• If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 February and March 2024 are YE 46.2 in the RP.

Art Custom Hime Class

hi hi

I got a random idea stuck in my head, and it wouldn't leave until I got it down on paper. As usual, this is just fan art.

yacht_explorer_mod.png
Members of the Tokyo Amateur Explorer's Club near an uninhabited planet.
Foreground: A Midori EX-40 Custom Hime. Background: A civilian model Misha.​

I tried to blend the original ship model with the style of a sports car and a touch of the pontoon style that other ships have. It was a difficult but fun challenge to try to cram everything into the given space.

blueprint_1.png

Midori EX-40 Custom
The Midori EX-40 is a custom modification of the Princess Class Yacht with a focus on exploration. Professional explorer Midori-sensei made a limited run of the customized ships, having chosen the ship for its low cost and ease of maintenance in the field. While the original Princess Class is inexpensive, acquiring an original Midori EX-40 will likely cost several times more. They saw some popularity in the amateur explorer community. (Like people going hiking in a national park and calling it a wilderness expedition.)

However, because Midori-sensei published their modification process, anyone with access to a Princess Class and a sufficient maintenance facility can modify it themselves. With the total cost running 1.5 to 2 times the original model.

With extra room devoted to exploration gear, the ship is slightly less luxurious than the standard Yacht, but it gains some utility features instead. It has better landing capabilities and sensor equipment, but it is even more poorly equipped for combat than the original.

Changelog

Deck A

Bridge
• Some models feature a drastically reworked bridge layout, while others only have the altered exterior form.

Escape Pods
• The standard Origin escape pods were removed and replaced with the more space efficient Type 43 "Ikigai."

Conference Room
• Added behind the bridge to coordinate between command and the entire crew. This addition pushed some of the other Deck A facilities aft-ward.

Modular Docking Hardpoint
• Aft of the bridge, the dorsal spine was reinforced to allow docking with a mothership. The default configuration is for the Tanya-Class Expeditionary Heavy Cruiser, but can be reconfigured to accept other ships at a maintenance facility.


Deck B

Main Cabins
• Smaller and less luxurious than the cabins on the Princess Class, they still feature all the basic amenities. An open living room and kitchenette, laundry, bathroom with large tub, bedroom, and attached office.

Meditation Garden
• While on a long voyage into space, it is a place to calm the mind and experience some of the tranquility of nature. Of course, it can also be repurposed as a garden for growing food in a pinch.

Onsen
• One luxury not featured in the original Princess Class is an extensive onsen area. Containing three separate baths and a sauna room.

Multipurpose Room
• Made to be quickly reconfigured for different functions. It can act as a gym, a sparring area, a place to conduct ceremonies, or a place to house unexpected passengers at a respectable level of comfort. Large storage compartments on one side hold the different supplies needed for each configuration.


Deck C

Crew Cabins
• The maximum crew of eight is divided into two blocks, each with their own small kitchenet, living room, laundry, and bathroom. Every crew member has their own small sleeping quarter with work desk and storage closet.

Galley and Dining Room
• While the different cabins have some kitchen equipment, if someone wants to prepare a proper meal, they can use the professional quality galley. It has walk-in cold storage, multiple ovens, decent working space, and a wide assortment of implements.
• The attached dining room can comfortable seat the entire standard crew complement.

Recreation Room
• At the end of the crew cabin area is a rec room. Smaller than on the original Princess Class, it still has a bar, table for various games, a theater system, and a small scale volumetric system.

Medical Rooms
• The medical center isn't as extensive as the one on the Princess Class, but it is focused more toward treating serious injuries. There is a fully equiped primary treatment room for big operations. But for most smaller problems there is a more accessible first aid station.
• It has its own dedicated storage and sanitation area, and an office reserved for a doctor, should the crew complement include one.

Gantry Airlock
• An extendable gantry helps facilitate docking with small craft when the vehicle bay is full.

Science Lab
• Although many amateur explorers do not make full use of it, Midori-sensei included a functional science lab, with a focus on sample analysis.


Deck D

Cargo Bay and Vehicle Bay
• Due to changes in the vehicle bay's layout, both the vehicle bay and the cargo bay now have their own dedicated lift, crane, and scalable graviton beam projector.
• Noting the Princess class's cramped vehicle bay, Midori-sensei further reduced the size. Choosing to focus on ease of maintenance rather than capacity. The EX-40 can only carry four shuttles instead of the Princess Class's five, but it generally sticks with two plus ground vehicles.

Machine Shop and Fabricator
• Just aft of the vehicle bay is a small machine shop for repairs and the fabrication of replacement parts in the field.

EVA Prep Area
• A dedicated prep room has lockers for personal gear and several larger pods that can house small scale power armor. As this is not a military ship, there is no dedicated armory, each crew member maintains their own equipment.
• A receptacle next to the exterior lift can send samples directly to the science lab. An armored storage room with an internal climate control system can be used to store potentially hazardous materials, and decontamination equipment can be employed in case of exposure to environmental hazards, though most amateur explorers won't need them. Sometimes the secure storage doubles as a brig.

Ionic Pulse Cannons
• The EX-40 modifies the standard fixed mount ionic pulse cannons with a variable convergence mount. They gain better accuracy, especially at close range, at the expense of reduced heat dissipation and rate of fire. They are better suited for low power, surgical firing at survey targets, but disadvantageous in an extended firefight.

"This ship isn't a fighter. The cannons are for blasting open space rocks and seeing what's inside." - Midori-sensei
 
hi hi

It was just one of those random inspirations that strikes unexpectedly, but I'm glad you liked it. And thanks for making the source material. ;)
 
To be completely honest this would be awesome to Wikify and Canonify. It definitely holds up to other stuff in the setting and is honestly the best looking deck layout I've seen in ages.
 
Last edited:
hi hi

I don't really know enough to tell if it fits in setting, and I wasn't really planning on using it in a story, but if you say it would be good to have written in formally, I certainly wouldn't mind. Is there anything I should do toward that end?
 
For the most part, your write up is pretty good. Essentially it would just need to have a page created (in the WIP: namespace) convert the section headers to Wiki headlines, and then add in links to anything on it that has an existing Wiki page. Since it is a pretty major refit/upfit, it might need to be approved, but there's nothing gamebreaking about it. However, I would suggest trying to get in contact with an NTSE moderator to see if there's a specific format they would want something like this in. If you're unsure, or unable to do the Wiki work, we may have people willing to volunteer to help you with it, or if you don't mind waiting a while I might be able to help once i've finished my current projects.
 
The biggest thing is it needs others to link to it. I usually put one on my user page when I make a new thing. Later it can be linked from the main article or another.
 
hi hi

The work you did for this ship is absolutely astonishing! I have to know, how did you go about making the deckplan?

I made a really crude 3d model in Wings 3d, which I used as a guideline for the beauty shot image. But since I had that, I could use it to help get a general idea of the dimensions.
quick-3d-sketch.png

For the deckplans themselves, tried a couple different free CAD programs, but wasn't able to get what I wanted out of them (at least not without a lot of digging) so I ended up using Illustrator CS2. Even though it wasn't ideal, I'm familiar enough with it to work around some of its shortcomings.
deckplan_wip.png
There's probably a pro out there that would cringe at seeing some of my kludge solutions, but I used a variety of objects in the scene to measure the area limits by comparing the x,y,z forms. Then I slowly built up a little library of objects that snapped to a half-meter grid. Or if they were smaller than a half-meter, I gave them a grid shaped bounding box so they could more easily snap into place. I used a lot of pathfinding operations to combine and cut out shapes.

But once I had the whole thing done, I exported it to an image file and inverted the colors onto a blue background.
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top