Spaceships
From Acw
Spacegoing vessels of the 24th Century are a hugely varied type of vehicle, but they can be broadly categorised into four types, according to use:
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FTL Ships
FTL ships are set apart by their massive expense and by the design constraints placed upon them by their main component: the Krasnikov generator and its supporting reactor. Broadly speaking there are two subdivisions of FTL ships.
Tunnelships or Coreships
Tunnel or Coreships are designed for one purpose - to create and sustain a Krasnikov Tunnel long enough for as large as possible a group of ships to make their way through it. Krasnikov generators and their reactors are massive and complex devices that require incredible amounts of energy to run and huge numbers of safety systems in case of failure. Designed as they are to open tunnels much larger than necessary for just their own bulk, Coreships are massive in size and expensive to produce.
Tunnelship Size: The smallest Tunnelship is almosst 3 kilometers in length, and almost that high, and it can only sustain a Tunnel for a small fleet. They get as large as the largest Battlecruisers, over 20 kilometers in length, but are substantially taller. Typically an undersized set of engines strapped onto the bottom of the bulbous reactor housing, Tunnelships can be recognised by the protruding arms of the generator heads that extend outward from above the bridge.
Tunnelship Crew: Tunnelships usually have a crew of over 1000, with the majority being in the engineering sections. Most tunnelships have three shifts of engineers to minimise the chances of human error due to fatigue.
Small FTL craft
Some FTL ships are designed to only take themselves through the Tunnel they create. These fall into two categories: special military vessels and diplomatic vessels. As yet no private owner has beena ble to afford the running costs of a Krasnikov generator.
Commercial Ships
'Ferries'
Private or Government Vessels
Military Ships
Military spacecraft operate almost exclusively in fleets, generaly based around a Coreship or (most often in the Red Fleets) Combat Dropship. In fact, the name 'Coreship' comes from the usual tactical fleet deployment, and the tunnelship's central position. Within the fleet there are many distinctions and sub-distinctions.
Spaceborne combat
Spaceborne combat is a terrifying affair, as the twin roles of protection from harm and protection from environmental duress are less happily-married in a spacesuit as it would first appear. The need for a spacesuit to remain flexible and not overly inhibit movement (especially in the modesl of suit worn during de-pressurised combat readiness) usually leaves a multitude of weak spots where a comparatively low-energy projectile coudl cause a fatal rupture.
What is true of the spacesuit is true of the spaceship. For most military crew, explosive decopression and a messy death is only moments away. Spacecraft usually sport little armour, and most weapons designed for use against other spaceships are pinpoint, low-energy penetrators.
Armour
Armour is relatively useless in a vacuum, as the pressure on the inside of the armour is so much larger than that on the outside, and decompression happens very quickly. Even the smallest pinprick in its airtight skin can thus render a spacecraft inoperable by killing its crew. Projectiles are also more dangerous, as they travel farther and do not lose velocity through drag. It is easy to hit a spaceship with any sort of weapon, and easy to cut through its skin ifyou hit. As a result, spaceship designers tend to put less armour on a ship than would be on a comparative vehicle for use in atmosphere, because often it is just deadweight. The designers of the Alexander Nevsky pioneered the practise of placing the crew in spacesuits and de-pressurising the cabin (except for vital areas for the crew to retreat to during combat, such as the medical bay). Essential components such as reactors and engines are often still armoured. Space vessels use several types of armour.
Weapons
Projectile weapons are particularly dangerous in space, as the projectiles travel in an uninterrupted line and do not slow down. A good computer guidance system will hit its target every time. A number of different weapons systems are used on spacecraft.
