The Hercules-class Construction Platform acts as a central hub for major development projects. Staff can direct workforces, load/unload equipment and cargo, and even fabricate buildings all from within the Hercules.

First fielded by Default Industrial Tools and Manufacturing in YE 45.

Default construction works on big jobs. Sometimes, those jobs are really big.

We're talking “this planet needs to get colonized in two months” big.

Traditional construction techniques just won't cut it when you're operating with that kind of scope. Default reached out to other NDC guilds, as well as their favorite technology provider, OHI, and set to work.

The prompt was simple: “We need to setup an entire construction site and be job ready on the first day of our arrival. After that, scale should be the only determining factor behind how long a job takes. All of the necessary equipment, supplies, and crew habitats should be onsite as soon as we're setup.”

Conclave Ship Works had quickly established themselves as a powerhouse of large-scale fabrication in the New Dusk Conclave. As they were largely focused on military ship- and ship-adjacent technologies, a request such as this wasn't overly complicated. The addition of four massive VTOL engines was Conclave's primary contribution.

Next was Noval Heavy Industries. More well known for their high-end goods and elaborate space stations, they were nonetheless a beneficial part of the vessel's design. Eschewing the majority of their pricier technologies, they nonetheless collaborated by adding their Chromatic Hangar technology to the design, largely removing the need for large external doors and security systems. Designs for supervisor rooms, crew quarters, and office spaces were also provided, resulting in a surprisingly comfortable working/living arrangement for the craft's crew compliment.

The extensive amount of logistics required to oversee such an operation required experts in the field, which made the Mining Guild a natural fit. Cargo movement, collaboration and scheduling systems, and more were designed with their assistance, so that the final design would operate smoothly and efficiently.

Lastly, OHI helped to design the multistruct systems, as well as the resource storage and transportation systems required for their operation. As Default already makes use of their Hephaestus Class Industrial Vessel for space-based construction work, they also worked together to ensure that the Hephaestus could transport the new Hercules-class as part of its cargo.

The result was something like a brick wrapped in metal with a bunch of engines attached to it. It would win no beauty competitions and would certainly not outrace anything. There was no doubt, however, that it could get where it needed to be and get the job done. Default decided to call it the “Hercules” class, after the massive insect of the NDC's homeworld that was was known for its thick armor, incredible strength, and, almost paradoxically, its ability to fly.

The Hercules-class is an entire construction site in one vessel. While they can operate with other vessels, a single Hercules can oversee the largest of jobs for years without any outside involvement.

It can transport and procure necessary resources to fabricate nearly anything that a job might require, with more than adequate crew and planning spaces to oversee the effort. For things that can't be fabricated onsite, or can simply be prepared ahead of time, the Hercules class has considerable interior storage.

As much of its work is expected to be in atmosphere, often where it cannot land, the Hercules features four massive engines that allow it to enter and exit a planet's gravity well. Once there, it can keep itself aloft indefinitely.

While the Hercules-class could be used as the center of operations for any effort, potentially even those of military nature, it was designed first-and-foremost for utilitarian work, such as construction or repair.

As far as space craft go, the Hercules-class is spectacularly big and blocky. It eschews concepts like 'aerodynamics' in favor of bigger engines. At the end of the day, it is more a building that is able to move than an actual vehicle.

Its central body is boxy and only a little longer than it is tall or wide. The ship's helm sits at the front of the vessel inside of a cage of transparent durandium, its design similar to a multi-story tiered office building, with numerous windows along its face.

Across its sides are numerous glowing portals into the ship's interior. Two long rectangular portals are closer to the top of the Hercules-class' sides, where shuttles and other smaller craft can come and go. Four large, squarish portals are lined up along the Hercules' lower sides. These portals are held inside a mouth with a large overhang with cranes for lifting/lowering cargo and equipment.

The lower front and rear of the ship has another set of wide portals for construction-oriented flyers. These portals enter into the same general bay as the side ones do, but are reserved for flight traffic only.

The bottom of the Hercules has thick, stubby feet, should the craft ever need to land. Four physical hatches on its belly, each nearly the width of the craft, can open to reveal multistruct arrays.

Though the ship is not meant for military use, it is still able to protect itself. Four turrets, one at each vertical 'edge' of the central box, are its major source of self-defense. Each of its cargo bays has smaller weaponry that is concealed until needed.

Most striking, perhaps, are the four huge engines that extend away from the central body on thick arms. They are arranged vertically and are intended primarily entering, exiting, and remaining stationary around planetary bodies.

Three large engine nozzles are found on the back of the Hercules-class and provide most of its forward thrust, in combination with the usual gravity drives that litter the sector.

The Hercules-class is particularly resilient for a ship of its size, but it is neither fast nor maneuverable. It is underarmed for a vessel of its class and must rely on escorts for the majority of its security.

Crew: 250 operators are recommended, 60 are required.

Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 500 people. About 800 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

• Length: 110 meters
• Width: 95 meters (215 meters with VTOL thrusters and arms)
• Height: 70 meters (90 meters with VTOL thrusters and arms)
• Decks: 9

• Hyperspace Fold Drive: .15 ly/m
• Sublight Engines: .15c
• Range: Indefinite
• Lifespan: 60 years
• Refit Cycle: Once every five years

DRv3 Tier: 11, Medium Starship

The Hercules-class' decks can be divided into 5 major categories. The diagram above lays out the major locations of each, although each has its overlaps.

Engineering is mostly located in and around the ship's large rear engines. Power generation for the vessel is also largely contained here, although each of the Hercules' large VTOL thrusters has self-contained energy production systems.

Snaked throughout the rest of the ship are numerous maintenance corridors and access tunnels, all of which act as secondary cargo transports. Parts, supplies, and engineering crew are carried through these tunnels to where they need to be through a system of smart conveyor belts, typically in containers (or container-like objects, in the case of crew transports) that are roughly the length and width of a sedan. These containers are attached to the belt in a way that allows them to remain level regardless of the belt's orientation.

Selections of power tools made by Default or traditional, non-powered tools made by its subsidiary company, MANLEY, are available throughout engineering and other maintenance stations throughout the ship.

Resourcing is made of numerous storage containers that all feed into the Hercules' construction array and other onboard fabrication systems. While some space is lost to the systems that store or retrieve the raw resources that this facility holds, it still contributes nearly 405,000 cubic meters of resource capacity to the Hercules-class. That's enough to build nearly 30 Empire State Buildings without a resupply! ¹⁾

Cargo is larger than Resourcing by volume, but far less dense. When unloaded, much of its space is empty. Numerous transportation systems, large cranes, and more are positioned in the huge cargo bay, as well as a number of automated systems for securing cargo containers in place.

The default arrangement for the Cargo deck is a single, open space, so that its crane systems can maximize their effectiveness. This can lead to some rather impressive stacks of cargo containers thanks to the Cargo deck's 23 meters of height.

To the front and rear of the Cargo deck are (relatively) small vehicle egress bays. These serve smaller transport craft, flight-capable construction mechs, and so on, who might be resupplying or dropping off resource materials.

There are five Ops areas on the Hercules-class. Each is like a mix of a small office building and a ship command center, full of flashing lights, monitors, desks, and holographic displays.

The largest is the forward Ops center, which has 7 decks. By design, the topmost of these decks is reserved for flight control. The ship's captain and crew works here, as well as much of the staff needed to direct the bustle of the dozens of support craft that the Hercules relies on. The decks below it are used as project planning and oversight decks for the overall project. As the Hercules, and its support craft, are able to fabricate entire buildings in a day, a considerable amount of moment-to-moment work is required to make sure that everything is well planned and proceeding according to schedule.

The other four Ops areas sit on the fore and rear of Resourcing's exterior and are primarily for overseeing Cargo operations. Each of these Ops areas is responsible for two Cargo bays, with responsibilities for the fore and aft vehicle bays being divided among them as capacity permits.

With sufficient AI support, all but the fore Ops center can be left unmanned. In such a case, a prospective buyer might wish to convert these into additional crew quarters to take advantage of the exterior windows and unused space.

The Crew Habitat is the last large area of the Hercules-class. Designed for extended voyages with little opportunity for 'shore leave', the Hercules-class' Crew Habitat has been designed to act as an entire city unto itself.

Shops, restaurants, gyms, spacious single or double occupant quarters, and more make up the Habitat's interior, all surrounding a large, central courtyard with a false, but convincing, sky. Here, Noval's influences show themselves. Gentle breezes blow to stir the air and make occupants feel comfortable. Generated background noise of animals, city bustle, and more keep the space from feeling empty. Weather patterns shift and change, with simulated clouds crossing the sky, casting shadows on the 'world' below. Even the occasional rain storm passes through, both to break up the monotony of perfect weather and to clean the interior.

The overall feeling is somewhere along the lines of an underground mall or a particularly nice airport. Plenty to see and do, all designed for comfort and relaxation, with lots of room to stretch your legs out - not perfect, but far better than most would expect on the inside of a construction ship.

The habitat area is seven floors tall. The top six floors are all studio-style apartments, roughly 7m x 7m in size, in a square shape around the open center. This gives a total of 216 crew quarters in total, with the bottom floor dedicated to the various destinations described above.

Each crew quarter has space for one or two beds (in a bunk arrangement), a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a small living area.

The Hercules-class' hull is primarily made of durandium and madite, in locations where such things make sense, with a particular emphasis on long-term durability. While it is not made for combat, its designers were aware that it might be attacked and designed the ship to be durable enough to survive brief encounters while its defenders secured its safety.

A variety of systems work together to provide the Hercules' crew with the support they need to manage the massive projects that the ship is designed to undertake. The Hercules can be equipped with sapient or non-sapient AI systems upon request, depending on the customer's needs.

Default recommends a Origin Destiny "King" AI system and includes one as part of its base package, but understands that various factions within the sector have their own AI needs.

When it comes to reliability and resiliency, redundancy is the name of the game - and the Hercules-class delivers. Entire chunks of the ship can go missing, including flight command, and the ship can still carry on.

In the event of a catastrophe, bulkheads secure secure nearly every section of the ship. All 'buildings' within the Crew Habitat can be sealed off from the central courtyard. The courtyard itself has a number of bunkers carefully concealed within its terrain, which begin flashing warning lights and beckoning occupants inside.

Should even this prove insufficient, access to Engineering's maintenance tunnels becomes available to all passengers. Crew transports will shuttle passengers to the various emergency vehicle bays strewn about the ship's exterior, where they will find enough life pods for the Hercules' max crew compliment.

The Hercules-class is designed to operate independently for long periods of time. It utilizes a variety of molecular decomposition/recompositioning systems to efficiently scrub its atmosphere, crew's waste byproducts, food stores, and so on. In the event that crew resources (air/food/water) begin to run low, it can pull from its massive resource stores to create whatever is missing. Should those run low, the vessel is capable of tearing anything it comes across into their constituent atoms and feeding those into its resource stores. In short, fuel and supplies will never be an issue for the occupants of a Hercules, so long as there is some matter nearby.

Crew food is created through a combination of onboard aeroponics, hydroponics, and muscle cell cultures. These farms serve as a first stage, energy-efficient waste recycling system and are an important part of how the Hercules prolongs its operation time. They are also important to crew moral - there is simply something about actual food that 'printed' food cannot match.

Concealed on the bottom of the Hercules' belly, four large OHI multistruct arrays can deploy as their respective hatches open. These multistructs can work together or independently, depending on the needs of the job.

For standard travel, the Hercules has three major sublight engines. They give it respectable speed for a ship of its type, though most cargo haulers would have no trouble outpacing it.

For faster than light travel, it relies upon a commercial-grade hyperspace fold drive.

Default has selected reliable, tested technology that has been on the market for enough time to have truly proven itself out… and have its prices drop.

Each of the Hercules' massive VTOL thrusters is able to be fully self-contained, with dedicated hyperspace taps to provide power for the thrusters themselves. They are assisted by gravity manipulation devices that offset the Hercules' bulk and significantly reduce the necessary thrust to keep the ship stationary within a gravity well.

For protection against attackers and environmental harm both, the Hercules is equipped with the best commercial grade shields available for a ship of its class.

The Hercules-class is lightly armed, with a minimal amount of weaponry to protect itself against environmental or oppositional threats.

Ship Defense

• 4x Origin Point Defense Weapons (T9)

Cargo Bay Point Defense

• 8x S6-TLAC "Cavalry" (T7)

Although the Hercules-class is not a carrier, it still holds a large number of support craft and utility mechs to assist in its work. Below is the recommended vehicle allotment for a single Hercules-class Construction Platform.

• 6x NH-T1 Dragonfly-class Shuttle

While the Hercules can 'print' large structures on its own, there is still a mountain of work to be done when it comes to large projects. Cargo and supplies must moved, finishing touches applied, additional resources collected, repairs performed, and so on. To that end, Default recommends a varied selection of support craft be carried on the Hercules for full operational efficiency.

• 5x Oxen Multipurpose Mecha
• 10x Bee Utility/Construction Frame AND/OR Weaver Utility/Construction Frame
• 6x EASE-C Construction Suit

• 6x NH-Y2 Remora-class Utility Craft
• 40x MOVR Cargo Transportation Drone

• 4x NH-Y3 Guppy-class Exploration and Utility Craft

Whisper created this article on 2023/01/22 09:41.