like the level of modification you're talking about would essentially involve stripping the ship down to a skeleton and rebuilding it.

[Sunset]

If you are planning ahead...

You could do something like this!

This is a ship I designed for the Akashan Union (DoGa, Custom Textures). In the standard role it is a cargo ship with an armored framework that also houses various essential systems; Weapons, power systems, etc. But the large rectangular cargo modules can be removed and, as designed, the framework then becomes a mobile drydock. Dock a second Aluminum-Class directly to the first with its cargo modules attached and you have a space station. Conceivably you could then build custom cargo modules that are weapon modules, fighter bay/launch modules, troop transports, or even just regular old civilian transport modules.

The advantage will be flexibility and the disadvantage specialization. It won't be the best capital ship, since various functions will need to be filled in an ad hoc manner, but it could be passable. A lot of how good it would be depends on how much you spend on it. Spend a little, it's flying cardboard. Spend a lot, and it's a serious competitor. But it will probably be 1.2-1.5x as expensive as a dedicated warship/transport/etc for the same cost. Advantages, disadvantages.

(Interested parties can contact El Hefe Military Industries for a quote.)

[Fayt]

sunset could you help i im trying to class a new ship im desegeineng is 1.4km long triple armoured tritantium hull heavy shields has a top speed of warp 7.5 crew of 1000 heavily armed

weapons 120 light pulsed phase cannons 60 heavy phase cannons and fifty missile bays each packing five thousand mark seven star arrow mulptile warhead offensive kill missiles

im not sure weather its a dreadnought or destroyer

[The Fedral Union]

Missile launchers sounds good actually.

What kind of attack craft are we talking?

I was thinking mine would be really armored, but be slow because they are so so big.

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2012 ... ver%29.jpg

About 140 x 23 x 21m. Honorverse doesn't really go in for small craft.

The thing is, there comes a point where it becomes easier to build a new ship rather than refit an old one. Generally speaking, civilian ships are probably not going to have a lot of basic structural features military ones are...ESPECIALLY colony ships and cargo ships, where space is at a premium. Less space means less cargo or fewer people, which means that there's a lot less incentive to tack on that extra reinforcing beam and that they're going to want their hull to be as thin as possible so they can cram more cargo (and therefore, profit,) into their holds.

You can't really just 'tack on' extra armor without seriously compromising that armor's defensive capability. Further, armor adds exponentially to your ship's mass, meaning that you're going to need to add a new drive system. New drives mean you need a new power plant. A new power plant means you're probably going to have to overhaul the ship's electrical systems. That probably means you're going to have to replace all of the ship's computers because they don't make the right kind of hookups anymore. Think of it in terms of putting a computer together. You can't plug a ten year old processor into a modern motherboard. It just doesn't work.

I'm not saying you CAN'T do it, just that it seems like the level of modification you're talking about would essentially involve stripping the ship down to a skeleton and rebuilding it.

Cold welding and magnetic rivets, you can also ad a layer of nanotube epoxy to give it tensile strength. That said, I don't think the ships mass will be that much of an issue if your ship was designed for heavy lifting bulk cargo. Power would be an issue.. , if you wanna put force field systems in that's a big one. Engines?

Well depends on how standardized your models are. If you can use off the shelf parts and modular designs, then you should be able to swap things out easily. I mean the M4 Sherman comes to mind but that thing wasn't exactly durable as hell, the P47 though..

sunset could you help i im trying to class a new ship im desegeineng is 1.4km long triple armoured tritantium hull heavy shields has a top speed of warp 7.5 crew of 1000 heavily armed

weapons 120 light pulsed phase cannons 60 heavy phase cannons and fifty missile bays each packing five thousand mark seven star arrow mulptile warhead offensive kill missiles

im not sure weather its a dreadnought or destroyer

Those stats don't really mean much, FTL = Speed of plot, weapons.. A gun is a gun. Lasers missiles, RKV's.. They'll hurt. No one needs to know the number of guns you have on a ship or the number of missiles (in a spam volley) you can launch. Those are just fluffy specs, for the backround.

[Sunset]

sunset could you help i im trying to class a new ship im desegeineng is 1.4km long triple armoured tritantium hull heavy shields has a top speed of warp 7.5 crew of 1000 heavily armed

weapons 120 light pulsed phase cannons 60 heavy phase cannons and fifty missile bays each packing five thousand mark seven star arrow mulptile warhead offensive kill missiles

im not sure weather its a dreadnought or destroyer

Ship type designations are completely, one hundred percent up to you. If you take a look through the various wikipedia articles on what a particular designation means (destroyer, dreadnought, etc) you'll find they have all varied over time, and depending on who uses them. My advice is to make up your own system and go with it.

[Fayt]

im not sure what to what role i want my new ship class as heavy cannons can fire 6 times a minute each light 120 times a minute with out stressing the ships power core the star arrow is a light missile deseined to overwhelm enemy point defence sytems with quantaty but each warhead has a 10 kg antimater explosive payload thanks we tend to use slow ships for orbital sautation bombbardment

[Doppio Giudici]

Well I assume I would be removing all the extra space devoted to people not running the ship. So that means around 35,000 would be replaced by some other smaller number.

The hydroponics and such will be manned at reduced numbers accordingly, meaning my my military ships will be able to survive very long deployments. All the space devoted to keeping 35,000 people sane will be of extra use in keeping a much smaller number sane for much longer periods of time.

The first colonization ships were designed to keep the colonists alive at all costs. For this reason they were given a large fixed rail-gun, along with extremely thick armor. The idea was that they were spending 35,000 people to a dark hell planet and as such they should bring a lot of force should anyone be there waiting for them.

However, because we use jump-gates our ability to get around depends on our sub-light drives. This means that ships can take up to over a week at times, not using the jump-gates, but simply getting the ships from the outside of the solar system to the inner core of it. The jump-gates take exactly a week, but sometimes less depending on how far away the other object is. This is another one of those moments were the thick armor and the hydroponics/entertainment comes in handy.

Back on topic about the conventions, I assume rations would be replaced with munitions in the cargo-bay to some extent. At the same time drones and shielding would be something that could be installed. The ships are not the old ones remade, they are simply ships with very similar blueprints because it costs money to change shipyards when the ships are this big. So my thinking is that the wiring could be handwaved and I might be able to fit in a slightly bigger engine while I am at it. Oh and all the small cannons on the sides will be replaced with bigger ones, which will have autoloaders that require less buttons being pressed.

Does this sound something I could work with some hand-waving but not to much?

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Well I assume I would be removing all the extra space devoted to people not running the ship. So that means around 35,000 would be replaced by some other smaller number.

The hydroponics and such will be manned at reduced numbers accordingly, meaning my my military ships will be able to survive very long deployments. All the space devoted to keeping 35,000 people sane will be of extra use in keeping a much smaller number sane for much longer periods of time.

The first colonization ships were designed to keep the colonists alive at all costs. For this reason they were given a large fixed rail-gun, along with extremely thick armor. The idea was that they were spending 35,000 people to a dark hell planet and as such they should bring a lot of force should anyone be there waiting for them.

However, because we use jump-gates our ability to get around depends on our sub-light drives. This means that ships can take up to over a week at times, not using the jump-gates, but simply getting the ships from the outside of the solar system to the inner core of it. The jump-gates take exactly a week, but sometimes less depending on how far away the other object is. This is another one of those moments were the thick armor and the hydroponics/entertainment comes in handy.

Back on topic about the conventions, I assume rations would be replaced with munitions in the cargo-bay to some extent. At the same time drones and shielding would be something that could be installed. The ships are not the old ones remade, they are simply ships with very similar blueprints because it costs money to change shipyards when the ships are this big. So my thinking is that the wiring could be handwaved and I might be able to fit in a slightly bigger engine while I am at it. Oh and all the small cannons on the sides will be replaced with bigger ones, which will have autoloaders that require less buttons being pressed.

Does this sound something I could work with some hand-waving but not to much?

I think it's a fairly safe design philosophy to dedicate more than a quarter of your ship's mass to things besides rations. The 'space sausage' school of design was never really much of a success.

To take a modern example, the Soviet Akula Class submarine is 175 meters long, 23 wide and 12 high, with a maximum submerged endurance of 120 days (we think, the Russians have been reluctant to hand them over for testing ) It has a compliment of 160 people. The slightly smaller US Ohio class has a crew of 155. Your ship is roughly three times the length of those vessels, which are VERY cramped. We're talking 6 foot long bunks with maybe a foot and a couple feet of breathing space for the enlisted men and minimal amenities...although the Typhoon class DOES have a hot tub on board.

Surface vessels are, I feel, a bit less analogous to the type of early FT-sounding ship you're going for, but the Nimitz class carrier is over 300 meters long and carries a crew of 6,000 or so. I'd hazard a guess that you could, if you took all the airplanes off, cram maybe another thousand or two people on board, although feeding them might be an issue.

Unless you're putting your people in some kind of suspended animation, you're looking at WAY below 35,000 people.

[Doppio Giudici]

How long would a ship with 20,000 people need to be if it was built the way I described? Just a rough guess?

I picked a space destroyer-like size for a ship, but I guess I can go much much bigger.