I've just had a go at a straight translation of some of the FT2 designs into
their FB1 equivalents, for the ORC. They end up being rather
weak-hulled,
with little in the way of class-1 batteries, but with really good firing
arcs. The masses are all rather small - for cruisers, extremely small -
for their notional class and model size. This, and the fact that the ORC
models and the FT2 SSDs are rather Old, leads to a neat solution: these are
all old, obsolete designs bought "second
hand", or manufactured at low-technology shipyards out of
locally-produced
low-tech materials. Their actual mass is somewhat larger than the given
figures(from 5 to 100% larger), but the cost in MUCr is in line with their
capabilities and market price.
Anyway, here they are:
Alpha Centauri class Frigate (Actual Mass ~20+)
Mass 20, BPV 68 Hull: 5 Thrust: 6 FTL capable
1 Class-1/6
1 Class-2/6
2 PDS 1 FC
Beta Hydrae class Destroyer (Actual Mass ~35)
Mass 28, BPV 95 Hull 7 Thrust: 6 FTL capable
1 Class-1/6
2 Class-2/6
2 PDS 1 FC
Gamma Leopardis class Light Cruiser (Actual Mass ~55)
Mass 43, BPV 147 Hull 10 Thrust 6 FTL capable
3 Class-2/6
2 PDS 2 FC
Screen-1
Delta Pavonis class Heavy Cruiser (Actual Mass ~80)
Mass 50, BPV 173 Hull 16 Thrust 4 FTL capable
1 Class-1/6
3 Class-2/6
2 PDS 1 ADFC 2 FC
Screen-1
Eta Cassiopiae Strike Cruiser (Actual Mass ~80)
Mass 48, BPV 165 Hull 14 Thrust 4 FTL capable
2 Pulse Torp/2
1 PDS 2 FC
Screen-1
Sigma Draconis class Missile Cruiser (Actual Mass ~75)
Mass 39, BPV 134 Hull 12 Thrust 4 FTL capable 4 MT missiles
1 Class-1/6
1 PDS 2 FC
Screen-1
Ursa Major class battleship (Actual Mass ~120)
Mass 97, BPV 338 Hull 24 Thrust 4 FTL capable
1 Class-2/6
4 Class-3/3
4 PDS 3 FC
Screen-2
Regarding the OutRim Coalition,no-one has done any blurb for it.
What do people think of this:
"The ORC is a loose alliance of many different colonies that were left to fend
for themselves when the major powers all but abandoned defending them to
concentrate their forces on the Core Worlds after
2185. The original nucleus was a band of extra-legal (read Pirate)
forces that raided the KV supply lines, then joined up with small
colonies that had been by-passed by the main KV assault. As such
their first forces were old, obsolete designs and repaired wrecks.
However the low-tech designs they had access to were perfectly
fitted for dispersed, non-centralised production. Even colonies
that had had most of their industries wrecked could produce parts for early
22nd century ships, so many of the ORC fleet were actually new production of
old designs. In fighting the KV, they have become like them. Their Pirate
origins
I like this. Do you want to do a 'Pedia blurb on it?
JGH
> Alan and Carmel Brain wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2001 23:21:50 +1100 "Alan and Carmel Brain"
> <aebrain@eisa.net.au> writes:
I like it! Can you make it 'Pedia type official (as opposed to canon
official)? (easy for me, you would be doing all the work?) Humans with an
attitude!
Of course what's next - ELF (Extraterrestrial League of Freaks?) and
DWARF (Dysfunctional, Wary And Rugged Fellows?) nations? <VBG>
Gracias,
I like the ORC background, but... if their main enemy is supposed to be the
Kra'Vak, weak hulls and heavy screens is not a very sensible design doctrine,
like.
OTOH, if you put them on the Phalon border instead, the designs make a lot
more sense. It'd also make their general volume of space a
not-too-illogical place to withdraw warships from during the Xeno war
(especially in 2193)... and Phalons being what they are, withdrawing the
human warships means that the colonies would've had to fight for their
lives anyway :-/
> Eta Cassiopiae Strike Cruiser (Actual Mass ~80)
Only seems to use 45 of its "48" Mass:
> Mass 48, BPV 165 Mass Cost
I like it. It sounds like a more interesting place to nestle my own little
colony. Makes me consider evolving changes in the CNP concept.
After everything that's been posted, I'm still not sure where I will want to
fit in to the Tuffleyverse. More info on the ORC would be VERY interesting to
me.
Brian
"The Irish are the only race of people on Earth for which psychoanalysis is of
no use."
- S. Freud
> From: "Alan and Carmel Brain" <aebrain@eisa.net.au>
From: "Glenn M Wilson" <triphibious@juno.com>
> >Regarding the OutRim Coalition,no-one has done any blurb for it.
OK, that makes 3 that do. OO's given some excellent constructive criticism (I
really must journey northwards to meet the man in
person. I owe him a lot.) A bit of fine-tuning, and it should be
OK to go.
Re-reading what I'd come up with, there must have been unconscious
plagiarism from H.Beam Piper's "Space Viking" as well as a whole host
of other, similar sources, from A.Betram Chandler's Rim-Runners to
Poul Anderson's Ensign Flandry, a touch of Jerry Pournelle's Sauron Supermen,
a smidgin of Asimov's Foundation series and even a soupcicon of Game$
Work$hop. "Curse those who've said my words before me!" as someone once said.
Before me.
> Can you make it 'Pedia type official (as opposed to canon
Will do. Of course Canon Official requires St Jon's imprimatur: he may have
his own ideas. I've already taken the liberty of fleshing out both the OU and
IC, both Canon powers, with nothing but my Colgate ring of Confidence to back
me up. If he says different, all that work will be sadly consigned to the
"good idea, but..." pile. Jon, are you listening? Can we please add the
Alarishi and IAS to the canon? And either veto, modify, or say d'accord to
some of the guff about the Canon powers on the GZGpedia?
Digression: At various times in my past, I've had to do some threat analysis
on various military subjects. Afficionados of Indonesian Affairs will notice
that I've borrowed VERY heavily from Reality when doing the IC background.
Current Indonesian affairs are inexplicable unless you realise that the
country doesn't have a central government as such, bits of the government are
controlled by various competing groups. So the President might sincerely want
one outcome, send in the army, and find the exact opposite occurring.
And the OUDF - a 3rd rate power with 1st rate responsibilities - is
practicing what those in the Intelligence Community call "Assymetric Warfare".
Bin Laden is doing the same thing, but was STUPID enough to
hit spectacular, low-value high-pain targets instead of unspectacular,
high-value low-pain ones. The OUDF doesn't do massacres out of purely
practical reasons, namely, a highly developed sense of
self-preservation.
The WTC wasn't exactly low-value - but a good Cyber Attack on the NYSE
would have been far worse, dollar-wise. And unpublicised threats to
repeat the attack would have a greater chance of getting the USA to modify its
foreign policy. By wholesale massacre of the innocent, the people involved
assured that the US was never, ever going to do anything other than wage a war
of extermination against them and their ilk.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. They can't have read my unclass e-mail chat with
someone in the DIA back in the early 90's, before even the Sarin attack on the
Tokyo subways. But I digress.
I had to use a Deus Ex Machina with a "Universal Vaccine" to enable the IC to
hit the OU without fear of BioWar. It added a dose of irony too, that what was
a boon to all mankind meant War was possible. Sort of fits in with the "there
are no good guys in the Tuffleyverse" bit.
(I must flesh out this bit - the "universal Vaccine" isn't a vaccine,
it's a protocol involving communicating implants that relay data
about the victim to similar devices nearby - so a few victims die, but
From: "Oerjan Ohlson" <oerjan.ohlson@telia.com>
> I like the ORC background, but... if their main enemy is supposed to
a) The ORC has to make do with what it can get.
b) You're right - it's difficult to see how the designs could be worse
in terms of survivability vs the KV. (OK, if they replaced 50% of their
fragile hull with armour it would be worse. Worse still if 99%. Worse still if
they only 1 hull box and no armour. I meant "difficult to see how a relatively
sane design could be worse". So there.<g>) c) OTOH the firing arcs are
unmatched, even by the OU in its dreams<g>. This makes their weaponry rather
good against KV in cinematic.Enough to overcome their weakness in defence?
Dunno. Unlikely. They have good arcs, not great weapons power.
> OTOH, if you put them on the Phalon border instead, the designs make a
Very good idea. Shall we just say that the *surviving* ORC are now pretty much
all facing the Phalons, the ones facing the KV having either been vaped (due
to
having sub-optimal ships) or driven out?
> >Eta Cassiopiae Strike Cruiser (Actual Mass ~80)
> Optimising it gives Mass 42, NPV 144.
Correct. Cut n Paste error, I was using a spreadsheet and didn't wipe some
costed extra arcs from weapons that didn't exist. Thanks for the correction.
Maybe I'd better make the Actual Mass ~75 then.
You're right about the firing arcs of the torps BTW - FP,F and F,FS
The firing arcs for the Battleship are AP,FP,F x 2 and F,FS,AS x 2 BTW.
These designs are taken straight from FT2 and MT, a straight translation as
best I could with no attempt at optimisation. To make them rather more like a
conventional FB1 design, and probably more effective, you'd have to add 20% of
On Fri, 9 Nov 2001 22:20:36 +1100 "Alan and Carmel Brain"
> <aebrain@austarmetro.com.au> writes:
<snip good stuff>
> Of course what's next - ELF (Extraterrestrial League of Freaks?) and
*LOL!*
Gracias,
> A long time ago Alan wrote:
> From: "Oerjan Ohlson" <oerjan.ohlson@telia.com>
If my main enemy was the Kra'Vak, I wouldn't install any screens even if I
could get them - it's better to just leave the space empty and avoid
losing the money and materials invested in those screens when the ship blows
up!
> c) OTOH the firing arcs are unmatched, even by the OU in its dreams<g>.
This
> makes their weaponry rather good against KV in cinematic.Enough to
Wide firing arcs is nice, but in order to suffice against Kra'Vak it needs
to be backed up by good firepower or good survivability - but the
screened ORC ships only have average firepower and poor survivability against
KV.
Against Phalons OTOH their main limitation is a lack of PDS, but they're
nearly able to match an "all-C" Phalon force of the same points value
beam
for beam at close range while still having a reasonable mid-range beam
punch.
> >OTOH, if you put them on the Phalon border instead, the designs make
Sounds good to me :-)
> You're right about the firing arcs of the torps BTW - FP,F and F,FS
Yes, that one I had figured out <g>
Later,