mavikfelna
Cosmic Mongoose
Ok, I don't really care for the GDR in The Borderlands but they do have 2 interesting ships. As an aside, does anyone have any information on their cruiser, the Requille (ex Imperial ship Apashaam)? I'd love to know more about it.
Anyway, on to the ships. From the sounds of the description of the GDR they have income and manpower issues but you don't see either of those limitations really addressed in their ships. The gunboat is a good design and has surprisingly few issues, so much so I didn't feel the need to make a new sheet for it. There are a couple of problems with the ship as printed however; they add 2 sensor stations to the ship, and then don't crew to man them, so why are they there? They have 2 sensor operators for crew, but a military crewed vessel with 2 extra sensor stations should have a total of 9 sensor operators. They have 50% of accommodation space in common areas, that's alot for a military vessel but it does make for a more comfortable ride. And finally, there is a type in the cost, MCr125.9775, should be MCr125.0775.
So, how do I fix this? Pretty simply, remove the extra sensor stations, add reinforced hull and radiation shielding, budget power plant and particle beam bay, add a workshop, move the marines to a barracks and reduce the common area a little bit. Oh, and dropped 1 ton of cargo space. I didn't add any software, but with the computer it has, in the original as well as mine, it should have some fire control and evasion software but it's expensive enough I left it off to purchase after market. The cost is very close to the original.
So that's the good, now we look at the disaster that is the Gunboat Carrier.
Very first thing, the carrier has Virtual Crew/1 software, but that is not available until TL13, unless it's prototype, in which case it should cost 50MCr, not 5. And the Virtual Gunner/1 software should likewise cost 5MCr but they list it at 10MCr. And in the case of both pieces of software, they don't actually implement them for the crew beyond replacing 3 gunners, unless the Virtual Crew is replacing the missing sensor operators. They add 4 sensor stations but not enough operators for them. Also, the computer is insufficient to run the virtual software and also run the other combat programs. The actual crew numbers they list are pretty inaccurate. They have 32 engineers and 5 maintenance, should be 23 and 12. They list 4 sensor operators, should be 15. 2 medics makes sense with 2 med bays but only 1 is actually required, and they have 5 instead of 6 administrators. They have fuel scoops, added at a cost because it's not streamlined, but didn't add a purification plant? They did list the cost correctly for first in class. depending on if they have more than one of these or not, they could list it at the volume production cost.
So, how do I fix it?
1st off, removed the Virtual Crew/1 and let the Virtual Gunner/1 replace all the gunners. With all the software, it does need a bigger computer so I added a retro Core/40 to reduce costs. Added efficiency to the M-Drive and budge to the J-Drive, reduced the Power Plant by more than half and added batteries for the jump drive to save weight. Added a drop tank mount to allow an external tank up to 8200 tons to allow 5 jump-1s, they'll probably never need it, but if they ever need to get to Villane, they can do it. Reduced the extra sensor stations to just 1 and added a distributed array to improve sensor returns. Reduced costs on the missile bays and made the lasers accurate and efficient. Added 100 tons of fuel processor. Changed the Emergency Low Berths to Improved Emergency AutoBerths to give more capacity and improve survival while greatly reducing costs. Added a cargo crane and more missile storage, allowing 4 full reloads of the bays. Final cost is 200MCr cheaper. I didn't add a reinforced hull or radiation shielding mostly to save on costs but it adds 175MCr each for them, raising the cost to 150MCr more than the original. It's not a primary combatant and should mostly be engaging with missiles at long range so I didn't feel it was worth it to add them.
As always, let me know what you think. Thanks and enjoy!
Anyway, on to the ships. From the sounds of the description of the GDR they have income and manpower issues but you don't see either of those limitations really addressed in their ships. The gunboat is a good design and has surprisingly few issues, so much so I didn't feel the need to make a new sheet for it. There are a couple of problems with the ship as printed however; they add 2 sensor stations to the ship, and then don't crew to man them, so why are they there? They have 2 sensor operators for crew, but a military crewed vessel with 2 extra sensor stations should have a total of 9 sensor operators. They have 50% of accommodation space in common areas, that's alot for a military vessel but it does make for a more comfortable ride. And finally, there is a type in the cost, MCr125.9775, should be MCr125.0775.
So, how do I fix this? Pretty simply, remove the extra sensor stations, add reinforced hull and radiation shielding, budget power plant and particle beam bay, add a workshop, move the marines to a barracks and reduce the common area a little bit. Oh, and dropped 1 ton of cargo space. I didn't add any software, but with the computer it has, in the original as well as mine, it should have some fire control and evasion software but it's expensive enough I left it off to purchase after market. The cost is very close to the original.
So that's the good, now we look at the disaster that is the Gunboat Carrier.
Very first thing, the carrier has Virtual Crew/1 software, but that is not available until TL13, unless it's prototype, in which case it should cost 50MCr, not 5. And the Virtual Gunner/1 software should likewise cost 5MCr but they list it at 10MCr. And in the case of both pieces of software, they don't actually implement them for the crew beyond replacing 3 gunners, unless the Virtual Crew is replacing the missing sensor operators. They add 4 sensor stations but not enough operators for them. Also, the computer is insufficient to run the virtual software and also run the other combat programs. The actual crew numbers they list are pretty inaccurate. They have 32 engineers and 5 maintenance, should be 23 and 12. They list 4 sensor operators, should be 15. 2 medics makes sense with 2 med bays but only 1 is actually required, and they have 5 instead of 6 administrators. They have fuel scoops, added at a cost because it's not streamlined, but didn't add a purification plant? They did list the cost correctly for first in class. depending on if they have more than one of these or not, they could list it at the volume production cost.
So, how do I fix it?
1st off, removed the Virtual Crew/1 and let the Virtual Gunner/1 replace all the gunners. With all the software, it does need a bigger computer so I added a retro Core/40 to reduce costs. Added efficiency to the M-Drive and budge to the J-Drive, reduced the Power Plant by more than half and added batteries for the jump drive to save weight. Added a drop tank mount to allow an external tank up to 8200 tons to allow 5 jump-1s, they'll probably never need it, but if they ever need to get to Villane, they can do it. Reduced the extra sensor stations to just 1 and added a distributed array to improve sensor returns. Reduced costs on the missile bays and made the lasers accurate and efficient. Added 100 tons of fuel processor. Changed the Emergency Low Berths to Improved Emergency AutoBerths to give more capacity and improve survival while greatly reducing costs. Added a cargo crane and more missile storage, allowing 4 full reloads of the bays. Final cost is 200MCr cheaper. I didn't add a reinforced hull or radiation shielding mostly to save on costs but it adds 175MCr each for them, raising the cost to 150MCr more than the original. It's not a primary combatant and should mostly be engaging with missiles at long range so I didn't feel it was worth it to add them.
As always, let me know what you think. Thanks and enjoy!