Centauri Republic fan- revised fleet list

[Target]

Isn't the Accipiter way overpowered, it's way better than a Demos

 

[Slightly Norse John]

The Accipiter has nothing that's even as hard hitting as AP; the only way it can do much to a heavily armoured target is to spotlight it for the accompanying Vorchan to pile into. It can also initiative sink for them, but that's really it. It has a couple of fighters, to keep the Frazi off, but the turret fit is mainly there to shoot small craft like Olympii off the back of the Vorchan assault squadron it should be there to support.
I did try out an earlier version- Dargan variant- with 3AD twin array in each arc, but it was pointless; when it was needed, it was really needed and didn't have enough power to do anything much, when it wasn't it was wasted. The Demos is the wrong comparison, anyway. Are two of these better than a Secundus, is the problem. As I intend to do some truly horrible things to the Secundus anyway, I'm not overly worried about it.

For Battle PL, the Primus is more or less canon, and it's a medium- fast, moderately robust ship dedicated to a very heavy primary weapon, so far so good. I want some variety, though; ships that handle differently, that I can give other jobs to, that shake the play model loose a bit.
Im seriously considering four or five sets of stats; Primus Priscus (Ancient), mk. 1 if you like, older ships retired to strategic reserve, standard Primus (Usitatus (current)?), and Primus Novus (new), built at more or less the same time and for the same reasons as the EA's Omega. Then either one or two further types, a genuine fast battle cruiser, lower Hull higher Damage and Crew, and possibly a Shadow or Drakh tainted heavy combat hull.

 

[Target]

It's just I actually rate Heavy arrays as i've scored a lot of nasty dam with them, i even like them more than Matter cannons.

 

[Slightly Norse John]

That might just be a string of luck; for me, I rarely do as poorly as average with Dilgar bolters- I've had some outrageous results, detonating WS and single salvo killing G'Quan- but designing and tinkering, you generally go with the averages.

At Battle level, we're reaching the stage where if the stats don't make you go 'ooo', there's something wrong. This isn't behemoth territory, these should be practical ships of the line, not overgrown boondoggles.

Primus;
Speed 8, turn 1/45, Jump Point, Interceptors 2
Hull 6, damage 45/12, crew 60/15, troops 5, 2 Sentri flights
Heavy Ion cannon- 24, 6AD, AP Double Precise
Light Ion Cannon- 18, F, 6AD, AP
Twin Particle Array- 8, Twin Linked, F 5AD, A 4AD, P, S 6AD

Primus Priscus;
Speed 7, turn 1/45, Jump Point, Command +1, Interceptors 1
Hull 6, damage 42/10, crew 65/15, troops 4, 2 Sentri flights
Medium Ion Cannon- 24, F, 8AD, AP Precise
Light Ion Cannon- 18, F, 4AD, AP
Twin Particle Array- 8, Twin Linked, F, A 5AD, P, S 6AD
An early command capable version, retired on the apearance of the Octurion but still occasionally found in some house fleets; it's electronics suite is notoriously difficult to keep in good repair (shoehorned in between the Admiral's harem and the Captain's hot tub, supposedly) and also tricky for reallocation of internal volume. Most have been updated to newer configuations, some remain.

Primus Novus- 2259+
Speed 9, turn 1/45, Jump Point (Adv JP after 2264), Interceptors 2
hull 6, damage 47/10, crew 66/11, troops 5, 4 Sentri flight
Heavy Ion Repeaters- 24, F, 8AD, AP Double Precise Mini-Beam
Light Ion cannon- 18, A, 6AD, AP Precise
Twin Particle Array- range , twin linked; F, A, P, S each 6AD
The Novus, or latest version of the Primus hull, was supposed to enter service ariound 2252, but long development delays held it back, and only a handful entered service in time to fight the Narn.

 

[Target]

The Twinlinked part which make them awesome, don't have to use CAF at all. Gives you far more options. Awesome against hull 5 ships. It's reason secundas's shred G'Quans, vaporises Sharlins if you see them but maybe im just lucky with them as you said but i like them a lot.
Like the Priscus, always found it strange no command primus but then Mimbari omly have few options as well.

 

[Slightly Norse John]

I agonised for some time over this one, but eventually ended up with a ship modelled on the Kaliva;

Venator (Hunter) Fast Battlecruiser
Speed 12, turn 2/45, Jump Point (AJP after 2264), Interceptors 3
Hull 5, damage 52/10, crew 64/14, troops 6, 2 Sentri flight
Superheavy Ion Cannon- 30, F, 4AD, Super AP Triple damage Precise
Medium Ion Cannon- 24, F, 4AD, Super AP
Twin Particle Arrays- range 8, twin linked, 6AD each F, A, P, S

Venatrix (Huntress) Fast Battlecruiser- Venator variant
Basic stat block the same, weapon fit becomes;
Heavy plasma stream- 16, F, 5AD, AP Double damage Beam
Plasma stream- 12, T, 5AD, AP Beam
Light Ion Cannon- range 12, AP, F, A, P, S each 6AD

And the inevitable- Sicarius (Murderer) Acquired Technology Evaluation Unit (Shadow tainted)
Speed 10, turn 1/45, Adv Jump Point, Interceptors 2
Hull 5, damage 44/9, crew 60/12 or Pods, troops 4, 2 Sentri flight
Molecular Slicer Beam- 18, F, 4AD, Beam Super AP Triple damage Precise
Phasing Pulse Cannon- range 8, Antifighter Double damage Super AP, 4AD F, 3AD each A, P, S
For Battle level, the Sicarius is actually pretty fragile- enough to justify the weapon fit?

All of these three are fast, agile ships, sacrificing Hull to that, for the Venator at least that means it can get into trouble really, really quickly. The Primus family would be much more versatile ships, these would lack the AD, however powerful the individual dice might be, to face down swarms- they need to support and be supported.

 

[Slightly Norse John]

Right; at War level, now we really are entering the realm of the behemoth and the overgrown boondoggle. (No wait, that's Armageddon, isn't it?)

I will choose to ignore the Liati. The Dusk Coutari was basically a normal, ish, Demos with Stealth and a thick layer of Precise smeared over it like two inches of jam on a sandwich. The Liati is just as bad; there's only one anti- fighter weapon in the entire fleet list, and now it appears all over the stats? On battle lasers, yet? Where's the rationale for this? Very clumsy. Personally, I'd have started by boarding (all right, having some minions board) a crewless White Star and dissecting it, WSC-2 post Armageddon. The first heavy antifighter weapon used against them would probably be their own molecular pulsars.

Anyway. The laserless version of the Octurion.
Assuming some time for refits, remove the Twin Arrays.
Replace them with Light Ion Repeaters; range 16, AP Precise Mini- beam, F 8AD, A 4AD, P, S each 5AD. That significantly decreases the flank and fighter vulnerability, so the main battery isn't going to be as impressive as I had first planned.
The Fore battle lasers are replaced by Superheavy Ion cannon; range 36, F, 6AD, Super AP Precise Triple damage.
The Aft battle lasers by Heavy Ion Cannon; range 30, A, 4AD, Super AP Double damage Precise.
Still fairly nifty, I would have thought.

I was also tinkering with a pure combatant version of the Octurion, stripped down and shed of it's role as fleet flagship. I might even go so far as to paint it grey. Well, maybe metallic greyish- violet. With only a couple of gold bits.

Imperator class dreadnought (Octurion variant)
Speed 8, turn 1/45, Jump Point, Interceptors 3
Hull 6, damage 70/16, crew 85/20, troops 8
Superheavy Ion Repeaters; 36, F, 8AD, Mini-beam Super AP Triple damage Precise
Heavy Particle Arrays; range 15, Double Damage Twin link, F 12AD, A, P, S each 8AD
Twin Particle Arrays; range 10, twin link, F 1AD, A 8AD, P, S each 10AD

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Interesting stuff, but what's the rationale for this ion repeater weapon you keep using? I'm really not keen on a load of mini-beams that aren't actually mini-beams. Ion cannons don't seem like the sort of thing that'd spit millions of little bolts and by-pass interceptors that way. Rather they seem like massive guns that overwhelm interceptors by weight of fire and then smash the target to pieces.

 

[Slightly Norse John]

Uninterceptability is a bonus; in some cases like the Vorchan, I've avoided using it deliberately, so the lighter weapon can shoot out the interceptors for the heavier. I don't think it's a good choice for antiship work unless it is the primary weapon, because of that, and the Novus version of the Primus is the only one as far as I recall that actually has an ion repeater as main gun.
(Of course, this is probably the most important single ship. That could be a problem.)
Mainly, it's because the quality is the closest trait ACtA has to a genuine dual- purpose weapon. It's the secondary antifighter aspect with the limited range cap that's more important and useful. The twin array always was a bit on the pathetic side.
Partly, it's Keith Laumer's Bolo stories- their weaponry fits remarkably well, in fact; main armament functioning remarkably similarly to Mag Guns. Their standard multipurpose secondary was the Ion Infinite-Repeater. So much for naming homages.
The rationale is the Centauri peripheral- see also; Dusk Coutari-involvement in the Earth- Minbari War, where although not shot at directly, they certainly saw, and probably collected a good deal of intelligence, on what the Minbari were capable of. (Mini- beam seems drawn directly from Minigun; misnamed to begin with. Rapid fire would be a more accurate description of what the trait is supposed to model.)

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Problem is, there's nothing in the source material (to my knowledge) at least, to suggest the Centauri ever manufactured such weapons. If there is, then great, but if not, I thought the point of this exercise was to be nearer to the source material than the current, official, stats...