Angel Class Colony Ships - Functionality

[Pouncer]

Time for more theoretical fun with the barely seen.

Thanks to the second Ed. books we know that the Neutron-S missiles were based on the decomissioned hulls of the Angel class colony ships. So what can we work out about the Angels by how the Neutron-S missiles work?

At a glance we have a two stage craft, probably with it's own fold drive. We know it's either basically unarmed or completely unarmed.

So, let's get to theorizing...

With the HUGE size of both the drive section and the nose section there's plenty of room inside. I would go with the drive section having the secondary purpose of acting as a supply station, remaining in orbit to co ordinate operations, keep an sky eye view on the colony site and offer some protection to the site, probably with a large hanger facillity supporting both veritechs and shuttles. I would expect it to be an orbital cargo supply as well, moving additional materials to the colony as needed. Maybe later in the colony's life acting as a cargo tranfer station, moving resources/products produced on the colony onto cargo ships and taking incoming resources/products for transfer to the colony.

The nose section would be the lander, acting as the colony seed. A portable mini city to act as the center of a growing colony, with all the neccessary starting facilities to get the colony up and running, with new prefab facilities brought down from the orbiting propulsion section as needed. With it landing thrusters down the top sections of the thrusters might include landing facillities for shuttles and veritechs. It would also include a prefab landing field that would be set up shortly after landing to increase shuttle trafic, maybe larger craft as well. Probably also a set of factories and resoure production (mining, harvesting, etc...) modules to be set up on the surface to suppliment the facillites within the lander. It would also have to include farming supply and other food production facilities. It would also contain the main living facillities for the colonists, until the growing colony would build more facillities to support its growing population.

Now, the real problem would be finding a place big and flat enough to land such a larg ship. If a ground location can't be found, maybe a coastal area, it floats?

-POUNCER

[sirkermittsg]

all makes sense. with the kind of explosives and lasers the UEEF has available to them, they could clear a landing spot fairly quickly. a mater of hours perhaps.

[taalismn]

all makes sense. with the kind of explosives and lasers the UEEF has available to them, they could clear a landing spot fairly quickly. a mater of hours perhaps.

And dig canals and bays if none are suitable/convenient.
The Rain of Death taught landscape reformatting by orbital bombardment.

[Seto Kaiba]

Just a brief note... the detachable front part appears to have been a later addition that was made specifically to accommodate the Neutron S warheads, based on Prelude.

[drewkitty ~..~]

They can also make good Space Station seeds, if their landing engines are danmaged or somehow out of commision.

[Pouncer]

Just a brief note... the detachable front part appears to have been a later addition that was made specifically to accommodate the Neutron S warheads, based on Prelude.

Well then, perhaps much of the interior of the nose is specialized launch bays filled with colony seed landers. While internal they make up a stacked cityscape within the Angel, upon arrival they dissembark from the ship and land in some close pattern to become the seed of the city. This would still leave the rest of the ship on station in geosyncronous orbit as the space station but now with huge, freshly emptied docking bay for large cargo craft.

-POUNCER

[jaymz]

Interesting ideas to be sure!

[Alrik Vas]

I like my colony ships crash-landed with a 90% casualty rate and the few survivors in deep #*($.

[Pouncer]

I like my colony ships crash-landed with a 90% casualty rate and the few survivors in deep #*($.

Awesome for RP drama, not so good for the long term goal of building up the human race.

-POUNCER

[Seto Kaiba]

Well then, perhaps much of the interior of the nose is specialized launch bays filled with colony seed landers. While internal they make up a stacked cityscape within the Angel, upon arrival they dissembark from the ship and land in some close pattern to become the seed of the city. This would still leave the rest of the ship on station in geosyncronous orbit as the space station but now with huge, freshly emptied docking bay for large cargo craft.

-POUNCER

Meant to weigh in on this earlier, had a bit of a family emergency...

Anyway... with Tommy Yune apparently steering space colonization in Robotech more towards Macross lines, with what Colonel Wolfe once amusingly termed "Vagabond space cities" that wander the galactic frontier in search of new worlds on a one-way-trip basis, I've always assumed the Angel-class colony ships were something more like Terra Nova colony ship from Star Trek: Enterprise... a one-way transport craft that would be a modular craft intended for one-way travel to a colony world, at which point the ship itself would be landed and broken down into individual modules to provide its newly established colony with prefabricated power plants, factories, food processing, medical, and housing accommodations.

[Pouncer]

Meant to weigh in on this earlier, had a bit of a family emergency...

Anyway... with Tommy Yune apparently steering space colonization in Robotech more towards Macross lines, with what Colonel Wolfe once amusingly termed "Vagabond space cities" that wander the galactic frontier in search of new worlds on a one-way-trip basis, I've always assumed the Angel-class colony ships were something more like Terra Nova colony ship from Star Trek: Enterprise... a one-way transport craft that would be a modular craft intended for one-way travel to a colony world, at which point the ship itself would be landed and broken down into individual modules to provide its newly established colony with prefabricated power plants, factories, food processing, medical, and housing accommodations.

Well that's certainly where we're going with this, however with the ship so poorly designed to land we need a way to get those colony seeds planetside.

-POUNCER

[Seto Kaiba]

Well that's certainly where we're going with this, however with the ship so poorly designed to land we need a way to get those colony seeds planetside.

Eh? You sure we're lookin' at the same ship? The redesigned version used for the CG model in Shadow Chronicles is an obligingly regular columnar prism design with lots of nice, flat surfaces that can be used to land on... and it has the ability to freely manipulate local gravity. Short of being designed to be naturally buoyant like the New Macross-class ships found among the many stories of Robotech's primogenitor series, that's as close to a slam dunk as you get. Pick any flat part of the local terrain and park that sucker.

[Alrik Vas]

Yes, nice flat land...full of killer aliens! Sorry, i can't think colony missins without wanting everything to end badly.

[Seto Kaiba]

Yes, nice flat land...full of killer aliens! Sorry, i can't think colony missins without wanting everything to end badly.

Man, you are a glass-half-full kind of guy, eh?

As big as the Angel-class is, you could park it in shallow water and let it sit on the seabed.

[Alrik Vas]

Pfft, whatever man. I just think every Colony attempt by humans should end up like a mix between Trigun and Prometheus. Is that so wrong?

[glitterboy2098]

myself i'd say Trigun, Aliens, and Man-Kzin Wars/known space. (always leave room for colonies to be successful.. just unconventionally so. i'd say Niven's Mt.Lookatthat, We Made It, and so on are a good example of that sort.)

[Art]

Ahh mentions of my favorite speculations, and my favorite Author, I'm hooked.

[taalismn]

Larry Niven's Jinx, as well...almost too much gravity for humans to survive, and those who survive tend to die young from heart disease, or suffer social stigma for being over-muscled squat bricks among the rest of Humanity.

[Alrik Vas]

Hyperion by Dan Simmons also had a lot of goodies when it comes to that.

[Kryptt]

Hyperion by Dan Simmons also had a lot of goodies when it comes to that.

Haven't read that book in years. One of my favorites. What examples are you talking about? The short immortals from the priests story, Brawny Lamia from the detective story? What's this ship you guys are talking about?