Jump Gate Defence "Base"

[Xenogenic]

I could imagine some interesting role-play options for these as well.  Imagine the crew of 15 sat there for years on end, waiting for their one chance to fire their 4 missiles and then probably perish. . .   

[Cavgunner]

What kind of missiles were you using for these guys?  Since this unit would be engaging units at point-blank range I would be inclined to give them box launchers, and then design a missile "torpedo" that sacrificed range (what is the starting range after the enemy jumps in?) in exchange for a bigger warhead.

[Brian Neumann]

I'd skip the warhead increase and go for faster missles.  Two reasons.  Anything within 5 seconds flight time of the launcher will never have a chance to even see the missiles, so no point defense can fire at them.  Second reason is if they jump in farther than that flight time, then you want to have the missiles arrive before they get their scaners working.  Increasing jump radius is a fairly easy thing to reasearch and you can get 500,000km radius very quickly, it is also fairly small addition to the space you need for the jump engine (15%).  A quick example using the AGM-1c from The Space Race scenario.  It has a speed of 36,000km/s which means that in 5 seconds it can fly at most 180,000km.  To reach anything inside the 500,000 km would take 15 seconds.  Against a well trained experienced crew that might not be fast enough to reach them before they get their sensors on line.  If instead of 36,000km/s they pushed it up to 53,000km/s then they could reach anybody within 10 seconds.  The missile would still have 4-6 million km range which is more than enough for jp defense.  It would also get better to hit against fast targets (ie gunboats), It would also make a good second stage for really big planetary missles or a primary short range fighter missile for use against other fighters/gunboats ect.

Brian

[Garfunkel (OP)]

I used Size-4 Box Launchers. Plan was to flush all tubes and if the bases survived, use tugs to haul them back to Earth for overhaul, upgrade and rearm.

Brian, that's a good point. Very difficult to achieve with low tech but definitely something to keep in mind.

[Mel Vixen]

If they sit all in the same spot couldnt you just place a similar satellite among them that packs just some storage and a small hangar?

[MehMuffin]

You could also have a carrier ship to move them from base to the JP and to rearm and repair them without having to return to base, and it would eliminate the need for tugs to transport them.

[Karmag]

Okay, after being inspired by this post, I whipped up my own, similar version:

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Heimdall III-C class Jump Point Defence Base    500 tons     5 Crew     79 BP      TCS 10  TH 0  EM 0
1 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 7. 5
Maint Life 47. 57 Years     MSP 99    AFR 2%    IFR 0%    1YR 0    5YR 1    Max Repair 25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1000 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 50   

Size 5 Box Launcher (10)    Missile Size 5    Hangar Reload 37. 5 minutes    MF Reload 6. 2 hours
Missile Fire Control FC6-R2 (1)     Range 6. 1m km    Resolution 2
s5 wh30 v48k Rocket (10)  Speed: 48,000 km/s   End: 1. 6m    Range: 4. 5m km   WH: 30    Size: 5    TH: 352/211/105

Active Search Sensor MR12-R20 (1)     GPS 320     Range 12. 9m km    Resolution 20

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
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Note: I haven't tested these in combat, and I have effectively zero Aurora combat experience, so I'm just guessing as to what design might work.  At any rate, it's a cheap, 79BP lil' bugger who can volley 300 total missile damage, and remain on-station ~45 years.

So, what are the opinions of y'all who actually have Aurora combat experience?

[alex_brunius]

The biggest problem I have with mines as they currently are in Aurora, a minefield is one-shot. Any that detects a ship fires off. A couple sacrificial ships can wipe out a JP defense minefield in 10 seconds.

Perhaps one could deploy mines in several smaller fields ranging from the JP to the likly direction of ship travel? (towards other stationary JPs for example).

A line of mines deployed in a transit system that only has two JPs, between these would allow your mines to keep pounding the enemy for several days if you wish.