Imperial Navy Question

[Terry Mixon]

I created 1,200 ton Hornet battle riders with a single large meson bay each for just the purpose. They are taken to battle by a 1,000,000 ton Warmonger battle tender, which can carry 666 of them. I’d imagine they could ruin a fleet’s day.

The descriptions and links to the spreadsheets are in the document I reference in my signature.

 

[ottarrus]

I created 1,200 ton Hornet battle riders with a single large meson bay each for just the purpose. They are taken to battle by a 1,000,000 ton Warmonger battle tender, which can carry 666 of them. I’d imagine they could ruin a fleet’s day.

The descriptions and links to the spreadsheets are in the document I reference in my signature.

But not even the Third Imperium could afford to build it.
Your 'Death Star with shotgun in it' would take the entire GDP of Core Sector. And you'd get ONE massive asset that can control ONE parsec-hex on the map. Sure, it's scary and all, but it's only one asset. For all intents and purposes it's an over-powered Tigress squadron that does exactly the same job at a thousand times the cost in credits and personnel.
Sure, you can dilute your dominating force, dropping off 10 or so battle riders over several systems. But those forces are 'stand and die' tripwire forces. They've nowhere to retreat to and are, in effect, a very strong planetary squadron until the ONE carrier you have comes back to pick them up.

 

[Sigtrygg]

What is the IN budget per year?

 

[Condottiere]

I recall the Navy gets seventy percent of the military budget.

And the military budget is dependent on the current alert/posture.

Times population, technological level, and, I think, trade codes.

 

[Sigtrygg]

What is the IN budget, in MCr., per year?

 

[Terry Mixon]

But not even the Third Imperium could afford to build it.
Your 'Death Star with shotgun in it' would take the entire GDP of Core Sector. And you'd get ONE massive asset that can control ONE parsec-hex on the map. Sure, it's scary and all, but it's only one asset. For all intents and purposes it's an over-powered Tigress squadron that does exactly the same job at a thousand times the cost in credits and personnel.
Sure, you can dilute your dominating force, dropping off 10 or so battle riders over several systems. But those forces are 'stand and die' tripwire forces. They've nowhere to retreat to and are, in effect, a very strong planetary squadron until the ONE carrier you have comes back to pick them up.

The Warmonger is mentioned in high guard, with its tonnage. I didn’t make it up. I only gave it stats. It could carry fewer battle riders, I suppose, but I figured it should dominate. Feel free to downgrade its capabilities, but I think it works as is.

 

[Terry Mixon]

What is the IN budget, in MCr., per year?

I have no idea. Big, I’m sure.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I only ask because of th bold statement that the Imperium can't affort a few of these. I have yet to see how much in the way of MCr the Imperial budget sends to the IN, the IISS, the IA, the IMs...

11,000 worlds, what's the total taxable population or world revenue?

 

[Terry Mixon]

I only ask because of th bold statement that the Imperium can't affort a few of these. I have yet to see how much in the way of MCr the Imperial budget sends to the IN, the IISS, the IA, the IMs...

11,000 worlds, what's the total taxable population or world revenue?

I read somewhere that each sector has 4 (or was it 8?) Tigress dreadnaughts. If so, a sector could have a Warmonger to drop battle riders all over the enemy. In peacetime, it could double as a massive logistics transport do the money isn’t wasted.

 

[Anstett]

It also opens the scary topic of what do system defenses actually look like. Can your swarm of 1000 ton ships actually threaten the important systems? Traveller basically skips the topic other than to suggest some worlds are fortresses.

Earlier in the thread triggered a thought and this resurfaced it.

I think it would be a good strategy to have those swarms of thousands of minimal ton jump ships just for recon purposes. Jump in, quick scan, jump out. The intel gathered would be more valuable than the damage a swarm of ships could do to a battle fleet I would think.

Sort of along the lines of the tulip merchants or stock market, faster information creates faster reactions.

 

[Nelphine]

To be clear.. if I have millions of 1000 ton ships, I simply never fight your fleets. I just go and scorched earth your entire kingdom in one stroke. Your capital fleet never gets destroyed, except if you attack my large system defenses - it just starves because it had no ports to go back to.

And I'm not exaggerating, I literally mean millions. And as per discussion earlier, your capital shops just CAN'T be where they need to be, when I'm hitting every single world at the same time. Sure, you might have a fleet in place, and save one planet.. but you can never leave that planet or my hornets come and scorched earth it.

 

[Condottiere]

1. I doubt even the Imperium knows how much tax revenue they collect.

2. Chances are, that there is an artificial intelligence programme that makes estimates for current and future incomes.

3. There's also no point sending most of it back to the Capital.

4. You probably have provincial quaestors keeping an eye on finances and spending by the sector dukes.

5. The Navy is given an annual budget, and if income doesn't match expenditure, they'll probably figure it out in about a decade later during a cheque reconciliation, and adjust the next ten year planning to reflect either savings or mandatory reduction to repay excess.

 

[Terry Mixon]

But not even the Third Imperium could afford to build it.
Your 'Death Star with shotgun in it' would take the entire GDP of Core Sector. And you'd get ONE massive asset that can control ONE parsec-hex on the map. Sure, it's scary and all, but it's only one asset. For all intents and purposes it's an over-powered Tigress squadron that does exactly the same job at a thousand times the cost in credits and personnel.
Sure, you can dilute your dominating force, dropping off 10 or so battle riders over several systems. But those forces are 'stand and die' tripwire forces. They've nowhere to retreat to and are, in effect, a very strong planetary squadron until the ONE carrier you have comes back to pick them up.

Following up, four Tigress dreadnaughts cost a bit more than one Warmonger with its full load of Hornets. As the big ship isn’t a combatant, it’s not going to be in the scrum, but I’d be surprised if four Tigresses could hold off 666 Hornets and their large meson bays. If you want to take a system, they make more sense. If you want to defend a system, they make more sense. Just saying.