Small Pods.

Pods are all the same size because that is what fits into the Pod Launchers.

But Smaller pods would add a great deal of added flexibility to smaller ships.

LAC and Frigates would benefit from a smaller pod. Something they can tow without decreasing their performance. A 6 missile MK16 pod would enhance the LAC with better then old school long range missile capabilities. Small enough to be towed without degrading performance capabilities but giving the LAC a great initial long range punch.

The CLAC would need to add a single small pod launcher to each LAC Bay. But this wouldn't be too difficult.

Even without the LAC the CLAC could launch 100+ 6 Mk16 Missile Pods and greatly enhance it's own capabilities.

Lord Skimper wrote:Pods are all the same size because that is what fits into the Pod Launchers.

But Smaller pods would add a great deal of added flexibility to smaller ships.

LAC and Frigates would benefit from a smaller pod. Something they can tow without decreasing their performance. A 6 missile MK16 pod would enhance the LAC with better then old school long range missile capabilities. Small enough to be towed without degrading performance capabilities but giving the LAC a great initial long range punch.

The CLAC would need to add a single small pod launcher to each LAC Bay. But this wouldn't be too difficult.

Even without the LAC the CLAC could launch 100+ 6 Mk16 Missile Pods and greatly enhance it's own capabilities.

Happy Holiday Season

I don't see what you mean by "a great deal of added flexibility."

Currently, fusion-powered pods tractors themselves; and inside the wedge, don't degrade acceleration. If you carry so many they are tractored outside your wedge, having smaller pods decreases your firepower and you lose the advantage they are supposed to give you. You could possibly tow more pods, but it wouldn't increase the overall salvo size. Or, not enough to make a difference.

Adding a pod launcher to a LAC bay where? The LAC more or less fills it.

The original 'parasite pods' that were used in the past had 6 missiles, istr. I think that was in SVW. And the Andies' bolt-on half-pods from WoH might have had that many, but I don't see any advantage it would give a small class RMN ship with access to any regular pods.

As for the CLAC launching pods, it could either carry all up pods on the dorsal/ventral hull, or it could do what it was designed to do: drop off the LACs and then get out. It is the equivalent of a chariot, not a destrier.

Why risk the carrier in a firefight?

Rob

Lord Skimper wrote:Pods are all the same size because that is what fits into the Pod Launchers.

But Smaller pods would add a great deal of added flexibility to smaller ships.

LAC and Frigates would benefit from a smaller pod. Something they can tow without decreasing their performance. A 6 missile MK16 pod would enhance the LAC with better then old school long range missile capabilities. Small enough to be towed without degrading performance capabilities but giving the LAC a great initial long range punch.

The CLAC would need to add a single small pod launcher to each LAC Bay. But this wouldn't be too difficult.

Even without the LAC the CLAC could launch 100+ 6 Mk16 Missile Pods and greatly enhance it's own capabilities.

RFC has explained somewhere (ART?) that RMN pods have changed shape and capacity a few times to acommodate newer missiles and things like tractors, fusion reactors and the like.

As for DD(P)s etc, they've been done to death here on at least one occasion, for good reason. Pods need handling hardware and the pod well creates a structural weakness and weight problem on small ships (anything below a BC, possibly below DN) with respect to armor needed. Plus there are problems with magazine capacity in that a DD(P), even with smaller pods, would shoot itself dry in very short order.

As for fitting LACs with pods or strapon launcher boxes, the major problem would likely be fitting those in the confines of a LAC launch bay, even if we don't consider fire control.

ErikM wrote:As for fitting LACs with pods or strapon launcher boxes, the major problem would likely be fitting those in the confines of a LAC launch bay, even if we don't consider fire control.

You could have the pods tractored to the CLAC, carried in a cargo bay aboard it, or carried by a nearby ammunition ship or BC(P) or SD(P), floated out, then tractored to the LAC after launch. That'd solve the where to put it while the LAC is on board issue.

Why you would feel a compelling need to do this remains an issue, along with fire control. At least.

JeffEngel wrote:

ErikM wrote:As for fitting LACs with pods or strapon launcher boxes, the major problem would likely be fitting those in the confines of a LAC launch bay, even if we don't consider fire control.

You could have the pods tractored to the CLAC, carried in a cargo bay aboard it, or carried by a nearby ammunition ship or BC(P) or SD(P), floated out, then tractored to the LAC after launch. That'd solve the where to put it while the LAC is on board issue.

Why you would feel a compelling need to do this remains an issue, along with fire control. At least.

Of course after you have tractored it to the LAC, since you won't be ablecto get it inside the wedge, you have seriously reduced one of the LAC's major advantages, that of its acceleration, makeing this one of the more brain dead ides I have heard of yet.

Lord Skimper wrote:1)Pods are all the same size because that is what fits into the Pod Launchers.

2)But Smaller pods would add a great deal of added flexibility to smaller ships.

3)LAC and Frigates would benefit from a smaller pod. Something they can tow without decreasing their performance. A 6 missile MK16 pod would enhance the LAC with better then old school long range missile capabilities. Small enough to be towed without degrading performance capabilities but giving the LAC a great initial long range punch.

4)The CLAC would need to add a single small pod launcher to each LAC Bay. But this wouldn't be too difficult.

5)Even without the LAC the CLAC could launch 100+ 6 Mk16 Missile Pods and greatly enhance it's own capabilities.

1)False, they're not the same size, designers change shape of them few times. Also older were different shape than newer.
2) RFC in OFE of infodump.thefifthimperium.com said that adding hollow core into SD make him much more vulnerable than normal, it has toughness of prepod DN. Agamemnon isn't the greatest design and it was developed because Navy needed pod laying ship, but Janacek was against building bigger ships. So they created Agamemnon which is good but doesn't have good armor, look at the losses in the battle of Solon.
3) Frigates are used only by smaller navies and smallest design with hollow core was Agamemnon because lesser ships don't have wide enough hull.
LAC are ships which must attack fast, shot ammunition and escape. Pods will make them slower and easier to destroy.
4&5) CLACs are ships were everything is packed very tightly and they're very vulnerable, newer doctrine says that they will launch LACs and get out of system.

Draken wrote:

Lord Skimper wrote:1)Pods are all the same size because that is what fits into the Pod Launchers.

2)But Smaller pods would add a great deal of added flexibility to smaller ships.

3)LAC and Frigates would benefit from a smaller pod. Something they can tow without decreasing their performance. A 6 missile MK16 pod would enhance the LAC with better then old school long range missile capabilities. Small enough to be towed without degrading performance capabilities but giving the LAC a great initial long range punch.

4)The CLAC would need to add a single small pod launcher to each LAC Bay. But this wouldn't be too difficult.

5)Even without the LAC the CLAC could launch 100+ 6 Mk16 Missile Pods and greatly enhance it's own capabilities.

1)False, they're not the same size, designers change shape of them few times. Also older were different shape than newer.
2) RFC in OFE of infodump.thefifthimperium.com said that adding hollow core into SD make him much more vulnerable than normal, it has toughness of prepod DN. Agamemnon isn't the greatest design and it was developed because Navy needed pod laying ship, but Janacek was against building bigger ships. So they created Agamemnon which is good but doesn't have good armor, look at the losses in the battle of Solon.
3) Frigates are used only by smaller navies and smallest design with hollow core was Agamemnon because lesser ships don't have wide enough hull.
LAC are ships which must attack fast, shot ammunition and escape. Pods will make them slower and easier to destroy.
4&5) CLACs are ships were everything is packed very tightly and they're very vulnerable, newer doctrine says that they will launch LACs and get out of system.

Much as I dislike doing this, I find I need to support skimper on point 1). Current gen pods *are* all the same size. Whether they carry 14 Mk-16s, 10 Mk-23s, or 8 Mk-23s and an Apollo Control Missile, the pods all have the same exact dimensions: http://maxxqbunine.deviantart.com/art/P ... -465723504

The rest of his points are just as harebrained as anything else he's posted in the past, and can be safely ignored.

fallsfromtrees wrote:Of course after you have tractored it to the LAC, since you won't be ablecto get it inside the wedge, you have seriously reduced one of the LAC's major advantages, that of its acceleration, makeing this one of the more brain dead ides I have heard of yet.

You definitely could not tractor even a single pod inside a LAC's wedge? I ask because I have neither data nor even an impression of the scales involved. I'm not about to advocate for doing it, mind you - I just don't have reason yet to be confident that the plan would fail at that stage.

They have carrier and Q ships, designed to accomidate LAC. SO i wan imagining pods built on LAC scale, so easier to transport and distribute. The pods could not only carrey missiles, but control and ftl systems.

JeffEngel wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:Of course after you have tractored it to the LAC, since you won't be ablecto get it inside the wedge, you have seriously reduced one of the LAC's major advantages, that of its acceleration, makeing this one of the more brain dead ides I have heard of yet.

You definitely could not tractor even a single pod inside a LAC's wedge? I ask because I have neither data nor even an impression of the scales involved. I'm not about to advocate for doing it, mind you - I just don't have reason yet to be confident that the plan would fail at that stage.

A pod is comparable to the size of a LAC.