TGoaW-41

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==Chapter 41 - The Glow of a Worm inside a Child's Eye==
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Triad - Tharkard, Lyran Commonwealth
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Staff conference Call, encrypted...
Or so they say. Encryption designed by humans is painfully simple, but they asked me to. I'm rather positively inclined to cooperate-at least, for the moment.
At present, the LCN has twelve operational 'Sampan IVs' and the AFFC is developing plans for project RX-79, a 250,000 ton compact-core armed transport...but there are issues I can see at an AUs range with optical instruments.
"The weapons fit is...clumsy." I finally tell them. "You have plans for a corvette here, but it's...awkward."
"Awkward how?" Admiral Luvon asks.
"Well, five collars is ambitious at that tonnage, and the weapons individually would be good choices for a ship that size...if they weren't all over the map in terms of trying to do everything on one hull. It's a compromise made of compromises, this is going to be a logistical challenge to keep running."
"There are other concerns. We have a limited number of contractors and they're all working with remnant designs and tooling."
"I can see that..narrow things down, is this class supposed to operate alone??" I ask, "What is the role of this vessel? Your layout creates too many contradictions in terms of what it's for-you could almost get away with making this class a dedicated dropship and fighter carrier, and losing most of the Capital Weapons for point-defenses, then put the capital weapons on dropship hulls like the Draconis Combine is doing. That's ONE suggestion. Another would be to pare down the Collar count and concentrate your weapons fit on the Capital grades as an antishipping platform and escort to your transport ships..."
"We need the five collars to accommodate an RCT." marshall Nondi Steiner speaks.
"Okay...so this is a transport vessel with some surface bombardment. Narrow your weapons profile to weapons optimized for the role, and give it decent anti-ship and anti-air escorting vessels, you'll be happier. Also the engines are too large for the ground support role unless you're going to try to hold orbit around a black hole. Human troops don't handle sustained high-gee transits well at all, so your vessel has engines that will be running at one-third power most of the time anyway...which suggests you need more point-defenses than this set of plans your man brought over give it. Lose some of the capital armament for additional anti-fighter and anti-missile defenses, and expand your fighter complement. This doesn't have the mass or armor plating to be a Congress replacement, and you're planning to use it for planet-work, so optimize it to serve as a better anchor for a landing force-more big guns doesn't make your surface bombardments more effective unless you're bent on grabbing some charred ruins with a mild sheen of low-grade radiation...and expect to need to commit a couple of Sampans as antishipping escort just in case someone else has also been rebuilding their navy."
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