The Science Fiction GB - General discussion thread

[Captain Canada]

I'd like try something. As Chris said, don't think I've ever done anything sci-fi !

[kerick]

I'd like try something. As Chris said, don't think I've ever done anything sci-fi !

Then I is clearly time to broaden your horizons and use up a bunch of parts from the spares box.

[Mossie]

Centurion, Conqueror, M-47 & M-48 tanks engaged in a desperate fighting retreat from the Fulda Gap in 1962 - science fiction.

I'd disagree with that one and what most of us do being science fiction, a slight change to historical events makes it alternate history, but not science fiction.  I've got a number of books on a similar theme and you don't find them in the science fiction section.  Also, we wouldn't need a Science Fiction GB!

[zenrat]

...The battleship Prince of Wales salvaged from the depths of the South China Sea, rebuilt as a faster-than-light spaceship & sent out to defend Earth from evil aliens - (very derivative) science fiction...

Although Space Battleship Scharnhorst has a better ring to it.   

[NARSES2]

Of the above list I kinda like the idea of the raptor-riding knights

I like that one as well 

[Dizzyfugu]

The battleship Prince of Wales salvaged from the depths of the South China Sea, rebuilt as a faster-than-light spaceship & sent out to defend Earth from evil aliens - (very derivative) science fiction.

There are even OOB offerings in this spirit available.  Check "Arpeggio of Steel".



...and some action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wkKG4BRMMM

[NARSES2]

Well you're never to old to be surprised 

Would you really need to use camouflage in deep space ? Whatever deep space is ? 

[rickshaw]

Well you're never to old to be surprised 

Would you really need to use camouflage in deep space ? Whatever deep space is ? 

Nope.  No light there, except starlight.  Just paint it black and be done with it.   Even in the later Star Trek movies they recognised that and had lights on the ship to show what it looked like.

[Leading Observer]

I have the Original series AMT Star Trek Space Ship Set - I have an idea for a "Red Star Trek" version of the 3 ships  - apologies if you've read this before, but I posted it under The Rules by mistake

[Weaver]

Well you're never to old to be surprised 

Would you really need to use camouflage in deep space ? Whatever deep space is ? 

Nope.  No light there, except starlight.  Just paint it black and be done with it.   Even in the later Star Trek movies they recognised that and had lights on the ship to show what it looked like.

Also, on a related subject, there's no such thing as stealth in space. The background temperature is as near absolute zero as makes no odds so if your ship's even slightly warm (as it must be if the interior's habitable), then it will stand out like a sore thumb. The most you can hope for is 'terrain' masking (i.e. put an asteroid or a planet between you and the sensor), deception measures (try to look like that asteroid, or an entirely different type of ship) or directional stealth where you cool the surface facing the sensor and radiate all the heat away on the other side. This is likely to seriously affect the design of your ship though.

[scooter]

Well you're never to old to be surprised 

Would you really need to use camouflage in deep space ? Whatever deep space is ? 

Nope.  No light there, except starlight.  Just paint it black and be done with it.   Even in the later Star Trek movies they recognised that and had lights on the ship to show what it looked like.

Also, on a related subject, there's no such thing as stealth in space. The background temperature is as near absolute zero as makes no odds so if your ship's even slightly warm (as it must be if the interior's habitable), then it will stand out like a sore thumb. The most you can hope for is 'terrain' masking (i.e. put an asteroid or a planet between you and the sensor), deception measures (try to look like that asteroid, or an entirely different type of ship) or directional stealth where you cool the surface facing the sensor and radiate all the heat away on the other side. This is likely to seriously affect the design of your ship though.

Check out H. Paul Honsinger's Man of War series.  Naval combat in space; and a helluva lot better than Weber's Honor Harrington novels.  Honsinger does have stealth in space; the ships using thermal control techniques like heat sinks and radiator fins and the potential problems therein.

[nighthunter]

Space Battlecruiser Hood sounds much better, we Yanks don't have much that sounds good, I mean Space Battlecruiser Indianapolis... No, just no...

[rickshaw]

Personally, I'd like to see more Science Fiction stories that reflect Royal Navy tradition and terminology, rather than US Navy stuff.   Something about the blandness of US Navy terminology annoys me, whereas RN stuff is much more interesting.

[zenrat]

Space Battlecruiser Hood sounds much better, we Yanks don't have much that sounds good, I mean Space Battlecruiser Indianapolis... No, just no...

How about Space Frigate Kirk?  That has a certain ring to it.

[Weaver]

Personally, I'd like to see more Science Fiction stories that reflect Royal Navy tradition and terminology, rather than US Navy stuff.   Something about the blandness of US Navy terminology annoys me, whereas RN stuff is much more interesting.

Assuming that the technology of the sci-fi is semi-realistic (i.e. not literally flying battleships) then I'd like to see them abandon naval and aviation terminology altogether and come up with their own ship types and role descriptions. After all, we have little idea what roles actual military spacecraft will perform if they are ever developed at all, so it's hardly likely they'll be analagous to real-world wet-navy or air force ones to the point of the latter's terminology having much relevence.