Lit Fleet Junkie Flagship- The technical discussions of the GFFA (Capital Ships thread Mk. II)

I think the heavy turbos are based on the ones on the ISD Mark I, the ions on the Echo Base cannon. Though I haven't scaled them yet.

 

The heavies are from the ISD-I for sure; the 3D model and available pictures of a heavy turbolaser cannon are too much of a precise match to not be the same thing. I would argue the ion cannon comparison to Echo Base's based on the the fact that the ion canon we see on the model is roughly equal to size of the heavies for a ISD -I. The ion canon for Echo Base took out a ISD-II...the amount of energy to fire each ion cannon wouldn't hold enough power left to effectively power the rest of the weapons. We're talking the difference between a larger base reactor and one for a ship that has to power other systems and can't afford a power shortage in deep space.

As for the smaller weapons, I would say look like smaller turbolasers (like that for a CR90.Corvette) and generic laser cannons for starfighter defense.

A question to bring in mind is that this ship's looks more heavily armed then a SSD. While a SSD may have more weapons, the Assertor seems to pack more of a punch per weapon emplacement and is 1/3 the size of a SSD.

 

Echo Base enjoyed being stationed on an ice planet that acted as a giant heat sink. Guns and shields would be a lot more effective than on a relatively limited heat sink like a starship's superstructure.

118 Echo Base-scale ion cannons and the equivalent of almost 113 ISD-Is in terms of turbos. If they can all fire at once on the maximum setting, that makes one Assertor the equal of 231 ISDs in firepower. If the ISDs can knock each other out with one barrage each, which I'm not sure of.

 

Fractal said that the Assertor was equivalent to 300-something ISD's. Still looking through his thread for the exact number. I've just been very busy today.

 

I am sure the designers of the Executor made similar claims before you know their trophy ships kept getting blown up by a few thrown together capships and fighters.

 

Hey,

I don't normal post on forums, more of a passive reader of them but I have finally started reading the New Jedi Order and I am up to Force Heretic. I was very surprised to read about the SSD Guardian just cruising around keeping Cal Omas safe. Where the hell was she during the first few years of the war? And for that matter what was the Viscount doing after its brief appearance in Vector Prime?

Would I be right in assuming that the Viscount was kept in defense of Coruscant and then fell back to Dac? And perhaps that the Guardian was part of the fleet forces that are frequently mentioned as being held back to protect important political worlds such as Bothawui?

I checked the Wookiepedia and the Essential Guide to Warfare, and for such powerful ships they don't appear to have been very active at all during several years of galactic warfare.

Thanks

 

The NJO is odd in that respect. Other than the typical ISD/Mon Cal Cruisers they rarely used big ships. The Lusankya was sacrificed, but the Star Defenders, Guardian, and any other SSD's lying around (along with the New Class from the Black Fleet Crisis) were rarely seen.

The typical explanation is in fact that they were held back for protecting important worlds. Just rather odd that even then they aren't seen much.

 

The majority were kept in local forces where the Empire had used them before. Limited by being allowed to be used only in those areas. I reckon they'd be places where the YV bypassed, hitting softer targets instead, which is why the majority of battles deal with cruiser/Star Destroyer-level ships.

 

^This.

 

NRDF doctrine for uberships was different than that of the Empire. Massive capital ships like the Viscount-class Star Defender and captured SSD's were used as essentially mobile battle stations for protecting key worlds. The handful of dreadnoughts that the NR possessed were, like we saw at Dac during TUF, assigned as the centerpiece of key world defenses. The only other time the NRDF deployed their dreadnoughts was when faced with them from an opponent, such as Ackbar using the SSD Guardian to lead the Third & Fifth Fleets again Pellaeon at the end of the GCW.

--Adm. Nick

 

The author's pen may be mighty, but I think the dreadnoughts had their day off screen/page

 

Thanks all for the replies, it was a question that just stuck in my head while reading.

 

The authors may have been inspired by the way real-life dreadnoughts worked- feared, but not actually doing much.

 

Which is pretty much how the HMAS Australia performed in WW1. It didn't do anything but it did scare the German East Asia Squadron out of the Pacific.

 

She also captured one German collier, which was on its way to supply SMS Dresden... But yeah, she had an uneventful war.

 

Skywalker_T-65, ant progress on the confirmation of the model? Also, where did you get the information for the weapons? Is there a link to a web site?

So, if I'm looking at this right, we have the following:

• 376 (720-teraton) Heavy turbolaser turrets
• 2132 (240-teraton) H9 dual turbolasers (they don't look like the XX-9 heavy turbolaser)
• 280 (240-teraton-ion cannons) Ion cannons
• 2048 (40-teraton) Laser cannons-grade (anti-starfighter intended purpose???)

 

Yes historical there have been dreadnoughts/battleships that were duds or paper tigers, but there was also success stories. Though I would equate the Star Wars dreadnoughts to the largest or most powerful ships in any era of history.

Personally, I find it rather silly that far too often superweapons and large conventional forces are thwarted by sabotage, a glaring weakness, or just blind luck. Much rather have some all out battles.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Viribus_Unitis

 

I didn't say it couldn't happen, but I prefer seeing them go down in a blaze of glory of a more frequent basis. Reminds me of this as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Alexandria_(1941)

 

Bravo

I haven't had wifi to look at the model on my laptop lately. I'll do that when I get the chance.

As for your numbers...I'm not sure what exactly Fractal based his quad-cannons off of (the 240's). And the 40's are ISD-2 style weapons. Octuple heavies. The anti-fighter turrets are SO small (compared to the model) that even at Fractals level of detail...you just can't see them.

IIRC he said somewhere in the thousands. That's another thing I need to check when I have my computer. And remember...the larger numbers are barrel count. It's:

188x 720 teraton (dual heavies)

533x 240 teraton (quad heavies)

256x 40 teraton (octuple heavies)

70x 240 teraton Ion Cannons (four barrels per mounting)

Still need to confirm those numbers, though they aren't THAT far off IIRC.

 

I'd like to see something like the Battle of Jutland.

 

a) It's a consequence of the genre. Star Wars is space opera, and frankly it makes for a better story. For a hard sci-fi reverse, I'd recommend the first half of "Foundation and Empire" where the heroes accomplish absolutely nothing while a massive army is defeated by historical forces set in motion two hundred years prior.
b) The more complicated the device, the more it's prone to break down or have a weakness. That's a consequence of real life as well as sci-fi. It wasn't that the Death Star had a weakness - I'm sure it had hundreds of weaknesses that careful sabotage or intricate plans could've done. They needed a weakness that could be used immediately, with starfighters.
c) Historically, that's how battles sometimes end up. The Battle of Antietam - and the thwarting of General Lee's first invasion of the North - happened because the Union stumbled across a detailed Confederate order that was accidentally left behind. If it had been fiction, people would be bemoaning 'how unrealistic'.
d) Sometimes, bigger isn't better. Titanic would be the obvious example, but a better military one would be the Yamato.
and lastly -
e) You forgot "The Force". Vader did warn them...

 

Yes... And if ever a story needed to be told.... I mean, why the hell isn't a story built around this?

 

I would love to see that slugfest immortalized in a story - certainly that campaign being fleshed out was one of my favorite parts of the EGTW (right behind the post-Clone Wars campaigns).