I've been playing around with designing a medium fast fighter for commerce raiding and interdiction interception and have come up with the following.
Craft Mission: Fighter Raider
Craft Name: FR-128 "Archer" Interceptor
TL: 14
Item (TL 14 maximum).......................Tons.............Cost (MCr)..........Notes
Hull....................................................................1.3...............30 tons displacement. Built at TL 12 to reduce costs. Base Hull/Structure = 1/1
Armor: Bonded Superdense....................1.5.................0.6474...........Hull Armor Factor = 6
Stealth................................................................3..................-4 DM to all incoming detection/lock-on rolls
Radiation Shielding..................................................7.5...............Absorbs 1,000 rads, hardens entire vessel, +6 Armor vs. radiation
Reflec.................................................................3..................+3 Armor vs. Lasers
Streamlining.........................................................0.13
Gravitic M-Drive sZ...........................14.25..............52..................Provides 16Gs performance. Advanced construction (75% of std. tonnage)
Power Plant sZ..................................9.225.............40..................Advanced construction (75% of std. tonnage)
Fuel (1 day duration)...........................0.35...............0.00175..........24 hours = 240 combat turns
Triple Turret.........................................................1
- Single Particle Beam..............................................8.................Advanced construction (Long Range, Very High Yield), Damage = 3D6 + automatic crew radiation hit
Fire Control for Turret.........................1....................0
Cockpit...........................................1.5.................0.15
- Main Computer...................................................10.................Model 5, Program Rating: 20
- Standard Sensor Suite.......................0....................0.................-4 DM all Sensor rolls
- Enhanced Signal Processing.................2....................8.................+4 DM all Sensor rolls; +2 to Full & Limited range bands
Cargo............................................0.175
SubTotal.......................................30.................134.72915
Software
Maneuver/0..........................................................0
Evade 1/10...........................................................1.................Computer auto-reacts to incoming fire, giving a -1 DM to all hostile attack rolls, and can dodge 1 attack per round.
Fire Control 3/15....................................................6..................Computer can fire one weapon/round OR give up to a +3 DM to a single attack/round OR fire one weapon and give a +2 DM to an attack, including its own.
Library/0.............................................................0..................Reference database
Total...............................................................141.72915
Let's look at some of the design aspects of this craft from a tactical sense.
1) First, the moderate level of armor, lack of hull reinforcement, and a particle beam with enhanced range means this craft is not to be used as a close-in brawler. Instead, it's a sniper, engaging its targets from as far away as it can while maintaining its distance from the target. This allows the Archer to potentially reduce its target's accuracy and simultaneously maximize its own accuracy.
2) With an acceleration of 16Gs, it can chase down any vessel and outrun any missile. And its twenty-four hour fuel duration enables it to take on long patrols or have a very long loiter time when monitoring an area for target traffic.
3) Because it mounts a turret-based weapon, it can engage targets from any angle but those targets must be limited to commercial vessels and lightly armored warships. The tonnage requirement of a barbette-based weapon is prohibitive for a craft of the Archer's displacement.
4) The combination of a standard sensor suite with enhanced signal processing means the craft can detect targets as if it has a standard military sensor suite while gaining a level of detail resolution much better than the military standard. This allows the pilot to identify target details at a range beyond standard military vessels, enabling it to much more easily decide which targets to engage and which to avoid.
5) Combat capability may be improved without requiring a reallocation of tonnage through the refitting of higher model computers and software, albeit at significant additional cost. For example, being able to improve the Fire Control 3 software to Fire Control 5 allows the computer to provide a +5 DM to the Pilot when he fires the particle beam. This would completely negate any negative modifiers due to range..or poor gunnery skill on the part of the pilot. As another example, upgrading the Evade 1 software to Evade 3 would allow the computer to provide a -2 DM on up to three incoming attacks per combat round while requiring only 3Gs of maneuverability, allowing the fighter to allocate 13Gs for other uses.
I did look into the use of a Very High Yield plasma gun instead of the particle beam but there was no significant gain in armor penetration over that of a Very High Yield particle beam and the effect of its range reduction on accuracy and loss of an automatic crew radiation hit were significant, in my opinion. The radiation hit can be used as psychological leverage in persuading a target to surrender without firing a shot.
Thoughts?
Craft Mission: Fighter Raider
Craft Name: FR-128 "Archer" Interceptor
TL: 14
Item (TL 14 maximum).......................Tons.............Cost (MCr)..........Notes
Hull....................................................................1.3...............30 tons displacement. Built at TL 12 to reduce costs. Base Hull/Structure = 1/1
Armor: Bonded Superdense....................1.5.................0.6474...........Hull Armor Factor = 6
Stealth................................................................3..................-4 DM to all incoming detection/lock-on rolls
Radiation Shielding..................................................7.5...............Absorbs 1,000 rads, hardens entire vessel, +6 Armor vs. radiation
Reflec.................................................................3..................+3 Armor vs. Lasers
Streamlining.........................................................0.13
Gravitic M-Drive sZ...........................14.25..............52..................Provides 16Gs performance. Advanced construction (75% of std. tonnage)
Power Plant sZ..................................9.225.............40..................Advanced construction (75% of std. tonnage)
Fuel (1 day duration)...........................0.35...............0.00175..........24 hours = 240 combat turns
Triple Turret.........................................................1
- Single Particle Beam..............................................8.................Advanced construction (Long Range, Very High Yield), Damage = 3D6 + automatic crew radiation hit
Fire Control for Turret.........................1....................0
Cockpit...........................................1.5.................0.15
- Main Computer...................................................10.................Model 5, Program Rating: 20
- Standard Sensor Suite.......................0....................0.................-4 DM all Sensor rolls
- Enhanced Signal Processing.................2....................8.................+4 DM all Sensor rolls; +2 to Full & Limited range bands
Cargo............................................0.175
SubTotal.......................................30.................134.72915
Software
Maneuver/0..........................................................0
Evade 1/10...........................................................1.................Computer auto-reacts to incoming fire, giving a -1 DM to all hostile attack rolls, and can dodge 1 attack per round.
Fire Control 3/15....................................................6..................Computer can fire one weapon/round OR give up to a +3 DM to a single attack/round OR fire one weapon and give a +2 DM to an attack, including its own.
Library/0.............................................................0..................Reference database
Total...............................................................141.72915
Let's look at some of the design aspects of this craft from a tactical sense.
1) First, the moderate level of armor, lack of hull reinforcement, and a particle beam with enhanced range means this craft is not to be used as a close-in brawler. Instead, it's a sniper, engaging its targets from as far away as it can while maintaining its distance from the target. This allows the Archer to potentially reduce its target's accuracy and simultaneously maximize its own accuracy.
2) With an acceleration of 16Gs, it can chase down any vessel and outrun any missile. And its twenty-four hour fuel duration enables it to take on long patrols or have a very long loiter time when monitoring an area for target traffic.
3) Because it mounts a turret-based weapon, it can engage targets from any angle but those targets must be limited to commercial vessels and lightly armored warships. The tonnage requirement of a barbette-based weapon is prohibitive for a craft of the Archer's displacement.
4) The combination of a standard sensor suite with enhanced signal processing means the craft can detect targets as if it has a standard military sensor suite while gaining a level of detail resolution much better than the military standard. This allows the pilot to identify target details at a range beyond standard military vessels, enabling it to much more easily decide which targets to engage and which to avoid.
5) Combat capability may be improved without requiring a reallocation of tonnage through the refitting of higher model computers and software, albeit at significant additional cost. For example, being able to improve the Fire Control 3 software to Fire Control 5 allows the computer to provide a +5 DM to the Pilot when he fires the particle beam. This would completely negate any negative modifiers due to range..or poor gunnery skill on the part of the pilot. As another example, upgrading the Evade 1 software to Evade 3 would allow the computer to provide a -2 DM on up to three incoming attacks per combat round while requiring only 3Gs of maneuverability, allowing the fighter to allocate 13Gs for other uses.
I did look into the use of a Very High Yield plasma gun instead of the particle beam but there was no significant gain in armor penetration over that of a Very High Yield particle beam and the effect of its range reduction on accuracy and loss of an automatic crew radiation hit were significant, in my opinion. The radiation hit can be used as psychological leverage in persuading a target to surrender without firing a shot.
Thoughts?
