Freighter/Passenger Ship
Length: around 500 meters
Weight: around 60 000 tons
(exact measurements are avoided because I don?t actually know what they will be)
Crew: 60-100
Armed with: 1 pop up, Gauss cannon and four pop up, gauss, anti-mecha/missile CIDS.
As with everything, understanding the present requires looking at the past, in this case the history of the Alincourt family and how they came to be where they were.
First of all, the Alincourts decided, very early on (2023), that high technology was the pace to be, and that it was better to find talent in family rather than going to outsiders.
With those two beliefs in mind, the started producing high tech products and set up a internal (home) schooling system that would work to encourage the younger generations natural talents. This way the people who designed the product were part of the family. A strong sense of loyalty has run through the Alincourts since then.
At the time they came to the Cluster the Alincourts had two fields that they had a mastery in. Computers and robotics. Other fields were to be mastered later, and some lost.
When they grew tired of Solingen's behavior they left, heading out to make their own way, and to take on Solingen at a later date.
They arrived in t he system they were to call home and set up shop right away. The system was rather sparse with no planets worthy of colonization. The one they set up around was a cold ball of rock with a breathable (barely) atmosphere. It did have a very large amount of mineral riches, which the Alincourts began to exploit, in a way that the Gaians would have disapproved of, immediately.
They built sophisticated robots, controlled by a sophisticated AI (the Alincourts had never cared much for rules) and the robots built more robots. For almost a year the Alincourts lived out of the ship they had come in in tight, uncomfortable quarters (which may explain the importance the family paces on living quarters in the ships they build). After a year the first ring station had been built and they moved in.
From there things continued apace and ten years later the Cylinder was complete as well as a number of orbital factories.
At this time many of the construction robots had their power sources pulled and were mothballed, the majority of the construction completed.
The Alincourts had added two new areas of mastery to their portfolio, ship building and colony building.
Now that they had everything set up the question was what business to go into? Of course robots and computers, but they would need more to take on Solingen. Looking around, in secret, they saw there was a market, or there would be, for ships. Ships would also allow them to use their skills with computers and robotics. It was a perfect match.
After several months of discussion (the Alincourts have always been patient) they came up with the type of ship they wanted to build. A general purpose cargo ship, also capable of transporting passengers, designed to allow for Owner/Captains or companies that would own a fleet.
The basic design called for a ship that was fast and could carry a lot of cargo. Speed was important for a number of reasons, one of which was its primary defense was going to entail running. Maneuverability was also important, though the initial designs proved unsatisfactory.
Scattering verniers across the surface, while effective, upset the artistic tastes of the Alincourts. After almost a year of working on it the solution they came up with proved to be elegant and efficient.
The Ruby--as that?s what it was called by then, being the first in the ?Precious Stone? line of ships--was always to have a tail in an attempt to capture the feeling of the old schooners and other sailing ship. The tail section was made hollow and some of the thrust from the engine was directed into that space. The surface of the tail was covered in valves which could be opened or closes as needed. Usually this thrust was simply directed out of the rear section to the tail, matching that of the engines, but it could also be directed out of any part of the tail through the closing and opening of the valves.
If directed out of the top part of the tail, it would push the stern down, and the bow up. Directed out of the bottom (the tail hangs over the end of the ship slightly) and the stern in lifted. From the sides it would help the ship turn and out the front to help the ship brake.
Of course there were other verniers, but they were small and unobtrusive. The valves are meant to be as maintenance free as possible but they do require periodic checks and at least once a year they have to be cleaned, from the inside.
With the tail serving as a control surface the Ruby became a very agile ship.
At this point the Alincourts had a ship that was fast, maneuverable, comfortable, and well designed.
It was basically a ship that would be used in traveling between the various colonies. They saw the ship picking up a cargo at Earth (by this time they knew the that USSA had the Shunt Drive) and speeding to a point where it could shunt, shunting, speeding to the orbital colonies (the Ruby was not intended to be able to make planetfall) off loading cargo and passengers, taking on new cargo and passengers, and then heading off to the next stop.
One of the results is that the passenger decks have no gravity. It was not expected that the passengers would be on the ship for anymore than a few days. The crew deck does rotate within the ship since the crew, being on the ship all the time, will need the gravity. A little space was worked over to passenger cabins for passengers who might demand quarters with gravity. The crew quarters are relatively small compared to the passenger quarters, but still comfortable.
The Alincourts also designed the ship so it could be easily modified for other uses. The superstructure was designed to be easy to alter during construction (and somewhat easy to work with after). The pans for variants on the Ruby were prepared, to be used later. Such variants included rotating passenger decks for a lower end luxury cruiser or, more likely, a long term survey ship. While none of these variants had been built by the time the Alincourts threw in with the Battalion they could be.
Ships of Note: The Rubies are all basically the same except for the ?Celeste?. The Celeste is a Ruby that was modified for stealth. The Alincourts used her to spy on other ship, tailing another ship and seeing how the Ruby compared in respect to speed and maneuverability. As of 2180.10.09 the Celeste was in dock, being overhauled to make her a more useful ship in the war. Refits are expected to be complete in early November.
Game Notes: The Ruby is designed around its main hull, probably medium striker. It also has a tail (wing) and two pods which house the engines. There might also be a secondary hull, it kind of looks that way.
RUBY:
Weight 60.000 Tn, Crew 100, Cost 265,334.4 CP, MV -0, MP +167%, MA 36
Cost Multipliers: Total multiplier x3.15
-1 Verniers x0.1
Supercharged Powerplant x0.3
ACE +100% x0.2
B-grade Crew (14+1d10) x0.6
Shunt drive x1.25
Fast Sublight drive x0.75
Space & EM protection x0.15
Alincourt modiffier -x0.2
Servos and Armor:
Main Hull - M. Striker Torso 600 Kills 12 spc 8 CP
Tail Fin - Striker Tail 150 Kills 6 spc 3 CP
Port Thruster - Striker Pod 6 spc 3 CP
Stb. Thrusters - Striker Pod, 6 spc 3 CP
Port Secondary Hull - LW Wing 200 Kills 2 spc 2 CP
Stb. secondary Hyll - LW Wing 200 Kills 2 spc 2 CP
Unscaled Striker Armor - (SP 30 DC 10 3 CP)x6
Weapons:
Standard CIDS (WA +0, range 9, 5 K, BV inf.) - 0.5 spc 0.172 CP
Pop-out Gauss Cannon (F arc on Main Hull) - WA +2, range 80, 80 K, 25 shots, 80 Kills, 1 spc, 1 CP
Movement Systems:
MA 36 thrusters - 1 spc on Tail Fin, 12 spc on Truster pods, 12 MA each, 49.9 CP
Verniers - 5 spc on Tail Fin
Sensors (in Main Hull):
Striker sensors - 1 Kills 1 spc 2 CP
Target Annalizer - 0 spc 5.5 cp
Cargo and Crew:
Shuttle hangar (in Secondary Hulls): 1 Shuttle (x10 scale), 6 EVA pods (1:1 scale) - 1 spc 1 CP
Bridge (Main Hull) - 1 spc 1 CP
Crew Quarters (on Secondary Hulls) - 1 spc 1 CP
(note this is space for 320 people. "You Can Say Ample Staterooms".)
10 Cargo Pods (2 on Secondary Hulls, 8 on Main Hull, configurable on each individual ship for Meks, Passengers, Cargo or all of them) - 10 spc 10 CP
Subassemblies:
Stereo, Spotlights (on Main Hull) - 0.3 CP
Docking clamps (Micromanipulators, on Secondary Hulls) x 2 - 0 spc 3 CP
Escape Pods for 400 people - 0 Spc 6 CP
Star Shark look, +2 Cool - 1.5 CP
400,000 Km reaction mass (on Main Hull, Thruster Pods and Tail Fin) - 12 CP
Alincourt efficience cost reduction - 22.3 * 0.25 = -5.5 CP
Game notes:
- 200 Hull Kills for spaces for the "civilian ship" concept.
- Tail hollowed to 1/2 of spaces (a pod would'we been more apropiate fo a "hollow tail", but all we can see it's a TAIL).
- Remember: 1 Cargo Pod = 160 people (80 if Luxury) or 16 Meks or 800 Tn cargo.
- The MA was set as fast as the fastest ship of the sourcebook, the Mercury courier (and that's even faster that a Cavalier)
CELESTE:
Cost 318,498.4 CP
Add Stealth (x0.2 multiplier), upgrade sensors to MW, place efficienced ASP and Radio/Radar annalizer on place of secondary hull's cargo pods.
RUBY CRUISER:
Weight 80.000 Tn, Crew 250, Cost 668,592.8 CP, MV -0, MP +200%, MA 36
Cost Multipliers: Total multiplier x4.18
-2 Verniers x0.2
Supercharged Powerplant x0.3
ACE +100% x0.2
Virtual Controls x0.33
B-grade Crew (14+1d10) x0.6
Cloacking Shunt drive x1.65
Fast Sublight drive x0.75
Transat x0.1
Space, EM & Re-entry protection x0.25
Alincourt modiffier -x0.2
Servos and Armor:
Main Hull - M. Striker Torso 600 Kills 12 spc 8 CP
Tail Fin - Striker Head* 300 Kills 3 spc 3 CP
Port Tail - Striker Head* 300 Kills 3 spc 3 CP
Stb. Tail - Striker Head* 300 Kills 3 spc 3 CP
Port Thruster - Striker Pod 6 spc 3 CP
Stb. Thrusters - Striker Pod 6 spc 3 CP
Port Secondary Hull - LW Wing 200 Kills 2 spc 2 CP
Stb. secondary Hyll - LW Wing 200 Kills 2 spc 2 CP
Gun Pod - Striker Pod 6 spc 3 CP
Scaled Superlight Alpha Armor - (SP 100 DC 200 6.25CP)x9
*: Yes, Heads. Same cost, spc and Kills that Tails, allows for 360 deegres of fire.
Weapons:
Laser Cannons (A arc, one on each Tail): 3 x (Portfolio 2 Energy Pools, 400 Kills, 2 spc10.25 CP)
-Long Range mode: WA +1, range 55,125 Km, 200 K, W-Up 1, Long Range
-Short Range mode: WA +1, range 400, 100 K, BV 5
Gauss Cannon (F arc on Gun Pod) - WA +0, range 600, 400 K, 400 Kills, 4 spc 4 CP
Lyons - type Gauss ammo (on Gun Pod): 50 shots of Scatershot ammo, 200 Kills 2 spc 10 CP
Deluxe CIDS (WA +0, range 13, 10 K, BV inf.) - 1 spc 0.344 CP
Torpedo Racks (A arc on Main Hull): WA +2, range 140, 150 K, 60 shots, 600 Kills, Seeking 2 Smart 15, x10 Scale, 2 spc 3 CP
Movement Systems:
Verniers mated with MA 36 thrusters (8 MA on each of Tails, Thruster pods) - 21 spc 70 CP
Sensors (in Main Hull):
Striker sensors - 1 Kills 1 spc 2 CP
Target Annalizer - 0 spc 5.5 cp
Spoting Radar - 400 Kills 10 cp
Cargo and Crew:
Shuttle hangar (on Secondary Hulls): 1 Shuttle (x10 scale), 6 EVA pods (1:1 scale) - 1 spc 1 CP
Bridge (Main Hull) - 1 spc 1 CP
Crew & Marines Quarters (on Secondary Hulls) - 1 spc 1 CP
Cargo (800 Tn) - 1 spc 1 cp
Mecha Bays (on Main Hull): 120 Meks or Fighters - 7.5 spc 7.5 cp
Subassemblies:
X-Links for Laser Guns (A+B, B+C, C+A, A+B+C - 4 total) 8 CP
Mount for Radar - 0 spc 3 CP
Stereo, Spotlights (on Main Hull) - 0.3 CP
Docking clamps (Micromanipulators, on Secondary Hulls) x 2 - 0 spc 3 CP
Scape Pods for 400 people - 0 Spc 6 CP
Fat Star Shark look, only +1 Cool - 1 CP
400,000 Km reaction mass (on Main Hull, Thruster Pods and Tail Fin) - 12 CP
Alincourt efficience cost reduction - 32*0.25= -8 CP
Game Notes:
-Note that there is a 32.5 Km wide zone -betwen 1050 and 400 hexes- where a potential target lies too close for the LR mode and too far for the SR mode, lowering the efective acuraccy from +1 to -1.
- The Alpha armor is "a cheaper version of Tess' armor". Besides, a DC of 200 is MORE that enough.
The Ruby Cruiser
Alincourt/Eleventh Hour Industries
Cruiser
Length: around 500 meters
Weight: around 80 000 tons (that armour ad stuff weights a bit)
Crew: around 250.
Armed with: see below.
When they threw in with the Battalion the Alincourts offered them whatever they could, which was all their Rubies. While the Battalion was more than happy to accept their generosity (well, kind of generosity) everyone knew that the Rubies were not going to be enough. They were not fighting ships and everyone knew that.
The Ruby had been designed with modification in mind and the Alincourts knew their ships. They took a look at the basic plans and all the modification plans and decided it was indeed possible to take the frame works they had for a number of yet to be built Rubies and convert them into combat capable vessels.
So, in the Alincourt was of doing things, they sat and down to discuss it. They were rushed a little by the upper command level of the Battalion.
The Battalion wanted a fast ship, tough, well armed that was able to make planetfall. Something that could take on a ODF or SAC cruiser and come out equal if not on top. These were a lot of things to ask for, but the Alincourts went to work and soon were working.
The ship?s had to be strengthened for both combat, to properly mount the armour and weapons it needed and so it was able to handled the incredible stresses of landing and taking off from a planet. This was easy enough to do as the Alincourts already had worked on a modification to the Ruby that would give it re-entry capabilities.
The Alincourts worked as hard as they could at this time to save as much space as possible, still wanting to keep the cabins onboard the ship as large as possible. The Rotating crew section has remained, but now houses the sick bay, gyms, and a few other places where having gravity is desired.
By using a variation of Tess? armour, they were able to put armour on that ship which would hold up much better to the weapons mounted on mecha and some of the lighter guns mounted on ships. (Unless the cost would be prohibitive, the Ruby Cruiser may have scaled armour).
Up to this point the modifications had been fairly subtle and the Ruby Cruiser did not look that much different from their Civilian counterparts. But then the tail section had to be dealt with.
While everyone admitted that the design was beautiful, it was not something that would stand up to cockpit. Only a few small holes in the tail section and its effectiveness as a control surface would be cut drastically.
The tall, beautiful tail was removed and replaced by a squat, more formidable structure that would act as a place for the placement of verniers, and a mounting area for the weapons. As the Ruby Cruiser uses a larger version of the thrust vectoring engine seen in the Arrow, the need for other verniers was limited.
And then there were the weapons themselves.
The primary armament on the Ruby cruiser are the laser cannons set atop each of the tail sections. These weapons are linked so they can fire together, or they can be fired separately. While each gun alone puts out less power than an ODF class 6 starbolt, together they hit with a force greater than that of a ODF Class 8 starbolt.
The recharge rate on the weapons is not terribly fast, but it will compensate for rapid fire, but the energy discharge is less powerful, resulting in a loss in damage and range, though a higher rate of fire. The way it is thought that these weapons will be used is that at long range, they will be fired linked at single ships. When the enemy get closer individual gunner teams will take charge of each weapon and fire rapidly on targets of opportunity.
The lasers are mounted in such a way that they can spin 180 degrees, allowing them to fire both in front and behind the ship. The guns have a certain amount of vertical movement and it would be possible, but for software and physical safeties, for the guns to depress enough to clip their ship?s bow.
The next weapon caused some problems. In order to fit the gauss gun they wanted it was required to add a bay to the under side of the ship which would hold the weapon. The ship?s designer got very upset over that, demanding that ?such an ugly modification? not be made to the ships. In the end the modification went through and the designers hunger strike lasted no more than two days.
This gun can fire forward and to sixty degrees, port starboard. It can be depressed, but not by more than ten degrees.
After that, several cargo bays were converted over to torpedo bays and to mecha bays. Finish it of were a number of mecha sized guns, scattered over the hull to deal with suits. The weapons are arranged in such away that no area of the ship is left uncovered and in most cases two weapon can concentrate their fire on one area. Of course there are not too many of these guns and it would be easy to overwhelm the gunners by flooding an area with mecha.
The Ruby cruisers, compared to their ODF/SAC counterparts are better protected but under armed. In combat it has been suggested the ship?s captain use the Ruby Cruiser?s superior speed and agility to their best advantage, keeping out of the enemy ship?s arcs of fire and returning fire.
It is planned that each Blade will be based around a Ruby Cruiser (assuming no new blades) by the middle of January, 2181.
Even so, the Battalion, if it brings all of it blades together, will not be able to filed a force larger than two of the ODF task forces or the SAC battle groups. The Battalion is still outgunned.
Ships of Notes: While the Ruby Cruiser is destined to become something of a signature ship for the Battalion, by 2180.10.09 only one ship had been completed, the ?Despair? commanded by Captain Lilith Blackhand.
Game notes: As the ruby, but three tail sections and a weapons pod for the gauss gun. Mate at least some of the verneirs with the engines. Shunt capable, of course.
Other Game notes: Many of Tess? ideas for modifying the mecha production plants have been adopted in the ship yards so reduce the cost of all Ruby Cruisers, and any other Alincourt built ship, by 10 to 20 percent. What?s more, the Alincourts are experts when it comes to use of space on ship and corvette scale designs and make use of space efficiency at 75% the price of anyone else. Which means, once the design is finished, before cost multipliers and scaling, add up all the CPs spent in efficiency, multiply by 0.25 and subtract this from the cost.
The pictures come from the manga 'The Isollater Gonfalon'. I took them, played around with them a bit, and not very well. The ship design is that of Ayumi Konomichi, but it looked so cool I wanted to use it. Credit where credit is owed.