an imperial fleet

[flykiller]

(this ship should be posted last, but it's ready now so I'll post it now)

Fleet Colonial Frigate, Irkhuar Class

While the Imperial Fleet defends the Imperium from external threats, the Irkhuar deal with internal less-than-warfare threats that do not warrant full naval attention. Where regions are too poor or backward to provide their own naval patrols or police the Imperial Navy steps in with Irkhuar, conducting show-the-flag and freedom-of-navigation patrols to suppress piracy and other hazards to free trade. While Irkhuar have fixed patrol routes and regions of primary concern they also are tasked with going everywhere they can, and while not omnipresent Irkhuar may show up in any system at any time. Tech 12, Jump 3 capable, Maneuver/Agility 4, mounting a Factor 8 Beam Laser battery, a pair of Factor 2 Missile batteries, and a Factor 9 Sand battery, Armor 4, and deploying a Factor 1 Nuclear Damper screen, they are adequate for this role. Irkhuar are always deployed at least in pairs, and frequenly operate in squadrons of four.

Bridge crew is overmanned, and hull crew is overmanned in engineering and gunnery departments, to foster officer development and crew training and to reinforce operational reliability and damage control capabilities. Engineering department includes a dedicated damage Chief who oversee training of enlisted men. Logistics endurance is the standard two months, plus cargo space for four months, for a total of six months self-supporting deployment capability. Tier 1 medical services, expanded living conditions, and hotel services further enhance ship operational independence and crew deployment endurance. Fuel scoops and fuel purification facilities allow wilderness refueling. The Irkhuar carries a full ship's boat and flight crew complement, along with lifeboats for the entire crew.

Irkhuar make contact with planetary systems, landing and discharging liberty parties for significant lengths of time, somewhat more frequently than regular fleet elements. Consequently, while an Irkhuar in a high-activity patrol region is the first command of many an up-and-coming naval line officer, many vilani-heritage officers of high and low status readily accept Irkhuar command even in low-activity patrol regions as a way of meeting planetary officials and building up their post-service retirement social networks, and many crew view Irkhuar as the way to "join the navy and see the universe". In addition an Irkhuar's ship's troops see considerably more action than most, and some captains will fill their spare staterooms and lowberths with extra soldiers for the inevitable inspections and ground actions.

Most new Irkhuar are constructed at the Iderati and Karin yards to build up those worlds' ship building capabilities, but many were built at Jewell and Fornice. A few unfortunate incidents have lead to consideration of equiping Irkhuar with tech 13 weapons suites, but to date there is no imperial yardspace available for such upgrades, though the space yard at Collace has inquired as to acquiring a contract to do so, and there is talk of presenting the work to Yori.

"Irkhuar" is a Vilani word referring to a minor official who, because of proximity to a significant decision event, takes on more power and authority than his rank normally would warrant. Most Irkhuar are named after prominent geological features.

HULL
    Tech 12 in all components, Spheroid, Streamlined, Landing-Capable
    1900 dtons displacement
    (3084 dtons construction yardspace)
MANNING
    Command  16
        Captain
        Executive Officer
        Operations Officer
        Chief Engineer
        Gunnery Officer
        Senior Pilot, 3 pilots
        Senior Navigator, 2 navigators
        Computer Officer
        Comms Officer
        Flight Officer
        Ship's Surgeon
    Engineering  22
        (Computer Officer), 2 Chiefs
        (Comms Officer), 1 Chief, 2 enlisted
        Jump Drive Division - 1 Chief, 2 enlisted
        Maneuver Drive Division - 1 Chief, 3 enlisted
        Power Plant Division - 1 Chief, 4 enlisted
        Fuel Systems Division - 1 Chief, 3 enlisted
        Damage Control Chief
    Gunnery  13
        (Gunnery Officer)
        Laser Battery - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
        Missile Batteries - 1 Chief, 2 enlisted
        Sand Caster - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
        Nuclear Damper Division - 1 Chief, 5 enlisted
    Service  4
        (Operations Officer)
        1 Chief,  3 enlisted
    Flight  4
        (Operations Officer)
        2 Pilots, 2 Chiefs
    Troops  13
        (Executive Officer)
        1 Lieutenant, 1 Staff Sergeant, 2 corporals, 9 marines
            or
        1 Lieutenant, 1 Chief, 2 Petty Officers, 9 troops
    TOTAL  72
COMPUTER/SENSOR/COUNTER-SENSOR
    Model 6fib Sensor Suite                (5 energy points required)
ENGINEERING
    J3 Jump Drive                         (57 energy points required)
    4G/Agility Maneuver Drive             (76 energy points required)
    Power Plant                         (121 energy points generated)
    Fuel Purifier
FUEL TANKAGE CAPACITY
    570 dtons                                            (one Jump 1)
    121 dtons                               (4 weeks power plant ops)
ENDURANCE
    25 dtons Cargo for 6 Months Endurance
WEAPONS
    1 Factor 8 Beam Laser Battery         (30 energy points required)
        Backup Power for each turret - 3 Shots
        1 Gunnery Station
    2 Factor 2 Turret Missile Batteries - 3 Salvos ea
        Backup Power for each turret
        Reload Magazine for each turret - 3 Reloads of 3 Salvos ea
        2 Gunnery Stations
DEFENSES
    Factor 1 Nuclear Damper Screen        (10 energy points required)
    1 Factor 9 Sand Caster Battery - 3 Salvos
        Backup Power for each turret
        Reload Magazine for each turret - 3 Reloads of 3 Salvos ea
        1 Gunnery Station
    Armor 4 (4 factors for tech 12 hull, 0 factors added)
    2 Damage Control Stations
CREW ACCOMODATIONS
    40 Crew Staterooms
    Medical Facility - 20 dtons
    Brig - 10 dtons
    Recreation - 12 dtons
CARRIED CRAFT
    3 Lifeboats (in standard boat bays)
    2 Ship's Gigs (in standard boat bays)
    2 Air Rafts
CARGO
    0
MISCELLANEOUS
    2 Extra Staterooms
    8 Lowberths

 

[kilemall]

Tracking on all your comments Aramis, particularly the not much of a civilization part.

This is the Badlands, not a secret empire.

Except for the base part. ANY base, pirate or polity navy, is going to have to follow protocols to not be detected through stupid. I don't that this translates to easily spotted.

 

[aramis]

Tracking on all your comments Aramis, particularly the not much of a civilization part.

This is the Badlands, not a secret empire.

Except for the base part. ANY base, pirate or polity navy, is going to have to follow protocols to not be detected through stupid. I don't that this translates to easily spotted.

To have human-like life, it's going to be above 250° Kelvin. Which makes the base a readily detectable heat sig, when you consider both the background 3° K and the <50° K of the asteroids and comets in those belts... Pluto, for example, has a mean of 33° K. And IR detection is VERY much an issue. A relatively small IR telescope with the correct focal range can detect a ±10° K (= ±10° C).

And that's before the jump-flash - which is said to be pretty bright. And, thanks to the 100 Diameter limit, you cannot jump to the far side (and thus cannot hide the flash); you'll get dumped out at 100 diameters on the near side. That was an intentional element of the design - you cannot escape to the outer system invisibly.

Given the combination of IR differential, the 100D limit and a jump flash... that puts survival about 10 days post detection, and detection 1-10 days from escapee arrival.

Voyager, for example, can be detected and tracked readily thanks to the RTG.

And this is all before a few other caveats of note -

• You can reverse engineer a jump course from the entry flash. (TNE-RSB)
• Remote locations are suboptimal from a technical standpoint, because solar is a viable and reliable power source for efficient plant growth, and for solar power as an efficient backup to fusion.
• Any secret is dependent upon not failing humint.
  • Any battle damaged pirate is subject to forcible humint (coercion, etc). WHile torture isn't shown to increase accuracy, it is shown to increase talkativeness. (The reliability rate under torture is lower; the talking rate well more than double; according to released DIA materials, sufficiently so to justify continued use of biorhythmic disruption.)
  • If using Psionics, humint is MUCH more effective; reliable information can be extracted readily.
• Any far-outsystem remote base must use on-board power sources, which means much higher heat. Higher detection.

Essentially, any oort or kuiper belt bases are of need either temporary or officially tolerated, as they can be readily found and destroyed.

And if you have significant civil space access, pirates likely won't be tolerated; the social outcry from civil detections will readily subvert any denials.

 

[warwizard]

The bases are NOT tied to a populated system. the actual universe is full of red/brown dwarf stars with totally useless systems, the 80 hexes we have in a subsector does not represent all the stars in that volume, just the ones of use to the game. (If we mapped the milky way with sectors we would have some 45,000 by 45,000 parsec disk for 2.066 billion parsecs mapped if the galaxy was square, but there are 100 billion stars in the milky way, or on average, 50 stars for every map hex.) So assuming standard care is taken to maintain emissions security, and the base is moved every quarter so the detection radius can never be more than a 1/4 LY in any case, you will only find them with the old school intelligence operative.

 

[Carlobrand]

...Essentially, any oort or kuiper belt bases are of need either temporary or officially tolerated...

And that's how you do it: stay one step ahead, grease some palms, and - like any good organized crime syndicate knows - keep it low-key enough that you don't arouse more heat than you can deal with. And, if you will pardon my lapse into the vulgar: don't shit where you eat. Basic organized crime common sense.

If I have this right, Oort cloud objects are anywhere from 5,000 to 100,000 AU out. I'm getting at minimum about 4 weeks before EM emissions from an object in the Oort region reaches the habitable region, much longer if they're farther out. Then another week for something to jump out there and investigate. If the base itself is jump-mobile - say an assortment of freighters and such converted to act as storage and repair facilities - they can be gone before anyone arrives to investigate. The fuel is out there to be had, it's just a matter of mining, melting and cracking it. And, an effective organized crime syndicate knows how to hide in plain sight, or we wouldn't have such trouble with houses of prostitution and drug trafficking that we've had over the past century and more.

Humans are very, very good at being bad, when they organize and put their minds to it.

 

[flykiller]

Fleet Support Ship, Alice-class

The Alice-class is the fleet's general-purpose support ship, carrying interchangeable modules of 4900 dtons for cargo, mobile shipyard, marine battalion, or rescue/recovery/hospital facilities as needed - these modules are described in a following post. Capable of up to Jump 4 to follow the fleet and Maneuver/Agility 2. Barely able to enagage in any combat action - it has two Factor 9 Beam Laser Batteries with sufficient power available for double-fire, two Factor 9 Sand Caster Batteries, a mere Factor 2 Armor rating, and a Factor 9 Nuclear Damper Screen - the Alice stays close to the Toks and any other ship able to defend it.

While the bridge command section is overmanned and a single chief operates a damage control division, enlisted crew for the Alice otherwise is bare minimum to meet imperial standards. Logistics endurance is the standard two months, plus cargo space for eight months, for a total of ten months self-supporting deployment capability. Tier 1 medical services and some hotel services are available. Fuel scoops and fuel purification facilities allow wilderness refueling. The Alice carries a full ship's boat and flight crew complement, along with lifeboats for the entire crew.

While leavened with some senior personnel, Alice crewmen tend to be just out of training or otherwise junior.

Alice's are built at any Tech 10 yard, mostly at Porozlo - this includes their maneuver drives, power plants, and fuel purifiers. Their jump drives and weapons are imported from any of the Tech 13 yards, and their computer/sensor/counter-sensor suites from the Tech 15 yards.

"Alice" is a terran female name. All Alices carry female names.

HULL
    Tech 10, Spheroid, Streamlined, Landing-Capable
    19,000 dtons displacement (14,100 dton ship plus 4900 dton module)
    (19598 dtons construction yardspace)
MANNING
    Command  16
        Captain
        Executive Officer
        Operations Officer
        Chief Engineer
        Gunnery Officer
        Senior Pilot, 3 pilots
        Senior Navigator, 2 navigators
        Computer Officer
        Comms Officer
        Flight Officer
        Ship's Surgeon
    Engineering  50
        (Computer Officer), 1 Chief
        (Comms Officer), 1 Chief, 2 enlisted
        Jump Drive Division - 1 Chief, 8 enlisted
        Maneuver Drive Division - 1 Chief, 8 enlisted
        Power Plant Division - 2 Chiefs, 22 enlisted
        Fuel Systems - 1 Chief, 2 enlisted
        Damage Control Chief
    Gunnery  8
        Laser Battery Division - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
        Screens Division - 1 Chief, 3 enlisted
        Sand Division - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
    Service  11
        (Operations Officer)
        Bridge     - 1 Chief, 2 enlisted
        Flight     - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
        Supply     - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
        Food       - 1 Chief, 1 enlisted
        Admin      - 1 enlisted
        (Ship's Surgeon)
        Medical    - 1 enlisted
        Sanitation - 1 enlisted
    Flight  4
        (Flight Officer)
        2 Warrant Officers, 2 Chiefs
    Troops  0
    TOTAL  90
COMPUTER/SENSOR/COUNTER-SENSOR
    Model 9fib Sensor Suite               (12 energy points required)
ENGINEERING
    J4 Jump Drive                        (760 energy points required)
    2G/Agility Maneuver Drive            (380 energy points required)
    Power Plant                         (772 energy points generated)
    Fuel Purifier
FUEL TANKAGE CAPACITY
    7600 dtons                                           (one Jump 4)
    772 dtons                               (4 weeks power plant ops)
ENDURANCE
    230 dtons Cargo for 10 Months Endurance
WEAPONS
    2 Factor 9 Beam Laser Batteries (30 energy points req'd, 60 avail)
        Backup Power for each turret - 3 Shots
        2 Gunnery Stations
DEFENSES
    Factor 9 Nuclear Damper Screen        (90 energy points required)
    2 Factor 9 Sand Caster Batteries - 3 Salvos ea
        Backup Power for each turret
        Reload Magazine for each turret - 3 Reloads of 3 Salvos ea
        2 Gunnery Stations
    Armor 2 (2 factors for tech 10 hull, 0 factors added)
    6 Damage Control Stations
CREW ACCOMODATIONS
    50 Crew Staterooms
    Medical Facility - 20 dtons
    Brig - 4 dtons
    Recreation - 20 dtons
CARRIED CRAFT
    3 Lifeboats (in standard boat bays)
    2 Ship's Gigs (in standard boat bays)
    2 Air Rafts
CARGO
    0
MISCELLANEOUS
    2 Extra Staterooms
    8 Lowberths

 

[flykiller]

Alice Modules

Alice modules are built at any Tech 9 world, with the shipyard at Junidy contributing most. The modules available are:

Cargo Module

While each ship in the fleet has its own cargo stores and is (theoretically) capable of independent operations for ten months, in practice there is always something they need but aren't carrying. In addition each ship must keep up with regular and annual maintenance, even if partially deferred. Each cargo module is fitted with four ship's boat bays and four cargo gigs, and a supply division section consisting of twenty supply personnel and sixteen boat pilots and flight control and the hotel services to support them. This occupies 300 dtons within the cargo module, leaving 4600 dtons available for cargo, spare parts, and supplies. An Alice-class with a cargo module is assigned to most fleet elements, in peacetime one per Battle Group, to keep up with these supply, maintenance, and repair issues.

Mobile Shipyard Module

The Mobile Shipyard is not full service (some jobs require a full dockside yard) but it comes close and is able to handle most maintenance and field repairs and almost any emergency repair. This 4900 dton module is a warren for 400 expert civilian personnel and their hotel services, shops, bays, stores, computers, robot assistants, and computerized testing facilities, along with cargo and repair gigs and their associated pilots and flight control. Most Mobile Shipyards are well-regarded both by the fleet and by their workers,and provide continuous hands-on experience working under the direction of trade masters. They also are popular for having all the benefits of imperial naval service with little of the downside. On those few occasions when not engaged in work most personnel are in lowberth to preserve their lifespans. In peacetime one Alice with a Mobile Shipyard Module is assigned to each Battle Group.

Marine Fleet Battalion

Discussed here.

Rescue/Recovery/Hospital

This module carries two rescue/recovery companies and four full service maximum technology hospital sections and personnel sufficient to treat and initiate rehabilitation to any human injury. Each rescue/recovery company consists of four rescue/recovery gigs and up to eight personnel available for each gig, trained to secure and sustain and access and recover personnel from heavily damaged ships and hazardous situations. Each hospital section consists of two ambulance gigs and bays, a mass-casualty triage intake deck, four surgical/intervention theaters, sixteen intensive care units, sixty-four personnel recovery units, four rehab decks, and twenty lowberths, along with associated offices, imaging and testing labs, nursing stations, pharmacies, robot stations, and other support. Other module features include flight control, stores, hotel services for all personnel, and lowberthing to preserve personnel lifespans. The rescue/recovery companies are a mix of scout service and civilians, and the hospital personnel a mix of naval and naval reserve personnel. In peacetime one Alice with a Rescue/Recovery/Hospital Module is assigned to each Line Fleet and to any independent Battle Group task force.

 

[kilemall]

Hmm, looks like a lot of cherry picks Aramis, mostly the whole RL IR thing.

At the level of IR detection you are talking about, virtually no patrol numbers are needed in conventional system space, because everything for 50-100 AU around a detector is going to catch everything that moves.

I don't see ANY ref going to 100 AU detection systems anytime soon.

So one of the things you have to roll with is decide what your detection limits are for the sort of game you want.

And then when you have that, you have the levels of IR or other emissions control that are in the game.

That's what you got, and the assumption is that it can and IS built into ships AND space facilities. The heat and radiation emissions are DEALT with.

The comments about humint and power are exactly right, I had in mind a lot of bases in rock with ice for power and oxygen and yes everything has to have power source to run.

The Cloud is metal poor, so even smashed up ships are worth dying to capture just for the hull.

Everything is more expensive and breaks down, needing a steady flow of captured supply just to keep facilities and population alive. No shipyards, so when ships get past their maintenance the pirates need to get new rides, or at least drives.

The model is Tortuga, a meeting place for pirates to party, crew up, beach the ships for minor repairs, etc. and do their thing.

That and shady orgs doing unpleasant things in outlaw drugs, genetics and worse.

The humint IS the game, a game of wits and spies. You bet a base can be crushed fast. So paranoia and security protocol and misdirection and counterintel/bribery is the order of the day.

 

[aramis]

And that's how you do it: stay one step ahead, grease some palms, and - like any good organized crime syndicate knows - keep it low-key enough that you don't arouse more heat than you can deal with. And, if you will pardon my lapse into the vulgar: don't shit where you eat. Basic organized crime common sense.

If I have this right, Oort cloud objects are anywhere from 5,000 to 100,000 AU out. I'm getting at minimum about 4 weeks before EM emissions from an object in the Oort region reaches the habitable region, much longer if they're farther out. Then another week for something to jump out there and investigate. If the base itself is jump-mobile - say an assortment of freighters and such converted to act as storage and repair facilities - they can be gone before anyone arrives to investigate. The fuel is out there to be had, it's just a matter of mining, melting and cracking it. And, an effective organized crime syndicate knows how to hide in plain sight, or we wouldn't have such trouble with houses of prostitution and drug trafficking that we've had over the past century and more.

Humans are very, very good at being bad, when they organize and put their minds to it.

Everything I've seen says 1000 to 10000 AU. That "Fuel out there" is jump distance away; if you're burning to get there, it's 3-5 weeks apart.

The Kuiper is about 80 to 500 AU. Note that Pluto is still more than 10 days burn.

Permitting & using the vulgar vernacular, "Shitting where you eat" would be pretty much any attack in the same system as the base. Because at that range, 1000/206265 th of 10000 km is about 48 km jump accuracy. If we knock that up 3 orders for reverse engineering, you're still getting a bearing giving you visual range of the rock. And still have a reason to look for the rock in the first place.

If the guvvies won't tackle it, hire mercs...

 

[flykiller]

Fleet Frontier Cruiser, Bishop-class

While the Imperial Fleet defends the Imperium from external threats, the Bishop deals with internal less-than-warfare threats that do not warrant full naval attention. While they may conduct general patrols the Bishop's primary mission is to respond to known internal trouble spots, lingering in-system or perhaps shuttling between two or three related zones of interest for some time. Tech 14, up to Jump 3 capable, Maneuver/Agility 5. Weapons consist of twelve Factor 9 Beam Laser batteries and four Factor 9 Missile Bay batteries, a squadron of 8 Asp-class fighters, and a simple infantry expanded company of imperial marines mounted on five Infantry Gigs. Defenses are Armor 10 (6 factors due to tech level, with 4 factors added), two Factor 9 Sand batteries, a Factor 9 Nuclear Damper screen, and a Factor 1 Meson Screen. The Bishop also is fitted with a Commodore's Command Deck.

Bridge crew is overmanned, and hull crew is overmanned in engineering and gunnery departments, to foster officer development and crew training and to reinforce operational reliability and damage control capabilities. Engineering department includes a dedicated damage control division of 1 officer and 3 chiefs who oversee training of enlisted men rotated in from other divisions. Logistics endurance is the standard two months, plus cargo space for eight months, for a total of ten months self-supporting deployment capability. Tier 2 medical services, expanded living conditions, and hotel services further enhance ship operational independence and crew deployment endurance. Fuel scoops and fuel purification facilities allow wilderness refueling. The Bishop carries a full ship's boat and flight crew complement, along with lifeboats for the entire crew and an Ambeau Jump-4 boat to summon help if the Bishop becomes marooned for any reason.

Bishops make contact with planetary systems, landing and discharging liberty parties for significant lengths of time, somewhat more frequently than regular fleet elements. Consequently many vilani-heritage officers of high and low status seek Bishop command even in low-activity patrol regions as a way of meeting planetary officials and building up their post-service retirement social networks, and many crew view Bishops as the way to "join the navy and see the universe". In addition a Bishop's marines see considerably more action than most, and its fighter crews see occasional engagements.

Bishops almost always deploy as a task force with a squadron of four Irkhuar, with the overall command assigned to a Commodore. Operational situations may require this task force to break up to cover a larger area. It should be noted that Bishops and their task forces are meant to apply overwhelming force to one or two rogue ships or to small isolated illegal operations, not planet-wide emergencies or rebellions or criminal cultures. If a significant troop presence is required then an Alice with a Marine Battalion or a troop ship with an Army Brigade may be deployed with the task force, but anything more than this will result in a show-of-force upgrade in naval attention and resources.

Bishops are built at Palique.

"Bishop" was a terran admiral famous for ruling his district with an iron hand.

HULL
    Tech 14, Spheroid, Streamlined, Landing-Capable
    19,000 dtons displacement
    (29,466 dtons construction yardspace)
MANNING
    Command  17
        Captain
        Executive Officer
        Operations Officer
        Chief Engineer
        Gunnery Officer
        Senior Pilot, 3 pilots
        Senior Navigator, 2 navigators
        Computer Officer
        Comms Officer
        Flight Officer
        Ship's Surgeon
        Squadron Officer
    Engineering  103
        (Computer Officer), 2 Chiefs
        (Comms Officer), 1 Chief, 4 enlisted
        Jump Drive Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 8 enlisted
        Maneuver Drive Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 27 enlisted
        Power Plant Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 29 enlisted
        Fuel Systems Division Officer, 2 Chiefs, 10 enlisted
        Damage Control Division Officer, 3 Chiefs
    Gunnery  49
        Laser Battery Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 14 enlisted
        Missile Bay Battery Division Officer, 2 Chiefs, 10 enlisted
        Screens Division Officer, 2 Chiefs, 10 enlisted
        Sand Division - 1 Chief, 3 enlisted
    Service  58
        (Operations Officer)
        Bridge     - 2 Chiefs,  8 enlisted
        Flight     - 2 Chiefs,  8 enlisted
        Supply     - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
        Food       - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
        Admin      - 1 Chief,   2 enlisted
        Commodore's Deck - 3 Chiefs, 12 enlisted
        (Ship's Surgeon)
        Medical    - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
        Sanitation - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
    Flight  58
        (Flight Officer)
        13 Warrant Officers, 13 Chiefs
        (Squadron Officer)
        Pilots - 8 Warrant Officers, 8 Chiefs
        Support - 4 Chiefs, 12 enlisted
    Troops  60
        (Executive Officer)
        Lieutenant, Staff Sergeant, 2 Comms, 2 Medics, 2 Messengers
        (Sgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
        (Sgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
        (Sgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
        (Sgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
    TOTAL  345
COMPUTER/SENSOR/COUNTER-SENSOR
    Model 8fib Sensor Suite                (9 energy points required)
ENGINEERING
    J3 Jump Drive                        (570 energy points required)
    5G/Agility Maneuver Drive            (950 energy points required)
    Power Plant                        (1447 energy points generated)
    Fuel Purifier
FUEL TANKAGE CAPACITY
    5700 dtons                                           (one Jump 3)
    1447 dtons                              (4 weeks power plant ops)
ENDURANCE
    437 dtons Cargo for 10 Months Endurance
WEAPONS
    12 Factor 9 Beam Laser Batteries     (360 energy points required)
        Backup Power for each turret - 3 Shots
        12 Gunnery Stations
    4 Factor 9 Missile Bay Batteries - 48 Salvos
DEFENSES
    Factor 9 Nuclear Damper Screen        (90 energy points required)
    Factor 1 Meson Screen                 (38 energy points required)
    2 Factor 9 Sand Caster Batteries - 3 Salvos ea
        Backup Power for each turret
        Reload Magazine for each turret - 3 Reloads of 3 Salvos ea
        2 Gunnery Stations
    Armor 10 (6 factors for tech 14 hull, plus 4 factors added)
    12 Damage Control Stations
CREW ACCOMODATIONS
    190 Crew Staterooms
    Medical Facility - 60 dtons
    Brig - 20 dtons
    Recreation - 56 dtons
CARRIED CRAFT
    1 Ambeau-class Fleet Messenger Boat
    11 Lifeboats (in standard boat bays)
    8 Ship's Gigs (in standard boat bays)
    5 Infantry Gigs (in standard boat bays)
    2 Air Rafts (16 dtons)
    8 Asp-class Fighters (in 117 dton boat bays)
CARGO
    0
MISCELLANEOUS
    4 Extra Staterooms
    24 Lowberths
    Troop Deck (40 dtons)
    Commodore's deck (240 dtons)
      Commodore's Bridge
      Commodore's Suite
      Commodore's support staff
      Commodore's gig and bay

 

[flykiller]

Asp-class Fighter

A fast small-craft for dealing with tech 13 or less opponents. Asps always deploy in pairs at minimum, but usually in flights of four. Asps are quite capable of two-week deployments but usually remain fairly near their launching facilities.

Tech 14, 90 dtons, Spheroid, Streamlined
Armor 12 (6 from Tech 14, plus 6 Factors added)
Maneuver/Agility 6, two weeks of fuel
Full Bridge, Model 7fib (tech 14, 6fib stats) Computer/Sensor/Counter-Sensor Suite
2 Pilots, 2 Cabins, boat stores, airlock
1 Factor 5 Fusion Canon
1 Factor 3 Missile Battery, 3 Salvos

 

[whartung]

Rather than worrying about IR detection, the game is to embrace it. Piracy is possible because the cloud is NOT sparsely populated, but, rather, literally dotted with small outposts everywhere. The problem isn't detecting the pirate base, the problem is that it looks like every other legit outpost and simply blends in with the noise.

 

[aramis]

Rather than worrying about IR detection, the game is to embrace it. Piracy is possible because the cloud is NOT sparsely populated, but, rather, literally dotted with small outposts everywhere. The problem isn't detecting the pirate base, the problem is that it looks like every other legit outpost and simply blends in with the noise.

Why would they be settling out there? It's jump distance away from everything else (including other KBO's and Oort objects), and where there's an oort and/or kuiper belt, more than likely, there re much more concentrated resources closer in and easier to get to... and which have much more energy readily available.

I find it more of a logic fail that the oort and kuiper belts would be densely inhabited than some pirates will be based there...

 

[Condottiere]

Needs something to attract inhabitants.

If you aren't happy in the goldilocks zone, starships help you to get to another one.

Second sun?

 

[warwizard]

Aramis, the problem you are ignoring is that we are using a high sensitivity narrow field of view sensor to make the detections on voyager, we are able to use a narrow FOV tracker because we already know where voyager is and where it will be. The inference that you are making is that we can perform a 360 by 360 degree sky sweep in a day or so at the levels of sensitivity needed to detect Voyager, and that just is not so. A detector is 4 orders of sensitivity less sensitive than a tracker, so the range at which we can detect an unknown object is 1/8 the range at which we can track a known object. You would need 82944, 1.25 degree trackers to conduct a 360 by 360 degree sky survey, and to get actual position rather than just a bearing, you will need at least three such platforms, each with the cost of 82944 trackers at the maximum sensitivity your civilization can produce, in other words, the capability you are envisioning is very expensive and would be on a purpose built platform.

 

[whartung]

Why would they be settling out there? It's jump distance away from everything else (including other KBO's and Oort objects), and where there's an oort and/or kuiper belt, more than likely, there re much more concentrated resources closer in and easier to get to... and which have much more energy readily available.

Beats me, it's his story, not mine.

 

[flykiller]

Fleet Command Ship

The Fleet Command Ship's primary mission is to provide a fleet-going platform for Battle Group, Line Fleet, and Sector Fleet Admirals, and it mounts an Admiral's Deck to this end. Tech 15, up to Jump 4 capable, Maneuver/Agility 6. Not intended to stand in any line of combat, the ship is nevertheless armed with 16 Factor 9 Missile Bay Batteries and may in fact move forward to employ those batteries at a critical battle juncture. Defenses are Armor 7 (7 factors due to tech level, 0 factors added), two Factor 9 Sand batteries, a Factor 9 Nuclear Damper screen, and a Factor 9 Meson Screen. The ship also carries a platoon of marines mounted on four Infantry Gigs, and while these are for direct protection of the Admiral's person only they sometimes are utilized to affect a ground confrontation's outcome.

The Command Ship crew is overmanned, and hull crew is overmanned in engineering and gunnery departments, to foster officer development and crew training and to reinforce operational reliability and damage control capabilities. Engineering department includes a dedicated damage control division of 1 officer and 3 chiefs who oversee training of enlisted men rotated in from other divisions. Logistics endurance is the standard two months, plus cargo space for eight months, for a total of ten months self-supporting deployment capability. Tier 2 medical services, expanded living conditions, and hotel services further enhance ship operational independence and crew deployment endurance. Fuel scoops and fuel purification facilities allow wilderness refueling. The Command Ship carries a full ship's boat and flight crew complement, along with lifeboats for the entire crew and an Ambeau Jump-4 boat to summon help if the Command Ship becomes marooned for any reason.

Significant ship fittings and crew are devoted to support of the Admiralty functions. Admiral's Decks are noted for their elegant high-tech battle bridges, their dedicated support staff, and their luxury fittings. While not large or extensive each one is capable of appropriately receiving any noble up to a Duke on a temporary basis, and they frequently do.

After several unfortunate incidents during the last war with the Zhodani and one engagement with the Sword Worlds, Fleet Command ships are built only at dedicated secure slips in the tech 15 shipyards of Mora and Trin, and their crews taken strictly from those worlds.

HULL
    Tech 15, Spheroid, Streamlined, Landing-Capable
    19,000 dtons displacement
    (28,423 dtons construction yardspace)
MANNING
    Command  17
        Captain
        Executive Officer
        Operations Officer
        Chief Engineer
        Gunnery Officer
        Senior Pilot, 3 pilots
        Senior Navigator, 2 navigators
        Computer Officer
        Comms Officer
        Flight Officer
        Ship's Surgeon
        Admiralty Liaison Officer
    Engineering  100
        (Computer Officer), 2 Chiefs
        (Comms Officer), 1 Chief, 4 enlisted
        Jump Drive Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 10 enlisted
        Maneuver Drive Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 33 enlisted
        Power Plant Division Officer, 4 Chiefs, 16 enlisted
        Fuel Systems Division Officer, 2 Chiefs, 12 enlisted
        Damage Control Division Officer, 3 Chiefs
    Gunnery  58
        Missile Bay Battery Division Officer, 6 Chiefs, 34 enlisted
        Screens Division Officer, 2 Chiefs, 10 enlisted
        Sand Division - 1 Chief, 3 enlisted
    Service  52
        (Operations Officer)
        Bridge     - 2 Chiefs,  8 enlisted
        Flight     - 2 Chiefs,  4 enlisted
        Supply     - 1 Chief,   2 enlisted
        Food       - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
        Admin      - 1 Chief,   2 enlisted
        (Ship's Surgeon)
        Medical    - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
        Sanitation - 1 Chief,   4 enlisted
        (Admiralty Liaison Officer)
        Admiral's Deck - 3 Chiefs, 12 enlisted
    Flight  32
        (Flight Officer)
        12 Warrant Officers, 12 Chiefs
        (Admiralty Liaison Officer)
        4 Warrant Officers, 4 Chiefs
    Troops  60
        (Executive Officer)
        Captain, 1st Sergeant, 2 Comms, 2 Medics, 2 Messengers
        (SSgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
        (SSgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
        (SSgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
        (SSgt, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines, Crpl + 3 Marines)
    Admiral's Deck  40 (assumed)
    TOTAL  359
COMPUTER/SENSOR/COUNTER-SENSOR
    Model 9fib Suite                     (12 energy points required)
ENGINEERING
    J4 Jump Drive                       (760 energy points required)
    6G/Agility Maneuver Drive          (1140 energy points required)
    Power Plant                        (xxx energy points generated)
    Fuel Purifier
FUEL TANKAGE CAPACITY
    7600 dtons                                          (one Jump 4)
    1584 dtons                             (4 weeks power plant ops)
ENDURANCE
    393 dtons Cargo for 10 Months Endurance
WEAPONS
    17 Factor 9 Missile Bay Batteries - 48 Salvos ea
DEFENSES
    Factor 9 Nuclear Damper Screen       (90 energy points required)
    Factor 9 Meson Screen               (342 energy points required)
    2 Factor 9 Sand Caster Batteries - 3 Salvos ea
        Backup Power for each turret
        Reload Magazine for each turret - 3 Reloads of 3 Salvos ea
        2 Gunnery Stations
    Armor 7 (7 factors for tech 15 hull, 0 factors added)
    10 Damage Control Stations
CREW ACCOMODATIONS
    198 Crew Staterooms
    Medical Facility - 40 dtons
    Brig - 30 dtons
    Recreation - 40 dtons
CARRIED CRAFT
    1 Ambeau-class Fleet Messenger Boat
    12 Lifeboats (in standard boat bays)
    8 Ship's Gigs (in standard boat bays)
    4 Infantry Gigs (in standard boat bays)
    2 Air Rafts (16 dtons)
CARGO
    0
MISCELLANEOUS
    4 Extra Staterooms
    24 Lowberths
    Troop Deck (40 dtons)
    Admiral's deck (300 dtons)
      Admiral's Bridge
      Admiral's Suite
      Admiral's Support Staff
      Admiral's Medical Bay
      Admiral's gig and bay
      arriving gig bays

 

[kilemall]

Why would they be settling out there? It's jump distance away from everything else (including other KBO's and Oort objects), and where there's an oort and/or kuiper belt, more than likely, there re much more concentrated resources closer in and easier to get to... and which have much more energy readily available.

I find it more of a logic fail that the oort and kuiper belts would be densely inhabited than some pirates will be based there...

Hmm, I could see two drivers of Oort population- high world pop, or high law level.

 

[kilemall]

Aramis, the problem you are ignoring is that we are using a high sensitivity narrow field of view sensor to make the detections on voyager, we are able to use a narrow FOV tracker because we already know where voyager is and where it will be. The inference that you are making is that we can perform a 360 by 360 degree sky sweep in a day or so at the levels of sensitivity needed to detect Voyager, and that just is not so. A detector is 4 orders of sensitivity less sensitive than a tracker, so the range at which we can detect an unknown object is 1/8 the range at which we can track a known object. You would need 82944, 1.25 degree trackers to conduct a 360 by 360 degree sky survey, and to get actual position rather than just a bearing, you will need at least three such platforms, each with the cost of 82944 trackers at the maximum sensitivity your civilization can produce, in other words, the capability you are envisioning is very expensive and would be on a purpose built platform.

Which might be reasonable to do for a high pop high tech starport A place, or a Naval Base.

Also, TL would presumably kick in at some point.

 

[kilemall]

Beats me, it's his story, not mine.

Because, illegal activity or shunned.

Massachusetts and Utah might as well have been in the Oort Cloud when the Pilgrims and Mormons went to settle them respectively.

Oh ya forgot, fuel stations. For instance, IMTU Earth can get to 2 parsec places by using Oort fuel stations. That was the original impetus for me looking at that environment in the first place.

By the time Jump-2 is invented these places will fall into disrepair and disuse, likely losing reputation too. They'll be like coaling stations, Route 66 filling stations and other transportation logistics ephemera left behind by technology, possibly romantically remembered or memorialized.