"Lily Pad" Space Station

[Daryk]

Cannonshop's challenge for system defense got us talking about small Space Stations that could refuel other system defense craft.  I don't have MML, so I hand jammed the below, and I may have missed something.  It comes in below 10,000,000 C-Bills, and usually runs around with the 6 ASF cubicles empty (basically, they're just used as gas station pumps).  It has max armor, minimal armament, and carries a full MASH suite and Medical Team for SAR, along with 4 Exoskeletons for salvage operations.  77 personnel are usually embarked (50 crew (45 base plus 3 gunners and 2 RTOs), 5 Medical Team, 10 Small Craft Crew, 6 "ground crew" for the ASF cubicles, and 4 Exoskeleton pilots with 2 Techs).  There are 6 "crew quarters" bunks for rescued ASF pilots, and 28 "bay quality" racks for other rescued personnel.

Code: [Select]

Lily Pad
Tonnage 3,000.0
Thrust    36.0 0.1 Station Keeping
Fuel   500.0 1773.049645 Burn Days
Pumps    10.0
SI    30.0 1
Controls     3.0
Base Crew Quarters   315.0 45 7
Heat Sinks     7.0 53 Free 60 Total
Armor    70.0 56 Standard Points 10 Nose/Aft, 9 other facings Capital
Small Lasers     6.0 12 0.5 1 Dual mount in all arcs
Large Lasers    30.0 6 5 1 each arc
Communications Equipment    2.0 2 1 2 additional crew
Small Craft Cubicles   400.0 2 200 5 crew each
ASF Cubicles   900.0 6 150 2 crew each
Gunners    21.0 3 7
RTOs    14.0 2 7
Exoskeleton Bay     8.0 1 8 6 crew (4 pilots, 2 Techs)
Bay Crew   196.0 28 7 Long Term Quarters
Doors     0.0 9 0 2 Small Craft, 6 ASF, 1 Cargo
MASH     3.5 1 3.5 1 Operating Theater
Medical Team    35.0 5 7 Long Term Quarters
Upgrade Officer cabins    30.0 10 3 Officer Quarters
Life Boats   105.0 15 7

Consumables    78.5 189.1566265 Crew Days
Cargo   200.0 Usually more food, always equipment for harvesting water from asteroids

Costs
Controls
Bridge    230,000
Computer    200,000
Life Support    555,000
Sensors     80,000
Fire Control Computer    100,000
Gunnery Control Systems     60,000
Structure    100,000
Drive Unit      1,500
Engine     36,000
Engine Control Unit      1,000
Attitude Thrusters     25,000
Fuel Tank    100,000
Armor    700,000
Heat Sinks    120,000
Crew Quarters 1,245,000
Officer Upgrades    150,000
Lifeboats     75,000
ASF Cubicles    120,000
Small Craft Cubicles     40,000
Exoskeleton Bays    120,000
Doors      9,000
Small Lasers    135,000
Large Lasers    600,000
MASH Core Unit     35,000
2 Tons Communications Equipment     20,000
Sub Total 4,857,500
Final Cost 9,715,000


[Syzyx]

It may sound a little silly, but you may want to throw budget to the wind and consider making this one modular for various reasons:

If a big battle occurs or is about to occur around a non-primary target (asteroid refinery, jump trade station, crippled warship/jumpship, etc.) this would be incredibly handy to have as a module for making as big a crisis centre as you need.

If a civilian mishap happens (misjump, space station collapse, etc.) these being jump capable and quickly transportable could be an incredible edge in saving lives.

Also, in a strange capacity, they could be tremendously useful in a strategic offensive capacity. In the event of a natural disaster, either in system space as above or on the ground, the ability to suddenly put a humanitarian relief facility in orbit of a foreign world could earn you a great gob of local support and minimize resistance to subsequent conquest efforts.

[Daryk]

Interesting ideas!  Have you brought those up in Cannonshop's thread?  I think you'll get a more thorough response from the collective over there... :)

[truetanker]

I'd second this, build a Main Hub as large as possible, with the most and skimp on the Cargo hold and large weapons. Go Small Laser at best, now add in Half the total tonnage in "Pods" that can be utilized as both Cargo bay, Secondary MASH, Security/Weapon Pod and a Space Vehicle Pod.

Outfitted as such, an atypical Station could just add PODS, based on design needs. And Multiple Stations could be common...

Placing Infantry racks as "Emergency" Rescue types, allow a field kitchen and lots of First Aid/Paramedical in each Pod adds contingencies. Like each Pod has its own kitchen, and can perform basic EMS style reform, or in case of Outbreaks, recuperation/quarantine. (And if need be, Ejection)

That way you could Daisy Chain these...

TT

[Daryk]

The modularity multiplier is pretty hefty... I recommend trying that as a separate design. :)

[Daryk]

Two quick variants, both at 2,000 tons:

The "Mini Pad" only has 2 Small Craft Bays and is basically what resupplies the Lily Pads.  It comes in just under 7.5 million C-Bills.

The "Grav Pad" is a "Mini Pad" with a Small Grav Deck.  Basically, it's a "crew rest" version with rather less cargo capacity.  Grav Decks are expensive, and this one comes in just under 17 million C-Bills.

[Maingunnery]

Wouldn't such station be most useful as SAR centers?

[Daryk]

All of them have that as a secondary mission.

[DevianID]

I really like the idea of a grav deck standard.  The cost would be trivial if it allowed the crew to serve better/longer.  Especially the medical facilities being under artificial gravity would help treat injured people.

Im not sure about 2 small craft and 6 fighter cubicles.  I think 6 total bays with more cargo storage and a grav deck make more sense.  Since the small craft bays can service aerofighters too, maybe 2 sc and 4 fighters, for the full 6 squadron refuel, but with 300 tons saved for long term habitation.  If the fighter bays were meant to carry fighters, all the time I think you would want more bays, but as a short term hangar the 6 bays will be empty for 99% of the lily pads mission, making them pretty expensive in terms of tonnage budget.

[Daryk]

Well, I did list the consumables separately... if you include that, it's got 278.5 tons of "cargo"... :)

Also, I realized I was one short on base crew (it should be 51, not 50).  That doesn't change things too much...

[Lagrange]

This isn't mentioned in the rules, but there is no logical reason why a space station could not spin at 0.5g on it's outer hull as long as internal layouts are designed for it.   Launch, recovery, or docking operations would typically require spinning down, but that presumably is acceptable when those operations do not often occur.

[Daryk]

I think Cray posted something about that method somewhere... I'll have to poke him about it...

[Wrangler]

Are BattleTech space stations able to dock modules to make them bigger?  I not seen one like that before.  I know some defense stations fluff wise were able to be assembled after being assembled from core components. 

[AlphaMirage]

Are BattleTech space stations able to dock modules to make them bigger?  I not seen one like that before.  I know some defense stations fluff wise were able to be assembled after being assembled from core components.

You can make jump capable modular stations but they are extremely expensive. Presently you can only dock a dropship to a station to provide additional space so you can't get any bigger than however many docking collars the ship possesses.

[Daryk]

Yeah, the modular multiplier is killer...

[DevianID]

Spinning the station indeed would technically work, but then you would still need a 'grav deck' anti-spin to dock with and mount your engines on, the way station keeping is described.  The grav deck being the thing that has rules for spin gravity makes me hesitant to use anything else for spin gravity in battletech, including using the already included and 'G accurate' roll maneuver to spin warships and such to avoid needing grav decks.

[Daryk]

If I remember right, that's the vein Cray was thinking in...

[Lagrange]

W.r.t. docking I generally agree---you could not do that under spin.  Engines however are typically coaxial so it's not clear that they would be particularly affected by spin.   In either case though, you could simply not do spin while engaged in some activities.  It's not a valid strategy for a large station with many ships coming and going but for a small station with 0 or 1 docking collars seeing occasional use it seems reasonable.  If the 1 docking collar is coaxial on both large craft, you might even be able to spin up while docked.

[Wrangler]

I was under the impression that most spinning type except for the extreme large have grav decks there basically under unmoving outer hull. There hasn't been any sort of detail on what a grav deck supposed to be set up like. Most warships certainly do not have external grav decks despite say the wagon wheel class frigate that has one but it's only a visual effect not an actual spinner.

There are O'Neill colonies, with a total spinning but they're actually fluff based in BattleTech.

The wheel class space station I think is a spinner, I think it's just up to whoever wants designed the station on how it's going to be.