What do their logistics look like?
How many tankers do they need to support all those ships?
Most ships, including the Tigress-class, can refuel themselves, so no tankers needed.
Just a few ammo tenders, but they probably are not all that large.
Note that this means a tanker squadron can refuel up to six Tigress squadrons.Tanker squadrons are able to refuel a limited number of other squadrons. A tanker squadron may refuel a number of non-tanker squadrons equal to the tanker's defense factor; thus, a 0-0-6 tanker could refuel six squadrons.
the TankRons seem to be more about the refining rather than the refuel proper.
The use of large craft rather than capital ships in a risky activity, as well.
I've always assumed at least a full TankRon of 8-12 heavy cruiser-sized tankers, intended to be divvied, each capapble of refining its maximum tankage in 2-3 hours... Note that most of the actual tankage isn't on the tanker - it's in the fuel shuttles it carries - but the massive processing plants...
Ammo tender = supply ship ≠ tender as in carrier of large vessels.Tenders are components of the BatRon they carry.
Never claimed it did. An ammo tender and a fleet tender are very different vessels.Ammo tender = supply ship ≠ tender as in carrier of large vessels.
There is no term for an ammo ship since ships manufacture their own ammo from waste heat.
Waste heat I can completely agree with, but ammo and other consumables are just details that we normally gloss over. The fleet train is there, it's just not detailed and specified.It's a joke to highlight two gapping holes in the rules - ammo and other consumables, and waste heat.
E.g. a Tigress would launch 10750 missiles per round, or about 80 Dt worth. An entire battle wouldn't take more than ~1 kDt or so, a mere minor detail...
GCr 1.6 is a minor detail for a GCr 360 ship.Maybe a minor deail in volumen, not in cost ,at KCr 150 per nuclear missile...
However I can think of three circumstances where a semi-independent tanker formation would be an invaluable asset.
the tankers could tag along with an extra refuel load, the battle fleet could load up and take another jump into a rear raiding area 6-8 parsecs deep from 'the lines'
Building streamlined warships is far cheaper than building unstreamlined warships and streamlined tankers.while the imperium has deep pockets, in practice there is only so much shipyard space (both for construction and maintenance), especially tech 13+ space. building tankers impinges on that availability.Independent of that, the self-refueling streamlined hull function is a logical build choice especially for the Imperium with deep pockets and surrounded by potential foes.
while the imperium has deep pockets, in practice there is only so much shipyard space (both for construction and maintenance), especially tech 13+ space. building tankers impinges on that availability.
the tankers themselves would need to return. a battle-fleet jump extension of 2 parsecs seems the max.