Titan IIC
As one of the most common carriers in SLDF service, many Titans survived the Amaris Civil War to join General Kerensky on Operation EXODUS and were present when the colonies in the Kerensky Cluster were founded.
Although the Civil War was hard on the ships, many still survived and with the formation of the Clans the class recived a modest refit, if only to alter its fighter compliment to match Clan deployment standards, turning a Medium Carrier DropShip into a heavy carrier. But with its nature being seen as secondary by almost all of the Clans, who used the Titan to carry fighters from orbit to the surface or to act as a mobile airbase, the ships weapons were not overhauled and on the outbreak of REVIVAL, the Titan’s of the Clans were still armed with their old fashioned SLDF era weapons. Perfectly capable against an Inner Sphere pilot but lacking against the Clans.
This wasn’t seen as a drawback, as DropShips were very rarely targeted during fighting and this lack of a defensive armament wasn’t seen as a drawback. But during REVIVAL the hitherto sacrosanct nature of DropShips in Clan service came under attack again and again when Inner Sphere forces realised quite early on that the best way to slow and hurt the unknown attackers was to destroy their transports in space before they could land their Mechs. The painful losses of five Overlords and the crippling of seven others in engagements prior to Tukkayid sounded the alarms but it took the Election of the new ilKhan and the Quicksilver program to get someone to take notice.
As their primary ‘heavy mover’ of fighters, the Titan was suddenly very obsolete in a modern engagement and easy meat for any fighters that punched through its fighter screen and this needed to be addressed urgently. Whilst the Jaguars were championing their Miraborg class DropShip and using it as a bargaining chip to get additional Mech production off other Clans, something still needed to be done with the rather huge number of Titan’s the Clans had in service as scrapping them simply wasn’t an option. Both Clan Cloud Cobra and Snow Raven, Clans who had the largest number of Titans in service and reserve declared they would work together to produce a refit package for the Titan under the Quicksilver aegis and then went to work.
The Titan was a fast ship for its size, capable of matching the speeds of older Assault DropShips, but it lacked the firepower to follow its fighters into battle and the protection to endure the fire it would invariably take. The huge engines were down-rated, mirroring the Union-C’s performance in space but exceeding it in atmosphere thanks to its aerodyne body. This freed up a considerable amount of space and weight which was used to increase the fuel tanks and cargo to increase range and endurance. The armour package was stripped and replaced with Ferro-Aluminium, which saved weight and increased protection as well as significantly altering the Titan’s lines.
The weapons package was also removed, the old SLDF weapons replaced with lighter and more efficient Clan made ones. A trio of Gauss rifles in the nose formed the main punch whilst autocannons, LRMs, ER and pulse lasers made the ship a prickly target for any attacker. A dozen AMS mountings also shielded the craft from hostile missile attacks. To coordinate her fighter group a hefty communications suite was installed as well as additional sensors and electronics as well as room for the personnel who would man this equipment. Finally a Point of Elementals could also be carried aboard for protection against boarding actions. The biggest structural change came with the re-working of the hangars. The Titan featured three hangars, each with their own cargo bay, but the layout of the bay and hangar meant that to reload the cargo, the hangars had to be cleared first and this was a clunky and somewhat clumsy way of doing things.
The third bay and hangar was elimitated whilst Hangars 1 and 2 were enlarged to carry 15 fighter apiece and their cargo bay was also enlarged. This had the added effect of cleaning up the Titan’s profile, which, along with the addition of larger wing areas increased its performance in an atmosphere and eliminated some of the vicious handling flaws the Titan had when the craft was landing.
Whilst technically still a Titan class ship, the changes were extensive enough to have the design renamed the Hadan, or Storm in Monglian.
Titan IIC Dropship
Base Tech Level: Standard (Clan)
Level Era
-------------------
Experimental -
Advanced -
Standard 3145+
Tech Rating: F/X-X-X-E
Weight: 12000 tons
BV: 12,623
Cost: 710,172,000 C-bills
Movement: 4/6
Heat Sinks: 146 [292]
Fuel Points: 0/15000 (500.0 tons)
Tons Per Burn Day: 1.84
Structural Integrity: 18
Armor: 1130 (Ferro-Aluminum)
Armor
-------------------
Nose 328
Left Side 272
Right Side 272
Aft 258
Weapons Loc Heat
-----------------------------------------------
AC Bay NOS 3
Gauss Rifle
Gauss Rifle
Gauss Rifle
Gauss Rifle Ammo [Clan] 144
LBX AC Bay LS 4
LB 10-X AC
LB 10-X AC
LB 10-X Cluster Ammo 80
LBX AC Bay RS 4
LB 10-X AC
LB 10-X AC
LB 10-X Cluster Ammo 80
LBX AC Bay AFT 4
LB 10-X AC
LB 10-X AC
LB 10-X Cluster Ammo 80
LRM Bay NOS 18
LRM 20
LRM 20
LRM 20
LRM 20 (Clan) Artemis-capable Ammo 108
LRM Bay LS 12
LRM 20
LRM 20
LRM 20 (Clan) Artemis-capable Ammo 72
LRM Bay RS 12
LRM 20
LRM 20
LRM 20 (Clan) Artemis-capable Ammo 72
LRM Bay AFT 12
LRM 20
LRM 20
LRM 20 (Clan) Artemis-capable Ammo 72
Laser Bay LS 36
ER Large Laser
ER Large Laser
ER Large Laser
Laser Bay RS 36
ER Large Laser
ER Large Laser
ER Large Laser
Pulse Laser Bay NOS 42
Large Pulse Laser
Large Pulse Laser
Large Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Pulse Laser Bay AFT 42
Large Pulse Laser
Large Pulse Laser
Large Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
AMS Bay NOS 2
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] 288
AMS Bay LS 2
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] 288
AMS Bay RS 2
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] 288
AMS Bay AFT 2
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] 288
Pulse Laser Bay LS 12
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Pulse Laser Bay RS 12
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Medium Pulse Laser
Equipment Loc
----------------------------------------
Artemis IV FCS NOS
Artemis IV FCS NOS
Artemis IV FCS NOS
Artemis IV FCS LS
Artemis IV FCS LS
Artemis IV FCS RS
Artemis IV FCS RS
Artemis IV FCS AFT
Artemis IV FCS AFT
Communications Equipment (10 ton) NOS
Carrying Capacity
-----------------
Aerospace Fighter (3 doors) - 15 units (2 recovery open)
Aerospace Fighter (3 doors) - 15 units (2 recovery open)
Cargo Space (1 door) - 1,053 tons
Cargo Space (1 door) - 1,053 tons
Crew
----------------------
Officers 5
Enlisted/Non-rated 17
Gunners 7
Bay Personnel 60
BA Marines 5
5 x Escape Pods
5 x Lifeboats
The problem in my mind with the Titan is first, why wasn't it ever upgraded, and second, why's it so damn fast? Its not really got the guns to go in supporting its fighters, and I don't think using Megamek's dropship builder you can make a 5/8 titan actually fit on 12,000 tons, something just seems off about it.
She's a CV, she's got more fighters than most cruisers, so having her going galavanting off towards the enemy is dumb as all hell, have her hang back, and be armed enough to defend herself.
*edit*
I was wrong, you can make a 5/8 Titan, barely, she's still under weight a bit and you can't have anywhere near the number of doors she's got but you can make it. and she's still rubbish.
