Light bulb Captured Solly fleet

Jonathan_S wrote:

Potato wrote:Not to mention Masada completely bankrupted itself getting just those two Peep ships and operating its own navy.

And even then Masada could only really operate them because the Peeps provided (gratis; I'm sure) a cadre of experienced crew and trainers. I assume they also provided ongoing logistical and maintenance support for those ships.

A far cry from just selling a 4th rate system like that some true surplus ships and leaving them to their own devices.

(The Peeps didn't care about cost effectiveness of the gambit, they just wanted their cat's paws and just enough legal separation to limit the blow-back if their gamble blew up on them)

And Masada didn't really care about their long-term ability to keep and maintain the ships--they just wanted them long enough to conquer Grayson.

Well I think some of us are just combating the urge to throw away perfectly good starships.

But I certainly see the point, it doesn't make a lot of sense to make the vessels combat worthy nor does it make sense to give them to a system that simply can't use or afford them.

On the other hand, you might be able to repurpose them. For example, let's say you didn't need to use them as SD's and you really didn't need them to move.

Let's say you're a system and you just need a semi-mobile orbital warehouse to store stuff. SD's have plenty of shuttle bays and probably can store of good deal of material. Even Manticore itself might be able to use some in that role temporarily considering that a lot or their orbital infrastructure is now orbital debris. They even have engines so you can more them out of the way or to another location if and when you need to.

How about a poor man's orbital transfer point where ships which can't reasonably make planetfall can transship cargos and people with an orbital platform. If you don't have enough space, start carving out crew quarters you no longer need.

You might be able to use them as orbital constructions bases able to house workers at the construction site and use their comm and powersystems to provide for the worksite needs. Not nearly in the same league as a specialized vessel, but as I said, Manticore doesn't have an overabundance of hulls and everything they can get a Solarian SD to do is one less hull they have to worry about building themselves.

Best thing, you appear to have plenty of spare parts.

How about a orbital space station for a frontier world. The price is right and you really don't have to have 6,000 people to make it operate in this way, you even get a minimal defensive capability that is probably enough to ward off the occasional pirate that might be willing to raid your planet, and if you need to, you can reposition it.

Did I mention you have plenty of spare parts?

Sure, they aren't optimal for any of those roles but that doesn't meant they can't gainfully be used as such and without the need to man all of their weapons, sensors, engineering spaces etc ... ... ... you could get something useful out of them.

Anyway, waste not want not, if you can't use them as SD's, it doesn't necessarily mean you can't use them for something else and still obtain gainful service from at least some of them.

Alizon, short answer no, and it has been all discussed to death.

SD's are full of stuff enclosed by armor, with little space for humans in between. Trying to repurpose them means cutting open the armor, to get all the useless combat systems out, at which point it is easier to scrap them and build new space stations.
SD's are built as combat ships, and combat ships only. They're useless in a fight now, so they are useless at all, except for scrap value.

Whitecold wrote:Alizon, short answer no, and it has been all discussed to death.

SD's are full of stuff enclosed by armor, with little space for humans in between. Trying to repurpose them means cutting open the armor, to get all the useless combat systems out, at which point it is easier to scrap them and build new space stations.
SD's are built as combat ships, and combat ships only. They're useless in a fight now, so they are useless at all, except for scrap value.

The equivalent of turning the Missouri BB-63 into a warehouse... Ever taken a tour?

Warehousing sounds nice, but manticore does not have a materials resource crunch. They are wallowing in materials. By the books, they are having a manpower crunch. Fastest way to create a giant open space, is well to build it from scratch, unless a giant open space already exists and you only have to bring it up to code.

Machines/tools on the other hand are better off salvaged than built new as one off's when you have to build the assembly line etc along with all of the countless jigs, trouble shooting procedures etc on a new scratch built "x".

So, the Environmental plants on said SD's would be useful. The Grasers; yup. The fusion plants would be useful. The Impeller nodes? Maybe. A freighter would love scrap value impeller nodes if there were enough of them(there are(10k to be precise)) to justify a mod allowing the conversion of several freighters allowing a specific cargo route for instance and a tidy 500g. Ditto for the military grade hypergenerators. Assuming they could somehow be yanked out without ruining them.

I still Like the Chocolate option

As has been mentioned many (MANY MANY) times, the SD's are useless there maybe some scrap value, I'm sure they have full machine shops mess equipment etc etc, that many verge nations would love to pay scrap value for. But they are as obsolete for combat as HMS Dreadnaught (the RL 1906 Royal Navy Ship) is today

There may be use for the smaller ships (DD's CL's and CA's) but the BC's have similar problems to the SD's, too manpower intensive and too obsolete to use.

The only really useful part of the captured ships are probably the shuttles and pinaces embarked on all those ships. Those would be useful to almost everyone out in the fringe and verge and don't require nearly as much maintenance and support as any of the hyper-capabe ships.

So use the parasite craft,

See if anyone (that you trust) want any obsolete and over manned small warships.

strip the other ships of anything that can be removed easily, then turn them into chocolate

Use the captured SD plus the mothballed SD and DR to make a bunch of Fast Freighters. Just the nodes, bottles, compensators and plots passive systems. Side walls etc... The Grasers can be shipped to Bolt hole or where ever and the Life support reused. Part them out. This is a case where the parts are worth more than their whole.

Lord Skimper wrote:Use the captured SD plus the mothballed SD and DR to make a bunch of Fast Freighters. Just the nodes, bottles, compensators and plots passive systems. Side walls etc... The Grasers can be shipped to Bolt hole or where ever and the Life support reused. Part them out. This is a case where the parts are worth more than their whole.

Or you could just turn them into drones to confuse the next strike as to where the attack was coming from. Automate the hell out of the defensive systems to chew up as many of the enemy's missiles as you can then hit them from behind when they least expect it. (This does not preclude stripping the ships of every thing not required for unmanned normal space operations including life support and gravity compensators and driving the extra power to drives and shields, a large explosive surprise could also be incorporated - SD sized missile anyone, gigatonne class X-ray laser, or just ramming your opponent at c level speeds,(see Apocalypse Troll for tactics)?)

wastedfly wrote:<<SNIP>>
The Impeller nodes? Maybe. A freighter would love scrap value impeller nodes if there were enough of them(there are(10k to be precise)) to justify a mod allowing the conversion of several freighters allowing a specific cargo route for instance and a tidy 500g. Ditto for the military grade hypergenerators. Assuming they could somehow be yanked out without ruining them.

IF the nodes are compatible with civilian equipment, this would be a good idea. However, there is some textev (I believe it's in OBS) that the two levels of technology are incompatible. IIRC, the tuners (located in the drive room) are built in tandem with their specific node. Both are replaced at the same time. If using military level nodes requires a complete engine room rebuild, merchant vessels might not be that happy to have them. Not to mention the increased manpower necessary to run them. After all, in the Honorverse, the biggest expense to running a freighter is not the upkeep of the plant, but the cost of the crew's wages.

AirTech wrote:

Lord Skimper wrote:Use the captured SD plus the mothballed SD and DR to make a bunch of Fast Freighters. Just the nodes, bottles, compensators and plots passive systems. Side walls etc... The Grasers can be shipped to Bolt hole or where ever and the Life support reused. Part them out. This is a case where the parts are worth more than their whole.

Or you could just turn them into drones to confuse the next strike as to where the attack was coming from. Automate the hell out of the defensive systems to chew up as many of the enemy's missiles as you can then hit them from behind when they least expect it. (This does not preclude stripping the ships of every thing not required for unmanned normal space operations including life support and gravity compensators and driving the extra power to drives and shields, a large explosive surprise could also be incorporated - SD sized missile anyone, gigatonne class X-ray laser, or just ramming your opponent at c level speeds,(see Apocalypse Troll for tactics)?)

Does this suggest another possible use of all these SDs besides scrap or prison habitat? That is, as a feint in a battle? A threat that must be honored, but doesn't have the crew ( or armament) to carry through?

Dca wrote:

AirTech wrote: Or you could just turn them into drones to confuse the next strike as to where the attack was coming from. Automate the hell out of the defensive systems to chew up as many of the enemy's missiles as you can then hit them from behind when they least expect it. (This does not preclude stripping the ships of every thing not required for unmanned normal space operations including life support and gravity compensators and driving the extra power to drives and shields, a large explosive surprise could also be incorporated - SD sized missile anyone, gigatonne class X-ray laser, or just ramming your opponent at c level speeds,(see Apocalypse Troll for tactics)?)

Does this suggest another possible use of all these SDs besides scrap or prison habitat? That is, as a feint in a battle? A threat that must be honored, but doesn't have the crew ( or armament) to carry through?

A feint which could be just as easily accomplished by some DDs and Ghostrider drones ( at least until the missiles start to fly). Yes, a GR drone can't really ram, but a missile toe drone can make a heck of a mess. Remember, if it looks like an SD ( on your scope) and quacks like an SD, you're going to treat it like it's an SD.