Billion Credit Squadron II

locarno24

Cosmic Mongoose
This is a follow up to Octagon's http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=41907]MgT 1 BCr Squadron Tournament

Send your fleet through via PM
As ever, the more detail you give me, the more the fleet is likely to do what you want it to.

Note that the scenarios can and will vary from a simple stand-up fight.


Rules and Notes:

Rules set for all design and combat are:
MgT core rulebook (No alternate drives or power plants)
MgT Book 2: High Guard
Referenced S&P Article (include reference if you use one)

It is assumed you have all licenses and permissions you might wish from Imperial Authority.

Design Limitations (A bit looser than last time):
1 BCr (1,000 MCr) for full purchase of all vessels. The first example of any class must be paid in full, including architect’s fees. Additional vessels of the class may be purchased at 20% discount.

Computer programs must be purchased within allotted budget.

Consumables and Expendables (Ammunition, Supplies, Processed Fuel and Crewmen) need not be purchased within the budget but must obviously have space assigned to them and any special variants you intend to use noted.

Vessels may be designed up to TL13

All vessels must be capable of a minimum of thrust 3

All vessels must be jump-3 capable or have an assigned hangar or docking clamp aboard a vessel so capable whilst it is aboard.

The fleet must be capable of scooping and refining a quantity of fuel equivalent to 10% of the total fuel tankage of the fleet within 30 Hours (i.e. one 24 hour refining period following a single scoop mission)

The fleet must have power plant reserves and staterooms capable of 2 weeks sustained combat deployment. This requires vessels to have the manpower to meet at least the minimum requirements of 'Fully Manned', including Officers. See the player's guide.

Small craft and battle riders need not meet this requirement but again must have suitable provisions on board their nominated base ship, and their base ship must also have ground crew for them, as defined in the capital ship crews in High Guard. The flight crew should include the normal ratio of officers.


You are considered to have an unlimited reserve of manpower to draw upon, with all crewmen having appropriate skills, stats or blind luck to accrue a +2 DM in all roles they could concievably be required to serve in.
 
Just to do what locarno did to my unit thread :D
Here is my single ship using the full budget. It does depend on role playing rather than table-top gaming, but whatever. Also, I made the non turret weapons pop-up by multiplying both the tonnage and cost by 1.5.

Q-ship
This ship, built on the hull of a bulk trader, is designed to get within short range of enemy warships before opening fire with a devastating barrage from its hidden weapons.


Large Q ship tons cost
hull-2000 tons 200
Jump Drive jump 2 n 70 130
Manouvre drive thrust 3 r 31 64
P-Plant Rating 3 r 49 128
Fuel 1 jump-2, 4 weeks operations 464
Bridge 60 10
Computer model 5 10
Electronics advanced 3 2
Armaments:
2 x large Railgun bays 300 180 pop-up
2 x small railgun bays 150 90 pop-up
8 x railgun barbettes 60 48 pop-up
4 x double beam laser turrets 8 10 pop-up
4 x double sand-caster turrets 8 4 pop-up

Software:
Jump/2, Fire control/3 6.2
Staterooms 17 68 8.5
Armour crystaliron: 6 points 150 60
Counter measures suite 7 6
Ammunition- 90 tons railgun (1800 shots), 10 tons sand 100
Armoury 2 0.5
Cargo: 450



1980 957.2
 
barnest2 said:
I will PM you a ship as soon as I get a chance. Could you keep a slot for me?

Me too - its weekend now not work day - have time to finish (actually start) my fleet.
 
I'll throw that one in to the pot too, if another opponent turns up.

Currently, we have:

Yamato (Hector)
HMSS Black Swan and HMSS Amethyst (Barnest2)
Darling Belle (Barnest2)
As-Yet-Unnamed-Carrier (Smiths121)
252 Gunboat Squadron (Old Timer)

P.S. On the grounds of egregious laziness, can you let me know your crew rosters? Only I note a high preponderance of nuclear weapons, and suspect there will be many radiation crew hits flying back and forth.

Waiting for one more entrant by tomorrow, if there is one. Otherwise, will pull a standard(ish) opponent out of the books for a 'bye'. The one I'm looking at at the moment is a pair of Hierate Kteahari-class raiders (see Signs & Portents 84) hired from some irritable Ihataei for the job.

Will pair up combatants randomly (except not putting Barnest's two ships against one another), and roll up some High Guard missions for the protagonists.
 
the Q-ship is called the Darling Belle, a member of the merchant marine

Both have full battle level crews (100%)

EDIT: Btw, will the Q-ship get role-playing bonuses... because it looks unarmed most of the time...
 
Right.... Here we go, I guess.

First Draw:

Yamato vs HMSS Black Swan & HMSS Amethyst
Darling Belle vs 252 Gunboat Squadron
As-Yet-Unnamed-Carrier vs Whylykit & Whylykat (Bye)
 
locarno24 said:
P.S. On the grounds of egregious laziness, can you let me know your crew rosters? Only I note a high preponderance of nuclear weapons, and suspect there will be many radiation crew hits flying back and forth.

Hi Iocarno24 what do yo mean by Crew Roster?
 
The sloops have a crew complement of 24 each.
The Q-ship has a complement of 33 men.

Btw, if my pbp players defeat my ships, they will regret it :twisted: (j/k)
 
Thanks.

Radiation hits (not that there are a surfeit of nukes, particle beams and assorted other stuff floating about) hits "a random crewmember".

I could sit down and try and reverse-engineer the list from the systems, guns and staterooms, but the list (as with Old timer's last post) makes it easier. That said, am tempted to say "sod it" and largely ignore radiation hits (or at least just draw them off the bottom of the list and assume any minion can cover any post).

Have started game 1 - will post up some of the first engagement later. Have got through a few rounds of the Yamato vs HMSS Black Swan & HMSS Amethyst, and (at least at the moment) all three are still in fighting order.

After 21 bay-mounted weapon shots and a dozen large nuclear detonations, the ships have significantly breached armour, fuel leaks, and many crew members feeling sick, but to date no-one's actually lost a main weapon or suffered structural damage.

Kiloton ships ain't half tough!



Btw, will the Q-ship get role-playing bonuses... because it looks unarmed most of the time...

There is a scenario associated with each game rather than just 'line up and shoot' (albeit that with Yamato and Black Swan both passing sensor checks this one devolved into that pretty quickly).

The Q-Ship will have a chance to surprise its opponents - depending on 252's sensor checks, and possibly a few skill check's from the Darling Belle's captain, she may be able to (a) start at a shorter range - i.e. within railgun range - of at least one gunboat, and potentially (b) get a surprise round.
 
locarno24 said:
Thanks.

Radiation hits (not that there are a surfeit of nukes, particle beams and assorted other stuff floating about) hits "a random crewmember".

I could sit down and try and reverse-engineer the list from the systems, guns and staterooms, but the list (as with Old timer's last post) makes it easier. That said, am tempted to say "sod it" and largely ignore radiation hits (or at least just draw them off the bottom of the list and assume any minion can cover any post).

You can ignore radiation for armour 8+ ships, as no-one suffers any rads (1-4 is lucky escape) except for Meson guns. Hardened bridge also subtracts -1000 rads, so bridge crew can ignore radiation if they are chosen randomly.

Reading the rules it looks to me like you are supposed to roll the hit location of radiation hits from Particle Beams and Nuclear Missiles, and note the location. I would assume Bridge means computer hit, otherwise cannot see the purpose of the fib option.

Given the amount of money you can spend on anti-radiation measures, and cost is the major variable not sure you can ignore radiation.
 
Hardened bridge also subtracts -1000 rads, so bridge crew can ignore radiation if they are chosen randomly.

Plus Vacc Suits cover off most of the rest, since a -50 Rad protection reduces the bulk of the 2D6 results to the point that you can take two or three on the same guy before they get to a nausea level. Added to that, I can just say that your crew are all high on anti-rad drugs (another 100 rads).


You can ignore radiation for armour 8+ ships, as no-one suffers any rads (1-4 is lucky escape) except for Meson guns.

Yeah...about that. HMSS Amythest may not be armour 8+ anymore...

Where is this reference to subtracting armour from the crew damage roll, by the way? I don't see it in the core rulebook. I always figured that the reference to starship armour stopping 500 rads means radiation hits that didn't breach the armour were ignored, and ones that did were at full effect.
 
Engagement:
Mercenary Heavy Corvette Yamato vs HMSS Black Swan and HMSS Amythest

Ma'Van-Thelik Trade War, Day 1
Thelik V 100 Diameter Limit, designated merchant jump emergence zone.



“Sir?”
The Black Swan's commander turned to face his navigator.
“Jump status?”
The lieutenant nodded.
“Aye, sir. Dropping back into real-space in Thelik in fifteen minutes.”
“Right. Let's do this properly, then.” He turned. “Give me shipwide.”
“Shipwide, aye, sir.”

“This is the Captain. As of this moment, HMSS Black Swan is on a war footing. We are about to arrive in enemy space. All watches beat to quarters. Weapons free, defences free. That is all.”

_______________________________________________________


The mercenary ship hung in space some fourteen million kilometre's above the stormy jovian's atmosphere, sensors drifting back and forth. Deploying a ship of here size to run escort for a trader within a system seemed like overkill, but then her Captain wasn't the man paying, and tensions with the Kingdom of Ma'Van had been going nuts recently. Not that he was complaining; if you were going to sit around waiting for the enemy, you might as well do it without having to spend a week in jumpspace first.

Anything yet?” The captain asked, testily.
“What bit of 'scanner's clear, Boss' didn't make sense?” Replied the Yamato's sensor officer. “When I see anything except that damn gas giant, I'll tell you!”

“Hnnh. Less lip or it'll come out of your pay. The Sheherezade is supposed to be here already. Not like Consolidated Express to be late.”

Moments later, a strident alarm blared across the ship's bridge.

“Jump flare! Central merchant emergence zone. Looks like they did turn up on time after all. Send the recognition signal?”

“Either that, sparks, or we could always fire you out of one of the torp tubes to hand-deliver a welcome note.”
Came the respone.

“Err....right. Signal away. They must....hang on....”

A second alarm started to whine. The sensor officer sat bolt upright in her chair.

Second jump signature. Zero-zero angular deflection from first contact! We have a squadron jump! That is not the Sheherezade, Boss!”

The captain leaned forwards, squinting at the main display.

“What the.....”

_______________________________________________________

“.....Bloody hell is that?” The captain asked.

“Unknown, sir. Contact is definitely not any known Thelikan SDB. Best guess by the computer at this time puts her as a merc ship – probably a Yamato class armoured corvette.”

Armoured corvette, scans?”

“Aye, sir. She's in our class, but just barely. Yamato's are a new class of mercenary vessel – one point three kilotons, and a good proportion of that is crystaliron armour plate with heavy radiation shielding.”

“And she just happens to be sitting there?”

“We... I think we've dropped out in the commercial emergence zone, sir. The ship is hailing us; I'm getting a tight-beam challenge signal.”

“Well, I think any chance of bluffing went out the window when Amythest jumped in with us. Tactical evaluation?”

“Questionable, sir. One-on-one, I'd recommend avoiding action, but with Amythest to back us up, we should have an even chance. She mounts a scary tertiary railgun fit, though; we do not want a close-ranged slugging match with that thing, especially given the thickness of her armour belt.”

“Understood. Helm, manouvre to evade, and hold the range open as best you can. Comms, co-ordinate with Amythest. Guns – Man battle stations energy. Kill. That. Ship.

_______________________________________________________

“Well, that was lucky the second ship arrived.”

“Oh, yes.” Replied Yamato's captain. “Because I just adore being outnumbered two to one. How about you?”

“I meant,” replied the sensor officer, “That we might otherwise have blundered right up to them, fat dumb and happy, and not realised it wasn't the ConEx freighter until too late.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. What are they, anyway?”

“I make it a pair of Black Swans. Mavvie war sloops.”

“Is that good?”

“Depends. The original Black Swan's a piece of kludge, but the Royal Navy's been pulling them out of mothballs and refitting them like manic. Composite crystaliron plate over the original titanium steel, multiple capital-class energy weapons, the works. I gather they had some problems with power supply, but I guess they fixed them. If this is the Mavvie fleet spearhead, I'd guess we're up against the new ones. May I suggest plan B?”

“What's plan B?”, Yamato's weapon's officer - the newest member of the bridge crew - asked.

“The same thing plan B always is: run!” The sensor officer informed him. “One Black Swan is one thing, but we've got two kiloton-class warships out there, and between them they pack a damn sight more energy mounts than we do.”

“No good.” The captain said. “We can't disengage without at least exchanging fire or Thelikan command would have our hides – and our hull – on a default penalty. Besides, Sheherezade is still going to drop in any time now, and if we're not here to warn her off, she's dead at best and captured at worst. Given how much Thelik's paying us to be here waiting for her, I'm pretty sure she's not a grain freighter. Run out the guns, ladies and gentlemen, and get me a hot lock on one of those buggers. Time to earn our pay.”

_______________________________________________________



[Both ships passed a sensors check to locate the enemy (backtracking the jump signature and challenge signal rather than locating the ship from scratch) and a tactics (naval) check to correctly identify them. Neither was therefore surprised.]

Setup

Reference Point: Yamato
Range to Black Swan: 40,000 Km (Long)
Range to Amythest: 40,000 Km (Long)

Initiative Order
Amythest – 6,4 + Fleet's Tactics Effect -2 = 8
Yamato – 2,3 + Tactics Effect 1 = 6
Black Swan – 1,1 + Fleet's Tactics Effect -2 = 0

[Yeah. HMSS Black Swan's commander kind of screwed those rolls up.]
 
Turn 1
_______________________________________________________


“Bring us straight at them.” Instructed Yamato's captain. “If their armour isn't as good as ours, then the best thing we can do is try to bring our railguns into range.”

_______________________________________________________



Manouvre Phase
Amythest
1 Thrust used to increase range, 2 Thrust reserved for Combat Phase

Yamato
3 Thrust used to close on Amythest and Black Swan

Black Swan
2 Thrust used to increase range, 1 Thrust reserved for Combat Phase

[At this time, the two Ma'Van sloops are effectively adjacent]

Net change:
8 Thrust to bring Amythest to Medium Range
9 Thrust to bring Black Swan to Medium Range


Combat Phase

Amythest

Fires on Yamato

Very High Yield Particle Bay Mount
Range Long (0) Fire Control (+1), Gunner Skill (+2): DM+3
Rolls 3,6: 12 (Hit)
Damage Roll – 2,2,2,3,5,6: 23 Damage (modified for Very High Yield)
Armour 12+6 - 5 Damage: Two Single Hits
Location Roll – 5,6: Sensors
-2 DM to Sensors Checks.
Location Roll – 2,4: Hull
-1 Hull

Long Range Fusion Bay Mount
Range Long (0), Fire Control (+1), Gunner Skill (+2): DM+3
Rolls 1,5: 9 (Hit)
Damage Roll – 1,3,3,6,6: 19 Damage
Armour 12+6 – 1 Damage: Single Hit
Location Roll – 2,6: Hull
-1 Hull

Long Range Fusion Bay Mount
Range Long (0), Gunner Skill (+2): DM+2
Rolls 1,4: 7 (Miss)



_______________________________________________________


“Okay, that ain't gonna help the paintwork. Damage control, how're we doing?”

“Holding together, boss. Radiation shielding under the armour's holding out the worst of it. Sensors are a bit glitchy, though. One of the antenna must have caught a hit.”

“So let's give them some back, eh? Let's give Plan C a try.”

“Plan C?”

“Lock onto the closest enemy and wreck it up with nuclear weapons, Guns.”

“Plan C it is! Warheads, boss?”

“Mix and match for the first volley – we'll see what point defence they pull out of the bag.”

“Mix and match, aye. Firing laser heads from port bay, contact nukes from starboard bay.”

_______________________________________________________



Yamato

Fires on Amythest

Particle Bay Mount
Amythest Evading – 3,3: 8 (Success)
Range Long (0), Fire Control (+3), Gunner Skill (+2), Evading (-2): DM+3
Rolls 2,4: 9 (Hit)
Damage Roll – 2,2,2,3,4,4: 17 Damage
Armour 10 - 7 Damage: Two Single Hits
Location Roll – 4,6: Manouvre Drive
Reduce the ship's Thrust by one.
Location Roll – 2,4: Hull
-1 Hull

Torpedo Bay Mount
Gunner Skill (+2): DM+2
Rolls 3,4: 9 (Missile To Hit Roll 7+)
Range – Long: 1 Turn to Impact

Nuclear Bomb-Pumped Torpedo x 3 Launched

Torpedo Bay Mount
Gunner Skill (+2): DM+2
Rolls 4,6: 12 (Missile To Hit Roll 7+)
Range – Long: 1 Turn to Impact

Nuclear Torpedo x 3 Launched

_______________________________________________________

“Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! We have contact separation from enemy vessel, inbound on the Amythest at ten Gs. I make six seperate contacts, estimate five minutes forty seconds to impact. Radiological alarm indicates atomic warheads.”

“Can we manouvre for escort defence?”

“Not in time, sir.”

“Maybe we can at least provide some covering fire. Guns! Engage at will!”

_______________________________________________________


[In fact, Black Swan can't do anything especially useful. With no initiative to burn, it's stuck like a bit of a lemon with one reaction and no ability to use orders.]



Black Swan

Fires on Yamato

Very High Yield Particle Bay Mount
Range Long (0), Fire Control (+1), Gunner Skill (+2): DM+3
Rolls 5,5: 13 (Hit)
Damage Roll – 2,2,2,4,4,5: 22 Damage (modified for Very High Yield)
Armour 12+6 - 4 Damage: Single Hit
Location Roll – 2,4: Hull
-1 Hull

Long Range Fusion Bay Mount
Range Long (0), Fire Control (+1), Gunner Skill (+2): DM+3
Rolls 2,2: 7 (Miss)

Long Range Fusion Bay Mount
Range Long (0), Fire Control (+2), Gunner Skill (+2): DM+4
Rolls 1,1: 6 (Miss)

Ship Action Phase

Amythest

Failed Mechanic Check to repair Manouvre Drive
Establish Sensor Lock on Yamato

Yamato

Repaired Sensors
Establish Sensor Lock on Amythest

Black Swan

Failed to Establish Sensor Lock on Yamato
Failed to Increase Initiative

[HMSS Black Swan is really not helping the Ma'Van cause here. Unless performance improves drastically there will be no tea and medals for thee, Commodore!]

Status:
Yamato - 3/26 Hull Damage
Amythest – 1/20 Hull Damage, Single Hit to Manouvre Drive
Black Swan - Undamaged
 
locarno24 said:
Where is this reference to subtracting armour from the crew damage roll, by the way? I don't see it in the core rulebook. I always figured that the reference to starship armour stopping 500 rads means radiation hits that didn't breach the armour were ignored, and ones that did were at full effect.

I was generalizing as on Meson, Fusion, Particle nad Nuclear Missiles do radiation crew hits. All the weapons subtract armour except the Meson (which in theory kick the radiation out inside). This in on page 149 on the core rulebook, under the special attack which gives the weapons that do radiation hits.

Armour is only subtracted for radiation crew hits - not for crew hits from rolling 2 on the internal damage location table.
 
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