Going by the Insider, the Tempest is 750 m long, mounting class III screens, a wave loom device, 4 heavy blasters, 8 pulse cannons, 12 laser autocannons, an anti-missile launcher, 8 interceptors, and a warhead launcher, with drives capable of pushing its 1200 kt mass at 30 g. Those wide open spaces we've seen may be small in relation to the necessary spaces around and between the various pieces of equipment responsible for propulsion, gravity, and weapons, they certainly don't mean the ship is mostly crew spaces. And as I've pointed out, there's several very good reasons to desire large air volumes in a closed system.Paragon wrote:Okay, two things in my defence:
1. I'm pretty sure it was space for smuggling weapons in that episode.
2. You know I didn't say "RIP OUT THE LIFE SUPPORT THIS IS A GOOD IDEA". I was joking about how the wide open spaces on the Loroi ship are kind of silly (if very pretty and understandable from an art standpoint).
This largely goes for today's sea-going aircraft carriers, as well.Paragon wrote:Anyways, I've always wondered about the potential efficacy of a carrier in space. I mean, running a carrier isn't the same as running other ships. It would be hugely complicate running the ship normally (and that's already pretty damn complicated), and I can't even imagine the world of hurt you'd be in if the ship actually ended up taking fire.
Just because things are done a certain way on aircraft carriers doesn't mean that spacecraft carriers must do things the same way. Parasite craft certainly could be docked externally or in an unpressurized hangar when not undergoing major work, this form of operation has already been well proven with the various spacecraft and space stations we've been using in reality...nothing insane about it. A shirt-sleeves hangar/drydock might be needed on occasion, but needn't be a permanent space, it could be an expandable compartment that is folded down when not in use. Or not...volume isn't a valuable commodity in space, there's as much of it available as you can use. It's silly to suggest that a carrier will be incapable of doing anything else because of the room taken up by the parasite craft they carry.Paragon wrote:Let's see: the space needed to store, service, and launch the fighters/bombers would take up a huge portion of the ship, which would severely limit it's ability to do anything else (so they'd better be able to deliver). It would take up more supplies than another ship of similar size. You'd have to either be able to quickly and safely compress and decompress the ships in and out of the launch and recovery areas (or have the whole fighter area be in vacuum all the time which is a whole other level of insane).
Their size would make them ideal for mounting larger, more powerful sensor equipment and longer-range torpedos than can be carried by smaller craft. They'd be good for resupply and other fleet servicing operations, carrying technical and medical facilities that smaller ships lack as well. They'd have a very high carrying capacity, and could take on the equivalent of air drops of heavy equipment and supplies instead of carrying fighters. And when freed of the burden of parasite vessels, they may be some of the fastest ships in the fleet, aside from the fighters they carry.