Thursday, January 17, 2019

Full Thrust IJN "Chairman Takahashi" Command Superdreadnought Experimental Refit

Command Dreadnought "Chairman Takahashi" Experimental Refit
 
 
The Xeno War exposed humanity to multiple alien races within a short time span, each of which had their own unique technological base.  While there was great interest in the combat capabilities of these new technologies, most research was devoted to countering there effects as best as possible.  Few human powers made any real attempt to reverse engineer and duplicate enemy weapons during the conflict, seeing their time and effort better spent in refining proven human equipment and tactics.  There were some exceptions to this, most notably the Incorporated Japanese Naval R&D Command. 

 
The Japanese R&D branch had always been unusually willing to experiment with new technologies, sometimes to the detriment of actual combat effectiveness as incompletely tested systems were installed on service ships for final trials by fire.  The Japanese corporate government was also one of the few human powers that had significant communications with any of the alien powers.  While the Kra'Vak were unapproachable and the Sa'Vasku nearly incomprehensible, the Phalons (or at least some factions within the Conglomerate) were perfectly willing to negotiate material and tech exchanges.  Their traders were remarkably cutthroat in their dealings, but Incorporated Japan was no stranger to those sort of business dealings themselves and overall both sides seemed to benefit roughly equally throughout the War.

 
The Phalons were particularly interested in human screen technology, and also traded for samples of various starship missile systems.  IJN R&D received engineering specs and some material samples of Phalon weaponry in exchange.  While some of the material proved to be useless for each side, human engineers working with Phalon advisors did manage to "crack" the principles of the plasma bolt launcher well enough to create their own somewhat comparable version.  The first Japanese bolt launcher prototypes were absurdly bulky and had more limitations than the original alien tech, but they were also quite powerful.  The sheer size of the system would have eliminated any possibility of field testing the weapon - until the command dreadnought "Chairman Takahashi" was crippled by K-Gun fire off of Centaurus and limped home to Sol for repairs.

 
With the entire front half of the ship mangled almost beyond recognition there was some debate about whether to even repair the vessel.  R&D seized the opportunity to put forward a plan to use the Takahashi as a testbed for their newly-developed alien wonder weapon, replacing the wreckage of the hyperspace distortion cannon and other systems with the third of the plasma bolt prototypes (the first two having exceeded their service life during extensive testing by this point).  The Logistics & Repairs Division of the IJN agreed, in part because it meant much of the cost of the bringing the ship back into service would wind up coming from the R&D budget rather than their own. 

 
The dreadnought was out of action for nearly a year, during which time R&D engineers made major alterations to the ship's original design.  It was discovered that the ship's screen system interfered with plasma bolt formation and guidance, and the few intact emitters were removed accordingly.  Most of the ship's secondary and tertiary weaponry had also been wrecked, and rather than replace them R&D used the souped-up power generators required by the bolt launcher to massively enhance the ship's primary beam turrets.  Twin pulse torpedoes were installed as well, in part because their mass and volume coincidentally fit well in void space left after the bolt launcher was installed and the scrap of the HDC was removed.  The main visual difference between the ship's pre- and post-refit design was the extended spinal tube required by the massive bolt launcher.

 
The modifications to the ship's power grid also required the removal of some backup safety systems, a reconfiguration of several main structural members, and general reduction in systems stability despite added surge buffers and backup capacitors.  The final form of the Takahashi was very much a "big gun" ship with rather weak defenses for its size and poor close-in weaponry that required a heavier escort than its previous incarnation.  R&D was very happy when after action reports started coming in showing that their plasma bolt launcher was, if not perfect, very useful for breaking up targets flying in tight formation.  They were markedly less happy when the ship disintegrated in a power core explosion three months later after stopping a half-dozen heavy K-Gun rounds during the Siege of Sol.  To date no sister ship to the Chairman Takahashi has been produced, but the plans remain on file and are revisited each time a new command dreadnought hull is approved for construction.

 
TMF 252
NPV 838 / CPV 1221
Thrust 4
q 2 q
FTL
q
4 Fire Controls
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1 Area Defense Fire Control q
6 PDS
qqqqqq
1 Class 5 Expermimental Plasma Bolt Launcher (F)
q
2 Pulse Torpedoes (front 120 degrees) qq
6 Class 3 Beam Batteries (F/FS/FP/AS/AP)
qq (F/FP/AP) qq (F/FS/AS) qq
Hull 65 (17/16/16/16) - 13 crew units, one every 5th box
qqqqpqqqqpqqqqpqq
qqpqqqqpqqqqpqqq
qpqqqqpqqqqpqqqq
pqqqqpqqqqpqqqqp

The two pulse torpedoes use a 120 degree forward firing arc, which is technically a house rules but ought to be self explanatory.  Star Fleet Battles vets would instantly recognize it as being an FA arc, or Starmada fans would know it as an AB arc.

The Experimental Plasma Bolt Launcher represents the best efforts to date to duplicate Phalon plasma tech with human equipment.  It functions exactly like the Phalon version from Fleet Book 2 with the following restrictions: 

1) Its firing arc is front 60 degrees only.
2) The bolt marker it creates cannot be placed within 6 MU of the launching ship.
3) You cannot mount screens (even inactive screens) on a ship with an Experimental Plasma Bolt Launcher.

FWIW, the Phalons have it even worse with the screen tech they traded for.  Not only does it not work any better with their PBLs, it also interferes with pulser fire.  

 
Note the massive disparity between the NPV and CPV for this ships.  This showcases how extremely large hulls can become prohibitively expensive, putting a soft cap on the size of superships.  Under CPV this ship pays an extra 383 for its base hull.  A 300 Mass ship would pay an extra 600, at which point you're really going to struggle to get full value out of it if your opponent sticks to swarms of smaller ships.  At least the Takahashi has a nice area of effect weapon for that sort of thing.

10 comments:

  1. Nice paint job but to tell you the truth I've always thought that fleet looked a bit odd, I could never really warm up to it. Give me the (OLD) NSL flying bricks any day, and the nice part was that you could mix in the Bab V Earth Force ships without raising too many eyebrows lol.

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    1. I know rather a lot of Mobile Suit Gundam fans who'd disagree with you about the general aesthetic of the IJN sculpts. The Phalons weren't the only fleet inspired by anime and manga.

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  2. Very cool, I need to pull out my old full thrust rules and give them a gander.

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  3. Hi Dick,
    Just thought I would drop you a note and compliment you on the post, yes, the paint on the mini, the way you photographed it, the article, have all combined to make a first-rate post! Well done! I have come across your site a few times but don’t remember stopping the really check it out before, my loss, and I’ll be delving in more form now on and linking my site to yours.
    I really like your paint job (and I’m super critical!) and the choice of colors, not mine, BUT they really work! I also am a fan of the GZG line for the IJN ship designs, very Japanese looking. I know there are a lot of folks like Don M that like the old designs, and I have a lot of them (my whole NAC fleet of 40+ ships is old school “flaty’s” from GZG) but I believe the main reason for the new designs was that the old molds had or were wearing out! I just opened some old packages from my vast “horde” of old GZG NAC, packages from their last runs of the old designs and you can see easily the diminishing detail, and the breakdown in quality. Times change and new designs where needed to fit in better with what was being produced by other manufactures.
    Again, great work and I know and appreciate all the time and effort you put into doing a site, it isn’t easy! You can take a look at my site if you like for some of my “Full Thrust” work. www.HistoricalHobbies.com and other such miniature madness. Regards, Bill W

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    1. Thanks. Afraid this blog is pretty much on terminal hiatus at this point, but it'll stay up for the foreseeable future so you can check existing posts at your leisure.

      FWOW, GZG was willing to cast using the "old" FT molds last time I checked, but that was a few years back. The figs were a bit rough but nothing unmanageable for an experienced modeler - which you clearly are judging by your blog. If anyone desperately needs a few of the old hulls just email Jon and ask politely and he can probably help you out.

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    2. Thanks for the "heads up" with Jon and GZG. Since I may create some more kit bash type ships I may just do that. Sorry the blog is on hiatus, do you still play FT?

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    3. I haven't had the opportunity to play FT for almost three years now, partly due to the pandemic and partly due to some other life changes. Would still like to do so given the chance, even if my starship collection is far smaller than it once was.

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  4. Send your email easier to communicate...lol!

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