Highliner Jumpship (Trunk Line builder)

[Ramblefire]

I'm fairly certain that 50 collar 2.5 megaton primitive jumpships have been proposed before.
This one though, is not a boat that you take into a war. Oh no. Sure it has 4 NAC20s, 4 NL55s, 1000 tons of primitive aerospace armor, and a slew of other weapons, but it's not a useful warload. It's mainly for stopping pirates from trying to jump it thinking it might be easy prey. It carries 18 ASF primarily to deter pirates who think they might be able to get cute with it anyway, or if the NAC20s aren't able to quickly delete any particular pirate dropship for whatever reason.

It has Three 250 meter grav decks, two cargo bays each with a 96,000 ton capacity in order to make room for all sorts of stuff like mini-malls and hydroponics bays, and botanical gardens, and cafes and stuff.
10 mech bays allow it to load industrialmechs for EVA work from repairs to wrangling smallcraft.
Speaking of Smallcraft, there is space for 60 of them.

And basically a dedicated air traffic control suite because it's gotta coordinate all the traffic flowing around itself.

And the jumpcore has a range of 25 Lightyears, which might be problematic if it were ever to head near the periphery, but here's the thing. It's never going to go to the periphery.

More specifically, it's never supposed to be purchased by anyone outside the government of the Federated Commonwealth. It's supposed to be the backbone for the
Coventry-Tharkad-Hesperus-Terra-Tikonov-New Avalon-Galax Trunk Line.
A Bi-directional permanent command circuit which is intended to help foster internal integration between the two halves of the federated commonwealth by making it not only quick to send goods and passengers from the former LC to the former FS, but easy, predictable, and on a regular schedule. This also fosters economic and cultural integration, and economic growth.

Code: [Select]

Highliner Jumpship
Mass: 2,500,000 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Introduced: 3050
Mass: 2,500,000
Battle Value: 19,151
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-X
Cost: 54,233,812,000 C-bills

Fuel: 12,500 tons (31,250)
Safe Thrust: 1
Maximum Thrust: 2
Sail Integrity: 9
KF Drive Integrity: 97
Jump Range: 25
Heat Sinks: 432 (864)
Structural Integrity: 20

Armor
    Nose: 60
    Fore Sides: 49/49
    Aft Sides: 43/43
    Aft: 27

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Fighter (18)            3 Doors   
    Bay 2:  Mech (10)               2 Doors   
    Bay 3:  Small Craft (60)        10 Doors 
    Bay 4:  Cargo (96413.0 tons)    1 Door   
    Bay 5:  Cargo (96412.5 tons)    1 Door   

Ammunition:
    432 rounds of Anti-Missile System [IS] ammunition (6 tons),
    40 rounds of NAC/20 ammunition (1.6 tons),
    360 rounds of SRM 6 ammunition (2 tons),
    216 rounds of LRM 20 ammunition (2 tons)

Dropship Capacity: 50
Grav Decks: 3 (250 m, 250 m, 250 m)
Escape Pods: 110
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  99 officers, 472 enlisted/non-rated, 18 gunners, 356 bay personnel, 63 marines

Notes: Equipped with
    1 Communications Equipment (14 tons)
    1 Naval Comm-Scanner Suite (Small)
    2 Field Kitchen
    1 Satellite Imager [Hyperspectral Imager]
1,000 tons of primitive aerospace armor.

Weapons:                                      Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat)                                Heat  SRV     MRV     LRV      ERV    Class       
Nose (39 Heat)
6 LRM 20                                  36   7(72)   7(72)   7(72)     0(0)   LRM         
    LRM 20 Ammo (108 shots)
3 Anti-Missile System                      3    1(9)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   AMS         
    Anti-Missile System Ammo [IS] (72 shots)
FRS/FLS (166 Heat)
1 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20)               60   20(200) 20(200) 20(200)   0(0)   Capital AC 
    NAC/20 Ammo (10 shots)
1 Naval Laser 55                          85   6(55)   6(55)   6(55)    6(55)   Capital Laser
6 Medium Laser                            18   3(30)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   Laser       
3 Anti-Missile System                      3    1(9)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   AMS         
    Anti-Missile System Ammo [IS] (72 shots)
RBS/LBS (72 Heat)
6 Large Laser                             48   5(48)   5(48)    0(0)     0(0)   Laser       
6 SRM 6                                   24   5(48)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   SRM         
    SRM 6 Ammo (180 shots)
ARS/ALS (166 Heat)
1 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20)               60   20(200) 20(200) 20(200)   0(0)   Capital AC 
    NAC/20 Ammo (10 shots)
1 Naval Laser 55                          85   6(55)   6(55)   6(55)    6(55)   Capital Laser
6 Medium Laser                            18   3(30)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   Laser       
3 Anti-Missile System                      3    1(9)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   AMS         
    Anti-Missile System Ammo [IS] (72 shots)
Aft (39 Heat)
6 LRM 20                                  36   7(72)   7(72)   7(72)     0(0)   LRM         
    LRM 20 Ammo (108 shots)
3 Anti-Missile System                      3    1(9)    0(0)    0(0)     0(0)   AMS         
    Anti-Missile System Ammo [IS] (72 shots)



And to be clear, despite having weapons and despite the temptation, Highliners would never ever ever be dragooned into military service. The military would use it for sure, but the Trunk Line must
Never
Ever
Be cut.

But what about just using Monoliths for it? I mean sure, but I imagine those monoliths would be building out circuits to the various other points of interest like say, a New Avalon-St Ives branch of some sort.

[idea weenie]

Since the Trunk line is:
Coventry-Tharkad-Hesperus-Terra-Tikonov-New Avalon-Galax

I'd see this sequence set up so a Jumpship would jump out 12 hours after the prior Jumpship arrived.  This means a Dropship would transfer from one Jumpship to the next every 10 hours (giving 1 hour before and after just in case).  50 Dropships docking in 10 hours means 1 every 12 minutes.

Rough estimate is you would need 13 of these Jumpships (1 each in Coventry and Galax, 2 each in the others, plus at least 1 spare), for a rough cost of just over 700 billion C-Bills.  The power this would provide is amazing.  50 Dropships can go from Coventry to Galax in roughly 3 days, a similar rate for the return trip, all within 1 week total.


The problem is that this ship is 1.1 Billion per collar, compared to a Monolith which is ~1.66 billion for 9 Collars.  You could get the same Trunk route capacity with 6 Monoliths per Heighliner for roughly 10 billion C-Bills, and with 13 sets of them would be ~130 billion C-Bills or about 19% the price.  Similarly, the Monoliths would only need to dock a Dropship once per hour, reducing the stress on the crew.

The lower cost means you can set up stations in the intervening systems to protect it from pirates/raiders.  Those stations can also have Energy Storage Batteries in them to speed up the KF Recharge rate.

So there might be an advantage if you only have a few navigators or are exploring dangerous areas, but economy-wise the Warship Compact Core makes this design very expensive.

[Daryk]

It's a Primitive core, not a WarShip one...

[Ramblefire]

So there might be an advantage if you only have a few navigators or are exploring dangerous areas, but economy-wise the Warship Compact Core makes this design very expensive.

In this case, I'm thinking that the limiting factor is going to be less the monetary cost and more the yard space required to build it in. And while primitive jumpcores are priced like compact cores, IIRC they've got more in common with the standard jumpcore than the fancy compact warship cores which are being put in actual warships and stuff. That would probably help with driving costs down.

So yeah, I guess you can say I'm treating the listed cost as "probably what a design would normally cost but not as a hard and fast rule"

[CVB]

The trunk line above only lists the major stations, the route from Coventry to Galax is at least 29 jumps long  (according to gruese.de, and using 30LY jumps)

[idea weenie]

It's a Primitive core, not a WarShip one...

I was not able to find a price comparison for Primitive Core vs Compact Core.  The Comparable costs for the two idea (1 Highliner vs 6 Monoliths) is roughly 5:1, so as long as the Primitive Core is less than 5* as expensive as a Compact Core it would make economic sense.

In this case, I'm thinking that the limiting factor is going to be less the monetary cost and more the yard space required to build it in. And while primitive jumpcores are priced like compact cores, IIRC they've got more in common with the standard jumpcore than the fancy compact warship cores which are being put in actual warships and stuff. That would probably help with driving costs down.

So yeah, I guess you can say I'm treating the listed cost as "probably what a design would normally cost but not as a hard and fast rule"

If that Primitive Cost multiplier can be brought down, that will help a lot.

[epi]

The limit for a primitive jump core is 1.8 or 1.9 Mtons, right? Anyway, marines, more marines. It needs them before some pirate get smarts and sneak into one of these.

[Cannonshop]

I was not able to find a price comparison for Primitive Core vs Compact Core.  The Comparable costs for the two idea (1 Highliner vs 6 Monoliths) is roughly 5:1, so as long as the Primitive Core is less than 5* as expensive as a Compact Core it would make economic sense.

If that Primitive Cost multiplier can be brought down, that will help a lot.

The Primitive Cost Multiplier is an arbitrary number put in place specifically to prevent things like 'small warships' knocking out PWS as an alternative.

Why do I say that? because there's no path of logic to explain the multiplier other than "we don't want sub-100000 ton warships to exist that aren't Dropship monitor-alikes".

You're actually looking at a LOWER TECH, meaning easier to develop, system with a primitive core, so it should, by logic, be CHEAPER than a full size compact, not more expensive.  (that distinction can be fairly applied to the super-compact cores like the Bugeye has-wringing more performance from a smaller engine TENDS to be more expensive, and the more classified something is, the higher the contractors can price it before the market says "****** off".)

It would be almost exactly like pricing rocket launchers as more expensive than LRM systems despite being less capable and less sophisticated.

[Giovanni Blasini]

The limit for a primitive jump core is 1.8 or 1.9 Mtons, right? Anyway, marines, more marines. It needs them before some pirate get smarts and sneak into one of these.

Limit for a Primitive JumpShip is 1 million tons total mass.  Anything bigger requires a Compact Core, ie. a Warship.

[glitterboy2098]

and to be honest, for a ship with as many collars as these do, it shouldn't be hard to assign a couple escort vessels that can supply marines.

[Col Toda]

By 3050 things should be going in the opposite direction from primitive.  The Starlord size with 6 collars is the best . Avenger CV and Pocket War ship / combat dropship is enough to deter pirates .  Any single unit with that many collars demand the destruction of 2 or 3 as a prelude to full on invasion and you are handing it on platter with a known jump chain and maybe even a schedule.  As soon as one is destroyed they have reassign jump and dropships to fill in the deficiency thus compromising the military lift capacity .  It is a strategic weakness in exchange for a logistical benefit.  That worked for the Star League  but failed for the next 400 years. As soon as the first Star League  fell it would fall under do not put too many eggs in one basket issue and killed in committee without insane bribes to the contrary  .

Instellar conspiracy I think had a jump ship that could do better than 30 light years a jump repeatably . That prototype was lost but the drive for such tech is so high after the Jihad it would certainly be reinvented by someone else need would demand it