The Coalition - GC Flagship
The Coalition was the last Viscount-Class Star Defender in the hands of the Coalition by the war's end - half of the others had been destroyed by war, and treaty arrangements whittled the number of these super-ships down to one.With the New Coalition's staggering economy, disorganized military, and scattered command structure, it was a miracle on reflection that they managed to hold on to even the one, and since the end of the war had seen only one deployment - which resulted in no action, as the planet of Kiyar was already razed.
As second wave technologies began revamping the Coalition fleet to be smaller, faster, and more efficient, it eventually was suggested that the mighty flagship be retired, for it's speed was not nearly up to that required for the new tactics being formed around the new ships. Regrad, however, had other plans.
He knew, for many reasons, why the Coalition still needed a Viscount - as a symbol, a flagship, a command centre and rallying point. It would not be left behind but instead thrust forward into the new age. Unlike any one ship, however, there could be no margine for error - the whole point of a symbol is that it is irreplacable - and so Regrad decided to sideline the project for the time being until he felt more confident about the state of things.
No one is exactly sure why he chose now to bring his plan forward again for a refitted and rebuilt flagship. Some have speculated some urgent need, unfriendly time, or perhaps just impatience or optimism about the current climate. Whatever the reason, the plans are being brought back out.
The refit practically deconstructs and reconstructs the vessel from the ground up, from the safety of a hidden base in the unkown regions. There are general upgrades such as ensuring the cutting edge of armour is equipped, ensuring total weapons efficiency, and making adjustments to improve the overall performance of the vessel, but the primary upgrades lie in a few key fields that advance the ship right out of the Viscount class and into something else entirely.
The rear thrusters - and indeed, the entire engine-section - is to be completely removed and rebuilt, and in it's place a system designed by Second Wave technologies on par with it's earlier systems on the Claymore and the Longsword. This system is estimated to allow the ship to reach nearly double it's standard speed, not only thanks to the innovations of technology but also the highest quality materials from across the Coalition.
The guns have been augmented, but most notably, four entire gun-decks are to be completely removed, and in their place four Massive Particle Projector Cannons will be built. Working on the same principles of it's smaller cousins, these guns are slow to fire and do not move with all the speed of a laser - a gunner would have to be quite experienced to hit a target at range. Each shell, however, would be large enough to tear through a gunship or other very small frigate, an a broadside could crumple the hull of a Star Destroyer. The guns take time to reload, though, and so great care must be taken in any engagement - the new strategies being planned by the Coalition are of a much more hit-and-run basis, and these guns would be unlikely to get off more then one or two volleys in such a situation. Even the shells aren't that fast, and at range a competent commander should be able to dodge, if they are flying a small ship. There is no doubt, these guns are meant to do heavy damage to large, slow-moving cruisers - perhaps to soften them up before boarding.
The other great advance is in shielding. The shields are of course upgraded to be more energy efficient and so forth, but a second layer of pulse-shielding is also to be added. This layer has a limited battery life, and were someone to try and cover the whole ship in a pulse it would probably only last a few seconds - so the shield is split up into quadrents, to squeeze more life out of the batteries. Although short-lived, the pulse makes nearly all weapons useless against the hull of the ship for a short while, which just might make the difference.
Finally, for a variety of reasons, the ship's bow is also to be reshaped so as to differentiate it from others of it's original class. A more narrow point gives it a distinct profile, not only to identify it in battle but to somewhat symbolize it's recreation as a new type of ship altogether.
The plans themselves have yet to be inacted, they have simply been brought forth again - it may be some time until they are finally put into motion again, and much more time still until the modifications are complete - but this would be a chance for various technical experts to weigh the merits of such a venture.
(OOC: This is in fact just one ship, not a class of ship. No assembly line or manufacturing system would be set in place for it, as it is taking an existing ship and completely overhauling it and reconstructing it. It might come off a little too powerful, but considering it would be the most powerful ship in the Coalition fleet - and that it would weigh in at less then half the size and weapons compliment of the strongest Imperial ships - it surely wouldn't cause much imbalance in the game. Also, the four cannons could provide an interesting sort of 'pirate ship fighting' element into fleet battles. Either way, this plan would take a while, I thought I'd just put it out there for now.)
Comments
#2 5:10am 15/08/05
Some of what you ask was answered in previous R&Ds, but I will explain all to the best of my ability.
The Particle Cannons fire solid projectiles - technically - but to be honest what they are is some sci-fi stuff I made up. Highly concentrated, unformed matter is stored in sealed ammunition shells, and held together when fired into the air by powerful magnetic forces which are charged by the manner in which the gun fires. This holds this matter in check for a time, which is their range (medium range), until the matter overcomes the flagging momentum and tears itself apart becoming inert chunks (although highly lethal shrapnel) of the original matter concentrated to form the shot. Generally metals of various strengths. It can generaly plough through most partical shields at this size, and on impact can flatten decks and squash fighters like flies.
The Pulse shield is a regular, rapid pulse of energy that leaves in it's wake a magnetic effect that repells missiles, bullets, bolts of energy - nearly everything on one side of the effect. The other side - the side touching the ship - is unaffected. This uses a lot of energy, however.
It is true that all of this would require a much greater and more efficient energy output, and that was somewhat taken into account by the complete overhaul of the back-end of the ship. However, to help it reach optimum power-levels, it would be forseeable to lower it's crew numbers. Certainly, the advances in technology would allow for a more efficient ship, which in turn would require much less crew. Wherever simplification could be done, it has been, and when simplification could not be accomplished, unnecessary elements were removed - the ship lacks many luxuries most would come to expect, and as the crew numbers are smaller, so too is the garrison of troops and security units. All escape pods and other minor vessels have been retained, however, for maximum security in that respect.
#1 4:35am 15/08/05
So basically your re-fitting the engines using new technology, replacing some weapons, and upgrading the shields, as well as re-shaping the bow? Now I have a few questions about how some of this works. First question concerns the weaponry. The Particle cannons, do they fire energy bolts or hardened steel shells? In other words, do they require time to re-charge, or re-load? The difference in ammunition also makes a great difference in damage and range.
Second question pertains to the pulse shields. So what kind of shields are these? Do they absorb energy, hardened projectiles, ion energy, or all three? Are they a briefly stop all shield?
Third Question: These new weapons, espically if they are of a charge, and the shields, espically the pulse shields, will require a lot more power to operate. Presumably they either come with their own batteries, like the pulse shields, or else you add a couple of more reactor cores. Either way it will result in even less space being avilable, forcing you to cut back on either crew capacity, troop carrying capability, weaponry, or starfighter capacity? Espically with a pointed bow now instead of the regular bulge that more stuff could be crammed into.
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