Tim continues to take advantage of his incapacitation with his short series on Antares spacecraft. This time, he has a quick look at the military ships of the PanHuman Concord – more specifically the Concord Combined Command.
An overview on the ratings given here can be found in the article on the Algoryn..
Concord Starship Design
The Concord Combined Command (C3) typically run vast fleets of frigate-sized patrol vessels and an equally vast fleet of scout ships. The frigates are supplemented by the occasional light cruiser in moderately dangerous areas or by heavy cruisers acting as local squadron command ships. The C3 tend to favour plasma weapons and more advanced x-ordnance and their living crew are supplemented by large numbers of worker buddy drones and the more advanced machine intelligences in drone bodies..
It’s worth reiterating the summary from the first article:
The PanHuman Concord tend towards directed energy/plasma weapons, their larger ships having sp[inal lances – heavy directed energy weapons that place a huge demand on even an IMTel’s power generators. They use launch rails to launch nanoswarm pods, light missiles and drones and otherwise plasma weaponry for anti-ship batteries and area defence. Concord ships are fast and have Acc 6.
| Concord Ship Type: | Mercantile | Combat | Liners/ Troopship | Survey/ Scout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GA drive acceleration: | 140g | 180-220g | 160g | 200g |
We’ll have a look at how this works in practice by running through some C3 ship designs.
Representive Ship Class Stats
These are just a few of the better-known C3 ship classes. Note that suites are extensive and readily adaptable to barracks: some ships have extra Strike troops always on board within those suits/barracks, denoted by the ‘+’ number after the ‘Marines’ entry (Marines are allocated their own barracks already).
| Class: | F7 | T9 | S19 | CL2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type: | Patrol Frigate | Combat Transport | Survey/ Scout | Light Cruiser |
| Length: | 250m | 300m | 125m | 450m |
| GA Drive: | 220g | 160g | 200g | 180g |
| Armour: | 13×13 | 11×11 | 10×10 | 15×15 |
| Fire Control: | Acc 6 | Acc 6 | Acc 6 | Acc 6 |
| Crew: | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Marines: | 2 | 2+3 | – | 6+1 |
| Spinal Weapon(s): | Spinal Lance | – | – | Spinal Lance |
| Secondary Spinal Weapon: | – | – | – | – |
| Main Armament: | Launch Rails: Drones, Nanoswarm pods | Launch Rails: Light Missiles, Nanoswarm pods | Launch Rails: Drones, Nanoswarm pods | 3×Heavy Plasma Cannon |
| Secondary Weapons: | 4×Plasma Cannon | 3×Light Plasma Cannon | 2×Light Plasma Cannon | Launch Rails: Drones, Nanoswarm pods |
| Tertiary Weapons: | – | – | – | 3×Plasma Cannon |
| Area Defence Systems: | 3×Plasma ADS | 3×Plasma ADS | 1×Plasma ADS | 4×Plasma ADS |
| Shuttles: | 1 | 3 | – | 4 |
| XCM: | -2 Acc | -2 Acc | -2 Acc | -2 Acc |
| Notes: | 1×passenger suite | 6×barracks (3 spare) | Small; crew skimmer | 5×suites/ barracks (4 spare) |
Class Descriptions
Except in the semi-independent shards, C3 vessels tend to be named after their major fleet base, class and local serial number. Occasionally a ship’s machine intelligence will give it a name it likes, though the serial suffix tends to remain and it’s callsign and IFF transponder will broadcast both the original name and the MI’s preferred name.
The F7 class frigates are typical of C3 vessels in that they are advanced and multi-role. Whilst they have some cramped room for passengers, this is generally only used for carrying senior officials, diplomats or NuHu from system to system. Their main advantage is their speed, accuracy and spinal plasma lance, which can be devastating if used effectively. Sample ships: Gethderah F7-105, Shen-Lat Hiir F7-19.
The extensive survey service of the Concord uses ships that are identical to those in C3 service: the S19 Surveyor class. Such vessels have substantial acceleration, are lightly armed but carry three large drones that are used to explore new systems, carry IMTel updates or even scout potentially hostile systems for enemies. In fleet battles they are used to fend off enemy pickets or scout ships, but never fare well against larger vessels unless they are lucky with their drones. The survey drones they carry can also act as forward spotters, or even loitering munitions, though they can be vulnerable in the role! Sample ship: Forward C3-602 S19-012. Gethderah S19-447.
The CL2 Light Cruiser was built to act as a command ship for a small number of frigates and scouts, as well as being a ship that could carry some useful ground troops in order to further Concord interests in a contested system. Whilst they have significant firepower, their main advantage over Spill navies – their main opponent – is that of speed. Sample ships: Gethdereh CL2-003, Aan Four CL2-017.
The military transports of the Senatex and Concord are of roughly similar design and build. They range in size from a sub-frigate sized general purpose transport to transports the size of Heavy Cruisers – or even larger. That shown here – the T-9 class transport – is a design that might match many of those in Concord or Senatex service and which are used to rapidly deploy reinforced companies of troops and drones as well as potentially provide fire support. They tend to carry light missile salvoes rather than the heavy, 25m drones so that ground bombardment in support of those Strike troops can be more easily effected. Transport names are typically those of their main troop or staging base, with serial numbers as above, as in Moon of Trega T9-120, Donakis T9-324 and Trega’s Dawn T9-45.
Antares Nexus 