After the Fall - Armada Española (3)

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

The combat power of the Armada Española is concentrated in a single class of ship - the Torquemada class Strike Cruiser. With a smaller economy than the other powers, the leaders of the Spanish Church were well aware that they could not maintain technological parity in the longer-term. Cardinal Ximénez, head of the Church, sought guidance from prayer and instructed the ship designers of the Armada Española to forego missile warfare entirely in order to concentrate their research and development efforts on a narrower front. Concerned that any disagreement with this directive would result in a visit from the Inquisition, the designers threw themselves completely into their task. The result was the Torquemada. The four Meson cannon with their impressive 200,000 kilometre range are designed to penetrate whatever defences the other powers might develop while the twin gauss cannon and strong armour protect the ship from missile attack. Due to the need to chase down hostile targets to bring the mesons into range the Torquemada is powered by a quintet of Navarre-150 Ion Drives, an engine designed boosted by 25% beyond its normal output. This increases the chance of a damaged engine exploding and significantly reduces fuel efficiency but was deemed necessary because without the ability to close the range, the Torquemada would be ineffective. Five Torquemadas are in service (Tomás de Torquemada, Diego de Deza Tavera, Diego Ramírez de Guzmán, Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros and Juan Enguera) and are intended to operate as a group in order to boost their missile defences.

Torquemada class Strike Cruiser   8,000 tons     257 Crew     1260.6 BP      TCS 160  TH 750  EM 0
4687 km/s     Armour 6-35     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/6/0/0     Damage Control Rating 3     PPV 40.56
Maint Life 2.05 Years     MSP 295    AFR 170%    IFR 2.4%    1YR 93    5YR 1399    Max Repair 95 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 11.7 months    Spare Berths 0    

Navarre-150 Ion Drive (5)    Power 150    Fuel Use 110.05%    Signature 150    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 10.2 billion km   (25 days at full power)

Asturias Meson Cannon (4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 4687 km/s     Power 10-4     RM 20    ROF 15        1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Twin Gauss Cannon Turret (1x6)    Range 30,000km     TS: 16000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 3    ROF 5        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gauss Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 16000 km/s     84 69 53 38 22 6 0 0 0 0
Meson Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 4000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor  (4)     Total Power Output 18    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Galicia-20 Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 3840     Range 21.0m km    Resolution 120
Galicia-2 Missile Detection Sensor (1)     GPS 32     Range 1.9m km    MCR 209k km    Resolution 1
EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km

The geological survey ships of the Armada Española (Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria) are of a simple, and economical and low maintenance design intended for long-range operations.

Santa Maria class Geosurvey Ship    2,750 tons     56 Crew     464.1 BP      TCS 55  TH 150  EM 0
2727 km/s     Armour 1-17     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/6/0/3     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 105    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0    

Commercial Ion Drive (1)    Power 150    Fuel Use 9.28%    Signature 150    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 176.3 billion km   (748 days at full power)

Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1920     Range 10.5m km    Resolution 120
EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6m km
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour

The two Ferdinand class freighters and the single Isabella class colony ship are basic designs, although with its 70,000 capacity the Isabella is one of the larger colony ships in service.

Ferdinand class Freighter    36,400 tons     135 Crew     557.6 BP      TCS 728  TH 1200  EM 0
1648 km/s     Armour 1-97     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 10    Max Repair 75 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 3    
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10    

Large Commercial Ion Drive (4)    Power 300    Fuel Use 6.19%    Signature 300    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 20.0 billion km   (140 days at full power)

Isabella class Colony Ship    29,000 tons     210 Crew     1225 BP      TCS 580  TH 1200  EM 0
2068 km/s     Armour 1-84     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 26    Max Repair 75 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1    
Cryogenic Berths 70000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 15    

Large Commercial Ion Drive (4)    Power 300    Fuel Use 6.19%    Signature 300    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 25.1 billion km   (140 days at full power)

[Maltay]

The Torquemada class Strike Cruisers do not have Active Sensors that can detect missiles.  How are their Twin Gauss Cannon Turrets intended to provide PD?

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

The Torquemada class Strike Cruisers do not have Active Sensors that can detect missiles.  How are their Twin Gauss Cannon Turrets intended to provide defense from missiles?

An excellent point

I'll fix that and update them.

[UnLimiTeD]

An interesting approach.
Until the engine supports modular ship designs, this is probably the best bet for a small economy in the short term.
Of course, unless you develop them into serious armour balls with fast regenerating shields in the future, they might fall behind at some point.
Then again, They got a strong ally and are unlikely to get into too big squabbles with the other powers.
Though the Japanese Navy could probably completely overpower them by sheer weight of fire, economically armour+beams are a great start.

[MWadwell]

With a smaller economy than the other powers, the leaders of the Spanish Church were well aware that they could not maintain technological parity in the longer-term.

In which case, the Spanish Church either needs incredible luck to even out the long term technological parity - or to conquor someone.....

Me? I'm hoping for some fireworks! 

[Bremen]

So, an economically weak nation using a ship design doctrine that's most effective with sneak attacks on unsuspecting targets.

This is not going to end well, mark my words.

[joeclark77]

Well, I've got to root for the Catholics, so let's go Spain!  How's it going to work with the French controlling Rome, though?  The French government is presumably hostile to the Church but many of its citizens will be among the faithful.  On the Spanish side it might be the case that the "Spanish Church" has gone off the rails a bit if they're calling some local Cardinal the "head of the Church".  It would be interesting to see if (a) the French and Spanish work together to evangelize the cosmos, (b) the French commit a new Vendee genocide or something and the Spanish begin a holy Crusade against France, or (c) the Pope declares the Spanish church to be in schism and the French take up a holy Crusade against Spain.  If Spain has any advantage, it might be that they have less to lose and therefore more to gain by a war on Earth.

I imagine that the Spanish, although initially weaker, will probably be the most "missionary" about colonizing new worlds and evangelizing the aliens.  I hope you'll allow them to discover and claim some nice worlds before the others, or at least, let them start colonization first while the other nations are paralyzed by politics or war.  For sure, the Spanish will have lots of good names to give the colonies... there have been a ton of new saints since they named the cities of the New World after all the old ones.  And saints' names always sound better in Spanish.

[Mel Vixen]

Heh cant wait to see them discover Alien Religions and invoking "SPACE Jesus!". The french saking rome and italy doesnt mean it takes the Vatican which is still its own microstate.

[joeclark77]

The french saking rome and italy doesnt mean it takes the Vatican which is still its own microstate.

Steve didn't even mention the Vatican, but even if your assumption is correct, control of Rome certainly gives you a lot of influence or at least the ability to threaten the Church, and I doubt a Napoleon would be shy about attempting to do so.  The question is, how else can you explain the Spanish reaction to the French attack on Italy?  I'm guessing that the Pope recognized the new Napoleon first (perhaps even crowning him), and urged other Catholics to do likewise in the interest of peace.

[Mel Vixen]

Actualy i could be see a two pope solution springing up. Thus Spain has its catholic pope and the French have theyr own Pope. The church would split along with it with the more conservative parts of the religious regime going to Spain while the progressive ones go to France or convert to lutheran-evangelism.

For the Spanish government this would mean more power in the church and less outside influence, while the french would have the religious support for the new emperor.

[joeclark77]

I'm not sure it wouldn't go the other way.  The true Church would remain in Rome and endure the French, recognizing that the French and Italian people are largely faithful even if their rulers are not.  The "Spanish Church" might presume itself more Catholic than the Pope, ignore his appeals for peace, and start treating this Cardinal Ximénez fellow as an unofficial antipope.

For my sake, of course, I hope Steve will keep the Spanish powers authentically Catholic, name the stars after saints, and kick ass in the first interstellar Crusade.  More fun that way.  I hope he's given the knightly orders a few boosts in ground force combat strength and we'll see them playing a major part in the story.  Maybe the Spanish will specialize in boarding tactics?

[Bremen]

I'm not sure it wouldn't go the other way.  The true Church would remain in Rome and endure the French, recognizing that the French and Italian people are largely faithful even if their rulers are not.  The "Spanish Church" might presume itself more Catholic than the Pope, ignore his appeals for peace, and start treating this Cardinal Ximénez fellow as an unofficial antipope.

For my sake, of course, I hope Steve will keep the Spanish powers authentically Catholic, name the stars after saints, and kick ass in the first interstellar Crusade.  More fun that way.  I hope he's given the knightly orders a few boosts in ground force combat strength and we'll see them playing a major part in the story.  Maybe the Spanish will specialize in boarding tactics?

As a general rule I don't root for the bad guys, who the Spanish kinda seem to be in this scenario. That said, it would be nice to see a major turnaround in one of these games, where say Spain goes forth as the little guy, defeats the precursors and maybe conquers and converts an alien species or two, then uses the advanced alien tech they've obtained to demolish the French and Japanese navies when they try to interfere

[joeclark77]

As a general rule I don't root for the bad guys, who the Spanish kinda seem to be in this scenario. That said, it would be nice to see a major turnaround in one of these games, where say Spain goes forth as the little guy, defeats the precursors and maybe conquers and converts an alien species or two, then uses the advanced alien tech they've obtained to demolish the French and Japanese navies when they try to interfere

I'm not sure they even need the technology.  The real win would be capturing an alien homeworld with its wealth, industry, shipyards, etc.

I thought it was pretty clear that the French were the bad guys in this scenario!  I guess it goes to show we all have different points of view on these things.

[Morrigi192]

Hmm, maybe the Spanish will turn into the Imperium of Man if they get anywhere.  .  .   They just need to adopt more latin and acquire SPESS MEHREENS capable of Muhltiple, Simuln-tehneous and Devashtehting DEFENSIVE DEEP STRIKES!

+1 support for Spain.

[Culise]

I'm not sure they even need the technology.     The real win would be capturing an alien homeworld with its wealth, industry, shipyards, etc.   

I thought it was pretty clear that the French were the bad guys in this scenario!  I guess it goes to show we all have different points of view on these things.   

Aye, and I thought the Japanese would be the real big baddies biding their time in the shadows, while the cruel French, dogmatic Spanish, righteous Brits, and ambiguous Germans bleed each other white.     Always interesting to see these different takes.