Early Years Web Tender
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R07: THOLIAN PROPOSALS:
Early Years Web Tender
Early Years Web Tender
This is a proposal for a YWT. It might be as simple as swapping the cargo module for a web charger module as on the WT
Maybe someone else has a better setup.
These ships could have stayed in service long after their obsolescence since they still worked and not until Y150 was there anything else to replace them with. Also, there's the benefit that all that had to be upgraded was the command and propulsion elements. The ubiquitous cargo pod setup with APRs and web generators could be transferred to the new command and propulsion unit.
Reasonable idea. Big potential problem is the fact that it's unarmed; it would need an escort between "Assignments." The normal escort, a PC, can do the same job as one (albeit not quite as well?) as well as many other jobs (patrol, security, etcetera).
A ship like this might be permanently assigned to a Base Station, but even there, in the face of a determined Klingon assault, it could be at a greater risk of capture, something that could spell doom for the Holdfast.
In another thread, I suggested an "Early Years Armed Freighter Web Tender" variant, which you (rightly 
) pointed out would be more capable of self-defense than the ship that was to replace it.
If you don't mind, though, I'd like to do a kind-of "Personal Fig Leaf" for that proposal?
Thanks.
The "Early Years Armed Freighters" sacrificed cargo space for their phasers, so it stands to reason that an "Early Years Armed Web Tender" would sacrifice APR for those phasers. This'd make it less capable of its assigned mission; pumping oogobs of power into Webs.
As such when "Modern" Web Tenders were deployed, their greater capability at their purpose task, supporting the Webs, would likely make them preferable to the earlier "Armed" ships, despite less self-defense firepower.
Besides, wouldn't the couple of extra guns on the "Early Armed Web Tender" make them (minimally) capable of supporting PCs in other roles? A capability that was rendered unnecessary by increased ship production and usable fools... Uhh, ALLIES?
Anyway, that's my 0.02 Quatloos worth on the subject.
(It's probably actually worth less than that... )
They're all just thoughts, yours and mine. My thinking is that the ubiquitous (I've been using that word a lot lately) cargo pod converted into a web charger would be easier to consider plausible.
As any WT would either be traveling from inside the Holdfast to a base, but no further, I'm guessing that the same justification for the earlynfreighters not being armed will still suffice.
It's often said that better arming a specialist ship gets it put on the front lines where it doesn't belong. With its opponents being Early Years ships, I wonder if this isn't a bug, but a feature. What can we do with an Attack Web Tender?
Web generators, phasers, plenty of power; not quite a pre-WYN Battleship. It could help PCs lay web. It doesn't need to hide behind web, with more shield reinforcement than anybody would believe. It could be a convoy escort, possibly even a Q-ship. With its tractor beam, it could be a commerce raider itself.
Jack, those ideas are reasons why I did NOT go in that direction. I want the YWT to be accepted, not rejected as being too powerful. It's only combat benefit is that it can put up a lot of shield reinforcement if caught in open space.
The YWT as it is currently proposed will help keep the Tholians from being overrun by an attacker without improving their ability to conquer. It's just too slow to aid in an assault.
The Pol rears its ugly head in Y115, the Web Tender shows up in Y150, the Federation cargo pod also shows up in Y150. So arguably the Tholians could have had the IDEA for a power pod earlier than Y150, but lacked the opportunity to initiate the experiment. Their own freighters were not capable of dropping (cargo) pods I guess so they did not experiment with the idea prior to Y150. I am myself not enamored of the idea and would point out that the ships (web tenders) are obviously hogs for fuel and demanding of "human supplies" to maintain station, e.g., support ships.
It might be helpful to look at the ship description for the WT. Although it's a variant of the small freighter it's "regarded as its own base hull because of the extensive modifications". So it's not just a "power pod" and I doubt the pod can be swapped with those of freighters.
Also the description notes "these ships never operated far from their bases" and (the) "crews actually lived on the bases and stayed in the ships only when they were deployed for action". So it does not sound like these ships were suitable for independent operations.
Small Freighter in ballast with three power skids can show up back in Y140. (Strong contender for "most useless ship".)
Steve, I hope you don't take this as my being argumentative. I'm not. I'm just pointing out more of what I found that guided me into the original submission. I'm trying to make this proposal as plausible as possible, and as easy to accept as possible. As always, this is your call.
Snippets from the Y2 Rulebook, (YR1.N1) EARLY FREIGHTERS: "The standard-sized cargo pod (R1.34) (this entry changes the date in Module G2, i.e., the civilian cargo pod was in service as early as Y65) was so efficient that it was eventually adopted by nearly every other empire in place of their own cargo pods." This tells me that there were 14 years that this galaxy had to standardize their cargo pods before the Tholians arrived.
"The cargo pod used by the early freighters was so successful that it was never changed and continued in use through the end of recorded history."
Nothing in (YR1.N1) mentions the Federation as (R7.10) WEB TENDER (WT) does.
The possibility exists that the Tholians could have captured some Klingon freighters upon their arrival and converted the cargo pods to the web charger variant. All they would have needed to do then was to construct the early freighter hull(s) to be compatible with the cargo pods so they could move through their own webs.
It also opens the window of a less useful variant that used the captured Klingon freighters for the pods. This would have made the first YWTs capable of charging webs, but not moving freely through them. I infer from the maintenance costs of pre-Y121 webs that a wedding cake would have only 2 rings. These first YWTs would have been let out of the inner ring and would have spent their time circling the web charging the middle (now outer) web.
I'm not sure where to find the POL, and I'm not sure its still in my collection since a calamity destroyed my entire paper collection, but as it is described as being "half the size of a fully forged patrol corvette", I'm not sure how much it would aid in maintaining an 18 hex early web.
Lastly, I would like to point out that the YWTs, or even WTs, are not fuel hogs when not in use. When they are in use, the fuel cost pales in comparison to the cost of replacing the base being protected. Also, the support ships are already servicing the base, I would expect the increased burden would depend on enemy action more than the crew of the YWT or WT.
According to YR1.0-7 in the Tholian MSSB the Tholians used captured Klingon freighters in the Early Years. Apparently these were plentiful because the Klingons had been staging freighters in the area in preparation for an invasion of Romulan Space. The rules states that changes to the freighters were minimal (life support, etc.) and they operated like standard EY freighters.
The rule does not appear to address if the captured freighters can pass through web but I think that is addressed in the MRB.
I would expect that captured freighters, like other captured ships, would not be able to pass through the web freely. The TK5 requires the Tholian front half to have that ability.
Some time ago, I asked about the Tholians converting a Home Galaxy Hive or Nest ship, or more particularly, the cargo ships from whence the Seltorians built Hive and Nest ships, to serve as a survival ark for one of their refugee groups.
Long and short of that thread was that the environmental alterations that would need to be done to one of those giants was essentially the same as rebuilding it from scratch.
Presumably the Tholians would have the same problem converting Early Years freighters for their own use, especially considering how, in the Early Years, any Tholian engineer worth anything would be assigned to trying to keep the Dyson Sphere from falling apart (further).
Also, at the risk of looking (even more) stupid (than usual ), I'd imagine the Tholian High Command would probably want EVERY ship that could fly be capable of fighting in defense of their territory, so perhaps building an Early Web Tender off of the Early Armed Freighter isn't so outrageous?
It would be from the lessons learned from how poorly they fared against Klingon opposition that may have been what led the Tholians to go with the (virtually) unarmed "Standard" Web Tender, with the additional value of more power for Webs, when the Klingons started deploying the fantastically advanced D6 and F5 classes of warships; expecting "Armed" Web Tenders to try to stand against those powerful warships was considered a waste of valuable Tholian lives...
About those captured Klingon Freighters. What if the minimum change was to take over or any thing that resembled or added a small security station to the freighters and continue to use Klingon Crews?
John: The "Tholian front half" idea was one reason the Shapeways Web Tenders were modeled with modified Tholian-style command sections scaled from a half-forged Skiff. (Just in case.)
The other reason was that the captured freighters probably did poorly with the thermostat cranked up for a Tholian crew. I envisioned a Tholian command crew in their toasty "boom" with Klingon slaves running the rest of the ship.
Jeff, I'm not so sure I agree with your first point. In the relatively small environmental space of an early years freighter, I would expect there to be few changes needed beyond converting meltable and combustible materials into more temperature-stable materials. Those Tholians who need to exit to tend the APRs and web generators could be wearing environmental suits. The rest of the time the crew could be in the base they are there to help protect.
The Tholian High Command might want everything that can move to also be able to fight, but that may not be practical if it ends up that there are gaps in necessary services, like powering a very power-hungry web. Sometimes the solution that works now is better than a superior solution you get a year from now. I would think the Tholians would have needed expediency first. It may have been a choice between having a second layer of web or not. I'm sure that a third layer would have been a step too far to hope for.
Dal, if the Tholians' having security stations on their ships to control Klingon crews was successful, that idea would have carried over into the later years.
Steven, I covered your point in my reply to Jeff.