SFB Fi-Cons

[TallTroll (OP)]

Given the at least passing similarites between Aurora and SFB, has anyone looked at simulating the Fighter Conveyer concept? For those who don't know, a Fi-Con is a modified PF (SFB equivalent of a FAC) used to transport fighters into combat, at ranges beyond the normal strike distance of a fighter, sort of a low rent carrier.

In SFB, only the very fighter heavy races made any real use of it, since the tradeoffs involved basically mean you pay a lot of points for PFs with no weapons, and fighters with few real advantages. However, given the different design constraints in Aurora, it might work better. I've tried out a couple of basic designs, using low techs available to me :

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Fi-Con FAC class Fast Attack Craft    1,000 tons     86 Crew     132.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 94.5  EM 0
6300 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.69 Years     MSP 21    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 9    5YR 133    Max Repair 39 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons     

GB Ion Engine E88 (1)    Power 126    Fuel Use 880%    Signature 94.5    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 40,000 Litres    Range 8.2 billion km   (15 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Lance class Fighter    500 tons     17 Crew     65.9 BP      TCS 10  TH 28.5  EM 0
3800 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 2.87 Years     MSP 8    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 1    5YR 21    Max Repair 22 MSP

FTR Ion Engine E880 (1)    Power 37.8    Fuel Use 8800%    Signature 28.35    Armour 0    Exp 35%
Fuel Capacity 35,000 Litres    Range 1.4 billion km   (4 days at full power)

R3/C3 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 30,000km     TS: 3800 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 32-4500 (1)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 4500 km/s     84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR1-R60 (FAC) (1)     GPS 192     Range 1.5m km    Resolution 60

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Hardly optimised designs, but the combination would give a 4 day duration fighter with a normal max speed of 3800 km/s the ability to patrol at 6300 km/s for a couple of weeks. You'd need a sensor platform to spot targets for this particular combo etc, but I'm sure you get the idea. If the FACs were held on a FAC Tender with a decent sensor suite, this might make a decent deep strike group, for instance.

[metalax]

It is an interesting idea for situations where you don't want to risk your fleet carriers. The primary drawback is that you effectively halve the capacity of your fleet carriers with respect to the total number of fighters carried.

Unless the fighters are being treated as expendable assets, I'd go with 250 ton fighters instead of the 500 ton ones shown here, as they are significantly slower than the pocket carriers that deliver them.

[xeryon]

If it were me I would move the active search sensor to a dedicated craft.  You will lighten the size of the fighters to improve speed and with a little extra tech you should be able to get the fighters down to 250 tons and cram two of them in those mini carriers.  Or put the active search sensor on the mini-carrier itself.

[MehMuffin]

This could be helpful to sneak into systems, using the small FACs and fighters to avoid detection until you reach the fighters deployment range.

[TallTroll (OP)]

>> I'd go with 250 ton fighters instead of the 500 ton ones shown here

So would I, if I had the tech to do it. Alternatively, you could use a single bay per FAC, and maybe put some arms or armour on them, or just make smaller, faster, stealthier Fi-Cons

>> If it were me I would move the active search sensor to a dedicated craft

Yes, I'd either use these as a way of giving planet based fighters a bit more zip and range, or base them off a dedicated FAC Tender with a honking great sensor array to detect targets.

As I said, these are hardly optimised designs in the first place, and you'd have to think about how they fitted into your fleet doctrine quite carefully, but there are occasions when they could be very handy. SFB notes that the Fi-Con concept never worked out very well in general there either

>> avoid detection until you reach the fighters deployment range

Yes, FAC Tender jumps in to an enemy system, drops the FACs and runs, FACs deliver the fighters to strike range, then pick up the fighters and run back to the JP. The only cap ship spends about a minute in system. If you can mount FAC bays on commercial ships, you could stage the group waaay out in the middle of nowhere, without maintenance worries

[MehMuffin]

>> I'd go with 250 ton fighters instead of the 500 ton ones shown here

So would I, if I had the tech to do it. Alternatively, you could use a single bay per FAC, and maybe put some arms or armour on them, or just make smaller, faster, stealthier Fi-Cons

>> If it were me I would move the active search sensor to a dedicated craft

Yes, I'd either use these as a way of giving planet based fighters a bit more zip and range, or base them off a dedicated FAC Tender with a honking great sensor array to detect targets.

As I said, these are hardly optimised designs in the first place, and you'd have to think about how they fitted into your fleet doctrine quite carefully, but there are occasions when they could be very handy. SFB notes that the Fi-Con concept never worked out very well in general there either

>> avoid detection until you reach the fighters deployment range

Yes, FAC Tender jumps in to an enemy system, drops the FACs and runs, FACs deliver the fighters to strike range, then pick up the fighters and run back to the JP. The only cap ship spends about a minute in system. If you can mount FAC bays on commercial ships, you could stage the group waaay out in the middle of nowhere, without maintenance worries

Just checked, hangar bays cannot be mounted on commercial ships, however, you can mount maintenance modules on commercial ships, and 5 modules would only be 25000 tons, along with a ton of fuel storage, and you have a mobile FAC Fi-Con. Or a Fi-Con-Con

[Thiosk]

Just make sure you pack a few tons of all the minerals on board.

I wish the maintenance units could use minerals OR maintenance supplies.

[TallTroll (OP)]

>> Just checked, hangar bays cannot be mounted on commercial ships

Logical. But BOOOOO!

[DFDelta]

Hmm, I like this concept. It reminds me of the TM ships in the X universe. Small ships, just as big as 3 or 4 heavy fighters, but with the ability to let 4 of them dock onto it, use its jump drive and reload from it.

But this is very much a concept that will only work at medium to high tech levels.

I'll experiment with it next time I play with a fighter and satellite heavy military.