 March 11, 2009 - 7:44pm | Before I begin my question I have already come up with some answers, but I am interested in what other people think. My question is, How do assault carriers recover their fighters? I have discussed this at length with my wife who has a degree in nuclear engineering and is my science go-to girl and we have tossed around a few ideas. The main one is that if one is to stay true to the canon Knight Hawks rules, the recovery of fighters is a difficult concept, especially with the way ships are designed in regards to providing gravity. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this because it is science FICTION, but I am greatly interested in what others think. Take care C.J. |
 March 30, 2009 - 3:26pm | I see Imperial Lord played his games the same style like I have. The ships prefered to stay at a distance and any close range combat was always a big risk. Then with some Sathar using suicide tactic of ramming the larger ships with frigates carriers being the favored target, rocket batteries did end up getting a lot of use. But it's still prefered to deal with them at a distance because as the Sathar are coming in to ram they are still firing all the weapons they have. Pirates tend to avoid this practice as they want to live to enjoy the spoils of their raids. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
 March 31, 2009 - 4:21pm | Rocket Battery Defensive Fire? I thought RBs were an MPO weapon system.... No, Assault Rockets and Torpedoes are, but RBs are not MPO... Ohhhh, Shadow.....  "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 March 31, 2009 - 10:55pm | Right, an RB can fire defensivly. It's why I say come in at 4 hexes to launch ARs, to reduce the amount of defensive fire. It's also the reason why in my campaign a lot of fleet warships have exchanged their RBs for energy weaponry (re - the "Type FE" models I listed on the deck plans): increased firepower with more range. Although up until this time last year...I too was under the impression that an RB was a MPO. A lengthy discussion and chat session that was going on revealed otherwise, since it was a system I had not used much at all I had all but cast it aside at the time. |
April 2, 2009 - 3:46pm | LOL. No probs, the crew of the Lucky Date forgive you.... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 April 3, 2009 - 6:28pm | I was just saying... Starfrontiersman Issues 5 & 6. fighter against fighter or fighter against capital ship? I would like to see some KH rules that allow a fighter to come-in-close to a large ship and strafe it with a laser pod. The larger ship couldn't bring it's main guns to bear and would need some kind of point-defense-system, wether that is its own fighters or laser-pods mounted all over the ship. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
April 3, 2009 - 8:57pm | I haven't seen that episode of JAG, but I would say that the odds are pretty low in a modern situation. Air to air missile range in speed from Mach 2.5 to Mach 4.5 plus the speed of the fighter that launched it. Then you haved to take into account the small size of the weapon as well. So I would think that in order to shoot one down, you would have to start with a vector similar to that of the weapon just to have a chance of seeing it long enough to shoot. Coming from the side you could attempt to put a barrage in front of it and wait for it to fly into it I suppose. From the front, the cross section is so small, and the time window so short, that extreme luck would have to be on your side. This is my problem with the hex area and speeds in KH between fighters and much larger ships.Now for a capital ship that is a different story. Carriers have radar guided guns that spit out something like 3000 rounds a minute basically spewing such a dense line of projectiles that the spray them in front of an incoming missile, such as an Exocet, and wait for the missile to fly into the spray. Why the prejudice? Why can't fighters have radar- (or actually laser-) guided missiles or anti-ordenance lasers as is being equipped on todays modern fighters? Such things could easily be introduced in the magazine.View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
April 3, 2009 - 8:46pm | One concept that's being worked on right now is having a manned fighter serve as the controller for a flock of drones. That still holds some pretty intersting gaming possibilities. I was thinking just that as I was reading your post. That would be great. He can use the drones defensively as well to intercept damage for him.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 April 4, 2009 - 9:49am | Hiya. Reloading fighters from AC? Human Ships ---I think they have custom bots that exit the AC. They get up to speed to match the fighters "slow movement" where they use a specific fighter-to-bot code and frequency to line up exactly where they should be to load the rockets. When they are done, the return to the AC and the fighter gets back into the fight. Vrusk Ships ---The have a 'grabber arm', akin to their own in a way. These arms extend as the fighters come into range. They 'grab' the back of the fighter (it needs to flip around, obviously), and, once it has a hold, it simultaneously arms, refuels and computer updates important battle info. Yazarian Ships ---The AC 'holds' its fighters on the outside of it's hull during battle preparations (picture a pinapple, with each 'eye/spur' thing being an individual fighter docking bay). To rearm, a fighter flies up to the ship, matching speed, and lands. Strong nanomag locks grip the fighter, loading arms push rockets into the underbelly of the fighters. Fighter then gets back into the fight. Dralasite Ships ---Dralasite ships are very round and 'blobby', with small tubes connecting spherical modules. The fighter ships are also spherical. To reload, the fighters dock; they do this using a method called the "Philopean Tube" method. One half-sphere unhinges from the back of the AC. It reviels a sort of 'spiral funel' thing. The dral fighters aim for this and roll down it, into a straight rearming tube. This tube has magnetic strips that orient the ship the right way, slowing it down. As it slows down, rockets are deployed down the tube, rearming the fighter as it passes by...kinda like holding a cup of water out for a runner as he passes by. After rearming, the fighter is magnetically expelled from the ship (think magnetic version of a pin-ball shooter). Sathar Ships ---The Sathar fighter, rearm b...*ERROR: Classified information is not sanctioned!* *bzzzzz...CLICK!* ;) Yes, in my game each of the races has it's own ships, it's own designs, etc. Human ships are the ones shown in most SF books. Vrusk ships are long, with a very geometric order to it. Yazarian ships have very angular and "sharp-pointy-threatening" looks. Dralasite ships kinda look like models of various atoms, with round 'balls' conected by straight tubes. ^_^ pming ^_^ "...It's all in the reflexes..." Paul L. Ming |
April 4, 2009 - 11:53am | Hi, ebek, welcome to the site. Good observations, especially on how different races would apply the same basic philsophy. I'm working on another faction separate from the Frontier/Rim which uses drones instead of fighters for force-multiplying capability. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 April 4, 2009 - 1:56pm | That's definitely a cool idea. It would make the UPF pretty hard to coordinate though. If your fleet contained multiple types of AC's then you wouldn't be able to land on another ship if yours was destroyed. That's an itneresting problem for a battle. Do you take it farther, can a human ship be worked on at a dralisite shipyard? |
