Spacecraft of Orion Skies
TL;DR: A rundown of spacecraft types in Orion Skies, and incredible found artwork to help imagine them.
Over the past couple of weeks I've been taking a break from Tech Generator work do some "visual worldbuilding"– I'm a very visual thinker, but simultaneously am not very good at picturing things clearly in my head! So, I've been scouring the internet for sci-fi artwork that looks like it could fit into my imagined vision for Orion Skies's universe, and then using that imagery to strengthen my imagined vision, and to conceptually explore design details that I hadn't considered before.
Based on this work, I feel like I have a much more solid plan now of what types of spacecraft will be featured in Orion Skies and how they all fit in to that universe. So I wanted to make a blog post about them, featuring some of the artwork I've found. Please note that none of this art is mine and none of it was created for Orion Skies; when I get to the phase of creating ship graphics, I'll consider myself successful if I can make graphics even 10% as good as these.
In any case, here are some spacecraft!
TRANSPORT CRAFT
Rocket Bikes & Microcraft
Oftentimes a spacecraft is needed just to take one or two people on a short-distance trip, such as transferring between two larger spacecraft, or visiting a planet's surface on personal business, etc. In such cases, "microcraft" such as rocket bikes are the most economical option. Easily carried by larger spacecraft, and meant to be flown in space only while wearing a vacuum suit, their simplicity makes them surprisingly versatile.
Spaceplanes & Landers
Spaceplanes and tail-sitting landers are the primary means of shuttling people and goods up and down from planetary surfaces. They are generally capable of interplanetary flights and even hyperspace jumps to other star systems, but are not as fast nor as efficient for such tasks as dedicated zero-g transports.
Within the unique gaseous environment of the Orion Nebula, however, their aerodynamic capabilities are hugely beneficial, enabling them to fly faster and more efficiently than most other spacecraft.
Cargo Lifters
These craft are designed to transport heavy bulk cargoes between planetary surfaces and space. They are designed for propulsive "belly landing" using ventral engine thrust to support their weight.
Similarly to the spaceplanes described above, they are fully capable of interplanetary and even interstellar flight, and are often used for such trips– but dedicated zero-g spacecraft are preferred when available.
Deep-Space Cruisers
Designed purely for zero-g flight, these are the largest and fastest spacecraft in general-purpose usage. They are incapable of atmospheric entry, nor are they structurally able to withstand the gravitic forces of non-atmospheric worlds like Mercury, but they are capable of carrying or rendesvousing with landing craft when such operations are necessary, and they are unmatched in their ability to transport large and diverse cargoes over vast distances of space at high speed or for an extended period of time.
However, the aerodynamic resistances and weather impacts of the Orion Nebula's ambient plasma are extremely problematic for these craft, as they are not at all designed for such an environment. They require major aero-refit alterations and dramatically reduced maximum speed in order to operate within the nebula.
Arks
These were the first-ever interstellar spacecraft, utilizing massive Einstein-Rosen bridge (ERB) generators before the invention of hyperdrives. The extreme scale and mass required of the "ark drive" implied the need for a similarly massive carrying capacity to make the spacecraft economical, hence the several-kilometer-radius spherical habitat and cargo module.
Although challenged in more recent times by smaller spacecraft equipped with hyperdrives, the great arks of yore still find their use for extremely long-distance insterstellar travel, as the interstellar distances they can bridge in a single flight are far greater than a maximized hyperjump.
Similar to the cruisers described above, arks are built purely for zero-g, non-atmospheric operation. They can visit the very edge of the Orion Nebula, but can never enter the nebula's interior; hyperdrive-equipped, aerodynamically survivable spacecraft are used for space operations within the nebula.
COMBAT CRAFT
Dropships & Gunships
Equipped with jet-assisted rocket engines on mountings that can rotate from fully horizontal to fully vertical, these spacecraft have largely replaced helicopters in military usage. Much like the military helicopters of old Earth, they can be found in a range of designs and intended roles from pure troop transports ("dropships") to pure close-air-support weapons platforms ("gunships"), and multirole designs in-between; however, they are all intended to support troop operations in planetary and orbital combat.
Although they tend to lack the sort of long-range weapons that would allow them to excel in open space combat, limited visibility within the Orion Nebula's ambient fog often restricts combat to shorter distances; in this specific context, gunships are quite capable of attacking and destroying other spacecraft.
They are also capable of making interplanetary and interstellar flights on their own power, though they often operate alongside "tender" craft that carry supplies and ammunition.
Aerofighters
The ancient military concept of "air superiority" is just as viable as ever; aerofighters are designed to take control of planetary skies and leverage that control to attack enemy ground and space targets. Their aerodynamic design gives them unmatched speed and maneuverability within an atmosphere, yet they are also fully capable of flight and operations within a vacuum, including interstellar hyperjumps.
Optimized for combat within atmospheres and up to orbital distances, aerofighters typically are not very effective at long-range space combat. However, within the plasma environment of the Orion Nebula, their optimization for atmospheric combat makes them the dominant form of combat craft.
Destroyers
These spacecraft are optimized for intra-system space combat, armed with interplanetary-range missiles, as well as point-defense systems to protect themselves from enemy missiles. For somewhat closer open-space fighting, they are also armed with heavy frontal laser cannon. At orbital ranges, they are also typically armed with a spinally-mounted railgun or coilgun– this has a shorter effective range than a laser cannon, but greater destructive capability.
Their armored hulls are long and narrow, in part to optimize the structure
for high-g acceleration, but also to reduce their cross-sectional
profile to the enemy.
Within the Orion Nebula, the effective range of their weaponry is greatly reduced, and limited visibility through the nebula fog also makes it more difficult to track enemies and maintain a correct orientation towards them; for these reasons, although destroyers are still quite powerful within the nebula, they are much less so than they are in open space.
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