FFS designs
Ramparts (Re: AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!)
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Date: Sat, 14 Oct 1995 11:24:43 -0500
From: Steven Bonneville <bonnevil@itlabs.umn.edu>
Subject: Ramparts (Re: AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!)
Merrick Burkhardt ranted: :)
>My previous comment about doing an 8 ton fighter was premature. It's
>impossible to make it 6g. Check out their Rampart design! It doesn't
>work! Look at the masses, and the thrust. The Rampart given to us in
>BL can do just less than 3g when it's empty. [...]
I've noticed that GDW tends not to check the thrust-to-mass ratio in
their designs, too. They seem to forget that armor is really going to
weigh down small craft. Otherwise, the designs seem okay.
>So, any ideas on what to do for a fighter design? (using "canon" FFS)
The Rampart is salvagable. The mass of the thing just needs to be
cut down a little. The heaviest optional components are armor and the
laser. Here's my solution. Change the following entries in the
standard Rampart (RF-128) listing.
Hull Armor: 56
Price: MCr 23.04
Mass: 160.8/157.1 tons [with missiles, 188.8 tons]
Power Plant: 70 MW Fusion (70 MW/hit), 1 month duration
G-Rating: 6G (8.125 MW/G) [5G with missiles], CG Lifters (5 MW)
G-Turns: 52.3, 1.035 cubic meters ea. [43.5, 1.219 cu. m w/missls.]
Maint: 3
Offensive: 1 x TL15 72 MJ laser lance (Loc. 1; Arc 1; 2 MW; no crew)
10:(1/6)-21 20:(1/6)-21 40:(1/3)-11 80:(1/2)-5
4 x USL grapples for standard missiles
Armor was lightened, the laser size halved, and a HEPlaR drive with
975 tons thrust installed in place of the old drive. The damage table
only requires minor changes (and it had a minor bug or two to begin
with). Crew is still one, Maneuver/Gunner.
Here's something of my own. The following additional changes result
in a conversion of the old RF-128-2 Rampart two-place missile fighter.
Price: MCr 23.30
Mass: 157.1/120.3 tons [missile load included in loaded]
G-Rating: 6G (8.125 MW/G) [8G empty], CG Lifters (5MW)
G-Turns: 59.8, 1.035 cubic meters ea. [81.3, 0.762 cu. m ea. empty]
Commo: 5 x 1000 AU maser
Controls: 2 x workstation
Offensive: 4 x USL grapples for standard missiles
Crew: 2 (Maneuver, Commander/Gunner)
Airlocks: 2 hatches
A hatch is a 2 square meter surface area, MCr 0.002 excuse not to
install an airlock in a fighter. :) The original RF-128-2 was a
missile fighter that was also used as the squadron commander's
craft and as a trainer. The laser has been deleted, a second
workstation and commo suite installed, and the space left is now
additional maneuver fuel. It also turns out that removing the
laser gives up just as much mass as a full load of missiles needs,
so this craft suffers no acceleration penalty to carry missiles.
The damage tables only require minor tweaking.
BONUS INFORMATION: Two TL-15 laser lances. Both need remote crew.
144MJ 28.387 kL 53.59 tons 4 MW MCr 0.59 1.31 sq. m.
10:(1/10)-30 20:(1/10)-30 40:(1/4)-15 80:(1/2)-7; No crew.
72MJ 15.787 kL 28.39 tons 2 MW MCr 0.46 1.31 sq. m.
10:(1/6)-21 20:(1/6)-21 40:(1/3)-11 80:(1/2)-5; No crew.
Steve Bonneville
<bonn0015@tc.umn.edu>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 13:49:52 -0500
From: Steven Bonneville <bonnevil@itlabs.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: Ramparts (Re: AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!)
Merrick Burkhardt noted:
>Cool stuff. Unfortunately the fix you posted is illegal if you don't
>trash the silly armor requirements. I would be happy to ignore the
>gs*10 armor requirement myself as it is just plain dumb (given the
>bracing requirement of internal structure), but if I post designs that
>ignore it no one else can use it (unless they trash the rule).
Okay. I must have forgotten about the rule because I was too busy
chuckling at it. (Velocity, not acceleration, darn it!) :) I took
another look, and most of the mass I saved came off the laser. So I
put the 7.7 tons of armor back on and upped the HEPlaR engine to 1021
tons thrust, and increased the power plant to match....
Changes to my changes are below. Each line supersedes original line in
the design; RF-128-2 takes changes from RF-128, then apply its' changes.
Rampart RF-128
Hull Armor: 62
Price: MCr 23.13
Mass: 169.5/165.8 tons (loaded ignores possible missile load)
Power Plant: 72.3 MW Fusion (72.3 MW/hit), 1 month duration
G-Rating: 6G (8.5 MW/G), CG Lifters (.9 MW)
G-Turns: 48.8, 1.0635 cubic meters ea.
Maint: 3
Offensive: 1 x TL15 72 MJ laser lance (Loc. 1; Arc 1; 2 MW; no crew)
10:(1/6)-21 20:(1/6)-21 40:(1/3)-11 80:(1/2)-5
4 x USL grapples for standard missiles
Rampart RF-128-2
Hull Armor: 62
Price: MCr 23.39
Mass: 165.8/129 tons (loaded includes missile load @ 7 tons ea.)
G-Rating: 6G (8.5 MW/G), CG Lifters (.9 MW)
G-Turns: 57.1, 1.0635 cubic meters ea.
Commo: 5 x 1000 AU maser
Controls: 2 x workstation
Offensive: 4 x USL grapples for standard missiles
Crew: 2 (Maneuver, Commander/Gunner)
Airlocks: 2 hatches
If you take the missile grapples off the laser-armed Rampart, you
can convert the space to fuel tankage and get up to 51 G-turns.
>Any ideas on how to fudge the crew thing?
It looks like the only jobs that can be held simultaneously with another
job are vehicle commander and gunner, judging by existing designs, and
this is only done on very small vehicles. In old Traveller, you could
do this, but there were penalties to skill rolls if you did. Maybe some
similar thing could be done here.
Steve Bonneville
<bonn0015@tc.umn.edu>