Desperation fighters fighting aerospace fighters on a shoestring budget.

[Primus203]

The question came to me how to deal with aerospace fighters. Conventional fighters can deal with them when used in a defensive role but can not chase them down or fight on their own terms as they are too slow with a relatively fast conventional of standard design being in the 5/8 MP range.

The I came to was a tiny 15 ton fighter with 9 tons of engine. There is no armor at all at this size even with max frame armor at best a single med laser could be stopped at the cost of significant tonnage for the light design so armor was omitted. The single ton of fuel means that tankers are a necessity for these designs. The design retains 3.5 tons for weapons requiring  nonstandard weapons loadouts to be effective at such low tonnage. Has MP of 9\14 enough to catch most aerospace fighters. Cheap sub 200K C-Bills

The tankers would be escorted by standard design conventional fighters as previously noted they work fine defensively.

Thousand Needles- Mounts six machine guns and half a ton of ammo.

Code: [Select]

Ultra Budget Fast Fighter Export Thousand Needles NA-SC

Mass: 15 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant: 135 ICE
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     6 Machine Gun
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3065
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-X-C-C
Cost: 141,470 C-bills

Type: Ultra Budget Fast Fighter Export
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 15
Battle Value: 64

Equipment                                          Mass
Engine                        135 ICE                 9
Safe Thrust: 9
Max Thrust: 14
Structural Integrity:         9                       
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Fuel:                         160                   1.0
Cockpit                                             1.5
Armor Factor                  0                       0

                           Armor   
                           Value   
     Nose                    0     
     Wings                  0/0   
     Aft                     0     


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
5 Machine Gun                   NOS       2.5      0      2    0    0    0 
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     FSLG      0.5      -      -    -    -    - 
Machine Gun                     AFT       0.5      0      2    0    0    0  Hundred Rockets-Same as the Thousand needles but replaces machine gun and ammo with 7 Rocket Launcher 10's

Code: [Select]

Ultra Budget Fast Fighter Export Hundred Rockets NA-SC

Mass: 15 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant: 135 ICE
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     7 Rocket Launcher 10
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3065
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-X-C-C
Cost: 221,558 C-bills

Type: Ultra Budget Fast Fighter Export
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 15
Battle Value: 292

Equipment                                          Mass
Engine                        135 ICE                 9
Safe Thrust: 9
Max Thrust: 14
Structural Integrity:         8                       
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Fuel:                         160                   1.0
Cockpit                                             1.5
Armor Factor                  0                       0

                           Armor   
                           Value   
     Nose                    0     
     Wings                  0/0   
     Aft                     0     


Weapons
and Ammo               Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
5 Rocket Launcher 10     NOS       2.5      3      6    6    0    0 
Rocket Launcher 10       RWG       0.5      3      6    6    0    0 
Rocket Launcher 10       LWG       0.5      3      6    6    0    0  Skytrain Tanker- A tanker a necessary support for these very short legged fighters. Has three refueling hoses onw in the rear and one on each side on a folding telescoping boom. Has 40 tons of fuel, should be escorted by standard conventional fighters.

Code: [Select]

Skytrain Aerial Refuling Tanker

Mass: 112.5 tons
Frame: Unknown
Power Plant:  ICE
Armor: BAR 7
Armament:
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3065
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-X-D-D
Cost: 1,240,566 C-bills

Type: Skytrain
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 112.5
Battle Value: 209

Equipment                                          Mass
Engine                         ICE                   33
Safe Thrust: 3
Max Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity:         3                       
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Fuel:                         357                  10.0
Cockpit                                            11.5
Armor Factor (BAR 7)          116                   5.5

                           Armor   
                           Value   
     Nose                    29   
     Wings                 29/29   
     Aft                     29   


Weapons
and Ammo                                Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
Refueling Drogue/Fluid Suction System     RWG       1.0      -      -    -    -    - 
Refueling Drogue/Fluid Suction System     LWG       1.0      -      -    -    -    - 
Refueling Drogue/Fluid Suction System     AFT       1.0      -      -    -    -    - 

[Daryk]

In case you haven't seen: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,74485.0.html

:)

[Lagrange]

The Mayfly drone pushes it even cheaper (35K) and smaller (5 tons) while avoiding the need for tankers.  You could even avoid the drone aspect to make it cheaper but that seems sure to result in green pilots.

[Primus203]

So for the mayfly it has two issues for the way I'm designing these the common issue is tech drone tech and fusion tech are fairly advanced and as such they would be difficult to produce and maintain for someone on a limited budget. As you said though one of the two issues I state can be solved with a pilot but not the fusion engine one without severe performance penalties.

The next thing of note both of your designs are good defensive fighters. However your average 100 ton fighter has 5/8 MP meaning that while your designs can protect a target they can never shoot down an enemy aerospace fighter unless the fighter comes to them or they attack a target the enemy cannot afford to loose.

My design meanwhile is an offensive design meant to be able to chase down Medium and heavy aerospace fighters. The idea would be that my designs are directed to the target and launch with three external fuel tanks. Accelerating at max thrust and dropping each tank as it empties would allow this design to reach an interception point. As they are detected they would drop any remaining external tanks and use the internal tank to chase down the enemy then escape and rendezvous  with a tanker or land at an airfield.

For this design Daryk's F-5T would probably be an excellent escort as without external equipment it could keep up with the craft I designed while they are loaded down with fuel tanks. Then when detected if an enemy fighter wing attempts to attack to protect the heavies the F-5 can engage them while my designs go to full acceleration and power though.

[Daryk]

Thanks for checking out our designs! :)

I suppose an "F-5I" (Interceptor) could throw another ton into its engine to go 9/14... ;)

[Lagrange]

The next thing of note both of your designs are good defensive fighters. However your average 100 ton fighter has 5/8 MP meaning that while your designs can protect a target they can never shoot down an enemy aerospace fighter unless the fighter comes to them or they attack a target the enemy cannot afford to loose.

Note that an enemy 5/8 ASF can pull up on to the high altitude map to avoid being attacked by a faster conventional fighter and "Attack a target the enemy cannot afford to lose" includes every ground-based enemy unit since they are all slower.