J11.4___.0 Antimatter Pods
J11.4___.01 In Y161 when the Kzintis realised that their AS fighters were flooding their drone control channels, their Admirality raised a tender for the solution of this problem, several maufactures raised proposals, one became the AAS and another the seeking weapon control pod but a third proposed method of solving this problem would only halve the drone control channels being used.
..... By taking technologies already in use for administrative shuttles and applying them to the "pod technology" of the cargo pod and sensor pod, one could build a pod that could hold antimatter ( supplied by the ship ) and detonate it to create a blast not unlike that of a suicide shuttle.
..... The hope was that the AS shuttle could be used as a rugged and fast SS, but the pod came "online" a year after the AAS fighter and thus is only a historical footnote on the subject how the Kzintis "expired" their remaining AS shuttles.

J11.4___.1 ANTIMATTER POD: The antimatter pod is a one space pod that provides the fighter with abilities not unlike an SS. Note that the pod was developed by the same manufacturer as the sensor pod and counts as an Auxiliary pod and not a cobat pod for supply and stockpile purposes.
J11.4___.2 CARRIAGE: No more than 2 antimatter pods may be carried on one fighter.
With the advent of the the fighter SPECIAL rail some years later, fighters could mount antimatter pods on their special rails up to a limit equal to the number of special rails the fighter had although if a fighter did so it could not also mount antimatter pods on regular drone rails.
J11.4___.3 AVAILIBILITY Unlimited although the antimatter pods are restricted by the stockpile.
J11.4___.4 ARMING: The antimatter pod must be armed with antimatter taken from the supply that would normally go into the ship's matter-antimatter reactor. This means that the pod is armed with warp power. Each pod can only receive power in 0.5 or 1 point lots each turn. The pods are armed over a three turn period during which between 1.5 and 3 points of warp power shall be placed in the pod.
Once fully armed the fighter may either be launch on the turn it is armed or held.
If held each pod reqires 0.5 points of power ( from any soarce ) per turn.
When launched the fighter shall move as an SS (of the fighter's speed) and when it strikes her target, shall inflict damage equal to double the number of points of warp enegry that has been placed inthe pods.
J11.4___.5 COST: Each antimatter pod bought for fighters that are in surplus of the stockpile will cost 0.25 BPV each.
J11.4___.6 YEAR: Antimatter pods became availible to the Kiznties in Y165 and to every other fighter-pod using race one year latter.

J11.4___.7 HISTORICAL OUTCOME: Whilst the Federaion could have made some spectacular explosions by depolying antimatter pods on their F-14s they were loave to do so and as Kzinti fighters became more able to project drones the Kizintis become less willing to employ this weapon thus the pod become religated to an unused state after the last of the AS shuttles died.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, July 08, 2005 - 10:29 am: Edit

1.) Pods are not large enough to be designed to contain anti-matter.

2.) Background is false since the Kzintis could not really field enough AS fighters outside of a base to even come close to really choking up their drone control channels. Scatter Packs had a much greater likelihood of doing that, but the fact that the Kzintis continued to use them (scatter packs) which could release three times the type-I/II drones that a Fighter Pack replacing such a shuttle could do more than amply demonstrates the fallacy of the background argument.

3.) Not "no", but "He** no". Discussion closed.

By Steve Cain (Stevecain) on Saturday, July 09, 2005 - 01:19 am: Edit

Alas, and I almost thought SPP was going to say deathrider Fighters... HE**!!!! NO!!!!!!!

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Saturday, July 09, 2005 - 11:48 am: Edit

2) I would disagree.
If a Kzinti AS were to replace one of the Admins on a Kzinti DD, then the following effects would occour.
• Her A racks would flood the control channels with four type IV drones.
• The AS would launch two more drones and that would fill all six of the control channels.
She thus can not launch anything else and needs to hand around to pick up the pilot (if following S.O.P.)

On the other hand if the Admin was an Admin, then the ship could spend that BPV to buy 6 ATG guidance systems, theoretically speaking.
• She could launch an SP with three type IV drones (draw from reloads of the racks as per an SP) and once it blooms, she could then cut the tracking of the SP and then launch three of her four drones from the A-racks and then after one of them has switched to ATG launcht eh forth drone from the rack.


So whilst six drone control channels in the first example nets 2 type I and 4 type IV, the second example nets 7 type IV with at least 1 having ATG.
This means that whilst the SP fills the drone control channels, the AS fills them for less gain.
Hence it is fair to say that the drone control channels became choked by AS drone launches and the Kzintis started looking for ways to reduce the number drone control channels that were being used.


Also if I drop the special drone rail rule and just leave every fighter with a maximum of 2 pods (max 12 points of damage), would that reduce the negative attitude this proposal is recieving?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, July 09, 2005 - 12:33 pm: Edit

What, may I ask, was unclear about the words:

"Discussion Closed"

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, July 09, 2005 - 05:51 pm: Edit

Michael John Campbell:

Against my better judgement I will respond to your analysis of the Kzinti drone control problem you are using in an effort to justify your proposal and point out why it is falacious.

A Kzinti Destroyer (or for that matter, a Kzinti Battlecruiser) can (prior to the Y175 refit) launch four drones a turn without using a scatter pack. Your argument that "fighters" would cause it to exceed its drone control abilities falls flat because on Turn #2 it exceeds its drone control rating in any case, i.e., it launches four drones on Turn #1 and could not launch more than two drones during Turn #2 unless:

A.) one or more of the six drones hits their target

B.) one or more of the six drones are destroyed

C.) one or more of the six drones has ATG and acquire their target

D.) one or more of the six drones have their tracking taken over by another unit

E.) one or more of the six drones are allowed to go inert.

Only if one of the above events occurs is the ship able to launch its maximum allowed four drones during Turn #2.

This little fact applies all the way back to the Early Years Period, the arrival of AS fighters did not suddenly create this fact. It is a fact of Kzinti drone tactics.

If the ship replaced one (1) of its admin shuttles with an AS fighter [a Kzinti DD, or BC for that matter, cannot replace both of its admin shuttles with AS fighters as (R5.R6) only allows a given ship to replace one (1) admin shuttle with an AS fighter], it could on Turn #1 launch five non-dogfight drones. It could NOT launch six type-I/II (or larger) drones unless the fighter was a fighter pack as an AS fighter can only launch ONE (1) type-I drone in a given turn (J4.241) (which you seem unaware of). The only way an AS could launch two drones and not be a fighter pack is if the second drone rail held a type-VI drone [again see (J4.241)].

So a single Kzinti ship is quite capable of overloading its own drone control channels without a fighter being present. It is more likly to jam its drone control channels by mis-juggling a scatter pack, and you know what, being Kzintis they have pretty good access to ATG guidance (up to half the drones can have it) and have a good supply of BPV just for purchasing drone modifications i.e., the note at the end of the Kzinti Master Ship Chart notes that all Kzinti ships have access to (S3.223), which gives them 10% of their BPV above the 20% normally allowed just to purchase drone modifications, so a Kzinti DD for example has 27 BPV it can spend for Commander's Options, 9 points of which can only be spent for drone upgrades, and fitting eight of its 16 drone spaces with ATG would cost it 4 of those points.

So a background claiming that the arrival of AS shuttles caused this problem is bogus. The problem exists anytime a Kzinti decides to fill his control channels without considering consequences and alternatives. In large fleet actions there will almost always be a few MRS shuttles, Scouts, and ships with double drone control added to the ATG equation, it just is not a factor. In single ship battles, if the Kzinti is not in close where the drones are to all intents and purposes hitting no later than the turn after launch (allowing the full launch of the following turn to be employed), they are essentially fighting a losing battle in any case.

And tactics based on only using type-IV drones are simply not very imaginative but work great if your opponent will cooperate.

Now, you have got your answer, whether you like it or not, and this is the end of the matter. Further messages will be deleted. I say again, WILL BE DELETED, and will be deleted unread.

The discussion is closed.

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Monday, July 18, 2005 - 01:16 am: Edit

Deleted.