TANSTAAFL Ships

[Martin Levac]

Intended strictly for function. No consideration for aesthetics. Starter ships at this time (heavier ships later as I get to it, maybe). Iron and Titanium versions (higher materials eventually). Spaced armor plating configuration. Frontal turret mount on an angle block (edge armor).

 

The Sten-SS1a-Ir and Sten-SS1a-Ti

 

Cheap and versatile starter ships. Sturdy enough to take on baddies in starting sector on insane difficulty, but be wary of Xsotan ships fire power (I've seen several with over 300 ohm, nearly bit it that time, got lucky) since just one of them can take it out in a couple seconds. Use longer range to your advantage. Should be a piece of cake at normal difficulty. Spaced armor plating pops, thus protecting the underside, cheap to replace. Identical in all respects, except integrity fields for the titanium version. Screenshots show cost when applying plan, as well as stats with full crew at or near lvl3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

XML files provided below as attachments.

Sten-SS1a-Ir.zip

Sten-SS1a-Ti.zip

[Pob]

Interesting concept, almost like ablative armour.

What in ingame reason for spacing, rather than just layering?

[Martin Levac]

It is ablative armor - plates have so little HP they pop when hit. I think there's very little difference in protection between plain layers and spaced. I prefer spaced because it just looks cool, but it's also highly functional in terms of collision protection. We can see a more elaborate configuration in this post: http://www.avorion.net/forum/index.php/topic,1047.msg15806.html#msg15806

 

The degree of complexity one can create with spaced configuration is virtually unlimited. In the Sten ships, the template is a simple 2-piece T shape, stacked. In the bigger ship, it's also a simple 2-piece T shape template, but with framework strut instead of armor. On an earlier ship, I made templates with over 30 pieces each, of various angles, framework struts and plates. In the Sten ships, we could describe it more as a grill-type config (plates are perpendicular to underside), while in the bigger ship it's obviously just spaced and stacked (plates parallel to underside). There's also the grid-type config, where the trick is to clip plates through each other perpendicularly. In a grill/grid type config, we could create a smoother external shape with thin angles, thereby saving a tremendous amount of mass for armor (which keeps mass distribution closer to CoM for better ship handling) while still providing decent protection, and creating a more aesthetically pleasing ship.

[Martin Levac]

TANSTAAFL Ships presents Sten's bigger brother - Stan LD Hybrid (he's adopted). Barely tested, almost brand new, not nearly perfect, absolutely average performance, but what a bunch of armor plates, eh? Block count for armor is over 1,500. It should be fun enough as I progress toward Naonite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

XML file provided below as attachment.

Stan-LD-Hybrid.zip

[LordHavoc]

Now this is what I love about this game; it truely stimulates the imagination and brings it to light.

If Star Trek were stuck for a design to represent the borg...i bet this style would have gotten serious interest. It's just so cool!

[Martin Levac]

TANSTAAFL Ships presents the next evolutionary stage of multi-plate armor designs - Stan LD Hybrid Widebody (he ate too much, but that's cuz he was doing the bulk phase, brah!). Featuring the popular Dual-Twinned-Stacked-Angled-Armored Weapon Mounts, and the potent Multi-Thruster-Matrix Packs (forward mounted, of course). The DTSAAWM's and the MTMP(FM,OC)'s should give gunners and pilots alike something to look forward to. In excess of 2,500 armor plates, each and every one of them individually QC'ed by qualified technicians and laser-engraved with a unique serial number and installation location ID for easier replacement in case of destruction. Your local shipyard or repair yard should have a record on hand. Currently awaiting a retrofit to add a shield module.

 

 

 

 

 

 

XML file provided below as attachment.

Stan-LD-Hybrid-W.zip