Captured Solly SDs

drothgery wrote:

lelder5 wrote:I have advocated in the past some modification to allow the captured SD's to serve as "jeep carriers". The production of LAC's should be less effected by the results of the MALighn's raids. Something is going to be needed to hyper squadrons of LACs around. Freighters are ok for transport but vulnerable in combat. A converted SD is a harder target and could fight back against most sollie commerce raiders, which would be trying to prevent friendly systems from putting together the sort of LAC and missle defense I think we will see in the battle of Beowulf.

You cannot effectively convert a ship of the wall into something else. They're too heavily armored and compartmentalized to reconfigure in less than the time/cost to build a new ship from scratch.

You could use the SD as a platform to usher LAC's into hyper, out of hyper, and between hyper bands, if your route could avoid grav waves. It'd be awkward in the extreme, and you'd have to either maneuver with more skill than anyone should count on to gather them all in close for translations, or come to a stop each time. And for some EVA tending, supply, and maintenance, I suppose a SD would do better than a smaller warship - if you're not taking efficiency into account and the vast quantity of crew tied up in the thing.

They're slower, sure, and more vulnerable, but those cheap, cheap, available, and oh yes, cheap freighters do have going for them that the LAC's can park inside them easily enough for transport.

That the mighty SLN lets decades go by before it updates any of its Reserve wallers, and even then usually does not touch the anti-shipping armament, should suggest in itself just how difficult, time-consuming, labor-consuming, and all-around not-to-be-done-lightly it is to modify a ship of the wall.

drothgery wrote:

lelder5 wrote:I have advocated in the past some modification to allow the captured SD's to serve as "jeep carriers". The production of LAC's should be less effected by the results of the MALighn's raids. Something is going to be needed to hyper squadrons of LACs around. Freighters are ok for transport but vulnerable in combat. A converted SD is a harder target and could fight back against most sollie commerce raiders, which would be trying to prevent friendly systems from putting together the sort of LAC and missle defense I think we will see in the battle of Beowulf.

You cannot effectively convert a ship of the wall into something else. They're too heavily armored and compartmentalized to reconfigure in less than the time/cost to build a new ship from scratch.

Someone in the past mentioned "bolting" LAC bays onto the sides of an SD. This would make the SD the center of an stationary LAC Base, using the SD's berthing facilities, Power system and Machine shops for the LAC wings.

But this would be immovable, with the LAC bays covering the weapons, sensors, defenses, sidewall emitters, etc.

So you'd end up with a system with 10x the maintenance costs of a custom built solution and none of the advantages - and you still need to build 1/2 of it.

A SLN SD could probably tow some sort of LAC module around, if you are truly desperate for something for them to do. Live on the SD, have the shuttles move people back and forth, use the SD for mobility.

It's not completely absurd. Maybe mostly, but not completely.

kzt wrote:A SLN SD could probably tow some sort of LAC module around, if you are truly desperate for something for them to do. Live on the SD, have the shuttles move people back and forth, use the SD for mobility.

It's not completely absurd. Maybe mostly, but not completely.

The real kicker for it, as usual, is the crew requirements. On the one hand, ship construction facilities are at a premium right now, so expedients that don't require them or much of them bear some appeal. And the SD's are already there. On the other, you don't get what you pay for out of it, with that payment in even a little yard time, but mostly in crew.

You could ease the crew requirements some - a lot - by not crewing the weapons (at least the offensive ones), but then, if you do, much of the appeal of a self-defending LAC tender vanishes. And even after that, the crew requirements will be awful compared to a merchant conversion, a fleet train unit conversion, or some sort of quick-and-dirty new build with whatever build facility you can put to work.

And even for the purpose of sparing build facilities - the key problem there is that Manticoran (and Grayson) build facilities are gone. Havenite ones are plentiful and available, albeit at a lower technical standard. Beowulf's yards, though far fewer than Haven's and also busy picking up slack, are there too, albeit without the recent tempo the Haven Sector yards have had all around or the full Manticoran tech base already in practice. Even refitting SD's very slightly for LAC tending is likely to occupy those yards.

Let the poor things rest.

For that matter - How many post-automation, pre-pod DN's and SD's are still hanging around this side of the breakers in RMN and GSN possession? If those are just barely worth the crewing, what interest could SLN SD's have?

You might be able to use a Solly SD as an operations platform in an allied system (one of the new ones) if you can get it there. Sort of like the RMN Hercules off Spindle.

Essentialy "just" park the SD somewhere in the system relative to the primary habitable planet and scatter communications relay equipment around. You have a wedge which is the primary defense. You have funtioning platform with power, a lot of (SLN) communications and tactical gear, boat bays, relatively short range (vs RMN/RHN/GSN/REN) weapons and defensive weapons systems.

Put it relative to the planet but "above" the elliptic to take it out of traffic and give it a clearer view of the system. Would need to add in better sensors, upgrade the tactical system (given the constraints of the Solly gear), add FTL communications.

You don't need anywhere the number of people that an active duty SD requires. Just enough to keep the primary systems functioning and do routine (if slowly) regular maintenece on everything including the weapons. Even being Solly equipment, it could be a wonderfull place to conduct basic to medium lever training for people in EVA and living/working is space conditions. Even though they are Solly systems, a lot of that can translate to common equipment and systems being used throughout human inhabited space. Really big training operation.

Of course you would be painting "shoot me first" on the obvious massive warship just sitting there in system.

To the breakers with the things... to the breakers!

Don

n7axw wrote:To the breakers with the things... to the breakers!

Don

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Once more, the dead horse arises.

Personally, I see a great industry opportunity in Manticore and Spindle for metal recycling and reclamation

-- Stewart

Here's a thought on the GA, NOT using the captured SLN SD's namely what if they used differently sized missiles, either length or width. For example during WWII the KM USN RN IJN all used 16 inch guns but all of the shells were different length.

IJN 72in
KM 66in
RN 64in
USN 64in and 68in

Not only that but the shells weighed differently.
IJN 2100#
KM 2000#
RN 2050#
USN 2250# and 2700#

Also what if the SL and GA have the RW equivalent of the metric Vs standard fight.

saber964 wrote:Here's a thought on the GA, NOT using the captured SLN SD's namely what if they used differently sized missiles, either length or width. For example during WWII the KM USN RN IJN all used 16 inch guns but all of the shells were different length.

IJN 72in
KM 66in
RN 64in
USN 64in and 68in

Not only that but the shells weighed differently.
IJN 2100#
KM 2000#
RN 2050#
USN 2250# and 2700#

Also what if the SL and GA have the RW equivalent of the metric Vs standard fight.

That has been brought up numerous times in past threads. There's a reason this is considered a dead topic. It has been beaten to a bloody pulp, reanimated as a zombie, beaten to a bloody pulp again, killed and mutilated, reanimated again, had unmentionable things done to it, and still it rises up. There hasn't been an original proposal about using the Solarian ships in years. The horse is so far gone the glue factory won't take it.

repent

1. solarian tech versus GA tech is useles

2. solarian tech versus solarian tech

3. solarian BC versus Solarian SD

think