Installing weapons FAST!

[plop101]

Ok. Here's the scenario:

A detached duty scout/courier is at the scout base on Emerald. The local Administration Office wants the scout to travel to Jewell carrying 3dt worth of security cargo. Of course, the scout is presently unarmed, but admin has authorized the ship to get a weapons upgrade FAST so it can carry out this mission.

Particulars:
1. The scout has a empty dual mount turret.
2. The average time to install weapons is two weeks.
3. It is not the first time that ships weapons have been installed [per Adventure five, +40% time factor]
4. Double ship yard capacity is used [per Adventure five, +40% time factor]
5. Extra personel have been assigned [at least 4 from technical office, plus equipment. All are highly skilled workers].
6. Type of weapon installed largly depends on how fast it can be installed; all the usual weapons are available.
7. Speed is essential. Admin and Ops offices want this done FAST.

Given all these factors, a) how fast can you install a weapon, and b) what kind of weapon would that be?

 

[trader jim]

you have forgotten a Major portion of the equasion...are these guys a well practiced TEAM...do the already KNOW each other??..strenghts and weakness??...how long have they been working TOGATHER???...beleive me it makes a BIG difference....

if they are a well practiced TEAM,they wil be able to do AMAZING things...even more so if its a job they already know!!!

 

[DaveShayne]

Originally posted by plop101:
2. The average time to install weapons is two weeks.

Is that an IYTU rule or do you have a cite for it?

4. Double ship yard capacity is used [per Adventure five, +40% time factor]
5. Extra personel have been assigned [at least 4 from technical office, plus equipment. All are highly skilled workers].

These would be the same factor. Therefor total time deuductions are 80% so this task shold take 20% of 2 weeks or 2.8 days.

6. Type of weapon installed largly depends on how fast it can be installed; all the usual weapons are available.

You'll probably be installing lasers then. All you have to do is plug them in; with missile racks you also need to load them (though in all honesty I don't see that taking a huge amount of time.)

 

[plop101]

Me say:

2. The average time to install weapons is two weeks.

David Shayne responds:

Is that an IYTU rule or do you have a cite for it?

Both actualy. The cite portion is from 'Introductory Adventure: The Imperial Fringe'[page 12, paragraph entitled 'Weaponry'] which says that installing weapons takes perhaps a week. I assume, getting everything done by the book and cautiosly, that two weeks is average.

Trader Jim asks:

you have forgotten a Major portion of the equasion...are these guys a well practiced TEAM...do the already KNOW each other??..strenghts and weakness??...how long have they been working TOGATHER???...beleive me it makes a BIG difference...

Good point.

The starship crew isn't, but the technical support people are...figure them being Long Service Professionals who have worked together at least 2 years. They will be the ones loading the weapons.

 

[Tom Schoene]

If you're in a desperate hurry, you could do all the external work first and worry about internal stuff like power supplies and computer connections during Jump. You'll have to bring part of the installation team with you, but that's not unheard of.* Of course, you do have the concern that you can't actually test the weapons until you come out of Jump at the destination.

* The RN had civilian techreps aboard ships making modifications and repairs on weapons throughout the Falklands War.

 

[Uncle Bob]

If I rember properly, +40 and +40 means 180% of the usual work can be done in a given time, or 1.8 days worth of work every day.

If you want to use Plop101s two weeks
14/1.8= 7.78 days
Or two work weeks
10/1.8= 5.56 days

I take "about a week" to be baseline time.
A seven day real week would reduce to
7/1.8= 3.89 days.
A five-day work week reduces to
5/1.8= 2.78 days

 

[DaveShayne]

Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
If I rember properly, +40 and +40 means 180% of the usual work can be done in a given time, or 1.8 days worth of work every day.

Oops. That'll larn me not to post on a rules question without double checking the rules first.

 

[vutpakdi]

Originally posted by plop101:
Me say:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />
2. The average time to install weapons is two weeks.

David Shayne responds:

Is that an IYTU rule or do you have a cite for it?

Both actualy. The cite portion is from 'Introductory Adventure: The Imperial Fringe'[page 12, paragraph entitled 'Weaponry'] which says that installing weapons takes perhaps a week. I assume, getting everything done by the book and cautiosly, that two weeks is average.
</font>[/QUOTE]In spite of the listing in Imperial Fringe, a week per weapons seems a bit long for me. I'm just thinking that the various turret weapons are designed to be plopped into a turret and removed for maintenance/replacement (standard fittings and all). So, it's rather unlike the various turret weapons used on ships today and a little more like engines (and possibly some guns) used on airplanes.

The figures that I was planning on using (the issue has come up in a PBEM game) are:
4 hours outside work to physically install.
2 hours inside electrical work
2 hours targetting callibration

The latter probably requires something to target in space (debris/junk initially, possibly special moving targets for additional callibration) along with the expenditure of a number of missiles or sand canisters as appropriate. Without the callibration, the weapon would fire at a penalty.

Having additional people helps *somewhat* since some of the work benefits from having more hands. Having very experienced crews helps also. In your scenario, I'd say that the work probably takes 6 hours with a 9-10+ roll to take 4-5.

Having an inexperienced crew doubles the time (or more

Ron

 

[Uncle Bob]

That makes sense for a missile launcher, but beam weapons have to connect a megawatt class power supply cable. That is going to be finicky, because if it is not properly shielded the EMP can fry the ship's electronics.

Also, to have a 100,000 km range the alignment will have to be in the nano-radian class. This can be done on an optical bench but it will be very finicky. Don't think about sighting in a B17 turret, but rather calibrating Mt Palomar or preflight on the Hubble.

Then the firecontrol system must be reprogramed (or at least get the proper drivers installed

I'd say a competent (but not exceptional) shipyard could fit a sandcaster in hours, a missile launcher in a day or two, but a beam weapon could easily take a 40 hr work week.

 

[sinbadsam]

Ok well it looks like a I get to rain on the parade.

OK first the mount position will have to "mapped" for that mount's particular manufactoring irregularities/devations etc.

Power and interface connections will have to checked to insure compliance with specs for weapons to be installed, under a wide range of conditions ie battle damage etc.

Once the actual weapon(s) and turret are "carefully" installed in the mount, the "mapped" mount position data and the turret data will have to combined then checked for combined deviations.

Once power, synchro/resolver and interface connections have been made then tested at minimal power then ramped up in steps until full power is reached with out any issues.

Then you have to align the turret/battery to the ship's FireControl System and the ships Gyros. For Lasers and energy weapons the closest to today is called "Shooting the Star", for sandcasters and missiles "Shooting the Moon". What does that mean well you take precision telescopes with cross hairs and aim at specific star or edge of the moon. When each telescope call out mark at the same instant, then the battery is aligned. No it is not as easy as it sounds. I have spent many a night shooting the stars and the moon.

Once turret/battery alignment is done you take the mount/turret locations as to where it can fire without shooting thru the ships structure or sensors. This is programed into the Firecontrol software but there are also "mechanical" limitation switches that set and checked.

The Synchro/Resolver/Control Transformer systems have to checked and verified. So when the turret is instructed to go to bearing 000 and elevation 025 it is actually doing so.

So boiling it down a well trained, experienced, familar with each other crewe of "Yard Birds" could install a energy weapon turret in about a seven days, a missile/sandcaster in about five days. Yes is assuming that their are "Crewe" is running 24 hour days, but they have to have worked after each other for some time.

Why so long you say.. take an apple start the stem peel a 1 mm strip spiraling outward in clockwise manner until the entire apple has been peeled. That is essentially what you will be doing to the mount but in even smaller strips of about 0.001 mm in 360 degree circle spiralling through out the entire elevation range of the turret. Once you make a "adjustment" you have to start the process all over again. Adjustments can and will affect the previous "adjustments".

The process can be rushed but will not be able to hit anything with a predicatable degree or accuracy.

Installing the hardware/software is the easy part, the measurements and alignments is what takes most of the time.

FYI I am former USN Surface Missile Firecontrolman, yes I have "shot the star and the moon"