Wolfs Shipyard Forum

The Evacuationstar is one of the most secret projects of the Colonial Fleet. Developed in the early stages of the First Cylon War when the probability of defeat loomed large for the Twelve Colonies. Developed and funded in secret it was decided that knowledge of this project would cause grave harm to the morale of the people and the armed forces of the Colonies. They are based upon enlarged version of the Poseidon Class Battlestar developed by the Ravenstar Corporation; however, they are much longer, wider, and deeper. Designed to evacuate a large percentage of the population should defeat become inevitable each Colony was to have no less than two each. It was intended to be able to evacuate as much of the remaining population from all of the Colonies as physically possible with what time and available space could provide. A total of ten were begun before the project was cancelled and the money and resources were funneled into other military project which eventually led to victory. Kept hidden the existence of the four ships that were operational was maintained as a military secret known only to those with the highest clearance and a need to know. Two of these ships were seized by Anderian Forces in the later part of their coup attempt as that Civil War turned against them. The Evacuationstar differs from most colony ships in its ablity to offer a very credible self defense (although in no way can this ship be considered a combatant) and the fact that the colonist (or evacuees) live inside the ship itself and not in the agrodomes.

The ship boasts:
6 water storage globes
Port side docking facilities for larger ships from either their escort fleets or for resupply
4 livestock domes
3 environmental domes for evacuee use
dozens of smaller agrodomes for food production
2 oversized hanger pods for utilitarian vessels to develop any chosen colony site
2 oversized hanger pods converted into manufacturing and industrial facilities
8 small cruiser sized "lifeboats"
and
integral Viper and Raptor squadrons (although these craft date back to the First Cylon War)



Their size makes them an almost static target and their dradis signature can be seen for parsecs; especially their jump footprint

_________________
Paul

Let this be the hour when we draw swords together.
Fell deeds awake.
Now for wrath,
now for ruin,
and the red dawn.
Forth, Eorlingas!

Interesting ship. One thing, and please don't feel that I'm singling you out, it's something that I have to come up with a reasonable explanation for in Lady H as well: the secrecy. These are large ships, and even in a reduced operations profile, they're going to require substantial amounts of crew and moreover, yard space for refit and maintenance as they are too expansive for wilderness refit. So...you have a large crew, an even larger number of yard workers doing the actual work, and the hardware/software/stores contractors that design, develop, and produce the components for both the day to day upkeep and refits.

All of this adds up to something that will not be a secret. One look at the ship and its use is readily apparent, so the population will know about them. One theory I've been working on is that they are disaster recovery ships. For example, look at what has happened in Puerto Rico with Hurricane Maria; due to lack of infrastructure, supplies can't get to the people and people can't get to the supplies. If we could remove the non-critical population to someplace temporary and safe, then allow the aid workers to concentrate on them off site while recovery and rebuilding workers worked on the infrastructure, things could go smoother.

Now...let's apply that to the Colonies. With twelve worlds and numerous smaller settlements throughout the cluster, statistically, you'd have Maria level events on an almost continual basis. Enter the disaster recovery ship...they can be on-site in hours and provide all necessary services so that other planetary level services aren't overburdened for the rest of the unaffected population. The government could even spin this as a unique "peace dividend" from the Cylon Uprising...

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Kurt

Click the link to read Lady Hecate off line in PDF, .epub, or Kindle formats: http://www.bsg94.org/downloads/index.html
Click here for the Colonial Warbook for Lady H: http://www.photobucket.com/colonial_warbook

That is a fascinating, and one hat hadn't occurred to me...it makes perfect sense...I think I may "borrow" that one

_________________
Paul

Let this be the hour when we draw swords together.
Fell deeds awake.
Now for wrath,
now for ruin,
and the red dawn.
Forth, Eorlingas!

Maybe call it a Reliefstar instead...Thanks for the help Kurt...if you want it I'll send you a version without the watermark

_________________
Paul

Let this be the hour when we draw swords together.
Fell deeds awake.
Now for wrath,
now for ruin,
and the red dawn.
Forth, Eorlingas!

Thanks! Much appreciated!

I have a lot of time to think about weird stuff like this on the commute to and from class. This was a recent pondering!

_________________
Kurt

Click the link to read Lady Hecate off line in PDF, .epub, or Kindle formats: http://www.bsg94.org/downloads/index.html
Click here for the Colonial Warbook for Lady H: http://www.photobucket.com/colonial_warbook

I like it.

Yes I have been musing this issue too with my own ships, may I suggest a larger group of smaller vessels may be more prudent as she is so massive, if she were attacked she could be the final tomb of a great many civilians. As for the name, it may be worth considering a less controversial and scary name, how about simply the Colonystar?

As for the ships design, she is very impressive my friend

Ivanho,

I can see arguments both for and against both ideas; few large or many smaller. The best option, in my opinion, is a blend of both. The large ships offer something that the smaller ones can't; space. The ability to have a park, a pond, or even corridors that are more than three meters wide and ceilings that are more than that high, are priceless. Likewise, the included services like hospitals, education, light manufacturing/production, and even science capabilities are greatly expanded.

But...all of this comes with the cost of greater loss if the ship is damaged or destroyed.

In Lady H, the ships that were built for this purpose trend to be large for habitability and the ability to easily accommodate more than their spec'd manifest of refugees. The Caprica City, Boskirk Downs, Virgo, Port Security, and Aceso have their capabilities magnified by simple virtue of their sheer size.

_________________
Kurt

Click the link to read Lady Hecate off line in PDF, .epub, or Kindle formats: http://www.bsg94.org/downloads/index.html
Click here for the Colonial Warbook for Lady H: http://www.photobucket.com/colonial_warbook

Yes a dilemma indeed, guess it also comes down to how close you are to war with your adversaries as well, in times of peace one can afford the luxury of going for a 'one size fits all' approach, but as with my own saga, keeping an eye on the back door focusses the mind.

Go too small and some of the features you mention aren't possible, go too large and she's a sitting duck!

Yes I think a blend of both is the best approach too.

Other areas to consider are technology (can your universe build a jump engine powerful enough to cover that massive vessel?) and production times (most nations in war forfeit building larger vessels to concentrate on smaller vessels that are quicker to produce).

So, assuming your jump engine technology justifies such a large vessel, they would probably only be constructed during peacetime, while large numbers of smaller transports would be built during the war for evacuation purposes (which could easy be called troop transports to avoid panic and justify their construction).