I got the idea for these two items from a post on rec.games.mecha. Basically, these two fill the niche between Jumpships and Warships.
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Denabi Aerospace of Tancredi IV is the company behind the idea of the Light K-F Drive. The idea was to take concepts of the compact K-F drive core, and apply them to a standard K-F drive core in order to improve the robustness of Jumpships. Many years of fruitless research were spent before a breakthrough was made in late 3060. Denabi's first "Armed Jumpship", the FCS Corsica, was the first Jumpship to use the Light K-F core.
Light K-F Drives can be installed in Jumpships (the resultant ship being termed an "Armed Jumpship"), and follow all standard Jumpship rules except as modified below:
- Jumpships mounting a Light K-F Drive are referred to as Armed Jumpships.
- Light K-F Drives take up less mass than a standard K-F Drive. The mass of a Light K-F Drive takes up 85 percent of the total mass of the Jumpship.
- Light K-F Drives are slightly more rugged. K-F Drive Integrity equals 1.5 + (K-F Drive Mass/50,000).
- Jump Sail mass equals 30 + (Jumpship mass/10,000)
- Unlike standard Jumpships, which are rather frail structurally, Armed Jumpships are more rugged, and therefore designers may choose a Structural Integrity. Structural Mass equals the ship's SI x (Vessel mass/500).
- The maximum number of armor tons allowable equals Structural Mass divided by 15 (round to nearest 0.5).
- Armed Jumpships, due to their greater sophistication, are also more expensive than standard Jumpships. The Cost Multiplier for Armed Jumpships is 1.5.
- The Light K-F Drive Core costs double the standard K-F Drive Core cost (i.e. multiply cost of all K-F drive components by 2).
- Also due to their sophistication, Armed Jumpships require more technical crew than standard Jumpships. To reflect this, the minimum crew requirements for Armed Jumpships equals 8 + 1 per 15,000 tons (round fractions up) + gunners (as per normal gunner rules).
The Sub-Compact Core evolved from the desire to have a K-F Drive core mountable in a Warship, but at a lower cost than the usual Compact Core. Engineers at the New Syrtis shipyards were largely successful to this effort, but at the cost of a larger K-F core.
Sub-Compact Cores can be installed in Warships, and follow all standard Warship rules except the following:
- Sub-Compact Cores take up more mass than a standard Compact Core. The mass of a Sub-Compact Core takes up 65 percent of the total mass of the Warship.
- Sub-Compact Cores have the same resiliency as standard Compact Cores. K-F Drive Integrity is 2 + (K-F Drive Mass/25,000).
- Jump Sail mass equals 30 + (Warship mass/20,000)
- Compute Structural Integrity and Armor as per a standard Warship (SI mass = SI * (vessel mass/1,000)).
- The Sub-Compact Core is less costly than the standard Compact Core (i.e. multiply cost of all K-F drive components by 3).
While the Star League experimented with compact K-F drive cores that could jump farther than 30 light years at a single jump, the effort proved largely unsuccessful. The one warship known to have tested such a drive disappeared during Kerensky's Exodus, and no records of such a ship and drive exist in either the Clan archives or ComStar's archives, although rumors circulating since 3054 indicate that either ComStar or the Word of Blake have the experimental ship in possession.
The lack of records did not deter Denabi Aerospace from attempting to recreate such a drive. With assistance from the New Avalon Institute of Science, plus a lucky tip from an anonymous ComStar source, the engineers at Denabi were able to successfully prototype a drive in 3062 modeled on their recently unveiled Light K-F Drive. Technical limitations thus far have precluded adapting the Long Range technology for Warship use, though.
The Long Range K-F Drive can be installed in Jumpships, and follow all standard Jumpship rules except for the following:
- Because they are modeled from the Light K-F Drive, Long Range K-F Drives are slightly smaller than the standard K-F Drive. The mass of a Long Range K-F Drive takes up 92.5 percent of the total mass of the Jumpship.
- K-F Drive Integrity, Jump Sail mass, Structural Integrity, and maximum armor allowed are computed as per standard Jumpships.
- The Long Range K-F Drive is considerably more expensive than a standard K-F Drive, costing 2.5 times the standard K-F Drive Core cost (i.e. multiply cost of all K-F Drive components by 2.5).
- The Long Range K-F Drive requires considerably more technical support. To reflect this, the minimum crew requirements for Jumpships mounting the Long Range drive equals 10 + 1 per 15,000 tons (round fractions up) + gunners (as per normal gunner rules).
- Long Range K-F Drives allow Jumpships to jump up to 40 Light Years on a single jump. Such Jumpships may also mount Lithium-Fusion Batteries to allow for a double-jump of up to 80 Light Years in total.
If you have any other ideas, or comments/suggestions on the above items, please let me know.
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Page last modified 31 December, 2003