The Schnellboot ("Fast Boat") is an experimental craft currently undergoing testing in the Lyran Commonwealth's Donegal province, and part of a crash program to expand the Commonwealth's naval capabilities in the face of the Wolf and Jade Falcon invasions. Conceived as a fast attack craft and naval bomber, the Schnellboot is capable of terrifying levels of acceleration and delivering a sharp blow sufficient to cripple most transports in a single pass. Its actual practicality, however, remains to be seen.
The heart of the Schnellboot is its over sized powerplant, taking up the majority of the ship's mass. Though the drive is massive and powerful relative to the rest of the ship, it is actually quite simple in design, being a slightly modified version of the civilian spec Magna Corp VX250B drive system first used by the Buccaneer class transport. Though the simpler design suffers from inferior long range fuel efficiency compared to a military spec drive, the use of centuries proven technology and its basic construction has greatly accelerated the development process.
The Schnellboot has limited space for weaponry and personel, and as such its primary battery is limited to a cluster of heavy gauss cannons and missiles in the nose. Even so, the ship has a painful bite sufficient that even some warships would have to take notice. Supplementing these weapons are a large rack of semi-active munitions (commonly called space mines) mounted aft just below the drive. Tactically, these are intended to be released in the enemy's path after they have completed their turnaround but before they reach orbit, leaving their weaker aft section exposed. Working in concert, a group of Schnellboots could release a cloud of munitions hundreds or even thousands of kilometers wide, and if they are released close enough to the target, the enemy would have precious little time to evade. Such tactics saw regular use during the earliest generations of interstellar travel, but had largely dropped out of favor by the early Age of War. The LCAF has only recently begun testing this space bombing methodology on the small scale with their equally experimental Lurking Banshee, and the Schnellboot would represent the first large scale use in nearly a millennium.
In order to achieve the performance demanded by the LCAF, the ship's designers cut corners in every conceivable area, and some that were perhaps inconceivable. The ship's armor plating can be termed as barely adequate for a modern attack craft, hopefully sufficient for a single pass against slower pocket warships or transports, but entirely insufficient against the weapons of the warships operated by the Wolves and Falcons. In addition, the ship possesses only the bare minimum of fuel tankage. This is sufficient for around three days of one G acceleration in strategic mode, but when engaged in tactical maneuvering, the Schnellboot has only a minor endurance advantage over most fighters, and is entirely outclassed by some craft, like the Slayer. Crew accommodations are cramped to the extreme. The only amenities is a small head, not much bigger than what would be found on a commercial aircraft, as well as automated dispensers for rations and fluids at each duty station. The crew has no actual quarters, and nothing more than the short aisle between the cockpit, head, and airlock for walking around. The seats at each duty station recline to allow for sleeping, and crews have reported that they are not, in fact, the worst things they have ever slept on. Even so, spending a prolonged deployment aboard a Schnellboot might easily constitute hardship duty, and the manufacturers recommend regularly rotating crews between active duty and shore duty to keep them happy.
Out of all the concessions made to mass and space limitations, there is one that particularly stands out and has caused controversy. The Schnellboot has no escape system. Engineers cut the planned life boat (to have been integrated directly into the cockpit module) in order to meet the minimum armor requirements set forth by the LCAF. This lack of a basic safety measure, combined with the inherently dangerous nature of the Schnellboot's designed mission, has already triggered protests among civilian oversight groups, and it is only the desperate situation the Commonwealth has currently found itself in that has allowed the Schnellboot to progress this far against public resistance.
Currently, four Schnellboots have been assembled and are undergoing acceptance trials. The Commonwealth has stated its intention to begin mass production within the year, unless some critical flaw (or rather more critical than existing limitations) is discovered.
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
* CUSTOM WEAPON
Class/Model/Name: Schnellboot class Attack Ship
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3067
Vessel Type: Spheroid DropShip
Rules: Level 3, Standard design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 1,000 tons
Length: 52 meters
Power Plant: Standard
Safe Thrust: 10
Maximum Thrust: 15
Armor Type: Standard
Armament:
6 Heavy Gauss Rifle
6 SRM 6
6 Space Mine Dispenser*
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Class/Model/Name: Schnellboot class Attack Ship
Mass: 1,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 650.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 10
Maximum Thrust: 15
Structural Integrity: 15 30.00
Total Heat Sinks: 32 Double .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 11.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 8.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Armor Type: Standard (924 total armor pts) 54.00
Standard Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 331
Left/Right Sides: 201/201
Aft: 191
Cargo:
Bay 1: Cargo (1) 2.00
Crew and Passengers:
8 Crew Quarters 40.00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
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6 Heavy Gauss Rifle(60 rounNose 15(150)12(120) 6(60) -- 12 123.00
6 SRM 6(60 rounds) Nose 5(48) -- -- -- 24 22.00
6 Space Mine Dispenser* Aft -- -- -- -- 0 60.00
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TOTALS: Heat: 36 1,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 213,025,120 C-Bills
Battle Value: 6,891
Cost per BV: 30,913.53
Weapon Value: 7,309 (Ratio = 1.06)
Damage Factors: SRV = 182; MRV = 87; LRV = 17; ERV = 0
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 17,452
(3,134 Structure, 6,900 Life Support, 7,418 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 4,504 (26% of MPV)
BattleForce2: MP: 10, Armor/Structure: 16 / 15
Damage PB/M/L: -/-/-, Overheat: 0
Class: DS; Point Value: 69
Specials: sph
