HASS European Class Ship

Engineering Specifications

þ: 256,000,000,000W
Mass: 500,000,000kg
Length: 400m
Max Acceleration: 32m/s/s
Propulsion: 16 Merlin Engines
Special Features: 2 Flight modes, Cutting-edge Science
Crew: 64 (Command: 8, Engineering: 16, Science: 8, Flight: 8, Medical: 4, Galley: 4, Marine: 16)
Ship Design Focus: Science. Although initially it seems only 8 crew slots are for science, the truth is that all the slots are for science, with 8 specialists. Even the marines are required to have a science project and selection is given in preference to good science work. The whole ship is engineered for putting science first.

Combat Specifications

Sol Tzu Attack Rating: 17,120
16 ME Nose Fusion Drill
2 Launch Bay Fligs
128 2-birth Fighter Drones
3 Thors Hammer Assault Shuttles
1 Shadow Stealth Scout Shuttle
128 missiles
128 Fligs
128 Electromagnetic Emission (laser, maser etc)

Note that each shuttle carries 16 people by design so the four shuttles double as escape shuttles. The fighter drones can also carry half the crew, but not in comfort.

The European Class Astry ship was built with a focus on science and engineering. All European budgets for science exploration in space got redirected into this ship; after all, you don't need to develop specific satellite equipment if a ship can transport something the size of a house to anywhere in the solar system. The European Class ships are built to have modern cutting edge science equipment plugged in, used and evaluated. Following tradition, this equipment is called ‘payload’. The each ship may therefore have different equipment which may include weaponry on trial.

Unusually for starships, the European Class ship has the means to direct the engine exhaust (propulsion) through the keel, achieving 1g along the length of the ship. In doing so the ship has two modes:

Rocket Mode. Named in honour of the original space exploring rockets. With thrust coming out of the engines as they were designed, maximum acceleration of 32m/s/s (3.263g) can be achieved in rocket mode. It is also known as Tower mode with a wide base and 110 floors tapering towards the top. In this mode, the engines can also act as a heat shield to the rest of the ship, designed specifically for near star scientific activity, intercept and rescue.
Liner mode. The merlin engine was designed to both efficiently throw protons out the back, making thrust, and to less efficiently concentrate and throw them out the front as a fusion drill. The European Class ship can redirect all 16 engine drills along the keel of the ship in order to fire them out the front as a very powerful fusion drill weapon. It can also fire the drills out along the keel creating thrust in that direction. However, due to inefficiencies in doing this, only 9.8m/s (1g) of engine acceleration makes it out so it is the maximum. The inefficiencies are irrelevant though, as 1g was the target, allowing the ship to work like a navy ship with decks.

The ship is double hulled and grows food between the hull plates, and also allows recreation. Additionally the Impossibility Engine is tuned to allow the option of putting these decks in the Time Bubble multiple, so the food can experience up to 8 times more growing time than the crew experience.

One of the functions of the European ships is to maintain the health and wellbeing of groups not based in populated area. The ship has a full range of starter crops which it can swap or even give away, and has been known to even carry Space Cows. The invitation to people to use large open grassy spaces and eat fresh strawberries has opened access to many otherwise closed doors. The crew enjoy it as a perk and so European Class ships tend to attract the best scientists and engineers in the Astry.