Solomani Confederation (Military)

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Tonnage: five thousand tonnes

Jump drive: two hundred fifty five tonnes, factor two, ten thousand parsec tonnes

Jump fuel: one thousand tonnes

Manoeuvre drive: one hundred fifty tonnes, factor three, one thousand five hundred power points

Power plant: standard fusion, two hundred tonnes, three thousand power points

Armament: fifty triple turrets, beam lasers, fifty tonnes, six hundred fifty power points

Bridge: sixty tonnes

seventeen hundred fifteen/thirty two hundred eighty five

divided by thirty five divided by one hundred ten percent is eighty five

ten for launch tube, ten for recovery, forty aerospace group

twenty five spare

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Tonnage: five thousand tonnes

Jump drive: two technological level fourteen modules, factor two, one hundred five tonnes each, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 5'714.2857 parsec tonnes each

Jump fuel: one thousand tonnes

Manoeuvre drive: one technological level thirteen module, factor three, one hundred five tonnes, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 15'000 thrust tonnes

Power plant: two technological level fourteen modules, standard fusion, one hundred five tonnes each, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 1'968.75 power points each

basic one thousand, manoeuvre fifteen hundred, jump one thousand, armament six hundred fifty,
thirty one hundred fifty

engineering five hundred twenty five tonnes

Armament: fifty triple turrets, beam lasers, fifty tonnes, six hundred fifty power points

Bridge: sixty tonnes


Primary hull: thousand tonnes, engineering, bridge, power plant fuel, ten turrets

Pods:
thousand tonnes each, ten turrets, ten tonne small bridge
fuel
launch facilities and hangar
cargo
troops

sixteen hundred thirty five/thirty three hundred sixty five

aerospace group composition
fighters: two aerospacecraft is a division, three divisions is a flight, three flights plus command flight and reserve aerospacecraft is a squadron, three squadrons is a wing
bombers: three aerospacecraft is a cell, three cells is a squadron, three squadrons is a wing
escort carrier composite group: squadron fighter, bomber squadron, reconnaissance, utility, transport

option: merchant aerospace carrier

option: troop transporter

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Tonnage: five thousand tonnes

Jump drive: two technological level fourteen modules, factor two, one hundred five tonnes each, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 5'714.2857 parsec tonnes each

Jump fuel: one thousand tonnes

Manoeuvre drive: one technological level thirteen module, factor three, one hundred five tonnes, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 15'000 thrust tonnes

Power plant: two technological level fourteen modules, standard fusion, one hundred five tonnes each, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 1'968.75 power points each

basic one thousand, manoeuvre fifteen hundred, jump one thousand, armament six hundred fifty,
thirty one hundred fifty

engineering five hundred twenty five tonnes

Armament: fifty triple turrets, beam lasers, fifty tonnes, six hundred fifty power points

Bridge: sixty tonnes


Primary hull, equator slice: thousand tonnes, engineering, bridge, power plant fuel, ten turrets
five ninety five tonnes
central structure

Pods:
thousand tonnes each, semihemisphere: ten turrets, ten tonne small bridge

Fuel pod: one, non gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets, nine hundred eighty tonnes fuel
upper structure

Flight pod: one, gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets, three hundred fifty tonne launch tube,
sixteen docking space for thirty five tonnes each six hundred sixteen tonnes
lower structure

Hangar pod: one, gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets, three hundred fifty tonne recovery dock,
nine full hangars for thirty five tonnes each six hundred thirty tonnes
lower structure

General use pod: one, gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets,

upper structure


launch facilities and hangar
cargo
troops

sixteen hundred thirty five/thirty three hundred sixty five

aerospace group composition
fighters: two aerospacecraft is a division, three divisions is a flight, three flights plus command flight and reserve aerospacecraft is a squadron, three squadrons is a wing
bombers: three aerospacecraft is a cell, three cells is a squadron, three squadrons is a wing
escort carrier composite group: squadron fighter, bomber squadron, reconnaissance, utility, transport

option: merchant aerospace carrier

option: troop transporter

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Tonnage: five thousand tonnes

Jump drive: two technological level fourteen modules, factor two, one hundred five tonnes each, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 5'714.2857 parsec tonnes each

Jump fuel: one thousand tonnes

Manoeuvre drive: one technological level thirteen module, factor three, one hundred five tonnes, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 15'000 thrust tonnes

Power plant: two technological level fourteen modules, standard fusion, one hundred five tonnes each, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 1'968.75 power points each

basic one thousand, manoeuvre fifteen hundred, jump one thousand, armament six hundred fifty,
thirty one hundred fifty

engineering five hundred twenty five tonnes

Armament: fifty triple turrets, beam lasers, fifty tonnes, six hundred fifty power points
equator, equidistant; semihemisphere, four/three/two/one

Bridge: sixty tonnes


Primary hull, equator slice: thousand tonnes, engineering, bridge, twenty one tonnes power plant fuel, ten turrets, ten Type/A one and a quarter tonne docking clamps
six hundred twenty eight and a half tonnes
central structure

Pods:
thousand tonnes each, semihemisphere: ten turrets, ten tonne small bridge

Fuel pod: one, non gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets, nine hundred eighty tonnes fuel
upper structure

Flight pod: one, gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets, three hundred fifty tonne launch tube,
sixteen docking space for thirty five tonnes each six hundred sixteen tonnes
lower structure

Hangar pod: one, gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets, three hundred fifty tonne recovery dock,
nine full hangars for thirty five tonnes each six hundred thirty tonnes
lower structure

General use pod: one, gravitated, non armoured, ten tonne specialist control centre, ten turrets,

upper structure


launch facilities and hangar
cargo
troops

sixteen hundred thirty five/thirty three hundred sixty five

aerospace group composition
fighters: two aerospacecraft is a division, three divisions is a flight, three flights plus command flight and reserve aerospacecraft is a squadron, three squadrons is a wing
bombers: three aerospacecraft is a cell, three cells is a squadron, three squadrons is a wing
escort carrier composite wing: thirty five smallcraft thirty five tonnes each, squadron fighter, bomber squadron, reconnaissance, utility, transport, ambulance, escape craft, fuel shuttle, assault shuttle, search and rescue

utility shuttle: factor five manoeuvre drive technological level fourteen, high technologized thirty percent size reduction, 1.225 tonnes; dual cockpit, modular 26.25 tonnes

option: merchant aerospace carrier

option: troop transporter

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Carrier Squadron and Organization

110. One difference between Traveller aerospace carriers, and their Great Patriotic War counterparts, is that speed was valued.

111. Outside of the fact that they can rapidly transit to the operational area, and tactfully withdraw if the action gets too close for comfort.

112. It's rather advantageous to sail into the wind and simulate optimum air flow over the flight deck during launch and recovery.

113. Most of ours are dead slow, and even then, default launch operations require the drives to be turned off, with the exception of recovery decks and launch tubes.

114. I think that acceleration complicates launch and recovery for standard facilities, it doesn't prevent it.

115. It either takes one to six minutes to launch or recover spacecraft, or six to eighteen minutes, from a docking space.

116. If you had the fighters prepped and the pilots on alert, you could launch them à la Battlestar Galactica simultaneously, though getting them back into launch position may be somewhat of a pain.

117. One variant could be the revolving cylinder, like a six shooter, in that only one chamber is ever exposed outside the hull, and acts as both recovery and launcher, and would be revolved to the next chamber upon completion of either recovery or launch.

118. Upon closer examination, the restriction against acceleration isn't mentioned for full hangars.

119. It takes two to twelve minutes to launch or recover spacecraft on a full hangar, compared to one every six minutes for recovery decks, which at ten times rated tonnage, would make a series of full hangars acting as recovery decks a better option.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Carrier Squadron and Organization

120. So why thirty five tonne medium fighters instead of fifteen tonne light fighters?

121. It's not that light fighters don't have a role(s) in Travelleresque space navy, it's more that it wouldn't be for frontline units, that need the optimal configuration to compete with the Imperium, who have an edge in technology.

122. That can't be achieved in a fifteen tonne hull.

123. Thirty five tonnes also allows enough leeway to turn it into a general utility craft, and trying to squeeze in a two hundred tonne shuttle would be too tight, and you know, besides standardization, redundancy.

124. The four principal roles that a light fighter has are ground support, which sometimes blurs into counter insurgency, patrol, which allows interception and reconnaissance, point defence fighter, and advanced trainer.

125. Drones can take over patrol and reconnaissance.

126. Armed drones can be used for ground support and interception.

127. Point defence is a reaction against surprise, and would imply that the combat aerospace patrol is either not present or insufficient.

128. Ground support could also be provided by a thirty five tonne gunship, plus the thirty five tonne assault shuttles, which simplifies maintenance.

129. There would be training carriers, which would allow trainee pilots to hone their skills with the cheaper light fighters, and get used to operations onboard a warship.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Carrier Squadron and Organization

130. One important issue that the Confederation Naval Staff is going to have to content with is strategic movement.

131. All of it's primary fleet units should be capable of four parsec movement, enabling them to keep up with the Imperium's primary capital ships.

132. Or stick to jump factor two, taking full advantage of their technological level fourteen variants.

133. As such, outfitting their modern fleet units with factor three jump drives makes little sense, neither completely benefitting from an advanced variant, nor competitive with their primary targets, the Imperium navy battle squadrons.

134. The fleet carriers would have to be able to keep up with the fast dreadnoughts, and I'll assume the Prometheus class providing the model for all subsequent capital starwarships.

135. So I was listening to a discussion on the Soviet logistics chain, compared to the German one, and it struck me.

136. The Confederation Navy can afford to have one based of parsec two jumping, but establishing it as well defended and consistent.

137. The Imperium Naval Intelligence might be well aware of the routes, and can guesstimate time schedules, but they'd be met with rather large numbers of monitors stationed at each link of the supply chain, or even coastal defence battleships.

138. The monitors don't need an integral jump drive, or even a battle tender, as a jump shuttle is sufficient to keep up with the supply convoys.

139. And since fleet, or fighter, carriers have better things to do, accompanied by escort carriers.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Express (or not) Boat Routes

1. Going by Chartered Aliens Too, the Confederation, and/or the Confederation Navy, are letting their inherited Express Boat network deteriorate until extinction.

2. I'm not too sure why, but it may have vested commercial, security and monopoly reasons.

3. Commercial interests may want to maintain a private network, so that they can charge for all the market will bear.

4. Like the Rothschilds, they may also want to have one completely devoted to their (financial) interests, so that news that can affect financial markets can be monopolized for their (financial) benefit.

5. Solomani Security may want to control the rate, flow and content of information through out the Confederation.

6. Having information, parcels and passengers reliant on their courier network, allows the Confederation Navy leverage against other Confederation institutions.

7. However, since I did mention Soviet logistics, I've come up with a new (non) Express Boat network scheme.

8. The (non) Express network is based on the Confederation Navy's jump factor two logistic routes and subsidiary courier lines of communications.

9. This wouldn't effect the Confederation Navy's high priority jump factor five courier network, except in terms of the final mile, if the jump factor five courier drops short of the eventual destination.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Carrier Squadron and Organization

140. Another reason that the Confederation navy would principally use thirty five tonne medium fighters across the board instead of light fighters, would be a compact between them and the pilots.

141. Naval pilots can expect that their service would be everything possible that they can perform their duties as safely as possible, while trying to successfully carry out their missions.

142. That would mean providing them with the necessary training and leadership, and equipping them with the best possible spacecraft that their military industrial complex can design and manufacture.

143. At the same time, this would ensure that all that expense involved in training, maintaining and retaining those highly qualified and experienced pilots are available in future.

144. This would include pilots deployed in secondary missions and operational areas.

145. Like on escort carriers.

146. Also, that means you can deploy less fighters on escort carriers and other non carrier specific starwarships.

147. Quality over quantity.

148. Sort of also allows you to minimize the the number (not necessarily the volume) of launch facilities.

149. It's the same rationale the Japanese Navy had, not necessarily in designing, but in manufacturing a rather limited run of superior warships to take advantage of their limited facilities, since there's only so much utility you could squeeze out of their industrial potential.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Carrier Squadron and Organization

150. The assigned number of fighters, and strikecraft, for a carrier squadron falls between four to eight hundred.

151. If a fighter squadron numbers twenty, that would be forty squadrons.

152. Half that on a per carrier basis.

153. Three squadrons plus a command flight would be sixty six aerospace crew slots, for a fighter wing.

154. Three fighter wings would be a fighter group, or one hundred ninety eight aerospace crews.

155. Two fighter groups per fleet carrier.

156. It's not mentioned, but you could add a strikecraft group, an assault shuttle group, a utility craft group.

157. I'm not sure where the ten fighters per squadron came from.

158. Outside the need to cut your coat according to your cloth, basically how much volume you have available on the carrier, the squadron needs sufficient redundancy to carry out it's missions, and I happen to think the two three cadence does give sufficient leeway for both that and control.

159. I'm not a fighter pilot, but the Germans came up with the buddy system and finger four for a reason; I just stretched it to three divisions to take account of three dimensions in gravitationless space, plus the command division, which takes us to twenty fighters, plus spares.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Carrier Squadron and Organization

160. This is a pretty fascinating journey, as what started out as conceptualizing an economical carrier to act as an escort to second line units and/or convoys evolves.

161. Though it only works if podularization is permitted for eighty percent of the hull.

162. What I thought required a separate launch tube and recovery deck turns out that with a smaller number of larger fighters, you can dispense with it.

163. In a way, this is starting to resemble more a seaplane tender, once the launch and recovery process really starts requiring time.

164. However, full hangars tend to get around and if you suddenly stop accelerating, you can launch and recover spacecraft from docking spaces and docking clamps.

165. On the bright side, you can have now two identical pods for the aerospace group, since you don't have to squeeze in the launch tube and recovery deck, and use the spared space to add more capacity.

166. The other two kilotonne pods would be fuel and miscellaneous.

167. Of course, it's not quite certain how long it would take to attach or detach a kilotonne pod, though it should be less than that of a twenty six hundred tonne one.

168. And it doesn't necessarily have to be two flight pods, it could be passenger and/or cargo pods.

169. That's why I decided to name this the Liberty family of starships.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Hangar Pod
. kilotonne, gravitated, light, twenty seven and a half megastarbux
. semihemisphere//spherical hull configuration
. two full hangars, seventy tonnes, fourteen megastarbux each
. one construction deck, seventy tonnes, thirty five megastarbux, seventy power points
. twelve docking spaces, thirty eight and a half tonnes, nine and five eighths megastarbux
. ten turrets
.. nine triple pulse lasers, one tonne, thirteen power points each
.. one triple missile torpedo combination launcher, two tonnes, seven megastarbux
. fuel
. bridge small, ten tonnes, two and a half megastarbux
. vault, twelve tonnes, six megastarbux
.. ordnance magazine, six tonnes
. workshop, six tonnes, nine hundred kilostarbux
. stables, twenty tonnes, fifty kilostarbux, five kilostarbux life support
. UNREP, one tonne, one power point, half a megastarbux
462, 210, 11. 10. 12. 6. 20. 1. 732
200/100. 70. 117

power plant, sixteen tonnes
hangar 15, hangar 15, external 20

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Primary hull/alpha
. kilotonne, gravitated, light, twenty seven and a half megastarbux
. equatorial slice//spherical hull configuration
. engineering
.. jump drive, factor two, 255 tonnes, one thousand power points
.. manoeuvre drive, factor five, 250 tonnes, twenty five hundred power points
.. power plant
. command bridge, eighty tonnes, holographic controls, forty six and seven eighths megastarbux
. stables
. ten turrets
.. quadruple turrets, beam laser, accuracy, energy efficiency, increased size, one and one fifth tonne each, twelve and three quarters power points
.. one additional point for point defence, and in theory, should get a plus one bonus to point defence
. fuel
. fifteen docking clamps
.. type A, one and quarter tonnes each

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Escort Carrier [work in progress]

Primary hull/delta
. kilotonne, gravitated, light, twenty seven and a half megastarbux
. equatorial slice//spherical hull configuration
. engineering
.. jump drive, factor two, 255 tonnes, one thousand power points
.. manoeuvre drive, factor three, 250 tonnes, twenty five hundred power points
.. power plant
. default bridge, sixty tonnes, twenty five megastarbux
. stables
. ten turrets
.. triple turrets, beam laser, accuracy, energy efficiency, increased size, one and one fifth tonne each, twelve and three quarters power points
.. one additional point for point defence, and in theory, should get a plus one bonus to point defence
. fuel
. fifteen docking clamps
.. type A, one and quarter tonnes each


standard Confederation Navy weapon platforms
1. Quadruple turret, technological level fourteen, budget/increased size, energy efficient fifty percent, power points one, one and a fifth tonnes, two and a half megastarbux
2. Triple turret, technological level nine, budget/increased size, power points one, one and a fifth tonne, three quarters of a megastarbux
3. Fixed mount, no technological level, budget/increased size, seventy five kilostarbux
4. Pop up mounting, technological level ten, budget/increased size, one and a fifth tonne, three quarters of a megastarbux
5. Firmpointed single turret, technological level seven, budget/increased size, one and a fifth tonne, three twentieths of a megastarbux
6. Firmpointed fixed mount, no technological level, budget/increased size, seventy five kilostarbux
7. Firmpointed barbette, no technological level, budget/increased size, six tonnes,
8. Firmpointed single turret combination launcher, budget/increased size, two and two fifths tonnes, one and thirteenth twentieths megastarbux
9. Firmpointed fixed mounted combination launcher, budget/increased size, one and one fifth tonnes, seven eighths of a megastarbux

standard Confederation Navy hardpointed laser weapon systems
1. Beam laser, technological level thirteen, budget/increased size, medium range, accuracy, energy efficient, three power points, five eighths of a megastarbux
2. Pulse laser, technological level twelve, budget/increased size, very long range, energy efficient, three power points, one and a quarter megastarbux
3. Pulse laser, technological level nine, budget/increased size, long range, four power points, three quarters of a megastarbux
4. Laser drill, technological level eleven, budget/increased size, adjacent range, intense focus, energy efficient, three power points, 187.5 kilostarbux
5. Laser drill, technological level eight, budget/increased size, adjacent range, four power points, 112.5 kilostarbux

standard Confederation Navy firmpointed laser weapon systems
1. Beam laser, technological level thirteen, budget/increased size, adjacent range, accuracy, energy efficient, two and a quarter power points, five eighths of a megastarbux
2. Pulse laser, technological level twelve, budget/increased size, close range, accuracy, energy efficient, two and a quarter power points, one and a quarter megastarbux
3. Pulse laser, technological level nine, budget/increased size, close range, four power points, one and a quarters of a megastarbux
4. Laser drill, technological level eleven, budget/increased size, adjacent range, intense focus, energy efficient, two and a quarter power points, 187.5 kilostarbux
5. Laser drill, technological level eleven, budget/increased size, close range, energy efficient, two and a quarter power points, 187.5 kilostarbux
6. Laser drill, technological level eight, budget/increased size, adjacent range, three power points, 112.5 kilostarbux

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Heavy Missile

1. Advanced variant is technological level fifteen, which means at best it's a prototype or a black budget project, not generally available.

2. Long range pretty much confirms that there's a good chance the other variants get lost.

3. Five tonnes is basically a one shot barbette.

4. This is meant for short sharp clashes, not an extended engagement.

5. Torpedoes may inflict less damage and are mostly a third slower, but they are a lot cheaper and don't wander off, plus are twice as survivable against point defence.

6. Standard is eight dice damage at three megastarbux, versus six dice at fifty per, same speed, five tonnes versus fixed mount, or even one shot grappled launchers.

7. Long range versus advanced, same speed, one less dice, two technological levels under, and is fourteen times more expensive.

8. Long range missiles probably can do enough disruption, before interception.

9. Nuclear is a really expensive way to send fifteen dice of damage down range, if the target is important, they're likely to have point defence and nuclear dampeners; like I said, this seems like something you'd install in a Queue ship.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Torpedo Grapples

1. Like fixated mountings, no actual volume.

2. Considering default torpedo volume one third of a tonne, it would effect the performance of a smallcraft.

3. Harrier option of two torpedo launch cradles still requires one tonne of volume.

4. Not sure if you want a naked torpedo grappled to your hull, with the exception of the Hunley.

5. Would convert hardpoints to firmpoints, getting three sets of two torpedoes for one set of four torpedoes.

6. Optionally, if the grapples accept weapon pods, would use them to attach other weapon systems.

7. Energy weapons could have an integral battery.

8. Or ordnance based ones internal magazines.

9. Which would make these type of converts resemble gunships, as we know them.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Sandcaster Ersatz

1. While it's fairly easy to try and find a comparative real world weapon system, or at least some science fiction equivalent, for most for the other spaceship weapon systems, I really haven't had much luck with sandcasters.

2. So I was wondering if I'd get the same game effect(s) by bundling four one hundred twenty millimetre mortars into a one tonne turret, or in Traveller terms, quarter tonne technological level seven support mortar.

3. You can use it as a heavy support weapon, whether to canister boarders, or actually use it for artillery.

4. One heavy autocannon seems an alternative, but sixty millimetre shells might not have the capacity needed.

5. Can four one hundred twenty mortar shells make up the payload of a sand canister, which I'll assume is just under one twentieth of a tonne volume or about seven hundred thousand cubic centimetres payload, of crystallized sand?

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Point Defence Ersatz

1. The specialized point defence battery is probably energy based.

2. In theory, should act as a pretty nifty weapon against unwelcome guests, or unarmoured adjacent spacecraft.

3. Since no mention is made of these alternate uses, I was thinking of the cheap alternative of four firmpointed tac launchers, rocket pods, Vulcan machineguns or light autocannon.

4. You could, in theory, give them smart bullets, while that might not be an option for the tac missiles or rockets.

5. And if you convert hardpoints to firm points, for an additional two tonnes you could have twelve medium autocannons peppering the beaten zone with twenty five millimetre shells, which is an awful lot of lead that a spacecraft, torpedo, or missile, has to avoid.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Point Defence Ersatz

6. The ground weapon systems have a tendency to be rounded off, and in this case, it happens to be at a quarter tonne, which would place them above the threshold.

7. If you follow that rule, the first advantage to be used would have to be ten percent size reduction.

8. In this specific case, being kinetic, the last two advantages could be spent on either accuracy or long range.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Navy: Armament and Tonne Plus Ground Weapons

1. At best, you'd have to use thirty percent size reduction on anything 1.42 tonnes to fit in a one tonne turret.

2. Conceivably, turrets could be sized one and a one fifth of a tonne, if you increase their size.

3. Or optionally, a barbette at default five tonnes, or increased size six tonnes.

4. In theory, there's nothing really worth bothering with at six tonnes.

5. With the possible exception of the seven tonne gatling laser, which with twenty percent size reduction would give you five and three fifths of a tonne, or at thirty percent, four and nine tenths of a tonne.

6. Another option is the (automatic) gauss cannon at a tonne.

7. One other possibility is stuffing the six tonne barbette with twenty four quarter tonne ground weapons.