> > [McE] Possibly. This is a colour item though - it depends on the way
> > [McE] the hull grows - which is a designed function anyway.
>
> Hello Nigel,
>
> as David points out, multiple engines are a safety feature. The
> 3E rules don't penalize too many separate reactionless thrusters,
> even if realism should give maintenance problems if you have,
> say, a hundred 100-lb. thrusters.
>
> I tend to give smaller shuttlecraft two to four thrusters, with
> enough reserve power to fly on half the drives, while very large
> ships might have a dozen thrusters, e.g. a 4-megaton ship with
> ten 10-megaton thrusters.
>
> The largest bioships would have fewer (but individually larger)
> engines than a similar-sized metal ship, while the smaller
> bioships get more (but individually smaller) engines than a
> similar-sized metal ship.
[McE] ...this is a design choice, rather than something based on biological
necessity. I would prefer, as a world builder, to see a colour suggest why
the ship has 1 or 41 drives. [As it might be based on a fish, or a jelly
fish, rather than just a ship in bio.]
> > [McE] depends on where you draw the line between Hull and
> Superstructure.
> > Are you building and Oenone{Peter Hamilton}, or a Moya?
> >
> > Moya appears to have a mechanical structure to her framing. Not so for
> > Oenone.
> > [Udat however...]
>
> Visuals and/or game mechanics. If the superstructure has a
> different material or strength, it must be a different
> subassembly, and even the same material would get a
> different subassembly if it is set visibly apart.
[McE] I don't think I follow you.
Are you making the hull entirely organic or partially mechanical, IE;
cybernetic?
I think that an organic ship with a bolt on crew compartment [Like a space
going howdah] would have to have a heavily build superstructure, as the crew
compartment would have to be in its entirety.
While a bioship whose tissue has been trained into certain shapes with
non-organic ribs and so on, might have no superstructure, or a much lighter
superstructure as it is better anchored.
> > > Also, leaving out most of the "small fry" would allow a small but
> > > noticeable performance increase in the "main" systems -- a higher
> > > scan rating, perhaps, or bigger force fields.
> >
> > [McE] ...does grow time get covered as a cost or is it a freebie? I
> mean,
> > referring back to Oenone, she grew attached to an asteroid for 20 years
> > before having superstructure bonded on and that cost enough that it
> takes
> > years of naval service to pay for it. [for her and Syrinx.]
>
> I'll list the calculated game mechanics cost, TANSTAAFL.
> Growth time means you have to nurture your growing ship,
> and the interest has to be paid on the initial investment
> while the ship sits idle.
>
> Regards,
> Onno
[McE] Grow time also means its cheaper in the first place.
And idle might not require anything beyond an asteroid to eat and the hulls
own solar array, or a gasgiants magnetosphere.
I think your design concept should come before the design here.
If its an animal you 'ride' through space, its _not_ a vehicle.
Perhaps you should be looking at a racial, rather than class design?
However, if its just a ship made from life, then whatever design you use
normally is going to be ok. Anything you do is just colour.
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