(T20) Scimitar-class "Meson" Frigate

[sea_tyger]

Okay, for MTU, I'm trying to make the Aslan High Guard philosophically different from the humano-centric Republic StarCorps. For one, their troop landers are nearly 200Td spacecraft that piggyback on a 120kTd-or-so Assault Tender.

Another is the Scimitar-class Meson Frigate. Essentially, I took a 1,000-ton meson gun and built a jump-capable support platform around it. I was able to keep the design under 10,000Td, even allowing for some defensive weapons (including a 100-ton particle accelerator bay) and a hanger for the standard 98-ton Aslan shuttle.

"Designed with the philosophy that a smaller vessel with a larger gun could be produced in larger quantities, several Scimitar frigates operate within the battlegroup structure, laying down a withering fire with their 1,000-ton meson spinal mounts in support of their command ships. The Scimitar is most effective against smaller vessels that do not mount the expensive, power-hungry meson screens."

Stats:
9,998-ton streamlined needle hull
AC 19 (11 vs. Meson) AR 10 SI 450 Init 0
Cost Cr5,843,730,000
Annual Maintenance Cr292,187 (after discount)
Routine Maintenance Cr1,460,933/year

Model/7 Fib computer, with 10kTd avionics, system-wide sensors, medium range maser/meson comms

Jump 4 (4 parsec jump range) 3-G acceleration
1,482 EP TL15 power plant (4 weeks endurance)

20 hardpoints
10 triple pulse laser turrets (TL15) USD 4
10 triple sandcaser turrets (TL15) +5 AC (600 canisters)
50-ton repulsor bay (TL15) USP 4
Meson Gun Spinal Mount (TL15) USP 18

Meson Screens (TL15) USP 7

Small Craft: 1x98-ton standard shuttle (crew of 2 officers, 1 enlisted, included below)

15 single-occupancy staterooms, 150 single-occupancy small cabins (75 stand-alone freshers), 42 emergency low berths, 1 engineering shop, 5 sickbays, 15 airlocks

Crew (14 officers, 147 enlisted)
Officers -- 7 command, 2 flight, 1 gunnery, 2 engineers, 1 medical, 1 troop
Enlisted -- 3 command, 2 flight, 36 gunnery, 21 engineers, 5 medical, 20 service, 60 troops

3,999.2 tons jump fuel, 741 tons power plant fuel, 83.42 tons cargo capacity (0.42 tons set aside for small craft fuel)


Thoughts and Comments?

 

[RabidVargr]

Looks sweet. My only concern is it's a frigate/support craft, and it's only got 2g Accel. It might be kind of hard to keep up with the craft you're escorting with the low acceleration unless IYTU big ships=slow. If that's the case, I'd buy it for my military.

RV 5*'s!

 

[scouttypej]

I'd buy it too. I would probably ask for a drop in jump range for more maneuver speed. A ship with tender support can jump to a calibration point then refuel for a further jump. You can often catch your enemy off guard that way, becuase you can jump in from a formerly impossible jump vector.

Does needle shape go with Aslan aesthetics? I've always seen spherical, rounded designs for Aslan ships.

 

[RabidVargr]

Haven't seen any aslan needles. Aslan are usually bubbly style ships (from what I've seen so far). Maybe someone can prove me wrong?

RV

 

[scouttypej]

75 stand alone freshers? That's alot of kitty litter.

 

[sea_tyger]

They are slow (but not too slow...most warships travel at 3-G because of space considerations...allows for more armor, better guns, etc.), but I figured since they were mobile gun platforms in a fleet environment, they didn't need to be overly speedy.

I only call it a frigate because of the relative size of the vessel (3-10kTd range for Aslan ships in MTU).

I envisioned a sort-of "pre-positioning" of the meson frigates just prior to the battle, and they start picking off ships that come into their path.

Of course, one alternative is to drop the jump drive down to J-3, and bring the maneuvering drive to 3-G. Any spare tonnage would probably be converted to additional cargo space. Not as long of a reach as I would like (I was trying to have all Aslan ships in the J-4 to J-5 range), but definitely faster in combat.

 

[sea_tyger]

Okay, made a couple of quick changes on the spreadsheet, and I think it works now (edited up above with the new stats). Essentially, here's what I did:

Raised maneuvering to 3-g
Removed 100-ton particle accelerator bay
Reduced power plant to 1482 EP
Reduced cargo capacity to 83.42 tons (0.42 tons set aside for small craft fuel)

(I also had originally forgotten to write down the ship's troops in the crew section, so I added them.)

That should solve the speed issue, while still making the vessel pretty potent.

As far as aesthetics, you have to forgive me; I never play in established settings (unless it's something like Star Trek or Star Wars), instead preferring to develop my own settings (and, thus, the Aslan of MTU will invariably differ from what you all would expect

). That said, you can explain away the difference in design as the fact that the Aslan developed this as a weapons platform, and only added the bare-bones necessities to make the vessel a functional J-4, 3-G starship. Thus, the "standard" Aslan aesthetics were abandoned in favor of functionality and cost-saving.

And Pockets, you have to remember that small cabins don't have their own freshers (staterooms do). I always use one fresher to two small cabin occupants. But yeah, it is a lot of kitty litter. What would you expect from 161 cats living in close quarters...

 

[RabidVargr]

didja think of some stealth systems on this bad boy? If you could put some heavy ECM/masking on this ship, then you could sneak a few of these into position without detection, then when the fleet comes in and the enemy heads in to engage, whammo, these guys open up with the mesons from behind or on the flanks.

RV

 

[sea_tyger]

If I were designing the ship in something else besides T20, I would...(I'd have all sorts of nasties added in with T4 FF&S

) However, as it appears in the THB, T20 ECM is a function of software, not hardware, and there are no rules for thermal/visual masking.

Still, having 1-2 of these in a patrol group would be so wrong...imagine the poor light cruiser that gets caught without support. While the destroyers keep the cruiser busy, these little fellas move in for the kill shot.

After the first couple of encounters, you know that fleet commanders will be looking for them the next time around...