WarShip of the Week: Cruiser

[marauder648]

True but this could also be used as a fluff way to help rebalance their centre of gravity on the ship so they don't pitch and yaw.

[DoctorMonkey]

Ship still has over 90 kilotons of cargo. Should be fine.

Yes but for crew entertainment there is the 1:1 scale Nimitz class carrier in that cargo space

[marauder648]

Yes but for crew entertainment there is the 1:1 scale Nimitz class carrier in that cargo space

With only the minor problem that the bow and stern are poking out of the front and back of the Cruiser :p  It makes exploring the stern of the Nimitz more challenging when the engines are active but its good training for the crew!

[DoctorMonkey]

With only the minor problem that the bow and stern are poking out of the front and back of the Cruiser :p  It makes exploring the stern of the Nimitz more challenging when the engines are active but its good training for the crew!

Fold the Nimitz?


I am sorry for the thread derailing but it was intended to show the ridiculous scale of the cargo bays

[marauder648]

[Sov Soy] *eyes the Cruiser before snorting* Pathetic...

With the  Soy you could loose a bloody super-tanker or the RMS Queen Victoria in her cargo bay :p 

[Giovanni Blasini]

Keep in mind the Cruiser class had to be able to berth a pair of DropShuttles that could easily reach 75+ meters in length, with a wingspan to factor on top of that for aerodynes.  Surprisingly, the DropShuttles are undoubtedly more dense than most aircraft: the 747-400, for example, is 54 meters long with a 60 meter wingspan, more or less, and has a max takeoff of 413 tons (or more like 448 tons for a 747-8).  That will take up a lot of volume.

[marauder648]

Do we have any information about drop shuttles? Like a TRO with one in them or something?

[Wrangler]

Do we have any information about drop shuttles? Like a TRO with one in them or something?

Nothing. The DropShuttle was an old name for DropShip.  The jest from IO was that their DropShips that are 5k and less in tonnage. There really isn't any ships of size category that meets really in that early timeline that can be used for them.   There is the small craft like the early Ares small craft but they weren't true DropShips and don't use DropShuttle Bays.  I'd imagine that the DRoST were suppose to be in DropShuttles but i guess a snafu caused them to be heavier than 5k limit thus unusable in a DropShuttle bay.  Technically their the Saturn Class Patrol Ship (Primitive DropShip) and Mech transport Black Eagle Class, the Black Eagle DropShips can fit in the bays due to their weight, but they were introduced after the fact the DropShuttle Bays were being phased out. There roughly only 4 primitive Dropship design I known of with additional early primitive variants that aren't fleshed out.

I remember someone telling me only aerodyne type Dropships could not dock with a DropShuttle bay which i think isn't true since it's not in the rules anywhere i could find that said that.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Based on the invention date of the standard docking hardpoint and KF boom, as well as fluff description and vessel mass (5000 ton limit), we have the following known DropShuttles:

Saturn Patrol Ship
Vulture
Manatee
Black Eagle
DroST (I? IIa?)

Yes, the DroST series is 5300 tons, but Welshman noted in the JSotM: Aquilla thread that, eventually they'll get around to errata fixing it so the pre-KF boom version is 5000 tons.

[Maingunnery]

1.  The best possible one would be a misjumpped vessel just drifting dead in space, little more than a tomb for her crew.  Finding one left over from a battle would probably result in maybe a large chunk of it being found, or a mangled wreck thats little value more than scrap.

- What about an abandoned ship? She is completely ammo dependent and there is plenty of way to get off the ship.
- Another option could be a sickness or bio-weapon (as it transported a lot of ground troops), then any surviving crew could have left the ship in space with all rooms open to space to allow the disease to die out and the ship to be recovered.

3.  In reality not much would be needed to make her more useful.  The big six gun batteries for the NAC-10s mean she can bracket fire and she's got  lots of missiles.  Change the dropshuttle hangars into fighter bays or shuttle bays/cargo to help with the ships fluff balance issues, maybe add a dropship collar and some AMS and you'd be fine.

That would be the most easiest way to make it combat ready.

For further thoughts, here is a workshop thread:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=57675.0

[Giovanni Blasini]

Could someone double-check the math on the Cruiser class? I'm coming up over 50 kilotons short, and I'm wondering if it ended up with a bunch of NAC/10 bays cut/paste into arcs it shouldn't have them.

[Vition2]

I tossed it into HMA and the result is even worse, I might need to do it by hand.  The end result is about 28.6 kt of cargo left over.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Posted to Errata:

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=35369.msg1327076#msg1327076

While I presented the option of revamping weapons, SI, etc. to get back cargo, reducing cargo seems the easiest way to go.

[Hammerpilot IIC]

What?? A giant garbage bin in space can be nothing less than an absolute thing of beauty.

SPAAAACE UUUrrrrBIE!!

[Giovanni Blasini]

Holy crap, it really is, isn't it?

[Wrangler]

Holy crap, it really is, isn't it?

I'd love to see demotivational poster for that... ;D

[Giovanni Blasini]

Going to have to modify the Urbie Pokemon one that has a progression from R2-D2 to Urbie to Imp to Overlord

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, you can always go up.

[Wrangler]

Here my stab at it.  I'm limited to what i can do. 
Originally i was going to do.
"This my cruiser short and stout, here my naval autocannon and this my missile spout."

Then i decided to go with this.  What do you guys think?  I still love the Cruiser, i just wish there was second variant.



Edit: grammar fix.  #P

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, someone had to make that joke. Again. So, pretty good.  8)

[Giovanni Blasini]

I like it!

[marauder648]

You forgot the other Son in the Battle-egg family

The Foxhound gunboat

[Maingunnery]

Sorry, not curvy enough.  ;)