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Reactor-Axe-Man — Advance Party

Published: 2011-07-24 22:53:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 13462; Favourites: 180; Downloads: 382
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The MV Colonial Trailblazer (AMC-399) assumes a parking orbit above the fourth planet in the SAG+43 2208 System, tentatively dubbed Frostpile.

Frostpile is a world that has become more Earthlike as its parent star left the Main Sequence and became a yellow giant. As such the biosphere is young and consists mostly of simple aquatic life such as algaes and phytoplanktons, with simple moss, lichens, fungus and a smattering of photosynthetic plants. No complex multicellular life is known to exist on land. The atmosphere has already started to level off into a more stable nitrogen-oxygen mix, but how long this can be maintained given the weak geology of Frostpile remains to be seen. Earth-based animal life cannot exist unaided outside the habitats, as the CO2 concentrations remain more than four times the permissible 8-hour exposure limit, and at least twice the short term lethal limit.

The Colonial Trailblazer's charter is to deliver 24 drop pods to the surface that will form the base camps for scientific work to be performed on the local biosphere, along with a terraforming assessment survey team and a small trading post near the equator. The drop pods hold necessary supplies and equipment, and will form the initial shelters for the surveyors in the camps, who will arrive separately at a later time on a follow-on vessel, a small chartered passenger liner. The AI controlled pods are accurate to their designated landing sites to within 30 meters, provided their carrier vessel releases them on time and on target, and the venerable shipping firm Colonial Movers has been at the forefront of such operations for more than 120 years.

With the motto of "We Move Anywhere", Colonial Movers has been one of the pillars of interstellar colonization. Ships of the Connestoga class form the backbone of the company's fleet, being large enough to haul sufficient materiel to get a colony started while being small enough to avoid the high overhead and massive capital investments of the big VLCC and ULCC class freighters.

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Modeled with SketchUp. Rendered with Kerkythea. Background image courtesy of

Careful observation will reveal that the US flag on the ship has 60 stars. The name "Colonial Movers" and their motto of "We Move Anywhere" is a nod to the company whose ships graced the Rag Tag Fleet of both versions of Battlestar Galactica. The font used is Desdemona, if you're interested.
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Comments: 24

templerman [2022-05-07 22:34:47 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to templerman [2022-05-08 01:21:41 +0000 UTC]

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manati20 [2021-08-05 19:22:35 +0000 UTC]

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grisador [2015-09-13 22:14:48 +0000 UTC]

Awesome Mining\Cargo transporting spaceship !


Avatar's Megacompany RDA & AvP's HyperCompany Weyland-Yutani
will surely like this

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acerr85 [2014-07-26 16:23:38 +0000 UTC]

good work

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to acerr85 [2014-07-26 19:08:06 +0000 UTC]

Thanks again!

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LiamKerrington [2013-01-12 15:53:10 +0000 UTC]

+1

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to LiamKerrington [2014-07-26 19:08:11 +0000 UTC]

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harleywd [2012-10-10 23:17:44 +0000 UTC]

BRAVO!@

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to harleywd [2012-10-13 19:44:24 +0000 UTC]

Thanks again!

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Jburns272 [2011-12-04 12:45:07 +0000 UTC]

Nice work
I also like that you put up a good, detailed background too

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to Jburns272 [2011-12-17 03:41:11 +0000 UTC]

Well, the background, as it says in the credits, belongs to I'm glad you liked the ship!

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Jburns272 In reply to Reactor-Axe-Man [2011-12-20 01:14:13 +0000 UTC]

Oops

You're welcome.

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mikusingularity [2011-12-04 01:12:20 +0000 UTC]

I like the pods.

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to mikusingularity [2011-12-17 03:41:32 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! I need to make some more cargo modules for this thing.

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Dontburnit [2011-07-25 18:54:25 +0000 UTC]

Love the detail and info in your work as always. Nice job sir

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to Dontburnit [2011-07-27 04:31:34 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.

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ebarr [2011-07-25 12:56:54 +0000 UTC]

Interesting, I thought this was a pod dropper as soon as I saw it. Definitely liking your low tech looking ships.

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to ebarr [2011-07-27 04:31:19 +0000 UTC]

Hey, thanks! More to come.

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karanua [2011-07-25 07:36:22 +0000 UTC]

Great looking design, I'm really surprised nobody thought of using Apollo capsule lookalike re-entry pods before on a first in colony vessel, most rely on some sort of lander to drop the cargo / supply caches. Eye catching colourscheme too. The Colonial Movers wasn't missed either - it even looks the same font as was used on the latter series version. Very well done, overall a fantastic design for this type of craft.

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to karanua [2011-07-27 04:26:56 +0000 UTC]

I admit to some of my inspiration coming from the above-mentioned Earth-2, as well as the 2300AD fan-supplement from the Etranger site called Operation Herkules, wherein a Corps-sized planetary invasion force relies heavily on dead-drops from pods such as these for resupply and for landing armored vehicles en masse.

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djomally [2011-07-24 23:18:02 +0000 UTC]

OMG! i love the Drop Pod designs man. reminds me of the pods used in an old Scifi show called Earth 2. Excellent work man!

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Reactor-Axe-Man In reply to djomally [2011-07-25 00:23:01 +0000 UTC]

They have basically the same function as from Earth 2, as well. Drop 'em, and let the follow on teams use them as supply caches as they explore.

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djomally In reply to Reactor-Axe-Man [2011-07-26 10:41:40 +0000 UTC]

now that sounds pretty awesome dude

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