Reconstructing Space: Above & Beyond's ISSCV

unusualsuspex on DeviantArt

For those of who recall the short-lived 90's science fiction series Space: Above & Beyond, one of its most memorable features will have been its spectacular ship design as seen in craft like the the SA-43 Hammerhead Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet and their InterStellar Space Cargo Vehicle which doubled as a an APC.  The ISSCV's most notable feature was that of an independent detachable cargo container, and it is this feature which held the most appeal to me to reproduce!

For Project Volundr's first effort, I chose to build an ISSCV-inspired small ship and detachable cargo containers.  I referred to unusualsuspex's ISSAPC ortho and Kelso323's side view which emphasized the cargo container.

Design Objectives:

1. Reproduce a reasonable facsimile of the S:A&B ISSCV in Space Engineers
2. Construct a transport ship and detachable cargo container which is functional in-game

Challenges:

1.  Small ships cannot have interiors nor can they use Door blocks.  A key component of the ISSCV's cargo container is its interior corridor which connects to the cockpit of the transport ship.  
2. Building it as a large ship would restrict the level of detail attainable. 
3. Ships in Space Engineers cannot have the rotating engine mounts featured on this vessel's wings.  

So I began work on this with every intention of creating a fully faithful replica of the original vessel, but.... somewhere along the design process I stopped doing that and began free-forming it and creating something original.  Once the shift in design goals occurred, the ship stopped being an ISSCV and became something new: the MACPE (Modular Armored Carrier for Personnel and Equipment), or as I nicknamed it the Magpie.  I believe I can trace the exact time which this shift in priorities occurred to be when I realized the wing-mounted engines (which I had chosen to use Large Thrusters for) would under the current design be too close to the landing platforms and would deal damage on take-off. 

Early screenshot of the MACPE

To solve the thruster placement dilemma, I added an upward sweep to the wings so as to elevate them sufficiently.  It should also be noted that reproducing angles in Space Engineers ship designs which are not 90° or 45° can be problematic and don't always look right when implemented.  This was another reason for the divergence from simple replication.  A second engine placement problem came up in that the design from S:A&B does not have any apparent port/starboard engine placements, and any good design in Space Engineers needs thrust in all 6 directions.  Additionally, I had opted to leave the aft section of the transport ship off and shorten the overall design and make pickup easier as it didn't seem to serve any benefit in Space Engineers.  But this left me without a good location for the transport's landing gear.  I solved both of these problems by adding legs that doubled as thruster assemblies which use small thrusters to save space. 

Another pair of problems presented themselves in aligning the cockpit with the cargo container: the original design called for weapons to be underneath the cockpit, but the only place to put ammunition stores rested above the cockpit, and I felt it important that all fuel and ammo be refillable through the same access port.  This resulted in a conveyor system wrapping around the back of the cockpit and widening the front of the ship before extending over the ship's spine, and unnecessarily increased the ship's weight as it was up-armored to protect the conveyor system.  Additionally, the large thrusters place a heavy power demand, but fitting a large reactor into the ship (without blocking the cockpit access) did not seem feasible as it would be somewhat exposed and increase the ship's silhouette significantly.  Instead the spine of the vessel is lined with small reactors all linked to the conveyor system.  This poses serious energy efficiency problems for the design as well. 

Another screenshot from early in development

What about operational efficiency?  The MACPE manages to be proof-of-concept and is capable of carrying other light ships such as the cargo container designed for it, but demonstrates control issues as the weight of the second vessel is destabilizing and causes the ship to spin ventrally (exacerbated by extreme weight such as Large Ship blocks).  While it is capable of carrying other ships and performing pick-up/drop-off maneuvers, these flaws make it questionable as to the efficiency of such measures. 

One area which showed great promise was not in the MACPE itself, but in the cargo container.  When fitted with a Mass Block, the container was able to be dropped short distances to land safely on landing pads (without damaging either the pad or the container).  This opens the door for rapid deployment of wheeled attack vehicles or even for applications as a bomber.

Cargo Container Prototype

In summation, the MACPE is everything you'd expect in a prototype design: she demonstrates an effective proof-of-concept without actually performing the task effectively, and has a number of design flaws which should be correctable given some simple adjustments.  But, the ship looks great and when not weighted by cargo the design demonstrates excellent maneuverability for its weight.  The MACPE design, if perfected, could be very helpful.  To view the full video of the test flights, click here. 

Future applications of the detachable cargo pods would be that of mining ships.  Consider, constructing a mining vessel which uses the conveyor system to dump everything it mines directly into the detachable container.  Players could bring these containers back to base, set them to unload into their refinery, then take an empty container out and continue mining while their previous cargo is being emptied into a refinery. If this can be done using less weight and fewer resources than just bringing a refinery with you (which it should!) then this could be a viable build strategy for survival games. 

Special thanks go to Arron of Last Stand Gamers and SAGE, whose Youtube channels have been the inspiration for me to get into Space Engineers and start writing this stuff down.