![]() Odds are, people and their needs will take up a lot of space on your ship. They need to be protected from the heat created by engines and from the icy void of space. As Nick said, “Technology miniaturises but people don’t.” People need somewhere to sleep, to eat, to work, to rest. The People SideĪnd then there’s the people side. ![]() But hey, this is speculative fiction, you need a few of those lies. It’s the big damn lie powering any sci-fi spaceship. What is it built from? Is it a skin of some material over reinforced beams, like in real life ships and planes? Does that structure show?Īnd then there’s your near-inevitable faster than light drive. Having taken that into account, you get into issues of structure. Layout – How do the parts fit together? What’s the most efficient way to do this? For example, should the stores be near the galley? Do you want ammunition easily accessible from the big damn gun on the front, or do you want it mostly stored further away to avoid destructive accidents?.Sizing – How big is this spaceship? How big does it need to be to fulfil its role? How much space do you have for all the people and gadgets you want?.Role – What is the spaceship meant to do? What features does it need to do that?.Which brings us to the fundamental factors to consider in ship and so spaceship design: They aren’t just bound by function anymore. The further down the tech scale something is, the more freedom people have in designing it. To understand how space travel fits into your setting, it’s important to think about where it is on this scale. Look at how portable communication devices have gone from the toys of the wealthy to something most people rely upon in the western world. Technology generally moves down this list as it matures. Like smartphones or a platform from which to make cheap jokes about Boris Johnson. Personal / ubiquitous – The technology is cheap enough to be widely available to individual people.(Just because it’s costly doesn’t mean it’s worth having) Like airliners, or maybe access to Boris Johnson. It’s owned by large organisations and the rich. Commercial / rich – The technology is common but ownership of it isn’t widespread.We all know there’s nothing mature about Boris Johnson.) Like submarines or a weaponised Boris Johnson. Government / megacorp – The technology is mature enough to be replicated and used, but so expensive that only the largest organisations in the world can have it.Experimental – It’s unusual, sometimes unreliable, and almost no-one has it.This was the next part of Nick’s talk.īorrowing from the Rocketpunk Manifesto blog, he discussed how technology goes through four stages of maturity: To understand how technology will be shaped, we need to know who’s shaping it. It’s something we recognise from the real world and so can easily wrap our heads around.īut space isn’t really an ocean and that model isn’t inevitable. It’s a model that’s continued to the present day because it’s familiar. Crew structures based on those of warships. Then came Star Trek and with it all the trappings of a navy. This led to the Star Wars style winged fighter ships, but also to some more realistic designs based on real rocketry. Rocketry was the hot new thing, jet planes were in the skies, it was natural to see this advanced new technology as the future of space. In the 1950s, writers started depicting spaceships in a style similar to airplanes. No-one had been there and the reading public had few preconceptions about how space flight should work. ![]() Nick started out by delving into this territory, talking about the history of how authors have depicted spaceships.īefore the 1950s, space could be whatever the writer wanted it to be. The reasons we imagine the world the way we do are always fascinating. So when he gave a talk on Space Design Considerations for Writers at Nine Worlds, it was bound to be good. He’s a naval architect, a sci-fi geek, and a charismatic public speaker. We will delete it ASAP.Of all the people I’ve ever met, no-one is as qualified to talk about designing sci-fi spaceships as Nick Bradbeer. If you see a title with a spoiler in it, downvote it as hard as you can and then message the moderators. PLEASE DO NOT POST SPOILERS IN YOUR SUBMISSION TITLE.
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