Star Wars: Ship Designer Quest

[Sir_Travelsalot]

weren't the flak guns on the Venerators mass drivers?

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According to its wiki page, no. Point defense guns on ships are laser cannons. The only mass drivers in use during this era would be the main guns on the AT-TE and the AT-AP, where they're used in land warfare, primarily for artillery.

 

[khang]

according to the below video flak had been used during the clone wars

 

[Barondoctor]

A Hapan Battle Dragon does the "gatling-style cannon" thing for turbolasers. For that matter, the Z6 rotary blaster cannon exists and could be reasonably scaled up. Here's the Ground Buzzer autonomous cannon I mentioned.

It's entirely plausible to put together a "six shooter" sort of heavy gun mount. Mass-drivers are not a significant space-combat technology in this galaxy. The sort of shielding that makes a ship able to fly through debris fields and deal with an asteroid makes it able to easily block chunks of driven mass.

 

[Silversun17]

It's entirely plausible to put together a "six shooter" sort of heavy gun mount. Mass-drivers are not a significant space-combat technology in this galaxy. The sort of shielding that makes a ship able to fly through debris fields and deal with an asteroid makes it able to easily block chunks of driven mass.

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but you can't shoot through those sheilds. Particle sheild protect against debris and mass drivers but many models will block your own weapons from firing. Ray sheilds only protect against DEWs but you can shoot out of them reliably.

 

[Enthusiast#117]

I mean, your idea sounds like it would work. But if it's a viable idea, then we've got to ask why it's not already common practice because "using both types of weapon so they can't defend against both at once" seems like a sort of obvious innovation.

 

[Silversun17]

I mean, your idea sounds like it would work. But if it's a viable idea, then we've got to ask why it's not already common practice because "using both types of weapon so they can't defend against both at once" seems like a sort of obvious innovation.

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largely the same reason missles aren't as common as one would think: because turbolasers and such have a shit load more combat endurance and are cheaper to fire per shot. also in the quest setting we're coming out of a near 1000 year period of things being largely peaceful which means everyone was opting for the cheap options till the battle of naboo scared the shit out of the midrim and caused the build up we're about to make mad dosh off of. in regards to legends/canon mixed armaments are a thing during the clone wars. both the CIS and GAR would mount flak guns on their heavier ships and missile/torpedo launchers were a key weapon for small ships such as fighters to be able to punch up above their weight class.

Also slug thrower weapons in star wars follow a boom and bust cycle. how it goes is that one day some punk realizes that no one armors against bullets so he/she/it gets a saterdary night special peice of garbage then shoots the punk a street over in the latest gang turf war. then people see that and have the same realization and due to star wars tech slug throwers can be really freaking cheap so you get a boom in slug thrower sales and use them for a few years. after a while the armor makers catch on and start selling bullet proof vests again which eventually leads to people hanging up the slug throwers for a long while until people stop buying bullet proof vests again. then once the vests have all be hung up/thrown out some punk shoots another punk with a slug thrower...

this cycle will be presient with our ships a little bit but it will work differntly. I'm expecting a good 3 to 4 year or so of pirates getting riddled with bullets before the major ship builders decide that our weapon load out isnt a fluke and start armoring for it. at that point in peer to peer combat our ships will stick to using the rotory MDs as anti-fighter and anti-missle weapons because fighters can't afford too much armor before they start flying like a drunk hutt. i give the pirates another 10 years after that before they get access to decent anti-projectile armor.

 

[Enthusiast#117]

Well I'm convinced. A rotary MD as a 7th cannon sounds like a valuable addition if we can swing it.

 

[Sir_Travelsalot]

I'm somewhat amused that this thread has now done a complete 180 with regards to mounting Mass Drivers as weapons on our corvette from when we were still working on the freighter.

 

[Silversun17]

I'm somewhat amused that this thread has now done a complete 180 with regards to mounting Mass Drivers as weapons on our corvette from when we were still working on the freighter.

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because on a freighter you want reliable and cost effective. on a warship you want the best way to punch someone's face in.

 

[Sir_Travelsalot]

because on a freighter you want reliable and cost effective. on a warship you want the best way to punch someone's face in.

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No no, that's the thing. The mass drivers were being touted for the corvette design. It was already being planned back then, much like how we already have a preliminary plan for a cruiser tonnage/size design. Back then, they were rejected, only to now be advocated for once again.

 

[Enthusiast#117]

I'm somewhat amused that this thread has now done a complete 180 with regards to mounting Mass Drivers as weapons on our corvette from when we were still working on the freighter.

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What really sold me was the idea that it can pull double-duty as an anti-fighter/missile Point Defense weapon, once everyone starts slapping heavy armor on the bigger stuff. It means it's not merely a temporary benefit.

That, and I've played enough Sword Of The Stars to be biased towards making sure every ship has some form of Point Defense.

 

[Barondoctor]

What really sold me was the idea that it can pull double-duty as an anti-fighter/missile Point Defense weapon, once everyone starts slapping heavy armor on the bigger stuff. It means it's not merely a temporary benefit.

That, and I've played enough Sword Of The Stars to be biased towards making sure every ship has some form of Point Defense.

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Point defense is "quad gun turret" * as many as you need and done.

Turbolasers are another thing.

 

[01exia]

Again we can design weapons later on we are on a time crunch people and we can not afford to get to much stress at the moment. My advice, wait until we have an expert on starship grade weaponcrafting and some extra equipment to help design the weapons right.

 

[Kornet]

Honestly, nothing you wrote here convinced me that spaceborne mass-drivers are a viable combat technology in SW of this era.

A lot of theorycrafting, very few substance.

 

[Negation]

Mass-driver cannon/Legends

A mass driver was a type of projectile cannon.[1][2] They inflicted damage by hurling projectiles at high velocities, which imparted kinetic energy and force to the target upon impact. Damage was thus a result of the mass of the projectile and its velocity. The velocity the projectile could...

starwars.fandom.com

Flak gun/Legends

Flak guns were a tertiary defense employed by several war vehicles. The idea of point defense goes back to before most species even had the ability to orbit their planets, much less the formation of a galaxy spanning civilization. The idea was always to destroy or deflect incoming fire before it...

starwars.fandom.com

Separatist flagship deck cannon

The Separatist flagship deck cannon was a twin-barreled combination of a mass-driver cannon and an ion cannon that was utilized aboard the Providence-class carrier/destroyer Invisible Hand. Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (First appearance) Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual...

starwars.fandom.com

Mass Driver Weapons are viable but for Battleships, not Corvettes.

 

[01exia]

When we make frigates and other heavier ship classes we should have a ratio of turbolasers and guns for defense.

 

[HolyDragoon]

Hmmm... a Carrack seemed to have a 2:1 ratio of lasers to turbolasers. Of course, lighter ships might have a spot of trouble trying to catch up to that ratio. I guess it would depend a lot on what the buyer is expecting to find?

 

[Havalt300]

When we make frigates and other heavier ship classes we should have a ratio of turbolasers and guns for defense.

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Halo frigates would be good there.
For a bigger ship (cruiser) I would take a valkyrie class battlestar (is 'only' 650 meters long).

Of course everything with star wars weapons.

 

[Sir_Travelsalot]

Halo frigates would be good there.
For a bigger ship (cruiser) I would take a valkyrie class battlestar (is 'only' 650 meters long).

Of course everything with star wars weapons.

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Isn't there a size limit to ships prior to the Clone Wars that a warship cannot exceed 600 meters in length?

Besides, we already had a plan in modeling a ship after the Donnager-class from The Expanse, which would have turbolaser batteries in place of the original's railguns, and have all the torpedoes and carrier capability that it had too.

 

[Havalt300]

Isn't there a size limit to ships prior to the Clone Wars that a warship cannot exceed 600 meters in length?

Besides, we already had a plan in modeling a ship after the Donnager-class from The Expanse, which would have turbolaser batteries in place of the original's railguns, and have all the torpedoes and carrier capability that it had too.

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Yes, but this one is for the war (clone wars) and possibly later.
Just think, a heavily armored and heavily armed carrier with a lot of point defense guns.

And anyway, these are only suggestions. I just think that many Halo and Battlestar ships with star wars weapons fit well into star wars.

 

[01exia]

Halo frigates would be good there.
For a bigger ship (cruiser) I would take a valkyrie class battlestar (is 'only' 650 meters long).

Of course everything with star wars weapons.

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In my view the battlestar class ships will be the easiest to design, but also we could face some legal issues with the base design being very similar to the Dreadnought heavy cruiser.

Isn't there a size limit to ships prior to the Clone Wars that a warship cannot exceed 600 meters in length?

Besides, we already had a plan in modeling a ship after the Donnager-class from The Expanse, which would have turbolaser batteries in place of the original's railguns, and have all the torpedoes and carrier capability that it had too.

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The Donnager-class in my opinion is an excellent ship for us to break our teeth when breaking into the heavier ship classes. Also here's hoping we can acquire some weapon designers after the ship we are designing is finished.

 

[HolyDragoon]

Also another comment in regards to physical shot weapons: we can compress gas and it doesn't have a defined shape, unlike solid rounds. While in larger ships this won't be a problem, space is at a premium on smaller ships classes like the ones we're dealing with now.

I'm still thinking on whether it would be worth it to just slap a laser cannon emplacement (either rotary for fire rate, or a multiple gun setup) instead of the solid shot that was being thrown around a few posts ago.

 

[Barondoctor]

Also another comment in regards to physical shot weapons: we can compress gas and it doesn't have a defined shape, unlike solid rounds. While in larger ships this won't be a problem, space is at a premium on smaller ships classes like the ones we're dealing with now.

I'm still thinking on whether it would be worth it to just slap a laser cannon emplacement (either rotary for fire rate, or a multiple gun setup) instead of the solid shot that was being thrown around a few posts ago.

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It's a lot easier to carry blaster gas than any kind of projectiles and blaster gas is a lot less likely to affect the maneuvering of a small enough vehicle. A rotary or multiple-gun sort of setup would fulfill the need without needing to develop (and market!) a largely obscure / fringe weapon type.

 

[Negation]

Isn't there a size limit to ships prior to the Clone Wars that a warship cannot exceed 600 meters in length?

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The Ruusan Reformation had that IIRC to prevent any of the Republic or Sector's armed forces from ever becoming a military.

Ruusan Reformation

The Ruusan Reformation was an event that restructured the entire Galactic Republic following the New Sith Wars, taking power away from the Supreme Chancellor and reinvesting it in the Galactic Senate. The reforms were enacted by then-Chancellor Tarsus Valorum and also resulted in the Republic...

starwars.fandom.com

Reformation Act

The Reformation Act was a major piece of legislation passed by the Galactic Senate as part of the Ruusan Reformation around 1000 BBY. It apparently dealt with the Galactic Republic's demilitarization. Darth Plagueis (and audiobook) (First mentioned)

starwars.fandom.com

 

[Silversun17]

its a bit more complicated but basicly any ship class over 600 meters has to have a special authorization and have their hyperdrives hobbled so that they are worthless as an offensive asset. the Corellians got cheeky as hell about this as their super-captials have their hyperdrives as a modular part which can be yanked and replaced in freaking hours but they are such a power player that no one tries to call them on it.