A Random Low-Level Troop Transport, a Light CAS Fighter, and a Marine Frigate

[xenoscepter (OP)]

So, I decided to try a little "science experiment" tonight; what follows here are a set of designs for a Low-Tech Troop Transport, a Light CAS [Close-Aerospace Support] Fighter, and a Marine Frigate inspired by the Homeworld 2 series, albeit far less useless.

I'm not sure of the utility of a CAS-style Fighter in the anti-PDC role; I know it won't work in the traditional sense, but thought carrying around some anti-PDC Fighters might be useful for a Troop Transport.

As for the Marine Frigate, I don't know if you can carry out boarding operations with just Small Troop Transport Bays. If you can't then the Marine Frigate is a bust.

Low-Tech Troop Transport:

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Low-Tech Troop Transport class Troop Transport    9,000 tons     137 Crew     770.5 BP      TCS 180  TH 160  EM 300
888 km/s     Armour 5-38     Shields 10-300     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 15     PPV 0
Maint Life 6.37 Years     MSP 1268    AFR 129%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 54    5YR 807    Max Repair 80 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Flight Crew Berths 55   
Hangar Deck Capacity 1000 tons     Troop Capacity: 1 Battalion    Cargo Handling Multiplier 20   

160 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (1)    Power 160    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 160    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 775,000 Litres    Range 19.4 billion km   (252 days at full power)
Gamma R300/240 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  50 Litres per hour  (1,200 per day)

Strike Group
2x Light CAS Useless Rocket   Speed: 800 km/s    Size: 10

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

This is a design for a Troop Transport unit that fits the following construction parameters:

- The ship must weigh no more the 10,000 Tonnes.

- The ship must transport at least one Battalion.

- The ship's load time must not exceed two days.

- The ship must carry at least one parasite for attacking PDCs in support of the troops.

- The ship must be able to remain on station for at least five months.

- The ship must have at least twice as much shielding as armour, but not more than three times as much shielding as armor.

- The ship must carry adequate fuel for it's shields and it's parasites in addition to having enough fuel to maintain power throughout the full term of it's deployment. [Within reasonable margins]

This ship is designed to meet the following mission parameters:

- Provide transit for the empire's ground forces.

- Exhibit good range to allow for tactical deployment / re-deployment.

- Exhibit a high-degree of logistical independence.

- Provide Close-Aerospace Support against PDCs for itself and it's troops.

- Provide adequate protection for itself and, by extension, it's cargo.


Light CAS:

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Light CAS class Useless Rocket    500 tons     25 Crew     51 BP      TCS 10  TH 8  EM 60
800 km/s     Armour 2-5     Shields 2-300     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 14.83 Years     MSP 19    AFR 6%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 0    5YR 2    Max Repair 9 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.75 months    Spare Berths 8   

8 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (1)    Power 8    Fuel Use 99%    Signature 8    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 3.6 billion km   (52 days at full power)
Gamma R300/240 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  10 Litres per hour  (240 per day)

R1.5/C3 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 15,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1.5    ROF 5        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.7 30-625 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 60,000 km   TS: 2500 km/s     83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Marine Frigate:

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Marine Frigate class Marine Frigate    10,000 tons     275 Crew     1822 BP      TCS 50  TH 400  EM 270
4000 km/s     Armour 3-41     Shields 9-300     Sensors 11/11/0/0     Damage Control Rating 26     PPV 16
Maint Life 4.09 Years     MSP 2683    AFR 133%    IFR 1.9%    1YR 257    5YR 3848    Max Repair 600 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 0   
Troop Capacity: 3 Companies    Cargo Handling Multiplier 30   

800 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 800    Fuel Use 25%    Signature 400    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,080,000 Litres    Range 77.8 billion km   (225 days at full power)
Epsilon R300/360 Shields (3)   Total Fuel Cost  45 Litres per hour  (1,080 per day)

R4/C4 Meson Cannon (2)    Range 40,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 4-4     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
R4/C4 High Power Microwave (2)    Range 40,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 4-4     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S02 80-4000 H50 (2)    Max Range: 160,000 km   TS: 4000 km/s     94 88 81 75 69 62 56 50 44 38
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (3)     Total Power Output 18    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR2-R1 (50%) (1)     GPS 21     Range 2.3m km    MCR 252k km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR23-R100 (50%) (1)     GPS 2100     Range 23.1m km    Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (50%) (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-11 (50%) (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 25% of normal

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


[Gyrfalcon]

Code: [Select]

Light CAS class Useless Rocket    500 tons     25 Crew     51 BP      TCS 10  TH 8  EM 60
800 km/s     Armour 2-5     Shields 2-300     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 14.83 Years     MSP 19    AFR 6%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 0    5YR 2    Max Repair 9 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.75 months    Spare Berths 8   

8 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (1)    Power 8    Fuel Use 99%    Signature 8    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 3.6 billion km   (52 days at full power)
Gamma R300/240 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  10 Litres per hour  (240 per day)

R1.5/C3 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 15,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1.5    ROF 5        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.7 30-625 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 60,000 km   TS: 2500 km/s     83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
I think the name may be fitting, overall. OK, here's the deal in Aurora - fighters have very little benefit from armor and shields. At best, a single layer of armor might help it survive an incidental hit from an anti-missile missile. Outside that situation, they're simply so small that hits are guaranteed to pile on top of each other and burn through any armor on the fighter quickly. Add to that, they simply don't have the space to mount effective shield generators.

In this case here, your anti-CAS fighter is slower then its carrier vessel. It's also so slow that any basic tracking will guarantee a 100% hit rate on it.

Here's a design based on (mostly) TL1 technology for the same role.

Code: [Select]

TL1/2-CAS class Fighter    372 tons     4 Crew     31.9 BP      TCS 7.44  TH 12  EM 0
1612 km/s     Armour 1-4     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 74%    IFR 1%    1YR 2    5YR 35    Max Repair 9 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 0   

TL1-CAS 6.25 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (2)    Power 6.25    Fuel Use 155.65%    Signature 6.25    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 10 000 Litres    Range 3.1 billion km   (22 days at full power)

TL1/3-CAS R1.5/C3 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 15 000km     TS: 4000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1.5    ROF 5        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TL1-CAS Fire Control S00.2 10-625 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 20 000 km   TS: 2500 km/s     50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TL2-CAS Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

TL1-CAS Active Search Sensor MR0-R5 (1)     GPS 5     Range 110k km    Resolution 5

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

Comparing the two, some takeaways - your CAS fighter probably isn't intended to be deployed for 20 days to get to the target, you can set it to a fraction of that time (3 days) and reduce the amount of crew needed. You can also easily add a very small active sensor to the fighter - it takes 5 tons, and it means your fighter isn't reliant on a support sensor vessel to engage targets. It knows where it needs to go to fight, at least. Your anti-CAS fighter needs a lot more speed. I'm wondering if you used boosted engines technology for it?

[xenoscepter (OP)]

Nah, no boosted engine tech; just dinking around because I was bored, thought it was an interesting concept and figured I'd share the fun.

It could probably be a lot better, I'm just getting into the ground combat aspects. Space Fighter design isn't the same.

I also disagree with no armor or shields on a fighter, as long as they are still going pretty fast, it helps take the edge off of glancing Point Defense hits. Small Craft ECM helps too, at 80 Tons for an Epsilon Shield, Tiny Fuel Tank to run it and a single Small Craft ECM 3 for 30% degradation of the enemies FCS range... that's gonna be helpful vs. Missiles, enemy PD, and Beam Fighters. You can still stick six Size-2 Box Launchers and six FCS on it too! 

[Gyrfalcon]

Er... you only need a single FCS, which you can assign all of the box launchers to. Unless there's some earthly reason you need to engage six targets with a single size 2 missile, simultaneously.

[xenoscepter (OP)]

To deliver six single missile salvos with extra cheese of course!