Weapons on kzinti fighters

IKerensky · Post by **IKerensky** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:50 am

Hello,

I noticed there is a Kzinti Carrier ship card in communique 39, but there is no information on the weapons of their fighters. Anyone know what they are equiped with ?

Regards,

Nath.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:12 pm

Use the Klingon fighters.

Yes, the Kzinti actually have their own fighters. However, for the purposes here and the purposes of playtest, just use the Klingon fighters. (Either they Z-Y for drones or the Z-D for disruptors.)

IKerensky · Post by **IKerensky** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:33 pm

Thanks

From a historical point of view, what were the weaponary on the kzintis one ? I supposed they were given Phaser-G because of the hydran technical help.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:47 pm

No, the Kzintis never had phaser-Gs, except in their wildest dreams.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:21 pm

From an historical point of view, the Kzintis used the same weapons as the Klingons: Ph-3s and drones, with the extremely rare exceptions of disruptors and Ph-2s.

Seriously, the Kzinti TADS and Kzinti Z-Y (the most common and prevalent late-war fighters for both sides) were nearly (if not actually) identical in their performance characteristics. If FC, they will be identical (in their performance).

The only empires that ever used Ph-Gs were the Hydrans (on everything) and the Federation (on a very few, very rare things). No one else ever made workable (much less production) copies.

IKerensky · Post by **IKerensky** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:45 pm

Well, I was under that impression because the info I read about the 4 power war tell that it was the Hydrans that help Kzintis develop fighter technology, so I assumed they were based on the Hydrans fighter.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:40 pm

IKerensky wrote:Well, I was under that impression because the info I read about the 4 power war tell that it was the Hydrans that help Kzintis develop fighter technology, so I assumed they were based on the Hydrans fighter.

Nope, didn't work that way.

The information was along the idea of how to truly weaponize shuttlecraft, not the weapons to be specifically carried. The actual design and weapons would be purely Kzinti; especially on attrition units like that.

gambler1650 · Post by **gambler1650** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:15 pm

A bit of historical and fighter background, which might be wrong in some of the details.

The Hydrans and Kzintis didn't really 'interact'. They were co-belligerants because they both were traditionally enemies of the Klingons and Lyrans. However, the Hydrans were separated from the Kzintis and Federation because the Lyrans, Klingons (and Tholians) were between the Hydrans and the Federation/Kzintis.

The Hydrans developed the first fighters in Y135 or so, and these were deployed on many ships of many different sizes, but generally the Hydrans didn't have any true carriers for quite awhile.

The Kzintis were the first empire to use true carriers (I believe) and developed their fighters primarily as a way to get more drones in space in a battle. Because of the positions of the two empires, the Hydrans and Kzintis never really directly interacted except late in the General War (Y178+), well after the development of fighters and carriers for most races.

The Hydrans provided gatling technology to:

The Federation and the Lyran Democratic Republic, but never to the Kzintis and no Kzinti ship or fighter (or for that matter, any other empire's ship or fighter - excepting of course the Orions) carried a Gatling phaser.

Dan Ibekwe · Post by **Dan Ibekwe** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:25 pm

I'd expect that the Hydrans and the Kzinti were able to communicate (at a steep price) by using Orion middlemen.

Dal Downing · Post by **Dal Downing** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:47 pm

Dan Ibekwe wrote:I'd expect that the Hydrans and the Kzinti were able to communicate (at a steep price) by using Orion middlemen.

I am sure they did but I will bet there is no way in a frozen hades they would trust Gatling Phaser Technology to a Pirate... Improved Compact Warp Engine designs maybe.

gambler1650 wrote:The Federation and the Lyran Democratic Republic, but never to the Kzintis and no Kzinti ship or fighter (or for that matter, any other empire's ship or fighter - excepting of course the Orions) carried a Gatling phaser. (at a steep price) by using Orion middlemen.

The LDR was Bribed with Gatlings ( I secretly belive the Hydrians just sent them a Freighter or 2 full of Gatlings and didn't tell them how to build them). The Pirates flat out steal Gatlings systems they don't build them. And the Feds "Developed" them (Or reversed engineered them from the only Knight to survive the Expedition...) and even then they were hideously expensive to build, thus they were restricted to Carriers and Escorts only. As far as fighter gatlings go only the Front Line Heavy Carriers or Major Members Guard Units received them so there really was not that many of them floating around.

Also remember if you are going to run a Four Powers War your Fighters are going to be Speed 8 and are only going to carry a phaser 3, 2 Drones or 2 Fusion Charges and would likely have only 6 or 8 hit points.

Dan Ibekwe · Post by **Dan Ibekwe** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:19 pm

Dal Downing wrote:
Dan Ibekwe wrote:I'd expect that the Hydrans and the Kzinti were able to communicate (at a steep price) by using Orion middlemen.
I am sure they did but I will bet there is no way in a frozen hades they would trust Gatling Phaser Technology to a Pirate... Improved Compact Warp Engine designs maybe.

You would if you don't tell him what it *is*; and one set of encrypted blueprints (or any other kind of data) looks pretty much like another. Especially if it's concealed in a book of recipies for fried Klingon's giblets (with full page colour illustrations).

In any event, if a pirate would steal one thing, he'd steal the other.

In either case he'll never get another smuggling contract from anybody.

The point simply is that the Hydrans are not hermetically sealed off from the Kzinti (or anyone else). If the Kzinti didn't use gatlings and the Hydrans didn't use drones ultimately it's because they chose not to (and because technology sloshing would mess up the game).

terryoc · Post by **terryoc** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 12:16 am

They could send missions down the Neutral Zones, they don't need pirates to do it for them.

Dan Ibekwe · Post by **Dan Ibekwe** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 2:06 am

Good point, well made.

I kicked around with a 'Malta convoy' type scenario a while back, with Kzinti and/or Hydran convoys running the gauntlet through the Neutral Zone.

I thought it might work better in the post-ISC period when the Neutral Zones were wider. But...why the heck not?

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:18 am

Wouldn't an armed (or unarmed) mission up/down the neutral zone between (assuming) the Klingon and Lyran border potentially provoke a response from one of those two powers (pre or concurrent with the General War)? Might make an interesting scenario

Dal Downing · Post by **Dal Downing** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:14 am

Just to let you know your not completely crazy with this ideal...

...In the year 2580, as the General War was reaching new heights of savagery, the Orion Shipyard in the WYN Cluster desperately needed a shipment of special high technology equipment to complete the construction of several new ships. The shipment had to be brought all the way from Federation territory: four previous convoys had been trapped and destroyed.

Finally, the Orions and WYNs turned to a renegade Lyran, who was known as "Red Fur" because of his unusual rust-colored pelt. Red Fur agreed to deliver the shipment in exchange for a brand new Battle Raider to replace his aging Raider...

This is Mini-Campaign T6.0 from Module C1 it consist of 4 to 6 scenarios and victory is determined by number of Cargo Boxes Red Fur gets to the Cluster.