Suggestion: New Ship Classes

[Rick]

I'm still trying to dig out all of my plastic Noble Armada ships from wherever they're lurking (I bought a few boxes years ago), but I'm working on a Hawkwood and a Decados fleet. As far as the Church goes, the Decados' attitude has always been "It's better to ask forgiveness than to beg permission", lol! :lol:

 

[rcbecker1]

Corvettes, Trawlers, Gunboats, Patrol ships, Planetary Defense ships.

 

[Rick]

Trawlers? Salvage ships, perhaps?

 

[godsgopher]

Corvettes, Gunboats, Patrol Ships
Alright, I didn't suggest some of these ships because I felt that they were covered by the Explorer and Raider classes. Mostly these ships are all light, fast, and while well armed for there sizes, still pretty lightly armed compared to real warships.

However thank you for the contribution! If you have a idea for these classes beyond what Im seeing, please do share. Our intention here is to generate new ideas.

 

[godsgopher]

Electronic Warfare Frigate

Modern warfare involves much more than just ships with lots of guns on them, and even in the Fading Suns universe where technology is struggling to remain intact Electronic Warfare isn't unimaginable (by the 50's most countries were experimenting with it). Essential such ships are Escort vessels much like scouts and posses many of the same abilities but taken even further.

EW Frigates are able to project low grade stealth ratings of +2 or +3 to near by vessels, as they blanket the electronic frequencies with static and white noise as well as occasional heat flares. However any ship already possessing greater stealth than this does not benefit. This coupled with there scout abilities make EW Frigates a valuable if overpriced addition to a fleet.

 

[Rick]

Electronic Warfare Frigate

And the downside of having an EW or "Wild Weasel" frigate is that, because it's multi-spectral jamming, you lose all communications, guidance and sensor information on the ships being covered - basically you can't see the enemy, can't manouevre as a squadron and lose all 'guided' abilities, not to mention most weapon systems probably becoming 'inaccurate' as well. Add to that fact - it's not really stealth - the enemy knows exactly where your EW ship is by how strong the jamming gets near to it.

EW/Wild Weasel fighters

A more effective use of it might be to use a fighter to cover a small area, and hide the numbers of fighters inside it - by using a few of them, the enemy wouldn't know which was a real target and which was a feint.

Blip Enhancing Fighter

Almost the opposite of the EW Fighter, this fighter uses flares, EW and other means to vastly increase it's sensor signature - then positions itself between guided weapons and their target - they can be fooled into going after the fighter, thinking it is the target instead!

 

[godsgopher]

Alright, I see your point about the EW Being a general area effect system, how about this then. Lets not treat it as a ship class per say, but rather a Non-damaging Weapon System. This way, we can have EW Variants of some of the ships we use.

Full Spectrum Electronic Jammer 18'', 1 AD, Accurate, Jamming

Jamming: Weapons with this trait cause no damage when they hit, however in the turn the target is hit by a weapon with the jamming trait, it must treat all attacks that turn as though its target had a +3 Stealth rating to represent the vessels reduced sensor tracking ability.

OR

Jamming: Weapons with this trait cause no damage when they hit, however in the turn the target is hit by a weapon with the jamming trait, it must treat all its weapons fire for the remainder of that turn as having the inaccurate trait. Weapons that posses the accurate trait are treated as though they did not have this trait.

I love the idea of Wild Weasel Fighters, Explorers or maybe Raiders. Have it work by functioning a bit like the old "Escort" Rule from 2nd Ed. The ship or fighter with the feature can roll a dice and say on a 3 or 4+ it takes the attack from a "Guided" Missile instead of the intended target. Obviously it would have to stick close to the target, or perhaps be near the missiles path.

 

[Clanger]

Noble Armada (2nd Ed) had a "Wild Weasel" type fighter called the Rutting Boar. I think we maybe seeing this type of fighter in the next suppliment.

 

[Rick]

I see the jamming working like a hi-tech smokescreen, everyone knows where they are, but you can't be sure what they're concealing! I like your point about using weapons to 'jam' an enemy ship - wasn't there an ACTA B5 missile that did something like that? Yup - just found it, the EA HARM missile. Yeah blip enhancers would be quite interesting to use, lol!
Perhaps this thread should be renamed the Skunkworks!
I haven't got a copy of the 2nd ed. Noble Armada rules, Clanger - it would be interesting to see what else was in there that could be used,

 

[Digger2000]

What about a Symbiot fleet

 

[Clanger]

Symbiots were in 2nd Ed Nobe Armada and they are toughies . No doubt they wil make an appearance as you can not have Fading Suns without the Big Bads

 

[Rick]

Agreed - I think the next book will have the Church, League and Symbiot fleets in, at least. I daresay there'll be a couple of surprises in it as well, lol!

 

[godsgopher]

Strategic Missile Carrier and I.S.B.M.s

The 1950 saw the development of the I.C.B.M. In Fading Suns why not I.S.B.M.s Inter System Ballistic Missiles. The concept is actually very simple. an I.S.B.M. is nothing more than a missile capable of following a programed ballistic course over vast distance and then delivering its payload. However these missiles are massive in the extreme, each weighs as much as a Heavy fighter. To deliver them Noble Houses would most likely convert civilian freighters into Strategic Missile Carriers. Really nothing more than a freighter with missile cradles behind hidden hatches.

When deploying this system, a SMC would pass through a gate and begin its launch calculations, while remaining close to the gate so as to make a quick return after launching its deadly cargo. Upon fixing its target and uploading its ballistic programs to its missiles the carrier would drop its false sides and let loose one or two dozen I.S.B.M.s which would roar off towards there targets quickly escaping the range of any defenders on the gate. Once the missiles passed interception range they would go dead and coast on a programed ballistic course towards there target. The carrier would then turn around and attempt a life and death run back to the gate before being intercepted.

However I can envision a number of limitations on this type of weapon system. For one, its expensive for what is basically a one use weapon. Each missile while simple in its self isn't exactly a commonly produced item, which would drive up there manufacturing cost. Two only the League and perhaps the Imperial Fleet, would have access to the knowledge needed to produce the guidance systems making it harder for Nobles to get a hold of the weapons. And third, not even a mad man would risk hitting a planet with them (Which would have been the missiles original mission target) As deploying Nukes against a planet isn't something the church would stand for. Rather there targets would have to be in system support and fixed orbital defenses.

In the end such a system would remain rare enough that such attacks would be unlikely, but the possibility would have to be taken into account in the planning of any systems defense. However one massive advantage would remain. unless the defender intercepts the SMC and forces the crew to talk, they will most likely never know who actually orchestrated the attack against them!

 

[Rick]

Umm. Torpedo's are basically big missiles in ACTA - NA, any bigger and it's not as efficient. The previous entry on Q-ships would probably be good for civilian weapon platforms. As far as attacking planets, the church has instigated fleet bombardments many times - it's a preferred method of theirs to weed out pockets of the faithless, heretics, tech users, etc!

Gunboats revisited

Whilst the smallest fleet ships in the game so far are explorers, frigates, etc. I think there would be a role for a gunboat - as a large multi-mission fighter type, similiar to the 'Raptor' from BSG. Less able to dogfight, it would rely on fighter escorts to keep enemy fighters away, a dodge roll of 6+, and be able to carry different weapon packages (a single gatling laser, or more micro-missiles (no one-shot), or a grapple gun and 1 troops, or one of the EW packages discussed in the thread).

 

[godsgopher]

I.S.B.M.s

Yes Torpedoes indeed are very large missiles, and are the largest carried on warships with internal magazines. however an I.S.B.M. offers the advantage of a fire and forget weapon system. With essential unlimited range and massive payload ability you could wipe out a shipyard with only one or two hits assuming its not somehow "hardened". However I do see such a thing as one of the more "exotic" weapons in the game, and most defiantly not part of the run of the mill fleet battle. And while the Church does indeed use bombardments to take out heretics and proscribed labs I doubt they would smile on wholesale planetary thermonuclear bombardments which is what I would imagine the 2nd republic had in mind when it built the I.S.B.M.s in the first place.

Gunboats

Bringing back the "Super heavy fighters" from 2nd Ed ea? I approve! renaming these Gunboats is a great idea. I defiantly like the idea of short range heavily armored gunboats with custom mission packages. In fact I could even see some kind of Gunboat Tender designed to support massed gunboats in hostile systems. Most likely they would be converted Bulk haulers that sat way back from the battlefield. None the less i could easily see them coming into a scenario in some sort of hide and seek encounter. After all a Star system is a HUGE place, you could preform hit and runs for as long as your supplies held out before having to return to friendly space.

 

[godsgopher]

You know we really are starting to develop some really interesting ideas for the new System. This is what I love about A Call to Arms, its a very simple system, yet it allows such a verity of ships and play styles. All the while remaining essentially a fast play system. Its my hope that we can continue to develop new ideas to expand the Fading Suns setting and push the boundaries of Noble Armada while at the same time maintaining the spirit of the setting.

I know the developers are keeping much of the up and coming additions close to their chest, and with good reason. However I would love to see some feed back on these ideas from them when they get the chance. After all I love trying new things and seeing how they work. (of course.... we would have to actually have the game first to do this!)

 

[Rick]

I think you might have something, lol! Perhaps once you get your book, an article for S&P might be in order!! I sympathise with your wait - I've been in a similiar position waiting for American new releases to make their way to my letterbox before now - hang in there.
What I was thinking of with the gunboat (or combat shuttle?) is that it would take up 2 craft spaces in a carrier (most light carriers have 8 craft spaces, carriers and heavy carriers have more - each one is a fighter or bomber), meaning you could take a mixture of types - I don't see them surviving long without fighter escorts.

I think the devs might be sitting back and chuckling at the sheer lunacy, lol! Mind you, they might be hoping for that S&P article, after all!

 

[godsgopher]

Humm... honestly I have never thought about S & P submissions. Probably because by the time I got into B5 ACTA it had been around for quite a while. perhaps its time I read the submission guidelines and spent some time organizing my thoughts into something publishable?

Now as to whether they are laughing or not, no clue. Personal I don't think we have gone off the deep end yet. But then again how does on know when your mind has slipped on the proverbial banana peal? What I do know is that unlike Babylon 5 were not dealing with as much material that's set in stone. Especial with a 3rd edition of Fading Suns in the works! No doubt much of the material is being reconsidered for a 21st century audience.

Bottom line, we probably should start considering an article or two for S&P.

 

[Rick]

Ah, I got the first edition, then bought pretty much every book for it as it came out, and read all the S&P stuff as it was released. I don't think we've gone off the deep end either (yet) and I agree - some of these ideas should be worked up into an article or several - I've started putting some ideas down for Gunboats/Assault Shuttles already, lol!
As far as the background is concerned, it is a lot more open than B5 was in many ways. All Good! :lol:

 

[Greg Smith]

As the author of some of those B5 ACTA articles, I really do suggest you go ahead and give it a try.

New ship stats are fairly easy to write up. Add a little bit of fluff. Maybe write a scenario to use a new ship. Test it out, balance it a bit and send it in.