Expedition-class Battlestar Cruiser[Time: 3 Progress: 5 Cost: 5]
The engineers are so eager to prove that the Official Media Engineering Program is a vital part of the bureau that numerous members volunteer to spend extra hours going over the documents, and some even volunteer to defray the meeting costs by bringing various items of sugar, chocolate, and carbohydrates that might be generously termed food- if one didn't require food to have nutritional content.
The actual time estimate for the project is about what one would expect for the design of our first heavy cruiser, but project enthusiasm is through the roof.
Expedition-Class Battlestar Cuiser: 0/21 [4] | 50T + 100O + 300M + 100E | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Prototype[Efficacy: 6]
-Are you alive?-The Expedition-Class is a creation of inexplicable beauty. She's a heavy cruiser, kitbashed together out of an old expedition ship and a fevered replication of a fictional carrier, with the only other experience the Gaian engineers have in ship-building being the clusterfuck that is the Pacemaster. And yet... She's inspired. The Expedition is designed like good Jazz, disordered but rhythmic, a dozen different design portfolios meeting, merging, and transcending their individual foibles into something masterful.
Her built in scientific computer systems were re-purposed to run control for her hangar bays and to assist any existing or added bore calculations- and she performs remarkably in those areas. The bores opened by an Expedition will hold longer, open faster, and penetrate interference more easily than from an ordinary vessel. It's a small boon over standard systems, but it's still more than expected. The automated control systems for the drones are also fantastic- though with the peculiarity that all fighters, regardless of initial designation, are labeled as some form of 'Viper'. A coffee mug, for instance, is relabeled by the computer system as a Viper Mk. LMCXXVII-Micro. The engineers assure us that this won't actually cause any problems in operation.
The most useful, and occasionally terrifying, part about the Expeditions central computer is that it's capable of taking control of most of the Expedition's systems for limited periods. Even if the ship is voided of human life, the bridge itself a blazing hellscape of skeletons, the circuitry shredded from end to end, the central computer can re-route through the interconnected web of power and information routings that make up the Expedition's design to continue running fighter operations and retain limited control over weapon systems and engines. In short, even if mission killed, there's a good chance that the Expedition's internal computer will keep fighting as long as she has power.
Expedition-class Battlestar Cruiser: | 200T 400O 2300M 1000E 120S | A heavy cruiser with expansive carrier bays and an enormously power central computer, capable of providing minor augmentation to any bore technology attached as well as improving drone performance. This computer is also capable of advance power and info re-routing throughout the ship's complex structure, even able to take full control in the event that the bridge is lost. All in all, she's extraordinarily difficult to actually kill completely.
Specs:
4 Small Hardpoints
2 Large Hardpoints
2 Medium Hangars
1 Large Hangar
Built in Bore Drive
Built in Bore Shield
Built in PEB X4
240 Capacity
+130 Power
Mk Ib Parasite Drone "Hornet"[Time: 1 Progress: 4 Cost: 3]
The biggest problem with the Hornet is the actual drone control system. It needs to be inventive enough on its own to be able to respond to threats with relative autonomy, intelligent enough to select good targets, and yet it needs to be 'docile' enough to obey a distant control computer. The issues encountered aren't so much AI rebellion as they are fighters that keep acting as individuals instead of a directed swarm of 'smart' agents. Progress gets made, but it's a longer road than might be expected, given the simplicity of the project.
Mk Ib Parasite Drone "Hornet": 0/13 [3] | 35O + 150M + 150E | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Prototype[Efficacy: 4]
The overall appraisal of the Hornet is positive. Individually, a hornet isn't much of a threat. It's small, lightly armored, and the wideset maneuvering thrusters become a bane as much as a boon when you lose one and the thrust vector goes wild. However, if the enemy is facing a single hornet, then something has already gone terribly wrong.
Lack of crew means that fighter bays carrying Hornets (and similar drones) can be specialized and vented- forgoing the the need for most human access and allowing the fighters to be stacked in great volume, and great volume is where the Hornet shines. Armed with a shattergun she acts as anti-fighter, a harasser against light ships, or (in great enough numbers) a threat to the exposed systems of larger vessels. Armed with the missile pod she becomes a space superiority fighter, though be virtue of missile swarms- not her individual power. Armed her with a torpedo, and the enemy better hope they brought a lot of ammunition for their point defense weaponry. Neither the guidance nor the power of each torpedo is fantastic, but there's going to be a fuckton of them.
Which is the Hornet's general strength. One isn't a threat, but there's never just one. Her greatest critique comes in the relatively low acceleration of her gravity drive, and the synthetics cost that mars her otherwise cheap line cost.
Mk Ib Parasite Drone "Hornet": Wing Size 12/40/130 | Wing Cost: (1T+2O+7M+7E+1S)*Wing Size | Capacity -6/-20/-65 | A 10m long, 15m wide and 2m tall, chevron shaped drone fighter. Nearly unarmored and individually fragile, she mounts a single frontal hardpoint that can be loaded with a single fighter scale shattergun, a pod of eight small homing missiles for anti-fighter work, or a single torpedo for engaging larger vessels. No particular weapon stands out as being excellently designed, but each is competent at its role, and cheap enough to be mass deployed. Individually weak, but terrifying en-mass.
"Foray" Class Escort Frigate[Time: 4 Progress: 3 Cost: 2]
Design enthusiasm on the Foray is a bit more limited than in the Expedition for two important reasons: 1. The ship just isn't as cool. 2. The engineers don't get to watch TV and call it research. However, it's a simpler design, and the engineers are quick to work on the blueprints in order to avoid losing their TV privileges. Funding, however, is a bit more difficult to come by right after the somewhat more brutal agreements on the Expedition.
"Foray" Class Escort Frigate: 0/9 [2] | 50O + 175M + 175E | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Prototype[Efficacy: 6]
Apparently, smooth Jazz is contagious. Despite not being inspired by watching TV, the Foray is a remarkable design. Technically, she has a recommended crew compliment of 20, but she can be operated in combat effectively by a single individual thanks to highly advanced suite of predictive algorithms and expert systems. She completely forgoes small weapons in favor of an all-medium layout, giving her a sleek profile. Her integrated armor laminate is remarkably durable, and while it's neither thick nor advanced, it is capable of deflecting glancing impacts and mitigating the effect of harder impacts.
A great deal of work went into making her long structure resilient against the inevitable gravimetric shear resulting from using two gravity drives, and as a result she's capable of shockingly intricate hard maneuvers. Despite her shape and the potential sharpness of her
GLORIOUS NIPPON STEEL laminate armor, Gaian captains are strongly advised against using this exceptional handling to turn her into a space sword.
"Foray" Class Escort Frigate: | 0T 120O 550M 220E 40S | A nearly automated frigate that utilized an all-medium layout, thin but tough integrated armor, and a structure that's designed to be used effectively with gravity drives to resisting shearing force and dance like a blade.
Specs:
3 Medium Hardpoints
Built in PEB X2
80 Capacity
+130 Power
Revision Phase of Year -3ResourcesDice: 1
T: 7250 + 2500
O: 22500 + 7500
M: 22450 + 7500
E: 15000 + 5000
S: 1355 + 500
Perpetual Energy Borehole: 11/14 [3] | 100 Transplutonics + 50 Metal + 25 Synthetic | Rushed 0 Times | 100 Transplutonics + 50 Metal + 25 Synthetic Invested
Pacemaster: 9/15 [3] | 150 Organic + 300 Metals + 150 Energetics | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
BOSS-E: 12/22 [3] | 150 Transplutonics + 120 Synthetic | Rushed 0 Times | 150 Transplutonics + 120 Synthetic Invested
GREAT Regiment: 4/6 [2] | 100 Organic + 200 Metals + 75 Energetics | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
"Death Ray" LPBA: 2/7 [2] | 75 Transplutonics + 100 Metal + 50 Energetics + 10 Synthetic | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Bore Shield: 3/11 [3] | 135 Transplutonics + 120 Metal + 20 Synthetic | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Gravity Drive: 2/18 [2] | 155 Transplutonics + 225 Metal + 35 Synthetic | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
"Foray" Class Escort Frigate: 0/9 [2] | 50O + 175M + 175E | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Mk Ib Parasite Drone "Hornet": 0/13 [3] | 35O + 150M + 150E | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Expedition-Class Battlestar Cuiser: 0/21 [4] | 50T + 100O + 300M + 100E | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
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Topic: The Gaian Regime Empire Thread | Terrans | GalactiRace (Read 47170 times)