Tiamat Assault DropShip, TRO3085Sup
Apparently Word of Blake realised that even with its mystery fleets it would not have enough firepower to take on the Clan navies. That is where the Tiamat came in. Designed to stand up to smaller WarShips it would be a formidable platform. Unfortunately the technology of the day wasn’t up to the task (no Sub Capitals), and when combined with the needs of the Jihad it would take until 3075 for the first units to launch. A unit unique to the Manei Domini, the Tiamat was apparently produced in greater numbers than could be manned. Rather than let it be used by “frails” the excess were modified into Caspar II units. In both of these forms they have played merry hell across the Inner Sphere and have since been taken into service by the Republic of the Sphere.
The Tiamat comes in two forms. The first of which is manned. At 36,000 tons it is huge for a combat ship and you can see why this option is rarely explored. To be this big a ship needs armour, lots of it, and the Tiamat certainly has lots of armour. But to carry that armour the Tiamat needed a massive internal structure. 15% of the mass of the Tiamat is used for structure to achieve armour at 0.6% of total mass. In contrast an Overlord A3 has a ratio of 8%: 1.1% or a Merlin has a ratio of 4%: 2%.
So if one doesn’t get protection from a super ship what does one get? Where a Merlin devotes 5% of its mass to weapons and an Overlord devotes 30%, a manned Tiamat devotes 42% of its mass to killing stuff. Now it must be pointed out that part of this is the effect of Sub Capital weapons. These weapons are huge, demanding large hulls and even larger ones if effective numbers of weapons are desired. The Tiamat has those in spades. A truly insane number of heavy SCCs sit in the bow. These are supported by arrays of SCL3s in the bow and fore quarters. There is even a dinky Kraken, presumably for some kind of nuke. AR10s and Piranhas line the flanks. Some ignorable conventional weapons fill in the gaps while each arc contains a four gun Laser AMS array, not quite enough to be more than a frustration. The downside of all of this is the Heat Sinks. When firing the big guns it can only fire the nose and one fore quarter at once. Naturally at 28 points per bay per shot the AMS is going to spike the heat even more.
Rounding off the ship is a useful sized cargo bay and a mere 6 ASF. The lack of small craft is a bit of a disappointment for a craft this size, but I guess the Manei Domini never intended to board anyone.
After the Jihad the Republic of the Sphere adopted the manned Tiamat (Tiamat II) as its own to build up its own fleet. In 3112 a new variant was introduced. This ship abandoned the Kraken missile launcher in favour of a Naval C3 computer. This is both an obvious choice and a problem. With C3 systems on the Republic’s Interdictors and Dragau IIs it makes sense to link in their Tiamat IIs. However Tiamat IIs fight best at short ranges. This ranges the question, which of these craft is spotting for which? At best the accuracy gains are minimal. Fortunately the Kraken was no great loss.
The Caspar II variant beefs up the engine for more thrust. The cargo bay and a number of weapons are given up for various computer systems for controlling the Tiamat and its automated fighters. The ship gains extra ECM from the Caspar II system and there is no longer a crew to kill. The vicious bow SCC bay is very much reduced as are the SCL bays. The AR10s are removed and Piranhas are repositioned. Heat load is reduced but so is the number of heat sinks.
So how does one use a Tiamat. For starters this isn’t a WarShip. It has no real stand off capability. Every attempt should be made to get in under 20 hexes and get those Heavy SCCs into play. The SCLs are formidable but horribly inefficient. Having said that, the SCLs will be murder on ASF when switched to AAA mode. As a rule the Tiamat has the armour to ignore most DropShips. It can even duel with a Tiahou with a very good chance of success. This is its main feature, the ability to take punishment. The only quick way to take one out is a cruiser. Play to this strength and use the Tiamat to draw fire while the smaller craft do the attacking. Also consider working in swarms, though outside of Terra I am hard pressed to think of a situation where this will be likely.
Taking out a Tiamat is hard. They are relatively very tough. But while they are more efficient than a small WarShip, small DropShips are more efficient than Tiamats. As you can see above the Tiamat’s armour is actually light for its mass. Additionally the stern is wide open. The manned ship is vulnerable to attacks along the aft quarter hex line while the Caspar II is vulnerable along the aft hex line. The Tiamat has the thrust rating to make it hard to get a DropShip there, but fast ASF can abuse initiative to get in and stay there. The Tiamat will have to use its escorts to clear its tail in this case, and unfortunately the heavy armour means there is plenty of time to do this. Another option to consider in the case of the Caspar II variant is boarding. The Caspar IIs programming will force the Tiamat into some unexpected manoeuvres which can be exploited. Ultimately this is a big and powerful DropShip and there is not quick and easy way to kill it. A big and powerful force is the only answer.
So to summarise, the Tiamat is the most formidable DropShip in the game. However to achieve this distinction it is highly inefficient. This is both a plus and a minus; it can easily overwhelm the unprepared, but can be taken cheaply by those who prepare for it.
