Solomani Confederation (Military)

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

So, I considered what happens when a a bunch of CAVALRY Squadrons end up on the same planet; sire, the senior commander becomes Captain Major of battalion equivalents, Great Captain for brigade equivalents gets elected, while Captain General for anything divisional sized would be appointed.

You're going to need specialized and support units, that would have had to be dispatched or assigned from Regimental Command.

And then I thought, that's not how this force works.

You can't have a bunch of specialized units hanging around on the odd chance they might be needed, parsecs away, for a fairly quick reaction force; you could have them as a reserve, but that means reactivating them and give them enough time to reacquire the requisite skill set.

And each Squadron is supposed to be self sufficient, possibly have their own starship.

Since I like symmetry, maximum two hundred ninety nine troopers get sorted out into nominal thirty men troops, which should be three combat, three combat support, and three support, anything left over goes into the Squadron Headquarters Troop.

Support should be Maintenance, where you could draw the mechanics for the starship, Signals, sensor operators, and Logistics.

Combat Support would be Heavy Weapons, Gunnery, from where you can draw gunners for the starship, and Combat Engineers, tragically, not compatible with starship engineering.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


Every trooper is trained to fight and considered a potential frontline combatant; the seven non combat troops are considered replacement and reinforcement pools for the combat ones, if necessary.

In specialist troops, the CAVALRY Recruits and Volunteers are considered handlangers, which can be translated somewhat as unskilled labourers, under supervision of specialists; sort of an implication of the extension of their hands, like the guy handing you a screwdriver when you ask for it.

The skills that are harder to find are astrogation, piloting, and (starship) engineering. The Ship's Master would need to have extensive knowledge of all three, while you can get one or more pilots seconded from the Navy, who probably should know astrogation.

Engineering is pretty dependent on the actual size of the drives and power plants, and not something you'd want to rely on handlangers, with or without the supervision of actual engineers.

Recruits can quit at any time, without repercussions, except possibly at a second term, depending on the circumstances.

So can Volunteers, except during combat, where it would be considered a degree less severe than desertion in the face of the enemy.

Lancers can quit by formal application to a commissioned officer, in their chain of command.

Watch Masters on upwards are pretty much expected to adhere to the length of their contract, longer under unusual circumstances.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


1. If I understand Vehicle rules correctly, spacecraft turrets take up four spaces, and need a fusion reactor.

2. Each weapon system requires a minimum of one space, but usually times their tonnage by four to figure out the number of spaces they need.

3. Fixed mountings are considered default.

4. So, exactly, how much does a spacecraft laser or a missile launcher weigh?

6. Or even a sandcaster?

7. Would a barbette need twenty spaces? Plus spaces for each weapon system?

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


8. A large turret takes up four spaces, plus one per crewmember.

9. Optimization of shipping space means thirty tonne vehicles with one hundred twenty spaces, which would fit in with really heavy trucks, light tanks, armoured cars, and armoured personnel carriers.

A. Less so, vehicles that can be (re/dis)assembled, assuming that saves space.

B. Using spacecraft weapon systems in ground vehicle should simplify the required skill set a trooper would need, or at least, replace really heavy artillery systems.

C. (Heavy) support weapon systems, man portable, to bridge the gap.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


1. Every trooper has to buy a snub pistol, chambered for Confederation Standard Snub Ammunition, ten millimetres.

2. It's his personal property, and can take it with him when he leaves.

3. Minus ammunition.

4. The armoury carries spares, in case they need to be replaced during deployment, cost deducted from wages.

5. The Advanced Combat Rifle is the standard sidearm of the CAVALRY Corps.

6. I'm going to speculate each Squadron is supplied with five hundred rifles, issued to the troopers as required.

7. Presumably, you'll need rifle grenades.

8. Heavy, longer barrels for the rifle designated as squad support.

9. And the field knife as bayonette.

 

[Condottiere]

OFFICER’S REVOLVER, CONFEDERATION NAVY

I'm reminded of their existence, being basically an over decorated ornamental ceremonial sidearm.

I'd say one option being a handgun sized barrelled six chambered snub revolver, firing standard issued snub rounds, instead of what I assume are advanced projectile parabellums.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Order of Battle

1. Looking over some of the developments in the new High Guard half edition, it seems obvious that the Confederation Navy is likely to cap the size of their line of battle ships at a quarter megatonnes.

2. Outside of outweighing a standard Imperium battleship by twenty five percent, to compensate for that one technological level advantage, it does give the option for ramming speed to close in with a greater number of secondaries and tertiaries, especially since it doesn't matter if the tonnages involved are fifty of two hundred fifty kilotonnes, fire control for the primary spinal mount is equally effected.

3. There's very little point for the Confederation not to design their fast dreadnoughts of any technological level not at two hundred fifty kilotonnes.

3. That doesn't mean they couldn't figure out a way to keep down construction costs, for at least a substantial proportion of their battle line.

4. Next would be the Royal Navy interwar dilemma of squeezing out the maximum number of cruiser hulls from constrained budgets and limited tonnages.

5. I think the smart option would be having half the number of hundred kilotonne, grand cruisers, rather than double the number fifty kilotonne, armoured cruisers.

6. The next tier of hulls would be twenty five kilotonnes, which could be the basis for light cruisers.

7. Finally, two kilotonne hulls as the basis for intermediate combatants.

8. It doesn't mean that these are the final volumes, since podular construction can increase the available volume, just that these would be the basis for primary hulls.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Order of Battle

9. Mid range, the most important hull would be the twenty five kilotonner.

9. You have a third off crew, and it's structurally stronger.

A. If the podular option is invoked, you can off shore the fuel to the pods, and use the primary hull to host most of the engineering and the spinal mount.

B. At best, if the hull was twenty five and a half kilotonnes, you can stuff in a factor two technological level fourteen meson gun.

C. Factor three mass driver.

D. Factor four railguns or particle accelerators.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Order of Battle

E. Going by Elemental cruisers, four five thousand and one tonne pods would sort of put them in spitting distance of armoured and let's assume mediumish cruisers, without crossing the fifty kilotonne line.

F. If the pods primarily held fuel, that's about forty four percent, so you could target a jump four cruiser.

G. Six pods would give about fifty four percent of volume, and breaks the fifty kilotonne line.

H. Pods aren't renowned for quick installation, and unlikely to be easily dropped.

I. You could attach drop tanks to the pods, or the primary hull.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Order of Battle

J. Like the Elementals, the Confederation Navy could establish a family of cruiser sized utility vessels, built around a series of primary hulls.

K. The pods would be of a standardized size, identified as five thousand one tonnes.

L. The basic one would be an unarmoured degravitated shell, pockmarked with fifty one tonne turrets, with onboard bridge and power plant, and of course, fuel.

K. The smart thing to do would be to honeycomb the pod with separate fuel bunkers, so that poking in one hole wouldn't allow all the hydrogen to just escape.

L. One assumes that honeycombing would give the pods more structural stability than drop tanks.

M. One 3'150 and five 315 tonne jump drives should be enough for 47'175 tonne starwarship.

N. That's ninety engineers, reduced to sixty.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


1. My initial thought was it should be a two kilotonne upscaled Broadsword.

2. While two hundred ninety nine is the maximum establishment of a CAVALRY Squadron, you'll want some leeway for additional passengers, and redundancy.

3. A Stable has an autonomous capability for life support for twenty humans at ten tonnes.

4. Presumably, this means you don't have to add in a thousand starbux per person, per month, in addition to habitable accommodations.

5. If you cluster four stables two by two, you could centralize their respective waste collectors to simplify plumbing, while spreading out the air scrubbers.

6. That's about enough for eighty passengers.

7. Four stable clusters would be enough for three hundred twenty passengers.

8. That's a basic one hundred sixty tonnes of very basic accommodations.

9. This might be tolerable for one or two jumps, but not for what's possibly a year long deployment.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


A. Slightly less than one metre times three metres volume for a double decker foldable bed bunk.

B. You probably need some space for a self cleaning Japanese style toilet at one end.

C. With a tap and wash basin on top.

D. Though I'd add more refreshers with a shower in common areas.

E. Maybe a sauna and a swimming pool.

F. You could also have the crew on shifts, so the Stables would be less crowded.

G. I don't suggest hotbunking, because the limiting factor is life support, and there is no mechanism for doubling air scrubbers, without an additional Stables.

H. Officers can have their own cabins, but life support is still dependent on Stables air scrubbers.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


I. You need an armoury with one tonne for every twenty five crewmembers.

J. Or five marines.

K. CAVALRY troopers would be more heavily equipped than a spacecraft crew, but less so than what I imagine a technological level fifteen marine force would be.

L. So for a three hundred man unit, in theory twelve tonnes, but I suspect that for the Regular Army O it's probably one tonne per ten soldiers.

M. The CAVALRY is lighter than the Imperium Army, or the Confederation one, so I'll go for fifteen troopers per tonne.

N. So twenty tonne centralized armoury for the embarked CAVALRY Squadron.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


O. Training facilities require two tonnes per trainee, or masochist.

P. Should be sufficient for about a quarter of the Squadron, so one hundred sixty tonnes for eighty troopers.

Q. Six hours of physical activity per day should be enough.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


R. Common areas are about one tonne per standard stateroom.

S. Double occupancy would be one hundred sixty staterooms.

T. So, one hundred sixty tonnes assigned as common areas.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


Galley - preferable to television dinners.

Cafeteria - onboard Starbucks franchise.

Vending machines - clean underwear and socks.

Laundry

Pole - artistic expression.

Advanced Entertainment System - larger screen; small screen attached to each bunk, bench and couch.

Brewery or Distillery - illegal; see concealed compartment.

Gourmet Kitchen - Chipotle franchise.

Hot Tub - and/or sauna.

Swimming Pool - standard.

Wet Bar -illegal; see concealed compartment

Zero-G Room training facilities.

Showers, baths and thrones.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Troop Transporter

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


U. Ten percent losses tend to rather serious.

V. But this isn't a hospital ship, so a medical bay for thirty casualties seems about right, at forty tonnes.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Free Launch SubClass Cutters

Free Launch subclass
. cutter
. Freedom class
.. point to point short range communications courier
.. ship to ground connector
. Hull
.. titanium steel
.. non gravitated
.. streamlined
.. light
.. self-sealing
.. technological level nine
.. ninety nine tonnes standard
.. hull points
... thirty five (and a half)
... cost
.... 2'227'500 schmuckers
.. modular
... seventy tonnes
.... seventy and a halfish percent
... cost
.... 1'575'000 schmuckers
.. cost
... 3'802'500 schmuckers
.. armour
... none
. Bridge
.. cockpit
... dual
.... two and a half tonnes
.... 15'000 schmuckers
... astrogation workstation
.... one tonne
..... 5'000 schmuckers
.. three and a half tonnes
.. cost
... 20'000 schmuckers
.. Computer
... bandwidth
.... five
... cost
.... 30'000 schmuckers
.. Sensors
... basic
.... lidar
.... radar
.... dice modifier
..... minus four
..... cost
...... none
. Engineering
.. Jump drive
... factor one
... one Venture Plus module
.... technological level
..... nine
.... budget
..... increased size
.... ten tonnes
...overhead
.... budget
..... increased size
.... technological level
..... nine
.... tonnage
..... five tonnes
.... capacitors
..... none
.... cost
..... 3'375'000 schmuckers
... core
.... budget
..... increased size
.... technological level
..... nine
....tonnage
..... four and a half tonnes
.... capacitors
..... none
.... cost
..... 3'037'500 schmuckers
... capacitors
.... budget
..... increased size
.... technological level
..... nine
.... tonnage
..... half a tonne
.... capacity
..... twenty scotts
.... cost
..... 1'125'000 schmuckers
... cost
..... 7'537'500 schmuckers
.. Manoeuvre drive
... factor one
... one Striker module
.... technological level
..... nine
.... budget
..... increased size
.... thrust
..... one hndred tonnes
.... tonnage
..... one and a quarter tonnes
... cost
.... 1'125'000 schmuckers
.. Lifters
... factor one
... one Zeppelin module
.... technological level
..... nine
.... budget
..... increased size
.... orbital limitation
..... very advanced technology
...... fifty percent energy efficiency
.... lift
..... one hundred tonnes
.... tonnage
..... one and a quarter tonnes
... cost
.... 1'500'000 schmuckers
.. Power plant
... output
.... twenty four scotts
... three Tokimeki modules
.... early fusion
.... technological level eight
.... budget
..... increased size
.... tonnage
..... three tonnes
.... cost
..... 900'000 schmuckers
.. Solar panelling
... technological level
.... nine
... budget
.... increased size
... tonnage
.... half a tonne
... output
.... power plant
..... rated thirty seven and a half scotts
.... power plantless
..... virtual forty scotts
...... one hundred and thirty three tonnes
... cost
.... 30'000 schmuckers
.. Batteries
... technology level
.... ten
... tonnage
.... one tonne
... capacity
.... forty scotts
... cost
.... 100'000 schmuckers
.. Bunkerage
... power plant hydrogen tank
.... one tonne
... fuel scoops
.... streamlined hull
... fuel processor
.... one tonne
.... cost
..... 50'000 schmuckers
.. tonnage
... nineteen tonnes
. Armaments
.. hardpoints
... none
.. firmpoints
... one
.. Turret
... single
.... technological level
..... seven
.... cost
..... 200'000 schmuckers
... pop up
.... technological level
..... ten
.... tonnage
..... plus [one tonne]
.... cost
..... 1'000'000 schmuckers
... tonnage
.... one tonne
... mounts
.... sandcaster
..... technological level
...... nine
..... reloads
...... presumably five canisters on the rack, plus wharever you can stuff into the two empty mounts in the turret
... cost
.... 1'200'000 schmuckers
. Aerospacecraft
.. facilities
... docking clamps
.... two type bs
.... type b
..... attached craft tonnage
...... 35 tonnes and less
..... tonnage
...... 1.17 tonnes
..... cost
...... 1'170'000 schmuckers
.... tonnage
..... 2.34 tonnes
.... cost
..... 2'340'000 schmuckers
. Crew facilities
.. staterooms
... none
.. low berths
... none
.. common areas
... none
.. brig
... oneish/halfish
.... pull down slabs
..... three
.... fresher
..... one
..... curtained
.... life support
..... capacity
...... three/six humans
..... costs
...... 500 schmuckers per month
.... tonnage
..... two tonnes
.... cost 125'000 schmuckers
.. airlocks
... one
... tonnage
.... not applicable
... cost
.... none
.. cargo hatch
... none
.. ship's locker
... one
... tonnage
.... not applicable
... cost
.... none
. Cargo
... 0.16 tonnes
. Crew
.. Captain
... pilot
... astrogator
... engineer
... administrator
... steward
... medic
... gunner
. Software
.. Manoeuvre
... cost
.... none
.. Library
... cost
.... none
.. Jump control
... one
... cost
.... 100'000 schmuckers
. Operations
.. endurance
... 93 days 8 hours
.. energy budget
... basic systems
.... preferred
..... twentyish scotts
.... minimum
..... tennish scotts
... sensors
.... none
... manoeuvre drive
.... tennish scotts
... lifters
.... tennish scotts
... jump drive
.... one parsec
..... ten scotts
... armaments
.... one scotts

This probably needs an update.

 

[Condottiere]

The question up in the air right now, is what are the standard hull sizes and configuration for the Confederation Navy.

Dual cockpits had been canonized to be able to control upto two kilotonnes, but the new High Guard:

Instead of a bridge, ships of 50 tons or less may install a cockpit. This is a self-contained, sealed area that contains a single seat and all controls necessary for the operation of the ship. Cockpits are typically entered via an external hatch or canopy; therefore, ships using them do not automatically include an airlock.

Instead of a bridge, ships of 50 tons or less may install a cockpit. This is a self-contained, sealed area that contains a single seat and all controls necessary for the operation of the ship. Cockpits are typically entered via an external hatch or canopy.

Which was basically copy pasted from the previous one.

Since we've pushed the frontiers of science into nanotechnology, the smallest standard hull size would be as close as possible to five tonnes, followed by fifteen and thirty five tonnes for likely light and medium fighters.

I've never figured out why docking clamps went from one to thirty tonnes, which sort of follows Tee Five, to one to ten, and then back to one to thirty, so I felt quite comfortable staying within the one to thirty ratio for half a tone variant capped at fifteen tonnes, and one and a quarter variant capped at thirty seven and a half tonnes.

Of course, one to a hundred, and fifty to infinity, is hard to rationalize, but since it suits my agenda, I decided just to play along.

One reason to favour cockpits is that semimegastarbux cost per hundred tonnes that any default bridge costs.

So if you can't install any cockpit on any hull larger than fifty tonnes, fifty one to ninety nine tonnes seems easily skipped, since since for a heavy fighter hundred to a hundred ninety nine just incurs one extra penalty during dogfights, assuming you get that close with beyond visual range weapon systems.

The largest viable tonnage is forty nine tonnes for smallcraft, in the view of the Confederation Navy, with a cockpit.

And then you skip to one hundred ninety nine, possibly one hundred seventy tonnes (still calculating whether you get more benefit from that additional twenty nine tonnes) as opposed to fourteen and a half percent hangar space saving. One hundred ninety nine more closely aligned to using the same hull for small starwarships, and a seven tonne docking clamp variant for two hundred and ten tonnes.

One hundred ninety nine to two kilotonnes may be too much of a leap, but there are ways around that. Still, two kilotonnes represents that border between smallship to whatever you define as a large ship universe; also game mechanic reasons.

Going by Deepnight, the Terrans feel pretty comfortable and confident in that hull size, otherwise they wouldn't be using it for deep space exploration.

Next jump is to maybe five kilotonnes et un, where you can add in a command bridge attachment, and other stuff.

These are hull sizes, not necessarily ship sizes.

Next up twenty five kilotonnes, and hundred kilotonnes, for game mechanics.

Militarily, a Confederation Navy starwarship would never tip the scales over a quarter of a million tonnes, due to spinal mount fire control reasons, though if they do have them, any starwarship over fifty kilotonnes has very little incentive to close in.

 

[Condottiere]

One hopes that Capital Turrets are still canon.

Small ones need a minimum five kilotonne hull, medium ones ten kilotonnes, and large ones twenty kilotonnes.

These things would be ferocious at close quarter fighting, and more accurate at a distance.