[Grey Wolf]

Has anyone attempted to figure out how long GTVA ships would be able to go without returning to base?

[Ford Prefect]

Well they have fusion reactors, so they ought to be able to go for many years without refueling. In terms of maintanace, I'd wager they're built to last a while before they need touch-ups; space isn't exactly the most corrosive environment compared to the ocean or even the air.

[Nuke]

a large destroyer im pretty sure has the resources to do repairs on the move. im sure they keep cargo bays full of replacement hull plates and other spare parts and machine shops to fabricate whatever they dont have. that in conjunction with redundant systems could allow a destroyer to fly for some amount of time before a return to base is required. the only limits i could think of the availability of foodstuffs. not sure if the fs universe has food replicators. but you cant feed a crew of 100000 withour huge onboard greenhouses. i wonder what the vasudans eat.

[Swamp_Thing]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
Well they have fusion reactors, so they ought to be able to go for many years without refueling. In terms of maintanace, I'd wager they're built to last a while before they need touch-ups; space isn't exactly the most corrosive environment compared to the ocean or even the air.

No, but solar radiation (x-rays, gamma rays, small meteorite impacts, etc) can eat away a hull´s strenght if it´s not protected against it.
And those who think a greenhouse can feed 10.000, you should check on the experience done in the Arizona desert, the geo-bubble or some other silly thing. They had a huge greenhouse, there were only 5 or 6 people inside, and they even considered aborting the experiment because they were short on food. And if 5 people can´t feed for a year over a greenhouse the size of 2 football fields, just imagine the size a greenhouse would have to be to feed 10.000...
The only viable solution would be cryogenic chambers, or putting most of the crew in hibernation or something like it. If you have 10000 mouths eating at the same time, not even if you turn the Colossus into a giant freezer would you keep the crew alive for a year. The quantity of food is immense. You should see how big the food stock is in a navy ship with 200 crew, and that lasts them for about 1 month before needed to re-supply.

[Liberator]

Hull degradation is a problem long term though.  I forget the name of the process, but an enviroment such as the one that exists in space eats away at the molecular structure of everything.  I remember reading somewhere that after 20 years of flight most of Voyager 2's hull was less than paper thin and the slightest pressure, even something as light a hand brushing against it would cause the entire structure to fall apart.  That's not really a problem on a ship with several feet of hull.  But who knows how long the GTVA built them for, I mean destroyers are a massive investment.  Probably something on the order of the GDP of some modern first-world countries.

As far as food goes, with freeze-drying, you could probably cruise for maybe a month.

3 x 10,000 = 30,000 meals per day

A freezedried meal weighs maybe 3oz.; there are 16oz in a lb.

30,000x4=90,000oz and 90,000/4 =22,500 lbs of food per day

and there are 30 days in the average month

22,500 x 30 = 675000 lbs or 337.5 short tons of food consumed every month.

The average destroyer probably has a dozen consumables depots

337.5/12 = 28.125 tons per depot

That is a lot of food, but there are a lot of operations we never see., waste disposal for instance.  Liquid waste can be recycled, but solid waste would have to be stored until an appropriate time.  *pictures a surprised shivan flying though a cloud of crap after a wayward shot puncured waste facility 5*

[Nuke]

no, poo gets recycled too im sure. the space shuttle will remove anything from poo that can produce electricity in a fuel cell. anything left over can be thrown in a fusion reactor and magrinally increases power output. seeng as poo is flamable (they formed poo bricks and used it to power fire places in the middle ages) it you remove moisture and add oxydizer you got rocket fuel poo is a very usefull material.

hull deterioration does not seem to be as big a problem as feeding the crew. other ways to keep a crew fed:

whole crue lives on supplements, which would eleminate the poo
genetically engineered plants that grow really fast
canibalisim
shivan bbq
recycled poo

[Liberator]

It's not sanitary though(the poo),  the bricks of poo used for heating in the middle ages were one of a myriad of reasons that the average lifespan was about 35.

[Nuke]

that, and the fact that people never bathed.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing


No, but solar radiation (x-rays, gamma rays, small meteorite impacts, etc) can eat away a hull´s strenght if it´s not protected against it.

On modern craft fair enough but on a hull that can shrug off nuclear impacts I'm not so sure.

If a ship was out of contact for years that might become an issue but problems to do with maintaining the crew will limit the lifespan long before that sort of thing affects the ship.

[aldo_14]

I quite like the idea of GTVA ships having to resupply.  I'm not sure it tallies with the crew numbers, but it would add a nice extra tactical dimension to campaigns.  They must require some form of supplies, though - anyone remember what the supply convoy to the Collosus in FS main was carrying as cargo?

[ChronoReverse]

The Colossus had to wait for gas miners to refuel after one campaign.  The smaller vessels may be more fueal efficient, but this indicates that they don't last forever.

[Liberator]

The Colossus was the SUV of the warship world.

15 lightdays per refuel.  That's why it was disabled at the end, it ran out of gas.

[Carl]

Originally posted by Nuke
i wonder what the vasudans eat.

you're kidding, right?

[Carl]

Originally posted by Liberator
The Colossus was the SUV of the warship world.

no, it goes like this:

cruiser=car
corvette=SUV
destroyer=truck
Colossus=Semi

[ChronoReverse]

He meant SUV as in gas-guzzler.

[Liberator]

Yeah, Semis get good mileage anyway.  They can go from New York to Los Angeles and only have to stop once if it's team drivers.

[Swamp_Thing]

Originally posted by karajorma


On modern craft fair enough but on a hull that can shrug off nuclear impacts I'm not so sure.

If a ship was out of contact for years that might become an issue but problems to do with maintaining the crew will limit the lifespan long before that sort of thing affects the ship.

Just what ship withstands nuclear blasts? Even if :V: added some example of where a ship does resist a nuclear blast, is that realistic or just something that sounds cool? A nuclear blast carries a lot of energy. It can blow up a mountain of granite like a twig. I don´t think there is any alloy. now or in the future, that can fend off a 10 megaton blast, not even if you make a hull 50 feet thick.

As for repair crews going on EVAs on deep space, read this:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970228a.html
 Unless you get some sort of robot or machine doing those repairs, there isn´t much you, as a human, can do about it.
This means that you have to take your damaged ship to a proper shipyard for repairs, because you can´t just get outside and do it yourself as you go.

anyone remember what the supply convoy to the Collosus in FS main was carrying as cargo?

Probably food and water, and Bosch beer, of course. FS ships don´t need much ammo, they all use energy based weapons anyway. And the reactors don´t need re-fueling for long periods of time. The only thing that grants the need to have a constant convoy travelling behind you to re-supply your ship is food products. And some machine parts that the ship´s workshops can´t manufacture themselfs.

[Jetmech Jr.]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing


Just what ship withstands nuclear blasts? Even if :V: added some example of where a ship does resist a nuclear blast, is that realistic or just something that sounds cool? A nuclear blast carries a lot of energy. It can blow up a mountain of granite like a twig. I don´t think there is any alloy. now or in the future, that can fend off a 10 megaton blast, not even if you make a hull 50 feet thick.
 

This has been discussed before.

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,22983.0.html

FS Missiles/bombs are incredibly powerful. The effects on the ships are, IIRC, fairly realistic, as well.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
Just what ship withstands nuclear blasts? Even if :V: added some example of where a ship does resist a nuclear blast, is that realistic or just something that sounds cool?

Nuclear weapons are only effective in an atmosphere, due to the air displacement.  The Apollo spacecraft survived all kinds of nuclear radiation on their way to the moon and back.

[TrashMan]

I still think that is bogus. A direct impact with the ships hull - air or no air, you should be picking the ship up with pincers...

the shockwave doesn't even come in play..