Athena-class Drop Support Carrier

[sabredog]

Dunno why I do this to myself, but again it's 4 in the morning, the fuselage on my sturmovik model is locked up, and I can't sleep....so I figured I might as well get all this typed up, posted and see how it flies. LOL..."flies" I kill myself sometimes!

OK, this kind of really goes with my full drop infantry file that goes IMTU, but somebody out there my find it amusing or useful. The ship might seem a bit overlarge for the seemingly small amount of stuff it carries but, then it also has to carry a heck of a lot of fuel, support craft, weapons to support an assault landing with heavy missile ortillery, and a full regiment of drop infantry and another of IFV's to support them if needed. So I kind of tried to keep something like the USS Tarawa in mind, albeit with only a quarter of the Marines. But then I figure 520 battledress equipped Marines with FGMP's and nuke-firing autocannon might just be as dangerous as 2000 (a Tarawa's compliment) of today's US Marines.

OK, maybe not, but close enough for Traveller anyway.

SO here we go: be patient, not only is the warship here, but so are the landers, picket boats, and a couple of drones...


Athena-class Drop Support Carrier TL-15

75,000 ton close structure w/ scoops and fuel purifier (High Guard design)

Jump Drive (3) Jump-3
Maneuver Drive (4) 4-G (Agility 2 / Emergency agility 4)
Power Plant (7) (energy=4797)

Fuel = 35,250 tons Cargo = 1200 tons

Computer = Model 7fib (CPU-15/ Storage-35)
+ Backup Computer Mod 7fib

Vehicles = 4 Valkyrie-class Heavy Assault Landers
4 Vigilant-class Picket Boats
10 Standard Cutter (with 1 module each installed)
20 Cutter Modules (10 AFV Modules, 5 Assault Support, 3 Medevac, 2 Growler)
3 Standard Pinnace
2 Standard Ship’s Boat (Gigs)
20 M-9b Crocodile Grav IFV

500 ton Assembly / Maintenance Deck

Cargo = 1600 tons

Medical Facilities include 50 Emergency Low Berths

Weapons= 60, 100 ton Missile Bays (w/ 1000 ton magazine for ortillery support)
5, 100 ton Meson Bays
50, Triple Beam Laser Turrets

Defenses= Code 9 Armor
Code 7 Nuclear Damper
Code 6 Meson Screen

Drop Facilities= 100 Drop Tubes (1 launch/minute)
10 Decoy Drone Launchers (firing 3 decoys per launcher in each drop salvo of 100 IDT troops)
Armory & Maintenance Facilities for 550 Battledress/weapons/+ 100 tons assembly/muster deck

Crew:

Command
Captain Chief Medical Officer
Executive Officer 2 Bridge Division Midshipmen
1st Pilot Communications Officer
2nd Pilot Computer Officer
Sailing Master
Master’s Mate (Navigation)

Engineering
Chief Engineering Officer
2 Engineering Midshipmen
165 Assorted Engineering Ratings
(various specialties)

Screens Control Division
Chief Defensive Weapons Commander
2 Midshipmen (one per system)
4 Ratings (Meson Screen)
4 Ratings (Nuclear Damper)

Weapons
Chief Offensive Weapons Commander
Missile Battery Officer
Meson Battery Officer
Turret Batteries Officer
6 Missile Bay Midshipmen
5 Meson Bay Midshipmen
5 Turret Midshipmen
120 Bay Weapon Ratings
10 Meson Bay Ratings
5 Turret Battery Ratings

Ship Security (Naval) (off-watch security acts as damage control personnel)
Chief Security Commander
First Watch Officer
Second Watch Officer
Third Watch Officer
First Watch Team (40 Naval Security Troopers)
Second Watch Team (40 Naval Security Troopers)
Third Watch Team (40 Naval Security Troopers)

Flight Deck Section
Chief Flight Operations Officer (Operations)
Valkyrie Launch Commander (Operations)
Picket Flight Commander (Operations)
Small Craft Commander (Operations)
Valkyrie Crews (40)
Picket Boat Crews (60)
Small Craft Crews (20)

Drop Command and Control
Drop Control Commander
1st Drop Officer
2nd Drop Officer
Defensive Countermeasures Officer (decoy operations)
Technical Support 300 personnel of assorted ranks and civilian specialists (suit & weapons maintenance / Drop Tube and Decoy maintenance)


Services Division
150 assorted ratings (mainly midshipmen) and civilian specialists


IDT Drop Contingent

Drop Regiment (520 troops @ 1.5tons per man for living and equipment space)

M-9b Crocodile Crews (60 armored cavalry / combat armor equipped)




Athena-class Drop Support Carriers are purpose built drop ships that are designed to drop a regiment of drop infantry, their supporting armored cavalry regiment, and provide both ortillery and close air support (by means of the various small craft). The ships are designed to be fast and be able to range far beyond supply lines if needed by including a large cargo capacity and extensive magazines for the missile bays – useful for ortillery and ship-to-ship combat. Although they do not have a spinal weapon the Athena’s are still considered a formidable opponent against non-capital warships and designed for survivability within the parameters of their expected mission.

Athenas are also equipped with a secondary combat bridge and Model 7fib Computer in case of battle damage causing the primaries to fail. Fuel is sufficient for one 3-parsec jump and then a 1-parsec jump)

The decision to not include a spinal weapon was made to conserve power for extended jump as well as acceleration capability. The typical full-assault mission would involve making a high acceleration pass over the drop area and eject the IDT regiment in one pass. Then set up an orbital pattern for ortillery support and deploy the cutters with the regiment’s Crocodile IFV’s just over the battle’s horizon line. The cutters will then return for refitting with assault support gunship modules, “Growler” battlefield management and ECM modules, and Medevac modules for setting up casualty stations. If needed the Valkyries will deploy “Hornet” hunter-killer drones to provide close air support and off load the Nightingale casualty recovery drones at the Medevac center.

More commonly the IDT troops are dropped without all the bells and whistles just over the horizon of the target – or directly on top of it if surprise and time are more important than stealth. Sometimes the Crocodiles are soft-landed with IDT troops onboard if heavier support weapons are needed, but usually the IFV’s are kept to the rear as a fire support reserve.

Currently there are 5 Athena-class ships in the Imperial Fleet: (and their associated IDT regiment, some of which are out of numerical order due to losses)

HMS Athena (1st IDT “Spartans”)
HMS Durga (2nd IDT “Hellbenders”)
HMS Nike (3rd IDT “Reapers”)
HMS Amazon (6th IDT “Black Hearts”)
HMS Freya (7th IDT “Vikings”)

 

[sabredog]

Valkyrie-class Heavy Assault Lander TL-15

500 ton streamlined wedge w/ scoops and fuel purifier

Maneuver Drive (6) 6-G (Agility 6 / Emergency agility 3)
Power Plant (E ="15") (EP=70)

Fuel = 70tons Cargo = 40 tons

Armor= 5

Computer = Model 4fib

Vehicles = 6 “Nightingale” Casualty Recovery Drones
4 “Hornet” hunter-Killer Drones

Weapons = 4 Triple Turrets (typically PMP)
1 PAW Turret

Screens= Code 3 Nuclear Damper

Armor= 5

Passengers = 160 combat troops (with battledress and weapons), the Modular Crash Couches can be converted to casualty aid stations at a rate of 2 couches per patient.

Staterooms= 10 (These craft rarely spend time doing more than short trips to and from the mother ship and landing zones so there are only staterooms for the immediate crew)

Crew: Pilot
Navigator
5 Gunners
3 Engineers


Valkyrie-class landers are specifically designed for the use of Imperial Drop troops for recovering troops and casualties. They also carry support weapons and drones to provide close air support if needed but they are not usually used for this sine they are too valuable in their traditional role.

The modular design of the crash couches allow for casualty care at a rate of 2 couches per patient. Usually the patient is not removed from their battlesuit until onboard their main ship or a hospital ship equipped for full trauma care. The onboard trauma maintenance of the suit, combined with the support system of the modular couch can stabilize the patient for the time required. A feature of the modular design of the couches also includes grav sleds which can allow an orderly to disconnect and guide up to 4 units (in the casualty configuration) in a single unit out of the passenger bay and to where care is to be given to the patients. This feature also allows technicians to quickly convert some or all of the passenger bay of a Valkyrie into a cargo bay.

 

[sabredog]

Vigilant-class Light Picket Boat TL-15

200 ton streamlined wedge w/ scoops and fuel purifier

Maneuver Drive (6) 6-G (Agility 6 / Emergency agility 3)
Power Plant (9) (EP=18)

Fuel = 36 tons (60 day supply) Cargo = 22 tons

Computer = Model 4fib

Vehicles = 0

Weapons = 2 Triple Turrets (typically PMP)

Staterooms= 15 (Because these craft are often deployed on extended missions screening far beyond the fleet or ship they assigned to they are made to be as roomy as possible to reduce crew stress.)

Crew: Captain (Typically a Lt. Commander)
Pilot
Navigator
Communications
Computer
Medical Officer
2 Gunners
1 Engineer
6 Marines (one will act as assistant to the Engineer, and the others spell the gunners)

The Vigilant-class Light Picket Boat is typical of the small non-starship that might be carried by larger capital warships for long-range deployment when first entering a system for screening and recon duty.

 

[sabredog]

“Nightingale” Casualty Recovery Drone TL-15

The “Nightingale” is a 6 ton drone designed to recover combat casualties even if they are wearing battledress from an active battlefield. The drone is armored to the equivalent of Combat Armor+7, has smoke and anti-laser aerosol dispensers, Advanced ECM, and the “B” models are also beginning to be equipped with the Scatterspray Point Defense Weapons System to protect it from incoming projectiles. The “Nightingales” also have 2 active ECM “Screamers” (about the size of a rocket-powered beer keg and amazingly shaped like one to no end of amusement to the troops) that are decoys which the drone will deploy when operating in an especially “active” combat zone.

The drone has room on board for 4 casualties in full battledress which it grapples and loads into a rotating drum inside the center of the drone. The drone’s onboard medical systems then plug into the trauma maintenance systems of the battledress (or combat armor) to stabilize the patient. If the condition of the patient is dire enough the drone will then induce cold sleep so the patient can be stabilized until arriving at a casualty clearing station for triage evaluation.

The drones are grav vehicles capable of a 12 hour range at a maximum speed of 360kph, and a nap op earth speed of 200kph.

 

[sabredog]

“Hornet” Hunter-Killer Drone TL-15

Kemmer-Lansing GmbH has developed the “Hornet” hunter-killer drone to provide close support to front line combat troops under a wide variety of conditions. The primary user of the drone are the Imperial Drop Troops and Scout Reconnaissance Regiments assigned to Imperial Line Marine Regiments during wartime.

The 9 ton, grav drone is armored to the equivalent of Combat+9 and capable of speeds of up to 400kph / 250 at nap of earth with a combat range of 6 hours. The drone is semi-autonomous with an active controller monitoring it as it cruises the battlefield in whatever pre-programmed pattern the operator selects, and when encountering an enemy target the operator then selects a response. In case of the operator losing contact with the drone the drone then follows a series of pre-set patrol and combat patterns until it runs low on power and returns to base. During this time active control of the drone can be achieved by any personnel who are equipped to so and are within the drone’s communications range of up to 500km. Friendly personnel are equipped with IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) beacons in their armor so the drone will not engage them as hostiles.

The “Hornet” has Advanced active ECM, anti-laser aerosols, and Scatterspray PDWS for incoming projectile protection. It’s offensive capabilities are a primary weapon of either a VRF Gauss Gun w/ a 60 shot (bursts) magazine or a 3cm hyper-velocity autocannon. The autocannon has a magazine loaded with 30 shots (bursts) each of HE, KEAP, and KEAPER ammunition which is selected by either the operator, or if designated to do so by the operator, automatically by the drone itself. The magazine for the autocannon also includes 20 rounds of 30mm, .002kt collapsing rounds fired in single or 4 round bursts.

 

[sabredog]

Yesssss.....I see I forgot the Crocodile IFV's, but I still need to type those into my 'puter and scan the drawing and right now I'm going to try to glue the wings onto my sturmovik and then pass out for a few hours so I can play with the kids in the morning.

The Croc's are also in Striker format so I need to reconfigure them to a useable CT format and the I'll post both. Proly tomorrow or Sunday at the latest in the this same thread if anyone cares.

 

[McPerth]

It seems an interesting design..

If you accept advice, though, I'd reduce teh 100 dton missile bays to 50 dton ones.

At TL 15 50 dton bays are factor 9 (100 dton TL 15 missile bays are not given in the tables, so I guess you use TL 13 ones), so you lose nothing and save 3000 dton for other pourposes, as well as MCr 480.

 

[sabredog]

Naturally I accept criticism...

Firstly I use CT that has been houseruled for 34 years so I can't even remember why I do some things since they are just the way I always have.

I'm using 100t missile bays because while the code factors are there for when I run HG ruled battles, which tend to be very rare and mainly stage dressing events the players are trying to not get squashed during while escaping assaulted planets/saving snarky unappreciative princesses/and other such heroics, I run mainly a two-tiered mish mash of LBB2 and HG rules in a primarily small ship universe.

That way players get to deal play with fusion turrets but the revenue cutters chasing them probably won't have meson turrets. And if the Emperor needs to compare his procreative organs against those of the Other Empire then I have monster fleets of hideously expensive ships so he can impress and scare everyone. And they are fun to design when I'm bored. So I don't bother with those USP codes unless I have the rare pleasure to play a game of real HG against someone else so inclined - and then we have real budgets and basically use Trillion Credit Squadron to keep us honest.

But I do have some internal logic: ergo, that if a ship is used for ortillery support it has to use 100ton missile bays so it can vomit out twice as many missiles in monster sci-fi Katyusha salvos then it would if it had 50 ton bays, and it has to have a magazine equal to a minimum of 10 tons per bay. The original HG had some sort of magazine rule for ortillery, too, but it was deleted from the second edition and my copy long ago disintegrated.

And even if a warship doesn't get used as ortillery support if it has missile bays it still has to have a missile magazine of 2 tons per bay for 50 ton bays, 5 tons for the 100. Reason being that I assume the bay missiles are larger ship-killer types (like Harpoons or Excocets if not Tomahawks) than the standard ones used in a little turret and man-handled onto the launcher like some mini-Sidewinder. So, if they are going to be realistically used for more than however many missiles (and we don't all agree on that number) are in the launcher then it needs some extras somewhere on board.

Anyway, that's why the bigger bays even though they seem like overkill. Sorry for the overlong answer but I've still not been able to sleep all night and am kind exhausted.

 

[sabredog]

Adding the M-9b Crocodile Grav IFV mentioned in the Athena's vehicle load out:

M-9b Crocodile Grav IFV TL-15 5.15MCr
The M-9 was developed as an infantry fighting vehicle grav carrier that could be used as a standard IFV for both battledress and light infantry. Originally the specs were for the M-9 to be able to land on a world through re-entry on its own, but while in theory (and on desperate occasions it has) it can do in practice the design ended up being too non-streamlined and difficult to control. Soft-landing as a required method of transport was the beginning of a lot of teething problems and cost overruns that started with a streamlined combat car similar in size and speed as the M-8 Bulldog grav MBT it was imagined it would descend en mass from orbit with to the bulky, squared-off bullet-shaped IFV with tac missile rails, communications pods, and about everything including the kitchen sink added to it.

Still, it has proven itself in countless battles as highly versatile, deadly if used by commanders who didn’t treat it as a minitank but as the infantry close support fighting vehicle it is, and since you can carry three of them in the same space that one M-8 MBT takes up in a transport they have been very popular as a rapid response combat vehicle, especially with the Imperial Drop Troop regiments who use them exclusively as their infantry combat carrier.

The “B” model was revised after the last war ended and was part of the MBT ULUP (Unit Lifespan Upgrade Program) for all grav combat vehicles. The program also streamlined the diversity of those vehicles and now the two heavy front line vehicles are only the M-8c Bulldog MBT and the M-9b Crocodile IFV and their artillery variants, which merely involve swapping a standardized turret system out of either vehicle.

The Croc’ requires a crew of 3 (commander, gunner, and driver) and can carry either 6 battledress heavy infantry or 8 combat armor equipped light infantry. An ambulance version will carry 10 casualties – 8 if in battledress. The Command & Control version carries 3communications and ELINT personnel and 3 command staff (w/out battledress) – the rest of that version is stuffed with communications and ELINT gathering gear. A light artillery variant was developed but hasn’t proved to be a successful design due to requiring too much power for the mass driver systems so that version was re-designated as a variant for the Bulldog MBT chassis. Cargo stowage, including various nooks and crannies that crew can find is 2 tons.

The Croc’ is 9m long, 4m wide and 2m high at the chassis. The turret is 2m long, 3.5m wide and 1m high and masses 64.4 metric tons. For purposes of shipboard transport it requires a volume of 7 tons if stowed in non-combat ready configuration, 9 tons if ready to deploy to combat immediately upon landing.

Using a 72MW fusion power plant the IFV can reach a maximum speed of 950kph in flight, a cruise speed of 650kph, and a nap of earth speed of 190kph using terrain following ladar. The combat range with 2592 liters of fuel is 24 hours with a rate of consumption of 108 liters/hr at max output.

Defensive Systems

The M-8b is heavier armored than the original with slabs of bonded superdense equaling the following Striker values:

Chassis Front Glacis(50) RL Sides(42) Rear(29) Deck and Belly(34)
Turret Front Glacis(42) RL Sides(37) Rear(37) Deck (34)

The vehicle has active countermeasures including the new Scatterspray PDWS, prismatic anti-laser aerosols, Extensive active ECM, and is a sealed environment with life support for the crew and passengers having an endurance that will last as long as the power for the vehicle will so long as it is being operated on a world with at least a thin atmosphere. Otherwise the life support if 24 hours.

Communications

The Crocodile carries a new communications upgrade for better battlefield datalink integration with other forces and for coordination from orbital as well as ground C3I centers. A 500 power meson communicator system with an integrated battlefield mapbox/computer system is backed up by a 500 power radio and laser communication unit.

Image enhancement with a back up thermal imaging target acquisition weapons guidance system is available to the commander as well as the gunner. The driver has image enhancement and thermal imaging for vision.

Armament

The turret is equipped with an electric powered 2cm hyper-velocity autocannon with a rate of fire of 160rpm and a single barrel. Direct fire control and full stabilization allows the weapon to be used by either the commander or gunner while the IV is on the move and engage up to 16 targets at once.

The weapon fires kinetic energy armor-piercing fins stabilized ammunition with an effective range of 3km. The magazine is equipped with an automatic linkless feed loader and holds 4800 KEAPER rounds (30 shots).

Ammo
2cm KEAPER EFF 3km (22)+5 LNG 4km (20)+4
EXT 5.5(18)+2 Targets 16

The primary anti-vehicular armament of the Crocodile is a turret mounted Bushmaster ATGM box launcher with 4 ready to fire ATGMs. Two spare 4-round disposable box reloads are stowed behind the launcher and are automatically reloaded when the empty “magazine” is ejected after firing the last missile.

Bushmaster ATGM

18cm HEAP warhead PEN=50 Target Designation Fire & Forget guidance
Range 3km wt.= 22kg 844 Cr. Price tag

The commander also has a laser target designation system for marking heavy target threats for artillery and ortillery support.




The commander’s hatch is equipped with a cupola-mounted RAM auto-launcher and there is a coaxial mount VRFGG with a 30 shot magazine for use by the gunner. The RAM launcher has storage for 16 magazines.

The chassis of the current model is now equipped with 4 tactical heavy missile launchers that can fire either the SADARM-2 ATGM that can be equipped with either a standard HEAP warhead or tactical nuclear one. The launchers are rails protected inside closed box firing units and armored. They can be fired by wither the gunner or commander, but for use of the nuclear missiles the commander must use his command override key. In practice this is available to the gunner as well.

SADARM-2 ATGM (Search And Destroy ARMor model 2)

Fire & Forget homing missile that is designed to be a mini-cruise missile for the battlefield containing imaging and electronic output profiles of enemy vehicles so that the ATGM can b launched from cover and then “search” the battlefield within its 6 km combat radius for a suitable enemy target. It then engages the threat with a pop-up dive that allows it to attack the thinner deck armor with its 23cm HEAP or .5kt nuclear warhead. The nuclear warhead is primarily used for bunker-busting and against dispersed, but dug-in armored targets.

HEAP penetration = 57 wt. = 61.75kg 1032Cr. Cost


I know the stats are in Striker format, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to get them to work in CT, MT, MGT,...oh just about any "T" there is nowadays.

 

[samuelvss]

In general, kudos!

I especially like the drones. For the description of the Hornet, I would have the drone select the response, and the sophont-in-the-loop confirm, based on pre-selected criteria the the operator specifies. Then, the drone reacts differently, based on separately selected criteria, when contact is broken.

For instance, if the drone was sent out to play Horatius at the bridge, then the criteria might be "weapons free," shoot anything that moves, within a selected free-fire engagement area. If they were just providing early warning in a fluid, nonlinear battlefield, then it would likely be a weapons tight: only shoot at positively identified targets that shoot first.

The myriad of semi- and fully- automated responses that can be categorized through standardized, easily-recognizable commands is impressive. Perhaps the best way to deal with this potential complexity is to ackowledge the two modes (in contact with operator, and out of contact with the operator), that the operator pre-sets criteria, that the operator comfirms the drone-recommended response in contact, and that the drone automatically executes responses based on the operator's pre-set criteria. Maybe not shorter, but both more flexible and comprehensive without painting oneself into a corner.

 

[sabredog]

In general, kudos!

I especially like the drones. For the description of the Hornet, I would have the drone select the response, and the sophont-in-the-loop confirm, based on pre-selected criteria the the operator specifies. Then, the drone reacts differently, based on separately selected criteria, when contact is broken.


For instance, if the drone was sent out to play Horatius at the bridge, then the criteria might be "weapons free," shoot anything that moves, within a selected free-fire engagement area. If they were just providing early warning in a fluid, nonlinear battlefield, then it would likely be a weapons tight: only shoot at positively identified targets that shoot first.

The myriad of semi- and fully- automated responses that can be categorized through standardized, easily-recognizable commands is impressive. Perhaps the best way to deal with this potential complexity is to ackowledge the two modes (in contact with operator, and out of contact with the operator), that the operator pre-sets criteria, that the operator comfirms the drone-recommended response in contact, and that the drone automatically executes responses based on the operator's pre-set criteria. Maybe not shorter, but both more flexible and comprehensive without painting oneself into a corner.

That is essentially what the drone does: "The drone is semi-autonomous with an active controller monitoring it as it cruises the battlefield in whatever pre-programmed pattern the operator selects, and when encountering an enemy target the operator then selects a response. In case of the operator losing contact with the drone the drone then follows a series of pre-set patrol and combat patterns until it runs low on power and returns to base. During this time active control of the drone can be achieved by any personnel who are equipped to so and are within the drone’s communications range of up to 500km. Friendly personnel are equipped with IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) beacons in their armor so the drone will not engage them as hostiles."

Rather than have a single operator in link and constantly selecting a response on what would slow down response time on a fast, fluid battlefield I wanted the thing to be able to think more for itself, and, also be able to be used by anyone else who is on the scene on the battlefield who needed to have the drone available for a sudden response - or who can direct it as a FAC has the capability.

I probably could have written more plainly I suppose, though.