Scout escorts proposed by John Wyszynski. This would be a cheap way to get more sensors into a fleet without taking up scout slots, and could serve as the eyes and ears of a carrier group.

We considered the "scout escorts" in J2 and decided against them. Might we reconsider in J3? Only time will tell.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:02 am: Edit

drone rules, a few new ones from Extreme Missions, anybody remember what they were?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:16 am: Edit

Gary Plana proposed this eons ago on GEnie, and I don't recall if it was rejected then or not.

In order to squeeze the last drops of use out of the old Romulan Eagle classes, freight pallets for that class were modified
to carry fighters.

Two 5-box shuttle bays holding 10 fighters, one Tractor, one APR, and one Cargo box (for plasma-D reloads).

The fighters were usually the most commonly available ones (the Sparrowhawks got the good stuff!) and the ship was
qualified to trade one Admin for a MRS as a Commander's Option.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:18 am: Edit

Police escort cutters for all empires to escort police carriers.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:19 am: Edit

Page of squadrons of the "developmental" Hydran fighters from the captain's log article. And all of the other fighters from the other articles.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 02:55 pm: Edit

Assault fighters (such as the A10 and Z1) for everybody.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 02:58 pm: Edit

Utility Fighter: phaser-3 (G for Hydrans) and 4 pod rails, no drones or other weapons, or maybe two type-VI for self-defense or RALAD. Based on an idea by Andy Palmer.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 02:59 pm: Edit

Recon fighter: sparked by the mention of this by John Wyszynski. Basically, it would be a standard fighter given ECCM pods and a sensor pod and used to "get a better look" at some specific target. This would not be a "kind of fighter" but a mission for a fighter. There would be an SG scenario describing the effort of this thing to stay alive while taking a look at the enemy.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:21 am: Edit

Jeff Laikind proposed an armed carrier for the Hydrans? An alternate strike carrier design with heavy weapons and 12 fighters?

Either the CVM (18 fighters) or the CVA (21 fighters) could be pared down to 12. Then add 2 HB to provide firepower.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:23 am: Edit

Hmmm...on the Lyran issue...this is probably going to be the goofiest idea to come down the pike since the WYN AxDN, but what the heck:

How about an early heavy fighter, based on a pseudo-catamaran concept (a linked pair of much-modified single-space fighters)? Sort of like the P-82 Twin Mustang. The half-assed justification would be that Lyrans would, because of their emphasis on catamarans/trimarans, take a look at doing something similar with fighters. Having the first heavy fighters would both give them something of an edge in and would seem to mesh well with their first-position launch into Interceptors and PFs. It would also have the damage points to survive (barely) most single accidental ESG interactions. Designation: ZT (Zegurnii, Twin).

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 12:06 pm: Edit

Ground Assault Fighters. Combination GAS/Heavy Fighter. Two space fighter-shuttle that carries single-space fighter equivilancy in weapons and can carry 2 BP (4 in non-combat situation). Has two pod rails for tranporter artillery rounds. Has increased Offensive Potential in ground combat.

The idea would be that Commando ships would carry some of these to spearhead ground assaults. These units have the firepower and durability to get to the ground and are an effective ground and space unit once there.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:53 am: Edit

Eric Stork proposed the DWR, late war replacement for the FCR. DWs replaced diminishing and outdated FFs in every other role (scout, escort,
etc.), so DWR Fast Carrier Resupply Ships makes sense. Maybe some variant of the Fast Cruiser hot warp was added so
they go 7 F&E hexes instead of 6.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, August 09, 2002 - 11:54 am: Edit

Scott Tenhoff Hydran ship proposal:

CCV (Command Carrier) Cavalier hull with only 12 fighters, and remainin space with 2-3 additional HB and APRs to
power them. Long range support for fighter group. Just like Jeff L. proposed. I could see it happening.

LD (Lord Decon) IC converted to Space Control Ship. Remove 12 fighters, add repair, and tractors. By Y181 the IC is a
glorified FCR. Upgrade it so it can support PFs into battle.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 02:24 pm: Edit

Hydran Auxiliary CVs were remarked upon by Michael Campbell, who noted that since others used drone-fighters the hydrans had to spend power to rearm their AuxVs and we should give them a ship with more APRs or something. This idea went nowhere quickly, but I'll go ahead and restate it here. However, I would do it as a generic carrier for everyone to use with fighters that need power to arm.

DISCLAIMER: Petrick has issued a statement proving that such things are not needed. Stinger-2 ready racks can hold charges from the approach trip.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 02:58 pm: Edit

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 04:24 pm: Edit

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 07:14 pm: Edit

By Richard Wells (Rwwells) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 07:42 pm: Edit

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 07:46 pm: Edit

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, August 01, 2019 - 05:22 pm: Edit

Hydran Auxiliary CVs were remarked upon by Michael Campbell, who noted that since others used drone-fighters the hydrans had to spend power to rearm their AuxVs and we should give them a ship with more APRs or something. This idea went nowhere quickly, but I'll go ahead and restate it here. However, I would do it as a generic carrier for everyone to use with fighters that need power to arm.

DISCLAIMER: Petrick has not approved this message.

Petrick Comment:

Hydran Auxiliary Carriers generally operate either Stinger-Fs (which mount a phaser-G which lets them destroy a drone and still hit an enemy fighter with two or three phaser-3 shots, and do not otherwise have any weapons other than their pod rails) and do not need the auxiliary carrier to have extra power systems to rearm them.

Hydran Auxiliary Carriers are prohibited from operating Stinger-Hs (just as Kzinti, Klingon, Lyran, and LDR auxiliary carriers are prohibited from operating disruptor-armed fighters).

Hydran Auxiliary Carriers might operate Stinger-2s, and if they do, they will have standard Stinger-2 ready racks.

Stinger-2 ready racks at any Weapon Status greater than "surprised" (which is lower than Weapon Status Zero) always have two (2) complete sets of charges for the fighter (partial exception, at most weapon statuses two fighters are already armed and that part of their ready rack would be empty).

A small Auxiliary Carrier can fully arm its 12 Stinger-2 fighters, and would then have a complete set of reloads for the fighters without expending any energy. (Same applies to a Large Auxiliary Carrier.) It need expend no energy arming ready racks for a second strike; it already has the reloads. It can be reasonably expected that not all of the fighters would survive the first strike. Say 25% did not. That means that three of the fighters returning from the second strike could be reloaded at those three ready racks, and if another 25% of the squadron did not survive the second strike, it means the carrier would over the preceding turns have only had to find 12 points of energy to rearm half the fusion capacitors in three ready racks to launch the six remaining fighters on the third strike fully armed. It would, following this pattern, again need 12 points of power to rearm the last three fighters for the fourth strike. But again, typically these ships operate Stinger-Fs, and Stinger-2s can fight as Stinger-Fs if there is no energy available to rearm the fusion capacitors after a strike is launched, and an opponent would not know which Stingers had their fusion beams armed and which did not, but would know all of them had phaser-Gs.

Beyond that, you could claim that the plasma empires need more power because they require 0.5 points of energy to activate any plasma-Ds on the fighter ready racks. That can be as much as 24 points of power for a Squadron of Gladiator-Ds (or Gorn G-12Ds, or ISC FDFs), or just 12 points of power for a squadron of Gladiator-Fs (or Gorn G-18s, or ISC AFs). Admittedly even this can be paid over time as the plasma-Ds can be activated while loaded in the ready racks. But at low weapon status any carrier has to come up with the energy to arm these, while a Hydan carrier has loaded fusion charges ready to go. So the plasma empires have more of a claim to needing more power on their auxiliary carriers than the Hydrans do, especially as at a low weapon status (Zero or one) they would need four points of power to activate the plasma-Ds on their plasma-D racks, while the Hydrans need just two points for their phaser-Gs in the same position (assuming they were already energized). There is more to this plasma-D rack situation, of course.

Turning to Heavy Fighter auxiliary carriers, all of these have problems arming the heavy weapons of the heavy fighters, but here again the Hydrans have an advantage as the fusion capacitors still have double charges, and still take only one point per to arm each, and the hellbore takes only two points a turn for two turns to arm, comparable to the power needed to load two disruptor charges, after the first charge is loaded.

So, no, I do not think the Hydran auxiliary carriers have some special power needs over other empires.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 04:30 pm: Edit

Michael Grafton, seeking to get more use from Tholian PCs in the last years of the General War proposed a self-escorting Gray Widow with only six fighters in external bays. Sorta of like a Tholian chickenhawk, it would take two such ships to field a full fighter squadron. His theory amounted to add six fighters to a PCE. Then he would replace a BW+PCE in a battle group with two Gray widows, effectively gaining four fighters. Many players objected that this turned the Tholians into a hybrid fighter empire like the Hydrans. In the end, the decision was left to Steve Petrick for J3.