Axis Nova
24-07-2005, 21:16
Well, Omz, you asked for something creative, now you've got it. You'd have been better off with the tac nuke. =p
Props to Sileetris for the pic.
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/424/skyshipbeamship0ym.jpg
Merethyn Class Gunship
Crew: 45 +20 Engineers
Length: 310m
Width: 268m
Height: 58m
Max Speed: 520mph
Min Speed: Hover
Landing Distance: VTOL
Powerplant: 3 Bubble Fusion Reactors generating 240MW each, various
thermocouples recycle waste heat. Various high capacity storage devices used in main weapon system not used for propulsion.
Lifting Devices: Flying wing hull, 4 pivoting electric turbine fans
Range: Crew supply for 3 months
Armament:
Fixed ventral mount particle beam cannon
3 40mm Quad-barrel 40mm linear autocannons
24 Buckler Anti-Missile point defense units
Countermeasures:
Buckler Anti-Missile Point Defense
Chaff
Flares
IR torches
Laser blinders
Radar System:
HSCDEADGR with crystal encoding
Close-in weapons driven by active radar with holographic imaging and crystal
encoding
Other Sensors:
Extremely powerful superlens telescope
High power, fixed beam active LIDAR telescope
Special Notes:
Ship must be stationary to charge and fire the particle cannon
Cost: Tons!
Background on particle cannon tech (in the order they were originally posted):
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=362943
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=363532
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=363790
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=367828
The Merethyn Class Gunship is Axis Nova's penultimate weapon-- it's ventral mounted charged particle beam cannon allows it to destroy almost any hardened target in a single shot shot, and is specifically designed to be effective against large targets such as so-called "super dreadnaughts". Power for the weapon is provided via microwave transmission from an orbital station.
The ship itself is armored well, like all of Axis Nova's airships, but is rather lightly armed-- it is supposed to engage single large targets and not enemy aircraft, so it's armament (aside from the particle cannon) is almost entirely geared towards antimissile defense. In addition, it is never deployed without an escort.
Since the power station can only target a stationary target, the ship must hover in one place to charge it's cannon, and fire it from this same position. The beam can either just be fired at a single target in order to obtain maximum damage, or the ship can rotate while firing, allowing it to sweep the beam against many smaller targets (this firing mode is generally only used to attack massed enemy ground formations).
While the offensive power of the Merethyn is extremely high, it does have a couple of weaknesses: due to the cooling requirements of the main cannon, it must cool for five to seven minutes after each shot before it can be charged and fired again. In addition, the ship must be careful when positioning itself-- if it is too low over a body of water when the microwave transmission reaches it, the steam explosion caused by leakage from the power beam could damage it. Finally, the two large auxiliary particle accelerators mounted on the port and starboard sides must release their housings to spin up when the weapon is being charged; while the window of vunerability is only a few seconds, if a weapon were to somehow penetrate the casing and damage the accelerator, an overload could be caused that would result in a misfire, causing a tremendous explosion and the destruction of the ship.
One item of interest is that due to the small size of this ship, it is capable of a water landing if neccesary, and can float.
It is worth noting that due to the size of the power beam from orbit, multiple gunships may be charged up if they are close enough to the ship that originally signaled for the transmission.
Props to Sileetris for the pic.
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/424/skyshipbeamship0ym.jpg
Merethyn Class Gunship
Crew: 45 +20 Engineers
Length: 310m
Width: 268m
Height: 58m
Max Speed: 520mph
Min Speed: Hover
Landing Distance: VTOL
Powerplant: 3 Bubble Fusion Reactors generating 240MW each, various
thermocouples recycle waste heat. Various high capacity storage devices used in main weapon system not used for propulsion.
Lifting Devices: Flying wing hull, 4 pivoting electric turbine fans
Range: Crew supply for 3 months
Armament:
Fixed ventral mount particle beam cannon
3 40mm Quad-barrel 40mm linear autocannons
24 Buckler Anti-Missile point defense units
Countermeasures:
Buckler Anti-Missile Point Defense
Chaff
Flares
IR torches
Laser blinders
Radar System:
HSCDEADGR with crystal encoding
Close-in weapons driven by active radar with holographic imaging and crystal
encoding
Other Sensors:
Extremely powerful superlens telescope
High power, fixed beam active LIDAR telescope
Special Notes:
Ship must be stationary to charge and fire the particle cannon
Cost: Tons!
Background on particle cannon tech (in the order they were originally posted):
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=362943
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=363532
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=363790
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=367828
The Merethyn Class Gunship is Axis Nova's penultimate weapon-- it's ventral mounted charged particle beam cannon allows it to destroy almost any hardened target in a single shot shot, and is specifically designed to be effective against large targets such as so-called "super dreadnaughts". Power for the weapon is provided via microwave transmission from an orbital station.
The ship itself is armored well, like all of Axis Nova's airships, but is rather lightly armed-- it is supposed to engage single large targets and not enemy aircraft, so it's armament (aside from the particle cannon) is almost entirely geared towards antimissile defense. In addition, it is never deployed without an escort.
Since the power station can only target a stationary target, the ship must hover in one place to charge it's cannon, and fire it from this same position. The beam can either just be fired at a single target in order to obtain maximum damage, or the ship can rotate while firing, allowing it to sweep the beam against many smaller targets (this firing mode is generally only used to attack massed enemy ground formations).
While the offensive power of the Merethyn is extremely high, it does have a couple of weaknesses: due to the cooling requirements of the main cannon, it must cool for five to seven minutes after each shot before it can be charged and fired again. In addition, the ship must be careful when positioning itself-- if it is too low over a body of water when the microwave transmission reaches it, the steam explosion caused by leakage from the power beam could damage it. Finally, the two large auxiliary particle accelerators mounted on the port and starboard sides must release their housings to spin up when the weapon is being charged; while the window of vunerability is only a few seconds, if a weapon were to somehow penetrate the casing and damage the accelerator, an overload could be caused that would result in a misfire, causing a tremendous explosion and the destruction of the ship.
One item of interest is that due to the small size of this ship, it is capable of a water landing if neccesary, and can float.
It is worth noting that due to the size of the power beam from orbit, multiple gunships may be charged up if they are close enough to the ship that originally signaled for the transmission.