Solomani Confederation (Military)

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

1. Loophole would be operating temporary landing facilities.

2. These would be landing fields and strips, possibly set up by the Confederation Civil Construction Corps.

3. Not that a lot of spacecraft actually need these, beyond a way to refuel, and field repairs.

4. I'm wondering how buoyant spacecraft are?

5. Since they could build any sized sea vessel, some can be specialized as spacecraft tenders.

6. Find a nice sheltered cove, a gravity based drive can allow a spacecraft to settle into the calm water.

7. Water is pretty temporary.

8. Hovercraft are amphibious.

9. Though rather loud.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

A. Light vehicles, especially wheeled, are a cheap and easy way for short range transportation.

B. Add a trailer, and you can shift around considerable cargo.

C. In theory, should be within the capability of the local industrial base.

D. I don't think tracked vehicles bring much to the table.

E. Even self propelled artillery is moving to tyres.

F. Though, heavy wheeled vehicles remain the prerogative of the Army.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

G. Left the loophole for light vehicles in general, because of robots and drones.

H. The Army designs, builds, and operates, gravitationally motored robots and drones.

I. If necessary, the Navy will buy them off the Army.

J. Member planet militaries are somewhat free to set their on policies on procurement.

K. With the exception biological warfare, and meson technology.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

L. Biologically based weapon systems would be outlawed, but research would be allowed under the strict supervision of Security.

M. Nanobots would be monitored by Security.

N. Radiation effect weapon systems would require licensing, once off their place of manufacture.

O. Chemical weapon systems require licensing, once off their place of manufacture.

P. Meson weapon systems can only be manufactured by Navy affiliated factories, and monitored by Security.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

Q. I was looking at railgun and mass driver spinal mounts.

R. The Navy doesn't need them, since they could do a flyby with a meson gun for planetary bombardment.

S. The Army needs mass drivers, to soften up targets prior to a planetary assault.

T. Since weapon systems based on these technologies are very involved with dirtside combat, give the Army control over researching, designing, building, and operating them.

U. The Navy gets particle accelerator, and of course, meson, weapon systems.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

V. Can't figure out what to do with tachyons, so we'll ignore them.

W. Everyone uses lasers, so, no monopoly.

X. Everyone uses missiles, which includes torpedoes, so, no monopoly

Y. In theory, (sand)casters are mass drivers.

Z. It will be categorized as general use.

 

[Sigtrygg]

V. they don't exist in charted space, but since this is you mash up you can include them
W. even the death star lasers?
X. what about robot brain controlled fighters designed to ram
Y. or gauss shotguns firing confetti
Z. it certainly could be

 

[Condottiere]

I was looking at those at the same time.

Technically, weapon of really massive destruction, so we can shove them off to Security.

At best, prototype, which multiplies construction cost by six, not counting research and development.

 

[Condottiere]

Robots and drones, everyone uses.

Hard limit is five tonnes minimum is defined as a spacecraft.

If it's smaller and spatially self motivated, it technically becomes a spacecraft.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

1. Everyone uses fusion, so no monopoly.

2. But, radioactive, so license if away from ace of manufacture.

3. Successor to plasma, which is less damaging, but has no radioactivity.

4. Therefore, no license required, and presumably, rather popular, for both health and safety, and no (overt) Security supervision.

5. Doctrine for the Confederation Navy includes hit and run.

6. So plasma pulse cannons fits in neatly with this, though it it were adopted by anyone else, who knows?

7. Since it's an adaptation from plasma technology, gets categorized there.

8. And, being consistent, with no radiation, no license required

9. So legally, in (outer) spacecraft, the Solomani Confederation tolerates plasma space based weapon systems.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

A. Repulsors tend to be used mostly defensively.

B. Except the few times that you want to grab something.

C. So, general use, and no license.

D. Ion weapon systems might not be weapons of mass destruction, but could cause substantial collateral damage.

E. General use, but requires license if away from place of manufacture.

F. Probably needs a local license at the place of manufacture.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

G. This division came about when I started considering how romantic it would be to chuck (pre)melon balls at the enemy.

H. And cheaper.

I. Then I came to the realization, it's not.

J. You also have to get a lot closer, than you'd be comfortable with with hit and run.

K. Since for naval warfare it's rather niche use, hand it off to the Army.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

L. Spacecraft hulls are built around engineering and weapon systems.

M. The other way around is going to be rather expensive, comparatively.

N. The Army tells the Navy what they've got, something in the spinal mount or bay size, and the Navy arrange to build a monitor around it.

O. I came across a criticism that Great War monitors were a waste of resources.

P. And it might be possible, that just converting them to railway guns would have been an easier, faster, and cheaper, solution.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

Q. Mass drivers have a default range of short.

R. I tend to think that's more about hitting a somewhat unpredictable moving target at minus twelve.

S. If the target is static, in relation to an orbit or planetary surface, range should follow Newton's First Law.

T. This would be the part where that ortillery specialist earns his pay.

U. Taking into account wind speed and direction, plus humidity.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

V. A mass driver bay specifically intended for precise attacks against targets close to population centres or supporting ground forces.

W. Still suffers from minus eight when shooting at a moving target.

X. Short range being twelve and a half hundred klix.

Y. Kinda suicidal for orbital bombardment, with a still active planetary defence.

Z. However, with a ballistic trajectory, well within reach for a theatre range artillery bombardment.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

1. The largest mass driver is a hundred kilotonnes, available at technological level ten, and costs thirty gigastarbux.

2. Needs five kilopower points to propel a fifty tonne melon, costing half a megastarbux, each.

3. Piercing fifteen armour factors, and delivering eighty kilodice of damage.

4. Being optimized for orbital bombardment, with a penalty of minus twelve when trying to hit moving targets at short range.

5. The Confederation Army gets interested in these siege guns at technological level thirteen.

6. Not much point in dispersing resources trying to build multiple models, to optimize for each scenario.

7. Which drops maximum size to eighty kilotonnes, and ups cost to thirty nine gigastarbux.

8. Equivalent meson gun would be sixty seven and a half kilotonnes, and costs twenty two gigastarbux.

9. Ten kilopower points, delivering sixty kilodice of damage.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

A. Even the Navy has limitations.

B. Primarily, that they weren't prepared to deal with spinal mounts larger than fifty kilotonnes, for the current, and next two technological levels.

C. That caps the volume of the Army's mass driver to factor/twelve, at forty eight kilotonnes.

D. Twenty three and two fifths gigastarbux gets you forty eight kilodice of damage, from three kilopower points.

E. Same sized and costed fifty tonne melon.

F. For some kind of inside Navy joke, mass driver spinal mounts are referred to as melon guns.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

G. The number of melon guns is relatively limited, usually one per quadrant.

H. Since most member planets usually don't allow their disagreements with the Confederation to reach the point, so that an Army expeditionary force is deployed to their system.

I. Quite a number are kept in strategic reserve, for the upcoming confrontation with the Sylean Empire.

J. Each melon gun has it's own callsign.

K. Usually Teutonic sounding, like Karl, or Gustav.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

L. At the other end of the range, you have a fifty tonne, budgetted, small bay, for orbital bombardment.

M. Mini melon mortar.

N. The melon does the same amount of damage as an orbital strike ortillery torpedo, but is six times larger, though costs sixteen and two thirds less.

O. Being energy inefficient, requires nineteen and a half power points, at thirty megastarbux.

P. Generally used more to harass the enemy populace, since accuracy would be a tad off after leaving the short range band.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Roles, Functions and Assets

Q. The mini melon mortar is rather popular with the Confederation Army artillery branch.

R. At technological level eight, it was rather easy to maintain, and somewhat idiot proof.

S. Installed on a melon sled, it was used to shoot and scoot, after emptying it's six melon ball magazine.

T. With a nominal range of twelve and a half hundred klix, on a ballistic trajectory over the horizon, it should double.

U. Crew would be a driver, gunner, commander, and a bunch of loaders.