Ijuin said:
I believe that it was calculated that a 22-km long dreadnaught with the shape and mass stated would be lighter than an equal-sized block of sea-level Earth atmosphere at normal temperature. If the mass number is correct (i.e. that a 22-km long vessel with that shape masses only a couple hundred thousand tons), then it must be at least 80% empty vacuum inside its hull.
Well, I have a question for you.
The Victory Streak gives us the ship's length as 22 kilometres, and the ship's mass as 290,000 metric tonnes. And yes, that mass does look awfully small for such a huge ship (no, I don't buy the "it's all empty space inside" argument - the ship is no less solid-looking than any other Kilrathi capship from WC3). But the problem is that you're trying to use one Victory Streak figure to prove that
another Victory Streak figure is wrong. Which just begs the question - assuming that one of these figures is indeed a mistake, how do you know it's not the
mass that's wrong? I mean, since you're relying on one figure to prove wrong another figure from the same source, then the argument goes both ways - if 22 kilometres is too big for 290,000 tonnes, then obviously, 290,000 tonnes is too small for 22 kilometres.
Additionally, I'm attaching a screenshot for those of you who argue that the dreadnought doesn't look
that big. See that ship crashing into the dreadnought? That's the 700-metre Victory. See how the dreadnought is so much bigger, that it seems like the Victory could fit between those forward prongs and still have plenty of space to spare? Granted, it's hard to make out too much in these dark and low-res shots, not to mention that the Victory is seen at a very different angle than the dreadnought. However, I just don't see how anybody can look at the tiny Victory crashing into the dreadnought and still argue that the dreadnought is 2.2km long. I don't know if it's actually 22 kilometres long, or something in-between... but it's definitely far, far bigger than 2.2km. Unless, of course, the Victory is not 720 metres - but making that argument just for the sake of the dreadnought would be crazy
.