Recently Gary Carney indirectly asked for a Romulan K1 gunboat. The funny thing is that I submitted one 10 years ago. The main problem with a K1 gunboat is that there is literally no reason for it to exist. It would likely be a conjectural alternative to the Centurion, or possibly a part of a conjectural timeline where the Romulans choose to stick with the Kestrels rather than develop the Hawks. Regardless, it would be massively conjectural with little justification even within the framework of the conjecture.

Despite that, I really like the design. It is a cool little ship that does something a little different than the other plasma gunboats. Unlike the Centurion and plasma Starhawk, it has more phasers, so it has more versatility in its armament. And unlike the phaser Starhawk, it still has a little extra plasma after it shoots its first turn wad.

For the base combat version, take a G1 and make the following substitutions:
- Change Disruptor to Pl-F FP.
- Change Drones to Pl-F LP/RP.
- Change Ph-2 FX to Ph-1 FX.
- Change ADD to Ph-3 RX
Various standard variations would also be available.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, August 28, 2015 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Frankly, I would tend to limit such a design more.

I find it questionable that the Romulans would upgrade the phaser-2s, since they did not do so on the K4Rs, BUT if they were building them rather than converting them (building makes more sense than converting when it comes to gunboats, note that every "Anarchist" article suggests that captured PFs and Interceptors are either expended as targets or used in some cases for espionage operations) I could certainly see the phaser-2s being phaser-1s.

However, to add a little flavor, I would not replace the anti-drone rack with a phaser-3, I would replace it with a plasma-D rack-RH. It has some value versus Federation drones (of course) but also some deterrent against a pursuing Gorn, Tholian, Orion, or Inter-Stellar Concordium PF, plus at least some possible offensive use given the design has fewer plasma-Fs than a StarHawk-A or a Centurion.

Combat variants would retain the RH plasma-D, but the escort variant would have 1xplasma-F-FP, 1xplasma-D-LS, 1xplasma-D-RS in addition, which would at least impose a different tactical dynamic.

Not saying I approve this or reject it, just posting my own thought on the armament, feel free to shoot it down and accuse me of being silly (grin).

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, August 28, 2015 - 07:58 pm: Edit

I never thought any G1 would ever be converted to a K1. That would be a total waste of money (as you mention). This proposal is purely intended to be new construction based on a conversion of the design of the G1. That is why I gave it Ph-1s.

On the Ph-3/Pl-D issue, I converted the ADD to a Ph-3 because I thought converting it to a Pl-D would be a step too far. In fact, I wanted to do that, but I thought there was just no way that would be acceptable.

So, if it is acceptable to replace the ADD with a Pl-D, I will be the very first to sign up for that deal! Doing so would really make the K1 a truly different design from any other plasma gunboat.

Where can I get my flotilla?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, August 29, 2015 - 12:56 pm: Edit

I find the proposals for the transfers of G1s pretty unlikely. Sorry (and again it is my opinion, not a fiat). The most I can see in this case is a "hypothetical," i.e., "what if the Romulans simply purchased the technology for fast patrol ships from the Klingons and produced Klingon type gunboats, never developing their own unique ones?"

By Y192 the Romulans would be more than able to produce their own fast patrol ships (Centurions and StarHawks) even with the loss of Remus and the damage to the rest of the Empire by the General War, the Civil War, the Inter-Stellar Concordium Pacification, and the ongoing Andromedan War. Fast patrol ships are built in factories on planets, and by Y192 even with all that disruption it is easier for a Romulan planet to build its own Centurion or StarHawk factory than it is to deliver a Klingon G1 factory to the Romulan empire. By Y192 what the Romulans would need to increase fast patrol ship production is simply money (given the condition of the Empire). Building Klingon type fast patrol ships would simply return the Romulan Empire to the added difficulty in maintaining three sets of spare parts systems (StarHawk spare parts . . . AND Modules, Centurion spare parts, and K1 spare parts), not to mention keeping the various different flotillas equipped with the right replacements. They already know how much trouble that is, and while they needed ships, fast patrol ships simply would not be a problem that could be solved by building factories to produce a Klingon G1 variant.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, August 29, 2015 - 03:28 pm: Edit

I can see the KLingons doing a design and showing it to the Roms (and the Roms not being interested in a K1R design). That makes it a conjectural unit and players don't want them.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, August 29, 2015 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Dal Downing:

Honestly, the Romulans put plasma-Fs on their fast patrol ships [Centurions had five, the StarHawk's modules either had two plasma-Fs (for a total of four on a given StarHawk) or one plasma-F and one phaser-1 (for a total of two on a given StarHawk). Given Romulan predilections as revealed by those boats I could easily see (assuming a G1 design was under development) plasma-Fs replacing the disruptor and drone racks as the design (total of three plasma-Fs).

As noted, I could not see the Romulans upgrading phaser-2s to phaser-1s if they were simply handed a G1 to convert, but if they were building them, I cannot see them not fitting them with short-ranged phaser-1s as they did on their own PFs.

Plasma-racks LS/RS I would see doing (as I have noted) on an "escort" variant [Centurion-E has three plasma-Fs and two plasma-Ds, the K1E would have either two plasma-Ds and one plasma-F (based on Mike West's proposal), or (my version) three plasma-Ds and one plasma-F].

The Cargo (K1C), Fighter-Conveyor (K1F), Ground Assault (K1G), and Mine Warfare (K1M) variants would all look exactly like their Klingon versions except for upgrading the phaser-2s to phaser-1s and replacing the anti-drone rack either with a rear-half plasma-D rack (my version) or a phaser-3-RX (Mike West's base proposal).

After that a fast look at other Klingon PF variants gets you:

K1S (looks like the Klingon G1S with a plasma-F replacing the drone rack and a plasma-D or phaser-3 replacing the anti-drone rack and, of course, phaser-2s upgraded to phaser-1s).

K1L (same weapons layout as base K1, no other changes)

K1N [I do not think the Romulans would build or convert any of these, but if they did, I could still see the anti-drone rack becoming a plasma-D rack, making it a phaser-3-RX would (because of the design) block the hexrow directly behind the PF for the 360 phaser-1. The drone racks would be plasma-D racks LS/RS.

K1P (same weapons layout as base K1, except replace LP plasma-F with FA+L phaser-1, replace RP plasma-F with FA+R phaser-1)

K1PL (same weapons layout as base K1P)

K1Q [same layout as base G1Q except replace anti-drone rack with either plasma-D-RH (my version) or a phaser-3-RX (Mike West basic proposal) and upgrade the phaser-2s to phaser-1s)

K1R (same layout as base G1R except upgrade phaser-2s to phaser-1s)

G1K/G1KL (no valid conversion path as it would look just like the discussed escort K1E above and escort PFs do not have leader variants)

G1D/G1DL (no valid conversion path as it would ultimately look like the standard proposed K1)

G1B/G1BL (no valid conversion path as it would ultimately look like the standard proposed K1)

KU1 (would be identical to U1)

Finally (just to look at everything) we have the KH1 Interceptor, which at this point I could see as having a plasma-F-FP and two plasma-D-racks-RS/LS, one replacing the drone rack and one replacing the RX phaser-3, or one plasma-F-FP and one plasma-D-rack-FH replacing the drone rack, in either case upgrading the phaser-2s to phaser-1s.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, July 21, 2019 - 02:47 pm: Edit

I can see this as a historical unit as follows...

The Klingons show the Romulan ambassador the H1 interceptor. He's interested. Plans are sent to home and a few Decurions are built.

The Klingons send a squadron of ships into Romulan space for some reason, including a PFT with six G1s. The Romulans are fascinated. The Great House that build a few Decurions starts turningout Centurions. A great house rival to them builds the StarHawks.

The Romulans have to decide. Are they going to built the K1 under license, or build their home designs? A great house builds a dozen K1s for experiemental tests. After all, it is an option and keeping options open is good. At this point, the K1 is a real ship.

The home designs are clearly the way to go, but the emperor might find some reason he wants to slap down the houses building the Centurion and StarHawk and divert some of their money to the third house. In the end, he doesn't, and the last K1s are all put on some planet owned by Great House 3 and used for local defense. A few more are built as a vanity project to keep the assembly line open just so Great House 3 can ask the Emperor for production contracts. Maybe one year he actually gives them money to run off 36 or 72 of them. Maybe during the Civil War a few more are built, but iwthout PFTs to match them they are limited to defending Great House 3 planets.