Sahi Class Support Ship.
One of the last ships to be produced by the SLDF the Sahi class was built under a tight air of secrecy and only six were completed before the Amaris Civil War with funding coming for them from off budget ‘black books’.
Although called support ships and any reports that were public about them described them as being more like a ‘Royal Antares’, the truth of the matter came with their unofficial, crew given name of ‘Planet crackers’. The Sahi was built to support forces on the ground with pinpoint orbital fire from its many gauss rifles and thanks to the positioning of them on the hull, when operating as a bombardment platform it could bring a dozen to bear when firing ahead.
To support the gauss rifles the ship also mounted a large number of killer whale missiles that were fitted with kinetic penetrators as well as having the option to be armed with standard anti-ship warheads. There was also a heavily armoured armoury onboard that could carry up to 200 nuclear warheads for the missiles. Small clusters of 35cm naval lasers provided the ships only other capital scale firepower and these were mainly for warding off DropShips. There was also a layer of anti-fighter weaponry which included rapid fire autocannons, missiles and lasers as well as a very heavy anti-missile barrier defence that was equal to that on a battleship, which was unusual on a cruiser scale ship.
With so many gauss rifles the ship devoted a lot of power to its weapon systems and to save weight, space and cost had the same engine system as the Sovetskii Soyuz class heavy cruiser but carried far heavier armour made of the same Lamellor ferro-carbide compounds that went into the McKenna class. This armour was then heavily focused over the ships forwards arcs to allow her to survive ground based fire.
Additional self-defence was provided by two flights of fighters (12) and she could carry up to six small craft. Cargo space was limited with little more than 44,000 tons of cargo space available onboard and as no DropShip collars were fitted the ship was reliant on her small craft to resupply her. One thing of note was the barracks onboard for up to 100 Marines. These were only present when a ship was carrying nuclear weapons and their presence was mainly to ensure these weapons security.
Of the six ships built, only one the SLS Vlad Tepes survived to take part in the battle of the Sol system. Her and her sister ships all proved their worth in engagements against Castle Brian’s occupied by Amaris troops. Although they never fired a nuclear weapon at ground targets the ‘support ships’ were instrumental in disabling SDS ground batteries and breeching fortress walls for friendly troops. But this hard work took a toll on the ships and lacking the parts and equipment to repair them fully three ships were cannibalized to keep the others going following the liberation of New Earth and by the time of Operation CHIEFTAN, only the Vlad Tepes was in any serviceable condition. She took part in the suppression of the Cuba SDS facilities but was heavily damaged by ground based particle cannons.
It is believed that the ship was scuttled prior to Operation EXODUS as no ship matching the Sahi class’s silhouette was sighted amongst General Kerensky’s fleet as it left the Inner Sphere. Nor has any ship of this type been seen amongst the Clans, who would probably find the ship and its intended role abhorrent.
Class/Model/Name: Sahi Class Assault Ship
Tech: Inner Sphere
Ship Cost: $11,430,602,000.00
Magazine Cost: $46,824,000.00
BV2: 75,098
Mass: 800,000
K-F Drive System: Compact with L-F Battery
Power Plant: Maneuvering Drive
Safe Thrust: 2
Maximum Thrust: 3
Armor Type: Lamellor Ferro-Carbide
Armament:
36 Naval Gauss Rifle Light
21 Naval Laser 35
10 Capital Launcher Killer Whale
8 AC 10 LB-X (IS)
18 Laser Large ER (IS)
4 AC 5 Ultra (IS)
8 LRM 20+Art4 (IS)
16 Laser Medium Pulse (IS)
8 Laser Medium
35 AMS (IS)
Class/Model/Name: Sahi Class Assault Ship
Mass: 800,000
Equipment: Mass
Drive: 96,000.00
Thrust
Safe: 2
Maximum: 3
Controls: 2,000.00
K-F Hyperdrive: Compact with L-F Battery (17 Integrity) 370,000.00
Jump Sail: (5 Integrity) 70.00
Structural Integrity: 80 64,000.00
Total Heat Sinks: 1513(3026) Double 1,030.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 5000 points 2,040.00
Fire Control Computers: 3,093.93
Armor: 1000 pts Lamellor Ferro-Carbide 1,000.00
Fore: 220
Fore-Left/Right: 220/220
Aft-Left/Right : 116/116
Aft: 108
Dropship Capacity: 0
Grav Decks:
Small: 2 (100 meter) 100.00
Escape Pods: 115 805.00
Life Boats: 115 805.00
Crew And Passengers:
48 Officers in Steerage Quarters 240.00
157 Crew in Steerage Quarters 785.00
78 Gunners and Others in Steerage Quarters 390.00
54 Bay Personnel 0.00
100 Marines 500.00
# Weapons Loc Heat Damage Range Mass
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light Nose 27 450 (45-C) Extreme-C 13,500.00
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light Nose 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
3 Naval Laser 35 Nose 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
2 Capital Launcher Killer Whale Nose 40 80 (8-C) 300.00
6 Laser Large ER (IS) Nose 72 48 (4.8-C) 30.00
4 AC 5 Ultra (IS) Nose 8 28 (2.8-C) 36.00
5 AMS (IS) Nose 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light FL 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
2 Capital Launcher Killer Whale FL 40 80 (8-C) 300.00
4 AC 10 LB-X (IS) FL 8 24 (2.4-C) 44.00
4 Laser Large ER (IS) FL 48 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
5 AMS (IS) FL 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light FR 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
2 Capital Launcher Killer Whale FR 40 80 (8-C) 300.00
4 AC 10 LB-X (IS) FR 8 24 (2.4-C) 44.00
4 Laser Large ER (IS) FR 48 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
5 AMS (IS) FR 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light LBS 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light LBS 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
3 Naval Laser 35 LBS 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
3 Naval Laser 35 LBS 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
8 Laser Medium Pulse (IS) LBS 32 48 (4.8-C) 16.00
5 AMS (IS) LBS 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light RBS 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light RBS 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
3 Naval Laser 35 RBS 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
3 Naval Laser 35 RBS 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
8 Laser Medium Pulse (IS) RBS 32 48 (4.8-C) 16.00
5 AMS (IS) RBS 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light AL 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
2 Capital Launcher Killer Whale AL 40 80 (8-C) 300.00
3 Naval Laser 35 AL 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
4 LRM 20+Art4 (IS) AL 24 64 (6.4-C) 44.00
5 AMS (IS) AL 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light AR 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
2 Capital Launcher Killer Whale AR 40 80 (8-C) 300.00
3 Naval Laser 35 AR 156 105 (10.5-C) 2,100.00
4 LRM 20+Art4 (IS) AR 24 64 (6.4-C) 44.00
5 AMS (IS) AR 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light Aft 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
3 Naval Gauss Rifle Light Aft 27 450 (45-C) 13,500.00
4 Laser Large ER (IS) Aft 48 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
8 Laser Medium Aft 24 40 (4-C) 8.00
5 AMS (IS) Aft 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
Ammo Type Rounds
Naval Gauss Rifle Light Ammo 600
Capital Launcher Killer Whale Ammo 600
AC 5 Ultra (IS) Ammo 320
AC 10 LB-X (IS) Ammo 240
LRM 20+Art4 (IS) Ammo 288
AMS (IS) Ammo 1500
Aerospace Compliment
12 x Fighters
6 x Small Craft
Cargo Capacity - 44,365 tons
'Insulated Cargo' - 200 tons
As always, any thoughts and comments are most welcome. I went for gauss rifles as I'd think that energy weapons would have issues in an orbital bombardment role unless you put a HUGE amount of power into them to overcome things like thermal blooming and the like. And whilst trio's of light naval gauss isn't very efficient, and having a pair of medium gauss would save weight and do more damage. The way I see it is that the larger number of guns she can bring to bare could cover a wider area and allow her to support more friendly forces on the ground.