Dragon class Warship...ish.

[Liam's Ghost]

Technically it's a retrotech jumpship. :) The Dragon is a product of the same campaign idea that produced that mess of unmanned drones I posted earlier, the idea of a succession wars setting where naval warfare is still prevalent and fleets of combat ships roam the void. However, in this setting, "WarShips" as they're defined by the mechanics don't exist. Instead, all jump capable craft are built as primitive (or rather retrotech) or standard jumpships. Because apparently I don't have enough things to distract me from the writing I should be doing. This creates an extra dynamic for ship design, balancing the ability to carry a heavy warload or armor protection with the ability to get where you're going faster (having a longer jump range). Strategically, a standard jumpship will run circles around something like the Dragon, but if the Dragon ever caught up with it... 

EDIT: Revised to account for recent errata concerning armor limits.

Dragon class Warship

The Dragon and its two variant classes are some of the most common capital vessels in service with the Free Worlds League and its various provincial forces. Like most vessels of its size, the Dragon serves primarily as a patrol ship, fleet picket, and escort for the League fleet, but is also a major fleet element for the Magistracy of Canopus, and popular among those independent and criminal elements that are able to get their hands on it.

Though developed as a mass production general purpose design, Selasys Incorporated designed the Dragon to handle a wide variety of roles thanks to its modular construction. Dotting the hull are seven self contained weapons stations designed to quickly accept "mission modules" to tailor the design to the needs of the client. Though not exactly "plug and play", the modular subsystems greatly cut down on repair and refit time, accept updates with relative ease, and have allowed the League to acquire a diverse fleet without the expense of developing multiple specialist designs.

Modularity only stretches so far, however, and Selasys has developed two alternate hullforms to accommodate capabilities that their "mission module" concept cannot. The Swift Dragon is the more radical, which rebuilds the design from the keel up to accept a larger KF-Drive. Captains and crews are known to complain that "Swift Dragon" is something of a bad joke, as the ship's acceleration profile had to be significantly curtailed to accommodate the larger jump drive. Even so, the logistical command tends to adore the Swift Dragon, as even a five light year increase in jump range can greatly accelerate the movement of critical supplies.

The Strike Dragon is a more aggressive design despite shedding some of the structural strength and armor protection of the baseline Dragon. In place of this protection, the Strike Dragon makes room for a hangar deck for a full wing of aerofighters, allowing it to function as an effective light carrier. The Provincial Fleets are especially fond of the Strike Dragon, as are those independent groups who can acquire them. The vessel was even offered for export to the Draconis Combine, though this turned out to be something of a political faux pau, as the Combine considers it insulting to attach the Dragon name to such a humble vessel. The handful in Combine service are identified as the Yamori (Gecko) class.

Mass: 100,000 tons
Transit Drive: 24,000 tons
Thrust: 4/6
Fuel: 2000 tons, 40 tons pumps
Structure: 12,000 tons, Integrity: 120
KF Drive (15 light year range): 50,000 tons, Integrity: 4
Jump Sail: 35 tons, Integrity: 3
Control Systems: 250 tons
Crew: 87 (15 officers, 50 crew, 22 gunners, all steerage quarters) 435 tons
Heat Sinks: 699 500 tons
Armor: 240 tons of Standard Armor (192 points) f:36+12 fl/fr:32+12 al/ar:32+12 a:28+12

Equipment:
2 docking collars, 2000 tons
2 small craft bays, 400 tons
40 marines, 200 tons
20 escape pods, 140 tons
1260 tons cargo

Bay 1: Small Craft (2), 1 door
Bay 2: Cargo (1260 tons), 1 door
Bay 3: Cargo (Varies by loadout)*, 1 door
*Standard Loadout: 252 tons, Missile Loadout 140 tons, Beam Loadout 80 tons

Weapons load
The basic design is equipped with three capital weapon bays (1 fl/fr/aft, a maximum of 6 weapons per bay) and four standard weapon bays (1 fl/fr/al/ar). Possesses sufficient gunners for 18 capital/subcapital weapons and 24 standard weapons, and sufficient space for 6500 tons of war load, with excess allocated to the second cargo bay.

Standard Loadout
FL/FR Capital Bays (2480 tons per bay)
4 Medium Subcapital Cannons, 2000 tons, 80 rounds of ammunition (80 tons)
2 Piranha Subcapital Missile Tubes , 200 tons, 20 missiles (200 tons)

FL/FR Standard Bays (44 tons)
2 LRM 20s, 20 tons, 24 shots of ammunition (4 tons)
4 Large Lasers, 20 tons

AL/AR Standard Bays (44 tons)
2 LRM 20s, 20 tons, 24 shots of ammunition (4 tons)
4 Large Lasers, 20 tons

Aft Capital Bay (1200 tons)
6 Piranha Subcapital Missile Tubes, 600 tons, 60 missiles (600 tons)


Missile Loadout
FL/FR Capital Bays (2080 tons per bay)
4 White Shark Missile Tubes, 480 tons, 40 missiles (1600)

FL/FR Standard Bays (30 tons)
6 Large Lasers, 30 tons

AL/AR Standard Bays (30 tons)
6 Large Lasers, 30 tons

Aft Capital Bay  (2080 tons)
4 White Shark Missile Tubes, 480 tons, 40 missiles (1600)


Beam Loadout
FL/FR Capital Bays (2100 tons)
1 Naval Laser 55, 1100 tons
5 Subcapital Laser 2s, 1000 tons

FL/FR Standard Bays (30 tons)
6 Large Lasers

AL/AR Standard Bays (30 tons)
6 Large Lasers

Aft Capital Bay  (2100 tons)
1 Naval Laser 55, 1100 tons
5 Subcapital Laser 2s, 1000 tons



Swift Dragon class Warship
Mass: 100,000 tons
Transit Drive: 12,000 tons
Thrust: 2/3
Fuel: 2000 tons, 40 tons pumps
Structure: 9,000 tons, Integrity: 90
KF Drive (20 light year range): 65,000 tons, Integrity: 5
Jump Sail: 35 tons, Integrity: 3
Control Systems: 250 tons
Crew: 87 (15 officers, 50 crew, 22 gunners, all steerage quarters) 435 tons
Heat Sinks: 654, 500 tons
Armor: 180 tons of Standard Armor (144 points)  f:24+9 fl/fr:24+9 al/ar:100+9 a:24+9

Equipment:
2 docking collars, 2000 tons
2 small craft bays, 400 tons
40 marines, 200 tons
20 escape pods, 140 tons
1320 tons cargo

Bay 1: Small Craft (2), 1 door
Bay 2: Cargo (1320 tons), 1 door
Bay 3: Cargo (Varies by loadout)*, 1 door
*Standard Loadout: 252 tons, Missile Loadout 140 tons, Beam Loadout 80 tons

Weapon loads match the standard Dragon class warship



Strike Dragon class Warship
Mass: 100,000 tons
Transit Drive: 24,000 tons
Thrust: 4/6
Fuel: 2000 tons, 40 tons pumps
Structure: 9,000 tons, Integrity: 90
KF Drive (15 light year range): 50,000 tons, Integrity: 4
Jump Sail: 35 tons, Integrity: 3
Control Systems: 250 tons
Crew: 87 (15 officers, 50 crew, 22 gunners, all steerage quarters) 435 tons
Heat Sinks: 699 500 tons
Armor: 180 tons of Standard Armor (144 points)  f:24+9 fl/fr:24+9 al/ar:100+9 a:24+9

2 docking collars, 2000 tons
2 small craft bays, 400 tons
20 fighter bays, 3000 tons
40 marines, 200 tons
20 escape pods, 140 tons
1320 tons cargo

Bay 1: Small Craft (2), 1 door
Bay 2: Fighters (20), 4 doors
Bay 3: Cargo (1320 tons), 1 door
Bay 4: Cargo (Varies by loadout)*, 1 door
*Standard Loadout: 252 tons, Missile Loadout 140 tons, Beam Loadout 80 tons

Weapon loads match the standard Dragon class warship

[Sharpnel]

For what she is, she's a dangerous ship to encounter. Almost enough to scare a Vincent ;)

[Daryk]

With NL/55s (even a small number) and similar speed, I think it could do more than scare a Vincent...

[Giovanni Blasini]

Armor levels are those of a destroyer. A good destroyer. SI is ridiculously high. That's more than enough to ruin a Vincent's day, once you add in its firepower.

[Cryhavok101]

Relevant Link: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=50926.msg1279444#msg1279444

Not to ruin your fun, but I thought I would point out that they errata'd the primitive jumpship's max armor values. They use the warship equation now, instead of the jumpship equation. Basically they have the same max armor as an otherwise identical warship.

[Liam's Ghost]

Goshdarnit!  :))

If that's the case I might as well just allow standard warships. How am I going to put off working on "...And I feel fine" if I don't have ridiculous self imposed time sinks to distract me?

Arright. I'll revise this later.

[Liam's Ghost]

Okay, edited. I'm still pretty happy with the result. Armor still compares pretty well to ships several times their size, though at least this is because of a design choice rather than a loophole in the rules.

She can still beat the tar out of a humble vincent.  :D

[Cryhavok101]

I'd use them.

[Red Pins]

I want them!

These would fit into my AU quite nicely.

[Liam's Ghost]

I've got two other designs already put together, a 200,000 ton defense vessel and a 50,000 ton armed courier, plus plans for a lot more.

Since I don't have to worry about explaining why primitive jumpships should have so much more armor than warships, I'm thinking I'll treat true warships as lostech relics and say each house has a small fleet of them, but the bulk of the capital fleets will be composed of retrotech jumpships.

Rumors will claim that Comstar has a fleet of fully functioning CASPARs protecting Terra, one of the reason that unwanted visitors never come back.