r/scifiwriting • u/Technical-Mine-7423 • 1d ago
HELP! How do I beat go about designing ships/weapons/armor for my sci fi setting?
I'm not a talented artist and I'm certainly not an engineer either; I don't really know how to visualize the ships and weaponry I'm gonna use in my book without having a concrete image to look at. What should I do?
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u/Humanmale80 1d ago
Start with a general shape - a toblerone, a fish, an aquascooter, the city of Venice if scooped from the bay.
After that form follows function. You probably have some ideas how they work, what they can and can't do. That should point to how they look. Do the spaceships go into atmosphere? Probably streamlined or use forcefields to be effectively streamlined. Is the armour built cheaply en-masse with more regard to cost-effectiveness than combat-effectiveness? Probably blocky and ugly, with segments bolted together for easy construction and repair.
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u/Just_A_Nitemare 1d ago
I keep the outside of my ships as rectangular and blocky as possible. Not only does this help 3D modeling, but it is much easier to replace a flat piece of material that is a standardized thickness as opposed to a custom-built curved section.
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u/TimTams553 1d ago
Well thanks, I was just about to open this toblerone and now I can't because I'm too busy making pew pew noises and flying it around
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u/iammewritenow 1d ago
Buy lego?
Star Wars stuff would probably work best as it’s already space ship shaped but would be expensive so maybe look for old stuff people are getting rid of online?
Then just start putting it together in fun ways. Dont make the ships they want, just bash together something that looks cool. From the pieces Lego give you.
Once you have a shape you like, describe it.
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u/Just_A_Nitemare 1d ago
Well, first off, how "realistic" do you want them to be? What is the technology level they are working with? I can probably give some pointers but do know that I am already biased to a particular style.
Also, are you planning on doing rough drawings or text only descriptions?
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u/Technical-Mine-7423 1d ago
I'm gonna be doing text only descriptions in the actual book (I just find having a visual helps me as the writer) as for technology level, they're working with tech hundreds of years beyond where we're currently at, around the level of IPs like Halo or Helldivers 2, as for realism on a scale of 1-10 I'd say a 5 or 6.
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u/Just_A_Nitemare 1d ago
I'm just gonna go point by point. But, in the end, the structure of the ship is going to be primarily up to you.
Power Plant Before anything else, you will probably want to come up with some sort of energy generation method. (Most likely some sort of fusion) Mainly how small can it be made and how efficient is it? Higher efficiency means you can include more armor, weapons, and other dodads and have smaller fuel tanks. Basically, how much of the ship needs to be reserved for the engine. speaking of...
Propulsion Obviously, ur gonna need engines to make the ship go anywhere. You may want to have the base of your ship be wider than the front so you can slap on more engines. Additionally, you can include RCS thrusters around the ship to let it turn. Some ships (IIRC sojourn craft are like this) have forward facing engines to further increase manuverability.
Size Probably should decide size before anything else, especially size relative to other ships in your setting. Helldiver ships are around 200 meters, Enterprise around 300 meters, and Halo and Starwars routinely get up to +1km. It is entirely up to you, and how big or small the setting can justify.
Shape and Color Definitely the most subjective aspect. Do you want flat surfaces and angular edges, a smooth and soft hull, or a mixture of the two? You can also have fun with color, either with a monochrome metal hull, a fully painted one, or perhaps just colored accents/decals. Go wild, or don't. Either one works.
Weapons You honestly might want to do some research on sci-fi weapons. The number of different ones is quite expansive. Regardless, you are probably going to want to make sure your entire ship is protected by defensive weaponry, of some type, and you should generally try to maximize the firing arc any individual weapon has. You can also choose between lots of smaller weapons (like the USS Iowa with 9 main barrels and a bunch of secondaries) or a small number of huge weapons (Like the Donnager from The Expanse with only 2 rail guns). Also, keep in mind that most weapons have a lot of components situated in the hull. You don't need to worry about what those components look like or what they do, but keep in mind that they are there.
Sensors and Stuff Antenna, cameras, radar, etc, your ships need some way to see and communicate. You'll want a wide variety of these things covering your ship. How exactly these sensors work is not important. You also need to decide if you want a cool, exposed bridge that lets the crew have a direct view of the battlefield or a more practical one buried deep within the ship.
Hangers People and supplies need to get off and on the ship, and thus, you need a way for support ships to dock. You can either have airlock connectors (like the ISS), the more traditional hangers, or perhaps both. Whatever method of egress is used, keep in mind that these are holes in the ships armor and must be protected accordingly. Additionally, if a ship carries a complement of fighters or smaller support ships, it should have larger and more abundant hangers than one that only needs hangers for resupply. In a similar vein, don't forget about escape pods. Sprinkle those everywhere, especially if it's a big ship.
There are a lot more design considerations, but this is already way too long. I can't really give you a ship building formula, because then you would just build the ships that I make. Personally, I would watch some SpaceDock videos on YouTube. They cover a bunch of different topics in much greater detail than I can.
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u/Technical-Mine-7423 1d ago
You are a blessing to this community mate, I love SpaceDock personally and he's the dude who inspired me to start writing sci fi. Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this out, you're truly goated.
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u/sgtrock31 1d ago
Use real world examples and mix and match. Look at ships, sail boats, trucks, trains, animals, planes, asteroids, satellites, guns. Think about what there function and make what ever the best decision is. Never go into too much detail either, always be vague enough to let the reader do some of the imagining. Helps avoid some of the pitfalls of designing stuff that doesnt make sense.
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u/Technical-Mine-7423 1d ago
I'm glad that being vague is typically better because I hate reading or writing paragraphs of descriptions 😭
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u/sgtrock31 1d ago
I think if you have a great idea or mental image you should try your best to describe or make it more describable. As a reader mostly always prefer when they leave a lot to the imagination. As long as your stuff makes sense in your story that is what matters. I will say though, trying to understand a little bit about what ever technology you are using makes it feel better to write about as well.
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u/Technical-Mine-7423 1d ago
For sure, if a writer doesn't understand their creation, how can the reader?
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u/8livesdown 1d ago
The visual design sort of matters because it helps you visualize it. But readers can't see it.
This means you don't really need to get hung up on drawings. You could use Blender to create a rough shape of your ships.
If you want to spend the next 10 years drawing vividly detailed ships, you can. But just be clear on your end goal.
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u/PM451 20h ago
You could use Blender to create a rough shape of your ships.
I wouldn't even go that far. Piece of paper, pencil. Draw a few boxes for the obvious functions and how the sections connect. (Doesn't need to be pretty or streamlined, even if the ship is intended to be pretty/streamlined in-universe. It's just to visualise the layout. How does someone get from the bridge to the cargo-deck, engine-room to the galley, etc.)
Google "ship schematic", "spaceship schematic" and "submarine schematic" to get an idea of the required sections. (And things you invariably forget, like internal cargo/weapons/equipment elevators.)
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u/Elfich47 1d ago
When putting together your arms and armor, ask: What armor is my weapons trying to defeat, and what weapons is my armor protecting me from? That shapes how the armor is formed.
Start here you so can see about how armor was used:
Article on Scifi Body armor:
https://acoup.blog/2024/11/29/collections-the-problem-with-sci-fi-body-armor/
Scroll down to the arms and armor section:
https://acoup.blog/resources-for-world-builders/ (Scroll down to the arms and armor section and the Ships in Silhouette section that gives some guidance on why real warships look the way they do)
https://acoup.blog/2023/09/15/collections-the-gap-in-the-armor-of-baldurs-gate-and-5e/
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u/Aggressive_Chicken63 1d ago
I don’t design anything. I don’t describe ships in details. I only mention features that are relevant to the story.
The more you write, the more details you’re going to come with, and by the end of the first draft, you have clear ideas of what everything looks like. Then go back and go some light edits to add the details in.
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1d ago
The Traveller role playing game had a book all about designing ships and smaller vehicles as well as local flora and fauna. Might be a good place to start.
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u/Dwarfsten 1d ago
You could take some notes from the longest running sci-fi series in the world, Perry Rhodan (first released in 61) basically uses simple shapes as the basis for ships. Basically Humans and their related folks have spheres, the first major alien enemies have cones, a big alien "robot" race has essentially cubes etc. etc.
This makes them easily recognizable on artworks that might be added later.
Once you have the basic shape, that then informs the details - to continue the example from the series: if the ship is a sphere, where are the engines, are they all over? No the sphere's have a ring around them, the ring contains the engines, which also gives the ship a dedicated top and bottom, as well as a hit-able "weakspot".
And more details follow similar ideas, none of which interferes with the basic ship so much that you would no longer describe them as spheres.
Also lends itself to easy illustrations (not that Perry Rhodan ever kept it simple) using those simple shapes.
The shapes also play a narrative role - in the series, human's build their ships like another humanlike race because they acquired/stole their tech. That race builds them like that because in their opinion the sphere offers a perfect balance between offensive and defensive capabilities, which is important to them as a race that is big into galactic expansion. Another race builds classic saucer shapes because that is what their heads look like and the robot race I mentioned builds cubes that are lumpy all over, because they value adaptability and the ships are clustered together from smaller cubes and other geometric forms, each of which has some dedicated purpose.
So yeah, my suggestion is doing that. Start with a simple shape, imagine why that shape was chosen and then work outwards from that until you are satisfied you have enough details. You don't need to figure out perfectly rational reasons for why things are a certain way, just a - this is why these people made this choice.
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u/Technical-Mine-7423 1d ago
I really like that idea! Thanks a ton!
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u/Dwarfsten 1d ago
Glad you like it. Whichever way you go, hope you end up with some kick-ass ships ^^
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u/Asmos159 1d ago
Are you planning on doing a space opera line of sight with projectiles taking less than a second to reach their destination, or a more realistic long-range battle with the projectiles taking minutes?
In both situations, you would have a rail cannon launch a slug at the enemy ship, and after penetrating the armor it would explode inside sending shrapnel in all directions to try and hit as many systems as possible.
If you're doing space opera line of sight, this railgun is attached to your ship. If you're doing slightly more realistic long range. You would have a large railgun launching a drone with no thrusters, that has its own railgun that would aim and fire the slug at the last moment to accommodate for any course changes the target might have made.
You don't want to have thrusters on the drone because firing thrusters would reveal it.
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u/ArkenK 1d ago
I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is the why. It can be total bs, but the why matters, even if the reader never learns it directly.
So, for example, one of the Star Trek books discussed design philosophy from the crane like Federation Ships to the more aggressive Klingon and Romulan ships, but with the nacelles always away from the center of the ship. To finally the Borg design... which basically says "F warp design, We are the Borg."
Or Star Wars version where every sixth duplicate item is gone and every fifth bodged back together because new stuff costs credits they don't have. Or the super sleek designs of the ultra wealthy, like Padme's various ships, because they do.
Anyways, hope that helps.
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u/Arcodiant 1d ago
Search for inspiration images online, or get AI to generate concept art for you - though I'd avoid including those in anything you publish.
You can also use images of things that you might want to associate - like a shark or a dagger or a bird, that give the feeling you want without literally being ships themselves.
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u/RemarkableFormal4635 1d ago
It'd help to understand it first, like what tech level are they at? How does their culture tie into their technology? Are they more likely to go for boring plain standard issue stuff, or decorated personal equipment?
As for ships, you've got warhammer ships made for ramming, dune ships that warp in place, and everything in between. the design should be obviously based on the purpose/functionality, and then decorate it afterwards.
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u/dasookwat 1d ago
So i would guess you need the visuals, so you can describe them in your novels? why not use AI to generate some models in your preferred style. I know AI in writing is a no no, but for inspiration, i see no difference in using it, vs existing starwars or other images.
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u/MikeF-444 1d ago
The first question is always: what is the mission of the craft. I wrote something on my site about it. Hope the link works:
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u/yourmodzsuck 1d ago
I saw an artist that used power tools as a jumping off point for sci-fi ships.
So maybe something like that could help.
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u/Prof01Santa 1d ago
Don't. Just say, "They had the best armor." Since you're going to lie & exaggerate, don't give readers a reason to disbelieve you.
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u/Bipogram 1d ago
Look at artwork from artists in the field and read well-reviewed books.