NationStates Jolt Archive

With Majiirian, Arbiter, and Avatar-II chassis and refits now rolling off the shipyards in record numbers, and the cheaply-produced supermonitors such as the IFV Iksander Shah ((coming soon!)) patrolling the spaceways close to home, FleetCom's emergency refit team now began to turn their attention to the smaller vessels of the Intergalactic Feazanthian Navy. These vessels, ranging from frigates to tiny fighters, had suffered grievous losses at the hands of the Milky Way's alien powers. While innovations (such as the Avatar armor scheme and the SENTINEL shield system) aboard supercapial ships had increased their survivability and had allowed them at least some chance against the superior enemy technology, ships that could not sport such innovations were slaughtered en masse. As casualty reports rolled in, it was decided that something had to be done to increase the value of these important but oft-overlooked fleet assets.

Aside from the Acolyte heavy interceptor, the backbone of the IFN's picket defense had been the Brushfire assault frigate since the Collective War nearly seventy-two standard years previous. With a pair of burst-fire kinetic turrets loaded with special "splinter" rounds, the Brushfire performed adequately against the Collective's swarming tactics, but were too random and inaccurate against the highly-maneuverable Milky Way fighter craft. Additionally, the old Brushfire lacked any real defense against capital craft. Combined with the low effective range of the splinter rounds due to detonation signal degradation, this made Brushfire frigates tempting targets for enemy fire.

For the Brushfire refit, in order to improve battle survivability while keeping its usefulness as a picket defense ship, the weapons systems had to be completely overhauled. The oversized kinetic turrets were scrapped in favor of a quartet of newer "Shrike 7"-series 100mm autocannons. These were seen as an improvement over the Brushfire's "flak" cannons, as it increased the effective weapons' range against strike craft, and the rapid fire allowed for fast reacquisition of targets. The large size of the projectile also allowed the vessel to fire in support against larger capital ships. Supplementing the autocannons in this role is a 3.6 gigawatt Enhanced Pulse Ion Cannon (EPIC) in a fixed bow mount, and four single-cell launchers for 300 kiloton lightweight capital attack missiles (CAM300). While FleetCom had no illusions that these new frigates would be tearing apart alien supercapitals, it was decided that these weapons would give the frigate expanded defenses against larger vessels while still keeping it cost-effective enough to be mass produced.

Because the Brusfire refit was still intended to be a picket vessel, FleetCom declared it prudent that the warship be equipped with an expanded CIWS package. The EPIC system had proven extremely effective at pinpointing fighters and heavy munitions on the heavier vessels of the "Emergency Refit", and it was determined that they could be put to even greater use on the more maneuverable vessel. Six 1.8 gigawatt EPIC systems were placed on the warship's stern, a move considered nearly excessive by the more frugal minds of FleetCom. These are supplemented by two gimbal-mounted 45mm autocannons, one mounted on either side of the hull. Rounding out the secondary armament is an improved missile system, replacing the external AGM-24 "Banshee" missiles with a pair of "Yellowjacket" SRAM rapid-fire interceptor missile tubes.

The armor and shield systems aboard the frigate have been completely reworked. While the old model simply had sixty centimeters of Titanium-A battleplate to defend it from attacks, the new frigate sports an advanced mix of composite carbon-titanium-A underlayer, fibersteel mesh, an outer ceramic shell, and optional reactive armor paneling for environments with high kinetic damage potential. The shield, formerly a bubble of charged plasma held in place by an intense magnetic field, was swapped out for a more advanced "Bulwark" system, which consists of a highly concentrated electromagnetic field with its focal point within the ship. The shield is extended out from the hull several dozen meters, and the field itself is designed to be strong enough to stop or at least slow all forward motion from incoming projectiles, and to disrupt the cohesiveness of energy weapons. Energy released by weapons' fire into the shield is dispersed across the entire bubble, which can lead to the system overheating in extended exposure situations. The system, while expected to be at least an even match to alien counterparts, still lags far behind the more advanced SENTINEL system. Unfortunately, the frigate chassis is still incapable of carrying an A.I. of sufficient strength to operate a SENTINEL effectively.

The reactor systems have been upgraded as the IFN's ability to control fusion reactions and electromagnetic fields has advanced. A single torroidal tokomak reactor powers the entire ship, but the increased power output gives the heavier vessel greater overall horsepower and maneuvering ability than its predecessor.

Because of the overall change not only to the weapons of the Brushfire frigate, but also to the addition of multiple roles it is capable of filling, the frigate was reclassified as the Bloodhound Mk.1A Escort/Assault (E/A) Frigate.


Length: 208.7 meters
Crew: 100 (60 enlisted, 20 officers, 40 security)
Propulsion: 5x Peld-series ion drive, plasma-fed maneuvering thrusters

Primary Armament:
4x 100mm autocannons (AC100) in two twin fast-tracking turrets
1x 3.6 gigawatt enhanced pulse ion cannon (EPIC) on fixed bow mount
4x 300 kiloton lightweight nuclear capital attack missile (CAM300) launchers (4 round salvo)

Secondary/CIWS Armament:
6x 1.8 gigawatt enhanced pulse ion cannons (EPIC) in three dual turrets
2x 45mm autocannons (AC45) in two hull-mounted gimbals
2x "Yellowjacket" SRAM rapid-fire missile launchers (bow mount)

Defenses:
Composite carbon-titanium-A underlayer
Fibersteel mesh
Outer ceramic shell
Reactive armor paneling (optional)
"Bulwark" EM Shield Bubble

Bloodhound group engaging Arbiter Mk.4C (http://www.hwshots.homeworldtrinity.org/d/4705-1/t1.jpg) in Fleet Exercises in high orbit of Asrend. In this shot you can see the Bulwark system defusing ion beams and missile fire.

Bloodhound bow view (http://www.hwshots.homeworldtrinity.org/d/4708-1/t2.jpg) from the same battle.


(Bloodhound Mk.1A E/A FF is based off the Bloodhound Mk.2E8 FF, designed by Kenny "Tel'Quessir" Koh and Daniel Hawking, as well as the entire Homeworld PDS staff, used with their kind permission. Check them out here (http://pds.hwaccess.net))

(Comments, criticism, and suggestions are extremely appreciated)

Updated with images.

Hello, this has problems, standard 40 mm, and 100mm shells are going to do very little if nothing against future tech armor and shields. Describe the explosives in the shells-- some kind of future tech shell, 40mm autocannons are modern tech, so are 100 mm autocannons. ETC-- electrothermal guns might work somewhat, railgun, or coilgun barrels might also be acceptable. Describe how these are future tech. Often the railguns in nationstates are MAC guns-- Magnetic acceleration cannons which go at very high speeds.

It is like bringing a colt .38 against dragonskin armor.

Hello, this has problems, standard 40 mm, and 100mm shells are going to do very little if nothing against future tech armor and shields. Describe the explosives in the shells-- some kind of future tech shell-- maybe fullerene core or rods, 40mm autocannons are modern tech, so are 100 mm autocannons. ETC-- electrothermal guns might work somewhat, railgun, or coilgun barrels might also be acceptable. Describe how these are future tech. Often the railguns in nationstates are MAC guns-- Magnetic acceleration cannons which go at very high speeds, MAC guns are supposed to go .3c ...

The same goes for low yield nuclear weapons. While this would be effective against smaller craft, it won't do much against a frigate size craft or larger. Something like a high yield multicyclic fission fusion fission missile might work against a few future tech craft...

It is like bringing a colt .38 against dragonskin armor.

Electrothermal cannon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrothermal-chemical_technology

First off - autocannon =/= combustible propellant. As with all my kinetic weaponry, autocannons are essentially railguns. In this case, they are railguns designed with a high ROF. Less accurate than the standard railguns on the Arbiter, but much more effective against smaller targets.

Second off - unless otherwise stated, I use solid-core tungsten rounds in my KE weapons. And, just to give you an idea of scale, my AC275s have a closing velocity of around 30 km/s.

Third off - as I mentioned, the Bloodhound is designed around STRIKE CRAFT DEFENSE, with capital attack as a SECONDARY purpose, and then only in groups while part of a task force. Most of my navy is designed network-centric and JTF warfare, which (in my opinion) is more effective than your "jack of all trades" vessels like an ISD or Galaxy-class. You will rarely if ever find one or two ships out in the middle of nowhere (if they are, it's usually a carrier or Command Ship, which are massive in their own rights). The CAM300, if it is fired against a capital ship, will be part of a large volley from the rest of the group. For instance, the Arbiter fires 50 CAM300s per salvo, and even then they are designed to be used in missile saturation situations.

Fourth off - MACs are typically used as the primary weapon system on board what my nation considers supercapital ships, and they can only achieve .3c by using a spinal mount and a low ROF while accelerating the projectile over a kilometer. While this would be effective against a static or slow-moving target, my navy tends to favor turrets over spinal weapons.

Though I appreciate the comments.

BUmped for much justice.

One last bump