This ship would be an "Unbuilt Variant" of the CVF, since the Federation only built one CVF and it was destroyed prior to the X-ship era. As X-ships are deployed in increasing numbers, behind the lines raids become more and more risky for ordinary "fast" ships. Also, the write-up for the CVF (R2.96) states that it was sometimes used as a standard carrier in any event. But F-18 carriers are a dime a dozen for the Federation. There's nothing special about the CVF with F-18 (or F-101) fighters. A better use for the CVS might be to convert it to an A-20F carrier, making use of its impressive amount of warp to better rearm the fighters. The CAV, by comparison, has 6 fewer points of warp power while also having 4 photon torpedoes of its own. An A-20F carrier based on the CVF would be more effective than the CAV. Had it survived into the X-ship era, this latter role might have become its standard mission, with raids the rare exception.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 12:38 pm: Edit

I like this proposal. Makes sense. But could not you use the normal rules to carry heavy fighters in the shuttle bays? That is, just use those 12 fighter boxes to carry 6 heavy fighters per the normal rules of configuring the bays, which doesn't require an SSD change.

Perhaps a more interesting variant would be a CVF that was modified to carry 6*F-111 fighters on mech links. The shuttle bay is diminished to make room for the six tractor beams and their shuttle mech links. Now that you have 6 tractors, may take the current 2 tractors and convert them to cargo boxes for drone supply.

Just thinking off the cuff.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 02:02 pm: Edit

Alternatively, perhaps one could see it as a proposal to convert the CFS Eagle into a heavy fighter carrier in or after Y195, for use as an RTN-hunter?

Perhaps the CFS could then have two if its sensors turned "back" into photons, in order to provide the ship with more intrinsic firepower for use against Andromedan RTN nodes. (It would only need two sensors to scan for each node beforehand.)

The resulting ship would not be as effective at chasing down satellite bases as a GSX or GVX, but there are only so many of those to go around. And it would still be faster than a GSC or CVL assigned to this mission.


(On a side note, I could imagine someone proposing to take the DNL Star Lion and convert it into an RTN-hunter - with or without heavy fighters added to the mix. The resulting ship might make for the most effective non-X RTN-hunter in Federation space, were such a conversion ever to be carried out.)

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 02:45 pm: Edit

Would a fast unit be able to be out searching for nodes for long periods without maintainence on the engines?

In other discussions it was noted that fast ships had this problem, that they mostly sat at base waiting for a mission and couldn't be used for continual patrols and such.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 02:55 pm: Edit

While it would be more of a potential issue for a converted CFS than it would be for a DNL conversion - since the former has those 18-box "fast warp" engines to deal with - the requirement (if I remember it as such) of remaining stationary during each intensive scan might help cut down on the overall strain imposed on the ship's engines during an RTN-hunting operation.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 04:44 pm: Edit

Ted,

Before posting this proposal I checked Module G3A Supplementary Annexes and it listed 12 F-18 or 6 F-101 as the allowable fighters for the CVF. It did not list A-20s or A-20Fs as an allowable option.