Chapter 162: Battleship Musings
Due to the promise of internal test slots, the player community saw extremely high enthusiasm for battleship design submissions. There were cool concept art drawings from professional game artists, as well as rigorous CAD drawings and SketchUp models from engineering students.
Of course, there was no shortage of lengthy text settings.
This was the lowest cost and most informative way to participate in the discussion.
There were many valuable opinions and ideas, but to make things happen, an organized approach was needed.
There needed to be system control.
Jubian then started a new thread, guiding everyone to first focus on discussing the battleship's exterior.
Soon, a school of thought emerged.
A considerable number of science fiction enthusiasts believed that space battleships should be spherical.
Their reasoning was that there is no gravity in space, so up, down, left, and right are all the same. Therefore, clearly distinguishing front, back, left, and right like surface ships was foolish and backward, a manifestation of “souls bound by gravity.”
“We should install an engine in each of the eight spatial quadrants of a spherical shell, with the cockpit in the middle. That way, to fly in any direction, you just activate the corresponding engine directly, without needing meaningless turning maneuvers.”
“That’s right! I think the previous industrial ship design lacked imagination; it was too much like a real-life cargo ship. Spherical spacecraft are the most perfect design. The art director needs to broaden his horizons.”
Jubian smiled.
Leaving aside whether a space fleet composed of many large and small billiard balls would be ugly, the idea that spherical spacecraft are more adapted to a zero-gravity environment is actually a misunderstanding.
It’s commendable that netizens realized there’s no gravity in space and that up, down, left, and right are the same.
However, rigidly applying this to engineering design leads to problems.
【Shenceng Jubian】: “Spherical spacecraft have serious inherent flaws. Given a certain volume, a sphere has the largest cross-sectional area, resulting in the largest frontal impact area for a spherical spacecraft. Its anti-ballistic shape is the worst, and it has the highest probability of being hit by artillery fire, bar none.
“Additionally, installing 8 engines in different quadrants only sounds good; in reality, at most 4 can be activated simultaneously. The remaining inactive engines are both dead weight and extra construction costs.
“Finally, a spherical shape is very unfavorable for heat dissipation and radar stealth.”
If these words were spoken by an ordinary person, they might not have been convincing.
But the one typing was Jubian, the “Weapon Master” among the internal test players, and a semi-public military industrial researcher!
Soon, the “Sphere Faction” realized their oversight and fell silent.
“So, the layout of a space battleship is actually similar to real-life naval vessels?”
【Moto for Overtime】: “Yes! To be precise, it’s similar to submarines, especially nuclear-powered submarines. Everyone, keep up the good work!”
With a clear direction, the subsequent discussions became more efficient. Talented individuals from all walks of life actively spoke, and the number of registered community users and concurrent online users continuously soared.
Other online communities also discovered this discussion and began reprinting and live-streaming, causing the popularity to rise across the entire network.
Seeing their exposure and popularity, the most active netizens, who were already very enthusiastic, redoubled their efforts.
Everyone contributed, and soon a consensus was reached.
A space battleship must have an elegant and clear design logic. Referencing nuclear submarines, the very rear would definitely be the engine thrusters, followed by the Jubian reactor, Zero Element Furnace, and heat dissipation system.
At this point, a shield needs to be set up to prevent nuclear radiation from harming all personnel and electronic systems on board.
Further forward are the fuel tanks and the energy storage battery array serving the weapon systems, then a second shield, as well as the crew living quarters, bridge, carrier-based aircraft command post, and CIC combat intelligence center.
Next is the compartment housing the hangar and most of the weapon systems.
The very front is the fire control and observation system, including radar.
Of course, similar to the latest generation of nuclear submarines’ side sonar arrays, space battleships also need a certain number of radar arrays and infrared optoelectronic observation windows on their sides, which is entirely consistent with the design philosophy of sixth-generation fighter jets.
“It’s starting to take shape!”
Collective wisdom is highly efficient.
While browsing, Jubian drew the first version of the battleship's hand-drawn sketch on a tablet.
【Shenceng Jubian】【Pinned】: “Alright, let’s move on to the next stage. Everyone, let’s discuss what weapons should be installed.”
On this question, cloud players were even more enthusiastic.
“Definitely all kinds of directed energy weapons! Lasers, particle beams, etc., bring them all, the more the merrier!”
“In short, kinetic weapons should be completely phased out! We can’t still be throwing rocks in space.”
【Pit on the Ground】: “Laser weapons should have a big advantage in a vacuum, right? After all, they can’t be dodged, and they have infinite range.”
This “Pit on the Ground” was actually Lu Yuan’s alt account in the player community.
At this moment, he was sitting in Cheng Yun’s car, typing on a pad.
“Oh, no, that’s actually a misunderstanding too.”
“Isn’t it? No air in space, laser energy won’t decay, that’s great.”
“The total energy of a laser certainly won’t decay, but the beam will diverge, which is unavoidable. The specific formula is: Beam spread radius = Beam quality constant * Firing distance * Wavelength / Laser lens radius.”
Hmm!?
Lu Yuan’s eyes lit up.
This, at a glance, was an expert!
“In short, when the beam spreads to a certain extent, the laser cannon becomes a giant flashlight and can no longer effectively cut through armor.”
“Then just drastically reduce the laser wavelength and increase the lens size.”
【Pit on the Ground】: “Gamma rays have the smallest wavelength, I remember it’s only 0.01 nanometers?”
“Right! Gamma-ray lasers!”
“Well, gamma-ray laser technology is extremely difficult. In reality, humans can’t even manage low-power laboratory prototypes, let alone high-power weaponization.”
The professional just now explained.
Jubian confirmed this statement.
【Shenceng Jubian】: “Yes, the industrial ship’s technology reserves do include small gamma-ray lasers, but their power is low, limited to industrial and medical uses; for weaponization, it only supports up to ultraviolet laser cannons, with a wavelength of 100 nanometers, a lens radius of 3 meters, and an effective range of no more than 4,000 kilometers.”
“That close!?”
4,000 kilometers is quite far in the atmosphere, but in cosmic terms, it’s surprisingly close.
It’s shorter than the radius of Li Star, and only one-seventieth of the distance from Li Star to the Moon.
20th-century intercontinental missiles could still hit over 10,000 kilometers.
【Shenceng Jubian】: “Conversely, kinetic weapons, which everyone considers primitive, will not lose power in space no matter how far they travel.”
“But kinetic weapons are slow. Even if the muzzle velocity is increased to 100 kilometers per second, hitting an enemy ship 10,000 kilometers away would take 100 seconds. During that process, if the target maneuvers even slightly, it won’t be at the position where the initial lead was calculated.”
“No big problem. We can develop large-caliber electromagnetic main guns, put guidance heads and small jet nozzles into the projectiles, and play with guided artillery with variable trajectories!”
“But won’t the overload during firing directly crush the guidance electronic components?”
“It should be fine. As long as the overload can be kept below 30,000 Gs, it’s not a problem even with current real-world technology!”
This was likely another industry insider’s answer. Jubian quickly searched the industrial ship’s database.
【Shenceng Jubian】: “No problem. We can now produce components resistant to 300,000 Gs of overload. Under this acceleration limit, a 100-meter-long electromagnetic gun acceleration rail corresponds to a projectile muzzle velocity of 25 kilometers per second, a speed sufficient to penetrate titanium alloy armor.”
After another half-day of discussion, everyone gradually clarified the firepower configuration for “Cangyuan Battleship Version 1.0.”
Carrier-based aircraft and ultra-long-range stealth nuclear missiles for long-range striking.
Large electromagnetic weapons as main guns, providing medium-range kinetic firepower and lethality.
Carrier-based aircraft and small to medium-sized missiles forming an anti-aircraft fire net, primarily defending against enemy fighters.
Small to medium-sized lasers as point defense, primarily intercepting enemy missiles.
Of course, this is only a preliminary concept.
The development of large electromagnetic guns is not easy, requiring at least a 10-fold enlargement of similar products in the industrial ship’s blueprint library. A prototype must be built first, then experimented with and improved.
At the same time, the superconducting capacitors and superconducting coils in large electromagnetic guns require a large amount of rare earth materials for production, which places new demands on Cangyuan’s mining industry.
Valuable suggestions continued to emerge.
Jubian eagerly copied and recorded each one.
In Oasis City, Cheng Yun hosted Lu Yuan and his two companions at his home. After dinner, they discussed the future development direction of the city after the war.
Finally, Cheng Yun led them to the city hall.
“Executive Officer, I have already sent people to clear out this building. From now on, it will be your residence in Oasis City!”
“No need.” Lu Yuan smiled and waved his hand, “The name ‘City Hall’ isn’t for nothing; let’s return it to the citizens. We can just set up a camp in the city for our work. The Apollo landing field area was quite suitable before.”
“Alright then! Oh, by the way, Executive Officer, when would you like to schedule Kohl’s public trial? I suggest doing this as soon as possible; it’s truly important for the city—”
Lu Yuan pondered for two seconds.
Cheng Yun was very articulate, and his wording was relatively subtle. The public trial of Kohl was indeed important for the citizens of Oasis City, but it was even more important for the new ruler and for him, the future Executive Governor.
“Don’t worry, it will be soon. I promised this, and I haven’t forgotten.”
After Cheng Yun left, Lu Yuan called out the system.
【Main Quest: Phoenix Nirvana】
【Quest Objective: Fulfill all the following conditions】
【Number of Employees: 500; Current: 25 → 289 → 669】
【Control Range: 100; Current: 32 → 57 → 219】
【Prestige: 100; Current: 41 → 33 → 90】
【Industrial Strength: 100; Current: 15 → 135 → 1.1K】
【Military Strength: 100; Current: 9 → 198 → 453】
【Number of Outer Space Strongholds: 1; Current: 0 → 1 → 2】
Good...
Perfect.
As long as the public trial doesn't mess up, prestige should be able to reach 100, completing this main quest that has been hanging for over a month in one fell swoop!