World War Eternal WIP - Take 2

[sorceress21]

Stuck here in the United States of Corruption...

[Aethernaut]

Thanks guys. It's been awhile but I've eked out a couple of updates. As usual, not enough time for the fun stuff!

Major Diarrhia: Interesting idea for the rank but I want to stick closer to traditional stripes for the uniforms. The U.S. Space Corps is an outgrowth of the Air Force so they appropriated much of the USAF protocol.

Glazy: I've seen Ministry of Space in passing for years and I've always meant to pick up the graphic novel but haven't got around to it yet. I love the idea and I'm fascinated with WWII so it's right up my alley. World War Eternal is a little beyond the MoS setting in technology. It also has more of a dieselpunk feel and is heavy on the supernatural elements. I think I'll truck on over to Amazon and order the book just as soon as I finish this post...

How about an update?!

I've finished the Space Corps ranks (these go on a pale gray uniform ala the background of the enlisted stripes):


And now for something completely new... a starship.

I've been doing some pathfinding with is for a long while. I've decided to flesh it out to get an idea of the over all look & feel of the Allied vessels. So, here's the basic blocked out shapes for the Ranger Class Command Battlecruiser. This is the SCV-2, USV Enterprise. The first image is with the port/starboard heavy armor removed, the second is how she'd normally look.


She's 262 meters long and capable of planetfall thanks to reverse-engineered Zeta-Reticulan saucer technology. Most of the large Allied ships will follow with the basic shapes used here. There will be some big differences in the space carriers but they'll still resemble the overall feel. There will be some variation between USNA, PSSC, and Oceanic Commonwealth vessels as well but they share basic designs freely.

The Axis ships will be FAR removed from this design. They're somewhat alien looking and have a Gothic creepiness to them.

Enjoy!!

[Major Diarrhia]

Dude very cool but they don't really follow the tenets of Battleshipage. Short profile faces the enemy, armor facing the enemy gets the armor, guns stay close and stacked so they can fire over each other and at the enemy while exposing the least amount of hull.

But your design is cool, so I don't much care in this case.

[MichaelS]

That's what I love about your work, mate: it always gives me something to look up to! Excellent stuff ...

[M1Labbe]

Very nice. Can't say much about the rank insignias except that they look perfect.

The Enterprise has a really original look to it. Exactly what a WWII battleship in space should look like. Bulky, but dangerous.
I have just one question. What is that extension at the front of the ship? It seems a bit vulnerable to enemy fire.
And there's one thing that I miss. A few battleship-style guns.
But that's nitpicking. Congretulation to the overall style. It absolutly fits the scenario and has a very fresh look. I'm curious how the carriers will look like. Will they play minor role for the fleet like in the real WWII or a greater role in like they did since after the war?

[Aethernaut]

Thanks guys! A few answers for the curious...

Originally Posted by Major Diarrhia

Dude very cool but they don't really follow the tenets of Battleshipage.

Thanks! And actually, it does follow the "tenets of Battleshipage" for this universe. This ain't the reality we know! In combat it would have it's Philadelphia cloak (or "Philly cloak" for short, the result of the Philadelphia Experiment) engaged so it would be virtually invisible. The cloak also provides a pretty decent defense against Axis laser artillery. The larger vessels in World War Eternal are also designed to fight over vast distances in a 3 dimensional environment so they have very little resemblance to ships designed for surface engagements.

Originally Posted by M1Labbe

have just one question. What is that extension at the front of the ship? It seems a bit vulnerable to enemy fire.

It's the WERB inducer (Wheeler-Einstein-Rosen Bridge inducer), it finds, expands and stabilizes quantum wormholes. In other words, it's the stardrive. In order to function it has to be set out away from the bulk of the ship. That blue on it and around the lower nose of the ship is an anti-fouling coating for "wormhole barnacles," etheric, other dimensional creatures that feed on the energy used for the projectors in the WERB inducer and attach themselves to the hull. They calcify as the ship exits the wormhole and have to be removed occaisionally.

Side note, because of quantum fluctuation, travel time for wormhole travel is relative to the vessel. The length of time isn't predictable by the crew but always falls between ~7 minutes and ~18 minutes per light-year. Relative to both mouthes of the wormhole only seconds pass as the ship enters and exits.

Originally Posted by M1Labbe

And there's one thing that I miss. A few battleship-style guns.

Well, uh, it's not done yet! It's actually going to be armed to the teeth. It's the largest of the Allied gun vessels. It will eventually have 15 main coilguns on 5 turrets, 16 secondary coilguns, 34 flak cannons on 17 turrets, 44 anti-aerospacecraft cannons, 4 - 21 tube missile launchers, 12 torpedo tubes, and the big guns -- 20 nuclear missile tubes. It will also carry a fighter flight and a squadron of Space Corps Marines.

It's virtually a flying city designed for fleet commanders. It will have more radar and communication capabilities than any of the other Allied ships (possibly barring the carriers) as well.

Originally Posted by M1Labbe

I'm curious how the carriers will look like. Will they play minor role for the fleet like in the real WWII or a greater role in like they did since after the war?

Probably somewhere in between and probably serving a similar roll to the command battlecruisers, that is, fleet anchor ships.

[USS Mariner]

Fantastic stuff Aethernaut!

The only thing that I could really comment on is that the SCV basic form.

From what I can gather from the side view, it's very reminicient of Paul Verhoeven's Rodger Young. Even the coloring is very similar.

I understand that it's supposed to be a flying fortress (pun intended,) but I think this could easily go for a more dieselpunk look. I have a few ideas that I'd like to share.

[Major Diarrhia]

Every ship, space and wet, can benefit from a small profile and strategically placed armor. I like that your Philadelphia project worked, it should provide a perfect defense against lasers, not just a decent one, unless it only ghosts the ship.

May I suggest fractal stellar barnacales.
Fractal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The armement sounds weird and I see why now that I checked the Iowa Class at Wikipedia, it's underarmed in AA and over barreled in magnetic barrels.
Iowa class battleship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Personally, I'm against space fighters. It's not like we have fighters underwater or battleships in the air. Torpedo boats, that's idfferent. The only fighters in space should be ones being carried to a planet to fight in the atmosphere.

If you want a more powerful or faster firing ship with magnetic guns, all you need are more capacitors and heat sinks to make a single barrel fire faster. If you're going more barrels, I don't see a reason not to go for an equal number of bottom guns as top guns with the right hull arrangement.

[Aethernaut]

Originally Posted by Major Diarrhia

Every ship, space and wet, can...

<EDIT>Sometimes I just need to reread posts before diving in with claws and fangs bared. Thanks for the constructive crits, Major.</EDIT>

The first paragraph from one of my working documents because I think it's applicable on the nature of this reality:

Originally Posted by WWEternal_Notes.odt:

With Signs, and with Wonders
The Twilight Days of 1924
On May 21, 1924 the sky inexplicably grew dim. This “twilight,” as the newspapers dubbed it, lasted for three days. Astronomers of the time were at a loss to explain the phenomenon.

Years later physicists connect the Twilight Days with a brane collision event which fundamentally altered the universe. The event caused a series of temporary rifts to open into parallel universes allowing them to spill out into our own. This also slightly altered the laws of physics as we know them.

The mundane reality we had known before had changed. A multitude of alien universes were suddenly superimposed on this one. Strange new “powers” began to manifest among the men of Earth as well as the other sentient cultures which had suddenly appeared in the Sol System and beyond. Some call these powers psychic, some mystic. They were subtle at first but many people recognized them early and began to exploit them.

I do like the fractal barnacles idea!

[Major Diarrhia]

Yay.

I like the brane collision to. But what happens if there's a loaf collision?