The Sternmarine is looking for Strikecraft

[Skeelzania]

From the Ministry of the Skeelzanian Sternmarine, Smallcraft Department
As approved by Vice Admiral Vincent von Hriesebacker, Chief of Procurement

Member-states of the Extra-Solar Union Of Systems, a time of unprecedented opportunity is at hand. While Skeelzanians are naturally loathe to admit defeat, we must confess to having reached a roadblock in our current endeavor. Some of you may be aware that we have recently begun construction on a new class of carrier-dreadnoughts, which are substantially more powerful than our current line ships. However, a carrier-dreadnought is only operating at half its capacity when it has no strikecraft to carry.

In light of recent events, and general trends in warfare as a whole, Skeelzanian strikecraft have been deemed unsuitable to modern combat conditions. It is urgent that we correct this lapse as quickly as possible. That is why I write today to announce an open competition on a Military Contract, dubbed SKZSCC-0001. The goals of this Contract are thus:

1) For ESUS member-states to present new or pre-existing strikecraft designs to the Sternmarine, with the intent of the Sternmarine selecting one for purchase

2) For a contract to be worked out that would entail the member-state supplying Skeelzania with the chosen smallcraft, necessary spare parts, and personnel to assist in the training of flight crews and pilots

3) Working towards the eventual goal of having the chosen smallcraft being produced in mass, in Skeelzania, for local Skeelzanian use.

While this contract is being offered under a single name, there are in fact two separate components. The Sternmarine wishes to procure both a space-superiority fighter, as well as what is internally designated as a Torpedo Bomber. These two designs do not necessarily have to be from the same country; however, a pair of designs sharing some of the same parts and similarities of construction will be favored over two individually superior designs of some-what superior quality.

There are only a few concrete specifications that we may offer, the first being of size. The Migration class's launch capabilities were built somewhat above what was necessary at the time, to accommodate future strikecraft generations. However, they do place a cap on what can and cannot be launched. Any designs submitted should be no larger than 22 meters in length, 18 meters in width, and 14 meters in height. Anything within that can safely be launched from the current catapults.

Additionally, there are design-specific requirements.

For Strikecraft, the principal focus should be on space-superiority. It will be their job to escort the torpedo bombers, and to defend Skeelzanian vessels from strikecraft attacks. As such, the ability to fly within an atmosphere is not required, though it will be considered a plus. These craft need not be warp-capable, although the ability to perform short intra-system jumps is desirable. Armament is to consist of missiles, most likely antimatter-tipped, supplemented by gun or beam-weapon (note that this is subject to change by the review board if the proposed armament is found to be unsatisfactory for any reason).

Torpedo bombers' emphasis should be on survivability and ordnance delivery. The next-generation Skeelzanian torpedo as capable of delivering over eight pounds of antimatter on target, is three feet in length and 22 inches in circumference. A torpedo bomber should be capable of delivering at least two of these on target; higher numbers while maintaining performance will be viewed as a considerable plus. The ability to perform intra-system jumps is desired, so as to give the fleet a rapid hit-and-strike capacity.

Both of these designs should be rugged enough to survive launch by gauss-rail catapults, and recovery by magnetic-assisted landing on an enclosed flight deck. Additionally, ease of manufacturing will be considered a plus. Both designs should be capable of interfacing with standard Skeelzanian neural uplinking, or provide their own equivalent.

All designs are to be submitted to the Bureau of Procurement, SKZ Stermarine Branch.

[Sskiss]

Semi IC

The Sskiss as a whole could not help you. The main reason being that our tech base is too radically different from your own. At best, we could supply you with formulii and some schematics. We have considered joining you in the war against the Impiratus. However, some of our fleet is currently being utilized to protect our new colononial interests in another sector. We could probably spare a several "packs"* of fighter craft (of various sorts) along with some ground troops and perhaps auxillary vessels (troop transports, munition ships etc...) for the war effort.

* Each "pack" contains 12 craft

[Kanuckistan]

ooc:
What are you looking for, stats-wise, and what are you willing to fudge?

I feel like making a new fighter, but I'm not sure how viable goal 3 would be with our relative tech bases.

[Skeelzania]

While we appreciate the Sskiss offer, but must decline at this time. For the time being, Skeelzania is far removed from the war effort, and it is still not clear how we are to conduct the eventual joint-campaign with Ile Sorne. When that time comes, we will gladly accept Sskiss assitance.

OOC: @Kanuckistan

Never really had a developed fighter before, and I don't keep meticulous tabs on my tech-specs like I used to. The best I can really say is that I want something that is comparable in survivability to other front-rank fighters. I plan to make missiles my primary weapon on these things, so dog-fighting isn't as high on the list of priorities. Not going to make the mistake the Navy did with the Phantom, though; the fighters must have a gun.

These missiles I plan on using are shrunk-down versions of my antimatter torpedoes. They'll have a magazine of FloChips, each containing an antihydrogen, which they will use as both fuel and a warhead. The idea is that the energy output of antimatter is so great that they could still reach a target at considerably distance with enough punch left to be dangerous. So they'd have a reaction regulator for means of the engine and final detonation, some sort of targeting computer, and... let's say a gyroscope for directional steering. All that together is probably something 2/3s the size of a Phoenix missile (so 2.6 meters long). I'm assuming the Skeelzanian technology has advanced enough at least for that amount of shrinkage.

I based my general size specifications on the F-22, bumped up a couple of meters in each direction. Skeelzanian antimatter engines, at least, are rather large, so if we use my own tech that would take up a lot of the fighter's rear half. So I'm going to throw out the ballpark figure of this craft being able to carry twenty such missiles.

But the crux of the matter is whether a Kanuck-designed ship could be produced locally. Skeelzanian manufacturing is in fact rather advanced, but doesn't make much use of automation. There's no self-regulating, self-producing factories anywhere, so you're never going to see the 100% identical items you'd get if it was just robots making the things. But Skeelzania gets pretty close. Its possible, if the Kanucks are willing to allow it, that they could learn how to manufacture components locally that are derived at least in part from Kanuckistani tech. If not, the Skeelzanians might just settle for the spaceframe and whatever you'd be willing to throw in, and start shoe-horning their own tech in.

[Kanuckistan]

OOC:
Well, the problem with local production is actually materials technology - things like reactionless IDD drives and conversion reactors need SAPL, and that can only be produced in relativly secure facilities(in theory). To say nothing of what we'd make the hull out of. You'd have to atleast import a fair number of components.

Tho they'd last centuries, barring combat damage and accidents, so it's not actually that bad.


Um, your torps also seem kinda small - you'd think they'd be bigger than the missiles.


Also, had a bit of a flashback to this ugly old mutt:
http://i7.tinypic.com/67oii9z.jpg
http://i5.tinypic.com/4qedf1e.jpg

14x Dual Heavy Laser modules(28x total guns)
52x multi-role missiles
8x heavy missiles
4x dogfighting missile pods
12x dual-apature off-axis defence lasers
2x medium laser turrets

[Skeelzania]

OOC:
That. . . that certainly is a lot of weapons.

My theory with the torpedoes is that they're pretty barebones, and aren't carrying all that much antimatter. My standard ship-to-ship torpedoes carry the equivalent of eight pounds of the stuff. These missiles probably wouldn't carry more than half a pound of 'pure' antimatter, with the surrounding chip taking up most of the volume. The hope is that even a half pound of antimatter is sufficient to make them a threat to other fighters, as well as lightly armed vessels.

It's mostly a safety issue. FloChips are built to only 'engage' if their magnetic containment field is switched off, but if the rest of the chip is annihilated, that antihydron is just going to hit something else. A big fear among Skeelzanians is that there will be a catastrophic magazine detonation among their weapons. So on top of keeping them behind bulkheads for as long as possible, they don't shclup all that much around at any one time.

I'd rather have local-made fighters of comparative clunkiness to imported ones that would last forever. The expectation is that these will be used in combat, and suffer appropriate attrition.

[Kanuckistan]

OOC:
That. . . that certainly is a lot of weapons.

Interested?

The idea was to be hyper-modular - never really finished making it, tho.

My theory with the torpedoes is that they're pretty barebones, and aren't carrying all that much antimatter. My standard ship-to-ship torpedoes carry the equivalent of eight pounds of the stuff. These missiles probably wouldn't carry more than half a pound of 'pure' antimatter, with the surrounding chip taking up most of the volume. The hope is that even a half pound of antimatter is sufficient to make them a threat to other fighters, as well as lightly armed vessels.

The irony is that your torps are about the same yield as the anti-fighter formation missiles I used in an ancient RP. Not that it means anything, I just thought it was funny.

It's mostly a safety issue. FloChips are built to only 'engage' if their magnetic containment field is switched off, but if the rest of the chip is annihilated, that antihydron is just going to hit something else. A big fear among Skeelzanians is that there will be a catastrophic magazine detonation among their weapons. So on top of keeping them behind bulkheads for as long as possible, they don't shclup all that much around at any one time.

Yeah, that's a big reason why I use more expensive conversion bombs - even spontaneous neutronium decay is massivly less dangerous.

I'd rather have local-made fighters of comparative clunkiness to imported ones that would last forever. The expectation is that these will be used in combat, and suffer appropriate attrition.

Well, on the flip side, Kanuckistan is about the most stable economy in the galaxy you could import from. And you could offset it by stockpiling what parts you can't produce locally(and in a pinch, you can probably substitute much of it for lesser analogs).

[Skeelzania]

Its still a relatively new technology, so we just haven't had the chance to blown a hole through a planet by accident yet. Although I think I can understand why Sol wasn't entirely happy with me sticking a FloChip manufacturing plant/refueling station out beyond the orbit of Mars.

Good point about importing, though. If the craft is module enough, that would definitely work. The main hang up is that the Imperial Staff doesn't want to be beholden to a foreign nation, even if it is one that they've had surprisingly good commercial relations with. They would want to import a lot of parts, so that if there's any sort of dust-up, it'll be awhile before they fall back on the older fighters. Though it'd be nice if they had the chance to reverse-engineer some of this technology this time, even if it was illegally done

[Kanuckistan]

Its still a relatively new technology, so we just haven't had the chance to blown a hole through a planet by accident yet. Although I think I can understand why Sol wasn't entirely happy with me sticking a FloChip manufacturing plant/refueling station out beyond the orbit of Mars.

Good point about importing, though. If the craft is module enough, that would definitely work. The main hang up is that the Imperial Staff doesn't want to be beholden to a foreign nation, even if it is one that they've had surprisingly good commercial relations with. They would want to import a lot of parts, so that if there's any sort of dust-up, it'll be awhile before they fall back on the older fighters. Though it'd be nice if they had the chance to reverse-engineer some of this technology this time, even if it was illegally done

In retrospect, I could probably come up with analogs or replacement components you could produce locally if import was impossible - they wouldn't be as good, of course, and your pilots would probably have, shall we say, mixed feeling at trading an over-powered pulsed hawking reactor for an antimatter power plant.

If I gave it something like a conversion-laser or my neutral particle beams, say, you'd been to equip a different weapon without SAPL imports, but that's less of a problem.

[Skeelzania]

Maybe, but I don't really know the difference from one flaming tech-wank engine from another. I imagine they all feel like a massive kick in the pants.

It seems like a deal could be worked out, though. If you have any specs in mind (and more importantly, pictures - that's why I really build new ships at all) feel free to submit them. I think any problems arising from the difference in tech-base can be worked out. Although to be honest, I'm still not sure what you originally meant by things that could be "fudged."