Concept Designs for 8 MISC Hull Series Competitors

These designs resulted from a thread questioning the complexity of the Hull series expanding spindle for hauling cargo. From asking what would be the alternative to the Hull E carrying 98,304 SCU I started a visual study of what that volume of cargo would look like using the 32 SCU container scaled with the Idris from the Starjump Fleetviewer. After arranging isometric cargo stacks in Paintshop Pro 9, I drew some concepts that could meet that capacity and be alternatives to the Hull series. The concept designs are intentionally vague in their scale, however the Hull approximate equivalents and the Hull E volume studies are noted. The dark gray cargo volumes in the concept images do not denote specific SCU quantities but show general placement while the yellow arrows show how they can be unloaded.

VS1: One stack about the length of an Idris.

VS2: Eight stacks each about the size of a Small landing pad for a Cutlass.

VS3: Four stacks each about the size of a Medium landing pad for a Retaliator.

VS4: One stack about the size of a Large landing pad for a Carrack.

Consolidated Provisioner: Hull D to Hull E capacity depending on scale. Resulting from the study for eight stacks arranged in a circular pattern. This configuration lent itself to a saucer design and the idea that a ship can only take so much cargo planetside in one trip, so the result was detachable sections that land while the mothership remains in orbit. The concept ended up with Pioneer styling as a sort of sister ship.

Argo DISC: Hull C for DISC I, Hull D for DISC II, Hull E for DISC III. This also started as a classic saucer and used the eight stack study with a hub design having detachable sections on the edge rather than below. This could facilitate rapid cargo transfer to a station where the entire ship doesn't need to wait to be unloaded and it can continue to the next stop. Scalable design like the Hulls resulted in three size variations. Original design inspiration from the undeveloped 2018 Argo UFO concept.

Aegis Olympian: Hull E capacity with reduced load when cargo doors are closed. This uses a variation of the first single stack study to get Hull E capacity as a classic ocean going container ship design split into two sections with a central bridge. The container ship design extended to the notion that the cargo could be both below deck and above deck with the bridge having line of sight over the top of the stack.

Aegis Idris-C: Hull C for central stack plus existing internal cargo bays. This resulted from using the Idris as a backdrop of the studies to see how much it could carry and as a similar container ship style to the Olympian when using an existing ship design.

Drake Condor: Hull C to Hull D capacity depending on scale. A result of further splitting the stack sizes into managable sizes and arranging them in separate bays. Basically a combination of a cargo station with some Kraken styling and having a distinctive appearance. Can also scale with additional or larger hangars.

RSI Monolith: Hull E or larger capacity. Based on the single stack volume study. What started as a simple tuning fork design that could suspend cargo between the prongs using tractor beams escalated quickly into a capital scale container mass driver.

Drake Centipede: Hull B for individual section, Hull C+ with multiple. An offshoot of splitting the stacks into managable sizes while being able to scale. Essentially larger Caterpillar cargo sections that are self sustained ships but can link together into a larger vessel. Open cargo bay design quickly lead to plug in modules to fill in the gaps as an option.

Argo MOAR: Hull B for individual section, Hull C+ with multiple. Derived from further splitting the cargo stacks. Based on the existing RAFT design as an upscaled version that can link into a larger vessel. The design ended up with two double ended command pods and Crucible like rotating engines to travel forward or backwards at equal measure with unimpeded vision.