Black Vulmea
SOC-12
AM6 gives us a 1K dton cruiser and FASA Adventure-Class Ships Vol. 2 gives us a 6C dton patrol frigate, but are there any Book 5-designed Solomani capital ships in canon sources?
CT Only: Solomani capital ships?
- Thread starter Black Vulmea
- Start date
Garnfellow
SOC-13
The T20 supplement Fighting Ships of the Solomani gives many examples from the Rim War period. I think some of these books provided CT stats alongside T20, but my copy only has T20.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
It's about the only canonical reference, that gives an overview of the Confederation Navy.
Though, antebellum.
Mongoose introduces a couple of current Confederation Navy designs, though coherency is somewhat questionable.
Though, antebellum.
Mongoose introduces a couple of current Confederation Navy designs, though coherency is somewhat questionable.
Garnfellow
SOC-13
Looking through FSoftS again I see the following note:
The Solomani Navy at the start of the war appears to be primarily a battlecrusier force, and may have gradually shifted to battle riders and battleships based on the counter mix of Invasion Earth, where the best Sollie units are stranded riders left behind while their tenders fell back to Aldebaran sector with other jump-capable elements.
The Solomani Navy at the start of the war appears to be primarily a battlecrusier force, and may have gradually shifted to battle riders and battleships based on the counter mix of Invasion Earth, where the best Sollie units are stranded riders left behind while their tenders fell back to Aldebaran sector with other jump-capable elements.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Stranded battle riders can still fight ... they just can't retreat (through jump) to regroup and reorganize.
They're called Fast Monitors . . .
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Rethinking monitor doctrine.
Though, it is pointed out, that starwarships, with badly damaged jump drives, tend to be reroled.
Though, it is pointed out, that starwarships, with badly damaged jump drives, tend to be reroled.
Black Vulmea
SOC-12
I forgot that existed!
"Completely compatible" is quite a claim, but it's worth a look.
I'm fleshing out the JG Gateway Quadrant setting, and a number of polities beyond the Imperial border trace their origins to Solomani expansion after the end of the Interstellar Wars. When I was thinking about what models of starships travellers might encounter, it seemed logical that these polities would continue to build Solomani designs.
My first thought was to adapt designs from GURPS' Interstellar Wars - one of only two GT books that I reference as referee - but there's only one capital ship, the TL B 30K dton Indomitable-class battleship, so it's slim pickin's. However, it's a given IMTU that the Confederation remains very active in the Golden Age Gateway, so more contemporary designs should appear as well. I don't need entire fleets - just a few ships the travellers may encounter - so if I can easily adapt the T20 designs, that's kinda perfect actually.
So, thank you very much, @Garnfellow - it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it may be the answer I need!
I don't think the author looked at the Invasion Earth countermix before he wrote his Solomani fleet lore in FSotSC. It certainly doesn't appear so. There is literally no mention of battle riders in the book.
Garnfellow
SOC-13
My own theory is the Sollies started the Rim War with a battlecruiser Navy that was largely TL13 beginning to transition to TL14; the Impies were a mature TL14 battleship and battle rider/tender navy, with some experimental TL15 components. Battlecruisers give you more spinals per credit, and help punch above your weight class. But once the war entered its stalemate period the Confederation Navy became convinced bigger was the way to go and went all in building BS and BR squadrons, a doomed approach: for ships of equal tonnage but different TL, the advantage goes squarely to the higher TL. And by 1000 the Imperium hits TL15.
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Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Based on the text, and a little Mongosian hindsight, battlecruisers were initially built for cheapish power projection, with an eventual transition to at least fifty percent fast dreadnoughts, some time after the turn of the millenium.
Going by the formula of one in four, the battlecruisers would eventually just replace all cruisers, and the majority of line of battle ships would be fast dreadnoughts
Going by the formula of one in four, the battlecruisers would eventually just replace all cruisers, and the majority of line of battle ships would be fast dreadnoughts
Battlecruisers would replace all the big cruisers, but smaller ones are just too cost-effective in peacetime to go away. You don't need a 100+ kDTon battlecruiser to show the flag and for piracy suppression, and you can get a lot of ~30 kDTon cruisers for the price of one battlecruiser, and a small cruiser can still swat escorts and small ships without raising a sweat.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
CT S:9 Fighting Ships doesn't give riders and tenders the treatment they deserve. The counters of FFW and the fluff text all agree that the bulk of the IN BatRons are rider/tenders, and that the battleships are in the Marches so that they can retreat if faced with an overwhelming foe. The counter mix of Invasion Earth show this to be true for both the Imperial forces and the Solomani - the bulk of BatRons even at TL14 are rider/tenders.
This is not surprising since until the Solomani broke with the Imperium their two navies used the same ships and the same doctrines.
This is not surprising since until the Solomani broke with the Imperium their two navies used the same ships and the same doctrines.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
First edition Mongoose had a rather large starwarship gap between, presumably, one to a hundred kilotonnes.
Second edition seems more inflationary, but poorly conceived.
I thought about it, and decided the difference between a battlecruiser and a battleship in the Confederation Navy order of battle, would be that the battlecruiser had less protection, but had a range of five parsecs.
Second edition seems more inflationary, but poorly conceived.
I thought about it, and decided the difference between a battlecruiser and a battleship in the Confederation Navy order of battle, would be that the battlecruiser had less protection, but had a range of five parsecs.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
ady
SOC-10
Also the animator Andrew Boulton (RIP) did some beautiful clips of many of the T20 ships.
