Vir Inter Astrum

[Coota0]

Talos: great solution to a similar problem.

bbzwbbzw: Just a little "real world" thought about your airwing. As I said it's your universe. What kind of tanking requirements are your fighters going to require? Similar to today's realworld or something different? If similar to today, what kind of strike packages are you envisioning; something like a Vietnam era alpha strike, or more of a single ship/ small group thing?

[bbzwbbzw]

Good question Coota. As far as the tanker, I sort of like the idea that it isn't so much fuel that they carry, but coolant for the FTL drive. And as far as what kind of FTL they use, I go by my friend MajorDiaherra's advice; be vague about what it can do, but know what it can't.

And as far as the composition of the carrier's wing, I'm thinking a 12 ship fighter/interceptor squadron (think F-14), a 12 ship fighter/attack squadron (think early F-18), a 2 ship dedicated EW detachment, and the 5 Egrets.

Also, gotta ask Coota, are you in Army Aviation by any chance? I was infantry myself.

On a side note, it'll be a while until the next update- I'm in one of those 'all my artwork is total crap' phases, and want to go for the quality over quantity approach so I'm aiming for one every two weeks.

[Major Diarrhia]

The vagueness is if you just need a way to get from point A to be point B, and know what you can't do is so it can't do everything. But definitely pinning down some more specifics is important because, as I've been pointing out outside the thread, the FTL drive might be tremendously important on a tactical level, and will determine how certain units operate outside combat.

[Coota0]

Originally Posted by bbzwbbzw

Also, gotta ask Coota, are you in Army Aviation by any chance? I was infantry myself.

Yup, here for flight school, I spent 11 glorious weeks at Benning before coming here.

If it's just a coolant issue, two tankers would probably cover you, especially if you had the ability for other aircraft to do "buddy tanking" even then you have a tanker per squadron or one for the strike/ attack birds and one for reserve. Are you planning on sending the tankers with the strike to tank on the way out or will there be enough coolant for the jump back to the carrier without more tanking?
Is the Egret your SAR bird too?
Your Air Wing is pretty small, just two squadrons of Interceptor/Fighters (did I read that right?) and they're pulling double duty as attack aircraft too. When I was thinking about this last night I realized that I had been thinking in 2 dimensions not 3. Your CAP aircraft will have to be able to engage threats from all directions (360 dergess Horizontally and vertically, a 360 degree sphere around the carrier group) which means you'll probably have a third of you fighters up any time the Group commander feels he is in a possible hostile situation, as well as depending on how cautious your Group commander is. I would also think that kind of coverage would require two AWCS birds, one for the "northern hemisphere" and one for the "southern hemisphere" which puts both of your AWACS birds in the air all of the time.

Feel free to tell me to butt out. I started coming here to look at the pretty pictures, and your ideas were so close to some of mine that I got to being nerdy and thinking too hard.

[bbzwbbzw]

Originally Posted by Coota0

Feel free to tell me to butt out. I started coming here to look at the pretty pictures, and your ideas were so close to some of mine that I got to being nerdy and thinking too hard.

No problem! I'm always open to new ideas and suggestions.

[Orion's belt]

The baseships are not that big either though you have to keep that in mind. These carriers are not that much bigger in diemensions in comparison to modern ships while the size of the support craft have increased dramaticly.... if you look at the size of some of these craft they are as wide as the Rio Grand class frigate

[Coota0]

I haven't really looked that close at the carriers, so size never crossed my mind. I was just pointing out that covering a carrier group with just two squadrons would lead to a lot of broken airplanes nad tired aircrews. Maybe that could be the backstory if bbwzbbzw decides to add in larger carriers later

[bbzwbbzw]

Here is what the carrier looks like:




The docking bays along the side of the ship are for the fighters and attack craft, there are a total of 28 bays, so there are an extra 4 bays which will carry EW craft that are converted from attack craft. In addition the the small bays, there are 4 large bays on the top of the ship for the egrets, and and additional 2 large bays on the bottom. I guess I could make the egret detachment a full half squadron and have them occupy all the large bays. That would cut down on the workload.

My thinking is that this is the first generation of carriers, and that most interstellar powers use battleships while the U.S. is the only major power that uses carriers instead. Some other powers do carry fighters aboard larger ships, but a maximum of only six.

Oh, and there is no place on earth hotter than Benning in July. I did basic, AIT, jump school, and RIP over a summer at that hellhole, I thought I would never get out of that place!

[Coota0]

Originally Posted by bbzwbbzw

Here is what the carrier looks like:


Oh, and there is no place on earth hotter than Benning in July. I did basic, AIT, jump school, and RIP over a summer at that hellhole, I thought I would never get out of that place!

You sir, have my sympathy.

[Coota0]

Originally Posted by bbzwbbzw

My thinking is that this is the first generation of carriers, and that most interstellar powers use battleships while the U.S. is the only major power that uses carriers instead. Some other powers do carry fighters aboard larger ships, but a maximum of only six.

Sounds a lot like the pre-WWII Naval thinking.