Document container for project design documents.
Fiction; Torpedo Run
Written by Doug Horton on the old list serv:
Subspace message from Rroorr@aol.com:
Gron tightened his finger on the firing stud for the Challenger's torpedo
launcher.
"Torpedo is away bridge", he reported automatically into his space suit
microphone.
Now the hard work begins, he thought. The torpedo was still firing
main thrusters, barely 200 kilometers away from the launcher in the bow. It
was already swinging around toward the Sathar Frigate Deathstriker. Gron
switched his attention to the camera view relayed from the speeding missile.
The Sathar ship was centered on the display and maginified by the telescopic
cameras in the Torpedo's nose. Gron studied the electromagnetic readout and
got a baseline reading. So far, all readings were in the green, and the
radio link between the Torpedo and the Challenger was rock steady.
Gron sat and waited as the torpedo closed on the Deathstriker. It had
reached the halfway point to the enemy Frigate, almost 15,000 kilometers from
each ship. Suddenly, the link to the Torpedo went dead. Gron almost
chuckled as he glanced at the electromagnetic readouts. It showed a
broadband radio jamming across the wide range of frequencies commonly used for
data links between ships. Gron's fingers flew over the console and switched
all data links from RF to visual laser datalink. The laser pulses
transmitted from the launcher to and from the torpedo would now act like a two
way radio. The camera view from the torpedo once again filled his screen.
"Child's play", Gron chuckled. Gron made a few course corrections as the
range from the torpedo to the target dropped to 12,000 kilometers. That's
when the screen, and all telemetry from the torpedo, went out again. Gron
sat forward in his chair, his smile melting. He ran diagnostics on the laser
communications array and frowned at the news.
The screen read, "results of diagnostic program... Main receiver optics
burned out by high powered flash from Sathar Frigate at 12:34:22 hours.
Backup array receivers also destroyed.
"Well, I can't hear back from you, but I can still communicate TO you",
Gron mused.
He interfaced his console to the Challenger's powerful phased array radar
and ordered the computer to aim his laser light transmitting system by using
the radar returns and correcting for velocity and distance.
The torpedo appeared to be still on course according to the Tactical
display Gron called up on the display screen to his left. The display
screen showed the frigate splitting in two equal sized radar returns.
"Sneaky son of a...! Oh this worm is Good!"
Gron typed quickly into the Challenger's computer interface keyboard once
more. The display switched to Energy sensors, showing three massive
signatures from one target and three much smaller engines burning on the
other.
"Gotcha!", Gron exclaimed, and he fed the correct target data into the
communications system with his torpedo. "The worm is good, but not good
enough. It'll take more than a decoy to fool the Challenger!"
The tactical display now showed three new contacts coming from the
Deathstrike. Gron waited impatiently as the computer tried to identify the
new contacts, although Gron had an idea of what they were. The computer
chirp confirmed his guess. "ICM's. Three of them. Now comes the tricky
part"
Gron relayed new commands to the Torpedo, and keyed his throat microphone
to talk to the ECM officer on the Bridge.
"Lieutenant Gron to Blackly, I need a radar jamming pulse in twelve
seconds, plus a full spectrum light and radio frequency jamming burst, 20
seconds in duration starting on my mark."
"Confirmed Gron, standing by", came the reply from the bridge.
Gron fed in his evasive manuevers to the torpedo, using all but the last
fuel reserves in the main stage to radically alter the trajectory and the
velocity of his torpedo. for good measure, he commanded the computer onboard
the torpedo to switch to the program he was now feeding it as soon as contact
with the Challenger was lost. As the range from the Challenger to the
Torpedo increased, ECM jamming would become increasingly effective. This
meant that very soon, the Torpedo would need to rely on its own internal
guidance systems.
Gron watched the tactical display as the range closed. "ECM burst in
five... four... three... two... one... Mark!"
Gron watched his ECM display level bars jump nearly off the scale in
spite of the attenuation that was automatically added to the detection
equipment as the Challenger's massive White Noise Broadcaster began
transmitting across just about every usable frequency.
At that moment, contact with the Torpedo was lost, but the torpedo
switched to Gron's program. As the Deathstrike's ICMs switched to their own
internal guidance, the torpedo began kicking out its own decoys even as the
trajectory changed. With the frigate's radar jammed for the moment while it
searched for new usable frequencies, the ICMs were left to their own
programming as they tried to stop the incoming torpedo. Two of the three
ICM's went after torpedo decoys, but the third was heading straight for the
torpedo. True to Gron's programing, the main booster stage of the torpedo
disengaged and fired full thrusters in a curving arc away from the
Deathstrike. The Warhead continued in a parabolic course toward the
Deathstrike, but with the booster gone, the warhead had a vastly reduced radar
cross section. This was aided by the radar absorbing paints and carefully
crafted angled surfaces which deflected the majority of the energy into space
instead of allowing it to bounce back to the tranceivers. The third ICM from
the Deathstrike locked onto the jettisoned booster, which had higher energy
readings, both radar and infrared as the booster burned the last of its fuel.
The ICM detonated within thirty yards of the booster, spraying shrapnel
across the entire target. The booster exploded in a bright flash which could
even be seen by the naked eye 25,000 kilometers away.
The warhead, with its deadly nuclear cargo, slipped by the ICMs
unnoticed.
The ECM operator on the Deathstrike realized that fact in time to plan
his next course of action. The Deathstrike turned hard starboard, firing all
thrusters and activating a powerful burst of radar jamming frequencies. For
good measure, the Captain ordered the launch of several infrared flares to
draw off the torpedo if it was using heat seeking guidance. The flares
would glow far brighter than the Deathstrike's manuevering thrusters, drawing
off the torpedo.
Unfortunately for the Deathstrike, Gron had guessed that this might
happen, and the program he had fed into the torpedo before the data link was
lost was still in effect. The onboard computer switched guidance from Radar
and Infrared, to radio direction finding.
Several pods on the torpedo switched antennas several times per second,
establishing miniscule differences in time of arrival to get a precise three
dimensional directional line to the transmitter to within twenty feet of
acurracy. Even as the Deathstrike desperately tried to evaded it, the
torpedo was homing in on the Deathstrike's powerful radar jamming gear.
The captain of the Deathstrike ordered the point defense lasers to be
brought on line. The nearest laser battery began firing low energy pulses in
the direction the warhead was last sighted. The warhead was traveling
thousands of miles per hour at this point, and flew straight into the beams.
Before the onboard sensors recorded the first hits, the torpedo was within
eight hundred yards of the Deathstrike. As the radar absorbing coating was
burned off, it exposed a reflective hull underneath. This deflected some of
the damage, even as it was burned away. When the sensors in the armor
comunicated to the warhead that there had been an 80% reduction in protection,
the warhead exploded.
It had closed another 400 meters during that time, putting the Deathstrike
well within the "Kill Zone" for the high yield warhead. The blast blinded
crew members on that side of the deathstrike, and the massive shockwave of
force and shrapnel smashed into the hull at almost the same moment. The
Deathstrike folded in two as the hull took the brunt of the blast.
Gron leaned back in his G-chair post and scratched another notch in his
console as he watched the Deathstrike drifting helplessly in space, engines
already of their way to going critical, adding to the destruction the warhead
had wrought.
The spacesuit faceplate couldn't hide the gloating expression from his
fellow crew members. "Am I good, or What?"
END Transmission.
Author's Comments: All the talk about technological advances in weapons brought me to
creating this illustration of a "typical" torpedo attack in modern day (post
SWII) Knight Hawks combat. I fully agree that the torpedo doesn't strike
the hull, thus it's entirely possible that a space age version of the Phalanx
system used by our Navy could be in effect already, or at least sufficient
countermeasures to keep a torpedo from striking directly.
In my opinion, a LOT goes on in Knight Hawks that the rules simplify or
ignore. This example of a torpedo (or missile, if you prefer) was certainly
far more advanced than the pre SW1 torpedo. Nevertheless, this world has
proven that weapons and wepon countermeasures generally keep pace with each
other. Yes, the balance tips one way or the other from time to time, but in
general, every new weapon is followed quickly by a system meant to overcome
that weapon.
What does this mean in game mechanics? It's simple. Base to hit the
Sathar Frigate was 45% + (5% X skill level) 25% in Gron's case. (he is
right about being very good)
This was the same base as was used in SWI because the weapons and
countermeasures are BOTH more advanced by an equal amount. The GM should
feel free to create the Mark XII torpedo which adds 5% to the to hit
percentage, or subtract 10% if the torpedo is a pre-Sathar war one torpedo.
This can vary by as small or as large of an amount as the GM decides is
appropriate, but for the most part, the equipment a corporate ship or pirate
force should be able to aquire may be well behind the "state of the art" gear
a Spacefleet vessel will have. The exception would be Wartech corporate
fleets, although even they would have to keep their equipment from Star Law
investigators. (Those Wartech Maxi-Torp model 14 Deltas with Full ECM and
defensive arrays are supposed to ALL be going to Strike Force Nova)
Just a few thoughts from the Listserve's leading Knight Hawks Rules
apologist.
(sorry about the physics deal)
Doug Horton (
Rroorr@aol.com)
Back after lurking far too long
Starship construction
The steps to designing and building a new spacecraft are:
Select purpose of the ship.
Doesn't have any direct effect on the ship's statistics, cost, etc
but guides the design of the ship through the later stages
Select astrogation systems
Select communication and sensor
systems
Select Weapons and Defenses
Select Specialized equipment
(mining, cargo, etc)
Determine cargo bay size
- Select ship vehicles and bays
Determine crew/passenger size
Select crew and passenger
accommodations
Determine life support
requirements
Determine initial computer
requirements
Determine Power requirements
Determine hull type
Determine hull size
- Add any additional armor
Determine ship's total mass
Pick engine type, number and sizes
Finalize computer requirements and
verify power requirements and size
Calculate final cost
Determine ADF, DCR, etc
Astrogation Systems
Different types of ships need different levels of astrogation equipment. Depending on the type of ship, choose the appropriate astrogation suite from the list below
Shuttles - Only basic astrogation equipment is needed as they are travelling only between ships or from a planet's surface to orbit and back. Cost: 1,000 cr, mass: 0.3 tons, volume: 0.1 cu. m
System Ships - These ships need telescopes and other astrogation devices that will allow them to move around between planets and moons within a system. Cost: 5,000 cr, mass: 1 ton, volume 2 cu. m.
Starships - In addition to the astrogation reqirements of a system ship, these ships need large telescopes and sensitive detectors to measure the positions of faint stars to determine the ships exact position and plot interstellar jumps. Cost: 15,000 cr, mass 3 tons, volume: 5 cu m.
Deluxe starship package - This is a more sophisticated starship astrogation package that includes more sensitive detectors and a larger telescope. It provides a 20% reduction in the time required to plot an intersellar jump and provides a +10% skill bonus to the astrogators using it . Cost: 50,000 cr, mass 10 tons, volume 25 cu. m.
Communication and sensor equipment
Ther are a variety of communication and sensor equipment that can be employed by the various types of star ships.
Weapons
The following weapons are available for your ship.
Defenses
The following defensive system are available:
Specialized Equipment
These including mining equipment, exploration equipment, cargo handling equipment, etc.
Cargo Hold
Every ship should be able to carry at least a little cargo even if it is just for the ships personal supplies. Of course this is take up the majority of space in a freighter. A typical tramp freighter will have between 5 and 20 cargo units while some of the mega-freighters will have hundreds.
1 Cargo unit: Cost: N/A (it's just empty space after all and will be accounted for in the cost of the hull),
Mass: 0, volume 150 cu m.
Ship vehicles and bays
There are a variety of small ships that a larger ship may be carrying. These include launches, lifeboats, workpods and escape pods. This could also include small shuttles or even fighter craft on military vessels. This ships may be housed internally inside of bays within a ship or just docked externally depending on the ship designer's wishes.
Small Launch - Holds 4 passengers. Cost: 75,000 cr, Mass 50 tons, volume 20 cu m.
Large Launch - holds 10 passengers. cost 100,000 cr, mass: 120 tons, volume:50 cu m.
Small Lifeboat - This lifeboat is designed to hold 10 beings instead of the standard 20. Cost: 75,000 cr. Mass 120 tons?, volume: 50 cu m.
Large Lifeboat - This is the standard lifeboad from the KH rules (20 passengers) cost: 100,000 cr, Mass: 200 tons?, volume 80 cu m
Escape pod - The mass, cost and volume for an escape pod already include the bay/mount point in which it is held. cost: 30,000 cr, mass: 15 tons, volume: 16 cu m.
Workpod - cost: 75,000cr, mass: 80 tons, volume: 30 cu m.
Bays - If the ship's vehicle is to housed inside the parent ship, space must be allocated to house the vehicle and secure it during maneuvers. Depending on the exact shape of the ship's vehicle, the vehicle bay could be two to three times the size of the ship itself. The cost of a bay includes all the machinery needed to dock the craft and secure it during maneuvers. Cost: 20,000*HS of vehicle cr, Mass: 25*HS of vehicle tons, volume: 1.5x volume of vehicle
External docking point - In this case the smaller ship is just attached to the outside of the mothership with a docking mechanism and connected by some sort of umbilical to allow access from within the main ship. The only space10used up within the main ship is a bit of space for the vehicle access room (effectively an airlock) and some support equipment. There is a limit to the number of ships that can be docked in this manner (Need to figure out how to limit it) Cost: 5000 * HS of vehicle cr. Mass: 15* HS of docked vehicle, volume: 10 cu m.
Size of crew and number of passengers.
The next step is to determine the number of crew memebers needed and the number of passengers the ship will accomodate.
Crew and passenger accomodations
There are a variety of crew and passenger accomodation levels. The cost, mass and volume include the requirements for the cabin itself plus any associated passageways, common areas, cargo storage, etc.
First Class cabin - cost: 2,000 cr, mass: 2 tons, volume 180 cu m.
Journey class cabin - cost: 1,000 cr, mass: 1 ton, volume 75 cu m.
Storage class berth - cost: 2,000 cr, mass: 2 tons, volume: 10 cu m.
Life Support Equipment
Now that you know the number of crew and passengers, you can select the amount of life support equipment. It is recommended that you have at least one backup life support system in case there are problems with (or damage to) the primary system.
Ship's Computer
Tally up all the function points for the ship's programsthe initial size of the ship's computer. We still need to add a drive program so you might want to look ahead and budget for the type of drives you will be buying.
Also you might consider adding a backup system in case there is damage or prolems with the primary system. If you do, determine which programs you want duplicates of and compute the size and cost of the secondary computer system.
Power requirements
This is a new section. It might now make it in. However, I'd like to add power requirements for all the systems and a power reactor to run the systems. Need to work out the details. It would add mas and volume to the ship and provide other systems that you might lose in combat.
Hull Type
There are different hull types. Each type has a mass and cost associated with it depending on the hull type selected. Different hulls provide different amount of hull points for a given ship size.
Light Hull
Standard Hull
Armored Hull
Military Hull
Hull Size
To determine the hull size of the ship, add up the volume of all the components, accommodations and vehicle bays. Don't add in the cargo bays yet. This gives you the total volume of the ship systems in the inhabited portions of the ship.
Next we need to add in space for the various control centers of the ship (bridge, engineering, combat centers, etc.) and passage ways. For simplicity we'll assume that these spaces add 25% to the existing volume of the ship's systems. So the total volume of the inhabited portion of ship is determined by multiplying the volume of all the components by 1.25.
Finally to get the total ship volume, we add in the volume of the cargo area.
Once we have the total volume of the ship, we can compute the hull size (maybe or simply look it up on the chart below).
The ship's hull size will determine things like it's Hull points, the number of ships that can be mounted externally and the numbe of engines it can support.
Now that we have the hull type and total volume, we can calculate the cost and mass of the hull.
<hull cost values go here, it should go up based on the volume >
Additional Armor
Sometimes even the strongest hull just isn't enough and you want to add more armor onto the ship. Once you know the hull size, you can add additional layer of protection to the ship as desired. This will greatly increase the cost and mass of your ship but won't affect the volume.
<This is another new section>
Total Mass
The only thing left is to add in the engines. But first we need to know how much mass the engines will be moving. To do that we tally up the mass of all ship components, the mass of the hull and any additional armor the ship is carrying. This gives us the "empty" weight of the ship (i.e. carrying no cargo).
To determine the loaded weight, we assume that when the cargo area is loaded, it will be filled with cargo that has an average density of 2 tons per cubic meter. To determine the loaded weight, multiply the number of cargo units that the ship is designed to carry by 300 tons and add it to the ship's empty weight.
Keep these two numbers handy as they will be used to determine the maximum acceleration the ship can achieve in it's empty and loaded configurations. For military vessels, passenger liners and other ships that aren't designed to haul a lot of cargo, these numbers will not be very different and you can just use the loaded weight in the following steps if you desire. For freight haulers the numbers become quite important and will vary greatly.
Engines
Engines
Now that we know the mass of our ship, it's
finally time to determine its propulsion. Each type and size of
engine is rated to have a specific thrust and fuel capacity. Your
ship's hull size determines the maximum number of engines it can
support. You don't have to have to fill all your engine slots if that
number of engines is not needed to achieve the performance you
desire. And regardless of hull size and engine type, the maximum
acceleration of any ship is 6g.
|
Hull Size
|
Max Engines
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
2-4
|
2
|
|
5-8
|
4
|
|
9-12
|
6
|
|
12+
|
8
|
Engine thrust is given as an arbitrary thrust
rating that has been scaled to work with the mass of the ship as
given in tons. To determine the maximum acceleration of your ship,
add up the thrust ratings of all your engines and divide that by the
total mass of your ship in tons. The resulting number is the maximum
acceleration of your ship in multiples of one standard gravity (10
m/s/s). Round all fractions down to the nearest tenth of a g. (Add
in a ½ A engine for fighters/shuttles)
Chemical Engines
These engines use a high efficiency chemical fuel
that burns and is expelled out the engine nozzle to provide thrust.
These engines are relatively cheap and easy to produce. While very
powerful, because of the large volume of fuel needed, these engines
have limited capability in regards to how long the engines can
operate on a single fuel load. These engines are typically used for
ground-to-space shuttles and system ships.
Ion Engines
Ion engines work by ionizing hydrogen and
accelerating the resulting protons and electrons to high velocity and
expelling them out the back of the engine to provide thrust. Each
engine contains a small nuclear reactor to provide the power needed
to ionize the hydrogen and accelerate the particles to the
relativistic speeds needed to generate thrust. This reactor uses the
same atomic fuel pellet as an atomic engine but only needs to be
replaced once every 10 years. The initial fuel pellet is included in
the cost of the engine.
While not as powerful as chemical or atomic
engines, Ion engine fuel is relatively cheap and if a ship is
properly equipped, can be harvested from any gas giant for free.
Because of the nature of the engine, ships with
ion engines cannot land or take off from planets.
Atomic Engines
An Atomic engine is a supercharged version of the
chemical engine and uses the same fuel. The engine works by
generating a quantum field that temporarily increases the momentum of
particles by a factor of hundreds. These temporarily super-massive
particle are ejected out of the back of the engine to generate the
thrust for the ship. Because each particle is effectively much more
massive, less fuel is needed to achieve the same thrust and instead
of a single fuel load lasting for only few minutes of thrust, it can
last for days and allow the ship to accelerate to Void jump speeds.
However, generating this field requires a huge
amount of energy (which is transferred to the particles) during
operation. To provide this power, each engine contains its own
nuclear reactor, similar in design to the reactor in the ion engine.
However, the large power requirement of the atomic engine means that
it consumes one atomic fuel pellet after only 10,000 minutes of full
thrust operations (about 8.5 days) instead of the 10 year life span
for the atomic fuel pellet in an ion engine.
In addition, atomic engines require an overhaul
every few jumps, again depending on the size of the engines. This
overhaul is necessary to make sure that the quantum field generators
are properly aligned and positioned to only affect the fuel and not
the body of the engine itself. The number of trips that a ship can
go between overhauls depends on the size of the engine and is give in
the table with the fuel costs below.
Engine Costs
The following table gives the cost and thrust
values for each of the different types and sizes of engines.
Determine the number, size, and type of engines your ship will use
and then record the engines chosen for your ship.
|
|
Class A
|
Class B
|
Class C
|
|
Engine Type
|
Thrust
|
Cost
|
Thrust
|
Cost
|
Thrust
|
Cost
|
|
Chemical
|
6,250
|
50,000
|
20,000
|
175,000
|
80,000
|
770,000
|
|
Ion
|
3,000
|
100,000
|
10,000
|
400,000
|
40,000
|
2,000,000
|
|
Atomic
|
6,250
|
250,000
|
20,000
|
1,100,000
|
80,000
|
6,000,000
|
Fuel
Next you need to provide fuel for your engines and
how much acceleration each fuel load will provide for your ship.
Each engine uses different types of fuel and has different storage
capabilities and requirements.
Chemical Engines
Each fuel load allows a chemical engine to operate
at maximum thrust for 60 minutes. This is typically enough to allow
the ship to make one round trip between the ground and orbit or
limited acceleration and maneuvering in space. Each engine can only
hold a single fuel load and must be refueled after each load is
expended. The cost of a fuel load depends on the size of the engine
and is given in the following table.
|
Engine Class
|
Cost of a fuel load
|
|
Class A
|
300 cr
|
|
Class B
|
1000 cr
|
|
Class C
|
4200 cr
|
Ion engines
Although not as powerful as chemical or atomic
engines, these engines are reliable and can hold more fuel. While
they can technically run off any material, the fuel of choice is
hydrogen. Using any other fuel source decreases the thrust provided
by the engines by a factor of two. Each engine can hold 10,000 fuel
units and each unit provides 10 minutes of operation at maximum
thrust (A fully fueled ion engine can operate continuously for over
80 days without refueling). A fuel unit costs 5, 17, or 70 cr per
unit for Class A, B, or C engines respectively.
Once every 10 years, the atomic fuel pellet in the
ion engine’s reactor needs to be replaced, the cost for this fuel
pellet is the same as that for a similarly sized atomic engine.
Atomic engines
Like the other engines, Atomic engines store all
their fuel internally. The fuel for these engines consists of two
parts. The first is a load of fuel like the chemical rockets, the
second consists an atomic fuel pellet (typically uranium) to power
the reactor. The amount of fuel that can be stored depends on the
size of the engine and is given in the table below.
Each atomic fuel pellet and load of chemical fuel
provides enough fuel for 10,000 minutes (about 8.3 days) of operation
at maximum thrust. The cost of a fuel pellet depends on the size of
the engine, given in the table below. The cost of the chemical fuel
is identical to that of the chemical engines of the same size.
Consult the table below to determine the number of
fuel loads & pellets held and time between each overhaul for each
engine size.
|
Engine Class
|
Trips between overhauls
|
Maximum Fuel Pellets loaded
|
Cost per pellet (cr)
|
|
Class A
|
1
|
3
|
10,000
|
|
Class B
|
3
|
6
|
32,000
|
|
Class C
|
10
|
12
|
125,000
|
Compute total acceleration per fuel load
Acceleration is measured in ADF One ADF is defined
as 10 minutes of acceleration at 1g.
If you want to keep it simple, you can simply
assume the following:
a load of fuel in a chemical rocket provides
just enough thrust to make one round trip between the ground and
orbit around a planet or can provide a total of 8 ADF in space.
Ion engines use one fuel unit per engine per
ADF and a total of 1000 fuel units per engine for a single
interstellar jump
Atomic engines use one chemical fuel load and
one atomic fuel pellet for a single interstellar jump or the same
fuel provides enough thrust for a total of 1000 ADF if operating
solely in-system.
If you want to be a bit more exact and track the
exact fuel usage you can do the following to computer the total
number of ADF that a load of fuel will provide for your ship
depending on the type of engine you have.
Chemical Engines – Take the maximum
acceleration you calculated for the ship earlier and multiply it by
6. This is the total number of ADF your ship gets from using one
load of fuel in each engine.
Ion Engines – The maximum acceleration
calculated above is the number of ADF provided by expending a single
ion fuel unit in each engine.
Atomic Engines – Take the maximum
acceleration calculated earlier and multiply by 1000. This is the
total ADF provided by using one unit of chemical fuel and one atomic
fuel pellet in each of your engines.
Examples
Chemical Engine
Fully loaded a Digger Shuttle (HS 2) has one Class
A chemical engine and a maximum acceleration of 4.7g. Since it has
chemical engines, the total ADF provided by the single load of fuel
in its engine is 4.7 x 6 = 28.2 or 28 ADF.
Ion Engine
A small (HS 7) freighter is equipped with four
Class B ion engines. Fully loaded, its maximum acceleration is 1.1g.
Thus by using up one fuel unit in each of it's four engines, it has
1.1 ADF available. If each engine carries it's maximum fuel load
(10,000 units each), the total ADF available to the ship is 11,000
ADF. Since each interstellar jump typically takes 1000 ADF to
complete, the ship can make 11 trips without refueling if it needed
to.
Atomic Engine
The newly designed Swift class assault scout has a
total mass of 2470.83 tons and two Class A atomic engines for a total
thrust of 12500. This gives a maximum acceleration of 5.059g which
rounds to 5.0. The total ADF available to the assault scout from one
load of fuel in each engine is therefore 5x1000 = 5000 ADF. After
expending this much thrust, the assault scout will have used two
loads of chemical fuel and two atomic fuel pellets, one in each
engine.
Final computer and power requirements
Now that you have the engine size, number and type, you can update the final specs on your computers by adding in the drive program needed to run the drives. This will probably change the size and power requirements of your computers. Not the changes and any increased costs. The increased mass and volume are absorbed into the scaling we used when generating the hull.
Final cost
You've designed your ship, picked all its components and tricked it out exactly how you want it. Now it is time to pay the piper. Tally up the costs of all the components, engines, hull and other items to get the final cost for your new ship.
Final Stats
Now that you are done building, you can tally up the final statistics for your ship. Record the ADF as determined in the engine selection step and then you can compute the HP and DCR of your ship based on the components, hull and armor selected.