Hi folks,
Now that the word is out on what the Horde actually is I thought I should
say a few things about the design.
I tried to get the flavor of the old book 2 small craft into the Horde.
Thus there will be appearing (when Rob is finished editing my designs)
all of the small craft from that ancient text with the exception of the
standard fighter. (If there is a request for one I will make one up)
All the craft have sufficient controls for the mounting of a turret.
I allowed sufficient controls for a triple turret installation.
Please note that installing a laser will severely reduce the maximum thrust
]
available because the laser is drawing power normally allocated to the
engines. In most cases there is sufficient power output in the fusion
plant to power only one laser, where there is a 500MW reactor, there are
sufficient controls for two beam lasers and a missile rack.
In cases where there is less than 250MW the installation may not mount lasers
but may mount up to three missile racks.
In the majority of the cases there is only sufficient power for one laser
in these cases a triple turret may be mounted with a beam laser and two
missile racks. (A pulse laser and sandcasters require fewer controls so
they are no problem.)
In all cases the addition of a laser will reduce the engine performance
rather drastically. But if a single laser is installed, no design's engine
performance will fall below 1G.
The exception to this is the shuttle. If 2 lasers are put in the shuttle,
the engines will NOT funtion.
As to the agility of the craft. Well in almost all cases, there is No
power left over after all the systems are powered. (Much to Rob's
annoyance I specified the engine output to eight significant figures which
means the engine size was accurate down to the cubic centimeter level)
He has since edited out this little practical joke)
If you believe that agility comes from "excess" power then all the designs
have agility zero. But of course in combat, the pilot will use the
emergency agility and the agility goes back to the listed figure.
(Historical note: The agility debate of a month ago or so started when Rob
and I began trying to agree on how to calculate the agilities for the
Horde. Our concencus was sent to the TML, and that is what I used in the
designing of the Horde.)
Another note if you wish to arm your small craft: There is no volume set
aside for a turret. Any turret would presumably be added on to the ships
total volume, while fixed mounts would be subtracted from the cargo space.
Since Hangers for small craft are 130% the size of the craft I wouldn't see
much of a problem in dockin arising out of the increase in volume.
Pop turrets would of course be subtracted from interior volume (cargo space)
Fuel notes: Most craft have a duration of 15 days. That should be sufficient
for most interplanetary operations. If you want more, use the rules in the
ref's manual for installing collapsable or demountable fuel tanks.
Sensors: At TL9 EMS is not available. Thus I tried to make up for it with
what I thought an interplanetary craft might require as a minimum. All
weather radar (planetary range) A radar direction finder for tuning in on
another planets navigation beacons during interplanetary flights, And (since
there are no telescopes in the sensor section) I put in a light Amplification
sensor to allow you to track your destination (presumably a planet)
At TL 10 and 11 EMS systems are so large (read expensive) I put in a
continental range Passive system. If you can't see a PLANET with a continenta
l range system well... The haven't described a continental system very well
have they? (For heavens sake you can see em with binoculars!) Anyway, I don't
see this sub stitution as being a problem.
The prices on the ships do not include architects fees (It is a standard craft
after all) But neither do they contain the 20% discount for the large
number of craft produced. Players buying it out of the showroom will be
(or might be) subject to this discount. They have after all been produced in
LARGE numbers therefore the discount will normally apply.
TL 16? TL 17? Well, that was kind of a joke... I just wanted to see what would happen. I briefly played with the anti-matter powerplants, but they would
have made the craft enormously expensive to fuel. (Not to mention difficult)
Stick with fusion, if you get a fuel hit, your ship doesn't vaporize!
>From what I see a TL 21 small craft should perform virtually identically as the
TL 17 one. The weight and volume of the electronics is the only thing that changes in the craft (as they are set up) {NO I DON'T PLAN TAKING THESE THINGS UP
TO TL 21!!!}
I hope they are useful to you all.
Scott Kellogg
(one of the three Hordesmen of the apocolypse)
"Society is now one polish'd Horde,
Formed of two mighty tribes,]
The Bores and Bored."
Don JJuan canto XIII st 95
George Noel Gordon
Horde Byron...
By the way, now that we have admitted the source of our mysterious
signatures and Hordendous puns, perhaps Bertil wil be so kind as to translate
the Zhodani that appears after his signature...?
"He's mad that trusts the tameness of a wolf, a Horde's health, a boy's love,
or a Horde's oath"
King Lear