Given that they're marines, a used future would work better. Shiny futures a la Star Trek typically have everyone on their clean ships taking care of problems from a distance without getting their hands dirty. On the other hand, you could make a point of depicting the space navy as being clean and pretty and taking care of problems from a distance by sending in the marines to do the dirty work.
"Thorough preparation must lead to success. Neglect nothing."I'd recommend looking at real military equipment for referrence. Even brand-spanking-new stuff isn't shiny, but tends to come in dull, subdued colors. On a battlefield, you don't want to be wearing something eye-catching. Real life military gear doesn't tend to be falling apart though, either, even if it is really old. Stuff might get dented and scratched, but professional soldiers don't let it fall apart.
tl;dr: Military stuff should come in subdued colors because shiny is bad for camo. Old stuff will certainly show its age, but probably be well-maintained.
Well, the armor design we've thought of is dark green plating on top of a skintght black jumpsuit, though it can be "programmed" to change color (similar to Naked Snake in MGS 3 having different camouflage outfits). Some cosmetic customizations allow a color system for certain things (like Pilot, Medic, Sniper, etc).
Embroiled in slave rebellion, I escaped crucifixion simply by declaring 'I am Vito', everyone else apparently being called 'Spartacus'.Mass Effect? 'Twas plenty shiny.
You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Let's not get into that right now, or the thread is likely to be hijacked by space warfare armchair theorists.
I agree that regardless of whether your future in general is Shiny or Used, realistic Space Marines will likely go with the Used look.
Notes:
- since there isn't a whole lot of debris in space, any starcraft that does not pass through an atmosphere's going to be pretty clean.
- any starcraft that does pass through an atmosphere and lands, etc, will eventually collect dirt.
edited 24th Mar '11 6:20:17 PM by annebeeche
Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.So, in other words, the main ship would look (reasonably) "out-of-the-box", but the Drop Ship (like the Pelican or Starbug) would accumulate wear and tear. I guess that'd work.
Embroiled in slave rebellion, I escaped crucifixion simply by declaring 'I am Vito', everyone else apparently being called 'Spartacus'.The main ship may not necessarily be shiny, especially if that's not the aesthetic US Marines want. But it's not likely to get dirty, though, that's for sure.
- Also, your main ship can get away with being sphere-shaped and having artificial gravity* .
edited 24th Mar '11 6:31:21 PM by annebeeche
Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Micro-meteorites, eh? -does research-
-comes back- And thus there would not be any point in keep your ship all glossed up, unless you plan on coating it with diamond or something.
EDIT: Generating artificial gravity on a spherical ship would not be necessary—make the ship spin on an axis, and the inside wall of the sphere becomes the surface on which you stand.
edited 24th Mar '11 6:40:36 PM by annebeeche
Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.At relativistic speeds, even colliding with hydrogen atoms is a problem, and interstellar space is full of them.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayMaking your ship shiny is actually a pretty good idea; it helps reflect heat, which is a big deal in space, given that vacuum is an insulator.
On the subject of micrometeorites, your answer is Whipple shielding
. Basically, a layer of tinfoil placed a small distance away from your hull proper causes micrometeorites to vaporize, which means your hull doesn't have to deal with nearly as strong an impact.
Because radiators are a different beast than normal hull; they have to be able to radiate heat efficiently, after all, while otherwise you just want to have them avoid picking up radiated heat. (Radiators are positioned edge-on to the sun when possible anyway, to avoid exposing their cross-section to said radiated heat.)
The space shuttle in general really isn't a good example of an efficient space craft; most of its design is focused on reentry and recovery than the actual being-in-space bits. It's really not supposed to go anywhere in space, just get up to space and return again.
edited 28th Mar '11 1:06:09 PM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.I'm not really planning on focusing on the technical aspects of the gear. Basically, we've got the ships (capable of traveling approximately a max of 1 light-year per day), we've got the Powered Armor and weaponry; that's all we need to know. Occasionally, some Techno Babble might be thrown around, but that's all.
Embroiled in slave rebellion, I escaped crucifixion simply by declaring 'I am Vito', everyone else apparently being called 'Spartacus'.

So, I'm designing a universe (for my RPG group) in which I basically threw Aliens, Contra and Starship Troopers in a blender (with a splash of Halo and Clone Wars for flavor). The Marines wear Powered Armor that's a blend of Master Chief's suit and the Dead Boy armor from Rifts (in other words, not exactly up to going head-to-head wih Tony Stark). Some soldiers make mild customizations to their gear, like soldiers in Vietnam.
The question is, should their vehicles/weapons/etc. be all sleek and shiny, like in Star Trek, or grungy, a la the Millennium Falcon? Or possibly a hybrid of the two? (Rookie soldiers are often nicknamed "Glitters", since their armor is "just out of the box", so to speak).
edited 23rd Mar '11 8:26:18 AM by RedneckRocker
Embroiled in slave rebellion, I escaped crucifixion simply by declaring 'I am Vito', everyone else apparently being called 'Spartacus'.