The J meson gun is a fine weapon against TL14 or lower opponents. Against TL15 factor 9 screens your chance of penetrating is too low.
...
"Too low?" It's a 9+, which as McPerth pointed out is 10 in 36 shots, i.e a squadron of 10 penetrate with 3.33 shots for every shot a Tigress penetrates with. That's not too low in my book.
However, neither is it ideal. As Tobias aimed for the smallest unit with a T, I aimed for a simple but dramatic 1/10 slice, for which the J was optimal for it's size and which made the point about
Tigress quite nicely. However, the N is indeed a much better option because it doesn't take much more in space or power and delivers a big improvement for that. I can do a 65,000 dT design around that, which means only about 8 N-meson ships to 10 J-meson light cruisers, but since the penetration rate's about double, they put up a better fight. Assuming they fight each other, and factoring in the hull, a squadron of 10 J's is turning out 0.557 hits per turn, while the 8 N's are turning out 1.19. Nasty fight, but the N's win the engagement with 2-3 ships left. Not as good with the marines or fighters, but the difference is acceptable, and they're a wee bit better on missile defense and secondary offense. They're nastier against a Tigress, landing 5.6 mesons to 1 - well, closer to 5.1 to 1 when you weight for cost, but still clearly better.
An interesting aside: neither Tigress nor these derivative designs have sufficient craft to refuel the ship - they scoop themselves, or they need fuelers attached to the squadron.
Ship: Bigger Boot (please pardon the Sponge Bob reference)
Type: Armored Cruiser
Tech Level: 15
USP CA-P136AJZ-F99909-959N9-3 MCr 64,679.680 65 KTons
Bat Bear..............9.....1.6711X Crew: 741
Bat.....................C.....1.8911Y TL: 15
Cargo: 286; Crew Sections: 65 of 12; Fuel: 26,000; EP: 6,500; Agility: 6; Shipboard Security Detail: 65; Marines: 88
Craft: 20 x 10T Escort fighters, 10 x 10T Ground Support Fighters, 1 x 50T Naval Cutter, 8 x 15T Marine Grav APCs, 1 x 10T Launch Tube
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification
Substitutions: X = 32, Y = 40, Z = 65
Architects Fee: MCr 643.288 Cost in Quantity: MCr 51,813.920
Detailed Description
(High Guard Design)
HULL
65,000.000 tons standard, 910,000.000 cubic meters, Needle/Wedge Configuration
CREW
60 Officers, 563 Ratings, 30 Pilots, 88 Marines
Book 5 Crew Breakdown
Command section: 7 officers and 26 ratings; Engineering section: 21 officers and 181 ratings; Gunnery section: 15 officers and 127 ratings; Flight section: 2 officers, 30 pilots and 45 ratings; Service section: 13 officers and 117 ratings, 65 security troops; Medical Section: 2 officers and 2 ratings; Marines: 88
ENGINEERING
Jump-3, 6G Maneuver, Power plant-10, 6,500.000 EP, Agility 6
AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/9fib Computer
HARDPOINTS
Spinal Mount, 2 100-ton bays, 40 50-ton bays, 209 Hardpoints
ARMAMENT
Meson Gun Spinal Mount (Factor-N), 1 100-ton Particle Accelerator Bay (Factor-9), 40 50-ton Missile Bays (Factor-9), 80 Triple Beam Laser Turrets organized into 8 Batteries (Factor-9), 9 Single Fusion Gun Turrets organized into 9 Batteries (Factor-5)
DEFENCES
1 100-ton Repulsor Bay (Factor-9), 120 Triple Sandcaster Turrets organized into 12 Batteries (Factor-9), Nuclear Damper (Factor-9), Meson Screen (Factor-9), Armored Hull (Factor-15)
CRAFT
20 10.000 ton Escort fighters (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 9.484), 10 10.000 ton Ground Support Fighters (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 9.784), 1 50.000 ton Naval Cutter (Crew of 2, Cost of MCr 18.480), 8 15.000 ton Marine Grav APCs (Crew of 0, Cost of MCr 5.610), 1 10.000 ton Launch Tube
FUEL
26,000 Tons Fuel (3 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant
MISCELLANEOUS
374 Staterooms, 286 Tons Cargo
USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None
COST
MCr 64,972.088 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 643.288), MCr 51,463.040 in Quantity, plus MCr 350.880 of Carried Craft
CONSTRUCTION TIME
193 Weeks Singly, 154 Weeks in Quantity