For the vast and endless universe, human beings always have an almost obsessive attachment. Whether it is the survival instinct that continues for generations or the desire to take risks that lurk in the genes, for those who are still entrenched on land, the other side of the distant galaxy has long been the ultimate signpost in the history of human development for hundreds of years.
"My journey is the sea of stars!"
In explaining this mantra, which is now used to express ambition, most people will say that their ambition and enthusiasm are as strong and hot as the desire to explore the stars of the universe, and when Tanaka Yoshiki's protagonist Reinhardt. Feng. When RoyanKram said this line in "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes", the original meaning of mankind for the sea of stars was truly fully expressed: that is, conquest.
The universe is fundamentally the next piece of territory waiting to be divided for humanity. After the Soviet Union's R-7 intercontinental missile sent the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik I, into Earth orbit in 1957, the 18-year space race between the United States and the Soviet Union began. The moment Armstrong stepped on the moon, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" made everyone understand that leveling the sea of stars was no longer out of reach, at least it could be well thought out.
Cosmic science fiction themes blossomed after the space race, and dreamers around the world drew enough inspiration from the Cold War. In the many films, television, and entertainment works that have been launched subsequently, there is one thing that proves that we earthlings are serious about conquering the universe: this is the space battleship.
For this kind of military vehicle that realizes space navigation and combat, the name space battleship is actually controversial. In different science fiction works, the creators have great differences in their specific form and inspiration for its conception and functional design, so sometimes spaceships will be more appropriately called, but in view of its fundamental nature and evolutionary trajectory considerations, space battleships are still the most secure name.
"Star Trek" can be said to be the first film and television work in the mature form of "Battleship", and its appearance even predates the post-Cold War cosmic science fiction carnival, as early as the year before Gagarin's moon landing (1961), Gene Roddenberry had already sold the early script of "Star Trek" everywhere. In 1966, the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series was released, and the Enterprise (Enterprise) appeared on the small screen as one of the most famous starships in film history.
As an Archaeopteryx-class battleship, the Enterprise did not stick to the design idea of the existing weapons, and the shape of the entire Enterprise was very unique, the main hull was disc-shaped, equipped with a bias guide, warp engine, and pulse engine. From a non-professional point of view, the Enterprise is still easily recognized as a spacecraft compared to the battleship, although it is 288 meters long and has a crew of more than 200 people. (It doesn't really make any difference)
While Star Trek has been a huge success around the world, its "avant-garde" starship design concept has magically not been a guide for sci-fi battleship design. After that, two works with a huge impact on cosmic science fiction came out one after another, and both took another path, that is, to find inspiration from real weapons. The first work mentioned here is George Lucas's Star Wars series. The first game in the series, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, released in 1977, featured a newly designed battleship: the Star Destroyer.
The design of the destroyer is actually based on the destroyer in real-world naval battles, and it may be that in Lucas's view, as the most widely used and most strategically valuable ship in the navy, the destroyer is the prototype of the destroyer. As the most important weapon platform, the destroyer meets the strong carrying capacity at the design level, and can easily equip an Imperial stormtrooper division, nearly a hundred walkers and dozens of fighter squadrons.
Given that Star Wars is more inclined to cosmic warfare at the script level, the star destroyer is far from being comparable to the starship in terms of size, and the Empire-class star destroyer can easily accommodate nearly 50,000 combatants. Rather than originating from a destroyer, it is actually the path of a space carrier in the end.
The originator of the Japanese cosmic science fiction anime, "Space Battleship Yamato", is another anime work created after Star Trek based on real-life naval combat weapons. It tells the epic story of the 2199 earth in which the space battleship named "Yamato" was searched to save the earth when it was in danger of being attacked by alien forces.
In view of the Japanese habit of "taking history as a mirror" when creating, the setting from the background to the ship setting of "Space Battleship Yamato" is almost a "justice" remake of Japan in World War II. During World War II, the Yamato, known as the "world's first battleship" and the "savior of the Japanese Empire", was almost completely moved to the space battleship, except, of course, except for the "wave cannon" that the Japanese dreamed of that could turn their fate around in one shot.
In fact, from the "scientific" perspective of battleship design, whether it is the frisbee design of the Enterprise, or the design of the star destroyer, the ship design of the Yamato, in the final analysis, there is no such thing as any realistic physical support of the irresponsible YY design, do not consider the problems that need to be faced in the construction and lift-off process, from a practical point of view, vertical design is a feasible plan, the stern is at the bottom, and the linear gravity and stable acceleration are provided for the cabin, without letting the people in the entire ship vomit and die before they enter space.
The reason why naval ships have become the mainstream of space battleship design in science fiction works is actually far from the battleship itself, the real reason is because in fact, even in the current 9102, human beings still have no real theory of space warfare, in other words, the cost of wanting to jump to the YY set of space wars is too large, so "cosmic naval warfare" has become the most operational theoretical basis, and the birth of the Star Destroyer and the Yamato is also for this reason.
With Star Wars and Space Battleship Yamato in front of them, Cosmic War began to become the most popular sci-fi setting in film and television, anime, and games. The trumpets of war are blown, and one question is on the table:
How do I output damage?
The firepower output of ships does not require rigorous numerical settings in movies and animation works, so in most cases it is more conducive to the author's brain hole. The "phase cannon" in Star Trek was born in a completely overhead situation. This beam energy weapon can use the energy of laser beams, particle beams, microwave beams, plasma beams, and acoustic beams to cause damage. There is nothing wrong with it except for the bug, which is equivalent to having this weapon, and all kinds of damage that can be caused in the basic universe are all rounded.
Unlike the ship designs that Star Trek did not adopt in other titles, the concept of beam weapons was widely recognized and acclaimed by other titles including film, animation, and game productions. Like the "Star Wars" empire in which the Empire tirelessly built one Death Star after another is a product of the laser cannon to achieve the ultimate in the industry. The Wave Cannon of space battleship Yamato is also going farther and farther on the unreasonable road, and Blizzard's strongest weapon in the Terran Battleship in StarCraft is the most sincere tribute to the bug-like strength of the Wave Cannon.
Speaking of the problem of numerical setting, in the game work, the positioning and selection of weapons because of the strict numerical settings, the advantages and disadvantages between different weapons are more intuitive, and the thermal damage caused by beam weapons is much higher than the damage of kinetic weapons. Take the domestic science fiction game "Galaxy Predator" for example, you can intuitively see this gap.
In the game, the tactical medium bullet equipped with the aircraft carrier Fenrir class can directly deal electromagnetic damage of 1036, and the kinetic damage caused by the same level of Reaper 1 missiles can only reach less than 50% of the thermal damage, and the damage gap is almost non-discussable. However, the use of value aside is definitely a hooligan, given that the author here is only a simple comparison of the difference in the magnitude of damage, so I will not repeat the actual combat value.
Enjoying unrestricted brain holes is one thing, but incorporating realistic hardcore settings into science fiction has always been the best choice to enhance impact and sense of substitution, and the same is true for the design of weapons, in the absence of atmospheric resistance interference, missiles equipped with nuclear warheads and equidistant bullets have become the green leaves that can best set off the red flowers in beam wars. Kinetic weapons are more like an iron wall of defense than offensive, and 40 mm close-range defense rapid-fire guns can almost make enemy fighters and small landing craft disappear in an instant.
After the absolute status of beam weapons in space warfare is recognized, corresponding restriction rules have come out, such as the strong demand for energy supply of giant beam weapons will make ships must remain stationary during the preparation and launch stages, and the inability of beam weapons to flexibly track and aim the characteristics of basically make them become designated weapons for giant battleships, which is almost useless in the face of highly mobile battleships and fighters. Titan's "Star Wars Eve" in the local tycoon's special villa is something that belongs to the show strength far better than the actual combat significance.
With the advancement of time, the concept of space battleships has become more and more comprehensive and meticulous, although it cannot be said that it is getting closer and closer to reality, and the rationality design of ships is constantly being discussed and improved. For example, the most controversial question of whether the bridge should be exposed is repeatedly discussed in terms of functionality and actual combat operations to reach the final solution: Yes, there is nothing wrong with the bridge being exposed! Bridge decapitation does not exist! (Thanks to energy shield and multi-bridge design)
Write at the end
From the 70s to the present, people's enthusiasm for conquering the universe has not diminished in the slightest, but due to the limitations of real energy technology, our imagination is indeed difficult to take another step forward, so whether it is the later "Gundam" series of cartoons, or games like "The Eve of Star Wars", or even our domestic game work "Galaxy Predator", the design of the space battleship has also reached the threshold of continuous enrichment of details but can not undergo qualitative change, but the author believes that as long as there is still a sea of stars in the heart, In the future, we will definitely have the opportunity to fly a space battleship that belongs to us to conquer the endless blue starry sky.