Design challenge someone's done many times before...

[Cannonshop]

But since there's an active thread on it in the Aerospace rules forum, and since we don't put customs on the rules forums...

Here's what I'm looking for:

1 parent airframe, with a version for civilian use, and a version to serve (Specifically) as a bombing and airstrike platform.

Requirements:

Engines must be the same mass for both models.
Airframe must also be the same mass.
Thrust profile, thus, should be the same between them.

The civilian version should ideally serve as a 'puddle jumper' or executive transport shuttle, light cargo mover or other utility modes for a shuttle that lives on a Jumpship or Dropship and makes runs to the planet (possibly from the jump point.)

The military version should serve as a strike bomber, with internal bomb bay, generous fuel ration, and enough endurance to explicitly traverse from jump point, to a planetary target in the habitable zone of a sol-like system...and back again.

Armor mass must be the same, but the armor types between the civil, and military version can differ.

Bonus points for fluffing out a military transport/utility craft version, including one kitted for aerial refueling.

Keep in mind: Smallcraft top out in mass at 200 tons.  That's your over-all upper weight limit.

[Daryk]

Here was an early attempt at something similar: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,55941.0.html

[Vehrec]

I feel like this is probably too niche an application.  Even if you do have a good design, how many targets are worth this kind of attack, but so unguarded that you can make the fun in and out without being shot down?  How does this compare to setting up a Mule with a few hundred tons of Marsden Mats, a mobile HQ to serve as control tower, six Torrent bombers (disassembled), and all the bombs and fuel they need to set up as a squadron on the planet you want to attack?

That said, I've got a set-up for you.  It's got rather an unimpressive cargo bay as a base ship, but even with the addition of the E-War officer, and two gunners, I think it will have enough cargo to sling a whole-ass capital missile inside.

Code: [Select]

Poodle Smallcraft
Type: Civilian Aerodyne
Mass: 200 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 2750
Mass: 200
Battle Value: 180
Tech Rating/Availability: D/D-E-D-D
Cost: 7,553,250 C-bills

Fuel: 37.5 tons (3,000)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Heat Sinks: 3
Structural Integrity: 5

Armor
    Nose: 20
    Sides: 17/17
    Aft: 14

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Cargo (2.0 tons)        1 Door   

Ammunition:
None

Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  1 officer, 2 enlisted/non-rated, 12 passengers

Notes: Mounts 3 tons of standard aerospace armor.

Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
None



Code: [Select]

Patou Smallcraft
Type: Military Aerodyne
Mass: 200 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 2750
Mass: 200
Battle Value: 800
Tech Rating/Availability: E/E-F(F*)-D-D
Cost: 12,718,250 C-bills

Fuel: 37.5 tons (3,000)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Heat Sinks: 15 (30)
Structural Integrity: 5

Armor
    Nose: 20
    Sides: 19/19
    Aft: 15

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Cargo (30.0 tons)       1 Door   

Ammunition:
None

Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  2 officers, 1 enlisted/non-rated, 2 gunners

Notes: Mounts 3 tons of ferro-aluminum armor.

Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
LRM 10                 R Wing     5.0      4      6    6    6    0 
LRM 10                 L Wing     5.0      4      6    6    6    0 
2 Small Pulse Laser     Nose      2.0      2      3    0    0    0 
2 ER Large Laser        Nose      10.0     12     8    8    8    0 
2 Small Pulse Laser     Aft       2.0      2      3    0    0    0 
Active Probe            Hull      1.5      -      -    -    -    - 
ECM Suite               Hull      1.5      -      -    -    -    - 



[Lagrange]

Retry's LRSB is relevant.

[Vehrec]

Retry's LRSB is relevant.

Is it though?  40 tons of armor and a 6/9 thrust profile don't scream 'civilian puddle jumper' to me.  It's not well set up to be primarily a unglamorous civilian design, it's bones are pure military.

What Cannonshop wants here seems to be a war crimes machine, something that can cruise in pretending to be a civilian ship flying false colors, drop a few atomic bombs on it's target, and then maybe exfiltrate by changing it's IFF codes and spray-painting a new livery on it for recovery by special forces.  A 747-CMA varrient, basically.

[Cannonshop]

Is it though?  40 tons of armor and a 6/9 thrust profile don't scream 'civilian puddle jumper' to me.  It's not well set up to be primarily a unglamorous civilian design, it's bones are pure military.

What Cannonshop wants here seems to be a war crimes machine, something that can cruise in pretending to be a civilian ship flying false colors, drop a few atomic bombs on it's target, and then maybe exfiltrate by changing it's IFF codes and spray-painting a new livery on it for recovery by special forces.  A 747-CMA varrient, basically.

Actually, I was mainly thinking about some of the historical aircraft.

Fockewulf 200, for example, which began life as an airliner, but became a pretty effective and decent maritime bomber during WWII, or the various commercial-to-military conversions like the P-8, which is a 737...but with Missile racks and bomb bays.

On a corporate level, an airframe that can be kept in production peacetime or wartime.

False flag missions, after all, are a limited set-once you've pulled one, everyone expects you to KEEP DOING IT.

OTOH, if, say, in Stone's Peace, you can keep your aviation company solvent by producing a stripped down version of the small bomber you were building for mercenary clients, well...you're a lot less likely to have your factory blown up by Devlin Stone's covert missions guys, and you can still keep doing factory support for the combat models you USED to sell (and, maybe, are still quietly selling on the side, after all, they all look pretty much the same until they're through final fitting...)

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

The requirement of move and back would be tough.

Code: [Select]

Chrysalis Shuttle (Production)
Type: Civilian Spheriod
Mass: 200 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 2750
Mass: 200
Battle Value: 1,712
Tech Rating/Availability: D/D-E-D-D
Cost: 11,846,500 C-bills

Fuel: 21 tons (1,680)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Heat Sinks: 9 (18)
Structural Integrity: 11

Armor
    Nose: 169
    Sides: 169/169
    Aft: 169

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Cargo (4.0 tons)        1 Door   

Ammunition:
None

Escape Pods: 2
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  1 officer, 2 enlisted/non-rated

Notes: Mounts 39.5 tons of standard aerospace armor.

Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
None



Code: [Select]

Itzpapalotl Bomber (Prototype)
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 200 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 3067
Mass: 200
Battle Value: 2,090
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-X-D-D
Cost: 14,376,000 C-bills

Fuel: 37.5 tons (3,000)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Heat Sinks: 9 (18)
Structural Integrity: 11

Armor
    Nose: 191
    Sides: 212/212
    Aft: 212

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Cargo (36.0 tons)       1 Door   

Ammunition:
None

Escape Pods: 1
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  1 officer, 2 enlisted/non-rated

Notes: Mounts 39.5 tons of heavy ferro-aluminum armor.

Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
None

Features the following design quirks: Internal Bomb Bay

Well it is true that about 40 tons of armor would be questionable for a civilian craft? But as a star system taxi perhaps it would be tolerated. For it is possible to be attacked by a pirate.

The bomber version is mainly consider fuel capacity, and is need to be backed by the other forces and is unable to perform much attack duty alone.

[glitterboy2098]

in its civilian guise, it's a light cargo craft able to carry 30 tons of cargo and up to 5 passengers back and forth between a jump point and a world. (at least, for most systems. but i figure 8 days each way is probably going to cover most.) it skimps on armor compared to military smallcraft but is still fairly solidly built for a civilian machine at 8.5 tons of standard plate and an SI of 15. the quarters are all steerage grade, so not super comfortable, but it's a working shuttle, not a yacht.

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Rokh Cargo
Type: Civilian Aerodyne
Mass: 175 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 3145
Mass: 175
Battle Value: 520
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-X-X-D
Cost: 10,488,150 C-bills

Fuel: 35 tons (2,800)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Heat Sinks: 0
Structural Integrity: 15

Armor
    Nose: 54
    Sides: 48/48
    Aft: 46

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Cargo (30.0 tons)       1 Door   

Ammunition:
None

Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  1 officer, 2 enlisted/non-rated, 5 passengers

Notes: Mounts 8.5 tons of standard aerospace armor.

Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
None



the military version though.. the armor is switched the ferro-aluminum for a small boost in protection, and most of the additional quarters are pulled, along with a third of the cargo space and one ton of the fuel supply. the remaining 20 tons of cargo space has been converted to a bomb bay, and it has been fitted with an array of guns.. paired large lasers in the nose, each wing houses an LRM10 rack with a dozen shots, and guarding the aft is a solitary medium laser. the eight double heat sinks it has been fitted with limit its ability to use all of these weapons, but with proper weapon selection it suffices.

Code: [Select]

Rokh Bomber
Type: Civilian Aerodyne
Mass: 175 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 3145
Mass: 175
Battle Value: 1,060
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-D
Cost: 13,335,750 C-bills

Fuel: 34 tons (2,720)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Heat Sinks: 8 (16)
Structural Integrity: 15

Armor
    Nose: 60
    Sides: 52/52
    Aft: 48

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Cargo (20.0 tons)       1 Door   

Ammunition:
    24 rounds of LRM 10 ammunition (2 tons)

Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 0
Crew:  1 officer, 2 enlisted/non-rated, 1 gunner

Notes: Mounts 8.5 tons of ferro-aluminum armor.

Weapons
and Ammo              Location   Tonnage  Heat   SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
LRM 10                 R Wing     5.0      4      6    6    6    0 
LRM 10                 L Wing     5.0      4      6    6    6    0 
2 Large Laser           Nose      10.0     8      8    8    0    0 
Medium Laser            Aft       1.0      3      5    0    0    0 




note: the weapons choice was inspired by the Aquarius small craft, just without the array of close in weaponry. as a bomber and carrying about a third of the armor of that combat small craft, it isn't going to be trying to dogfight the way the Aquarius would, so i focused on longer ranged options which can crit out most interceptors coming for it, and be useful for striking larger craft. though i'm considering dropping the aft ML to bring the fuel supply back up to match the civilian version. needless to say, the 20 ton bomb bay took up a fair bit of otherwise useful tonnage. but 20 tons is a fairly useful bomb capacity (actually exceeding the Torrent's internal bay, though not a torrent's total bomb capacity). though i'll admit that part of the reason i went with 20 tons was so it could mount a pair of Alamo nuclear anti-shipping missiles. 

the name is the persian version of "Roc", the mythical giant bird of prey able to carry off elephants in its claws.