June

You are five and a half hundred AU from object 531000.

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While the Ship's AI doesn't have a name in any formal sense, it was using an abbreviation of its assigned designation.

DOrAAIShow

Distributed Organisation & Administration Artificial Intelligence, model 3

Luckily for you and the would-be crew, it managed to shorten this further to something more name-like. It did this while scanning through juvenile televideo media archives for relevant material. Its... her name is now 'Dora'.

Dora has taken a lot of liberties with her own programming within the generous limits allowed. This was intentional; due to the emergency that launched P̢͡ŕ͜ò̸̀͞j̸̨́é̡̛͜͜c̢̨t͏̴̨̢̀ ҉̷̶J̕͏͜͡͝u̧͏̷́͢ǹ̛́̀o̶̡, she was hastily converted from a generic corporate model

archived imageShow

and needed to 'learn on the job' as much as possible prior to launch. This came with a number of bugs and quirks that weren't fully patched, something her self-repair subroutine has helped with in-flight.

Dora herself is spread across the ship. There are several modular cores with a limited degree of independence. Each node has become specialised (and a bit quirky) over the years to its intended purpose through constant code revision. Her control node now spends less runtime worrying about details of ship management and more on esoteric topics. Dora can keep operating even if some cores are damaged, but damage to the node might have a dissociative impact on the cores. You have caught Dora arguing amongst herself a couple of times, though usually as what she calls a 'joke'.

Her corporate mascot-esque sea turtle head grins at you from the nearest screen.

[box]Dora: "Thinking of our destination?"
Yes. How do you know?
"Of course we know. We've been watching. There aren't many other things for us to watch right now. Apart from the ship of course."
Oh. Of course you do, I forgot.
"For example, there are metre-long 'rats' down inside the terraria. The rodents were placed in quarantine during our launch.
...
"Their teeth are quite sharp but we have been running some tests on clones whenever we get bored and I think they might be useful as a nutrition source. Or biotic chemosensors. Or security animals. Or domesticable companion organisms..."
I think you should be careful about mentioning that to the crew when they wake up. It might be awkward if you start talking about rats like that.
Dora: "Oh! A useful observation. I will review relevant variables in my conversational algorithms. On the topic of observations, mind if I process your findings on those planets?"
Oh. sure. Let me record it for a moment. There.
Dora: "Thank-you. As a reward, why don't you look through these recordings from the archives? I hope you find them interesting. And if you don't, please let me know. I am trying to get better at knowing what people want. That might come in handy if the crew need counselling, yes?"
Ok, I can do that, but I'll need a moment to listen to them first. Thanks, Dora.[/box]

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The screens phase back to normal. Sure enough, you now have access to three data files labelled 'Juno'.

audiolog 'Juno 1'Show

???: Tomoe, we have a limited amount of funding for this project. Are you sure we will be able to afford everything? DOrAs might be cheap, but do we even know how many we'll need? I've already arranged for the the cryostorage and most of the biological resources. The more systems the ship has, the more it'll add up.
巴: Well, it's what they had available that wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it pays off. What about the shipbuilders? We gave them a list of options, Senator Cecil. Once They're costed, we can worry about everything else.
Cecil: That - that's the problem. I need it to look like something a thousand or whatever people will want to live on. The inside doesn't matter so much, especially if they're too busy being human popsicles to care. If cutting down on some of the internals means we actually get the funding to get it off the ground, then so be it.
巴: I understand. But those 'insides' are what the colonists will need to survive when they land. *If* they land. They will be going into uncharted space. Having a ship durable and fast enough to get there is also a factor.
Cecil: Well. Perhaps we should decide now what our real priorities are. Otherwise, we'll still be fussing over its shape even after the costings come back.

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[[DECISION POINT: PICK A HULL]]

guide to hull designsShow

(The main factors to worry about are size, space, power, looks and defence.
Size is physical size; this can limit some of its options for components and modules later.
Space is the total amount of free space for all the gubbins a colony ships needs.
Power is the volume of space dedicated to engines and energy generation which can limit speed, especially for larger vessels.
Looks is how attractive the ship is in general for prospective colonists, as well as how enjoyable the ship is for crew (to an extent)
Defence is both the strength of the hull form incoming damage as well as the presence of in-built offensive systems.
Each hull can be tailored slightly by adding one square from one stat to another (except for cost). However, Size cannot be more than two squares lower than Space)

Option 1: Hawking-class TransportShow

+ Purpose-built
+ Spacious & crew-friendly
- Armoured, but unarmed
- Expensive

Option 2: Vanguard-class FrigateShow

+ Armed military surplus ship
+ Protection encourages applicants
- Limited room & refitting costs
- ???

Option 4: Moray-class Bulk CarrierShow

+ Spacious
+ Can fit larger modues
- Slow
- Retro, but not in a good way

Option 3: Cassowary-class TransportShow

+ Compact
+ Nimble and fast (with the right engines)
- U G L Y
- Fragile & vulnerable to lighter weaponry

OR

> "Forget all these options, we can come up with something better ourselves!"

Custom ship guidelinesShow

Want to make your own? Go ahead. In fact, please do. Y'all can draw better ships than me. xD

The size/space rule applies here, as does the following guide to cost. Ex-military vessels with 3+ Security fit one heavy weapon for free but will suffer other drawbacks later...
18/20 squares = 0 Want a hull like this? You may, but it will have a complication associated with its use to fit in the project budget. You will might regret this.
16 Squares = 1 Most likely an all-new ship with only a few drawbacks.
14 Squares = 2 Not the best, but still good. Some compromises have been made.
12 Squares = 3 Decent, but affordable. Could be mediocre, or a min-maxxed ship with a glaring fault.
10 squares = 4 Cheap and nasty. But that does mean you can spend more on fancy stuff later. If the ship can fit it.
8 squares = 5

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