Fleet Makeup

Style Overview

• Primary distinguishing color ranges: Beige/Tan/Mustard-yellow over white/gray/brown base coats

• Common accent colors: Purple, grays, browns, white

• Primary lighting color: Cyan

• Frequently visible: well defined front/back of ship. unibody construction/tightly-fitting armor plates.

Radiators, sometimes with retractable cover-flaps. Extensions, especially on larger vessels (where

they are generally topped by turrets): extensions are vaguely teardrop shaped in cross section, the nonpointy

end thereof being somewhat flattened, rather than fully round, and generally facing forward.

Extensions reduce slightly in diameters of cross section as they extend from the ship, but terminate

in a flat, cross-sectional face by the time the area has been reduced by 1/2 or so from the base of the

extensions.

• Rarely visible: boxy corners and subcomponents, modular design, piping, windows (even Aeran

civilians aren’t much for star-gazing)

• Seen inside, but not out: obviously separately designed mechanisms, modular internals (Aerans practice

modular design, but they like to hide the fact that they do).

• Moving parts(non-turret): radiator covers

• Capital vs. light craft: Light craft are more heavily bilaterally symmetric than capital vessels. Capital

vessels are more likely to have numerous tri- or radial symmetries. For radial symmetries, multiples of

3 are common. Light craft tend to have both front and back extensions that, although vaguely winglike

in shape, are not wings, and are fairly thick in proportion to the size of the craft. The extensions are

proportionately much smaller for capital vessels. Larger capital vessels tend to have forward facing

spinal mounts of architecturally significant size.

Surface features of large Aeran vessels

The smoother, unibody construction aesthetic certainly does make it a bit tougher to think about size -less recognizable

detailing than on a nice modular-construction human vessel, but while there are going to be

fewer macro-level features, there will still be plenty of smaller features. Clearly, at distance, you’re not

going to be able to see a handrail relative to a capital vessel nearly as well as a big row of windows, but

the surface features are there - and some of them will (need to) be visible. The fun part will be balancing

”subtle” with ”seen”. The lighting fixtures in particular should be helpful for that. Aeran vessels are not coy in their lighting.

Small things found on the hull of a (large) Aeran vessel

• Service/Maintenance hatches

• Lighting fixtures (especially around the service/maintenance hatches - then leading out from such

hatches to other EVA work areas)

• Handrails (would probably look a bit different from the human ladder-style)

Somewhat larger things found on the hull of a large Aeran vessel:

• Small sensor clusters (recessed into hull)

• Optical pickups/cameras/etc (recessed into hull)

• Escape pod launcher ports

Yet larger things ... :

• Pinnace/lander launch bay (non-carrier vessels)

• Docking bay doors (single shuttle sized for non-carriers - something akin to smaller versions (relative

to total craft size) of the flight IIA covered helicopter storage modifications on the Arleigh Burke class

destroyer: these aren’t strike-craft carriers, they can just dock some attendant or visiting craft.)

Listing of (active duty) Aeran vessels:

Human-applied naming scheme: Spartan kings.

• Acrotatus (civilian passenger transport)

• Agasicles (destroyer, capital escort)

• Agesilaus (diplomatic transport)

• Agesipolis (capital carrier, fleet support)

• Agis (corvette, assault specialization)

• Alcmenes (dropship, orbit->ground only)

• Anaxander (cruiser, design predates Aeran-Rlaan war)

• Anaxandridas (battle cruiser, designed during Aeran-Rlaan war specifically to engage Rlaan capital vessels)

• Anaxidamus (battle cruiser, designed after Aeran-Rlaan war)

• Areus(strike craft, F/A)

• Ariston (strike craft, F)

• Charillus (mining/resource gathering vessel)

• Cleombrotus (cargo container tug, unarmed, moves cargo containers at depots and such)

• Cleomenes (mobile sensor platform, crew of 1)

• Demaratus ("Aenethforming" auxiliary craft, non-combatant, parasite craft for Theopompus)

• Dorissus (flight tender (frigate), handles refuel, re-arm, resupply for strike craft)

• Echestratus (frigate, scout frigate)

• Eurycratides (frigate, communications and EW platform)

• Eurypon(science and exploration vessel, military)

• Leon(logistical resupply, military, unarmed)

• Leonidas (dreadnought)

• Nicander (strike craft, interceptor)

• Pausanias(gas miner)

• Pleistarchus (probe, uncrewed)

• Pleistoanax(repair and maintenance, small)

• Polydectes(corvette, escort)

• Polydorus (Assault shuttle/boarding vessel, ship->ship, ship->ground)

• Procles(colony ship, sleeper ship, unarmed, very large)

• Prytanis(cargo shuttle, unarmed)

• Soos (salvage craft, sub-capital size)

• Teleclus(troopship, carries Alcmenes class dropships, weaponry is orbit->ground only)

• Theopompus(mothership for Aeran "Aenethforming" operations, carries Demaratus class parasite craft)

• Zeuxidamus(bulk container cargo vessel, unarmed, enormous)