The Space Opera Working Thread

JohnQ is now holding the position of Chief Engineer aboard the Penelope. Welcome aboard JohnQ, we look foward to working with you.

NOTE

Suggestion for the opening post



Title:

The Voyages of the Penelope and the Yddryl

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/52c047f3cb26.jpg[/atsimg]

(pic Optional]

From two distant locations in the universe, two ships depart at approximately the same time. Their destiny is to meet and an adventure awaits the brave crews stationed within their hulls.

Faster Than Light and capable of using wormholes, crammed with extensive technological advances, devastating firepower and defensive shields., they are a veritable match for each other.

( bla bla bla - suggestions accepted )





Starhip Penelope

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/87a4c44e0844.jpg[/atsimg]


(insert pic here)

-of Earth Federation, departs from LagrangeOne, a permanent orbital outpost situated near the home planet.

Crew

• Captain - mf_luder
  
• Pilot(?) - fooks
  
• Chief Medical Officer - DJMEsssiah
  
• Chief Security Officer - nenothtu
  
• Weapons Control Officer - WCO Seeker
  
• Navigator - whiterabbit85
  
• unassigned Ensign - John Q
  

Mission

A carrier, the USS Nimitz was lost in the Alpha Centauri region of space and our mission is to take the Penelope there to try and locate any signs of the missing crew. This mission is classified High Priority.

The USS Nimitz has not reported in for nearly two months now.

We are to investigate, search for survivors, and report our findings to Earth Command.



Command Staff: 9
Navigation - Filled
Medicine - Filled
Science - OPEN
Engineering - Filled
Communciations - OPEN
Security - Filled
Supply - OPEN
Marine Commander - OPEN
Fighter Wing Commander - Filled

There should be at least 1000 - 2000 personnel attached to the Marine contingent to act as a defense/boarding force if needed.

There are a total of 72 Starfighters docked in the USS Penelope and they include the following:

1 Fighter Pilot, 5 Technicians, 5 Weapons Specialists. - - SO:
72 Pilots, 360 Techs and 360 Weapons Specs total.

The rest of the crew laydown I'll leave to my officers' discretion as to how they want to man their sections. The Total Crew number is just to provide PLENTY of leeway on number of personnel needed.

Nenothtu - as current head of security operations, you have operational control over all Marines on board until we get a proper Commander for that - you also have Security personnel.

Ship Functions

Weapons.

Seeker - I love your ideas for the weapons. Just give me some elaboration so I'll know what they do. We can incorporate them into the Penelope at any time. The following are my ideas:

Short Range: Armor Piercing Solid Projectiles
Shield Depleting Energy Rounds
Anti-Fighter Batteries

Long Range: Ship to Ship Capital Artillery Canister Guns (Heavy)
Ship to Space (Anti-Fighter) Canister Guns

Seeker, we can fit in yours wherever, just let me know something.

Defenses.

Static Repulsion Field (Anti-Projectile)
Triple Titanium amor plating
Energy dispersal fields
Anti Missle Chaff and Flak Tubes

Structure:

Six Bays capable of housing an overall total of 72 fighter craft, their support crews and their weaponry line the sides of the (design 1 picture)

The command center is locate on the top of the ship, near the center where the little round thing comes to a head. lol - sorry - I can't really elaborate better than that.

There are two primary medical facilities on board - one for normal crew operations and one for the fighter pilots/marines in case of injuries during ship to ship combat. (DJMessiah, if you have any suggestions for the medical stuff, feel free to pipe in at any time.)

The ship contains enough rooms and quarter to house all 15,510 personnel. We assume that like the Earth military of old, lower ranks equal more to a room to conserve space.

The Penelope contains two food processing and storage facilities, capable of sustaining a crew of 16,000 for 3 years without resupply. These facilities are paired with water treatment and recycling facilities capable of sustaining the same size crew for 2 years without resupply.

There is an on-board air generation facility which uses principles found in plant life to help generate oxygen and recycle it. Since this technology was discovered 100 years ago, it is able to run almost indefinitely these days.

The engines are twin Super-Quad 51J FTL "Bender" Drives. The exhaust cones are solely for sub-FTL travel, as the ship actually uses on-board wormhole generators to move about the galaxy. (JohnQ, as you are the Chief Engineer, this is your baby and I want to see you treat it as such. Chime in with any suggestions and modifications you'd like to see or make to the stock Earth design.)

Computers/Sensor Equipment

The ship has three primary computer banks.

The sensor systems work by three modes:

Passive Scan. - This mode is for detecting any upcoming threats or anomalies to the ship and is always running, regardless of alert status or any other running modes the ship may be in.

Active Scan. - This mode is for directly scanning any vessels, objects, etc. the crew would like to know more about.

Long-Range Scan. - This is high on power consumption but is capable of presenting near-real time data of the surrounding 500ly of space when used.

The ship does not carry probes.

Communications

A "Universal Translator" was a thing of fiction in the 20th century and for all practical purposes, may forever be. However, by using the knowledge amassed from all Earth languages, the Penelope's computers are able to analyze vocal and linguistic information gained from new species to attempt to build a common grounds for communication.

The ship can operate with the following limitations to communications:

Real Time for out to 50ly
Near Real time for out to 50-100ly with a delay of 5s.
Near Real time for out to 100-200lywith a delay of 10s.
Anything further is sent in a "data burst" which can take longer times depending on distance and method of receipt.

The ship has internal PA communications systems for intra-ship communications by the Captain and other ranking personnel.

The ship has an internal "personal use" system for personnel to call each other.

The ship has access to the "Galactic Interweb" - (Equivalent to the internet)






Starship Yddril

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a348be2a8591.jpg[/atsimg]

(pic optional)

-of the Orion Alliance, departs from the Rigellian outpost in the Orion Nebula

Starship Yddryl


• Captain - Cadbury
  
• Pilot(?) - scurvy
  
• Communications Officer - visible_villain
  
• Navigation Officer - Skyfloating
  
• Empath/Chief Medical Officer - antar
  
• Special Ops - Whisper67
  

Their mission remains UNKNOWN

[edit on 18/3/09 by masqua]

[edit on 18/3/09 by masqua]

reply to post by nenothtu


That would be hard to do... the 'merging later' thing.

Let's hope that the two crews don't relpy to each other until the Black Holes collide.

NATURE can always destroy communications if needed... gamma ray burst.

I won't do that unless things screw up too much

No problem, just a thought. I have random ones at times

I noticed in the post above that Penelope's crew is attributed to the Yydril as well.

And poor old Penelope... I've yet to find a picture of her. Ideally, I'll be able to find a usable 3D model in *.3ds or *.cmod format, so I can drop it into a space scene and render it. I'm not holding my breath, as I'm not too good at whipping the actual models up from scratch. It would be nice to have a hint as to size and configuration of the vessel, for the search.

nenothtu out

NATURE note

Berths/Positions still available on both ships. Roster closes at 9PM EST tonight.

Any writers wanting to join in, do so before that time.

reply to post by nenothtu




Thanks for the heads up on the crew lists

I'd just like to welcome all the new additions to the Rigellian crew. What with Skyfloating and Antar on board as well, I couldn't have asked for better collaborators. I'd also just like to mention that I am busy moving home at the moment, but will be posting to the main thread extensively in an absolute maximum of 48 hours.

Thanks everyone! I think this is going to be an amazing collaboration.

Originally posted by nenothtu

And poor old Penelope... I've yet to find a picture of her. Ideally, I'll be able to find a usable 3D model in *.3ds or *.cmod format, so I can drop it into a space scene and render it. I'm not holding my breath, as I'm not too good at whipping the actual models up from scratch. It would be nice to have a hint as to size and configuration of the vessel, for the search.

nenothtu out

Don't forget to load the pic into ATS Media so it'll show up properly. Instructions are on the role playing rules above

Originally posted by masqua

Don't forget to load the pic into ATS Media so it'll show up properly. Instructions are on the role playing rules above

I just uploaded the other ones to my picture album under my account, and, after resizing them they seemed to show up ok. Should I follow a different proceedure?

nenothtu out

Sorry about the double post. My Laptop regurgitated on me in the middle of posting. Funny how technology will do that at times.... just how NEW are these starships again?

[edit on 2009/3/17 by nenothtu]

reply to post by nenothtu


post it on this thread as a test.

clicking on the pic in your ATS Media account will give you the link you need (just scroll down)



[edit on 17/3/09 by masqua]

Originally posted by nenothtu
just how NEW are these starships again?

[edit on 2009/3/17 by nenothtu]

The very latest... FTL and wormhole tested

reply to post by masqua


I'm still a wee bit mistrustful of technology... old stuff breaks down on account of wear... new stuff breaks down on account of not knowing yet where to watch for breakdowns... but, then again, I spent 7 years on a jungle planet hunting monsters with sharp rocks, so what would I know about technology?

Question for you Masqua, will you be detailing both ships capabilities, in my case weaponry, or are you leaving that up to the writers in question?

Test post of test render of test picture...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0d6ed3bf0a75.jpg[/atsimg]

Lemme know if you can or can't see it....

The URL says it's in "my pictures" on the media portal, so it ought to show up.

nenothtu out

[edit on 2009/3/17 by nenothtu]

reply to post by masqua


Again - welcome aboard JohnQ and Fooks!

JohnQ, I will need you to take the position of Chief Engineer and Fooks - looks like you're our new navigation officer.

Glad to have both of you on board.

I'm about to go to work and will not be on for a few hours, but I will be posting extensively to the upcoming thread and look forward to seeing how this is going to turn out.

reply to post by masqua


OP - !!!!!

I'm going to design the Penelope and write up a description for the thread to ease the load from you a bit. I understand you're probably going to be bogged down with running this behemoth of an online rpg/story.

[edit on 17-3-2009 by mf_luder]

Originally posted by mf_luderI'm going to design the Penelope and write up a description for the thread to ease the load from you a bit. I understand you're probably going to be bogged down with running this behemoth of an online rpg/story.

[edit on 17-3-2009 by mf_luder]

OK

I'll be online until the launching, so we have over 2 1/2 hours before the OP gets posted.

We can still use this thread for 'constructive adaptations/suggestions' for as long as we want. it'll be 'stickied' at the top of the Collaborative Writing page.

That will save on U2U's

reply to post by nenothtu


Shows up fine. Nice piccy!



It's all up to your captain, though.

reply to post by masqua


Good stuff. Only ONE more question - are we going to have/use NPC (non-player characters) in this? If so, I can use them for the rest of the crew OR is the crew only the other writers in this thread participating? That will matter a lot for the actual design and functions of the ship.