Solomani Confederation (Military)

[Condottiere]

I still think that having invented meson gun (spinal mounts), the Confederation Navy would be very gung ho in implanting anywhere they could, depending on budge and availability.

The new rules about fire control at close range does give me pause as to the cheap alternative, where budget and/or availability weren't there.

Railguns have medium range, and in theory, could have been used at distant range to do some planetary bombardment, but it seems this has now been ruled out. If you don't count the ammunition, it would have been the cheapest option.

The mass driver couldn't hit the side of a barn, and apparently, only upto short range, which increases inaccuracy, I imagine this would be mounted in a purpose built bombardment vessel.

Which leaves us with the particle accelerator, whose primary advantage is being able to take potshots at very long range.

 

[Condottiere]

Mass driver spinal mount ammunition costs a semimegastarbux, and weighs in at fifty tonnes.

Railgun option is one fifth of a megastarbux, and twenty tonnes.

It would look like solid metal slugs costs ten thousand starbux per tonne.

Mass driver bay variants seem to follow this pricing scheme.

Railgun bay weapon systems, however, appear to have a fifty percent premium.

So, maybe the railgun spinal mount actually costs three hundred kilostarbux.

For railgun turrets, costs seem to be five kilostarbux per tonne.

Might be cheaper and more effective just to have a spinal mass driver make a planetary pass. And during battle, take out major combatants incapable of manoeuvre.

 

[Condottiere]

I would have thought you could use railgun turrets and barbettes as point defence, but I don't think I've seen it mentioned as an option.

With capital turrets, missiles and railgun turrets, you could replicate a battlestar, which I suspect that the Indomitable class aviation cruiser was supposed to be.

In theory, you could attach flight pods to any hull, though you'd have to find a rationale why they would need to be retractable.

The jump bubble aspect removes the need to stay within it, considering the probably diameter.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


I think I've gotten it now:

Recruits can resign at any time; depending on circumstances of that resignation, they may be refused reenlistment.

Volunteers can resign at any time, except during a combat situation.

Lancers can resign at any time in the presence of a commissioned officer in their chain of command.

Watchmasters are usually ambitious junior Navy or Marine junior non commissioned officers, or contracted CAVALRY junior warrant officers, that can resign at the end of their current deployment or tour.

Scoutmasters or the equivalent paygrade C4, are usually contracted CAVALRY warrant officers that are expected to stay for the length of their contract, though unusual circumstances may allow them to resign before the end of their term.

Paygrade C5 are expected to fulfill their contract, as they are the bedrock of the CAVALRY.
Corps.

Cornets are usually seconded junior Navy or Marine commissioned officers, with an occasional Ascended Master; they may resign their (CAVALRY) commission at any time, though only in the presence of a more senior CAVALRY, Marine or Navy commissioned officer. Occasionally, Solomani Security, if they refuse to carry out a lawful order, for any reason.

Captains tend to be more seasoned veteran officers, and could resign under the same circumstances as Cornets; though most are more likely to subvert any orders that they disagree with.

Colonel is more of a political appointment, is term limited, and rarely find themselves in a situation that they feel calls for their resignation, as part of their duties is to ensure the continuity of their CAVALRY regiment.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Long Range Yeomanry: Organization

Omnis pugnat, quis renuntiare potest.


Conscription is probably more of an issue with Home Guard and planetary defence forces, as the Confederation is more than likely to find qualified volunteers for their military and paramilitary arms, even in the midst of an intergalactic war.

CAVALRY units are uneasy in having conscript units assigned to serve under their command, since they don't really want someone with them who doesn't want to be there, in the sense they don't want to enforce discipline on troops who want to leave.

With mercenaries, it's more that they were well paid to do a job, and they are expected to fulfill the terms of their contract.

Penal is the worst of all outcomes, since the troops have little choice, and they are unlikely to be paid. Solomani Security tend to command and administer these formations.

While the Navy and the CAVALRY do have a tradition of the Verlorene Haufen, these were one shot operations made up of volunteers, possibly sentenced individuals, who would be well compensated, though the form of compensation would vary.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Missile Doctrine

While at the moment I can't recall where it's located, the Confederation Navy was supposed to be missile heavy, and nuclear triggy.

Gettin' Triggy wit It.

I disagreed with that then, and current events pretty much indicate that at some point, you run out of missiles.

However, the Confederation Navy appears to have the largest options for missiles and torpedoes, though I'd like to get the Darrian revolver launcher and maybe whatever missile distribution system the Swordies have.

It seems to have been qualified since as fusion or missile heavy.

In either case, space combat would be optimized to be short, sharp encounters.

Assuming the missiles are using reactionary rockets, to obtain thrust factor fifteen they would need a motor of at least technological level eleven, which makes performance of Decoy, Long Range, and Fragmentation, somewhat questionable.

Likewise Multi Warhead, Nuclear, Shockwave and Standard, since reactionary rockets factor ten is technological level ten.

Ortillery seems short a technological level at factor six.

Conceivably, they could be using prototypes, or early variants thereof.

Similar issues with torpedoes, though Ortillery seems correct at technological level eight for thrust factor six.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Missile Doctrine

Considering the costs of interstellar shipping, and do as much HARM as possible, principally using Advanced Missiles, mating a technological level fourteen warhead with a technological level eleven factor fifteen rocket motor.

I wonder if the reason the Bombardment Missiles are unable to accurately hit a moving target is due to their low acceleration (factor six), or their lousy sensors.

You could deliver separate warheads and rocket motors to the starwarships, where armoury specialists mate them to the range or acceleration desired, like artillery.

You could have a range of rocket motors from three (technological level seven), six (technological level eight), nine (technological level nine), twelve (technological level ten), fifteen (technological level eleven), or inbetween.

Or, actually use manoeuvre drives, which turns them into cruise missiles.

 

[Condottiere]

I think that any spacecraft drive (maybe not factor zero), automatically, though probably minus whatever the local gravity factor is, goes hypersonic.

Short range is twelve hundred fifty klix, so if you're travelling at three gees constant, it should take you within the six minute window to reach the target.

Would that be considered immediate? If so, you send bombers to just within short range, and drop acceleration factor three (modified) bombardment missiles.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Battleships

I thought I'd revisit the order of battle in light of the new High Guard.

I don't think much has changed, in fact may have ironically reemphasized, or you might say validated, the choice of a quarter megatonne hull of the Prometheus class, by the authors of Fighting Ships of the Solomani.

I was pushing towards 314'500 tonnes based on nine technological level fourteen jump drive modules, though developments on aiming deficits of spinal mounts, with one segment being under quarter of a megatonne, and the apparently the fact that the Confederation Navy is mainstreaming technological level fifteen starwarships.

At a minimum, they'd be busy building new fast dreadnoughts at technological level fifteen, and upgrading as fast as possible those of technological level fourteen, which probably are, or variants of, the Prometheus class.

It's probably the Excelsior of the Confederation Navy.

You build capital ships before a conflict, and I suspect that repeating that design was probably the easiest post bellum, assuming any survived the War of Imperium Aggression.

I see one case of a cheaper, fastish, dreadnought, using podular/modular construction, their version of whatever a Plankwell was supposed to be.

I don't see them bothering with two hundred kilotonnes, since each line of battle unit would have to be better than their default Imperium counterpart, and being a quarter more larger probably provide that margin.

The Lo part of the mix.

It's likely that their primary weapon system is the largest meson gun they can mass produce, and they'll stick to that.

I also think that in order to take advantage of the difference between three hundred ten and two hundred fifty kilotonnes, if probably acting as a carrier for externally mounted spacecraft, bringing along their own escorts, something that Imperial Star Destroyers were missing.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Battlecruisers

There are two cases for battlecruisers, one for peacetime, and one for wartime.

Historically, battlecruisers are more expensive than battleships, with arms treaty limitations and the event of the fast battleship, speed was near enough so that they could be discarded in favour of using available resources to bolster the line of battle.

The Confederation Navy would have been keenly aware of their own Terran naval history, which is why they discarded the concept the moment they had achieved technological level fourteen, and started manufacturing fast dreadnoughts.

Battlecruisers mount weaponry that can overpower a
cruiser and seriously threaten a capital ship but are
lightly protected. Most battlecruisers serve in a strike
or rapid-reaction role and designed to be capable of
chasing down raiders or conducting an effective raiding
voyage without an escort.

And yet here we are.

In theory, you cut expenses by placing the line of battle ships in ordinary during peacetime, but:

1. Maintenance rules favour keeping as many starwarships in service as long as possible

2. And going by current events, the line of battleships are used simultaneously as training ships, to create as large as possible a pool of well trained reserve sailors

3. The Confederation Navy is likely in a constant state of readiness, to counter Aslan volkerwanderung, and liberate the Occupied Territories, when the opportunity strikes

You can probably carve out a niche for the battlecruiser, if it's a larger Azhanti, fast enough to catch up to commerce raiders, and powerful enough to destroy them, sacrificing armour for an extra twelve and a half percent jump fuel and engineering.

Drawing from the description, I don't think it would be a Splendid Cat, nor a Kongo, but closer to the original Fisher dreadnought armoured cruiser.

It also means that the Confederation Navy stops manufacturing cruisers of between fifty to a hundred kilotonnes, because you're not going to need both.

Cruiser killers only need to mission kill their prey to be effective, and could getaway with a calibre just below what's considered capital, but above by what were then treaty limitations, basically super cruisers to take over the niche occupied previously by battle cruisers.

I rather doubt that the Confederation Navy bothered to retain either the Zeus or Victory classes, assuming any example survived.

It's likely Confederation battlecruisers of technological level fourteen, or fifteen, would be between one hundred fifty to two hundred kilotonnes, with a strategic range of five parsecs, acceleration factor seven, so that they can dictate the range. Primary armament would be as large as possible spinal mount that can fit the leftover volume.

During peacetime, likely used as presence and rapid response units; during wartime, maybe reconnaissance in force, certainly tracking down commerce raiding, and maybe in the early phase, conducting commerce raiding and strategic strikes on their own.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Heavyish Cruisers

Generally speaking, cruisers tend to be general purpose, and we're told that most are of the fleet type.

Here we get to a fork.

The Confederation Navy has specialized cruisers, but use them as general purpose, basically patrolling and presence, and when they're not doing that, they tag along a Fleet Squadron.

Two specialized types are mentioned, bombardment and high jump raiders. If you have battlecruisers, you shouldn't need the second type, if you're ambushing the enemy's more isolated naval forces, or, you don't need battlecruisers.

One type not mentioned are infiltration cruisers.

Here's where you can get a divergence, as the Confederation Navy creates an illusion that there are less (heavyish) cruisers commissioned, and, for the benefit of Imperium Naval Intelligence, are pretending there are more, whereas in fact, there are more, just that they've all slipped into Imperium space.

Making a cruiser stealthy and disappear is probably easier than trying that with a battleship; you could do it with smaller starwarships, but considering their principal missions is to surprise and take out Imperium orbital defences and major Imperium naval combatants, they need at a minimum a spinal mount.

You could have a common platform, and use pods to change their capabilities.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Lightish Cruisers

So the difference between lightish and heavyish is whether a starwarship has a spinal mount or not.

I'm not sure the Solomani themselves could define the category, with descriptives of escort, patrol and cheap; I think it was heavy torpedo armament that made me think the Nihon Kaigun was a major influence.

The Lego family of cruisers may be the solution to both categories of cruisers, lightish and heavyish.

Being modularishly podular, you have a primary hull, where the same configured pods are attached to as secondary hulls, with some or more internally modular, where upto seventy five percent of qualified internals can exchangeable.

The primary hull would have to be standard configuration, if only to avoid the extremes of tonnage and price adjustment, for, among other things, hull armour. Spherical used to be cheaper, and I think that's the end of close structured battlewagons.

Heavyish cruisers would have a spinal mount running along the attachment frame, whereas the lightish cruisers won't.

The primary hull is likely either ten or twenty five kilotonnes, while the pods would be two, five, or ten kilotonnes, depending on final calculations of optimization of volume, depending on crewing, structural integrity, or targetting.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Torpedo Grapple, Firmpoint

This device takes up a single firmpoint and carries two torpedoes on a non-reloadable mount. Both can be launched together or a single weapon can be delivered. The grapple itself does not affect streamlining but a ship with torpedoes in place can only be considered at best partially streamlined. Any kind of torpedo can be carried on a grapple. A firmpoint grapple costs MCr0.1 and does not need to be replaced after use but cannot be reloaded in flight. Torpedoes must be purchased at standard prices – Cr150000 per standard torpedo and more for specialist types.


This is a fascinating option, assuming it's still street legal.

I would add the volume of the two torpedoes to the calculation of potential acceleration, since they are external; if it was internal, there would be a possibility of reloading.

In theory, you could exchange one or both torpedoes with a gun pod: accuracy and range would probably needed to be downscaled, in line with smallcraft rules.

Or rocket or missile pods, I would guess three standard sized missiles.

It gets around the three firmpoint requirement for torpedo batbettes, difference being besides internal volume, is it's a one shot.

Ultralite torpedo bomber becomes an option, though I suspect you may need more meat on those bones to have an effective spacecraft, instead of just a delivery drone.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Barges ...

... are equivalent in size to a battle monitor but fulfil other roles. Most are supply and logistics vessels but troopships are not uncommon. Carried to a trouble spot by a tender, a troop barge can remain on-station to provide support and act as a mobile headquarters.


Now, it's not that I hadn't thought of barges, many moons ago, but to take advantage of space station design rules of Mongoose First, which had a watered down bridge, and could have a factor one manoeuvre drive.

What was unclear was whether you could control a jump drive from the bridge.

Of course, there were the Forty Kay battle barges.

What seems to be developing here is that the Confederation may be moving to a Heighliner interstellar transportation network, which would allow them to more closely control communications, soft and hard, replacing the Express Boat network.

It could be that Confederation Army divisions, personnel and equipment, are carried onboard barges, rather than assault carriers, or bombardment vessels, or any of the more specialized vessels that the Confederation Navy doesn't need to hive a jump capability.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Light Carriers ...

... are typically oriented towards patrol operations and often have only jump-2 capability. Light carriers are intended to cover a wide range of roles and may be encountered as the flagship of a task force dealing with a localised incident or on a roving patrol. They are also sometimes included in the escort force for a major troop movement or logistics effort. Higher-jump carriers are sometimes repurposed for exploration work.


Rear area security.

I don't recall where system control ships were mentioned, but this seems the obvious candidate. Sub category with a higher jump performance are used for what?

I'm guessing that it would be the flagship of an expeditionary force, that wouldn't require a battlecruiser; accompanying a Fleet Squadron might seem obvious, to provide a fighter screen, but it's likely that would be the first thing shot up.

Maybe an ad hoc task force composed mostly of cruiser sized starwarships.

I'm not sure if this was written before or after Deepnight, but yes, a starwarship with large hangars/tanks/cargo capacity would be ideal for exploration.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Corvettes ...

... are warships of under 1,000 tons displacement. They are used for local patrol, security and escort work for the most part, although some Home Forces operate strike corvettes that can inflict significant damage on a larger warship – but only at great risk.


I think there are two aspects, the bridge size would be twenty tonnes, so the hull would be upto one kilotonne, rather than below it.

The other one would be the hull configuration and armour, since it's likely to be relatively fragile, indicated by the word risk, but likely streamlined. For the strike role, you're probably looking at missile and/or torpedo batteries.

I don't think spherical is likely, since there's little armour, standard or close structure if you're really economizing.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Frigates ...

... are inexpensive multirole vessels optimised for long patrols. They are the backbone of patrol forces and are effective in the correct role. However, frigates are often co-opted as escorts for fleet assets and routinely under-perform when expected to fill in for a destroyer.


Upto two kilotonne hull needs a forty tonne bridge, and over that it's the sixty tonner, which is good until you hit a hundred kilotonnes.

Considering that you pay per multiples of hundred tonne hull, cost isn't an issue, though you still see the remnants of the two percent bridge requirement from Classic.

Frigates seem to be inberween a corvette and a destroyer, and I would guess the most numerous of the small combatants in the Confederation Navy.

I'm going to assume most are two kilotonnes, and probably wipe the floor with Imperium escort destroyers and corvettes.

Traditionally, destroyers are assumed to be three kilotonnes plus, so if the frigates are screening fleet units, and happen upon an enemy destroyer flotilla, they'll probably lose.

I think the operative word is inexpensive, and they're probably meant to be general purpose.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Destroyers ...

... are typically a little smaller than their fleet equivalents and more lightly armed. They are fleet rather than patrol craft but often used for internal security patrols. Escort destroyer flotillas are assigned to all capital ship formations and also protect logistics ships.


These guys are redundant; at best, they are obsolescent corvettes, frigates or destroyers, given some refurbishment.

You have actual destroyers accompany capital ships, frigates to make up the numbers.

The fleet train escorts are probably a mixture of corvettes and frigates, with destroyers acting as command ships.

You can already tier it one kilotonne corvettes, two kilotonne frigates, and three kilotonne destroyers, so there really isn't any space for them, and their described roles can be easily carried out by the above.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Fleet Carriers ...

... are designed to provide fighter cover for planetary combat forces or to protect capital ships from small craft threats. They are fleet assets but sometimes encountered on security duty – a fleet carrier can swamp a star system with sensor platforms and armed craft. Carriers serve a wider role in the Confederation than the Imperium, acting as platforms for the deployment of marines and routinely carrying disaster-relief equipment.


So, what are fleet carriers now, and how big are they?

I'm pretty sure no one has any idea what the current fleet/fighter carrier looks like, whereas you could bet that whatever the Confederation Navy has for fast dreadnoughts, they probably resemble star destroyers.

Current fleet carriers are supposed to have two to four hundred fighters, and might be one per eighteen fast dreadnoughts.

I'm inclined to think you're looking at super carriers, considering how many roles you want to stuff in them, especially if the ratio remains at one to eighteen.

I don't know where the doctrine of two, maybe three parsec range originated from, but it would be basically condemning the Confederation Navy to relying on the interstellar equivalent of slow railroads, and that's not how you fight a modern war, as current events demonstrate.

Because of no strategic depth, the Confederation Navy Fleet Squadrons have to have the capability of, at a minimum, matching their Imperium counterparts in strategic deployment, rather than relying on interior lines, which if you consider that huge hole through the middle of the Solomani Sphere, the Imperium enjoys, not the Confederation.

Fleet carriers are likely to be three hundred kilotonne plus, considering what they are supposed to do, and are unlikely to need to engage at close range with their spinal mount.

It's implied that the carrier also has a large number of assault shuttles, and likely logistical support smallcraft, for any large scale Marine operation, and likely one or more battalions onboard, possibly with heavy equipment for a full brigade, that is currently distributed amongst it's accompanying dreadnoughts.

The Midway class was two hundred kilotonnes, six hundred troops, and had fifteen hundred thirty tonne fighters, with a range three parsecs.

I'd go for a three hundred kilotonne super carrier with a thousand thirty five tonne medium fighters, miscellaneous smallcraft and drones, two battalions of Marines, with a range of four parsecs.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Fleet Destroyers ...

... are general-purpose combatants with a balanced armament. They are capable of escorting heavy warships but are a little wasted in this role. A fleet destroyer is a significant combat asset in its own right and in a flotilla can threaten much larger warships.


Sloan class fleet escorts were always a classification I didn't quite feel comfortable with, since I didn't connect any historical warship type with it.

Destroyer leaders are a historical type, and destroyer tonnage could easily range between three to six kilotonnes. Once you pass the five kilotonne mark, you can add a command module to the bridge, and that qualifies the starwarship as at least able to command a flotilla of small combatants.

Which eliminates one role for light cruisers.

In fact, there's very little point to the light cruiser, since without a spinal mount it won't be able to engage successfully with another default light cruiser, and at some point, you run out of missiles, or torpedoes, which are meant to overwhelm, and/or surprise an opponent.

Theoretically, you could term anything a light cruiser, but it would tend to raise expectations of it's capabilities.

I think the close escort rule is five percent of tonnage, so for the more effective use of destroyers, it would be about one or two destroyers per hundred kilotonne of hull to be defended. Redundancy would mean that you might have a couple of spares, which could replace one of their flotilla mates if damaged, or be on detached duty.