Tevun-Krus #4 - Space Opera

From Metal to Millenium

From Metal to Millenium 

A "how-to" guide to spaceships by @AlexSCard

I’m neither scientist nor engineer so I don’t truly know what would be needed to build an actual space worthy vessel.

That being said, I have always had a fascination with space based sci-fi and none beats the shear scope of the Space Opera sub-genre.

So how are your characters going to get around the massive, probably dangerous universe you have decided to plop them in? Spae Cycle? Nah. Space walking? Sounds cool, but probably not.

Spaceship? 

Now you're talking.

But how will you design the boat that they will most likely call home? Well, I hope to aid you in that endeavor with the few hints and tips I have picked up along the way.

And where better to start than from the inside out?

The first thing you must have in mind is what kind of technology you will be using in your story and how advanced it will be. This is important because it will influence your designs. If you have artificial gravity plates on your ships then your ship can be almost any shape you want, but if you don’t--and still want gravity so your characters don’t suffer from bone deterioration on long voyages (it happens. Space is an unforgiving place)--then you will probably need a curved hull so that your ship can create gravity through centrifugal force.

Next, and in my opinion the most important things you must think about when designing your starship are: form, function and size. Form, function and size are integral to the overall ship design and play off one another.

How so? You might  want the sleek look of a cigar-shaped rockets of old or maybe it's going to be big, blocky and look like it was thrown together with matchsticks and glue. Either way, even though space travel doesn’t have all the same restrictions as planetary travel, not all shapes are practical for the ship’s intended use.

For example let’s look at a warship. Of course you want a ship that is going to be effective in any combat situation, so you might want to design it in a way to give it the best weapons coverage it could have. One of my favorite examples of a well-designed warship is the Star Destroyers of Star Wars. The arrow-head shape makes them effective when engaging an opponent that is directly in front, to either side or from above or below them. Its only real vulnerable spot is the very rear of the ship, but I’d like to see you try to sneak up on a Star Destroyer with enough firepower to do some damage.

Earlier I mentioned that space travel is different from planetary so you don’t have to use the same shapes, but if you wish your starship to be able to enter and exit the atmosphere you may want to design it to have an aerodynamic shape and maybe even wings to help it gain lift in the higher gravity environment.

 Size is also important when designing a craft that can land or enter the atmosphere since the larger the craft the more gravity will affect it when it’s planetside, but if your civilization has designed a powerful antigravity device you probably don’t need to worry about it. Size is further affected by function since a fighter needs relatively little space it can be fairly small, but a cargo ship while not necessarily massive must have room for all the cargo your character is going to be hauling.

When you’re thinking of the overall size and shape don’t forget to include whatever propulsion system you have in the craft. Whether your ship has a massive drive system that propels it around at incredible velocities or is it able to fold space, allowing it to travel from system to system with conventional drives you’ll need to think about that when designing your ship and how evident it is from the outside.

Do you have the basic shape and size in your head? If you’re having trouble envisioning it or keeping everything you’ve come up with, why not grab a piece of paper and a pencil and sketch it out? I am no artist and I do this all the time. The pictures are very basic and aren’t at all very good, but they help me hold on to the image and inevitably describe the ship to my readers. Don’t do them in indelible ink though as you may have to make some changes along the way.

Don’t think you’re done now that you’ve got the outside shape of your ship, because now you’ve got to fit your crew, all their equipment and anything else you want on board your craft. Don’t worry about changes you may have to make to fit everything in. Ship designs may change simply with your mood. The overall shape of one of my ships has changed probably five times as I have moved things around and decided on even the basic interior design.

The basic layout of your ship is important to the story since your crew will more than likely move around the ship (if it’s large enough) during the story and you don’t want them entering a room through one door and then entering the bathroom through the same door. That is extremely confusing to the readers. I’m not telling you that you need to map out every corridor and room onboard, but it is wise to have a basic layout so you don’t get lost.

Now this isn’t that important for a tiny craft such as a fighter, but you may want to make note of where certain controls and screens are so your characters aren’t looking in different directions each time he checks his fuel level.

I did say you didn’t need to map out every corridor and room onboard, but if you have a hard time remembering were things are and how to get from your characters bedroom to the bridge of the ship it’s not a bad idea to “map” out the interior. As with the outside sketch, it doesn’t have to be fancy, maybe a box for every room with a line for the corridor just to help you with constancy in your story.

There are tons of other things you can and probably will think about when designing your ship, but I leave you with these few tips to help you along the way:

Whether it’s a massive battlecruiser or simply a tiny little transport have fun with it! If you don’t enjoy the creation process then you’re most likely doing something wrong. If you’re putting too much time trying to make it perfect, stop; you don’t deed to map out ever dent and scrape on the hull or were every wire goes. Your readers aren’t interested in all the detail, what they really want is enough information so they can see it with their minds eye and aren’t confused by contradictory information. If you enjoy building the craft then your audience will likely enjoy discovering it and that my friends, is what writing is all about.