Ticonderoga-class Air Defense Frigate

[Jalinth]

I've not really touched anything Battletech in years, but after starting to play MWO again I pulled my books of the shelf. This reawakened my long time love of the sub-capital weapons.

The following ship is my first draft of a wide area air defense ship. With 4 Piranha launchers it is able to engage ships in orbit. Not enough damage to counter a Warship, it should be good enough to give a dropship or some ASFs a bloody nose. I based the ship off the Rapier, with the tonnage from Wikipedia of the real Ticonderogas.

The cargo space on the ship is quite low, but I don't see it as being used for independent operations. I see using them as escorts for other surface ships and so they should have a cargo hauler to top them up. The fact it has the same speed as a Jormungand is no accident.

I used a spread sheet to do this and used forced rounding up, so I may be shorting myself a ton or two of cargo space. I also allocated enough tonnage for all the PPCs to be in turrets, but decided to fix mount a couple of them. Finally, I didn't bother working out some things like crew and price. I'll get around to doing so later, once I figure out if I need any major changes to the ship.

Type: Ticonderoga-class Air Defense Frigate
Chassis Type: Naval Vessel (Large, Template c)
Tonnage: 9,800 tons
Equipment Rating: ?/?-?-?/F

Equipment                                                       Mass
Chassis/Control:                                               1650
Engine/Trans:                      Fusion                   6351
        Cruise MPs:                   6
        Flank MPs:                    9
Heat Sinks:                           270                            270
Power Amplifiers:                                                  0
Fuel:                                  N/A
Turret:                                                                13
Armor Factor:                     576 (BAR 10)             30
       Front:                  35                  64
       Front R/L:            35                  64
       Rear R/L:             35                  64
       Rear:                   35                  64
       Turret 1-3:           35                  64
Weapons and Ammo                             Location  Mass
Piranha Launcherx4                                  F         400
Ammo (Piranha) 48                                  B1       480
CASE                                                       B1          0.5
ER-PPCx4                                              T2         28
ER-PPCx4                                              T4         28
ER-PPCx4                                              T5         28
ER-PPCx2                                              F1         14
ER-PPCx2                                              RL4       14
ER-PPCx2                                              RR4       14

Crew: TBD

Cargo
       376 tons

Notes: Features Tech Rating F chassis, engine and armor, Communications Equipment (10 tons, 1 field kitchen (3 tons), MASH unit (5 theaters, 7.5 tons), 30 lifeboats,.

[truetanker]

Need to make her submersible and outfit her with some Power Armor...

Oh, wait... my bad that's Rifts for ya!  :D

TT

[Sabelkatten]

Maybe a couple of Arrow IV for "close" air defense? And of course a bunch of AMS for extra defense.

[Jalinth]

Making it a sub would be good, but I really wanted a surface ship. I'll probably do something sub-surface in the future.

The problem with the Arrow-IV is that it uses 15 slots. This ship ran out of slots WELL before running out of tonnage. I have versions that mount some Arrow-IVs in place of the Piranhas for close defense. I also have some with SCL-1s and Light SCCs. I feel they are less effective though, given the low damage output. Still there is something to be said for your shots hitting on the same turn they are fired.

One could do a hybrid design, say 2x Piranhas and 2x Arrow-IVs but I like the focused design for the anti-orbital ship. You can't maneuver when firing the Piranhas so having them on a focused ship makes sense to me. I'm tempted by going 6x launchers with 12 shots and 6 ER-PPCs, but I think that leaves you without enough close in defense.

[HobbesHurlbut]

Air Defense? Why not LB or Pulse?

[Jalinth]

IS pulse lasers have too short range for my taste and the long range LB-X ACs don't do enough damage. It's more an Orbital Defense then local air defense craft. The ER-PPCs hit hard and have decent range, exactly what I was looking for

[HobbesHurlbut]

IS pulse lasers have too short range for my taste and the long range LB-X ACs don't do enough damage. It's more an Orbital Defense then local air defense craft. The ER-PPCs hit hard and have decent range, exactly what I was looking for

Damage isn't a requirement in fighting aerospace unit. They have to do a pilot check to stay in control when they get hit. That's why LB-X is a popular choice on tabletop for antiair.