Cray
06/20/08 09:52 PM
68.205.198.74
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A battle station that will, hopefully, never personally get close to battle...
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Vulcan-6
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3067
Vessel Type: Space Station
Rules: Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 4,000 tons
Length: 60 meters
Power Plant: Standard
Safe Thrust: 0
Maximum Thrust: 0
Armor Type: Standard
Armament:
12 Large Pulse Laser
24 AMS
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==Overview:==
The Vulcan-6, a derivative of the Vulcan 2, is a bare-minimum fighter support
"battle" station. The Vulcans are a product of the Trinity Moons system, a
notional member of the Free Worlds League, which developed in semi-isolation
during most of the Succession Wars.
Trinity Moons' status is called "semi-isolation" because after being hammered
into the bedrock by the early Succession Wars, the system recovered on its own
and was able to monitor neighboring systems with radio telescopes. It was
aware of the ongoing Succession Wars and put no little thought into defending
itself within the limits of its backward technological base.
The system was a unique one with multiple inhabitable worlds, all of them the
moons of a gas giant. (Three were originally inhabitable; 2 more were
terraformed to habitability, and one of the originals needed some moderated
terraforming, too.) The very close locations of these worlds meant that
Trinity Moons' defenders could adopt some unique strategies for defense.
One of them is the Vulcan series of battle stations. Because of the short
distances between the five Great Moons, it was almost feasible to use fighters
without carrier support, and certainly the high performance of DropShips would
not be necessary. (Which was good, because Trinity Moons was struggling with
heat expansion engines. The engines on the Vulcan-class station were about
five times as massive as an Inner Sphere stationkeeping drive.)
The Vulcan-2 proved the concept, but feasibility studies showed that the
station could be doubled in mass, trebled in fighter capacity, and quintupled
in cargo capacity for about a 25% price increase. While the political
leadership was loathe to waste money on further military spending (since the
public had sagely observed that no one was actually bothering the system),
this deal was too good to pass up. The Vulcan-6 resulted.
Like the Vulcan-2, the Vulcan-6 is a simple sphere easily mistaken for a small
spheroid DropShip. Its main body is a sphere of about 60 meters diameter,
noted for the gaping, cylindrical hole in the front - the main docking bay
that is some 35 meters in diameter and 30 meters deep. When not in combat, the
Vulcan-6 extends two cylinders (10m diameter, 12m long) from its "equator" on
spokes with a total side-to-side length of 200m. These pods, which form the
gravdeck of the ship, retract when the Vulcan maneuvers. To provide gravdeck
spin, the entire station spins, also producing trivial gravity in the main
body of the station.
==Capabilities:==
The main docking bay is the reason the Vulcan exists. This 35m diameter, 30m
long cylinder is usually sealed by flat, recessed doors that open outward,
providing a pressurized work environment to maintain the fighters. Fighters
typically dock around the circumference of the bay, noses forward and landing
gear aimed outsward. (The close confines do depend on folding wings.) The bay
holds sufficient heavy maintenance equipment to repair two fighters
simultaneously. The huge bow doors allow all six fighters to launch
simultaneously; it is also the primary access to the cargo bay (which forms a
torus around the docking bay.)
Behind the landing bay is the primitive station keeping drive, all 240 tons of
it. This is typically used to scoot a Vulcan from one hiding spot to another
at a pedestrian 0.1G (or even 0.01G to keep the strain off the engine), where
it will lurk for weeks or months until needed for duty or training.
With little real experience with the Inner Sphere's military capabilities,
Trinity Moons assumed that Star League-era neutrino detection systems were
still in use. Because of that, the Vulcan-6 is designed to operate solely on
solar power and batteries during most of its lurking period. The hull is
covered with sail-like material that also helps greatly reduce radar
signatures. For battle, of course, it powers up its five fusion
reactors/motors, as the batteries could not power its heavy banks of lasers.
The (nearly) sixty crew and fighter pilots spend much of their time in the
gravdeck pods, enjoying 1G at 3rpm. Key crew stations and semi-private
quarters are crammed into the pods, which retract back into the main hull for
combat (a 10-minute process that may be hurried to 2 minutes with a
rocket-assisted crash halt and rough retraction.)
While the pods are cramped, the crew does have extensive elbow room and
amenities provided in the spaces around the docking bay, including
supplementary hydroponics greenhouses and a life support system with large
water budgets (allowing generous showering priviliges).
The crew is built around three 8-hour shifts for continuous operation, though
the Trinity Navy is advocating a change to larger crews that can support four
6-hour shifts. This would likely occur on the planned, slightly larger
Vulcan-6A. The fighters are even provided with 2 crews for extended operations
(and a generous allottment of technicians.)
Batteries of heavy pulse lasers and anti-missile point defense railguns round
out the Vulcan-6's systems, while the hull is clad in thick, conventional
armor that will let a Vulcan shrug off some hostile fighter attentions or even
some encounters with capital weapons.
==Battle History:==
Despite its fears about the Succession Wars, Trinity Moons are overlooked
until 3056, when it was found accidentally by a FWL merchant looking to trim
some distance off his flight to Lyran space. Trinity Moons tentatively joined
the FWL (since it was in FWL space, this seemed like a reasonable idea - and
it got technological aid and a say in Parliament.) It was undergoing this
process when Operation Guerro launched, which also bypassed Trinity Moons.
Even the Jihad largely bypassed the system; Trinity Moons withdrew from the
FWL without objection when the nation seemed to be coming apart.
The only time the Vulcan-6 deployed in anger was when the Trinity Alliance
Senate agreed (in 3075) that the Word of Blake was not nice people, and having
a Word of Blake HPG did not seem like it was worth the trouble. The Vulcans
were intended to aid in the rapid destruction of the HPG should the primary
plan go awry, but the primary plan worked.
That plan had involved Trinity Moons' intelligence service, which thoroughly
convinced the WoB HPG station personnel than Regulan troops were planning an
attack on the station. The Word of Blake mostly evacuated the station when
disguised mercenaries hired by Trinity Moons struck and wrecked it; the
Vulcans played their part in chasing the "Regulans" from the vicinity of the
gas giant, while other Trinity Moons militia personnel aided injured WoB
personnel until they were evacuated from the system.
WoB ROM did recognize that the "Regulan" troops were nothing of the sort, but
rather were a minor mercenary group that has since disappeared (into
retirement on the Great Moon Kyushu). ROM also identified that the mercs were
"actually" hired by Alys Marik's resistance organization, which was interested
in knocking out an overlooked, undefended WoB base. (Trinity Moons'
intelligence services had evolved in a multi-national environment over a
couple of centuries. They knew how to play the Great Game just as well as ROM,
including taking the time to set up back-up stories.)
==Variants:==
The Vulcan-2 is a 5/6 scale predecessor to the Vulcan-6 that was half as
massive, supported only 2 fighters, had virtually the same crew size, and cost
about 80% as much. After three were built (including the prototype), the ships
were relegated to training duties and serve as platforms for experimental
equipment.
==Deployment==
Trinity Moons has deployed eight Vulcan-6s since 3049. Only six are usually on
active duty at a time, with the other two undergoing refits or support
training missions near the Great Moons.
The active Vulcan-6s generally lurk either in Trinity's ring system, settle on
one of the inner moonlets, or hide in the bases carved into Trinity's outer
moonlets. Contrary to public opinion, they rarely stage from "Hydrus" (a
moonlet that was once a main source of chemical fuels for the century-long
"Slow Flight Era" of Trinity Moons, and has since been converted to a shipyard
in Trinity Moons' "Fusion Era.") A Vulcan-6 visiting Hydrus is only there for
a major refit.
Code:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Vulcan-6
Mass: 4,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 48.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 0
Maximum Thrust: 0
Structural Integrity: 1 40.00
Total Heat Sinks: 151 Single 97.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 204.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 4.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Armor Type: Standard (320 total armor pts) 200.00
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 55
Fore-Left/Right: 53/53
Aft-Left/Right: 53/53
Aft: 53
Cargo:
Bay 1: Fighters (6) with 6 doors 900.00
Cargo (1) with 1 door 984.00
Press Repair Facil. (200 T Capy) 15.00
Bay 2: Primitive Engine (1) 192.00
Grav Deck #1: (200-meter diameter) 100.00
Life Boats: 15 (10 tons each) 150.00
Crew and Passengers:
9 Officers (9 minimum) 90.00
39 Crew (37 minimum) 390.00
9 Gunners (6 minimum) 90.00
20 1st Class Passengers 200.00
12 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Large Pulse Laser Nose 2(18) 2(18) -- -- 20 14.00
4 AMS(240 rounds) Nose -- -- -- -- 4 22.00
2 Large Pulse Laser FL/R 2(18) 2(18) -- -- 40 28.00
4 AMS(240 rounds) FL/R -- -- -- -- 8 44.00
2 Large Pulse Laser AL/R 2(18) 2(18) -- -- 40 28.00
4 AMS(240 rounds) AL/R -- -- -- -- 8 44.00
2 Large Pulse Laser Aft 2(18) 2(18) -- -- 20 14.00
4 AMS(240 rounds) Aft -- -- -- -- 4 22.00
1 Lot Spare Parts (2.00%) 80.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 144 4,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 102,939,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 7,098
Cost per BV: 14,502.54
Weapon Value: 7,040 (Ratio = .99)
Damage Factors: SRV = 174; MRV = 99; LRV = 0; ERV = 0
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 10,862
(2,514 Structure, 4,930 Life Support, 3,418 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 64,149 (591% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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Karagin
10/24/08 02:53 PM
72.178.75.99
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Love the fluff.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Karagin
08/17/13 05:54 PM
72.178.85.122
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So would you happen to have the HMAero file for this one still?
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Cray
08/18/13 12:50 PM
71.47.122.85
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Nope, but I'm sure you can type the stats straight in.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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