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master arminas
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Colonel
Joined: 07-Mar-2007 16:14
Posts: 718
Location: United States
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 Posted: 17-Jun-2014 19:59 Post subject: Unique Designs for "By The Horns" by Master Arminas |
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Very shortly, I will start posting another story that I am still working on . . . "By The Horns." But until then, here are a few designs of that story-line. Starting with an old favorite, redesigned and redone.
Enjoy.
MA
_________________
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing--Edmund Burke
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master arminas
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Colonel
Joined: 07-Mar-2007 16:14
Posts: 718
Location: United States
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| Posted: 17-Jun-2014 19:59 Post subject: Unique Designs for "By The Horns" by Master Arminas |
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| Code: | AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Samantha Calderon
Tech: Inner Sphere / 2574
Vessel Type: WarShip
Rules: Level 2, Custom design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 1,100,000 tons
Hull: Chandler Supreme 1100
K-F Drive System: KF Millenium Engineering 498
Length: 960 meters
Sail Diameter: 1,241 meters
Power Plant: GE-Westinghouse KVC-198 Standard
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Armor Type: Jessup Composites 1241/a Improved Ferro-aluminum
Armament:
10 High Energy Systems Nova Heavy NPPC
6 Martin Gordon Blazer NL55
28 Jankowski Mark III NAC/25
32 Aurora Missiliers Deathscap LRM 15
32 Hyades Weapons Consortium Retaliation Autocannon/10
40 Martin Gordon Stiletto Small Laser
4 Norman Raytheon Javelin Barracuda
4 Norman Raytheon Harpoon White Shark
4 Norman Raytheon Tomahawk Killer Whale
Manufacturer: Chandler Shipwrights
Location: New Columbia
Communications System: Winsterhaven Comm Mark 41
Targeting & Tracking System: Berringer Systems SPZ-27f Phased Array
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Samantha Calderon
Mass: 1,100,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 198,000.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Kearny-Fuchida Hyperdrive: Compact (Integrity = 22) 497,750.00
Jump Sail: (Integrity = 5) 85.00
Structural Integrity: 90 99,000.00
Total Heat Sinks: 5,616 Single 4,942.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 14,513.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 2,750.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Food & Water: (360 days supply) 1,620.00
Armor Type: Improved Ferro-aluminum (1,241 total armor pts) 1,978.00
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 210
Fore-Left/Right: 210/210
Aft-Left/Right: 210/210
Aft: 191
Cargo:
Bay 1: Fighters (16) with 4 doors 2,400.00
Small Craft (4) 800.00
Bay 2: Fighters (16) with 4 doors 2,400.00
Small Craft (4) 800.00
Bay 3: Cargo (1) with 4 doors 63,241.00
DropShip Capacity: 4 Docking Hardpoints 4,000.00
Grav Decks #1 - 4: (135-meter diameter) 400.00
Escape Pods: 150 (7 tons each) 1,050.00
Crew and Passengers:
61 Officers (58 minimum) 610.00
204 Crew (204 minimum) 1,428.00
74 Gunners (74 minimum) 518.00
50 1st Class Passengers 500.00
267 2nd Class Passengers 1,869.00
90 Marines 450.00
50 Flag Staff 350.00
104 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Heavy NPPC Nose 30 30 30 30 450 6,000.00
3 NL55 Nose 17 17 17 17 255 3,300.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) Nose 50 50 50 -- 170 6,060.00
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) Nose 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 20 53.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)Nose 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 12 68.00
5 Small Laser Nose 2(15) -- -- -- 5 2.50
1 Barracuda(30 msls) FL/R 2 2 2 2 20 1,980.00
1 White Shark(35 msls) FL/R 3 3 3 3 30 3,040.00
1 Killer Whale(35 msls) FL/R 4 4 4 4 40 3,800.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) FL/R 50 50 50 -- 340 12,120.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) FL/R 50 50 50 -- 340 12,120.00
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) FL/R 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 40 106.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)FL/R 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 24 136.00
5 Small Laser FL/R 2(15) -- -- -- 10 5.00
3 Heavy NPPC L/RBS 45 45 45 45 1350 18,000.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) L/RBS 50 50 50 -- 340 12,120.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) L/RBS 50 50 50 -- 340 12,120.00
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) L/RBS 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 40 106.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)L/RBS 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 24 136.00
5 Small Laser L/RBS 2(15) -- -- -- 10 5.00
1 Barracuda(30 msls) AL/R 2 2 2 2 20 1,980.00
1 White Shark(35 msls) AL/R 3 3 3 3 30 3,040.00
1 Killer Whale(35 msls) AL/R 4 4 4 4 40 3,800.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) AL/R 50 50 50 -- 340 12,120.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) AL/R 50 50 50 -- 340 12,120.00
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) AL/R 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 40 106.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)AL/R 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 24 136.00
5 Small Laser AL/R 2(15) -- -- -- 10 5.00
2 Heavy NPPC Aft 30 30 30 30 450 6,000.00
3 NL55 Aft 17 17 17 17 255 3,300.00
2 NAC/25(100 rounds) Aft 50 50 50 -- 170 6,060.00
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) Aft 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 20 53.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)Aft 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 12 68.00
5 Small Laser Aft 2(15) -- -- -- 5 2.50
1 Lot Spare Parts (5.00%) 55,000.00
104 Bay Personnel Quarters 728.00
1 Flag Bridge 2,750.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 5,616 1,100,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 6,201,085,024 C-Bills
Battle Value: 231,849
Cost per BV: 26,746.22
Weapon Value: 101,588 (Ratio = .44)
Damage Factors: SRV = 9,098; MRV = 8,870; LRV = 6,733; ERV = 2,599
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 708,317
(116,010 Structure, 292,775 Life Support, 299,532 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 397,489 (56% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable |
_________________
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing--Edmund Burke
[Last edited by master arminas on 17-Jun-2014 20:27; edited 1 time in total]
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master arminas
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Colonel
Joined: 07-Mar-2007 16:14
Posts: 718
Location: United States
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| Posted: 17-Jun-2014 20:24 Post subject: Unique Designs for "By The Horns" by Master Arminas |
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Overview
On November 6, 2566, the hull for the first battleship ever produced by the Taurian Concordat was laid down in a ceremony full of fanfare at the Chandler Shipwrights Prometheus Shipyard orbiting New Columbia, deep in the interior of the Hyades Cluster. Protector Caterina Calderon attended, and in a 43-minute speech broadcast throughout the Cluster (eventually reaching every world in the Concordat and beyond; it was in fact viewed with concern on Terra itself sometime later) marked the event with words that would ring across the Periphery.
"It is in hope that through peace will events guide us here in the Concordat. But hope is, by itself, nothing more than a flimsy, unsteady bulwark against the aggression of others; who blinded by ambition seek dominion over all free men and women. I tell you, follow citizens, that this ship, and her sister ships to come, and others like them that even now lie upon the drawing boards of great companies such as this one, across the width and breadth of our Concordat, will serve as our shield, an adamant shield, so that our hope may flourish in peace and prosperity. And should our efforts at peace be for naught, then we take as our motto the ancient worlds, 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death'."
"For more than three centuries have we dwelt here, in this home that we, through our labors and our joys and our sorrows, have carved out from pristine wilderness never before touched by human hands. We left behind the wars and the corruption that has plagued the Inner Sphere since its very beginnings, from the dark tyranny of the Terran Alliance to the feudalistic warlords that govern it today. And yet, even to this day, they pursue us, seeking our allegiance to their way of life, to their form of government. Director General Ian Cameron has told us of his grand vision for a Star League that encompasses all humanity within its grasp; to this we say no. We left you behind us and seek to have nothing more to do with you. GO! Leave these worlds in peace, we have said to the Camerons and the Davions and the Liaos, and yet, still they persist."
"Still, they seek to bring a free people underneath their heel, trod down under their boot. And when honeyed words fail to assuage us of their self-righteous truth, instead they turn to threats and warnings of consequences dire and unfortunate. They threaten us all with war. They threaten us all with becoming their slaves should we not kneel before their altar of One Humanity United."
"And this shall our answer be, to the men and women who seek dominion over us. We shall chart our own course, here in the deepness of space, where we see the light shed by Old Earth's sun more than seven centuries ago, as if it were newly lit. NO. This far shall you go and no further. We will not submit meekly; we will not surrender our liberty; we will not go silent into the night at your command. We offer this unto you, the men and women of the Old Worlds of the Hegemony who still have conscience; we are not your enemies. We are your brothers and your sisters, yet we will not give up our independence to share with you your yoke. Leave us in peace, and peace shall you also have. We shall go our way, and you yours, and in the fullness of time our children and our children's children will see who was right."
"But if men of conscience and with the understanding of the fire of liberty that has been kindled in this far place cannot avert what is to come, then know this all who would be our conquerors. We shall fight for each inch of our sacred soil. We shall demand a price greater than any you have yet paid. We shall not submit, nor shall we yield; and you shall have your war until you can stomach it no further."
"On January 23rd, 2253, Samantha Calderon set foot on Taurus. She had braved the many dangers of not only space, but of the evil, vile men who territories she had to lead her people through to freedom. She founded our colony here, among the glowing cocoon of our Nebula. And that first colony gave birth to ten, and then fifty, and now nearly one hundred worlds that follow her path. She showed us the way, and she protected us in our infancy from those who would have stolen your freedom that she gave so much to ensure would be our gift."
"There is no more fitting name for this mighty ship that will serve as our symbol of independence, our own Protector in deed as well as in name. None that could stand as a greater beacon to our determination and our conviction. Therefore, I, Caterina Calderon, Protector by the Grace of God of the Taurian Homeworlds, and the Taurian Concordat, do hereby christen thee the Taurian Concordat Ship Samantha Calderon! Long may this Samantha serve and protect us as ably as did her namesake. And let her stand as a warning to those who seek to bring threat of death and destruction unto her people; we are neither helpless nor do we need your protection, threaten us at your own peril."
However, this effort, the first (public) attempt by any periphery power to build a true battleship was plagued by problems throughout the construction of the Calderon class. None of the Concordat's shipbuilders had any experience with such a large vessel, and none had ever even attempted to design a compact Kearny-Fuchida Drive Core massing nearly half a million tons. Four separate redesigns of the drive derailed the original construction schedule until finally a stable core was achieved. Gremlins seemed to infest the shipyards, delaying the project time and again, but finally, on December 7, 2574, two years after her original scheduled completion date, TCS Samantha Calderon was launched and commissioned into service. The follow-on vessels were no less complicated to construct, and over the next twenty-two years, until the surrender in 2596, only eleven more ships of this class were completed.
Many officers and men of the TCN, as superstitious an organization as existed, fully expected that the Calderon-class ships would prove themselves as unworkable and a waste of money and effort. Yet from the moment that TCS Samantha Calderon left the shipyards under her own power, she showed no sign of her difficult and complicated birth. During the long years of the War, the Saucy Sam (a nickname bestowed on the ship by her crew) became regarded as a good luck charm. Participating in ten major naval engagements, plus the grinding and bloody five year campaign of attrition in Flannagan's Nebula, this ship was often damage, sometimes severely, but she was never lost. The repair docks held her seven times over the course of her short, but illustrious career, but she soon gained a reputation for having the lowest crew casualties of any ship in the Taurian Fleet. She became infamous among the Star League and Davion Navies as well, as she was often forced to retire, but never before destroying more than four times her own tonnage.
When word of the surrender arrived at the dry dock housing Saucy Sam (for the eighth time!) on September 22, 2596, the station commander (Admiral Erik Crane) directed that rather than be seized as a Star League prize, the Taurian flagship, along with all of the other incomplete and damage ships in dock would instead be scuttled with nuclear demolition charges.
Capabilities
Designed to serve as a true man o' war, the Samantha Calderons borrowed from every lesson that the Taurian Concordat Navy had learned in hundreds of border skirmishes over the centuries. Massing 1.1 million tons, these dreadnoughts were nonetheless capable of achieving an acceleration of 2.5-g's and mounted nearly two thousand tons of improved ferro-aluminum armor plating. This combination of armor protection and speed were nearly unheard of during this era, with only the newest Atreus and Farragut class ships able to keep pace. Not even the Farragut with its advanced ferro-carbide armor carried as much sheer protection, however.
Although classified as a battleship, the Calderons mounted just four docking collars, making them appear to be weak in transport capacity. However, these ships were not design as transports. In the truest Taurian tradition, the Calderons were meant to serve as fighting men o' war. In normal operations, four of the newly developed Harbinger class Escort DropShips would be assigned to each Calderon, with two more aboard each of their escorting Light Cruisers. The Harbingers would provide heavy close-support firepower during combat operations.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: NO HARBINGER CLASS VESSEL SURVIVED THE REUNIFICATION WAR. STAR LEAGUE RECORDS SUGGEST IT WAS A HEAVILY ARMED AND ARMORED CRAFT MASSING BETWEEN 5000 AND 6000 TONS, EQUIPPED WITH ONE OR TWO CAPITAL MISSILE LAUNCHERS AND A LARGE BATTERY OF CONVENTIONAL ARMAMENT, AS WELL AS LAYERS OF FERRO-ALUMINUM ARMOR. STAR LEAGUE TROOPS OCCUPAYING THE CONCORDAT AFTER THE WAR UTTERLY DESTROYED ALL FACILITIES THAT PRODUCED THESE DEADLY SHIPS, ALONG WITH ALL KNOWN RECORDS AND SCHEMATICS. SOME HISTORIANS IN OUR ORDER BELIEVE THAT THE CALDERON/HARBINGER PAIRING WAS INSPIRED BY THE CONGRESS/PENTAGON GROUPS, THOUGH THIS IS STILL SPECULATIVE.]
Thirty-two aerospace fighters (a reinforced air corps of four air divisions) were embarked in two separate launch bays to port and starboard, along with eight small craft. Launch/recovery bay doors were able to handle any existing fighter, plus small craft massing up to 200 tons, and the Calderons had the ability to launch or recover up to sixteen fighters or shuttles simultaneously. A full company of elite zero-g Marines was also stationed aboard each of battlewagons as part of their ship's company. These Marines not only provided ship-board security, but conducted boarding operations, often supplemented by naval officers and ratings with training in close combat.
Each Calderon included a dedicated flag bridge with fifty officers and men assigned to the staff. Designed as flagships from the very start of the blueprinting, nearly every Calderon that entered service had a flag officer assigned to that command. However, if a flag staff was not stationed aboard, these quarters were converted into additional passenger space.
Four 135-meter diameter grav decks were included in the ship to provide ample space for the 900 personnel a Calderon class could accommodate at full load. Supplies, including food, water, other consumables, and life support, were allocated in sufficient quantities to allow for deployments of up to a standard year before requiring resupply. Fifty-five thousand tons of spare parts was stored aboard ship, along with ample space for up to sixty-three thousand two hundred forty-one tons of general cargo. Although small in comparison to contemporary Inner Sphere vessels, these holds (plus the ample fuel tankage of more than fourteen thousand tons) still represented a sizable fraction of the ship's total volume, and more than served the needs of the Taurian Concordat Navy.
A tremendous variety of armament was support aboard these ships. The fore-quarters and stern-quarters carried matched sets of weapons, consisting of a Norman Raytheon Javelin capital missile launcher for Barracuda missiles (30 missiles), a Norman Raytheon Harpoon capital missile launcher for White Shark missiles (35 missiles, 5 of which were normally nuclear-tipped), a Norman Raytheon Tomahawk capital missile launcher for Killer Whale missiles (35 missiles, 5 of which were normally nuclear-tipped), four Jankowski Mark III Class 25 Naval Autocannons (50 shots each), four Aurora Missiliers Deathscap LRM-15 launchers (50 shots each), four Hyades Weapons Consortium Retaliation Class 10 Autocannons (50 shots each), and five Martin Gordon Stiletto Small Lasers.
The broadsides arcs carried three High Energy System Nova Heavy Naval-PPCs, four Mark IIIs (50 shots each), four Deathscaps (50 shots each), four Retaliations (50 shots each), and five Stilettos.
The nose and stern were fitted with two HES Novas, three Martin Gordon Blazer Class 55 Naval Lasers, two Mark IIIs (50 shots each), four Deathscaps (50 shots each), four Retaliations (50 shots each), and five Stilettos.
Unlike earlier Taurian WarShips, the Calderons were equipped with modern ammunition transfer systems that allowed the ship's crew to rapidly and safely move munitions from one magazine to another, even in the middle of battle. Furthermore, the design team made allowances for sufficient heat sinks, exchangers, power amplifiers, and auxiliary power generators to fire this impressive armament virtually nonstop.
In closing, the Calderon class vessels were excellent ships and would be formidable opponents even today. However, their late introduction during the Reunification War and the lack of sufficient numbers throughout the conflict could not in and of itself alter the fate of the Taurian Concordat. Had full-scale production of this class begun even twenty years earlier, thus allowing for twenty or perhaps thirty of these leviathans to be available at the start of hostilities, history could well have been rewritten.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: THE WRITER OF THE ABOVE PASSAGE WAS A FORMER CITIZEN OF THE CONCORDAT BEFORE HIS INDUCTION INTO COMSTAR. HE HAS BEEN RECOMMENDED FOR A RE-EDUCATION SESSION WITH ROM TO REMOVE ANY PARTISAN LEANINGS THAT HE MAY STILL POSSESS. BLESSED BE BLAKE!]
Battle History
[EDITOR'S NOTE: THE PASSAGE BELOW HAS NEVER BEEN CONFIRMED, ALTHOUGH SURVIVING STAR LEAGUE RECORDS DO CONFIRM THAT 68 SLDF SHIPS WERE DISPATCHED TO THE HYADES IN 2648 AND REMAINED THERE FOR 57 MONTHS. OUR OWN RECORDS, BLESSED BE BLAKE IN THAT HE INSTRUCTED US TO RETAIN ALL KNOWLEDGE, SUGGEST THAT THE LEGEND DESCRIBED BELOW IS, IN POINT OF FACT, A HOAX. HOWEVER, SHOULD IT EVER PROVE TO BE TRUE, THEN COMSTAR MUST CONSIDER EITHER REMOVING THE SHIPS TO A SAFER LOCATION OR DESTROYING THEM. BOTH ACTIONS ARE NECESSARY TO PROTECT THE TAURIAN PEOPLE FROM THE CONFLICTS THAT WOULD ARISE SHOULD THE GREAT HOUSES LEARN OF THE EXISTENCE OF THESE GHOST SHIPS.]
The story of TCS Samantha Calderon does not end on September 22, 2596, however. The history books show that on July 23, 2648, a very sick, very old man named Pieter Durant was admitted to the Taurus Veterans Hospital. His physician of record was Dr. Abigail Larson, an SLDF doctor on liaison duty in the Concordat. Mr. Durant was diagnosed with Stage IV terminal cancer and admitted later that afternoon. While making her evening rounds, Dr. Larson spoke with Durant at length. No recording of that conversation has ever publically surfaced, although Dr. Larson claims the interview was taped.
Durant told the SLDF doctor that in the final months of 2596, he had served aboard Prometheus Station orbiting New Columbia. When word of the surrender arrived, Admiral Crane, the station commander had, according to history, scuttled all damaged and incomplete ships in the yard. But Durant told her that was a lie. Instead of destroying the ships, Crane ordered any vessel capable of making a jump to stand 5 kilometers off the station and then fired a salvo of nuclear weapons into the remaining vessels docked there. One of these ships still capable of operations was TCS Samantha Calderon.
Along with the Saucy Sam, there were two more Calderon class battleships, two cruisers, three frigates, three destroyers, two corvettes, and a fleet tender, plus a civilian JumpShip. All fifteen ships then withdrew to a hidden jump point deep within the Wall of Flannagan's Nebula, a jump point known only to senior officers of the TCN. Known as 'back-door', this jump point was the only means of entering or leaving the Nebula other than Gateway. And the Star League did not know of its existence. At this hidden location, Crane instructed the crews and yard workers to shut down all systems and secure the vessels for long-term vacuum storage. This took six days to accomplish. With the task finished, Crane and his men, including Durant, boarded the civilian vessel and returned to New Columbia. To ensure that the civilians would not talk, Crane left one of Saucy Sams last remaining nuclear warheads hidden aboard; there were no survivors. The TCN personnel were sworn to secrecy and disbanded among the civilian population of the planet below, and none save Crane knew of the coordinates of the hidden depot.
Dr. Larson stayed with Durant throughout the night; he died at 0317 on July 24. The following day, she reported to the Ambassador the entire conversation, and immediately action began to be taken. While there are no surviving records of the report, what is known is that within a month 68 SLDF WarShips and survey vessels arrived in the Hyades, against the vehement protests of the Concordat government. Under the command of Vice Admiral Helen Kincaid, these ships spent the better part of the next five years surveying the Nebula. Along with the ships, more than nine hundred investigators from the Ministry of Justice arrived to pursue the rumor on the streets of Taurus, Samantha, Jamestown, and New Columbia. Crew members from Prometheus and the listed ships were searched for, but the passage of time had ensured that nearly all were already dead. Only two were located; one was senile, and the second asserted his right to remain silent, and the Taurian government prevented the man from being questioned. While waiting for authorization from the First Lord, the man died of natural causes, having never answered one of their many questions.
At the Naval Archives on Taurus, the investigators hit a stone wall, when they were told that all records of the conflict had been shredded and disposed of fifty-two years previously.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS WAS A LIE. THE RECORDS HAD BEEN REMOVED AND HIDDEN, ALTHOUGH CERTAINLY SOME OF THE MORE SENSITIVE WERE DESTROYED. AFTER THE AMARIS COUP, THE REPOSITORY WAS RETURNED TO THE NAVAL ARCHIVES AND RESTORED TO THE BEST EXTENT THAT THE TAURIANS WERE CAPABLE. COMSTAR AGENTS STILL HAVE NOT OBTAINED A COMPLETE COPY OF ALL DOCUMENTS STORED THERE.]
Admiral Crane was never found, although his identity was confirmed through microfilm records of public media documents. No record of his death, obituary, or grave marker was ever located.
Three years after the investigation began, a frustrated Star League bureaucrat inadvertently leaked exactly what the Star League was investigating to an undercover investigative Taurian journalist. His statement about the hunt for a fleet of 'ghost ships' apparently crewed by the 'spirits of men that we can't confirm ever lived' made the papers across Taurus by the next morning, the cluster by the end of the week, and Terra within a month.
The Taurians were ecstatic, believing that one of their own had out-smarted and hoodwinked the League, who were now wearing themselves and their ships to the breaking point trying to search the Nebula. And the idea that a loyal officer had saved not just a portion of their old Fleet, but the gallant old Saucy Sam herself boosted Taurian morale to dizzying heights.
Finally, after fifty-four months of exhaustive searches, Vice Admiral Kincaid sent a dispatch to Terra, reading, in part, ". . . .and so in conclusion, my Lord, there has been no evidence whatsoever to the veracity of the statements of this man Durant. We cannot even confirm if he was a serving member of the Taurian Navy at the time of the Surrender. Task Force 47 and Task Force 73 have searched the Nebula for the better part of four and a half years; we could search for another century and still find nothing. The Nebula is immense, even with the sixty-eight ships you have assigned for this mission, and having worked at this task for the past fifty-four months, we have only surveyed 4.2% of the entire Nebula's volume. My official recommendation, my Lord, is that the entire thing is a hoax, a deliberate hoax designed to wear our ships and crews to the bone searching for something that does not exist."
Three months later, all of Kincaid's ships and the investigators were recalled. The search was over. Ever since, stories and rumors have passed around the Concordat about the ghost ships. These stories have all eventually been proven false, so far at least.
Notable Vessels & Crews
Samantha Calderon, Patrick Flannagan, Sigur Fonn, Ian MacLeod, Henri Montour, Frank Norman, Althea O'Connor, Tracy Ashton Pendleton, Olivia Santiago, Heather Scott, Robert St. John, Victor Taurens (plus 4 incomplete vessels)
Deployment
The Taurian Concordat Navy designed the Calderon class Battleships to be deployed in specifically organized Task Groups, using the most advanced ships in their fleet. Each Battle Group of the Taurian Navy was to consist of two Calderons, escorted by a pair of Concordat class Light Cruisers (frigates in Inner Sphere terms), and four destroyers. Each Battle Group would be able to put one hundred and twenty-eight aerospace fighters into space, along with a dozen Harbinger class Escort DropShips.
In addition to the WarShips of the Battle Group itself, two Escort Destroyers (corvettes) would provide close escort to a pair of Fleet Replenishment Vessels in the attached support flotilla. The support flotilla was not intended to participate in combat operations, but was instead intended as a means to allow the Battle Group to continue a high tempo of operations while in the field.
In reality, however, due to the pressing needs of the war, these Battle Groups never materialized. Only TCS Samantha Calderon ever had the proper configuration of ships assigned to her Battle Group. Other ships of the class were provided with whatever vessels were available at the time they deployed, and as ships were destroyed over the course of the war, not even the Saucy Sam could replace her escorts quickly enough.
The TCN responded to this by unorthodox methods, at least by prewar standards. Exemplifying this is the Second Battle of Montour in 2587. TCS Samantha Calderon and TCS Tracy Ashton Pendleton had suffered serious damage, including the loss of all escorting WarShips just two months earlier at 3rd Diefenbaker. In fact, each ship had suffered enough damage that the Star League reported both vessels as destroyed, leaving them to believe that the Concordat had no remaining battleships in the sector. But, upon meeting up with their support flotilla, Admiral Helen Vickers aboard the Saucy Sam was surprised to encounter the battleships TCS Sigur Fonn and Robert St. John, along with two ancient Resolution class Destroyers.
TCN Intelligence had gathered information that General Forlough would soon be assembling his III Corps and the Davion Auxiliary Corps at Montour before launching a new series of attacks. High Command instructed Admiral Vickers and Admiral Singh (aboard the St. John) to stop his force at all costs. The FRVs present managed to repair the worst of the damage, restock all magazines, and provide a full load of aerospace fighters, pilots, and escorting Harbingers for the four Battleships before they departed on course for the Hyades.
Admiral Vickers took command and brought the reinforced Battle Group (very nearly a fleet in and of itself) into the Montour system, arriving ahead of Montour and the Davions. She deployed a surveillance network of satellites and hid her ships, their systems powered down in the shadow of a small moon orbiting Montour, and then she waited.
Two days later, the Star League transports and Davion transports arrived and began to converge in orbit. The Taurian vessels powered up and charged around the moon, suddenly appearing on the flank of the two formations. Surprise was completely on the Taurian side as the sudden appearance of no less than four Calderons sent many of their opponents into shock. This allowed the TCN to get the vital first shot off, and a volley of nuclear tipped missiles plunged into the SLDF and Davion transports, not the heavily protected WarShips. Two Star League divisions died in a single instant, along with a third part of the Davion Auxiliary. But the SLDF and Davion naval contingents, untouched by the barrage, rapidly came about and began to exchange fire. Outnumbered six-to-one, the Taurians pressed their initial advantage and closed, the Calderon's allowing themselves to become surrounded into order to savage the lighter ships of the escorting Fleet. But the losses were not one-sided, for the SLDF had two Farragut-class and two Monsoon-class battleships of their, and the Davions had three older Golden Lions. Despite the loss of seventeen WarShips (and thirty two transports) by the SLDF and Davion commands, the crucible soon became too hot for the Taurians.
TCS Sigur Fonn was the first to go, as the concentrated fire of a Golden Lion, an Aegis, and two Congress class vessels pounded her from stem to stern; but she took the Davion battleship and one of the Monsoons down with her. Robert St. John was locked in death duel with one of the two Farraguts, and then both ships vanished in the searing flash of a premature detonation of one of her nuclear warheads, taking the gallant Admiral Singh and nearly a thousand Taurian spacers with her.
Realizing it was past time to withdraw, Admiral Vickers passed the order to retreat, but instead, TCS Revenge altered course into the teeth of the enemy fire. A second later, Reprisal followed her lead, and then the thirteen surviving Harbingers and all of the aerospace fighters followed suit.
Crewmen aboard the Saucy Sam reported that Vickers wept as Commander Oliver Harris aboard Revenge informed the flag that the survival of her two ships was more important to the war effort than the rest of the Battle Group combined, and he would cover their retreat. Tears streaming from her eyes, Vickers gave the order for Terrible Tracy and Saucy Sam to withdraw at maximum acceleration as Harris led the charge on the SLDF battleline.
Reprisal was blasted apart, but she took an Aegis with her, and then Revenge was gone as well. But the two destroyers had provided enough cover that the DropShips and fighters were in range for kamikaze runs: and each carried a nuclear demolition charge armed to detonate on impact. Seven managed to break through the defensive fire, and when the flashes died away, only one Farragut remained amid the scattered debris, surrounded by a few dozen lesser ships. Although the two Taurian battleships managed to evade all pursuit and successfully withdrew, the losses incurred had been severe to say the least. It was the last offensive strike of the TCN during the War.
_________________
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing--Edmund Burke
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master arminas
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Colonel
Joined: 07-Mar-2007 16:14
Posts: 718
Location: United States
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| Posted: 17-Jun-2014 22:54 Post subject: Unique Designs for "By The Horns" by Master Arminas |
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SKYHAWK
Overview
The 50-ton Skyhawk is a medium-weight design fielded by the Taurian Concordat during the Reunification War. Although plans, schematics, and production facilities were destroyed by the victorious Star League, recent developments have offered some promise that the design may be returning to service in the modern Taurian Concordat.
Capabilities
Massing just 50-tons displacement, the Skyhawk came under immediate criticism in its role as a medium-weight aerospace fighter. Lighter than any other medium in general use among the Great Houses, the Skyhawk also featured a smaller weapons battery and a rate of speed that many in the Concordat ministries regarded as more befitting a light design than a medium.
However, there was a method to Chandler's madness. The compact and aerodynamically contoured fighter featured a powerful (and relatively common) 300-rate fusion drive that could propel the fighter at up to 6-g's of acceleration, although most pilots would hold the thrust to a more acceptable 4-g's under normal operating conditions. This turn of speed on a medium design was nearly unheard of in any fighter unveiled to that date (and indeed would only be matched by advanced Star League and later Clan designs until the 3060s) and would allow the new Taurian fighter to outmaneuver heavier opponents virtually at will. Combined with the five-ton internal fuel tankage, the high thrust of the Skyhawk gave the new fighter a sizable maneuver sphere within which to intercept invaders and raiders long before they could make planet-fall.
Eight tons of Renault Composite 128 standard armor provided moderate armor protection for the design as well; though slightly below average for common Great House medium fighters, when combined with the maneuverability of the design, both test pilots and designers believed that this would be sufficient for most combat operations. Armor was emplaced in the traditional Concordat 'arrow-head' pattern, with an equal amount of armor devoted to the nose and wings, while the tail featured a slightly lower allotment.
Armament was kept simple by the Chandler design team: a Martin-Gordon Lance Large Laser in the nose provided teeth at medium-range, while a quartet of Martin-Gordon Rapier Medium Lasers (two in each wing root) added to the damage profile at short-range. Each wing root also mounted a single Martin-Gordon Stiletto Small Laser, while a fifth Rapier was installed in the tail to provide deterrence against hostiles from that quarter. This all energy design also allowed the Skyhawk to excel at high-speed strafing runs in support of TDF 'Mech and Armor forces engaged on planetary surfaces--and the powerful fusion drive allowed a full bomb load of over ten tons with just a minimal reduction in speed (4.5-g's max, 3-g's sustained with a maximum loadout). Able to deploy standard high-explosive ordnance, cluster munitions, inferno bombs, 10-tube rocket pods, camera pods, sensor pods, and external fuel drop-tanks--among many other under-wing weapons and instrumentation--the Skyhawk soon proved itself as a versatile and capable ground support craft.
Aesthetically the new fighter was a beauty, her lines following the classic maxim of if it looks good, it flies good. Compact in scale—barely larger than many light fighters in dimensions--the Skyhawk featured a pair of short cranked delta-wings with an extended forward strake along the fuselage, with two delta canards mounted on the lower portions of nose. Ideal for maneuverability within an atmosphere, the canards and wings allowed test pilots to turn the fighter on a dime, while the sharp sweep of the delta design and limited drag allowed swift and responsive acceleration. A high tail with its own delta-wing control surface only adds to the maneuverability of this design.
For trans-atmospheric work, the Skyhawk is equipped with twice the number of reaction control thrusters normally fitted to an aerospace fighter. These RCS units allow the pilot to quickly maneuver in any direction while in space; when combined with the fusion drive, these systems make the Skyhawk virtually untouchable by most modern aerospace fighters in vacuum. Test pilots loved the placement and responsiveness of the cockpit controls, immediately labeling the Skyhawk as an airframe that was a joy to fly, an almost natural extension of the pilot's own body. Although several production models have crashed as a result of this aeroframes extremely fast handling, that same lightning-quick execution of a pilot's actions have made the Skyhawk a so-called 'ace's machine'.
| Code: | AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Skyhawk
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3025
Vessel Type: Aerospace Fighter
Rules: Level 1, Custom design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 50 tons
Frame: Concordat 50
Length: 16 meters
Power Plant: Vlar 300 Fusion
Safe Thrust: 8
Maximum Thrust: 12
Armor Type: Renault Composites 128 Standard
Armament:
1 Martin Gordon Lance Large Laser
2 Martin Gordon Stiletto Small Laser
5 Martin Gordon Rapier Medium Laser
Manufacturer: Chandler Shipwrights
Location: Samantha
Communications System: Wintershaven Comm AEGIS III
Targeting & Tracking System: Bell & Sun Phalanx Gold
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Skyhawk
Mass: 50 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant: 300 Fusion 19.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 8
Maximum Thrust: 12
Structural Integrity: 8 .00
Total Heat Sinks: 14 Single 4.00
Fuel: 5.00
Cockpit & Attitude Thrusters: 3.00
Armor Type: Standard (128 total armor pts) 8.00
Standard Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Nose: 36
Left/Right Wings: 36/36
Aft: 20
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Large Laser Nose 8 8 -- -- 8 5.00
2 Small Laser Nose 3 -- -- -- 2 1.00
2 Medium Laser RW 5 -- -- -- 6 2.00
2 Medium Laser LW 5 -- -- -- 6 2.00
1 Medium Laser Aft 5 -- -- -- 3 1.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 25 50.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 2,758,750 C-Bills
Battle Value: 905
Cost per BV: 3,048.34
Weapon Value: 1,445 (Ratio = 1.60)
Damage Factors: SRV = 20; MRV = 3; LRV = 0; ERV = 0
BattleForce2: MP: 8, Armor/Structure: 3 / 0
Damage PB/M/L: 3/1/-, Overheat: 0
Class: FM; Point Value: 9 |
_________________
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing--Edmund Burke
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Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
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| Posted: 19-Jun-2014 03:07 Post subject: Unique Designs for "By The Horns" by Master Arminas |
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A fine lightbulb you have there. Don't forget about the Corsair when it comes to maneuverability comparison though. I'm not sure whether displacement weight is appropriate for an aerospace fighter though. I thought that it would be more a naval vessel thing.
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The dragon NEVER sleeps!
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master arminas
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Colonel
Joined: 07-Mar-2007 16:14
Posts: 718
Location: United States
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| Posted: 19-Jun-2014 12:41 Post subject: Unique Designs for "By The Horns" by Master Arminas |
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TPH-1N TYPHON
Overview
The heaviest BattleMech produced by the Taurian Defense Force prior to the Reunification War was the 70-ton Typhon. Named for the Greek mythological creature ("The Father of Monsters"), the Typhon proved its worth on a hundred battlefields. Following the War, the Star League destroyed all known examples of this BattleMech, as well as production facilities, design schematics, and blue-prints. None are known to exist today.
Capabilities
Massing 70-tons, the Typhon features a 280-rate fusion engine that is capable of achieving speeds of 43.2 kilometers per hour (walking) and 64.8 kph (running). No jump jets were mounted on the design, giving this heavy BattleMech only average maneuverability and speed for its era.
Thirteen tons of armor provide excellent protection (as much as the Archer and Thunderbolt BattleMechs used by SLDF), while fifteen heat sinks provide for significant cooling capacity (although a full Alpha Strike will strain the system and possibly result in an internal munitions explosion).
The long-range battery consists of a High Energy System Corona PPC in the right arm and an Aurora Missiliers Monkshood LRM-10 rack in the right torso (with two tons of ammunition for 24 missile salvoes). When using these two weapon systems, only movement heat is generated on a run.
For shorter-range combat, the Typhon is outfitted with an Aurora Missiliers Hemlock SRM-6 rack in the left torso (with one of ammo for 15 missile salvoes) and three Martin-Gordon Rapier Medium Lasers (mounted right arm along with working lower arm and hand actuators, right torso, and left torso). When using the short-range battery, this BattleMech remains heat-neutral even when running.
Two additional Rapiers are mounted in the center torso firing to the rear . . . providing protection against lighter, faster, jump-capable units seeking to take advantage of the Typhon's limited mobility.
Variants
The TPH-1N-2 removes one rear-mounted Rapier to add a Wintershaven CommWorks Hermes IV Communications Command and Control Array to the cockpit. Designated as a command unit, the TPH-1N-2 relies upon the advanced communication gear to coordinate up to a battalion of TDF BattleMechs on the battlefield. By 2770, nearly all TDF 'Mech Battalions had been assigned at least two TPH-1N-2 for their commanding and executive officers. Some battalions even received these command 'Mechs for their company commanders as well, but the main concentration of these command units was at the Regimental level where up to four served as the Regimental Command Headquarters Lance.
| Code: | Typhon TPH-1N
Mass: 70 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Succession Wars
Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/X-E-D
Production Year: 3025
Cost: 6,052,453 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,408
Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 280 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor
Armament:
1 High Energy Systems Corona PPC
1 Aurora Missiliers Monkshood LRM-10
1 Aurora Missiliers Hemlock SRM-6
5 Martin Gordon Rapier Medium Lasers
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 107 points 7.00
Engine: Fusion Engine 280 16.00
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 15 5.00
Heat Sink Locations: 2 LT, 2 RT
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA+LA
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 208 13.00
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 22 30
Center Torso (rear) 9
L/R Torso 15 22
L/R Torso (rear) 8
L/R Arm 11 20
L/R Leg 15 30
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PPC RA 10 3 7.00
Medium Laser LA 3 1 1.00
LRM-10 RT 4 2 5.00
Medium Laser RT 3 1 1.00
SRM-6 LT 4 2 3.00
Medium Laser LT 3 1 1.00
2 (R) Medium Lasers CT 6 2 2.00
@LRM-10 (24) RT - 2 2.00
@SRM-6 (15) LT - 1 1.00
Free Critical Slots: 29
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 14
4 3 3 1 0 3 0 Structure: 6
Special Abilities: SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA |
| Code: | Typhon TPH-1N-2
Mass: 70 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Succession Wars
Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/X-E-D
Production Year: 3025
Cost: 6,001,453 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,395
Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 280 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor
Armament:
1 High Energy Systems Corona PPC
1 Aurora Missiliers Monkshood LRM-10
1 Aurora Missiliers Hemlock SRM-6
4 Martin Gordon Rapier Medium Lasers
1 Wintershaven CommWorks Hermes IV Communications Command and Control Array
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 107 points 7.00
Engine: Fusion Engine 280 16.00
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 15 5.00
Heat Sink Locations: 2 LT, 2 RT
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA+LA
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 208 13.00
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 22 30
Center Torso (rear) 9
L/R Torso 15 22
L/R Torso (rear) 8
L/R Arm 11 20
L/R Leg 15 30
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PPC RA 10 3 7.00
Medium Laser LA 3 1 1.00
LRM-10 RT 4 2 5.00
Medium Laser RT 3 1 1.00
SRM-6 LT 4 2 3.00
Medium Laser LT 3 1 1.00
(R) Medium Laser CT 3 1 1.00
Communications Equipment (1.0 tons) (1.0 tons) HD 0 1 1.00
@LRM-10 (24) RT - 2 2.00
@SRM-6 (15) LT - 1 1.00
Free Critical Slots: 29
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 14
4 3 3 1 0 3 0 Structure: 6
Special Abilities: SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA |
_________________
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing--Edmund Burke
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