Modified Broadsword & Onboard Company

[phavoc]

The Broadsword, as designed, always seemed rather weak for a ship made to carry a ground unit. Modular cutters are great for cargo or fighting, but they take up a lot of space, especially for a small troop transport craft. So I took the standard craft and made some modifications to it. The variant is called a Longsword (to keep with the sword naming). It's the same specs as a Broadsword with the following changes:

Fuel - 288 tons (allows 1 J3 and 4wks operations)
Cargo 39 tons
42 Staterooms
Three air-rafts (enclosed version, 1 std, 1 ambulance variant, 1 mechanical support)
Ships Boat
Six G-Carriers

Ships Crew (total-20)
Captain
XO/Pilot
Pilot
Navigator
Chief Engineer
Three Engineers
Eight gunners
Two Ships boats crew

Ground Troops (total 58)
Commander
XO
Gunnery Sgt
Six Sergeants
Forty-two troopers
Doctor
Two medics
Two mechanics
Admin/company clerk
Comm operator

Each G-Carrier has a dedicated Driver and a dedicated Gunner and a six-man fireteam.

Each fireteam (1 per G-Carrier) has a Sergeant and five troopers. The Commander stays either on the ship, the air/raft or one of the G-Carriers. The XO is in G-Carrier 1, and the Gunnery Sgt is in G-Carrier 2

The unit is about half-company sized, but with the G-Carriers backing them up they can do a lot of damage and retreat when they come up against larger forces. The G-Carriers provide fire support and transport.

As I see it, the one part that is going to be lacking is the relatively small cargo space onboard. 39 tons may sound like a lot, but when you have to include supplies, weapons, ammo, tac missiles, spares, etc, it's really not all that much. The unit could operate on it's own for a while, but would probably need another ships to transport those supplies that would not be readily available wherever it was deployed. If the planet had a sufficient tech base to from which they could obtain their supplies (assume they are all TL-12), then the merc unit would get creamed if it went up against a company-sized or larger force equally equipped. As I see it this sort of unit would do best performing support duties or acting as a mobile force for a TL9 or lower local military. Bringing in the ship for fire support would only really work against a unit that didn't have anti-starship weaponry. Risking their ride would (or should) be considered an official "bad" idea.

I figured the ships boat would be able to ferry supplies from the ship while it sits in orbit and also fetch them from other ships, or even other planets, depending on where the unit got deployed. Anything larger I felt would be taking up too much valuable tonnage. For a richer unit you could possibly substitute one or two light 10ton grav tanks for G-carriers. The other carriers would be a bit more crowded for deploying, but the extra firepower could really help out in some situations.

Any feedback/opinions are appreciated.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I agree with most of what you are saying, and that this is a step forward.

But Air/rafts and G-Carriers make clumsy interface craft, not suitable to assault landings. I see a need for at least two assault landing craft (~25 Dt) capable of carrying a G-Carrier to the ground quickly and potentially under fire. At least two so that we are not mission-killed if an assault lander crashes.

Alternatively we could replace the G-Carriers with ~10 Dt armoured spacecraft that could serve as both assault landers and APCs. That would also increase our ability to operate anywhere in space, e.g. among moons or asteroid belts. They could also give the force a modest space combat capability. The cost would be comparable to G-Carriers.


Since we intend to place the personnel in harms way I would like to see a proper medical bay and at least a surgeon and a nurse, and perhaps a few low bays for serious casualties.

The ship would probably need a backup astrogator / sensor operator, if we go into combat everyone should have a backup.

 

[phavoc]

I did not include changes to add a medical bay, which I need to do.

I agree with what you say. However I have always seen the Broadsword as a merchant type ship, not a pure military one. And mercs wouldnt typically be doing orbital assaults. GURPS had a military assault ship, larger than a broadsword, and it was meant to do planetary assaults with Astrin class APC. G carriers are also merc class vehicles rather than full-up APC's.

To make this ship more survivable we would need to change it up to give it more defenses and better armor. It's based off v1 of the book, with the letter code drives. I have not updated it to v2 stats. I should probably do that. I was working on a sample unit and haven't gotten around to the ship itself. I'M not sure if I should stat it for v1, v2 or CE. Or all three.

 

[Condottiere]

I think you get more bang for buck with a ten tonne assault gig; I'm not sure the relationship with fire power and armour between High Guard and ground vehicles, but I'm pretty sure it's lopsided.

Also, eleven tonne hangar space to ten tonne garage, and using lifers isn't a handicap if it's principally used nap of the earth and near orbit.

As regards the Broadsword, paramilitary ship, possibly the same as a Coast Guard cutter. I see it more as a platform for it's cutters, you use a starship for a direct assault, you're risking damaging the jump drive, or even losing the entire ship.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

However I have always seen the Broadsword as a merchant type ship, not a pure military one. And mercs wouldnt typically be doing orbital assaults.

I agree it's a civilian transport, but it would be a rather high-end mercenary outfit that uses it. We have already payed MCr ~300 (MCr ~5 per trooper?) for the ship, so I think it makes sense to make sure we can apply the force with maximum mobility. If we don't need the mobility it would be much cheaper to rent civilian transport capability (a single subsidised liner could deliver almost the whole force to a starport for a reasonable fee).

Since we are not going to risk the ship, it's always a central question of how to get the troops to the fight.

On a low tech world such as ours, the ship could land on the dark side of the moon and be invulnerable and land the force anywhere on the planet in an hour or two with smallcraft. That is, I imagine, what the cutters were for... Such a force, equipped with battledress and hi-tech vehicles, would be devastating even in a WWII scale conflict.

To make this ship more survivable we would need to change it up to give it more defenses and better armor.

To make the ship survivable in space combat (or landings) would decrease the payload and make the cost per trooper even more problematic.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

A spacecraft-APC might look something like this:
TL 12, 10 Dt, 5 G, Armour 12, turret, MCr 12 with software.
2 crew, 6 passengers (or 20 m³ cargo).

 

[paltrysum]

Good ideas, Phavoc. I agree with AnotherDilbert's idea of incorporating a pair of combat spacecraft in place of the modular cutters, and possibly replacing the G-carriers. Part of the Broadsword's design are its four columns, two of which are at least partially consumed by maneuver drives. The other two typically contain the modular cutters, which could be replaced by two smaller combat spacecraft. Perhaps 20 tons each, armored, armed with a fixed-mount weapon, and maybe adding two or more combat support weapons for assault landings.

Combat spacecraft would also support a greater variety of ticket types, including starmarine-type missions in which the spacecraft could be used for boarding actions with the Broadsword itself in a support or backup role.

Running it through the spreadsheet, I came up with the following:

20 ton hull
4 armor (Crystaliron)
6-G thrust
2-ton power plant with 30Mw output (4 weeks operation)
Computer/5
Military-grade sensors
Fixed-mount pulse laser
Six acceleration benches (4 troops each)
Aerofins
2.8 tons cargo

It still needs the anti-personnel weaponry installed. Might have to make a few adjustments after adding that.

 

[phavoc]

All good ideas. For a military vessel. Remember the Broadsword class is specifically a mercenary cruiser. That means no space fighters, battle dress equipped troops or armored assault shuttles.

A military ship would have more troops. The Sulaco from alien made no sense to put that money into transporting a squad. Even troops in TL 15 battled read can only be one place at one time. Those really cool fusion rifles are useless when you take out a city block to kill some lowly rebel scum. That just generates mote rebel scum. Using a nuke to kill a cockroach is not a really good use of a nuke.

Sometimes you just need a good, cheap knife instead of an expensive scalpel or a sledgwhammer.

 

[phavoc]

All good ideas. For a military vessel. Remember the Broadsword class is specifically a mercenary cruiser. That means no space fighters, battle dress equipped troops or armored assault shuttles.

A military ship would have more troops. The Sulaco from alien made no sense to put that money into transporting a squad. Even troops in TL 15 battled read can only be one place at one time. Those really cool fusion rifles are useless when you take out a city block to kill some lowly rebel scum. That just generates mote rebel scum. Using a nuke to kill a cockroach is not a really good use of a nuke.

Sometimes you just need a good, cheap knife instead of an expensive scalpel or a sledgwhammer.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Do you read/include CT sources for stuff like this? [edit = reading it back in your quote it comes across as snarky and that was not intentional - sorry]

In A:7 there is a fighter module for the Broadsword cutters, and the troopers are equipped with battledress.

8. Fighter Frame. This framework module contains attachments to hold four
6-ton fighters. The module, as installed on a cutter, allows quick launch of all four
fighters for the protection of the cruiser. Unlike the other modules, the fighter
framework module is not streamlined and the cutter mounting the module cannot
enter atmosphere. MCr2.0

Equipment. The squad fusion gunners are equipped with battle dress. All other
troops are issued combat armor (even the medics).

 

[phavoc]

Do you ever read CT sources for stuff like this?

In A:7 there is a fighter module for the Broadsword cutters, and the troopers are equipped with battledress.

8. Fighter Frame. This framework module contains attachments to hold four
6-ton fighters. The module, as installed on a cutter, allows quick launch of all four
fighters for the protection of the cruiser. Unlike the other modules, the fighter
framework module is not streamlined and the cutter mounting the module cannot
enter atmosphere. MCr2.0

Equipment. The squad fusion gunners are equipped with battle dress. All other
troops are issued combat armor (even the medics).

Yes, I did, though I ad forgotten about the fighter carrier. Which, as we've seen with a number of the early supplements, what was written there was later overwritten, canon-wise at least, with later versions. Small space craft are now at 10 Dtons, and you cannot launch other craft simultaneously like you could with the fighter module, nor dock in just two minutes - "All four fighters may be launched simultaneously,
and the process takes less than a minute. Fighters, however, reattach themselves to the frame individually, and each reattachment takes about two minutes."

Re-reading the supplement it indicates only two troopers have battledress (those armed with fusion rifles), everyone else is equipped with gauss rifles and combat armor. I've always considered battle dress to be the exclusive to military forces (as well as the plasma/fusion weaponry that require battledress to use). I don't recall if that was ever set out in the rules somewhere or not.

 

[paltrysum]

Here's a topic that we discussed a few months ago and I never get sick of, so I'll bring it up again: How can a mercenary company be profitable when it has to make the payments on a MCr292.46 starship? Getting by as a free trader while paying the mortgage on a MCr51.48 can be challenging at times. I'm not sure how mercenaries can make it work for a ship that's nearly 6 times the cost.

 

[Condottiere]

Politicians with no budget oversight; it's someone else's money.

The current Administration was more than just toying outsourcing Afghanistan to private military contractors, and were dead serious building up a parallel intelligence agency run and staffed by private contractors.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

If we use the same calculations as for spaceships the proposed 56-men team would cost about:
Troops: _ _ _ kCr _ 150 / month. (Mostly salaries, presuming non-BD)
G-Carriers: _ kCr _ _50 / month. (Presuming cheap CT-style G-Carriers)
Ship: _ _ _ _ _kCr 1500 / month.
Total: _ _ _ _ kCr 1700 / month.

So we have to charge MCr 2 / month for a MCr 0.2 / month force because we have a hotel floating in orbit. That has always been the problem with the Broadsword.

The only reason to do that is that we really need the mobility to bounce around worlds at a moments notice.

And as usual it would be cheaper to use a smaller ship and force in battledress to deliver the same combat value. Carting non-BD troops around in starships is silly.

 

[phavoc]

Yeah, the budget portion of deploying a mercenary unit is always a question. One thought is that the ship may be paid off, so there's no cost there beyond maintenance. Losing equipment or taking ship damage could put a company out of business unless there is a rider in the contract to pay for that sort of thing.

Basically trying to really apply the economics to the ship is, well, hard! Unless the owners have some deep pockets to pay for all the downtime between money-making deployments it's going to be hard to make this a going concern. If the owner is a megacorp then they can afford to keep their own private army. It's possible a planetary government might have some off-the-book mercenary forces to deal with their concerns (Blackwater in spppaaaacccceeeeee!), or maybe some rich noble is bored and wants to play at being soldier. This same argument reminds of of the Hammer's Slammer's universe. The Slammer's, with their very expensive hover tanks, were a HUGE investment for anyone hiring them. Here in reality I've never heard of any merc unit being more than infantry with jeeps and light weapons - even the ones that got deployed/hired in Africa to fight wars. Aircraft and other heavy equipment was always provided by someone else.

 

[Condottiere]

In the ConDominium, mercenary units tend to specialize, at least when written by Pournelle.

Falkenberg's Legion is supposedly the best light infantry, though the Covenanters have numbers and discipline.

The Friedlanders are armoured and mobile specialists, with tanks and self propelled artillery; surprisingly, no armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.

 

[paltrysum]

So the best business model has the unit chartering a subsidized merchant, stowing its gear (up to and including grav tanks and/or battledress) in the cargo hold, and buying a nice, reliable repatriation bond to ensure passage offworld after the job is done.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I would consider that standard procedure for a land unit.

 

[Condottiere]

First, what kind of operating budget are we looking at?