Death Cruiser
The Death Cruiser, or simply the DC, is a fictional multi-purpose starship capable of deep space and atmospheric flight. It was designed by Medessec to be a mascot of Medessec Software Development games and Medessec Media 3D animations.
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Conception
The ship's first mention was in the Medessec Gallery stories, a series of sci-fi short stories written by Medessec and uploaded to the website at around 2007 when the stories were read by former members of the Medessec Productions Team. The stories center around the ship and its travels through space. The ship at the time was considered to be an example of Medessec's rather surrealistic creativity, and was modeled after the more crude, edgy appearance of recent fighter jets and stealth aircraft.
Description
Design
The ship was designed based off of the idea of civilian space travel, or interstellar travel, while still keeping a modern(present)-era design. The ship was designed to be exceedingly large, just under 2 miles in length, 2,700ft tall excluding the tail fins, and with a wingspan close to a mile long.
Propulsion
The ship utilizes 4 multi-jet engines(ramjet and scramjet combination) to achieve lift and thrust in multiple directions. Each engine can be rotated on a horizontal axis to achieve multi-directional thrust and flight, as well as lift in low-speed flight. The ship's wings, merely and extension from the engines from the fuselage, have little use other than aerodynamic stability in atmospheric flight. The ship's fuel is mostly Hydrogen, filtered from the air via remolecularization and injected at high velocity, or opening the vents to allow air directly into the engine. The engines are highly efficient but need a massive scale of power and sufficient Hydrogen and Oxygen to run. The ship can simply refuel by visiting a star or suitable planet.
Hull
The hull is a combination of metals chemically modified at the molecular level to resist heat, corrosion, and magnetism. Some of these steels include Iridium, Titanium, Copper, Osmium and in some areas, Platinum. The hull is also designed in a way to reduce warping from constant stress during flight. The Hull can also withstand shell fire to repel most air-to-air or ground-to-air attacks from other craft or stationary artillery. The ship's Hull is also airtight, to allow for compression during high-altitude flight and space travel.
Design Revisions
The design has undergone many revisions to make the ship more realistic, practical and stylish.
Original Design(Mark I)
The original design was very basic, and was merely an idea of a super-massive airship or spaceship with a modern design. The engines couldn't rotate on their axis like the new design, and instead features smaller engines on the bottom of the then called "fore engines" for lift. The rear fins were connected at the top by a central lateral wing to make a spoiler, which was later considered an aerodynamic flaw. The design also featured full wings on the side which, like the newer design's wings, had little real purpose except in low-speed atmospheric flight. The ship also featured a hangar and runway on it's very top, to allow for short-landing and takeoff aircraft to land and take-off from the cruiser.
Mark II
The Mark II design, the redesign that was made in early 2009, changed many features on the DC. The "fore engines" were sloped and instead of having small engines pointing downward in the fore engines provide lift, the engines were upscaled and relocated to the belly of the craft, in the front they were spread apart by a few hundred feet, and in the back they were precisely in the center. The rear engines remain unchanged for the most part. Although several changes have been made, the design remained basic and considerably still a recognition of the idea.
Mark III
The Mark III design mostly included changes to the shape and the aerodynamic features of the craft, featuring smaller and more angular wings, and a curved spearhead front. The lateral wing connecting the rear fins was eliminated, and the ship's rear was made to be more effective in reducing drag, and the rear engines were slightly redesigned. This redesign was mostly pointed towards making the ship look more practical, but at the same time effectively powerful and immense looking.
Mark IV
The Mark 4 featured the rotatable engines similar to the newest design, and redesigned wings. The bridge was also relocated to the highest point on the front of the ship, instead of on the very front of the ship. The lateral wing connecting the rear fins was also brought back. The ship remains highly conservative of the original design, and is not considered to be a huge design revision to the ship. Despite this, many ideas from this design revision have been considered in the 5th redesign. The redesign also made the ship appear to be more maneuverable and efficient, an idea perfected in the 5th revision.
Mark V
The Mark 5, or most recent design revision is considered a huge design revision to the Death Cruiser. The rotatable engines are further enhanced and embedded into the design, and the rear engines, on the very back of the ship(similar to the space shuttle) are completely removed in favor of large rear rotatable engines similar to the fore engines, except much larger and capable of higher thrust. The lateral wing connecting the rear fins is removed yet again, to allow for a completely different styling of the rear fins. The ship's belly, unlike previous designs, is now black matte to make the top of the cruiser more distinguishable, and give the ship a more shadow-like or stealth-like appearance. The design also is unique in that the sides of the top half of the hull, running the length of the ship, sweep over the side rotating engines. The bridge, similar to the Mark IV design, has been moved to the very top of the front instead of the very front tip. There is no longer a defined runway running the length of the top of the ship because the top is now sloped, although a STOL or V/STOL aircraft could certainly land on or take off from the length of the top of the ship. There is even an entry-way ramp in front of the rear fins that provides access to a below-deck hangar.
Present and Future
After the Medessec Gallery was discontinued in favor of Medessec Media and the new website, the stories were removed from free download. The ship exists visually only in the Medessec 2008 Animation, which showed off all of Medessec's 3D animations. Medessec has tried and failed several times to show the ship once again through video games by MedSoft or a 3D animation or video.
