Interstellar clipper ship

[selden]

In his recent posting https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=38991 of a map of the Neosol system, Ilanthar mentioned a type of FTL drive based on technologies similar to those used by wind-driven sail.

Here's my start at an attempt to illustrate (map?) such a ship. Perhaps it was designed and constructed by a company which is competing commercially with the shipbuilders of Neosol.

mainsails+jibs.png

clipper_multiview.png

[Falconius]

Pretty cool idea. Is this a top down view?

[selden]

The ships are radially symmetric, with the sails spreading out on all sides. They don't have an up-down orientation as ships floating in water have.

Obviously I'll have to figure out a better way of displaying them. Here's a face-on view.

clipper_faceon.png

[selden]

Here's a preliminary description of the hull and steering structures.

no sails.jpg

Hmm. Obviously some changes are needed, both to the structure and the illustration. Not to mention improving details of the underlying model.

The physics conceit is that the ship's sails, keels and rudders extend into a multi-dimensional "sail space". The 2D projection here can't easily display how the sails extend into a low density propulsion dimension while the keels planes and rudders extend into a higher-density steerage dimension to provide stability. Both dimensions contain their own currents affecting movement.