Romulan KD4M Experimental Mauler

After taking delivery of a handful of cast off D4s, the Romulans began detailed negotiations with the Klingons for the transfer of mauler technology. The Klingons were anxious to equip D6 hulls with the Romulan weapon, but considerable concern surrounded the issue of shock. The Romulan Falcon had demonstrated that a robust, purpose-built hull could keep mauler shock to a tolerable level, but it was not clear if this could be done on a conversion of the much leaner Klingon hull form. Before any KRMs or D6Ms were constructed, the Romulans converted one KD4 to a mauler as a technology demonstrator.

The KD4M proved the Klingon cruiser hulls could be an adequate platform for mauler technology. However, the ship's slow speed, high cloak cost, relatively small battery bank (compared to the FAL or D6M/KRM), and light phaser array meant it would be of limited combat value. The Romulans attempted to convince the Klingons to buy back the hull at a bargain price, but the Deep Space Fleet was well aware of the the ship's weaknesses and refused to accept it (preferring to wait on the delivery of the D6M). Despite it's shortcomings, the Romulans, now stuck with the hull, placed it in reserve at a base near the Federation border. The ship was not a part of any normal front-line formations, but did see some action in adhoc probes of Tholian territory.

Designers Note: I chose to cut out two of the four rear phaser-2s to make room for larger battery banks. The initial design retained all four ph-2s, but had 4 less batteries. The resulting mauler was pretty weak, so I decided to make the change. The current ship is a better mauler, but like the Falcon, is very lightly defended. This is not by any means a great ship, but I thought it would be an interesting use of one of the old D4 hulls in Romulans service.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, September 01, 2008 - 02:38 pm: Edit

Jeremy Gray:

Not sure "a handful" is the correct term for a dozen which is what the Romulans had acquired by Y162 (R4.117). KRMs were in squadron service by Y168, which allows for the prototype to have appeared in Y166. Mauler technology, of course, pre-dates the acquisition of the ships, and is noted as having been improved in some manner after the Treaty of Smarba that led to Maulers going into production again (YR4.6). The new Falcon Maulers appeared in Y164, which means allowing for the prototype the first new Falcon was built in Y162.

Klingon D6Ms were in squadron service in Y168, which also implies a prototype in Y166.

So a KD4M would probably have to appear (if it appeared at all) in either Y164 or Y165.

You then get into the question of whether or not the KD4M was one of the original dozen (currently allocated as defense ships), or a separate "13th hull" that did not belong to any of the "great houses" which is the described fate of the original dozen.

Which makes it possible that it is a never built design.

By Jeremy Gray (Gray) on Monday, September 01, 2008 - 03:20 pm: Edit

SPP,

That was roughly my impression of dates as well. It's a narrow window. Because of that narrow window, I saw it as extremely unlikely that a ship like this would ever be more than a prototype. So maybe a single ship was actually converted or it was just an engineering design drill never actually got executed. It could have been a 13th ship in a seperate exchange, or one of the original 12 - you guys have access to "the tapes", I don't. In all seriousness, the YIS would just about have to be Y165. As you pointed out, anything latter doesn't make much sense.

My impression was the Treaty of Smarba's initial breakthrough in relation to maulers was the connection of warp engines to those weapons. Up to that point, maulers were linked to impulse power-only ships (slow) with too little power to ever recharge the weapon in combat. The Falcon is the first demonstration of that. But at some point in the following few years the Klingons and Roms collectively figured out how to jam the weapon onto a Kestrel hull. The first attempt might have been the D6M/KRM, but if not, this seems like the logicall, low-cost alternative.

My main intent was just to see what such a ship would look like. Even if actually added to the game, I'm not sure it would be of great impact. Little more than a footnote. Might be useful in a non-historical campaign where the Roms got warp early, but that's probably about it.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, September 01, 2008 - 06:14 pm: Edit

As to the design, my recommendations for what they are worth:

1. Replace the center tractor with a single shuttle. To the Romulans, this would seem adequate as that was the design on the Falcon.

2. Replace the existing two shuttles with two more batteries.

3. Move Aux Con to the boom (taking up the former security station which is now a hull box).

4.) delete one battery from each of the two major battery banks.

5.) Center the aft hull into one column two boxes wide extending from the center two boxes up to and covering the former Aux Con box position.

This should leave you room for the primary battery banks to each have nine battery boxes rather than seven battery boxes. The ship would have six banks of batteries, three of two boxes each, one of three boxes, and two of nine boxes each for a total of 27 batteries (not counting the one in the boom of course).

By Jeremy Gray (Gray) on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 - 06:34 pm: Edit

OK, SSD for the KD4M revised. I generally followed SPP's recommendations, with just one exception. Rather than moving the AUX to the boom, I moved it to the rear deckhouse (replacing the rear tractor). A part of me just didn't like changing what was otherwise a "standard boom" even though it isn't detachable. Also, I felt putting all the control stations in one area would make the ship a lot more vulnerable in advanced boarding party combat. It stings to lose a tractor, but it makes the design less "perfect"... which I would prefer in this case.