Cray
03/05/02 09:57 AM
204.245.128.3
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Ranging from the 3.25 Billion C-bill Carrack to the 4.75 Billion C-bill Lola III to the 8.4 Billion C-bill Mjolner to the 16.43 Billion C-bill Fox to the 12.8 Billion C-bill Kirishima and finally to the 21.4 Billion C-bill McKenna (skipping the 66 billion Potemkin), warships are all pretty expensive.
Well, I think that's a shame. You can't have proper naval battles without dozens of ships of the line being fielded by both sides. Apparently, the Successor States struggle to field about a dozen apiece and the Clans have a similar number (mostly inherited). Clearly they need cheaper vessels. Look at that - 16.43 Billion C-bills for the tiny Fox corvette.
Leave the dropship hauling to conventional jumpships, preferably ones with lithium-fusion batteries. In the mean time, let the warships fight without worrying about passengers. They'd just be pestering the captain that the cabana boy didn't prepare their strawberry-banana smoothie properly while a Clan battleship was barrel rolling to present a fresh broadside. By leaving off dropship capacity, you absolutely slash the price of a warship.
Everyman's Heavy Cruiser (select an appropriate name for your faction) is bare bones brawler better suited for defensive actions than offense due to its lack of a lithium-fusion battery (On the standard model; available in option package. Contact your local dealership to see if its available in your area.) However, in a low-warship environment, Everyman's Cruiser is a good offensive weapon as it carryies heavy integral fighter support, a marine battalion and space for 6-12 small craft, and even a mech battalion for putting some respectable, precision firepower on the ground.
The squat Everyman's Heavy Cruiser, aka the Soda Can Cruiser, is almost half as wide as it is long. It is an inelegant cylinder with a flat prow and stern - this is not a creature of the air, but of the endless, frictionless depths of space. The wide hull makes room to internally house four huge grav decks, mounted in counter-rotating pairs fore and aft. These 250m diameter grav decks spin at 2rpm to simulate 0.5G; this is a fast enough spin to disturb some people but most crew and visitors acclimate readily. (The ones who don't acclimate are also likely to be upset with zero-G accomodations, so no such accomodations were provided). Featuring over 3500 individual and double berths, the grav decks are typically complicated pieces of machinery that can splay outward (like an opening flower) to adjust for light station keeping thrust. Under thrust over 0.1-0.2G, the grav decks are stopped and fully splayed open to reorient the rooms 90 degrees. As this is a fairly common feature of gravdecks on vessels that experience light thrust, the mechanical aspects were easy to engineer and very reliable. However, putting long-term living quarters (and thus bathrooms) on grav decks that experience variable accelerations is a new thing; previously the only grav decks with extensive plumbing have been on space stations, which use rigid, non-adapting grav decks. The flexible plumbing connections between rooms have proven a nightmare and undergone several in-service refits. Indeed, even the grav deck-to-non-rotating plumbing connections (a refined technology used on space stations for centuries) were saddled with an "innovative" design and thus have needed refits to less innovative but well known configurations.
The cruisers are well armed and armored. Their tough structure mounts 1600 tons of lamellor ferrocarbide armor that is arranged to emphasize broadside protection. The cruiser's armor is adequate to withstand the first salvo from its own main guns. Dense thickets of small lasers provide excellent point defense against missiles while equally numerous ER PPCs threaten any fighter that approaches too closely. 8 screen launchers - 1 per arc, including broadsides - provide additional protection.
The primary batteries were originally 40 class-30 Naval Autocannons, weapons that struck a good balance between damage-to-weight efficiency and range and had enough punch to exceed the armor thresholds of most existing warships. Bloating mass budgets forced the deletion of the 10 broadside naval autocannons and left the cruiser with an evenly distributed main gun array. The main guns are backed up by separate mounts of 20 Class-55 naval lasers. These enable engagements at ranges the autocannons cannot reach and precise orbital bombardments that the NACs (with regrettably slower-than-lightspeed projectiles) cannot match. 10 naval lasers remain in broadside mounts while the others provide fore- and aft coverage. A generous supply of 4000 NAC shells keep the NACs fed for extended orbital fire support missions. The number was clearly selected for the original NAC array; 800 shells remain in the broadside-[shame]-reserve magazine.
Finally, the Everyman (please, find a better name suiting your faction) remains true to its low budget intentions by utilizing the same core as the Monolith jumpship design. This KF drive is, of course, fitted with appropriate compact core controllers and field initiators, but the basic titanium-germanium core and power supply are derived from the Monolith's core. This had the incidental effect of limiting the ship to 800,000 tons, in the heavy cruiser class.
As with the naval autocannons, the cruiser's original quadruple engine array was downsized due to bloating mass budgets in other areas. With three mammoth interplanetary drives, the cruiser is now capable of 1.5G's of sustained acceleration rather than the originally planned 2Gs. This is still adequate to pace most other warships and military dropships, but has fallen behind some of the latest Inner Sphere warship designs.
EVERYMAN'S HEAVY CRUISER
800,000 tons
Engine: 144,000 tons
Thrust: 3
Overthrust: 5
KF Drive: 362,000 tons
Sail: 48 tons (SI: 4)
Structural Integrity: 80,000 tons (SI: 100)
Bridge: 6000 tons
Fuel Capacity: 5000 tons (plus 100 tons pumps)
Armor: 1600 tons lamellor ferrocarbide
Nose, Aft: 220
Sides: 305
Heat Sinks 3900 tons (4383 DHS)
Docking Collars: 0
Smallcraft Bays: 66 (9 doors)
Mech Bays: 40 (6 doors)
Crew: 3100 tons (310 crew in first-class quarters)
Passengers: 5000 tons (500, incl. 252 Marines, 66 small craft pilots, 40 mechwarriors, 106 small craft/mech techs, all in first-class quarters)
Cargo: 27,424 tons
Weapons:
80 tons 160x Small lasers (20/arc, including broadsides)
1120 tons 160x ER PPCs (20/arc, including broadsides)
240 tons 8x Screen Launchers (1/arc, including broadsides)
90000 tons 30x NAC/30s (5/arc, not including broadesides)
22000 tons 20x NL/55s (5 each nose/after/broadside)
3200 tons 4000x NAC/30 shells
800 tons 80x Screen launcher shots
28688 tons fire control
Price: I just hit the high points (grav decks, KF drive, capital scale weapons) and fudged upwards a bit, but the total price should be about 2.2 billion C-bills. Adding a lithium fusion battery (at the expense of 8000 tons of cargo) would increase the price to 4.9 billion C-bills. Price does not include the cost of mechs or fighters.
Without the battery, the cruiser isn't significantly more expensive than the Monolith, just a little over double the Monolith's price. In fact, it's the cheapest warship out there and is cheaper the Behemoth-class dropship.
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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Nightward
03/05/02 06:18 PM
132.234.1.13
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Screen Launchers. Interesting; I find most people neglect these on their home-grown designs (apart from the Everyman, my Kaga is the only vessel I've seen with them) which I find surprising, given their strategic value. They should work a little better against Missiles, but they are a very interesting concept.
A while ago, I posted my Shadow Storm here; it was a Corvette with design concepts very similar to your own. I'll repost it on this thread when I get the chance.
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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Bob_Richter
03/05/02 07:00 PM
134.121.157.14
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Since they were first introduced in Explorer Corps and most people haven't seemed to convert to AT2 yet, it is understandable that Screen Launchers would be neglected.
Personally, I don't like them, and I've only ever used them on one design...
-Bob (The Magnificent) Richter
Assertions made in this post are the humble opinion of Bob.
They are not necessarily statements of fact or decrees from God Himself, unless explicitly and seriously stated to be so.
:)
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Nightward
03/05/02 07:08 PM
132.234.1.13
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Ah. The dreaded Explorer Corps book, eh?
I like them. Kinda like Chaff launchers for WarShips. Fluffy weapons, IMHO. Which reminds me: did they ever make rules for Chaff Launchers for 'Mechs or AeroSpace Fighters? That would be interesting...
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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Bob_Richter
03/05/02 07:19 PM
134.121.157.14
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They'd be okay, if they didn't propose to fill a volume (looks up formula for volume of a sphere) of some 2600 cubic kilometers with sensor-obscuring goo.
That is to say: I wouldn't mind them as much if we weren't talking 17 km hexes here...
-Bob (The Magnificent) Richter
Assertions made in this post are the humble opinion of Bob.
They are not necessarily statements of fact or decrees from God Himself, unless explicitly and seriously stated to be so.
:)
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novakitty
03/05/02 10:22 PM
24.240.246.16
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Do they propose the sphere is filled or that it creates a cloud of much lower density than the goo in question? I don't have either book that describes them, and would like to know.
meow
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Bob_Richter
03/05/02 11:11 PM
134.121.157.14
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"goo" isn't something of a specific density, in this case. Sure, maybe it's just a particulate cloud, but to deploy such a cloud in the space of a minute seems a little unreasonable to me.
-Bob (The Magnificent) Richter
Assertions made in this post are the humble opinion of Bob.
They are not necessarily statements of fact or decrees from God Himself, unless explicitly and seriously stated to be so.
:)
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Cray
03/06/02 06:42 AM
204.245.128.3
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I just read screen launchers (which I'm prone to forgetting, too - I just about forgot them on my latest firesupport warship) as jammers for warships. They blow out everything from obscurants (near the ship, minimal volume) to small jammers and anti-missile gizmos over the rest of the affected volume.
That might not be FASA's version of a screen launcher but, dammit, it's mine, and it makes enough sense for me. 
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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Nightward
03/06/02 05:59 PM
132.234.1.13
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Screen Launchers put out a bunch of Chaff, not charged particles or 'goo' (whatever that is). So it's perfectly reasonable that it could obscure a large area. The best bit about Screenies is that they do not have 'to-hit' rolls, and anything in the target hex takes 10 Naval damsge, allowing you to fry enemy AeroSpace fighters or giving you sort of an auto-hitting N-A/C-10. Nifty, huh?
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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Nightward
03/06/02 06:25 PM
132.234.1.13
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Type: Shadow Storm
Technology Base: Inner Sphere, Draconis Combine 3060
Mass: 400,000 Tons
Chassis: Simchassis 2
Length: 458 Metres
Width: 128 Metres
Sail Diameter: 700 Metres
Power Plant: Simplant Type X
Cruising Speed: 3 Gravities
Maximum Speed: 4.5 Gravities
Armour: Simplate 505 Lamellor Ferro-Carbide
Armament:
16 Medium Naval PPCs
24 LB-10X Auto Cannon
24 Anti-Missile Systems
Communications System: SimmComm 204
Targeting and Tracking System: Simtracker 9TX
Primary Manufacturer: Dante Enterprises
Primary Factory: None. Computer simulation only.
OVERVIEW
Each month, Dante Enterprises is expected to hand a computer-modelled design over to the DCMS for analysis. This month, the DCMS liason to D.E. was expecting a work up of the AKU-X2 Akuma Mark II, but was more than a little surprised when the holoprojector came up with the multi-thousand-ton Shadow Storm.
If anything, the story of the design’s creation is even more bizzarre than it’s presentation. The vessel had not been created by one of D.E.’s Aeronautical engineers, but a young undergrad student D.E. had co-opted for the Akuma project. The team had built a prototypical AKU-X2 but it’s elbow and knee actuators kept burning out. The student was bought in to use the information his biomechanics degree ad taught him to redesign the actuators. Somehow, the Akuma files and a program used for running mass computations for WarShips were both uploaded to his P.C.. The student finished the Akuma’s new joints in a few minutes, then played around with the WarShip utility for a while. He saved the calculations for his vessels along with the actuator schematics and mailed them back to the engineers at D.E., who were gobsmacked by the WarShips. Although several of them were too outlandish to even consider (a 100,000-ton Missile corvette, a 1-million ton Heavy cruiser, and a 2.5-million ton Dreadnought), the 400,000-ton Shadow Storm was given to the Aeronautics division, who promptly ran it up on a BattleSpace simulation program. The unconventional Corvette proved a challenge to the engineers, and they tweaked the design a little, eventually coming up with a vessel matching the calculations the student had run.
The student was not at fault concerning the security breach, but he was sworn to secrecy on its account. A retired DEST computer specialist has been engaged to improve D.E.’s security protocols.
CAPABILITIES
Although the design itself cannot be tested outside of BattleSpace simulators, the computer projections for the vessel are extremely promising.
The vessel masses 400,000 tons, approximately double that of an Inazuma-class Corvette. Even though the vessel weighs so much, the Shadow Storm is not projected to cost a great deal more than the Inazuma, as several of it’ design features minimise the vessel’s cost.
The Shadow Storm also carries a considerable armament. It’s closest competitor in mass is the Vincent Mark 42, but the blocky Clan vessel is almost 40% slower than the Shadow Storm, and it has less than a third of a Shadow Storm’s firepower. The Shadow Storm is equipped with 16 Medium Naval PPCs, two in the nose, one on each fore-side, and six on each broadside. This allows the ship to attack whilst maneuvering into combat, and then provide a shattering broadside of firepower. Each arc is also home to two turrets that contain a pair of LB-10X Auto Cannons. These weapons are not intended as an offensive weapon, but rather to fend off enemy aircraft. They will also be useful against enemy DropShips. Each arc also houses a number of AMS cannon, protecting the Shadow Storm against attacks from enemy vessels.
However, the aft arcs of the vessels contain only LB Cannon and AMS, so it cannot defend itself against a capital opponent which maneuvers to its rear. Fortunately, thanks to the Shadow Storm’s incredible speed, this should be a rare event. Even if an opponent manages to sneak onto the Shadow Storm’s ‘6’, the vessel’s heavy aft armour should preserve it from a few hits.
However, the Shadow Storm has considerably less cargo than the Vincent, as it carries only 13,000 tons of additional equipment.
The Shadow Storm has a heavily reinforced internal structure, allowing for a incredible amount of armour plating to be used. Computer projections for the vessel indicate that it’s armour is even stronger than that found on a Sovetskii Soyuz-which weighs over double the amount of the tiny corvette.
Additionally, the Shadow Storm is no slouch when it comes to speed. Computer modeling shows that the vessel’s massive maneuvering drives will allow it to move at 4.5 gravities. This allows it to move faster than the Inazuma, and makes the Shadow Storm the fastest known WarShip-even if it only exists in holographic simulations.
The vessel also has an unusually large fuel bunkerage system. Although its internal cargo may not support enough spare parts, the vessel has more than enough fuel to remain in space for over 3 years.
The Shadow Storm’s incredible performance does come at a cost, however; the vessel has no Docking Collars. Although this seems like a major disadvantage, several Star League Defence Force WarShips-such as the Davion/Whirlwind and Vincent-Class WarShips did not support docking collars either. This could be a major flaw, but the engineers have designed ingenious pressurised airlocks, which allow DropShips to temporarily mate with the Shadow Storm’s cargo bays to transfer goods and passengers. These systems, however, are not strong enough to lock a DropShip down for FTL transit.
This flaw is compounded by the small complement of 6 Fighters which serve on board the Shadow Storm. This number is more than adequate to protect the vessel from enemy fighters, but it does not allow Shadow Storms to press an advantage in the fashion that other vessels, with more fighters, can.
When these factors combine, they paint a compelling picture of the small WarShip; it is intended to serve as a fleet-defense boat, protecting JumpShips from enemy combat vessels, or functioning as an interceptor WarShip due to it’s incredible speed. It has been noted that the Shadow Storm would be an excellent pairing for the Kaga, as its high speed and solid weaponry could shield the WarShip from enemy attack runs, whilst at the same time remaining within the protective sphere of the massive Kaga’s capital weapons and fighter screens.
In either case, the vessel will be operating in an environment where other vessels can share supplies or spare parts with it.
DEPLOYMENT
As of this time, the Shadow Storm exists only as a simulation. The Dragon’s resources are considerably stretched at the moment, refitting Yamamoto, fitting the Kaga-Class ships with integral AeroSpace Fighters, and consolidating the worlds we recently took back from the Smoke Jaguars. We believe we could construct a Shadow Storm in about 3075.
COST ANALYSIS
A Shadow Storm should cost about 7,000 million C-Bills to construct.
MY BLURB
This ship has been lurking in the back of my head for a long time, and I’ve been looking for something to call the ‘Shadow Storm’ for a long time. It just seems like a cool name, but it didn’t seem to fit any 'Mech I built.
I realised at the end of things that it would do well to accompany my Kaga, for reasons I outlined above.
That’s about it, really.
MASS BREAKDOWNS
Engines: 144,000
K-F Drive: 170,000
Jump Sail: 50
Lithium-Fusion Batteries: 4,000
Structural Integrity: 20,000
Armour: 400
Fuel: 5,443
Pumps: 111
Cargo: 13,000
3 50-Metre Grav Decks: 150
2 Small Craft: 400
6 AeroSpace Fighters: 900
30 Officer’s Quarters: 210
150 Enlisted Personnel’s Quarters: 1,050
30 Escape Pods: 210
30 Life Boats: 210
16 Medium Naval PPCs: 28,800
24 LB-10X A/Cs with 4 tons ammo each: 360
24 AMS with 5 tons ammo each: 132
534 Additional Double Heat Sinks: 534
GAME STATISTICS
Safe Thrust: 6
Maximum Thrust; 9
Fuel: 5,443 Tons
--: @ 2.5 Points per Ton, 13,608 Points
--: @ 39.52 Tons per Burn Day, 134 Burn-Days
Total Heat: 2,232
Total Heat Sinks: 1,016 (2,232) Double Heat Sinks
Cargo Bay 1: 6 Fighters, 2 Small Craft. 6 Doors. (All Craft use same Doors)
Cargo Bay 2: Officer’s Quarters (30), Enlisted Quarters (150). 4 Doors
Cargo Bay 3: Cargo (13,000 Tons). 4 Doors
Notes: Equipped with a Lithium-Fusion Battery. Armour is Ferro-Carbide Lamellor.
BVs
57,059
ARMOUR DISTRIBUTION
(Threshold Values in Parenthesis)
Nose: 80 (8)
Fore-Sides: 75 (8)
Aft-Sides: 60 (6)
Aft: 50 (5)
LOCATIONS
Nose Arc
2 Heavy Naval PPCs
--: 1 Bay of 2
4 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 2 Bays of 2 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 40 Shots per LB Cannon
4 AMS
--: 60 Shots
Fore-Side Arcs
1 Heavy Naval PPCs
--: 1 Bay of 1
4 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 2 Bays of 2 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 40 Shots per LB Cannon
4 AMS
--: 60 Shots
Broadsides
6 Heavy Naval PPCs
--: 3 Bays of 2
4 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 2 Bays of 2 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 40 Shots per LB Cannon
4 AMS
--: 60 Shots
Aft-Sides
4 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 2 Bays of 2 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 40 Shots per LB Cannon
4 AMS
--: 60 Shots
Aft
4 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 2 Bays of 2 LB-10X A/Cs
--: 40 Shots per LB Cannon
4 AMS
--: 60 Shots
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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NathanKell
03/06/02 07:53 PM
24.44.238.62
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Hmm, thought I responded earlier. Sorry for the delay.
I like both the premise and the result. This thing could easily take on any (three, probably!) SL-era or Clan heavy cruiser and trash 'em.
Also, I'd suggest changing the PPCs to LRM-20AIVs. Far better bang/ton, and bang/number. Worse bang/buck, though, (counting ammo), but your (c)2.2 billion figure would barely go up. (You could also add three more weapons per arc, for 49/arc, without upping brackets).
In sum? Good stuff!
-NathanKell, BT Space Wars
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Thomas Jefferson |
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