Lyran King Cheetah New Light Cruiser (NCL)

After the NCA introduction in Y175, Federation Intelligence upgraded the Lyran Frigate/War Destroyer (with an NCA center) to follow suit, resulting in the NCL shown (as an SC3 ship). Though the need for DW and DW variants remained, some (in the Intell bureau) thought that a few of these ships would appear for additional firepower; however, there was some surprise when this expected NCA companion was never seen. This design was revisited once the HDW made its appearance, with the NCL being downgraded a bit (with a single disruptor on the two frigate center engines) to be styled as an SC4 class. Technically this ship could be referred to as a ‘King Alleycat’ (or even ‘King Cat’) following the ‘King Jaguar’ designation, but the ‘King Cheetah’ was preferred.
The NCL was seen as slightly better than the CW (the fourth disruptor replacing two forward flank Phaser-2s) with a bit more power (35 + 3 vs 32 + 3) and shielding (30 / 26 vs 30 / 24).

Variants would follow depending on where most of the alterations occurred, if in the outer sponsons, it would follow the DW, if in the center hull, then the CW/NCA changes would be mainly used. So the carrier variant (NLV) would be either 8 (DWV) or 12 (CVM) though a CVA-styled ship could hold up to 20 fighters (NAV?). For the PFT variant, it looks like using the WPF/NPF winglets would be used over the DWPs internal repair bay since more PFs would be deployed on the one ship. The most expected variants (from the Fed Intell view) was the scout (NLS) replacing some DWSs or the escort (NLE) replacing some CWEs.

F&E – NCL / A?? / 7/4 / ?? / 7? / Y175? / NCL(3) / From DW: 3, FF: 5 (min) / For CW?: 5 (5.5?) / 1.25 (1.35?) / Base Hull (NCL)

Lyran King Cheetah Advanced Technology New Light Cruiser (NLX)

As NCA class ships were being upgraded to X-technology, Federation Intelligence again designed a probable smaller companion based on the FFX/DWX design, resulting in the NLX. Originally based on the detuned (all frigate engines but with four disruptors) NCL to maintain its SC4 class rating, an upgraded design with CWX center engines and additional damage control elements (and the SC3 rating) was also introduced into the simulators. Shielding and fire control were based on what information was received on the Lyran HDWX rather then the CWX.

The most expected variant was once again the scout (NSX) as it would add one more special sensor plus additional power for standard operations.

F&E – NLX / A?? / 10/5 / ?? / 8 / Y188? / NLX(4) / From DWX: 4, FFX: 6 / For CWX: 10? / 10 / 2.5 / X-ship

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 04:18 pm: Edit

Was going to add ascii graphics but ...

This is adding a NCA center to a FF resulting in an SC3 NCL. For an SC4 (maybe) replace the DD engines with the NCA center with FF engines (-4 warp) and use the HDW single disruptor between the center engines. The fire control suite is CW based and the shielding is slightly better than the CW+ shielding.

The NLX is similar as it uses an NAX center with the FFX (again SC3). An SC4 version uses all FF engines and one centered disruptor. Fire control and shielding is based on the HDWX.

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 04:41 pm: Edit

Lyran NCL (ASCII - Better than nothing)

______________________________________________
__________FA_________FA__________FA__________
__________DS_________P1__________DS__________
__________[A]________[1][2]_________[B]___________
__________TN________BRID________TN____________
__FA_P1__[_]________[_][_][_]________[_]__P1-FA____
__+L_[3]___AX________LAB_________EM__[4]+R_____
___P1____[_]________[_][_][_]________[_]____P1_____
LS_[5]__F HL__BT__EG_HL_EG__AP__A HL__[6]_RS__
___P3__[_][_]__[_]__[1]__[C]_[2]__[_]__[_][_]___P3_____
LS_[7]__[_][_]__[_]__TN__[_]_TN__[_]__[_][_]__[8]_RS__
_____TC__AP_IM__[_]__[_]__[_]__IM__BT__TC_______
_____[^]__[_]__[_]__SH__[_]_SH__[_]__[_]__[^]________
________L W__[_]__[_]__[_]__[_]__[_]__R W__________
_______[_][_]__________PB_________[_][_]__________
_______[_][_]____DS___[_]____DS____[_][_]_________
_______[_][_]____[C]_________[D]____[_][_]_________
_______[_][_]___C W________C W____[_][_]_________
______________[_][_]________[_][_]________________
______________[_][_]________[_][_]________________
______________[_][_]________[_][_]________________
______________[_][_]________[_][_]________________
______________________________________________

Shielding as CW (30/26), fire control as CW.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 05:10 pm: Edit

One concern...

First (Gut) feelings are that each one of these ships would, of necessity, replace an NCA in Lyran service.

Does the capability of this ship warrant exchanging an NCA and DW for a CW and one of these?

Again, this is a knee-jerk first impression, nothing more.

By John Wyszynski (Starsabre) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 05:26 pm: Edit

This is the hull/engine configuration of the heavy war destroyer (HDW).

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Almost, this ship should have either 4 FF engines or 2 FF and 2 DD engines.

Jeff - not quite, basically it's an upgrade for the FF/DW (like the NCA is for the DD/CW). The limit is money and conversion ability. The gain is about the same, one disruptor and 4 phaser upgrades.

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Sunday, January 10, 2021 - 11:48 pm: Edit

The in-universe limit would be shipyards that could construct NCA center sections. This <i>is</i> an explicit limit, they can't be constructed in unlimited ground factories like PFs and Fighters can.

If they had a spare and no DD hull available to upgrade, I could see this being tried as a temporary expedient, but it seems a little unwieldy.

As for the phasers, the existing DW center section has Ph-1's already, but does not upgrade the 'pontoon' phasers past Ph-2.

Keeping the "standard" nacelle configuration (FF nacelles on the pontoons + DD nacelles on the center section) would add 4 warp boxes and a disruptor compared to the standard Jaguar. Probably go to a 3/4 movement cost (compared to 2/3 for the Jaguar) which still leaves a lot of spare warp power.

Compared to the standard Jaguar you're also getting 3 additional command boxes and a battery. Giving up Hull, Transporters, and Phasers.

What is really gained by this trade-off? Sacrificing Hull, Transporters, and Phasers for Warp, Command, and a Disruptor. It almost feels like you're trying to build a Fast CL without using hot-warp, but reversing the normal weapons tradeoff -- instead of trading a disruptor for a phaser, you're trading two phasers for a disruptor. And adding command facilities.

Maybe some sort of "Fast Flag CL"? Let's play with that option. What role would this ship play in the Lyran fleet?

Fast ships are generally employed as lone or paired raiders, slipping behind enemy territory to hunt convoys and wounded ships retreating from the front lines. Maybe this was conceived as commanding a "wolfpack" of Fast DW/DDs. But no Fast DW/DDs exist in the Lyran arsenal that I can think of right now.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, January 11, 2021 - 12:16 am: Edit

The phaser for disruptor swap makes this unusable as a fast raider. Also, fast engines are fast engines, not just more engines. Different technology.

The number of NCA center hulls is finite. If you are giving up an NCA you better get something for it.

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Monday, January 11, 2021 - 06:10 pm: Edit

True, but that was for ease of construction, doing a (unique) NCL center from the DW center would lose 2 hull (IIRC), which is the difference between the DW center an the CW center (and maybe one other system) ...

As for the phasers, that's the difference between destroyers (DW/CW) and cruisers (NCL/NCA) ...

[There might be a conversion that doesn't upgrade the outer phasers for a faster conversion time ... ]

The main why is keeping the companion on a similar level (FF/DW/NCL to DD/CW/NCA) ... and allows a FF/NCL upgrade when a DD/CW isn't available ...

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, January 11, 2021 - 06:46 pm: Edit

It can be built but not as a fast raider. I said that.