Originally posted Dec. 10, 2006 (!!)
The Sylvester is another one of those ships that has its origins in a throwaway line from another ship's fluff--in this case, the TR:2750 Bug-Eye. The fluff states something to the effect that the Bug-Eye (successor to the Tracker and Nightwing) was built to resemble common civilian ships of the era, such as the Buccaneer and Sylvester. The latter ship probably refers to the still undescribed "baby Sylvester" Dropship that was built after the compact-core transport ceased production. One must wonder why the PsTB chose instead to contrive this beast rather than create stats and background for a Dropship that at one time would have been one of the most common sights in Lyran space.
The Sylvester (or "Sly", as I will refer to it from this point forth) falls in something of a fluff void in BT naval history. It seems to date from the tail-end of that mythical era in which most jump-capable vessels (both military and civilian) had compact K-F cores and their own transit drives. The first canon "heavy core" Jumpship, the Merchant, has an introduction date of 2503 (only four years after the first Sly), though that's not to say there weren't others at the time. The Sly's fluff seems to imply it was the largest civilian vessel ever built, so existing models had to be smaller (no larger than 200 kilotons? pulling no more than 1.5Gs?).
The Sly takes its name from one Graf Hans Sylvester, a Lyran merchant-nobleman who had the idea to build the biggest, best-armed civilian transport the still-expanding Inner Sphere had yet seen. The aims, ostensibly, were to assure dominance of Lyran traders in an increasingly competitive environment and to produce a transport that would be nearly impregnable to piracy. Once the Graf managed to convince a Lyran trade committee of the merits of the concept, Ioto Galactic Enterprises of Alarion had the first Sly plying the spaceways in 2499, a scant three years after its approval.
Despite the Lyran "bigger is better" philosophy (manifest even at this time, and in the civilian sector as well), the Sly proved to be economically inviable. The most expensive freighter built for civilian service, only four were produced in 15 years. Most merchant concerns probably balked at its astronomical (for them) price tag. The Commonwealth government cancelled the program, and Graf Sylvester later had to content himself with developing a Dropship-sized transport, dubbed the "baby Sylvester". This vessel proved far more successful, produced in considerable numbers by Bolson Shipyards of New Kyoto (who would later produce the Mako) until their yards were destroyed early in the First Succession War. While the idea of a huge compact-core transport didn't fly in the civilian sector, the Terran Hegemony was quick to apply the concept to their own military. They were probably keen on the notion of a transport that could tool around with, and support, their Warship fleet--also secure in the knowledge that Hegemony taxpayers, rather than fickle private concerns, would be footing the bill. The result was the Carrack-class transport, the descendent of which still serves the Clans. The SLDF would later push the concept to its logical extreme when it had the Potemkin built.
Weighing in at 280 kilotons, the "big Sly" is the only canon example we have of a civilian compact-core space vessel in the pre-Clan BT universe. As a transport, it should have lots of room to store and haul stuff around, and over 72 kilotons--about 25.7% of the Sly's design mass--is devoted to that purpose. The Sly carries only four small craft, seemingly insufficient for transferring all that cargo--until one notices that the craft also carries a pair of docking collars. Since "modern" Dropships were introduced in 2470, this isn't a problem as it is on other retconned early ships (more about that in another article though). Cargo can presumably be loaded through the collars directly onto docked Dropships, which then transfer it to its intended destination. If other small craft, aside from the Sly's own complement, can be recruited, a total of nine cargo doors should make for expeditious cargo transfer. Since the Sly has its own transit drive, it's perfectly capable of entering planetary orbit. Speaking of that transit drive, it enables the Sly to pull a respectable 2.5Gs of thrust. It's questionable whether such an acceleration curve is necessary on a civilian vessel, since it's hard to picture the Sly being in many situations that would require evasive manuevers of the kind most combat ships need to pull off (aside, perhaps, from dodging asteroids).
Other notable features of the Sly include its complement of 60 marines (for repelling boarding attempts), two 98-metre grav decks to keep its crew of 262 healthy, and far too few escape craft to let them all get away (a total of 20) should it become necessary to abandon ship. Of further note, the Sly's heat-dissipation system is double-strength, interesting for a non-Terran craft circa 2500, and completely out of step with its lack of durability.
The Sly is pretty well-defended for a civilian craft, but remember that it's not a real Warship. For what it is, offensive firepower is impressive, if uneven. Its fore-reaching firepower is strongest, with a mix of naval lasers and NAC/20s yielding 33 capital damage. The Sly can manage a combined broadside of 31 at long range, but aft firepower is a none-too-impressive 15, falling to 11 dead-aft at extreme range. This is enough to scare off Dropships and corvettes like the Vigilant, but the Sly is dead meat if it tries to take on anything larger. Its thin armour coverage and low SI rating (only 20) mean that a Sly should steer clear of any real combat situation (meaning more than a pair of light fighter squadrons). Fortunately, the Sly isn't meant to face that kind of enemy.
A look at the Sly's secondary weaponry shows one what it *is* meant to fight off. The most notable feature of the Sly is that it's virtually studded with point-defense weaponry, with a minimum of 15 point-defense weapons in every firing arc--a feature it shares with the somewhat later Rim Worlds-produced Pinto. These weapons seem guaranteed to defeat any incoming missile salvo and render the Sly practically unhittable by capital missiles. A major drawback, though, is that they lack the re-firing ability of AMS. Anti-fighter power is less impressive (and rather schizophrenic), using different weapons systems in every firing arc--autocannon in the nose, long-range missiles in the fore-quarters and broadsides, and lasers in the aft-quarters. While they'll certainly damage a fighter, these weapon bays will repel only the least determined of attackers. Thin-skinned birds (like the Lyrans' own Seydlitz...) will have reason to fear, but there are more durable small fighters out there (e.g. Sparrowhawk, Centurion) which can take more of that kind of punishment.
As with its Carrack derivative, one should not use the Sylvester for anything other than its original purpose: hauling lots of cargo. Despite its defenses, the Sly will do best at fighting off an opposing force that is most vulnerable to capital weapons (Dropships and small corvettes), or against pirate forces that can summon at most a trio of marginal light fighter squadrons. When confronting a Sly, employ weapons against which its small forest of point defenses is useless. A Sly attacked by a force armed mostly with lasers and autocannon is in for destruction, or at best surrender.
Given when it was first launched, and considering the kind of vessels that succeeded it (e.g. the Merchant), it's tempting to look at the Sly as a giant at the end of an era: the last (but certainly largest) gasp of the civilian compact-core Jumpship with transit drive. The Sly probably came out 20 years too late (and even then would probably have been too expensive for most private companies); Merchants and their ilk proved to be the wave of the future in the private sector, having significantly lower construction and operating costs. The Terran Hegemony's navy, however, owes the Herr Graf a debt of gratitude for his idea.
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Sylvester Transport (3057R)
Tech: Inner Sphere / 2499
Vessel Type: WarShip
Rules: Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 280,000 tons
K-F Drive System: (Unknown)
Length: 905 meters
Sail Diameter: 1,200 meters
Power Plant: Standard
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Armor Type: Standard
Armament:
3 NL55
8 NL35
67 Small Laser
110 Machine Gun
4 Autocannon/10
2 Autocannon/20
2 NAC/20
8 LRM 15
10 LRM 10
4 Large Laser
8 Medium Laser
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==Overview:==
The Sylvester-class merchant ship is something of an anomaly in the history of
WarShip designs, though its existence spawned a number of military versions,
including the Carrack-class. Conceived originally by Graf Hans Sylvester, a
merchant-nobleman of the Lyran Commonwealth, the vessel was meant to assure
the dominance of Lyran traders in an Inner Sphere filled with increasingly
powerful rivals, while securing Commonwealth shipping against piracy. Graf
Sylvester eventually sold his idea to a Commonwealth trade committee,
resulting in a contract with Ioto Galactic Enterprises on Alarion. When the
first Sylvester slipped its moorings just three years later, it officially
became the most heavily armed civilian craft ever to sail the void-as well as
the most expensive freighter in existence.
Weighing over a quarter of a million tons with almost 70,000 devoted to cargo
space in three cavernous bays, the Sylvester's size and transport capacity
easily overwhelmed every merchant vessel produced at the time. Further
augmenting this were two DropShip docking hardports and four small craft bays,
which ideally accommodated additional merchant vessels and personnel
transport-both for in-system deliveries and additional freight.
For defense, the Sylvester carried a mix of capital-class weapons and
anti-fighter defense, making any attempt to attack this vessel extremely
costly. Its relatively fragile armor encourages captains to steer clear of
danger, however, rather than meet it head on. Unfortunately, the Sylvester's
biggest flaw ultimately was not its lack of armor or defenses against
WarShips, but its extremely high price tag. After only 15 years of production
with just four such vessels underway across the Lyran realm, the Commonwealth
officially cancelled the Sylvester program. Ironically, The Terran Hegemony
would later produce its own version for military use, which became known as
the Carrack-class. It was the basis for the vessel of the same name employed
by the Clans.
As a footnote, some ten years after the last Sylvester capital transport
entered service and the line's production was cancelled, Graf Hans Sylvester
personally commissioned a more economically viable, DropShip-sized version of
this ill-fated vessel. Often dubbed the "baby Sylvester" to distinguish it
from its massive progenitor, this aerodynamic craft first emerged from the
Bolson Shipyards over New Kyoto and saw a much wider production until the
factory was destroyed in the early days of the First Succession War.
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Class/Model/Name: Sylvester Transport (3057R)
Mass: 280,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 50,400.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Kearny-Fuchida Hyperdrive: Compact (Integrity = 7) 126,700.00
Jump Sail: (Integrity = 3) 44.00
Structural Integrity: 20 5,600.00
Total Heat Sinks: 767 Double 405.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 2,040.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 700.00
Fire Control Computers: 1,425.00
Armor Type: Standard (54 total armor pts) 104.00
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 10
Fore-Left/Right: 9/9
Aft-Left/Right: 9/9
Aft: 8
Cargo:
Bay 1: Small Craft (2) with 2 doors 400.00
Bay 2: Small Craft (2) with 2 doors 400.00
Bay 3: Cargo (1) with 3 doors 24,452.50
Bay 4: Cargo (1) with 3 doors 24,452.50
Bay 5: Cargo (1) with 3 doors 24,452.50
DropShip Capacity: 2 Docking Hardpoints 2,000.00
Grav Decks #1 - 2: (98-meter diameter) 100.00
Life Boats: 10 (7 tons each) 70.00
Escape Pods: 10 (7 tons each) 70.00
Crew and Passengers:
52 Officers (30 minimum) 520.00
90 Crew (49 minimum) 630.00
60 Gunners (49 minimum) 420.00
60 Marines 300.00
20 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 NL55 Nose 13 13 13 6 85 1,100.00
2 NL35 104 1,400.00
5 Small Laser Nose 4(35) -- -- -- 5 2.50
10 Machine Gun(1000 rounds) 0 10.00
4 Autocannon/10(80 rounds) Nose 8(80) 4(40) -- -- 24 56.00
2 Autocannon/20(20 rounds) 28 32.00
1 NAC/20(15 rounds) FL/R 20 20 20 -- 120 5,012.00
10 Small Laser FL/R 6(60) -- -- -- 20 10.00
15 Machine Gun(1200 rounds) 0 27.00
4 LRM 15(120 rounds) FL/R 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 40 86.00
2 NL35 L/RBS 7 7 7 -- 208 2,800.00
10 Small Laser L/RBS 6(60) -- -- -- 20 10.00
15 Machine Gun(1200 rounds) 0 27.00
5 LRM 10(108 rounds) L/RBS 3(30) 3(30) 3(30) -- 20 68.00
1 NL35 AL/R 4 4 4 -- 104 1,400.00
2 Large Laser AL/R 4(36) 2(16) -- -- 32 20.00
4 Medium Laser 24 8.00
6 Small Laser AL/R 4(38) -- -- -- 12 6.00
10 Machine Gun(1000 rounds) 0 20.00
2 NL55 Aft 11 11 11 11 170 2,200.00
10 Small Laser Aft 7(70) -- -- -- 10 5.00
20 Machine Gun(1000 rounds) 0 15.00
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TOTALS: Heat: 1,020 280,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 3,192,109,500 C-Bills
Battle Value: 25,603
Cost per BV: 124,677.17
Weapon Value: 10,173 (Ratio = .40)
Damage Factors: SRV = 1,421; MRV = 922; LRV = 647; ERV = 237
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 345,930
(37,579 Structure, 278,770 Life Support, 29,581 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 270,300 (78% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
cheers,
Gabe