Solomani Confederation (Military)

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Gig Economy

A. I'm going to say that if only for infrastructure reasons, the Confederation Navy caps it's smallcraft at thirty five tonnes.

B. Commercial interests are free to do as they wish, but a lot find it convenient to follow this guidance.

C. Non fighter thirty five tonne designs tend to be convertible to gunboats.

D. Canon has sketched out niches for shuttles, cutters, ship's boats, launches, pinnaces, and gigs.

E. From five to forty nine tonnes, there are no tonnage differences to leverage for advantages.

F. Except for hull armour, and you only really need that for anticipated combat.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Gig Economy

G. Oh yeah, firmpoints, hence why I'm always going on about thirty five tonnes.

H. It's sort of the best of all possible worlds.

I. Two firmpoints, doubled percentaged hull armour, cockpitted, agile.

J. We'll gift the designation of shuttle to thirty five tonne non fighter smallcraft.

K. Armed and assault adjectives, if used as gunboats, and/or troop transports for frontal attacks.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Gig Economy

L. If armoured streamlined smallcraft is a requirement, but not necessarily firmpoints, twenty six tonnes.

M. Hull armour percentage is doubled, which may or may not be considered worth it.

N. As a ship's boat, the pinnace is a light boat, propelled by oars or sails, carried aboard merchant and war vessels in the Age of Sail to serve as a tender. The pinnace was usually rowed but could be rigged with a sail for use in favorable winds. A pinnace would ferry passengers and mail, communicate between vessels, scout to sound anchorages, convey water and provisions, or carry armed sailors for boarding expeditions.[1] The Spanish favored them as lightweight smuggling vessels while the Dutch used them as raiders. In modern parlance, "pinnace" has come to mean an auxiliary vessel that does not fit under the "launch" or "lifeboat" definitions.

O. Communications smallcraft between twenty six to thirty four tonnes.

P. If I had to speculate, it would supplant the ship's boat at thirty tonnes.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Gig Economy

Q. Thirty tonnes, since that does seem the capacity of a docking clamp/India.

R. And, you probably want some interoperability with your potential opponents, and commercial shipping.

S. You could do twenty six tonnes, since that would be below the thirty tonne threshold.

T. Though, I can't quite figure out how to leverage that twenty six over thirty tonnes.

U. And, you can stuff thirty tonnes into a thirty five tonne hole.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Gig Economy

V. Which leaves us with sub twenty six tonne smallcraft.

W. At three and four times percentaging hull armour, cementing that on seems somewhat wasteful.

X. Under what circumstances would the preference be for a sub thirty tonne smallcraft?

Y. Five tonnes certainly, since that's the smallest a spacecraft can be designed.

Z. And I can't think of anything that really can be leveraged between five and thirty tonnes.