I'm back from my trip, so let's start working through the backlog. Here's the first one - this is the major butterfly I referenced above.
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For almost a century, it had been accepted wisdom in the Terran Hegemony that their navy was incomparably superior to any possible opponent, but that confident self-assurance ended with the Battle of Kentartes.
Most of the THN's brass defended the performance of their fleet using assorted technical arguments - the primary issue according to the fleet was that the units had been chosen poorly and that the major issue was a severe shortage of support craft. Intelligence sources also suggested that the Davion fleet had taken serious damage to several ships in the fight, which would make the damage ratio vastly less lopsided than it appeared, and the THN argued that this vindicated Terran doctrine somewhat.
At the meeting where CNO Young was explaining this to Brian Cameron, an exchange took place that rapidly became legendary among those few who were privy to it.
"So, Admiral Young, let me see if I understand this. The primary problem at Kentares was that we didn't bring enough support units to the fight to implement our standard anti-missile doctrine, and therefore we were left unable to defend ourselves properly. Correct?"
"That's pretty much it my lord, yes."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Why did we send a fleet into a potential combat situation which was unable to properly defend itself against an enemy attack?"
"Our best support craft carriers are substantially slower than the Federated Suns ships - they'd be unable to bring the enemy to a fight on their own. They're designed to bring the heaviest possible force to bear against fixed targets, not to fight battles of maneuver."
"The mission of this fleet was to escort a convoy to Kentares IV. Was Kentares going to run away on you?"
"We didn't want to escalate the situation too strongly by sending Second Fleet. It was expected that it'd be capable of dealing with anything the Davions could put up against it, and the Black Lions and Dreadnoughts have the best on-board anti-missile defences in the whole fleet."
"So instead of escalating the situation, you got two thousand men and women under your command killed and cost the Hegemony sixty billion dollars by sending a fleet too big to ignore and too small to actually win. Is that about the size of it?"
"Our ships simply weren't designed for this sort of fighting, my lord! The way those outworld scum use their fighter forces is something we never expected to face. When McKenna built this fleet he built it around guns, and we're still the best gun fleet by far."
"James McKenna built it that way because that was what the tech of the day allowed for. Because McKenna wasn't an idiot, and he wanted to win battles. Guns were how a fleet won battles a century ago. How does a fleet win battles today, Admiral Young?"
"Guns still win battles! Look at Tikonov or Irian - both of them were won by weight of metal, not these fighter swarms."
"And what about Rasalhague, or Lurgatan?"
"Those are different! They-"
"Oh, shut up. You thought that guns were the only thing that mattered, and you seem to have sold my mother and my brother on that doctrine. I am not sold, Admiral. You didn't have any issues finding the budget to get those expensive toy "PPCs" of yours onto a station as soon as you could get them out of the lab, but your naval doctrine seems to be decades out of date. And I am sick and ****** tired of your excuses. I'm not saying that you need to scrap the whole fleet and start fresh, but the THN had better start building ships that can deal with "these fighter swarms" a whole hell of a lot better than you did this time. Do we understand each other?"
"I...yes, my lord. We do."
"Good. Now get the hell out of my sight. I'll let you know within a week or so if you still have a job."
---
After substantial study work, including in-depth calculations on the merits of refitting more anti-missile defenses on existing designs, a new design was eventually finalized by the THN. Dubbed the Vincent, it was intended to act as an escort for larger fleets, by offering substantial fighter support, two DropShip collars, and more anti-missile defence than three Dreadnoughts. The main guns are weak, and the cargo bay is extremely small for a Terran ship, but these were deemed acceptable trade-offs for a ship designed to only ever operate in company with a larger fleet. A better sensor system than the THN standard was also equipped - not as advanced as the system on the Bonaventure, but enough to offer improved vision to the fleet without need for poorly-defended dedicated scout ships.
Vincents will be attached to all fleets, regardless of the fleet's maneuverability, in the same fashion as Bonaventures. Significant production resources are being diverted to the Vincent class this turn, in order to build up the fleet's escort strength rapidly. All other ship designs are being produced more slowly as a result, and the Essex and Vigilant classes will be entirely removed from active production due to their poor armour and difficulties finding a coherent role for them to play in the fleet.
Class/Model/Name: Vincent
Tech: Inner Sphere
Ship Cost: $6,378,914,004.00
Magazine Cost: $221,760.00
BV2: 19,822
Mass: 250,000
K-F Drive System: None
Power Plant: Station-Keeping Drive
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Armor Type: Standard
Armament:
224 AC 2
16 Naval Laser 55
Class/Model/Name: Vincent
Mass: 250,000
Equipment: Mass
Drive: 60,000
Thrust
Safe: 4
Maximum: 6
Controls: 625
K-F Hyperdrive: None (0 Integrity) 0
Jump Sail: (4 Integrity) 43
Structural Integrity: 65 16,250
Total Heat Sinks: 1550 Single 1,159
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 5000 points 2,040
Fire Control Computers: 192
Armor: 172 pts Standard 325
Fore: 30
Fore-Left/Right: 30/30
Aft-Left/Right: 30/30
Aft: 22
Dropship Capacity: 2 2,000
Grav Decks:
Small: 0
Medium: 2 200
Large: 2 1,000
Escape Pods: 28 196
Life Boats: 28 196
Crew And Passengers:
26 Officers in 1st Class Quarters 260
69 Crew in 2nd Class Quarters 483
60 Gunners and Others in 2nd Class Quarters 420
174 Bay Personnel in 2nd Class Quarters 1,218
# Weapons Loc Heat Damage Range Mass
40 AC 2 Nose 40 80 (8-C) Long 240
40 AC 2 RBS 40 80 (8-C) Long 240
40 AC 2 Aft 40 80 (8-C) Long 240
40 AC 2 LBS 40 80 (8-C) Long 240
16 AC 2 FR 16 32 (3.2-C) Long 96
16 AC 2 FL 16 32 (3.2-C) Long 96
16 AC 2 AR 16 32 (3.2-C) Long 96
16 AC 2 AL 16 32 (3.2-C) Long 96
4 Naval Laser 55 FR 340 220 (22-C) Extreme-C 4,400
4 Naval Laser 55 FL 340 220 (22-C) Extreme-C 4,400
4 Naval Laser 55 AR 340 220 (22-C) Extreme-C 4,400
4 Naval Laser 55 AL 340 220 (22-C) Extreme-C 4,400
Ammo Rounds Mass
AC 2 Ammo 10080 224.00
Equipment and Bays
NCSS Small
Bay 1: 20,000 tons cargo (1 door, Nose)
Bay 2: 3 small craft and 36 fighter (5 doors, LBS)
Bay 3: 3 small craft and 36 fighter (5 doors, RBS)
---
BUDGET: $775B
Maintenance(@100%): $235.949B
Repairs: $4B
Shipyard Upgrades(Terra 6>7): $70B
Vincent R&D: $6.379B
30x Vincent: $191.37B
2x Monsoon: $29.112B
2x Aegis: $21.376B
6x Quixote: $70.596B
2x Lola: $13.264B
2x Cruiser: $15.046B
4x Bonaventure: $20.144B
4x Black Lion: $28.172B
120x DropShip: $36B
600x small craft: $6B
4818x Fighter: $24.09B
Research: $3.502B