Okay, who's building this, and where?

[robkelk]

It's just too cool - and detailed - not to incorporate Asten Station into Fenspace somewhere.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009 ... ntest.html]Overview on CBC.ca

http://www.nss.org/settlement/nasa/Cont ... ults/2009/]Contest page, with link to the 12MB detailed PDF (and a nice long list of other space-station project names we can raid... er, be inspired from)

Noah would have to be two orders of magnitude richer than he is to pull this one off single-handedly, so it's going to have to come from either a consortium or one of the larger factions... and the larger factions each have their own design esthetics that don't match this plan. So...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

Interesting... Have to admit, it doesn't really fit Benjamin's design aesthetics, either. However, Roughriders pride themselves on lending a hand where
it's needed and would be more than happy to help out with a project as ambitious as this.

[M Fnord]

(necroing this, but fuggit, still on the first page right?)

Noah would have to be two orders of magnitude richer than he is to pull this one off single-handedly,

Well, to build the whole thing at *once*, maybe. But built incrementally...

I'm going to throw this out for debate: Retcon Stellvia from the shuttle-tank ring design to a modified ASTEN. It doesn't have to be the huge mile long cylinder, just one hab ring (half the radius - with artifical gravity it doesn't need the extra width for spingrav) and a truncated core section would suffice. It's easier for building onto for future renovations, and most importantly of all - it actually provides *room* for all the shit we say is *in* Stellvia.

I hate bringing it up since we've all already written stuff about Stellvia, but my on-again, off-again attempts at modeling the bloody thing keep running into the "not enough room at the inn" wall. So I propose this retcon as a stopgap. Thoughts? Scream at me for being an asshole?
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Bob Schroeck]

Although I'm probably wrong, I don't remember anything that is plot-dependent upon Stellvia's original design, and surprisingly few stories where
it's actually described come to mind. I think we could do the retcon without needed much if any rewriting at all.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

I'll third the motion, but I supooooose that it's all up to you, Rob.

[M Fnord]

Just a reminder: Stellvia is Rob's baby. If he says go screw, that's what happens. So says the Word of Mod.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

I like having the Old Ring still in existance, but there's nothing saying the Old Ring can't be inside the new Stellvia. On the flip side, that "ruins" the view from the Old Ring... Hmmmmm...

Rob says "let me think about it". I'll need to know for LoGG chapter 4, so I'd best make a decision soon.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Why can't the Old Ring just be one end of the structure?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

D'oh!

Okay, the retcon is approved with Bob's amendment. Thread tagged appropriately.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Meanwhile, I did some doodling in Sketchup last night, this being the result:



This is a Stellvia based on a quarter-scale ASTEN as opposed to the half-scale up above. The corridor ring is 250m in diameter, with a 60m hub. I stuck a Concorde and a generic car in there for scale purposes.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Bob Schroeck]

Whoa. I missed the car the first time around.

Gonna be lots of parking there.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[M Fnord]

Through the magic of copypasta, have a look at a full-ring Stellvia (with annotations!)


Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

Nice, and very close to what I'm picturing...

But the Old Ring seems to be missing.

And I don't see any place big enough for Meg's, the restaurant / concert hall / soundstage that's been mentioned a few times by various folks. Could we replace four or five of the modules on the outer edge of the Main Concourse, preferably on the far side of the structure from the Epsilon Blade's hangar, with a single larger module without putting the station's rotation at risk?

(Of course Stellvia rotates. That way, everybody in the hotel gets a view of Earth and a view of Luna, eventually. Besides, the 'danes expect it.)

I'm also thinking the two modules immediately to starboard of the Epsilon Blade hangar should also be hangar modules; one for the Digamma Thunderbolt, the other for senior staff parking.

Edit: Oh, and we need one docking tube off the Main Concourse, in case one of the really big ships (for example, Grover's Corners) comes to visit and Stellvia needs to dock to it...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

But the Old Ring seems to be missing.

Well... when I said retcon, I meant that the Old Ring structure would go away. That's what was being retconned out - the six ET assembly replaced by the longer concourse with inflatable modules attached. That's also how I understood Bob's suggestion, hence the hangar module for the Epsilon Blade; that section of the concourse is the "Old Ring".

YMMV
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Sorry... but when I saw the car the first thought that popped into my head was: "Oh, hey! It's Gina... How many times have I told you not to leave
skid marks on top of their station?!"

[Bob Schroeck]

No, I actually meant that the Old Ring, complete with shuttle tank habs, would terminate one end of the structure, which would kind of have grown "out and
over" it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

And I did say "approved with Bob's amendment".

I'm going to have to update a fair amount in the FenWiki as it is. Please don't make me update half my stories as well...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Okay, now I'm kinda lost. When you say "one end of the structure" and "keep the Old Ring" this is what comes immediately to mind:


Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Bob Schroeck]

No, I mean, given that the illustration of the design is a cylinder, that the Old Ring is one end of the cylinder -- if it's got a smaller diameter,
it's like the neck of a bottle...

What you had originally illustrated would be something like one "floor" or layer of the cylinder -- stack multiple instances on top of each other to
build the design. But the last "floor" at one end is smaller and much more primitive than the others.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[M Fnord]

Hm... that leaves the question of what to do with the hub. The hub for the big ring *can't* be the original hub - if it was, Noah wouldn't have
bothered with the tanks in the first place 'cause that thing has an order of magnitude more floorspace/volume than the tank ring. Attaching the small hub
to the large hub is possible, but... well, it'd look like the larger station was wearing a propeller beanie.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Foxboy]

And this is a BAD thing for Fenspace?
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[robkelk]

Attaching the small hub to the large hub is possible, but... well, it'd look like the larger station was wearing a propeller beanie.

So?

If the Stellvians get saddled with the nickname "propellerheads" because of this, it'll still be better than when they were shunned right after the Kaboomite Incident. (And Noah'd get a kick out of it, too, as long as nobody uses the term as an insult.)

Besides, it'll be hardly noticeable once there are a few dozen more rings on the station in a few decades.

More importantly, it's necessary for the April Fool's Purchase:

"He wants to buy NASA's space operations? Even if that were allowed, we don't know anything about him!"
"Actually, sir, we do - he's the one who bought those extra half-dozen Shuttle MRB tanks in '08."
"Oh, is that who this is? Well, we do still owe his father a favor or two..."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you...

In the meantime, have a ~90% picture of the old ring:



EDIT: Four hours and much slaving over Sketchup later, here's a look at the ~85% model for Stellvia entire:



Enjoy!
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Hrm... Seeing the new illustration with the New and Old rings, it comes to mind that, logically, the Old ring would be the personal domain of Noah and his
friends/loved ones, while the New ring would be the place where all the Official Business is handled.

[robkelk]

Four hours and much slaving over Sketchup later, here's a look at the ~85% model for Stellvia entire:

Yes, I think we've got something that works here. Danke.

Hrm... Seeing the new illustration with the New and Old rings, it comes to mind that, logically, the Old ring would be the personal domain of Noah and his friends/loved ones, while the New ring would be the place where all the Official Business is handled.

Yep. That's been implied in the StellviaCorp writeup for months:

A.C. Peters and Katz Schrödinger have been given “honourary Stellvian” status, which primarily gives them access to the original Stellvia station ring.

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012