Again going for Trinary's story here
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/fan-fiction/au-clan-history-%28post-3062%29/ where there's a very different war against the Society, one far less destructive and one that leaves many Clans changed a new 'WarShip' is required
East Indiaman Class Armed Merchant ShipWith a rapidly growing presence in the Inner Sphere with the formation of the Dominion as well as the Wolves, Falcons and Adders establishing permanent factories and orbital facilities the redoubtable Carrack seemed to be everywhere, moving around Clan holdings or between the Inner Sphere and the Homeworlds.
Unfortunately for all their massive size the Carrack is a vulnerable ship and with roughly three quarters of the class being the dedicated Merchant Carrack which trades their heavy Naval Weapons for increased cargo space the ships and their valuable cargo were vulnerable to attack.
When the CDS
Durance was attacked, boarded and captured and her cargo stolen by ‘rogue elements’ within the Draconis Combine along with the threat of attack from other Clans saw the Shark’s develop the need for a better armed and protected transport that could see off an armed threat as well as establishing a more coherent doctrine for moving high value cargoes.
The doctrinal approach was simple, the re-introduction of convoy’s being the main thing instead of independent sailing for Carracks. Whilst it slowed delivery slightly, a few Carrack’s travelling in groups was far more risky to engage.
The second approach was the development of a more heavily armed version of the Carrack that was capable of engaging the typical craft used in raiding roles, the East Indiaman.
In Terran history the East Indiaman was a large armed merchant ship that gave up some cargo space to carry better weapons to defend itself against marauders and was more strongly built than the standard merchant ships of the time. Taking the standard Carrack and decreasing the cargo capacity to not only increase thrust but increase the weapons load and hull armour so the East Indiaman could fend off or at least discourage a hostile WarShip with its convoy mates whilst still also carrying a moderate amount of cargo. The East Indiaman's internal bays were also enlarged, allowing it to carry ten Aerospace fighters but space limitations meant that fighters no heavier than 35 tonnes could be carried and launched.
Another use was found for the ship save that of convoy escort, by squeezing in a Lithium Fusion battery although the ships engine's could not be coaxed to produce more thrust the East Indiaman found use as a priority freighter a ship that would carry high value cargo’s that needed extra protection, this varied from foodstuffs for worlds suffering shortages to valuable ores and in one case several dozen pens with Ghost Bear’s in them.
The Scientists and Engineers worked hard to ensure that the new ship would be visually near indistinguishable from a Carrack with extensive use of sliding panels and retractable weapons but after other Clan’s voiced their dislike of this ‘sneaky’ and ‘dishonourable’ way of hiding weapons it was agreed that all Clans who had East Indiamen in service would travel in Clan Space with their weapons exposed when in orbit over a world and their IFF’s would transmit a sub identification that would alert ships with the correct data as to their true nature, this of course was not shared with the Houses of the Inner Sphere and only Clan IFF’s would detect the sub ID.
Apart from the Clan bickering about the design there was also the problem of crewing them. When the first East Indiamen were launched they were seen as a punishment posting for their military crews and Trials of Grievance sprung up almost immediately when crews were assigned to them. After a year this problem was not solved so Star Admiral Erika McKenna of the Dominion took matters into her own hands. Transfering her flag to the GBDS
Wayward Traveler she took the East Indiaman on patrols where she was deliberately looking for trouble to provoke Pirates or raiders into attacking her ship. In a four month long patrol along the edge of Dominion space she engaged and destroyed six Pirate dropships as well as crippling the DCS
Winds of Heaven in a close quarters engagement where the Draconis Combine ship was lured into short range with the prospect of an easy prize. The
Winds of Heaven was taken as Isorla and renamed the CGB
Surprise.
Design requirements.
The East Indiaman MUST be based on the Carrack class Merchantship and match it for mass and size
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/CarrackThrust - 3/5 minimum 4/6 desired.
Space for one point (5 craft) of Aerospace fighters
Improved armour protection and structural integrity
2 Dropship Collars as per standard Carrack.
Improved weapons for engaging dropships and raiding warships.
Cargo space is to be retained with at least 25 - 35,000 tonnes carried
Lithum Fusion battery is desired but not a must, priority to be given to protection, firepower and cargo space.
The heavy weapons fit of the standard armed Carrack MUST remain, these weapons will be on display and are to be expected, removing or hiding them would be an instant give away.
You may fire when ready. Also what do you think of the background fluff?
