FAC Designs

[Brian Neumann]

OK, I've fiddled around with the Ironsides Class without increasing the tech(I'm trying to create a viable FAC for the NPR I've encountered).  The range is *extremely* limited and as a result I'm definately going to have some kind of PFT design; I'm currently undecided about whether I'm going to go with a parasite carrier or a straight tender with fuel/maintenance/sensor support for the flotilla.  

The reactor is now 0.5 HS in size hence the power 3 not 2.  I'm deliberately designing these as attrition units (the NPR is a Tyranny and not averse to losing people).  The only reason the Locust has a GB engine is due to role playing decisions on my part.  The NPR has gone with a single FAC hull and will specalise them for different roles (I've been heavily influenced by the PF and Interceptor fluff from SFB in this).

You might want to see how much space an extra point of armor would take.  I think at this tech level a point of armor would be around 1HS.  Two points of armor is probably going to protect the ship better than a point of shields and 1 point of armor would.

Brian

[Charlie Beeler]

OK, I've fiddled around with the Ironsides Class without increasing the tech(I'm trying to create a viable FAC for the NPR I've encountered).  The range is *extremely* limited and as a result I'm definately going to have some kind of PFT design; I'm currently undecided about whether I'm going to go with a parasite carrier or a straight tender with fuel/maintenance/sensor support for the flotilla.  

The reactor is now 0.5 HS in size hence the power 3 not 2.  I'm deliberately designing these as attrition units (the NPR is a Tyranny and not averse to losing people).  The only reason the Locust has a GB engine is due to role playing decisions on my part.  The NPR has gone with a single FAC hull and will specalise them for different roles (I've been heavily influenced by the PF and Interceptor fluff from SFB in this).

You might want to see how much space an extra point of armor would take.  I think at this tech level a point of armor would be around 1HS.  Two points of armor is probably going to protect the ship better than a point of shields and 1 point of armor would.

Brian

I had not noticed the shields in the orginal design.  I agree that in such a small ship the tonnage is better used on armor.  


If you go with a tender with hanger bays I'd consider dropping the engineering space as well.  Maybe even replacing the full size fuel tank with a small one.  Operate the GB's as fighters from carriers instead of small long range craft.

[Charlie Beeler]

This is the latest GB I'm using in my campaign.  It's operating from a 40K ton tender in groups of 10.  The engine is designed with 5% power increase, fuel efficiency 9, and thermal reduction 75%.  The missiles are still using the previous generation of drive.  It has the same fire power of the 3K ton corrvette I'm using for system patrol without endurance.  So far this race has not discovered jump technology, but that is soon going to change.

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Lexington C class Sloop    1000 tons     90 Crew     120.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 63  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 3-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 5
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 26 MSP
Magazine 55    

GB Nuclear Pulse Engine E99 (1)    Power 84    Efficiency 9.90    Signature 63    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.8 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Missile Launcher 01-030 (5)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC5-R20/100 (1)     Range 3.0m km    Resolution 20
SSM mk1 (55)  Speed: 9800 km/s   End: 3.1 minutes    Range: 1.8m km   Warhead: 1    MR: 10    Size: 1


[Brian Neumann]

Here is a design for a gunboat that is in somewhat the same tech range as yours.

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Akagi class Fast Attack Craft    1000 tons     123 Crew     235 BP      TCS 20  TH 48.3  EM 0
6900 km/s     Armour 2-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 6
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 73 MSP    Max Repair 60 MSP

GB Ion Engine E91 (1)    Power 138    Efficiency 9.10    Signature 48.3    Armour 0    Exp 36%
Fuel Capacity 30,000 Litres    Range 5.9 billion km   (9 days at full power)

10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 90,000km     TS: 6900 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
R4.5/C3 High Power Microwave (1)    Range 45,000km     TS: 6900 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 4.5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 48-6400 gb (1)    Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 6400 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (1)     Total Power Output 9    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor S10-R20/100 (1)     GPS 200     Range 2.0m km    Resolution 20

A couple of notes.  I actually prefer meson's on gunboats because of their ability to ignore shields and armor.  Given that the gunboat is probably not going to have the firecontrol to make full use of any heavier weapons, the range disadvantage of the meson is mostly negated.  The armor is taking up 1hs per level of armor approximately.  The engineering is from a small engineering facility.  As this cuts the failure rate down from 200% anual it it worth the 1/2hs for gunboats that are going to be guarding colony worlds.  It gives them a better endurance on station with minimum support.  The tech in this case is pretty much under 8000rp, some of it at 8000.  The only thing that is above the 8000 mark was the armor type (10000).  

I am not sure if the microwave weapon ignores the shields or not.  I have not actually used one exept in a nebula.  If it does ignore the shield then it is well worth it as a few of these gunboats will probably blind most escorts in one firing pass.

Brian

[Cassaralla]

This is the latest GB I'm using in my campaign.  It's operating from a 40K ton tender in groups of 10.  The engine is designed with 5% power increase, fuel efficiency 9, and thermal reduction 75%.  The missiles are still using the previous generation of drive.  It has the same fire power of the 3K ton corrvette I'm using for system patrol without endurance.  So far this race has not discovered jump technology, but that is soon going to change.

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Lexington C class Sloop    1000 tons     90 Crew     120.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 63  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 3-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 5
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 26 MSP
Magazine 55    

GB Nuclear Pulse Engine E99 (1)    Power 84    Efficiency 9.90    Signature 63    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.8 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Missile Launcher 01-030 (5)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC5-R20/100 (1)     Range 3.0m km    Resolution 20
SSM mk1 (55)  Speed: 9800 km/s   End: 3.1 minutes    Range: 1.8m km   Warhead: 1    MR: 10    Size: 1


This design lacks sensors.  Does your Tender have long range sensors to support them or do you have a dedicated EW gunboat class?

[welchbloke (OP)]

This is the latest GB I'm using in my campaign.  It's operating from a 40K ton tender in groups of 10.  The engine is designed with 5% power increase, fuel efficiency 9, and thermal reduction 75%.  The missiles are still using the previous generation of drive.  It has the same fire power of the 3K ton corrvette I'm using for system patrol without endurance.  So far this race has not discovered jump technology, but that is soon going to change.

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Lexington C class Sloop    1000 tons     90 Crew     120.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 63  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 3-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 5
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 26 MSP
Magazine 55    

GB Nuclear Pulse Engine E99 (1)    Power 84    Efficiency 9.90    Signature 63    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.8 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Missile Launcher 01-030 (5)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC5-R20/100 (1)     Range 3.0m km    Resolution 20
SSM mk1 (55)  Speed: 9800 km/s   End: 3.1 minutes    Range: 1.8m km   Warhead: 1    MR: 10    Size: 1


Do you intend to keep the 40k tender when the race discovers Jump Tech?  I would have thought that a low tech race would struggled to build a vessel with a 4ok jump drive.

[welchbloke (OP)]

Based on the advice I've had so far (thanks everyone ) I have revised the Ironsides class to the design below:

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Ironsides class Gunboat    1000 tons     100 Crew     122 BP      TCS 20  TH 120  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 2-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 4
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 30 MSP

GB Ion Engine E100 (1)    Power 120    Efficiency 10.00    Signature 120    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 9.0 billion km   (17 days at full power)

12cm C2 Visible Light Laser (1)    Range 32,000km     TS: 6000 km/s     Power 4-2     RM 2    ROF 10        4 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 16-7200 (1)    Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 7200 km/s     69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%I've also designed a Meson armed GB:

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Snake class Gunboat    1000 tons     93 Crew     127 BP      TCS 20  TH 120  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 2-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 40 MSP    Max Repair 30 MSP

GB Ion Engine E100 (1)    Power 120    Efficiency 10.00    Signature 120    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 18.0 billion km   (34 days at full power)

R1.5/C2 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 15,000km     TS: 6000 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 1.5    ROF 10        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 16-7200 (1)    Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 7200 km/s     69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%The smaller size of the meson has allowed me to add an extra fuel tank and double the endurance compared to the Ironsides class.
I'm keen to design a missile boat so I'm off to the drawing board.

[waresky]

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Bird of Prey class Fast Attack Craft    1750 tons     176 Crew     512 BP      TCS 35  TH 160  EM 0
4571 km/s     Armour 1-12     Shields 0-0     Sensors 30/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 2
Annual Failure Rate: 24%    IFR: 0.3%    Maintenance Capacity 183 MSP    Max Repair 280 MSP
Magazine 32    

GB Magneto-plasma Drive E40 (1)    Power 160    Efficiency 4.00    Signature 160    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 5.1 billion km   (13 days at full power)

Borneo Missile Launcher 02-015 (1)    Missile Size 2    Rate of Fire 15
Borneo Anti-Ship  FC60-R14/100 (1)     Range 25.2m km    Resolution 14
Borneo II 2 (16)  Speed: 14400 km/s   End: 41.7 minutes    Range: 36m km   Warhead: 6    MR: 14    Size: 2

Cruise 2 Active Sensor S160-R20/40 (1)     GPS 3200     Range 32.0m km    Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH5-30/40 (1)     Sensitivity 30     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  30m km
My newest FAC,based on newly Magneto plsm drive and some news on sensors and FC,Armor new Ceramic Composite.
Medium Range capability,planet range Def purpouse

[waresky]

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Oregon 78 class Pinnace    1350 tons     123 Crew     269 BP      TCS 27  TH 160  EM 60
5925 km/s     Armour 1-10     Shields 2-400     Sensors 10/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 2
Annual Failure Rate: 29%    IFR: 0.4%    Maintenance Capacity 62 MSP    Max Repair 96 MSP
Magazine 102    

GB Magneto-plasma Drive E40 (1)    Power 160    Efficiency 4.00    Signature 160    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 40,000 Litres    Range 13.3 billion km   (26 days at full power)
Gamma R400/18 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  18 Litres per day

Arbalest Missile Launcher 01-010 (2)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
A-Ship Missile FC6-R14/2.52Mkm (1)     Range 2.5m km    Resolution 14
Arbalest II 1 (102)  Speed: 18200 km/s   End: 3.3 minutes    Range: 3.6m km   Warhead: 3    MR: 19    Size: 1

Arbalest 2 Active Sensor S96-R1/100 (1)     GPS 96     Range 960k km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  10m km


Strangely the Pinnace Class are more fast than a FAC..but it's mereley for different concept design and purpouse..depend on sensor array of Fire Control capability,pinnace born on Close Assault,FAC medium Range Engagment

[Charlie Beeler]

This is the latest GB I'm using in my campaign.  It's operating from a 40K ton tender in groups of 10.  The engine is designed with 5% power increase, fuel efficiency 9, and thermal reduction 75%.  The missiles are still using the previous generation of drive.  It has the same fire power of the 3K ton corrvette I'm using for system patrol without endurance.  So far this race has not discovered jump technology, but that is soon going to change.

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Lexington C class Sloop    1000 tons     90 Crew     120.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 63  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 3-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 5
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 26 MSP
Magazine 55    

GB Nuclear Pulse Engine E99 (1)    Power 84    Efficiency 9.90    Signature 63    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.8 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Missile Launcher 01-030 (5)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC5-R20/100 (1)     Range 3.0m km    Resolution 20
SSM mk1 (55)  Speed: 9800 km/s   End: 3.1 minutes    Range: 1.8m km   Warhead: 1    MR: 10    Size: 1


This design lacks sensors.  Does your Tender have long range sensors to support them or do you have a dedicated EW gunboat class?

Actually, there is a scout class sloop that can be serviced by the tender and is part of the overall task group.

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Spruance B class Sloop Scout    1000 tons     93 Crew     144 BP      TCS 20  TH 31.5  EM 0
2100 km/s     Armour 2-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 25/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 3%    IFR: 0%    Maintenance Capacity 225 MSP    Max Repair 26 MSP

Nuclear Pulse Engine E9.9 (mil) (1)    Power 42    Efficiency 0.99    Signature 31.5    Armour 0    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 75,000 Litres    Range 136.4 billion km   (751 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor S20-R20/100 (1)     GPS 400     Range 4.0m km    Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH5-25/100 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km

The Federation found an abandoned alien city on Mars.  One of the techs recovered was compressed fuel cells.  That's how such a small ship can carry so much fuel.  The intended role is to seekout targets, wait for the Lex's to get into firing position, lightup the targets with actives just long enough for the missiles to track in, then shut down and move to a new position.  None of this is battle tested yet.

[Charlie Beeler]

This is the latest GB I'm using in my campaign.  It's operating from a 40K ton tender in groups of 10.  The engine is designed with 5% power increase, fuel efficiency 9, and thermal reduction 75%.  The missiles are still using the previous generation of drive.  It has the same fire power of the 3K ton corrvette I'm using for system patrol without endurance.  So far this race has not discovered jump technology, but that is soon going to change.

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Lexington C class Sloop    1000 tons     90 Crew     120.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 63  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 3-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 5
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 26 MSP
Magazine 55    

GB Nuclear Pulse Engine E99 (1)    Power 84    Efficiency 9.90    Signature 63    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.8 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Missile Launcher 01-030 (5)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC5-R20/100 (1)     Range 3.0m km    Resolution 20
SSM mk1 (55)  Speed: 9800 km/s   End: 3.1 minutes    Range: 1.8m km   Warhead: 1    MR: 10    Size: 1


Do you intend to keep the 40k tender when the race discovers Jump Tech?  I would have thought that a low tech race would struggled to build a vessel with a 4ok jump drive.

That's something the Federation will have to tangle with when the time comes.  10K jump drives with base tech is rough enough I agree.  They have just completed research into fighter engines so that may be thier solution.

[Charlie Beeler]

Based on the advice I've had so far (thanks everyone ) I have revised the Ironsides class to the design below:

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Ironsides class Gunboat    1000 tons     100 Crew     122 BP      TCS 20  TH 120  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 2-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 4
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 38 MSP    Max Repair 30 MSP

GB Ion Engine E100 (1)    Power 120    Efficiency 10.00    Signature 120    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 9.0 billion km   (17 days at full power)

12cm C2 Visible Light Laser (1)    Range 32,000km     TS: 6000 km/s     Power 4-2     RM 2    ROF 10        4 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 16-7200 (1)    Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 7200 km/s     69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%I've also designed a Meson armed GB:

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Snake class Gunboat    1000 tons     93 Crew     127 BP      TCS 20  TH 120  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 2-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 40 MSP    Max Repair 30 MSP

GB Ion Engine E100 (1)    Power 120    Efficiency 10.00    Signature 120    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 18.0 billion km   (34 days at full power)

R1.5/C2 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 15,000km     TS: 6000 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 1.5    ROF 10        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 16-7200 (1)    Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 7200 km/s     69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%The smaller size of the meson has allowed me to add an extra fuel tank and double the endurance compared to the Ironsides class.
I'm keen to design a missile boat so I'm off to the drawing board.

Much better.  Your fire controls are excellent matches to the weapons systems.  They look like good high speed knife fighters.  I'm interested in how they actually perform on combat.

[welchbloke (OP)]

*SNIP*
Much better.  Your fire controls are excellent matches to the weapons systems.  They look like good high speed knife fighters.  I'm interested in how they actually perform on combat.

Thanks; I'll provide an after action report once my Player race and these NPRs but heads.

[welchbloke (OP)]

I've had a go at designing a missle GB; missile combat is an area I'm very inexperienced at and any pointers would be very useful.

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Transgressor class Gunboat    1000 tons     97 Crew     155 BP      TCS 20  TH 120  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 48 MSP    Max Repair 48 MSP
Magazine 33    

GB Ion Engine E100 (1)    Power 120    Efficiency 10.00    Signature 120    Armour 0    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 9.0 billion km   (17 days at full power)

Missile Launcher 01-030 (3)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC48-R20/100 (1)     Range 28.8m km    Resolution 20
GB Missile #2 (33)  Speed: 8000 km/s   End: 56.2 minutes    Range: 27m km   Warhead: 1    MR: 14    Size: 1

[Hawkeye]

Your missile seem awfully weak in terms of payload and also rather slow, which means quite a few will be shot down by PD, if your enemy mounts any.

On the other hand, your missile control system is able to engage other FACs, which my own usually can´t do. I am using them more like the PT boats of WW2, trying to hit larger ships.


This is a design I have thrown together rather fast, but it reflects the way, I usually build my FACs

Tech is:
Active Grav Sensor 16
Nuclear Pulse Engines
High Density Duranium Armor
Levitated Pit Implosion Warhead
Power Increase 10%
Reduced Size Launcher 25%
Thermal Reduction 50%




Gepard class Fast Attack Craft    1000 tons     88 Crew     162 BP      TCS 20  TH 44  EM 0
4400 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 8
Annual Failure Rate: 16%    IFR: 0.2%    Maintenance Capacity 51 MSP    Max Repair 48 MSP
Magazine 32    

FAC Type 88 NP-Engine (1)    Power 88    Efficiency 9.60    Signature 44    Armour 0    Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 30,000 Litres    Range 5.6 billion km   (14 days at full power)

LAC Class-2 Missile Launcher (16)    Missile Size 2    Rate of Fire 6000
LAC Missilecontrole Mk. I (1)     Range 31.2m km    Resolution 65
Skylark Class LAC Missile (16)  Speed: 15200 km/s   End: 37 minutes    Range: 33.7m km   Warhead: 3    MR: 10    Size: 2

LAC Radar Suit Type 48/65 (1)     GPS 3120     Range 31.2m km    Resolution 65



I am allways torn between giving each FAC its own active sensor, or building a dedicated scout FAC.
Without the active sensors, I could squeeze 22 missile launchers in.

On the other hand, I usually form 6 unit FAC-Squadrons, so with the one above, I have a total of 96 launchers all together.
If I go with the "blind" FACs and include one scout FAC, I have 110 launchers in the squadron, but if the scout is taken out early, the whole squadron goes blind.

The miniaturized launchers have a ROF of 6000 (I am useing loading rate 1, as even a ROF of 2000 with loading rate 3 is pretty much useless IMO) so reloading during a battle is not an option. I am going for a big one-time-salvo instead.

There is neither active nor passive defenses present, as those FACs are designed to get in, hit the enemy and get the hell out of dodge.