Hydran Carrier

Jon Lawson · Post by **Jon Lawson** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:47 pm

Hi, it's my first post here so here goes.

I am going to be running a campaign soon with a friend on a particularly large scale. The problem I have is replenishing my fighter groups on the front line, having decided it was unrealistic to allow them the ability to form their own fleets for long range space travel.

What I really need is a carrier ship to ferry my stingers from the shipyard(s).

I understand there may be plans for Hydran carriers, is this true? Otherwise has anyone already mocked up any designs up for their own use?

I have used a large freighter as a template ship and replaced its cargo for shuttle bays as a default option but would be interested to see if anybody else has had a go at doing this, or has any suggestions/ reference pages I could browse.

Thanks...

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:54 pm

Well, a couple points.

Such a ship is not, techincally, a carrier. It is a "conveyer" or generic cargo transport. The reason is because the ship is just transporting the fighters as stored cargo, not as deployable combat assets.

As such, any existing cargo ship can handle the task as they currently exist, with no modifications.

Or, since there are not many "logistics" type ships in Federation Commander anyway, you are probably better off just ignoring the direct effects of the issue (i.e. the ships) and decide on a background limitation for logistics (i.e. how many fighters can be resupplied to ships on the front). Quite frankly, I don't think you would be worried about which ships are used to carry drones to the front. In this case, logistically speaking, fighters are just really big drones.

Now, if what you want is a carrier that carries gobs of fighters that can also directly launch them into combat, then, no, such a ship has not yet been introduced into Federation Commander.

Jon Lawson · Post by **Jon Lawson** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:56 pm

Thanks for the reply,

The logistics part of our campaign is quite important (ships collecting resources from planets etc) so the whole transport thing is quite a big part and will allow for nice convoy scenarios etc.

I had thought of transporting the fighters as cargo but it turns it into quite a fragile package. I was really just wondering if anyone, anywhere had come up with a suitable carrier alternative.

My main issue is with getting the points value right for such a ship that can launch fighters if need but is not designed to engage in hostile actions as an agressive force. My only thought is to keep its shields low, or limit its launch bays so it can't just dump a load of stingers in one go but still has a fighting chance.

I guess I will just have to protect those convoys well and use freighters for now and hope such technology is developed while the campaign runs

Jon Lawson · Post by **Jon Lawson** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:00 pm

mjwest wrote:front). Quite frankly, I don't think you would be worried about which ships are used to carry drones to the front.

I assumed they were replicated on the ship. Now you have given me ideas...

junior · Post by **junior** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:05 pm

Auxillary Carriers are standard ships for all races in Starfleet Battles. They're basically a freighter with enough cargo boxes turned into shuttle bays to allow them to carry 12 (small) or 24 (large) fighters. They're generally used to shuttle fighters to carriers at the front lines (and possibly carry very badly damaged fighters back out of the combat zone). They're also sometimes used as convoy escorts in particularly dangerous areas (i.e. near the front lines of the war, or in an area with a particularly bad pirate problem). This is the ship it sounds like you're looking for.

One thing to remember is that Auxillary Carriers don't have launch tubes for the fighters. Thus, unlike with the Hydran hybrid ships, these ships are forced to launch their fighters at the standard shuttle launch rate. As a result, it can take a while for them to get their entire fighter wing deployed.

Jon Lawson · Post by **Jon Lawson** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:11 pm

That sounds perfect.

Thank's for the help, I will look in to it.

Magnum357 · Post by **Magnum357** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:27 pm

I agree with Junior on this. There was heavy debat about adding Carriers and Fighters to Fed Commander (with many good reasons) and finally it was decided just to keep it a "Boarders of Maddness" option (at least for now). But you do have a pretty good question on how do you logistically resupply Hydran Ships with Fighters.

I think that Auxilary Carriers are a great solution your problem and if you want other Empires to have some Carrier/Fighter units aswell. Unfortunetly, they are barely armed for combat purposes, but no carrier would be without some small escort ship (Frigate or Destroyer), and it is much easier to convert a Freighter into a Carrier then a Warship. And another posivitive about Auxilary Carriers is that they are all basically the same point level wise across all Empires.

Jon Lawson · Post by **Jon Lawson** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:50 pm

They sound ideal for what I need them for, The slow launch means they are not really a combat ship but can at least unload a fighter every impulse and help out if attacked, rather than the sitting duck option.

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:07 am

A fighter every impulse doesn't exactly sound like a slow launching option to me. A freighter with 12-16 fighters will have them all in the air in two turns.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:21 am

Jon, last night I also mentioned Fast Carrier Resupply ships - I think, having looked at them, they were used to resupply the carriers groups with consumables such as drones, warp packs and chaff pods and such, but not fighters.

If I'm wrong, no doubt someone will quickly correct me

And quite right too.

Edit: I'm wrong. I've just read page 5 in SFB Module R6 (The Fast Warships) and it says there that they were '...designed specifically to carry replacement fighters (and supplies for them) to support the carrier groups...'

They had a 'minimal capacity to operate fighters' and a limited Aegis fire control system, something we kind of already have in FC because of the way that seeking weapons are dealt with in this game.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:37 pm

Does anyone please know which SFB module(s) the Aux Carriers were in?

Once I know that, we can get on with looking at converting them to FC for Jon's campaign....

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:42 pm

Jon Lawson wrote:The logistics part of our campaign is quite important (ships collecting resources from planets etc) so the whole transport thing is quite a big part and will allow for nice convoy scenarios etc.

In fact, from what Jon was telling me, the freighters are just about going to be the heart of the system. Which is actually very realistic; the whole point of controlling the 'seas' [ok then, space] is to facilitate your own commerce/resupply/whatever while hopefully disrupting your enemy's same.

Fighting other warships, attacking bases, all that sort of stuff is fine but the real meat of military naval operations is the commerce protection/disruption.

Just ask the people who try to sail past Somalia....

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Somalia/

Post by **Steve Cole** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:06 pm

"A freighter with 12-16 fighters will have them all in the air in two turns."

Not unless you are REALLY close to a planet!

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:12 pm

Steve Cole wrote:"A freighter with 12-16 fighters will have them all in the air in two turns."

Not unless you are REALLY close to a planet!

Everyone's a comedian . . .

sbartholome · Post by **sbartholome** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:19 pm

Kang wrote:Does anyone please know which SFB module(s) the Aux Carriers were in?

Once I know that, we can get on with looking at converting them to FC for Jon's campaign....

I would assume J1. (Yep, there is an AxCVL and AxCVA.)