New LAC's

Brigade XO wrote:The frigate question comes and goes. Perhaps a better discussion is when migh the Honorverse navies decide to recast the size range with the mission parameters of what they call various classes of ships. The size of the DD though BC have been growing so even the Sollies are talking about the CL sized (aka "those big assed destroyers") current generations of RMN DD's. IF- a very big IF- a "frigate" sized ship makes economic sense to use on range of systems rather than a DD -which makes less sense tying down to one system as pirate guard- then the hyper capable frigate does make some sense.

munroburton wrote:

darrell wrote:I don't ever recall the quote that shrikes carried CA missiles, I was under the impression that they carried a special purpose built missiles that were no bigger than DD missiles and might even be smaller. Can you please find the quote for me?

There was missile lineart that showed the Shrike missile being slightly longer than a DD/CL missile and virtually identical to the CA/BC one, if slightly slimmer. This lineart was from before the Great Resizing so it might no longer be valid.

More recently, there is this: http://maxxqbunine.deviantart.com/art/F ... -465723294

MK16 looks the same size as MK13. Confirming that the increased requirements in shipboard launcher mass is for the microfusion igniter and armouring to contain accidents. However, as already pointed out, LACs can't fire up microfusion reactors with only a fissile pile.

I suppose you could get around that by firing the missiles up aboard base or CLAC before launching the LACs. But that doesn't seem like a great idea given how worried the RMN seems to be about those missiles blowing up prematurely.

More sensible to stick with towing those missiles in pods, I'd say. Old LACs had box launchers for a reason - but with pod launchers they also get to throw away the useless mass of empty launchers and ancillary equipment left behind after firing the missiles. If these pods happen to have an Apollo bird in them, the LACs won't be able to tow enough pods to saturate their own available fire control either.

LACs can't tow pods without severe acceleration degradation. However, if they're on patrol, there's no reason for them to need full acceleration. And because of the enormous ranges available to those missiles, the LACs can simply fire them as soon as they detect hostile units.

IMO, it's the best compromise; keeping a LAC as small and agile as possible whilst giving it one hell of a first blow. After all, no matter how tough they are now, they simply don't have the durability of any larger warship. Every bit of its defensive outfit is designed to prevent a hit, not survive one(even sidewalls - they bend incoming fire away from the ship rather than acting as an absorbing shield).

darrell wrote:Second, you do not need a working fusion reactor to start a micro fusion reactor, just a source of power, which in the case of missile pods comes from a plasma capacitor.

kzt wrote:

darrell wrote:Second, you do not need a working fusion reactor to start a micro fusion reactor, just a source of power, which in the case of missile pods comes from a plasma capacitor.

Logically that is true. But this is the Honorverse, and what is true is what David says is true. And there are plasma conduits feeding the Mk-23/Mk-16 missile launchers to start the reactors because David says there are.

Relax wrote:So, a Pod can self start its fusion reactor to create plasma, but a LAC cannot create plasma..... right..... Plasma doesn't care where it comes from.

MaxxQ wrote:

kzt wrote:Logically that is true. But this is the Honorverse, and what is true is what David says is true. And there are plasma conduits feeding the Mk-23/Mk-16 missile launchers to start the reactors because David says there are.

KZT is correct. There is a fusion reactor installed in each missile pod, specifically to power up the missiles (and incidentally power the other systems a pod needs to do its job), by way of the plasma capacitor rings aft of each tube.

I haven't uploaded them to my DA page, but I do have renders of the internals of any given missile pod - at least, the flat-pack versions that show the externals on my page. Granted, most of the internal stuff is just blocked in, as we haven't worked out the details, but the major components are there - missiles, tubes, fusion reactor, bunkerage, RCS, etc.

darrell wrote:No KZT is not correct we have the word from DW.

http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/en ... gton/287/1
Launcher design: PODs vs. tubes
each missile pod is equipped with sufficient capacitor capacity (ouch) to initiate fusion in all of its missiles,

what part of SUFFICIENT CAPACITOR CAPACITY do you not get.

The first flat pack missile pods for both the Mk-23 & Mk-16 missiles didn't have fusion reactors, just capacitors. Only after they discovered that the risk of an exploding fusion bottle was nil did they start putting fusion reactors in pods to give the pods greater endurance.

MaxxQ wrote:KZT is correct. There is a fusion reactor installed in each missile pod, specifically to power up the missiles (and incidentally power the other systems a pod needs to do its job), by way of the plasma capacitor rings aft of each tube.

I haven't uploaded them to my DA page, but I do have renders of the internals of any given missile pod - at least, the flat-pack versions that show the externals on my page. Granted, most of the internal stuff is just blocked in, as we haven't worked out the details, but the major components are there - missiles, tubes, fusion reactor, bunkerage, RCS, etc.

MaxxQ wrote:I have no idea where you've gotten the idea that early Mk-16 and Mk-23 flat-pack pods never had reactors at all. Of course, it's been a year or more since I read the series, so I may have forgotten that part, but all the discussion and work I've done with BuNine has had the reactors in the flat-packs from the start.

Mission of Honor: Ch 21 wrote:The original “flatpack” pods, which had come in with the final generation of superconductor capacitors, had carried twelve MDMs each. Then along had come the next-generation flatpacks, with internal tractor systems. They’d still managed to keep capacity up to a dozen birds, but only until they’d shifted to the fusion-powered Mark 23. At that point, the designers had been forced to figure out how to cram in the pod’s own fusion plant, since its new power budget had to be able to spin up the Mark 23s’ plants at launch.