Ship #1165: Leviathan. Designer: Decagon

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This topic is for discussion of ship #1165: Leviathan


Size: 30x15
Designer: Decagon

Desc:
One of the most powerful Khephrin ships currently available to aspiring Warlords, the Leviathan is a hulking monster armed with a wide variety of offensive and defensive modules. Most notably, it also carries a lathe, making it a valuable offensive ship when assaulting structures.

[Sominaka]

I want to know what it is ? 

[GoodMorning]

Welcome to the forum.

You may note:

a hulking monster

valuable offensive ship

From this, I would infer that it is a ship, although this group seem to have blurred the line between biology and engineering.

[Keeper Decagon]

You may note:

a hulking monster

valuable offensive ship

From this, I would infer that it is a ship, although this group seem to have blurred the line between biology and engineering.

Correct. The Khephrin Dominion is quite fond of using bio-engineered vessels, and whilst the ships are by no means sentient, they are most definitely alive.

[tornado]

Correct. The Khephrin Dominion is quite fond of using bio-engineered vessels, and whilst the ships are by no means sentient, they are most definitely alive.

Not a bad idea. however you have to consider growth time, loss of structural integrity(sure it' grow back, but if it was steel we wouldn't see the dent), compatibility issues, random evolution, ethixal issues, and- as mentioned- posible sentience. on the plus side, we get to watch Them hit all these pitfalls rather than us.

[Keeper Decagon]

Correct. The Khephrin Dominion is quite fond of using bio-engineered vessels, and whilst the ships are by no means sentient, they are most definitely alive.

Not a bad idea. however you have to consider growth time, loss of structural integrity(sure it' grow back, but if it was steel we wouldn't see the dent), compatibility issues, random evolution, ethixal issues, and- as mentioned- posible sentience. on the plus side, we get to watch Them hit all these pitfalls rather than us.

The ships, much like the Khephrins themselves, have chitinous armour that is extremely strong, making the ships not 'squishy' by any means even though they're bio-engineered. The basic genetic structure of these ships is based heavily off Khephrin DNA, edited appropriately to allow for the engineering side of things to exist without conflicting with the organic structures.

In the early days of Khephrin space travel, the ships were little more than buildings strapped to the backs of Leviathan Khephrins, which are the most massive examples of their species. As Leviathans became less viable for travel (due to a strange interaction with Rift Space that drove them insane over time), another solution was needed. Artificial spaceships were a result of this, but they were much too weak to live up to their warring nature. In the end, they combined the genetics of Leviathans with the artificially engineered systems on their "normal" ships to create a new series of vessels, able to harness powerful weapons alongside unmatched regenerative abilities, and without the chance the ship will inadvertently turn on them due to Rift exposure. Though the ships retain complex neural networks to act as data relays, their central nervous system has been replaced with a computer core and a shielded bridge full of smaller Worker Khephrins, thereby negating the possibility of the ships ever gaining sentience.

Things like random evolution, as you mentioned, is a consistent problem Khephrin Bio-Engineers have to account for which each new generation of ships that is grown. Sometimes, genetic dilution will cause a ship to be born with certain defects that prevent them from participating in active combat. That said, the Khephrins won't let a defective ship go to waste. If the ship is unable to fight, but is still able to fly, then it will be put to use somewhere in the civilian sectors, or as a supply ship for less strategically important installations. If the ship is defective beyond all feasible use, it will be sent back to the Bio-Foundries on the Khephrin Homeworld where it'll be recycled into biomass to be used for the next generation.

Where us humans will go nuts on ethical issues even on simple things such as the use of stem cells from embryos, the Khephrins have been bio-engineering for so long that it is the norm in their society, and is readily accepted as a way of life. Khephrins themselves will often resort to genetic manipulation upon themselves to discard genetic defects or to allow their colonists to adapt to new worlds, also making them capable of colonizing damn near every planet within their space and beyond.

So yeah. They're quite experienced in this whole bio-engineering thing. :P

[tornado]

Holy cow, you put some thought into this.
One last note: I presume they haven't heard of the concept of 'Cannon fodder' or 'Bullet shields' have they?
then again, almost all the ships we have seen(referring to every custom map/ship ever) have had some kind of weapon on them, even the utilities.

[GoodMorning]

[...] almost all the ships we have seen(referring to every custom map/ship ever) have had some kind of weapon on them, even the utilities.

Redacted space is not a safe place. And micrometeorites are a constant danger anywhere.

Also, there have been custom maps with neither ship nor particle.

[tornado]

Also, there have been custom maps with neither ship nor particle.

I'm yet to see such a map. Could you perchnce refer to a couple(I'm curious now)?