Not sure where to put this request...

I have a ship (Fed) kitbash mini that I need a mock up SSD made. Can someone who has a design program do this easily? I can send the pics of the miniature. Email is in my profile.

Thanks

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, April 19, 2019 - 12:48 am: Edit

Lar, email it to me, I will whip something up.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Friday, April 19, 2019 - 03:09 am: Edit

Wow thanks!! I just sent the email with like 5 pics from different sides.

Let me know if you need anything else.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 01:52 am: Edit

Thanks SVC looks great

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 01:16 pm: Edit

The second one is better, the third will be better still.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 02:47 pm: Edit

You might as well see what Lar has been up to.





I owed Lar a favor from help he gave me at Origins years ago.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 03:25 pm: Edit

Can it carry a Battle Pod? That would give it a total of 8 photons, plus stronger shields... a very slow but powerful assault craft for taking on enemy fixed defenses.

By Jeffrey George Anderson (Jeff) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 04:36 pm: Edit

Initial thoughts are "Ooohh! That's pretty!"

Second thoughts are on how I'd use a ship like that.

Two pods, side by side, beg abuse.

Alan, you brought up the use of Battle Pods. If this ship were to have two of them, side by side (as the miniature shows), I'm afraid that the result would be a volley of fourteen Photon Torpedoes.

If fired at maximum range (30 hexes) with standard fuses on a narrow salvo, a single hit would do 112 points of damage; enough to blow through the shields of anything, even a fully prepared Stellar Fortress, and do a heckuvalotta hurt to the target.

Sure, it might not hit very often, but when it does, it'll profoundly affect the target; enough so that I think it might turn a base assault into a prolonged sniper game, waiting for that occasional die roll of 1 to come up.

It might get frustrating for the Federation player, and it definitely won't be much fun for whomever is on the receiving end of the sniper shots.

Even Light Battle Pods can result in 80 point salvoes.

The only way I can see around this problem would be to ask that, should this ship become SFU Canon, that it suffer from shock ANY time heavy weapons are fired from the pods.

Like I said, though, it is beautiful work, Lar, and I do apologize to you for being such a jerk about how I'd (mis)use what you've worked hard to make.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 04:56 pm: Edit

Jeffrey,

1. The fact that it can carry cargo pods side-by-side doesn't mean it could do the same with battle pods. Insert technobabble as needed to explain why it can carry only one battle pod.

2. Don't exaggerate. It wouldn't blow through the shields of anything. A Romulan Flamehawk-X has (if I recall correctly) a 40-point front shield and 27 batteries. Only 24 of those batteries are connected to the mauler but all 27 could be used for shield reinforcement. If the batteries are full, that's an 81-point brick on top of a 40-point shield. The Flamehawk-X would still have 9 shield boxes left, and no internals.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 04:59 pm: Edit

More seriously though, my point 1. above is my real answer. I don't see any reason why such a ship would need to be able to carry two battle pods

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 05:13 pm: Edit

Two more thoughts...

1. How about a custom battle pod designed specifically for this ship, and only this ship? Suppose the battle pod for this dreadnought tug had 8 photons itself. That would give a total of 10 for the ship - the same as the conjectural Fed battleship (though this ship could alpha-strike with all 10, which the battleship can't).

2. I have a vague recollection that Loren Knight (I think it was Loren) proposed something similar a number of years ago. If this ship is ever formally published, I believe Loren should get at least partial co-credit - no slight meant towards Lar.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 05:21 pm: Edit

The question is answered (for now) in red print at the bottom of the ship card. (No battle pods. Petrick says it would twist the pod yoke.) If you want to talk about other pods and the move costs, you have to get Petrick to approve it, and I for one am quite happy with CARGO PODS ONLY, PERIOD, FULL STOP.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 05:25 pm: Edit

Dang! I didn't even notice that red print... Mea Culpa

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 05:36 pm: Edit

Alan Trevor:

Honestly, depends on whether or not the fixture for the Pod Saddles is detachable so that it can carry one pod on the centerline, or it is going to have to be defined as to whether or not the ship in this configuration could carry two (2) double weight pods (four pod weights), at which point you are not talking eight photons, you are talking 14 photons.

For what it is worth, when I saw this my immediate thought was "The Pod Cradle Adapter lives." A very old proposal of mine dating back to the late 1980s. And one of the reasons that was rejected at the time was that it would have allowed the tug to carry two light battle pods, and thus eight photons (or in this design, 10 photons).

However, I strongly suspect that if it carries one battle pod (light or heavy), it would be subject to shock, especially as the photons (other than the two it has) are not on the ship's centerline. The offset working against the direction of movement of the warp nacelles creating a severe twist leading to shock failure. And operating two battle pods that far from the center of mass of the ship might tear the mounting bracket off the ship.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 05:51 pm: Edit

SPP,

Couldn't you make the "dreadnought battle pod" a "double width" pod that attaches simultaneously to both pod connection points, with 8 photons arrayed symmetrically around centerline? I believe the Lyrans use a similar system.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 05:55 pm: Edit

Clarification to the previous... I'm referring to the way the Lyrans use a very wide pallet for, for example, their Space Control Pallet.

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 07:11 pm: Edit

If shock is the concern, would this ship be able to carry, starliner/troop pods, repair pods, self defense pods, or other non-shooty, as opposed to battle and lots of launches and landing CV pods?

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar2) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 07:14 pm: Edit

Hmmmm, interesting - looks like someone made some jerky from that pork barrel …

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 09:18 am: Edit

No worries guys, like I told the Steve‘s in an email I’m just happy that they took the time to work on this thing. I kit bashed it almost 10 years back from parts I picked up at origins.

Found it recently after a conversation with the Sacramento guys (after Lovas came to visit) and we started chatting miniatures for SFB. I have a bunch still in blister packs (yep that old), and lots of spare parts.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 09:43 am: Edit

What would the rational be to keep players from using two CVA pods or even two CVL pods?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 10:06 am: Edit

Patrick M. Dillman:

What is the rationale that keeps players from using two CVA pods on the current fleet tug?

Or carrying two pods on the Federation light tactical transport?

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 10:31 am: Edit

One possible option; All this tug's pods are unique to it. It doesn't use the pods regular tugs use and they can't use the "double wide" pods the dreadnought tug uses. This would require "heavy" versions of the battle pod, CVA pod, etc., customized for this ship. ADB/Lar could design them to be more capable than the standard pod versions but not so overpowering as to "break things". (As you know, I am partial to an 8-photon pod to go with the two photons in the saucer.)

You might also eliminate certain pod types based on YIS (which I don't think had been defines yet). Suppose this is a post-war design that only became possible because the advent of BCHs and CXs reduced the need for dreadnought-based warships. The intent was to create a super-capable logistics support ship but combat pods were also designed for it in case of emergencies, as with standard tugs. Now given the YIS, CVA-type pods might be less important because the increasing numbers of X-ships reduces the value of fighters. So, hypothetically, two types of combat pod are designed. One is a "pure" battle pod with maximum firepower. the other is an "RTN-Hunter" pod with the fire power of a light battle pod (still giving the ship six photons total) plus either 12 F-14s or 6 F-111s (Andros don't use X-ships) plus 2 special sensors (to find RTN nodes - not for in-combat EW support). Other types of combat pods were considered, but rejected, since they didn't really fit the changed strategic situation of that time period.

Just my .02 quatloos worth.

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 10:45 am: Edit

Hrrrmmmmm.... A DN Tug with a heavy repair pod would be an interesting unit for Operation Unity. It would be a significant repair unit that could be moved fairly rapidly, and be capable of some self defense.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 11:28 am: Edit

The big difference with a DNT is the side by side carry allows all hatches of both pod types to now be usable.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 12:18 pm: Edit

Really, if it couldn't tow 'normal' cargo pods, what good is it?