Challenge #9 – iOSYS – Water Droplets

[iOSYS]

My initial idea of a triangular stealth ship/sea shadow/f-117 thing lasted for about five minutes before two things killed it for me
-Stealth things can look non angular nowadays
-It's virtually impossible to have real stealth in space

It would be easier if I could just settle for fantasy style scifi more often. "It has cloak device lol" oh well.

Anyhow, something better popped into my head. A long time I thought up this shielding method for this ship in a story. You use gravity generators to encase the ship in an ocean of water (or.. ballistics gel I guess :P) The idea was that since bullets can only travel a few feet through water, lasers would be quickly diffused, and generic glowy scifi weapons would just convert some of the mass to steam, which would subsequently be pulled back into the water later. (space is cold)

"But Alex, that's stupid."
Actually it's like any Armour that ablates, except then the ship can yank the slag back into it's Armour matrix once its blown off. Jerk.

I like the way the idea loans itself to a spheroid primitive so well, and also is totally bitchin. Or... even better a teardrop actually. I also decided I probably shouldn't totally undermine the intention of the contest by having any random shaped ship with a sphere of water around it. I believe there was a clause about just having just a sphere with a texture on it? :P

I collapsed the stack on the model, so I can't detail the odyssey of making the Guilty Spark bit yet. I'll try to show an approximation later, it wasn't boolians. Also I'm going to merge some components from the steampunky design sketch as well.

[iOSYS]

Oops, I accidentally posted the teardrop variant I made the moment I typed it in above. Oh well. Here's the right ones:

[Tinukedaya]

Now this is some really interesting idea! I really like it and the model!

[The B5 Fan]

Well, I've lost. :)

[fluxfire]

Wicked! very adept idea on the shields as well.......

not very practical against torps i would think as they would do more damage then any other weapon as the shockwaves would not only blow off more water but they would deffenatally destroy the hull.....

but then again i am thinking like the impact of a meteor would do into a planet so i could be wrong.

Still though wicked design.

[Dallidas]

very interesting idea like others have said! The modeling is top notch as well!


One question. is it manned? If so I dont see how the crew would get off without all the water getting out.

[fluxfire]

@Dallidas
I think that would be an easy fix just have a docking port that extends out of the shield area problem solved :P

[Dallidas]

mmk, what happens if it flies to close to the sun? Is there another shield around the water to keep it from instantly vaporizing or freezing?

[iOSYS]

Indeed. Or even a system that stores the water inside the ship when it is out of combat.

As for missiles they would indeed be a possible counters to this, but I imagine missiles would need to be specifically designed to be able to enter water. You could even electrify the water to destroy missiles that touch it.

[Dallidas]

you could say that the water is under immense pressure, making it as hard as ice, but not as fragile!

[iOSYS]

I thought about that. I think if we're assuming some kind of high tech gravity generator tech/tractor beams it would be pretty easy to dump enough power into it that even if most of the liquid was vaped it wouldent actually be able to get very far away.

As for freezing I doubt it would be pure water really. Some kind of gel that.. is not... freeze.. easy.

EDIT: Exactly, it would be under high pressure.

[Dallidas]

something more dense then water I would think

[Tinukedaya]

I thought about that. I think if we're assuming some kind of high tech gravity generator tech/tractor beams it would be pretty easy to dump enough power into it that even if most of the liquid was vaped it wouldent actually be able to get very far away.
.
.




That would actually have an nasty side effect... it will also draw projectiles to your ship ... even those which would miss the otherway.

which means, if you get hit so that the water would get away and you would need to put up the energy output of you grav generator to pull it back, you will also pull the fire to your, at that point unprotected, hull.

[Dallidas]

I think the generators would have a very specific stop point so that your not drawing fire from really far away. Although it would be cool to capture projectiles in the gravity field and sling shot them back at the enemy! Or even capture debris giving you more protection from enemy fire

[iOSYS]

If anyone is looking for Inspiration, I just remembered this ship from a game called Elite Force. It's one of my favorite ships in scifi, the "Dreadnought Gunship." It fires a slug from a 600 meter barrel. It could certainly be described as simply a giant cylinder.

[Melak]

I just played EF again a couple days ago!

Here's a cap of the "high" quality vid:
http://xs134.xs.to/xs134/08514/dreadnought709.jpg

[fluxfire]

Heh EF haven't played that game in a long time..........

[Sphynx]

Information regarding Challenge #10 (http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/challenge-wips/54880-sensei-challenge-10-primitives-motion.html) has now been released.