It's worth considering the effect of the MGT:2k3 "drive tuner" on the astrography of 2300AD, and the tug more generally. Hence I will compare conventional and "tug" journeys along the French Arm:
Sol To Beowulf
Earth to Queen Alice's Star (7.7 ly)
Sol -> Sol shelf = 1.45 AU = 2.25 vly
Sol shelf -> Nyotekundu outer system = 7.64 ly
(Discharge, 1.6 days)
Nyotekundu -> Bessieres outer system = 4.01 ly
(Discharge)
Bessieres -> Nibelungen outer system = 7.11 ly
(Discharge)
Nibelungen -> Augereau outer system = 4.24 ly
Round trip to discharge point = 2x 1.37 AU = 4.25 vly
(Discharge)
Augereau -> QAS outer system = 5.79 ly
QAS outer system -> Beowulf = 1.52 AU = 2.36 vly
(Discharge)
Distance = 37.65 vly and 5 discharges
For warp 1 vessel = 45.65 days
Earth to QAS with tugs (avoiding Augereau)
Sol -> Sol shelf = 1.45 AU = 2.25 vly
(Tug stop, assume 4 hrs)
Sol -> Bessieres outer system = 8.25 ly
(Discharge)
Bessieres -> Nibelungen outer system = 7.11 ly
(Discharge)
Nibelungen -> QAS = 8.96 ly
(Tug stop)
QAS outer system -> Beowulf = 1.52 AU = 2.36 vly
(Discharge)
Distance = 28.93 vly, 3 discharges and 2 tug stops
For warp 1 vessel = 34.06 days
The construction of the tug links saves 11.59 days for a warp 1 vessel, and roughly means 4 trips can be made in the time of 3 previous. The starship thus has a 33% higher income.
From Beowulf to BCV-4
Beowulf -> QAS outer system = 1.52 AU = 2.36 vly
-> Kimanjano outer system = 7.25 ly
(Discharge)
-> BCV-4 outer system = 5.69 ly
Outer system -> BCV-4 = 1.37 AU = 2.12 vly
(Discharge)
= 17.42 vly and 2 discharges
For warp 1 vessel = 20.62 days
Via Tug
Beowulf -> QAS outer system = 1.52 AU = 2.36 vly
-> BCV-4 outer system = 10.17 ly
(Tug stop)
Outer system -> BCV-4 = 1.37 AU = 2.12 vly
(Discharge)
= 14.65 vly, 1 discharge and 1 tug stop
For warp 1 vessel = 16.42 days
From BCV-4 to Aurore
BCV-4-> outer system = 1.37 AU = 2.12 vly
-> Dunkelheim = 7.52 ly
Round trip to Dunkelheim = 2x 1.38 AU = 4.42 vly
(Discharge)
-> Hochbaden = 4.94 ly
Round trip to Hochbaden = 2x 1.68 AU = 5.21 vly
(Discharge)
-> Aurore = 4.83 ly
= 29.04 vly and 2 discharges
For warp 1 vessel = 32.24 days
Via Tug
BCV-4-> outer system = 1.37 AU = 2.12 vly
Outer system -> Nous Voila = 8.13 ly
(Tug Stop)
(Outer System Discharge)
Nous Voila -> Aurore = 8.51 ly
(Tug Stop)
(Tithonus is in outer system)
= 18.76 vly, 1 discharge and 1 tug stop
For warp 1 vessel = 20.53 days
Terra to Aurore stopping at Beowulf and BCV-4 with Warp 1 Vessel
Conventional = 98.51 days
With Tugs = 71.01
"The Canal"
Or, avoiding the French Arm proper would be:
Sol -> Bessieres -> DM+15 2620 -> DM+11 2576 -> Aurore = 37.31 ly (outer body status of DM+15 2620 and DM+11 2576 unknown)
It's likely the journey to Aurore for a warp 1 vessel could be cut to ca. 45 days, less than half the current travel time.
DM+15 2620 is a conventionally reachable star a mere 4 "jumps" from Sol out on the Ariadne Finger.
DM+11 2576 is out in the Wolf Cluster and so unexplored as of 2300AD.
Effects
It's clear that if "drive tuners" make tugging easy and risk free that a system of stutterwarp "canals" will develop to make travel shorter, easier and more efficient. The effect of "small canals" above is to cut ca. 30% off the journey time from Earth to Aurore and points inbetween. The "grand canal" more than halves the journey time. With the decreased journey time comes a related increase in journey frequency and hence volume of good carried.
There are also strategic reasons for building such routes - bypassing the two German colonies between Nous Voila and Aurore is an obvious one for the French, Nibelungen can also be cut out for a slight drop in efficiency.
The real question remains how to implement such a system. Given what was written in the Traveller's Digest it's simply an option of building a big "heighliner" tug that runs out typically 2-3 ly out of the departure system and either brings online a bunch of carried ships, or separates in two and goes home whilst the other part brings the drive online and carries on. The heighliner can mate with a new carrier and launch again.
On the Sol-Aurore "canal" you'd pick up the Heighliner at Bessieres and ride it through. If you're carrying a ship onboard it simply keeps the drive offline and brings it up at Aurore. More likely the heighliner simply carries a lot of goods and people like a cross between a cruiseliner and an oiler tanker.....
Conclusion
Since that genie is out of the bottle in MGT (and arguably GDW 2300AD) the people, nations and corporations of that universe will run with it. The "arms" structure will break down over the coming decades and nations with the capacity to exploit the new capabilities (France and America most obviously) will become more dominant whilst the weak starfarers (Germany and Manchuria most obviously) will wither. Brazil of course gets a new lease of life with its canal to Paulo......
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Bigger Lasers
I'm been experimenting with bigger arrays for SC lasers. The physics indicates a larger array could have more peak power and focus at longer ranges thus:
This would nicely fit with a model of guns of "inches of calibre" (WW2 etc. naval guns) = "meters of diameter".
The mass of the weapon is proportional to the 4th power of the diameter. If a 6m x1 laser is 1 ton then it stands to reason a 12m x4 capital ship laser is 16 tons and a 18m x9 super laser on a future Yamato or N-3 is 81 tons. I personally think this is a little light, and would heavy up the lot, especially as the little 3m missile defense lasers would come in at 62.5 kg! Realistic masses are probably a lot greater. Classic SC of course will upmass the mount.
Example: a 12m x4 dbl in a jack mount with UTES and a dedicated +2 target computer would mass 4x(16+16+2+1) = 140 tons. The 8 MW required to power the mount would mass 267 tons, and the necessary crew etc. raise the mass penalty for the mount to ca. 450 tons.
Hitting
Since we've extended the range we should extend the "to hit" penalties. I previously suggested (for missiles) a simple -1 per hex. Thus at maximum range a 12 m laser is -4, and with a good TC (+2) and crew (+2) achieves one hit per volley 40% of the time.
The addition of doubles (or triples or greater) should simple allow for two rolls per turn. However a simple rules modification allows for the possibility of multiple hits per array, and simply adding +1 for extra pump per array - the number of hits achieved is equal to the number of points on the dice the roll was pass by. So if the requirement is for a 7+, then a 7 achieves a single hit, an 8 two, a 9 three etc.
This allows for easy battery rules. Add together all guns of one type directed by a single director and use this as a modifier (so 4 doubles = +7). A lot of hits from one roll can result.
A battery system would allow for greater range penalties, and I'd suggest using squares:
Which makes shooting at 4 hexes just about worth it, with the chance of some hits with a large battery at 4 hexes, but little real range advantage for a 15m laser, since it can't hit at that range.
Armour and Damage
1 damage point is inflicted for every 10 penetration (or part?) left over after rolling for armour penetration. If damage is more than 2 roll over to another hit. One hit is always absorbed as hull damage (either the first one, or the second if a surface feature is hit) before internal damage is taken.
The system prompts a redesign of armour value if cruisers carry larger weapons. If a Suffren has 12 m 4 MW arrays then much higher armour is called for, except since these are like old school "battlecruisers" they're not immune to their own guns. In fact a more sophisticated model is likely necessary, but more on that in the future.
Effects
It's a lot like the late 19th century. The optimal solution would be a few large guns (12 m) for range (with a director), a lot of small guns for missile defence (3m quadruples and hextuples at the like on local control) and a question on whether a middle battery of 8-10 m lasers is useful or whether just to "Dreadnought" up to the maximum number of 12 m guns. Perhaps Richelieu was the first "Dreadnought" with 4 x4 doubles as a single battery backed with 8-9 x1/4 quads for missile defence.
The mass of the weapon is proportional to the 4th power of the diameter. If a 6m x1 laser is 1 ton then it stands to reason a 12m x4 capital ship laser is 16 tons and a 18m x9 super laser on a future Yamato or N-3 is 81 tons. I personally think this is a little light, and would heavy up the lot, especially as the little 3m missile defense lasers would come in at 62.5 kg! Realistic masses are probably a lot greater. Classic SC of course will upmass the mount.
Example: a 12m x4 dbl in a jack mount with UTES and a dedicated +2 target computer would mass 4x(16+16+2+1) = 140 tons. The 8 MW required to power the mount would mass 267 tons, and the necessary crew etc. raise the mass penalty for the mount to ca. 450 tons.
Hitting
Since we've extended the range we should extend the "to hit" penalties. I previously suggested (for missiles) a simple -1 per hex. Thus at maximum range a 12 m laser is -4, and with a good TC (+2) and crew (+2) achieves one hit per volley 40% of the time.
The addition of doubles (or triples or greater) should simple allow for two rolls per turn. However a simple rules modification allows for the possibility of multiple hits per array, and simply adding +1 for extra pump per array - the number of hits achieved is equal to the number of points on the dice the roll was pass by. So if the requirement is for a 7+, then a 7 achieves a single hit, an 8 two, a 9 three etc.
This allows for easy battery rules. Add together all guns of one type directed by a single director and use this as a modifier (so 4 doubles = +7). A lot of hits from one roll can result.
A battery system would allow for greater range penalties, and I'd suggest using squares:
Armour and Damage
1 damage point is inflicted for every 10 penetration (or part?) left over after rolling for armour penetration. If damage is more than 2 roll over to another hit. One hit is always absorbed as hull damage (either the first one, or the second if a surface feature is hit) before internal damage is taken.
The system prompts a redesign of armour value if cruisers carry larger weapons. If a Suffren has 12 m 4 MW arrays then much higher armour is called for, except since these are like old school "battlecruisers" they're not immune to their own guns. In fact a more sophisticated model is likely necessary, but more on that in the future.
Effects
It's a lot like the late 19th century. The optimal solution would be a few large guns (12 m) for range (with a director), a lot of small guns for missile defence (3m quadruples and hextuples at the like on local control) and a question on whether a middle battery of 8-10 m lasers is useful or whether just to "Dreadnought" up to the maximum number of 12 m guns. Perhaps Richelieu was the first "Dreadnought" with 4 x4 doubles as a single battery backed with 8-9 x1/4 quads for missile defence.
Monday, 27 July 2015
German Stahlhammer class Überraschungsangriff Raumschiff (Frigate in the Invasion Orbat)
(literally "sneak attack spaceship")
Notes
This is based upon Karl Bergman's article in Challenge 40. The ship itself is totally rewritten to be a U-boat analogue. The history didn't reflect the established history of the WoGR, which was essentially a revolution that overthrew the Federal Republic (with an uninterrupted history back to 1949, although the capital moved to Munich during the Twilight War - see here). Remember 2300AD isn't kind to the new DDR and it's probably swept away soon after Beowulf...
History
By mid-2292 the new German Democratic Nation (Deutsch Demokratischen Reich, DDR) had committed all its resources to the struggle with the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD) and their allies of the French Union (Union Française, UF or "France") on Earth and along the French Arm. German hit-and-run and seizure raids using the new Hamburg and Helmut Korell class warships were unexpectedly unsuccessful with no colonies other than Hochbaden defecting to the DDR. The German high command decided to issue a specification for a stealthy
vessel to compromise the Bundesrepublick's supply of troops and food from their colonies. Foremost among DDR concerns was the prospect of the Bundesrepublik and French fleets gaining time and respite to dig in and reinforce its positions beyond Alpha Centauri.
The prestigious firm of Luftstahl Industries, A.G. at Hochbaden was commissioned to develop a prototype for a stealthy, survivable, heavily-armed ship, with projected delivery to active units no later than early 2293. Of course it was impossible to build any warships at Earth due to the blockade by Bundesrepublick forces and their French allies.
Faced with a virtually impossible production schedule, Luftstahl Industries engineers hastily modified a number of light freighters used in trade along the Aurore finger, adding combat electronics, missile launchers, and a drastically improved heat exchanger. The first armed conversion (christened the Stahlhammer or "Steel Hammer") flew successfully on 7th March, 2293, just in time for the allied offensive into the Hochbaden system. It was the Stahlhammer that ambushed the French courier Marathon in one of the decisive events of the Battle of Sturmwelt when the surviving DSKM ships made their last stand against the might of the Raumwaffe's Weltraum-Flotte (minus detachments guarding the newly liberated Dunkelheim). What should have been a trap for the DSKM failed when the message to the French 4e Flotte out of Aurore (powered down just outside the Hochbaden system) failed to arrive.
For the rest of the year the Stahlhammer and her sisters ranged forward more, ambushing French and Federal German ships at Aurore and especially around Dunkelheim where the DSKM was able to effectively blockade the colony. Linking up with the besieged defenders of Halbinsel on Joi raiders spread throughout the French arm. Whereas the Manchurians had only given up cruiser rules reluctantly, the DSKM never even gave lip-service to such rules, nuking any vessel that came into their sights and completely destroying trade along the French arm.
In December a Franco-German armistice was signed and de-facto acceptance of the occupation of southern Germany was offered. Formal world recognition of a reunited Germany of course was a different matter, and even today most governments maintain their embassy with "Germany" on Tirane, and thread a delicate path a la China and Taiwan (or pre-unification Vietnam, or Korea).
Due to peacetime cutbacks in staff and funding, the DSKM was somewhat reluctant in accepting more Stahlhammers. Although German crews found the ship unpleasant to fly, and unusually slow and unmaneuverable for a transport, the DSKM had 12 of the original 14 Stahlhammers survived the war and are employed both for escort and light patrol duties, now that their raison d'être is not a current staff requirement.
Meanwhile, Luftstahl lndustries was convinced that it had an excellent design on its hands (as well as one that had not yet fully paid for its own development costs, as the new DDR government simply expropriated the vessels). Accordingly, Luftstahl began aggressively hawking the Stahlhammers design on the international market. After touchy contract negotiations, the Manchurians began producing the design under license, adding armour and additional weapons systems and renaming it the Chien Tsu as a cheaper alternative to Tunghu. The Brazilians also purchased a license to build
the design, outfitting their version as intelligence-gathering and raiding platforms and christening the variant class Almirante Montoya.
Basic hulls are currently being produced by Luftstahl lndustries at Hochbaden and Beta Canum Venaticorum, and by the Pu Lien Li and Rotanova shipyards off Terra. While private interest in the design is limited, many orders from the naval sector concerns ensure that the Stahlhammer
and its variants will remain in production for many years to come.
Design
The ship is essentially a small ore freighter common on the Hochbaden-Aurore run converted to an ersatz warship. The hull is LP synthetic and 5x 9m sections, with 3 forming the "shaft" and two (crosswide) the hammerhead. The major conversion was replacing the majority of the cargo area with a fuel tank and adding additional heat exchangers (hull masking) aft. Forward the major change was the addition of a large active array (which can't be powered up at the same time as the stutterwarp) and passive search array and fitting a missile launcher with magazine space for 10 small (4 m) missiles.
Operationally these ships sat off gas giants and other discharge points and when a merchant ship or lone warship appeared fired off a single missile at it when discharging. A hit from a "contact nuke" is invariably fatal, even to a grande frégate like a Suffren, Lion or Richelieu. The difficulty with a major warship is of course landing the hit through their defenses.
The Kafer War
The Stahlhammer comprised 2/3rds of the DSKMs light ships during the Kafer war and did not have a happy war. The DSKM attempted to do with these ships to the Kafers what they'd done in the last war. None survived - Kafer transports were so well protected that the attacking DSKM U-Schiffs simply got killed. Another nail in the short and sad life of the DDR.
(literally "sneak attack spaceship")
Notes
This is based upon Karl Bergman's article in Challenge 40. The ship itself is totally rewritten to be a U-boat analogue. The history didn't reflect the established history of the WoGR, which was essentially a revolution that overthrew the Federal Republic (with an uninterrupted history back to 1949, although the capital moved to Munich during the Twilight War - see here). Remember 2300AD isn't kind to the new DDR and it's probably swept away soon after Beowulf...
History
By mid-2292 the new German Democratic Nation (Deutsch Demokratischen Reich, DDR) had committed all its resources to the struggle with the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD) and their allies of the French Union (Union Française, UF or "France") on Earth and along the French Arm. German hit-and-run and seizure raids using the new Hamburg and Helmut Korell class warships were unexpectedly unsuccessful with no colonies other than Hochbaden defecting to the DDR. The German high command decided to issue a specification for a stealthy
vessel to compromise the Bundesrepublick's supply of troops and food from their colonies. Foremost among DDR concerns was the prospect of the Bundesrepublik and French fleets gaining time and respite to dig in and reinforce its positions beyond Alpha Centauri.
The prestigious firm of Luftstahl Industries, A.G. at Hochbaden was commissioned to develop a prototype for a stealthy, survivable, heavily-armed ship, with projected delivery to active units no later than early 2293. Of course it was impossible to build any warships at Earth due to the blockade by Bundesrepublick forces and their French allies.
Faced with a virtually impossible production schedule, Luftstahl Industries engineers hastily modified a number of light freighters used in trade along the Aurore finger, adding combat electronics, missile launchers, and a drastically improved heat exchanger. The first armed conversion (christened the Stahlhammer or "Steel Hammer") flew successfully on 7th March, 2293, just in time for the allied offensive into the Hochbaden system. It was the Stahlhammer that ambushed the French courier Marathon in one of the decisive events of the Battle of Sturmwelt when the surviving DSKM ships made their last stand against the might of the Raumwaffe's Weltraum-Flotte (minus detachments guarding the newly liberated Dunkelheim). What should have been a trap for the DSKM failed when the message to the French 4e Flotte out of Aurore (powered down just outside the Hochbaden system) failed to arrive.
For the rest of the year the Stahlhammer and her sisters ranged forward more, ambushing French and Federal German ships at Aurore and especially around Dunkelheim where the DSKM was able to effectively blockade the colony. Linking up with the besieged defenders of Halbinsel on Joi raiders spread throughout the French arm. Whereas the Manchurians had only given up cruiser rules reluctantly, the DSKM never even gave lip-service to such rules, nuking any vessel that came into their sights and completely destroying trade along the French arm.
In December a Franco-German armistice was signed and de-facto acceptance of the occupation of southern Germany was offered. Formal world recognition of a reunited Germany of course was a different matter, and even today most governments maintain their embassy with "Germany" on Tirane, and thread a delicate path a la China and Taiwan (or pre-unification Vietnam, or Korea).
Due to peacetime cutbacks in staff and funding, the DSKM was somewhat reluctant in accepting more Stahlhammers. Although German crews found the ship unpleasant to fly, and unusually slow and unmaneuverable for a transport, the DSKM had 12 of the original 14 Stahlhammers survived the war and are employed both for escort and light patrol duties, now that their raison d'être is not a current staff requirement.
Meanwhile, Luftstahl lndustries was convinced that it had an excellent design on its hands (as well as one that had not yet fully paid for its own development costs, as the new DDR government simply expropriated the vessels). Accordingly, Luftstahl began aggressively hawking the Stahlhammers design on the international market. After touchy contract negotiations, the Manchurians began producing the design under license, adding armour and additional weapons systems and renaming it the Chien Tsu as a cheaper alternative to Tunghu. The Brazilians also purchased a license to build
the design, outfitting their version as intelligence-gathering and raiding platforms and christening the variant class Almirante Montoya.
Basic hulls are currently being produced by Luftstahl lndustries at Hochbaden and Beta Canum Venaticorum, and by the Pu Lien Li and Rotanova shipyards off Terra. While private interest in the design is limited, many orders from the naval sector concerns ensure that the Stahlhammer
and its variants will remain in production for many years to come.
Design
The ship is essentially a small ore freighter common on the Hochbaden-Aurore run converted to an ersatz warship. The hull is LP synthetic and 5x 9m sections, with 3 forming the "shaft" and two (crosswide) the hammerhead. The major conversion was replacing the majority of the cargo area with a fuel tank and adding additional heat exchangers (hull masking) aft. Forward the major change was the addition of a large active array (which can't be powered up at the same time as the stutterwarp) and passive search array and fitting a missile launcher with magazine space for 10 small (4 m) missiles.
Operationally these ships sat off gas giants and other discharge points and when a merchant ship or lone warship appeared fired off a single missile at it when discharging. A hit from a "contact nuke" is invariably fatal, even to a grande frégate like a Suffren, Lion or Richelieu. The difficulty with a major warship is of course landing the hit through their defenses.
The Kafer War
The Stahlhammer comprised 2/3rds of the DSKMs light ships during the Kafer war and did not have a happy war. The DSKM attempted to do with these ships to the Kafers what they'd done in the last war. None survived - Kafer transports were so well protected that the attacking DSKM U-Schiffs simply got killed. Another nail in the short and sad life of the DDR.
Performance
Warp
efficiency: 1.22
(fully fuelled and armed, and loaded with provisions) upto 2.14 (unfuelled, unloaded and unarmed)
Power
Plant: 1 MW MHD Turbine and 1 MW folding solar array
Fuel: 1,200 tons (12 weeks full power)
Range: 7.7 light years
Endurance: six months life support
Mass: 1,618 tons unloaded but fully fuelled and armed (310 tons bare)
Cargo
Capacity: 250
cubic meters (ca. six months provisions for crew of 20)
Crew: 20 (10 Bridge, 3 TAC, 6 Engineering, 1 medical); Passengers:nil
Comfort: -2;
Emergency
Power: 10 days
Total
Life Support: 20 for
180 days
Cost: MLv6.52 (excluding launched
weapons etc.)
Ship
Status Sheet
Move: 2-4, typically 3
Screens:nil
Radiated
Signature:-2(1)
Radial
Reflected: 4
Lateral
Reflected:5
Target
Computer: 0;
Radial
Profile: -1
Lateral
Profile:0
Armour:0
Hull hits:10/2
Power
Plant Hits:4/1
Active: 5, no backup
Passive: 10, no backup
Other:
Weapons
nil
Ordnance
Load
1 missile bay with 10 magazine slots for SR-9 or 10 missiles
Sensors
and Electronics:
Active-5
Passive-10
Navigation Radar
DSS
Gravitational
Navigation Radar
DSS
Gravitational
Crew Hits:
Bridge: Captain, Navigator, Helm, Communications, Computer
TAC: Remote Pilot, Active Operator, Passive Operator
Bridge: Captain, Navigator, Helm, Communications, Computer
TAC: Remote Pilot, Active Operator, Passive Operator
Damage
Control: 3 (1
team)
Saturday, 30 May 2015
A more realistic approach to "missiles"
Star Cruiser missiles are not very realistic. For a start unlike turret weapons (with a large 6m diameter focal array and monochromatic X-Rays) the beams are not focused. The beams are at best collimated, and thus at even a few thousand km (far less than a SC hex) are meters across and essentially a warm wind rather than ravening beams of death. The same also applies to submunitions and particle beams.
The fix of course is to make everything that isn't a turret laser a sub-range 0 weapon. With these weapons a very close range detonation that hits (on the order of km) is likely to literally tear the target to pieces. However, of course this increases the amount of time defensive fire has to shoot down the incoming vampire. However, stutterwarp is so fast that a warp 3 missile is traveling roughly 3.36 million m/s, so there's not a huge amount to be gained by increasing the range of detonation. The time taken to go from the hex-side to the middle of a hex at warp 3 is 89 seconds, and it crosses "1 hex" in 179 seconds (say 3 minutes). Ignore the so-called "1 minute turns"; there were always a typo.
This means the difference in defensive fire a missile receives between ineffective detonation (1,000 km) and effective detonation (1 km) is miniscule. As far as SC is concerned the missile literally has to travel through the target hex and "impact" the target. This is a strong argument for why submunitions aren't that effective, and why perhaps nuclear mines are also ineffective.
Guidance
Realistically we have three possible forms of guidance:
1. Full control
2. Semi-active
3. Fully independent
1. Full Control
Basically the missile is being flown by a remote pilot onboard the mothership (usually). The implication for lag is enormous. At close range (like the same hex) the missile can be fire essentially as a turret weapon, but as the range opens the lag is roughly the same as a turret weapon.
The missile thus should be treated roughly as a very long range turret, but we don't have range tables beyond one hex (-2). Personally (since I'm also in favour of large focal arrays and longer range turrets) I'd restructure the range modifier to - 2x range (i.e. -2 at 1 hex, -4 at 2 hexes, -6 at 3 etc.), and should probably get the TC and RP skill as bonuses (which partially offsets the penalties at medium ranges).
2. Semi-active
Once the missile has a seeker head (i.e. a sensor) but not the full package of processing equipment then semi-active is possible. The mothership probably maintains a datalink to the missile, but aims by pointing the active sensor array at the target and the missile watches for reflections and fires on them.
The advantage is that lag is essentially eliminated - the missile when it reaches detonation range is milliseconds or less away from the target, but has to generate the target solution on more limited equipment.
In game terms apply the -3 penalty for an independent weapon, and no TC or RP bonus, but no range penalty. To determine whether the missile can track add the target reflected signature (as appropriate), motherships active sensor value (dedicated or not) and deduct range. Roll d10, if less than the result then the missile is "locked on" and can make an attack.
Example: A Kennedy (active-15 with SIM-14 missiles = 8) is firing at a Hamburg (lat ref = 7) 25 hexes away. The target number is 5, at this range the missiles will achieve a lock on to attack on 50% of attempts. Roll for each missile in the salvo after any defensive fire.
3. Fully independent
The missile is constructed as a full starship. No examples. No rules given.
Ranges of the passive sensors (likely radar only receivers given the tiny size, none has 30 m^2 of passive array) of SC missiles are:
Ritage-1: 5
Ritage-2: none
EM-1: 0
EM-5D: 0
AAS-2: 1
AAS-2B: 2
AAS-4/5: none
SR-9: none
SR-10: 0
Fantan: none
Glowworm: 3
SIM-14: 8
Silka: none
Kafer Whiskey: none
Kafer X-Ray: 2
The missile with no sensors are thus close range weapons, and given the above at 3-4 hexes with modern ships are advantaged over SA missiles (which fits the errata limiting all missiles to 4 hexes from the controlling ship). Those with sensors are designed for "long shots" with the Ritage and SIM-14 capable of some quite long shots upwards of 20-30 hexes, but most capable of 10-15 hex shots.
Cost
SC missiles were mostly constructed with NAM, but for some reason prices are divided.
An alternative is to simply make all use OC drives, which IMC implies a single coil rather than multiple coils of OM and NM drives.
The missiles using NM modifiers will have speeds 83% of the original, and OM 92% of the original.
A Silka could thus be a OC Fuel Cell, OC Drive (which it had anyway) a nav array (inc. comms) and a 5x2 warhead massing 1 ton and costing MLv1 - total cost MLv 3.02 per missile.
A SIM-14 would be a 0.07 MW NM Fuel Cell, 0.07 OC drive, nav, directional passive-8 (1 m3, 0.1 tons, MLv 0.08 say) and a 10x2 (2 tons, MLv2) = MLv4.3 (with NM drive =MLv11.1). Warp = 2.94 (slow as large warhead on a small drive).
Big missiles
MikeJ wrote up for his Russians an equivalent of a Sunburn - 0.3 MW drive missile giving a very high warp speed with a big warhead. Of course the darn thing will cost about MLv15 per pop.
That said, the original boxed set Kafer X-Ray is clearly more like a Sunburn, with a move of 11 and 2 power plant hits (implying a very large drive). That's rather different, and makes Kafers a bit scarier. One wonders if this was changed when the Kennedy kept getting slaughtered.
Damage
A turret (x1) puts out roughly 1/3,500th of a kiloton per turn (20 minute). Ergo a moderate nuke puts out at least 10,000 "hits" in energy, but it is not very concentrated. The x1 laser has an impulsive density of about 3 MJ/cm^2 (at 20% efficiency), whereas a 100 kT nuke without shaping 250 m away has a density of 0.05 MJ/cm^2. However, with shaping it's very hard to get the pulse intensity as high as a focused weapon unless very close - 1 cm beams occur around 180 km, but efficiency is low. By low I mean that 1980's estimates that we might get 0.1% of the X-Rays coming out of the rods seem high.
Since the best rod is 1.4 nm wide, and for a 1 m device each rod is 4.456x10^-10 of the diameter. If we generously say 10% of the radiated X-Rays (i.e. 7% of the total energy) are in the region adjacent to the physics package with the right angle then each rod will emit (for a 10 kT device) 1.3 kJ. Thus either the bomb needs to be bigger, or each "pulse" must be come from a large number of rods (about 5,000 for a x2 pulse).
Let he note here that the bomb is likely a simple fission device, since fusion produces fast neutrons rather than X-Rays (which in a modern thermonuclear warheads are used to inefficiently fission U-238 boosting the explosive power but at the cost of a much dirtier bomb). So megaton nukes are out.
Ergo I think a reasonable case can be made that the damage levels are reasonable, especially since the pattern of sewn pulse will be much wider than a ship and most will miss.
However, better would be to have a roll for the number of pulses that hit. In fact instead of a general hit/miss roll like turret lasers instead a better model would be a "no. of hits" roll that allows for a result of zero.
That said, I think that turret lasers should allow for multiple hits. Perhaps for each "level" (4 points) the to hit roll is passed by an extra hit is inflicted. In this case the missile should make multiple to hit rolls equal to the "no. of pulses".
So for example, a spread of 4 SIM-14's against an Alpha at long range will roll 40 times, with rolls of 8-10 inflicting a hit, but at range = 2 rolls of 3-7 will hit once, but 7-10 twice. The average numbers of hits are 12 and 48 respectively. We should use a table converter to determine actual numbers of hits.
Submunitions of course are essentially range-0 missiles, so against an Alpha with FC+2 and CQ+2 rolls of 1-2 hit once, 3-6 twice and 7-10 thrice. A 5 pulse Big Clip hits 11 times on average. Hence one can see just how dangerous a reimagined fighter with many submunitions launchers could be to a capital ship.
The fix of course is to make everything that isn't a turret laser a sub-range 0 weapon. With these weapons a very close range detonation that hits (on the order of km) is likely to literally tear the target to pieces. However, of course this increases the amount of time defensive fire has to shoot down the incoming vampire. However, stutterwarp is so fast that a warp 3 missile is traveling roughly 3.36 million m/s, so there's not a huge amount to be gained by increasing the range of detonation. The time taken to go from the hex-side to the middle of a hex at warp 3 is 89 seconds, and it crosses "1 hex" in 179 seconds (say 3 minutes). Ignore the so-called "1 minute turns"; there were always a typo.
This means the difference in defensive fire a missile receives between ineffective detonation (1,000 km) and effective detonation (1 km) is miniscule. As far as SC is concerned the missile literally has to travel through the target hex and "impact" the target. This is a strong argument for why submunitions aren't that effective, and why perhaps nuclear mines are also ineffective.
Guidance
Realistically we have three possible forms of guidance:
1. Full control
2. Semi-active
3. Fully independent
1. Full Control
Basically the missile is being flown by a remote pilot onboard the mothership (usually). The implication for lag is enormous. At close range (like the same hex) the missile can be fire essentially as a turret weapon, but as the range opens the lag is roughly the same as a turret weapon.
The missile thus should be treated roughly as a very long range turret, but we don't have range tables beyond one hex (-2). Personally (since I'm also in favour of large focal arrays and longer range turrets) I'd restructure the range modifier to - 2x range (i.e. -2 at 1 hex, -4 at 2 hexes, -6 at 3 etc.), and should probably get the TC and RP skill as bonuses (which partially offsets the penalties at medium ranges).
2. Semi-active
Once the missile has a seeker head (i.e. a sensor) but not the full package of processing equipment then semi-active is possible. The mothership probably maintains a datalink to the missile, but aims by pointing the active sensor array at the target and the missile watches for reflections and fires on them.
The advantage is that lag is essentially eliminated - the missile when it reaches detonation range is milliseconds or less away from the target, but has to generate the target solution on more limited equipment.
In game terms apply the -3 penalty for an independent weapon, and no TC or RP bonus, but no range penalty. To determine whether the missile can track add the target reflected signature (as appropriate), motherships active sensor value (dedicated or not) and deduct range. Roll d10, if less than the result then the missile is "locked on" and can make an attack.
Example: A Kennedy (active-15 with SIM-14 missiles = 8) is firing at a Hamburg (lat ref = 7) 25 hexes away. The target number is 5, at this range the missiles will achieve a lock on to attack on 50% of attempts. Roll for each missile in the salvo after any defensive fire.
3. Fully independent
The missile is constructed as a full starship. No examples. No rules given.
Ranges of the passive sensors (likely radar only receivers given the tiny size, none has 30 m^2 of passive array) of SC missiles are:
Ritage-1: 5
Ritage-2: none
EM-1: 0
EM-5D: 0
AAS-2: 1
AAS-2B: 2
AAS-4/5: none
SR-9: none
SR-10: 0
Fantan: none
Glowworm: 3
SIM-14: 8
Silka: none
Kafer Whiskey: none
Kafer X-Ray: 2
The missile with no sensors are thus close range weapons, and given the above at 3-4 hexes with modern ships are advantaged over SA missiles (which fits the errata limiting all missiles to 4 hexes from the controlling ship). Those with sensors are designed for "long shots" with the Ritage and SIM-14 capable of some quite long shots upwards of 20-30 hexes, but most capable of 10-15 hex shots.
Cost
SC missiles were mostly constructed with NAM, but for some reason prices are divided.
An alternative is to simply make all use OC drives, which IMC implies a single coil rather than multiple coils of OM and NM drives.
The missiles using NM modifiers will have speeds 83% of the original, and OM 92% of the original.
A Silka could thus be a OC Fuel Cell, OC Drive (which it had anyway) a nav array (inc. comms) and a 5x2 warhead massing 1 ton and costing MLv1 - total cost MLv 3.02 per missile.
A SIM-14 would be a 0.07 MW NM Fuel Cell, 0.07 OC drive, nav, directional passive-8 (1 m3, 0.1 tons, MLv 0.08 say) and a 10x2 (2 tons, MLv2) = MLv4.3 (with NM drive =MLv11.1). Warp = 2.94 (slow as large warhead on a small drive).
Big missiles
MikeJ wrote up for his Russians an equivalent of a Sunburn - 0.3 MW drive missile giving a very high warp speed with a big warhead. Of course the darn thing will cost about MLv15 per pop.
That said, the original boxed set Kafer X-Ray is clearly more like a Sunburn, with a move of 11 and 2 power plant hits (implying a very large drive). That's rather different, and makes Kafers a bit scarier. One wonders if this was changed when the Kennedy kept getting slaughtered.
Damage
A turret (x1) puts out roughly 1/3,500th of a kiloton per turn (20 minute). Ergo a moderate nuke puts out at least 10,000 "hits" in energy, but it is not very concentrated. The x1 laser has an impulsive density of about 3 MJ/cm^2 (at 20% efficiency), whereas a 100 kT nuke without shaping 250 m away has a density of 0.05 MJ/cm^2. However, with shaping it's very hard to get the pulse intensity as high as a focused weapon unless very close - 1 cm beams occur around 180 km, but efficiency is low. By low I mean that 1980's estimates that we might get 0.1% of the X-Rays coming out of the rods seem high.
Since the best rod is 1.4 nm wide, and for a 1 m device each rod is 4.456x10^-10 of the diameter. If we generously say 10% of the radiated X-Rays (i.e. 7% of the total energy) are in the region adjacent to the physics package with the right angle then each rod will emit (for a 10 kT device) 1.3 kJ. Thus either the bomb needs to be bigger, or each "pulse" must be come from a large number of rods (about 5,000 for a x2 pulse).
Let he note here that the bomb is likely a simple fission device, since fusion produces fast neutrons rather than X-Rays (which in a modern thermonuclear warheads are used to inefficiently fission U-238 boosting the explosive power but at the cost of a much dirtier bomb). So megaton nukes are out.
Ergo I think a reasonable case can be made that the damage levels are reasonable, especially since the pattern of sewn pulse will be much wider than a ship and most will miss.
However, better would be to have a roll for the number of pulses that hit. In fact instead of a general hit/miss roll like turret lasers instead a better model would be a "no. of hits" roll that allows for a result of zero.
That said, I think that turret lasers should allow for multiple hits. Perhaps for each "level" (4 points) the to hit roll is passed by an extra hit is inflicted. In this case the missile should make multiple to hit rolls equal to the "no. of pulses".
So for example, a spread of 4 SIM-14's against an Alpha at long range will roll 40 times, with rolls of 8-10 inflicting a hit, but at range = 2 rolls of 3-7 will hit once, but 7-10 twice. The average numbers of hits are 12 and 48 respectively. We should use a table converter to determine actual numbers of hits.
Submunitions of course are essentially range-0 missiles, so against an Alpha with FC+2 and CQ+2 rolls of 1-2 hit once, 3-6 twice and 7-10 thrice. A 5 pulse Big Clip hits 11 times on average. Hence one can see just how dangerous a reimagined fighter with many submunitions launchers could be to a capital ship.
Thursday, 30 April 2015
A Design Study – Paris class “Frigate” (Destroyer)
A Design Study – Paris class “Frigate” (Destroyer)
The following design study is for a frigate of the line,
what some call a “starship destroyer” or “star destroyer”. Operationally this
vessel will operate as a core vessel in the battleline with other frigates of
the line and flagship frigates of the Richelieu etc. classes. Operation with
fast cruising frigates like the Suffren constituting the fast wing of the fleet
is not necessary as achieving the same speed on a balanced hull is not
possible.
Specifications
1.
Use 150 MW fusion plant (smallest available
fusion plant) as greatest MW per ton and lowest cost per MW
2.
Overall tonnage less than 10,000 tons (and less
than 1,000 Traveller dTons = 14,000 m3)
3.
Warp efficiency greater than 3.0 with reasonable
loads, but no need to match Suffren or other ships of the “fast wing” of the
fleet.
4.
Use latest technologies
5.
Greatest possible protection , i.e. armour = 10,
screens = 6, compromise on stealth and other features to achieve (this led to
rejection of hull masking and thus the ability to make a short, fatter hull
with less material value modelled on the Ypres)
6.
Maximum possible turret firepower (the fatter
hull after all other systems were accounted for limited the number of weapons
mounts to 15, and given the required speed we were able to make they all
x2+1dbls with UTES in jack turrets)
7.
Large guided weapon complement ca. 50% greater
than a Suffren (paralleling the Kiev/ Konstantin) = 24 Ritage-2’s – 8 communicators
as per Richelieu etc.
8.
Large submunitions complement with heaviest
available warhead (10x2) but only 2 rounds per launcher needed (ultimately 8
fitted)
9.
Capability to carry 560 m3 (40 Traveller dTons)
of small craft, i.e. two large fighters or platoon landers and maintain them.
a.
Additionally, to allow carriage of 1-2
additional fighters in rider mounts. (feature dropped as costing too much
surface area and adding to armour cost)
Tactical Employment
Whilst larger cruisers and attached fighters form the fast
wing of the fleet (a la the Battlecruiser Force), the destroyers and flagships
(with fighter squadrons) form the main body. Since the major action is likely
to be a blockade of Earth and engagement with the enemy main body within hours
of the declaration of war the majority of these ships are based at a protected
station near Earth – that is a station with a large “no entry- free fire” zone approximately 30 light seconds from
Earth of which there are several. The envisioned scenarios are:
1.
War with Manchuria (Jade) – impose blockade and send expeditionary force
against Manchurian fleet base at Mercury whilst fast wing attempts to intercept
Manchurian raiders fleeing the system. Long term provide squadrons for
expeditionary warfare against colonial holdings.
2.
War with Imperial Germany (Iron) – conduct major
fleet action against German battleline immediately and impose blockade of
Earth, fast wing to pursue any leakers. Long term provide squadrons for
expeditionary warfare against colonial holdings.
3.
War with America (Silver) – destroy American
naval facilities in Earth orbit and send expeditionary force against Mars base.
Detach fast wing to pursue leakers. Long term provide squadrons for
expeditionary warfare against colonial holdings.
4.
The nightmare scenario, Jade-Iron-Silver without
support from Red (UK) – destruction of enemy orbital holdings priority and
expeditions against Mars and Mercury immediately launched.
5.
Alien Invasion (Black) – plan black retains the
central feature of suborning forces to Les Force Humaines (LFH) pro rata to
potentially hostile nations, thus maintaining home defence as a minimum
requirement.
Cost Breakdown
Propulsion: 37% (stutterwarp and proportion of reactor cost
dedicated to it)
Weapons: 20% (weapons, combat electronics and proportion of reactor – excludes cost of launched weapons)
Protection: 42% (armour, screens and proportion of reactor dedicated to screens)
Crew, life support etc.: 1%
Weapons: 20% (weapons, combat electronics and proportion of reactor – excludes cost of launched weapons)
Protection: 42% (armour, screens and proportion of reactor dedicated to screens)
Crew, life support etc.: 1%
French
Paris Class Frégate- Destructeur design study
Design
Date: 2294
First
Example Laid Down: ?
First
Example Completed: ?
Fleets in
Service: France
Number in
Service: staff
requirement for 4 in this class if chosen design
Performance
Warp
efficiency: 3.09
(standard load) (3.12 unloaded)
Power
Plant: 150 MW
fusion
Fuel: nil (may carry bladders for
small craft)
Range: 7.7 light years
Endurance: six months life support
Mass: 8,841 tons unloaded
Cargo
Capacity: 840
cubic meters
Crew: 120 (30 Bridge, 27 TAC, 8 Small
Craft, 24 Engineering, 10 troops, 12 stewards, 4 medical); Passengers: 5
Comfort: 0;
Emergency
Power: 1 week
Total
Life Support: 120 for
180 days
Cost: MLv212.72 (excluding launched
weapons etc.)
Ship
Status Sheet
Move: 6
Screens: 6
Radiated
Signature: 7
Radial
Reflected: 6
Lateral
Reflected: 7
Target
Computer: +2;
Radial
Profile: -1
Lateral
Profile: +1
Armour: 10
Hull hits: 600/120 (by SC)
Power
Plant Hits: 100/20
Active: 16 and redundant
Passive: 12 and redundant
Other:
Weapons
15 x2+1dbl
lasers in jack turrets (1x 128, 5x 123, 5x 178, 2x 345, 2x 567)
8 internal (jack) submunitions launchers (2 shots each, 10x2 warhead)
8 internal (jack) submunitions launchers (2 shots each, 10x2 warhead)
Ordnance
Load
24
Ritage-2 in 8 bays
Sensors
and Electronics:
Active-16
with redundant antenna
Passive-12 with redundant antenna
Navigation Radar
DSS
Gravitational
Passive-12 with redundant antenna
Navigation Radar
DSS
Gravitational
Crew Hits:
Bridge: Captain, Navigator, Helm, 3 Engineer, 4 Communications, 5 Computer
TAC: 15 Fire Control (turrets and sm), 8 Remote Pilot, 2 Flight Control, Active Operator, Passive Operator
Bridge: Captain, Navigator, Helm, 3 Engineer, 4 Communications, 5 Computer
TAC: 15 Fire Control (turrets and sm), 8 Remote Pilot, 2 Flight Control, Active Operator, Passive Operator
Damage
Control: 39 (13
teams)
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Frequency of Starship Arrivals
A decade ago I worked with a trade formula. We could estimate the distribution of ships, but the overall number was problematic. I missed one obvious fact, the number of starships entering or leaving the French arm every day was a dozen. Thus we can determine the overall number of ships making passage.
The following table is the result.
The following table is the result.
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