Midge II UAAV [AU: Vela Corridor]

[Retry]

Code: [Select]

Midge II UAAV
Mass: 4.999 tons
Chassis: Unknown
Power Plant: Fusion
Armor: BAR 2
Armament:
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3082
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-F-X
Cost: 18,267 C-bills
Mass: 4.999 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant: Fusion
Armor: BAR 2
Armament:
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3082
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-F-X
Cost: 18,267 C-bills
Type: Midge II
Technology Base: Clan (Advanced)
Tonnage: 4.999
Battle Value: 10
Equipment Mass
Engine Fusion 0.5
     Safe Thrust: 3
     Max Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity: 3
Heat Sinks: 0 0
Fuel: 0 0
Cockpit: 0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 2): 8 0.088
Armor
Value
Nose 2
Wings 2/2
Aft 2
Fixed Equipment
None
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
4 tons, 5 crits of Pod Space available
Features the following design quirks: Atmospheric Flyer, Internal Bomb Bay, Fragile Fuel Tank, Weak Undercarriage

Variants:

Bomber- 4t Cargo
Strike- 2x Heavy Support Laser, 2x Support MG, 3t Cargo
Recon- 1x Recon Camera, 1x Heavy Support Laser, 2x Support MG, 3t Cargo
Minelayer- 2x Mine Dispenser, 3t Cargo
Sensor Dispenser- 2x Sensor Dispenser, 3t Cargo
The Midge II is a Unmanned Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (UAAV) produced by the Republic of Crossroad.  The Midge II has similar capabilities to the earlier and heavier Midge and is intended to be a direct replacement to the Midge UAAV and is one of many replacements to the Firefly UAAV.

The Midge II itself is sometimes described as a "bundle of bombs and a propeller flying in loose formation," because of the high percentage of weight of the vehicle is actually payload: Core components weigh only a single ton, and the relatively spacious internal bay can carry an additional 4 tons of mission payload.  This is nearly as great a payload as the original Midge can carry (not accounting for the original's extra hardpoint), though it does come at some cost to the structural integrity of the drone.  With the ability to emulate (nearly) any Midge variant while being significantly cheaper and half the loaded weight of the original, the Midge II is likely to fully replace the original in the near future.

[Lagrange]

That is a fierce payload with a remarkably disposable cost.  Fooling around, it looks like you can manage even cheaper with tech level D components.

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Midge IID UAAV
Mass: 4.999 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant:  Fusion
Armor: BAR 2
Armament:
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3145
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-X
Cost: 12,963 C-bills

Type: Midge III
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Tonnage: 4.999
Battle Value: 10

Equipment                                          Mass
Engine                         Fusion               0.5
Safe Thrust: 3
Max Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity:         3                       
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Fuel:                         0                     0.0
Cockpit                                             0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 2)          8                   0.104

                           Armor   
                           Value   
     Nose                    2     
     Wings                  2/2   
     Aft                     2     


Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
SV Chassis Mod          BOD       0.0      -      -    -    -    - 

Looking at possible bomb loads:

• 4x HE is 1324 C-bills per point of damage.
• 6x small FAE is 1008 C-bills per point of damage.  The lowest price for damage, which (oddly) leaves a ton of payload free.
• 4x large FAE is 1275 C-bills per point of damage.

it's not quite artillery range:

• Thumper: 15 C-bills per point of damage.
• Sniper: 30 C-bills per point of damage.
• Long Tom: 80 C-bills per point of damage.
• Arrow IV: 100 C-bills per point of damage.

but still very usable.

Survivability is very low and you'd want air dominance to use this, but yikes.

[Daryk]

We're getting down to GL-SDB range here... ;D

[Retry]

Much of the cost is from the multiple chassis mods: VSTOL, Omni, Ultra-light Chassis, and Propeller.  Another good 1/3rd of the cost comes from the smart robotic control system.

...Problem is the program forgot to mention those, so it looks like a regular manned jet.  Oops.

[Lagrange]

Much of the cost is from the multiple chassis mods: VSTOL, Omni, Ultra-light Chassis, and Propeller.  Another good 1/3rd of the cost comes from the smart robotic control system.

...Problem is the program forgot to mention those, so it looks like a regular manned jet.  Oops.

Ultralight actually helps with the price.  VSTOL seems sketchy because if you actually use it you must make control rolls.  I did have the SRCS and Propellor.  Omni is ok, but a bit of a waste for something disposable.   Noting that the internal bomb bay is limited to 6 bombs and the most efficient source of damage is the small FAE which only requires a half ton, you can shave down the mass a bit more as follows:

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Mini-Midge

Mass: 3.589 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant:  Fusion
Armor: BAR 2
Armament:
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3145
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-X
Cost: 11,004 C-bills

Type: Mini-Midge
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Tonnage: 3.589
Battle Value: 10

Equipment                                          Mass
Engine                         Fusion               0.5
Safe Thrust: 3
Max Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity:         3                       
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Fuel:                         0                     0.0
Cockpit                                             0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 2)          7                   0.104

                           Armor   
                           Value   
     Nose                    2     
     Wings                  2/2   
     Aft                     1     


Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
SV Chassis Mod          BOD       0.0      -      -    -    -    - 
SV Chassis Mod          BOD       0.0      -      -    -    -    - 
This is Propellor-Driven and has Ultra-Light materials with a SRCS control system. 

This gets the costs down to 992 C-bills/point of damage...not a worthwhile savings, but notably within an order of magnitude Arrow IV artillery.

[Cavgunner]

Retry I like the design, but my concern as an opponent would be that this unit has 6 points of positive quirks for no negatives. I would go with:

Positive: Internal Bomb Bay

Negative: Fragile Fuel Tank, Weak Undercarriage

The logic being that this would represent the structural tradeoffs that were made to install a full bomb bay in such a small craft.

[Retry]

Ultralight actually helps with the price.  VSTOL seems sketchy because if you actually use it you must make control rolls.  I did have the SRCS and Propellor.  Omni is ok, but a bit of a waste for something disposable.

More attritable than disposable; the Midge II missed the Jihad, so the Midge IIs are primarily going the Gumerian Powder Keg as an anti-insurgency drone.  By the 3080s their likely opponents are mostly infantry with maybe an AA Weapon Mk.I, so the environment is permissive enough they're not likely to lose tons of the craft.  While the faster repairs of the Omni mod are not really relevant, the faster reloads and compatibility with existing omni-pods are real benefits that are worth paying for, considering your system costs are going to be overwhelmingly dominated by the necessary Dropship and Jumpship transport with how cheap this type of vehicle is.

As for VSTOL control rolls, yeah... I'm not going to try to rationalize that poor game design decision.  We've always run it as though 31st century VSTOL... works.

Retry I like the design, but my concern as an opponent would be that this unit has 6 points of positive quirks for no negatives. I would go with:

Positive: Internal Bomb Bay

Negative: Fragile Fuel Tank, Weak Undercarriage

The logic being that this would represent the structural tradeoffs that were made to install a full bomb bay in such a small craft.

The Midge II is more a "campaign" vehicle than one for use in a 1v1 pickup game.  Something your force can call a squad of craft for an airstrike against the OPFOR bunker or something.  For pickup games, I think a support craft with all of 10 BV before installing the actual bombs would be a bit... unsporting.

Generally I don't worry about balancing quirks- I use them as sort of soft factors to differentiate otherwise similar 'Mechs.  Particularly well designed 'Mechs may have multiple positive quirks with no quirk-based downsized (like the Archer with Battlefists, Stable, a Command Mech and Ubiquitous), while less well designed 'Mechs might have several negative quirks with no positives to compensate (Firebee's weak legs and poor life support).

With that being said, I like that in-universe logic you have to go with those negative quirks.  I think I'll add that to the design.

[Daryk]

With only BAR 2 armor, most sniper rifles would probably work better than the never really functional infantry AA weapons...