Dorsal/Ventral pod launching?

Ok, the BC'P/BCL debate got me thinking. Sorry! watch out! Clear the decks crazy person coming through!

Ok, uh hem.

IF 1) Limpetted pods routinely ride ships on their spindle taper and are launched from said position/orientation 100% successfully.

IF 2) The dorsal/ventral side of said spindle tapers are unarmored as was shown during the Buttercup raids and the destruction of Anhur by the Hexapuma.

IF 3) Big holes already exist in the unarmored dorsal/ventral for boat bays/Keyholes.

THEN Is there any reason that SD'P should not have their pod launching exits on the dorsal/ventral(top/bottom) of the said ship in the unarmored section?

1) Would this not protect said ships from the likelyhood of EVER losing its offensive capability?
2) Would this not save weight as the aft hammerhead doesn't have to have a massively armored pod door and exit?
3) Would this not allow aft section fusion plants/Impeller rooms to move back into the true core?
4) Even if a freak hit did take out 1 pod launching exit, only a couple rails would get nixed leaving at least 50% offensive capability.
5) Couldn't said pod exit and boat bay be incorporated into the same hull exit point? This saves hull area for sensors that exist along the top/bottom. Its not like you will be launching pinnaces/shuttles/cutters at the same time you are launching pods!

A pod launched Ventral or Dorsal get shredded by the impeller wedge. Not going to happen

namelessfly wrote:A pod launched Ventral or Dorsal get shredded by the impeller wedge. Not going to happen

Um, isn't impeller wedge something like 20,000 meters away from the ship? I think you could fit a pod in there.

They could mount them on the top/bottom and aim them at the sidewall, so no wedge problem

I think I understand the logic. Let's run with it.

Rather than create a huge hatch in the middle of the aft hammerhead, six smaller hatches are placed just fore of the aft node ring on the upper and lower hull portions. Rather than being a "kick it straight out" sort of hatch, these hatches have pod rails continuing through them and going backwards along the hull itself, passing between the nodes and rising through "valleys" in the aft hammerhead, being released where the rail ends at the point that it intersects the aft armour.

The rails themselves would incorporate "emergency pressers" which would allow the multiple external rail-mounted pods to be dropped en-masse. Given the size of the pods and the length of the external portion of the rail, this means that a SD(P)/alt (my designation) could easily drop a cloud of 24 pods (or more) in a single move, although restocking the external rails would then take a bit longer.

For extra combat power, additional external rails could be added, allowing for pods to be arrayed fore of the hatches, thus increasing the external load without causing a loss in pod-maneuvering capability. Placing some rails along the upper and lower "lips" where the side armour curls over would allow for pods to be deployed in a way that would give the ships one heck of a broadside punch, while only minimally interfering with sensor arrays and emplaced weapons etc while not in use.

It might also make it faster to reload an SD(P)/alt, since the pods can be fixed to the rails externally and run in as soon as a good connection is confirmed.

I hope that this idea makes sense, since I still do not know how to add pictures, and my artwork is pretty bad anyway.

Awaiting comments.

Making a hole where there is no armor rather than making a holw where there's supposed to be armor makes sense to me.

Provided that there aren't any other problems, structurally or functionally.

Eventually though, you might want to go back to an open door on the back of the ship - imagine this:

Instead of rails that shoot out pods one at a time, imagine a system where pods could either shoot out one at a time, or the entire rail system could be allowed to trail out of the back of the ship for an absurdly huge first salvo, then a secondary rail sysem would be engaged and used for the rest of the battle.

I think this was mentioned by someone else above, but I'm not sure I understood it.

wastedfly wrote:1) Would this not protect said ships from the likelyhood of EVER losing its offensive capability?

It is still slightly possible to take a top/bottom hit even with the wedge up, either by a short range hit that penetrates the sidewall at an angle, or a 'down the throat' shot that not perfectly in line with the ships central axis. Actually a 'down the throat' shot as likely to hit the dorsal/ventral regions than to hit the forward hammer head.

But yeah, it would be reasonably well protected.

As far as hitting the wedge goes, it would be utterly routine for honorverse tech to be able to kick a pod out at a reasonable speed and then kill it's momemntum with either a tractor beam or thrusters on the pod, so that it simply drifts as the ship accelerates away from it, which is how they normally lay pods.

Sounds like a workable idea to me.

Every pod has built in tractors, somehow I doubt they will ever make contact with the wedge. Besides to hit the wedge 20,000 km away on a wedge that sticks back from the ship a whopping 250km means you would have to be firing these buggers at nearly 90 degrees with a VERY susbstantial velocity.

Any kind of even half lamed acceleration of a few g's will nix this problem in the bud, add in said pods have reaction thrusters as well.

Sorry, don't see the problem. I can see other problems, but this isn't one of them.

Likewise, regarding Michael Everetts respone, 1st thanks, 2nd I think the explanation above would also mean that one does not need said rails to extend the way you describe as said pods have the limpet function. After all the pods currently are fired out the rear and are still able to limpet onto said hull, so coming out forward of the impeller ring shouldn't be a problem either for the ability to drop a large clutch of them.

Cheopsis, didn't David already nix the extending rails idea, years ago over on the bar? If one does have tractors built into the pods, they do, why couldn't pods move themselves back into the hold of the ship? How do they load a Podnaught to start with? Have to go in the rear hatch.

namelessfly wrote:A pod launched Ventral or Dorsal get shredded by the impeller wedge. Not going to happen

wastedfly wrote:Cheopsis, didn't David already nix the extending rails idea, years ago over on the bar? If one does have tractors built into the pods, they do, why couldn't pods move themselves back into the hold of the ship? How do they load a Podnaught to start with? Have to go in the rear hatch.

Couldn't begin to tell you what might have been mentioned elsewhere. I don't think I've seen it here before today, and I'm not sure I saw it today, the idea was a bit unclear but made me think of a tube-inside-a-tube deployment system for the initial alpha strike of a podlayer, then secondary rails popping up into place to be used as normal. The alpha tube basically would be not much more than a framework with outward facing pods, with just enough structural integrity to be safely presser / tractor handled out of the pod bay doors. If you had to abandon it in the system, no big deal, though it should be designed to be re-useable, and collapsable so the fleet train can carry them.

wastedfly wrote:Every pod has built in tractors, somehow I doubt they will ever make contact with the wedge. Besides to hit the wedge 20,000 km away on a wedge that sticks back from the ship a whopping 250km means you would have to be firing these buggers at nearly 90 degrees with a VERY susbstantial velocity.

Any kind of even half lamed acceleration of a few g's will nix this problem in the bud, add in said pods have reaction thrusters as well.

Sorry, don't see the problem. I can see other problems, but this isn't one of them.

Likewise, regarding Michael Everetts respone, 1st thanks, 2nd I think the explanation above would also mean that one does not need said rails to extend the way you describe as said pods have the limpet function. After all the pods currently are fired out the rear and are still able to limpet onto said hull, so coming out forward of the impeller ring shouldn't be a problem either for the ability to drop a large clutch of them.

Cheopsis, didn't David already nix the extending rails idea, years ago over on the bar? If one does have tractors built into the pods, they do, why couldn't pods move themselves back into the hold of the ship? How do they load a Podnaught to start with? Have to go in the rear hatch.

namelessfly wrote:A pod launched Ventral or Dorsal get shredded by the impeller wedge. Not going to happen

20,000 km away? The wedge is two orders of magnitude closer than that.

Limpeting means actually clamping down onto the hull. I don't recall any text where pods from a podlayer do that. The pods can tractor and tag behind the ship, but I don't recall them ever actually attaching themselves to the hull. Do you have a cite?