[Spaceships] Type XVI orbital monitor
 

Type XVI orbital monitor (TL10^ limited superscience)

This desperately unsubtle spaceship is designed for planetary defence. It is meant to sit in orbit around a planet and engage approaching enemies at extreme range. The 3GJ UV laser can force an engagement at 100,000 miles, at which range no manoeuvring with the available technology is significant. It all comes down to gunnery, and this ship is all about gun.

The Type XVI monitor is built in a 3,000-ton unstreamlined hull 70 yards 'high' and 45 yards in diameter. Artifical gravity was not available to the designers, and spin gravity was not practical. When not under acceleration, the ships are intended to be occupied in free fall. So that it remains habitable while under acceleration, this vessel is laid out as a 'tail-lander', with decks perpendicular to the acceleration axis and the drives in the 'basement', pointing down.

Type XVIs have a limited-superscience antimatter plasma torch drive giving 1 gee of acceleration. The single tank of antimatter-boosted hydrogen allows combat maneuvring for five and a half hours at full thrust, or eleven hours at teh more usual desultory 0.5 gee. The monitors are not intended for planetary landing because their drive exhaust would be immensely destructive. They therefore carry an orbital shuttle for crew landings etc. Interstellar performance is non-existent.

Forward hull

[1] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[2] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[3] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[4] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[5] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[6!] Spinal weapon, 3GJ UV laser (part 1 of 3), $150M, —

Midships hull

[core!] Spinal weapon, 3GJ UV laser (part 2 of 3)
[1] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[2] Tactical array, $30M, —
[3!] Weapons, tertiary battery, $15M, —

30 turreted very-rapid-fire improved 300kJ lasers

[4] Defensive ECM, $30M, —
[5] Hangar bay, 100-ton, $300k
[6] Habitat, 20 cabins, $3M, 2

Aft hull

[core] Control room (Complexity 8, c/s 8, 6 control stations), $6M, —
[1] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $30M, —
[2!] Spinal weapon, 3GJ UV laser (part 3 of 3), — , —
[3] Engine room (1 control station), $1M, 2
[4] Power plant, antimatter (4 power points) $60M, —
[5] Fuel tank (150 tons antimatter-boosted water), $1M, —
[6] Reaction engine, antimatter plasma torch (1 g), $30M, —

Basic Stat block

PILOTING/TL10 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)
TL: 10^
Spacecraft: Type XVI orbital monitor
dST/HP: 100
Hnd/SR: -1 / 5
HT: 13
Move: 1 g. / 120 mi./sec.
SM: +9
LWt.: 3 000 tons
dDR: 150H / 30H / 30H
Occ.: 23 ASV
Load: 0
Cost: $530.4M
Refuel: $18M {note 1}

Crew

• Control room crew: 6
• Engine room crew: 2
• Turret gunners: 3
• Damage control: 6

Fit-out

Hangar bay

• SM+5 orbital shuttle

Habitat section

• Establishment (wardroom), 2
• Establishment (mess), 2
• Establishment (gym), 2
• Cabin (skipper) 1
• Office (skipper's day cabin) 1
• Cabin (exec) 1
• Cabin (engineer) 1
• Cabin (2 officers) 1
• Cabin (buffer & helmsman) 1
• Bunkroom (4 ratings), 1
• Bunkroom (4 ratings), 1
• Bunkroom (4 ratings), 1
• Bunkroom (4 ratings), 1
• 1-bed Sickbay with auto-doc, $0.1M, 1
• Stowage (5 tons steerage cargo), 1

Notes

1. The Type XVI-class was designed for a setting in which limited superscience production of antimatter provides antimatter-boosted fuels for $120,000 per ton at TL10^. At book prices for antimatter a ship such as this is not economic, and the class should be re-designed with a fusion torch engine

Re: [Spaceships] Type XVI orbital monitor
 

Turrets linked in 3 batteries?
So 6 open bunkroom slots, is this for Marines or just extra capacity?

Jeff

Re: [Spaceships] Type XVI orbital monitor
 

Yep.

Two watches of 11, plus the skipper. Damage control parties are pulled from the watch below, when & if. Battles are only expected to last a few hours anyway.

Re: [Spaceships] Type XIII orbital gunboat
 

Type XIII orbital gunboat (TL10^ limited superscience)

The Type XIII orbital gunboat is an economical and more versatile alternative to an orbital monitor. It can engage at long range with a UV laser, but also packs a particle beam for better punch at close range. (Or so the brochure says.)

The Type XIII gunboat is built in a 300-ton unstreamlined hull 30 yards 'high' and 20 yards in diameter. Artificial gravity was not available to the designers, and the vessel is too small for spin gravity. When not under acceleration, the ships are intended to be occupied in free fall. So that it remains habitable while under acceleration, this vessel is laid out as a 'tail-lander', with decks perpendicular to the acceleration axis and the drives in the 'basement', pointing down.

Type XIIIs have a limited-superscience antimatter plasma torch drive giving 1 gee of acceleration. One tank of antimatter-boosted hydrogen allows combat maneuvring for 5.5 hours at full thrust, sometimes spun out to 11 hours at a desultory 0.5 gee (though there is scant space for a second watch of crew). The gunboats are not intended for planetary landing because their drive exhaust would be immensely destructive, and are too small to carry a practical shuttle. They must either dock with orbital facilities or be supported by service craft.

Orbital gunboats are miserably cramped, and basically uninhabitable for an extended cruise. Two bunkrooms are installed as standard, nominally adequate for a two-watch system, but most navies make no attempt to put two watches aboard. The hammock space and kitchenette are often replaced with a comfort facility, or a single bunkroom and a sickbay with automed. Such re-equipped Type XIIs are kept in docks to launch at need, or sent out on one-watch patrols of no more than a few hours.

Forward hull

[1] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[2] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[3] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[4] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[5] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[6!] Weapon, major battery, fixed-mount 100MJ UV laser, $1.5M, —
[core] Control room (Complexity 7, c/s 6, 3 control stations), $0.6M, —

Midships hull

[1] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[2] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[3] Tactical array, level 8, $3M, —
[4!] Weapons, major battery, $1.5M, —

Turreted 100MJ particle beam

[5!] Weapons, tertiary battery, $1.5M, —

30 turreted very-rapid-fire 300kJ improved lasers

[6] Defensive ECM, $3M, —

Aft hull

[core] Power plant, antimatter (4 power points) $6M, —
[1] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[2] Hardened nanocomposite armour, $3M, —
[3] Engine room (1 control station), $0.1M, 1
[4] Habitat, 2 cabins, $0.3M, —
[5] Fuel tank (150 tons antimatter-boosted hydrogen), $0.1M, —
[6] Reaction engine, antimatter plasma torch (1 g), $3M, —

Basic Stat block

PILOTING/TL10 (HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)
TL: 10^
Spacecraft: Type XIII gunboat
dST/HP: 100
Hnd/SR: -1 / 5
HT: 13
Move: 1 g. / 120 mi./sec.
SM: +7
LWt.: 300 tons
dDR: 75H / 30H / 30H
Occ.: 8 ASV / 6+20 SV, depending on configuration of the habitat.
Load: 0
Cost: $47M
Refuel: $1.8M {note 1}

Crew

• Control room crew: 3
• Engine room crew: 1
• Turret gunners: 2
• Damage control: 2

Fit-out

Habitat section

Varies. Add $0.1M to cost for the variant with an automed.

Notes

1. The Type XIII was designed for a setting in which limited superscience production of antimatter provides antimatter-boosted fuels for $120,000 per ton at TL10^. At book prices for antimatter a ship such as this is not economic, and the class should be re-designed with a fusion torch engine

Re: [Spaceships] Type XVI orbital monitor
 

Some of your block test for the XIII talks about the XVI.

Re: [Spaceships] Type XVI orbital monitor
 

Mended. Thanks.