Spaceships

So, I've been thinking for a while.
What actually is a spaceship?
Typing 'Spaceship' into Wikipedia redirects one to 'Spacecraft', which isn't really satisfying (at least for most of us, I assume).

So, we need to find our own definition of the term 'spaceship'.
Therefore we need two pieces of information for the definition, namely: 'how to define a spacecraft' and 'how to differentiate with other, non-ship spacecraft'

Wikipedia easily answers the first question: 'A spacecraft is a vehicle, vessel or machine designed to fly in outer space'

The second part is a little more tricky, although I believe I got an idea.

For it to be a spaceship, it must
-be capable of at least basic interplanetary maneuvers
-not have multiple stages
-must be manned
-have a minimum size that can vary depending on the space-flight standards of the society it is built by and its function



If you find anything that is not a spaceship and would still fall into my definition, let me know and I'll try to fix it, or even give me an idea of how to fix.

Well Ill ask you this way : What else can you confuse with a space ship ? An asteroid ? A space station ? A space torpedo ? Even if we didn’t write a dictionary definition for this we mostly know what a space ship is, if you really want one then a space ship is a manmade moving space vessel. You won't confuse it with a space station as it is a manmade stationary space structure while a space torpedo is a manmade moving space warhead.

And yes a space ship can split up, can be unmanned (automated space ship or drone) etc. And I see no reason why a giant 10Km ARK cant be a space ship.

Iv121 wrote:

Well Ill ask you this way : What else can you confuse with a space ship ? An asteroid ? A space station ? A space torpedo ? Even if we didn’t write a dictionary definition for this we mostly know what a space ship is, if you really want one then a space ship is a manmade moving space vessel. You won't confuse it with a space station as it is a manmade stationary space structure while a space torpedo is a manmade moving space warhead.

So in your opinion a starfighter is a ship?
Interesting.

Exactly. A fighter is a sapce ship of up to 12m long, yes I got small standards, but hey our planets are 6km in diameter !

Iv121 wrote:

Exactly. A fighter is a sapce ship of up to 12m long.

It might be argued that a fighter is not a ship due to it being a 'small craft' which may be differenciated from ships.
Also your definition would make capsules (on rockets), escape pods etc. ships as well, since they are manned, have propulsion and can operate in space.

Yup. I use shuttles as escape pods, much more effective - can be used both in times of peace, war and emergency. Escape pods are merely vessels we use to escape and eventually gameplay wise they are identical to fighters while bigger transports as such are identical to other small block-made ships. For the program at least there is no difference between them all.

I would say its bound by what makes a sea ship, but in space.

Well the point is you can make a raft, borg cube, random air filled sphere that got engines on it, any shape you want both in sea and in the game, they will all be "ships" for the game engine.

All spaceships are spacecraft, but not all spacecraft are spaceships.

We consider the Space Shuttle to be a spaceship, though, so it's a pretty loose definition.

Tiel+ wrote:

All spaceships are spacecraft, but not all spacecraft are spaceships.

We consider the Space Shuttle to be a spaceship, though, so it's a pretty loose definition.

This. Except for the Space Shuttle. It even needs (non reusable) stages towed to its underside in order to accomplish its basic mission.

Why would you need stages for a shuttle? Either way arguing what is spaceship and what is spacecraft is a rather pointless argument. If it had any impact whatsoever on the gameplay or the programming process Ill get the point but as of now I will just leave you to this (Somewhat entertaining) philosophical discussion.

Ivan2006 wrote:

Tiel+ wrote:

All spaceships are spacecraft, but not all spacecraft are spaceships.

We consider the Space Shuttle to be a spaceship, though, so it's a pretty loose definition.

This. Except for the Space Shuttle. It even needs (non reusable) stages towed to its underside in order to accomplish its basic mission.

That seems kinda pedantic. If you ask a 4 year old what a spaceship is that's probably the first thing they'll think of.

Are you talking about IRL space craft or sci fi?

"Spaceships"

Iv121 wrote:

Why would you need stages for a shuttle? Either way arguing what is spaceship and what is spacecraft is a rather pointless argument. If it had any impact whatsoever on the gameplay or the programming process Ill get the point but as of now I will just leave you to this (Somewhat entertaining) philosophical discussion.

I don't know why you keep talking about programming, this is in the off-topic area.
Also @Tiel the only reason a 4-year-old would say that is because at that age they propably haven't had much contact with space-flight related topics yet, I am trying to find a definition agreeable on be a community mostly consisting of sci-fi nerds.

@CMA(if that is you): both

A "spaceship" is a manned, single-stage vessel capable of orbital and/or interplanetary manuevers.

A "spacecraft" is any vehicle designed to operate in space.

A spaceship is also a spacecraft, but a spacecraft isn't always a spaceship.

Lets all agree to not use the word spaceship because it doesn't sound like a word that grownups would use. And apparently it sparks debate like every other topic on the forum.

MercurySteam wrote:

it doesn't sound like a word that grownups would use

Really? Trust me, they do every time they talk about sending people to Alpha Centauri, which is a thing they are planning.

In a hard scifi/real life scenario I doubt there'd be any distinction between the two other than size. Sace is not an ocean.

LeEpicMemester wrote:

In a hard scifi/real life scenario I doubt there'd be any distinction between the two other than size. Sace is not an ocean.

Futurecraft is the poster child for Space Is An Ocean.

Won't there be full 3 dimensional movement though? That alone will make it vastly different than most space games I've played.