[edit] Sorry THIS IS NOT A FINAL DRAFT! I misunderstood the posting criteria, so I guess this thread can be deleted and I’ll create another one once I’m finished.
Title: E.S.S Emissary - Thrust Contest Vertical Mothership
Name: Shawn Weixelman
Country: USA
Submitted: 9th May 2016
Hi! I’m Shawn “Fuzzy Modem” Weixelman. You may remember me from such starship design contests as “The Next Great Starship” from Star Citizen, “Design the Next Enterprise” from Star Trek Online, and “Design a Starship” from Eve Online, among many others. You can see them all at http://www.spaceshipspaceshipspaceship.com/
My very first contest was CGtalk’s “Grand Space Opera” ten years ago, which gave me a taste for competitive starship design. It’s exciting to return, now with more experience and fresh ideas!
For this contest I’m working on a “Mothership” with a vertical orientation. Here is the back story I’m developing:
"In 2025 humanity received a transmission from an alien government. The automated message included a detailed map of the known universe, instructions for creating a graviton drive that would allow a vessel to travel faster than light, and a variety of other new technologies. We were instructed to build a warship.
This ship would be conscripted into service in the alien fleet, composed of one tribute vessel from each of over 1,000 alien civilizations. In exchange, Earth would be protected by this armada if threatened by the hostile alien species who had refused conscription. We were free to use the graviton technology to produce as many vessels as we wanted, as long as we always kept one ship in their service, replacing it should it be destroyed.
Many insisted that the message should be ignored, but in less than a year construction of a prototype gravity drive had begun. The ship would be armed, as requested, but her mission would be to negotiate for Earths sovereignty."