OBT Forum

Gunstar GNX-1

The GNX-1 Gunstar class 'Starfighter' of the Rylan Star League, is really a spheroid assault DropShip capable of some impressive feats, not the least of which is operation by a single person.

Class/Model/Name:  Gunstar GNX-1
Tech:              Mixed / 3150
Vessel Type:       Spheroid DropShip
Mass:              2,500 tons
Safe Thrust:       3
Maximum Thrust:    5
Armor Type:        Ferro-Aluminum
Armament:         
    5 RISC Hyper Lasers
    7 Light PPCs w/PPC Capacitors
    4 Piranha Sub-capital Missiles
      24 Piranha Missiles
    4 4 ton Internal Bomb Bays
    1 2 ton cargo bay
    7 ton Communications Equipment
    1 DTAC system
    1 Caspar II system

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Gunstar GNX-1
Mass:              2,500 tons
Equipment:                                                              Mass
Engine, Drive, & Control:                                               476.50
      Safe Thrust: 3
      Maximum Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity: 100                                               500.00
Total Heat Sinks:    78 Double                                          23.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 10 tons of fuel                                      10.50
Armor Type:  Ferro-Aluminum  (5040 total armor pts)                     210.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                1360
   Left Side:                           1360
   Right Wings:                         1360
   Aft:                                 1360

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Internal Bomb Bay 4 tons with 1 door                         4.00
   Bay 2:  Internal Bomb Bay 4 tons with 1 door                         4.00
   Bay 3:  Internal Bomb Bay 4 tons with 1 door                         4.00
   Bay 4:  Internal Bomb Bay 4 tons with 1 door                         4.00
   Bay 5:  Cargo 2 tons with 1 door                                     2.00

Crew and Passengers:
      1 DTAC Operator                                                   225.00
      Caspar II Systems (3/4 skills)                                    300.00
      Robotic Maintenance and Life Support                              15.00

Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 RISC Hyper Laser         Nose       20     20     20     20   24      8.00
7 LPPC w/PPC Capacitors    Nose       70     70     --     --   70      20.00   
1 Piranha Missile Launcher Nose       30     30     30     --   9       100.00
1 Piranha Missile Launcher Nose       30     30     30     --   9       100.00
1 Piranha Missile Launcher Nose       30     30     30     --   9       100.00
1 Piranha Missile Launcher Nose       30     30     30     --   9       100.00
1 RISC Hyper Laser         FL         20     20     20     20   24      8.00
1 RISC Hyper Laser         FR         20     20     20     20   24      8.00
1 RISC Hyper Laser         AL         20     20     20     20   24      8.00
1 RISC Hyper Laser         AR         20     20     20     20   24      8.00
Communication Equipment 7 tons                                          4.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                         180     2,500.00
Tons Left:                                                              0.00

A few Notes:

On Size
The Gunstar is always refered to as a fighter, however, the thing is massive, dwarfing the diner it landed next to at the end of the movie by a large margin, so in terms of battletech, it clearly has larger dimensions than our aerospace fighters. In addition it clearly showed the capability of interstellar travel, which is out of the realm of aerospace fighter abilities.

On Spheroid
The Gunstar shows two major indications that it is a spheroid unit, rather than an aerodyne that the name "starfighter" might imply. The first is how it lands. With it's nose pointed up, rather than parallel to the ground, only spheroid units land this way. The second is that it clearly demonstrates more than once the ability to shoot things directly beside it, which aerodyne units cannot do. With it's 360 degree coverage of fire, it had to be a spheroid in battletech terms.

On Armament
I chose RISC Hyper Lasers to represent it's arsenal of powerful lasers simply because in the movie they could destroy enemy fighters in single blasts, so I needed to get the most power in the smallest laser I could. I also needed it to be a credible threat on the Capital scale. With it's 20 point damage value, it not only does 2 points of capital damage, but thresholds many things. Assuming the Kodan Armada used lightly armored fighters, between the thresholding and the raw damage of the things, I feel these lasers are the right choice.

The Gunstar also has a set of four missile launchers, which fire forward, but displayed the ability to turn around and strike a target behind the gunstar. To me this spoke of capital scale weapons in battletech, since only capital missiles can do waypoint launches, changing direction after launch. For this reason the Pirahna missiles were chosen. Originally I was planning on using thunderbolt-20s to represent these, but when I had to increase the size to allow for the control systems I discuss below, I decided to go with sub-capital launchers and meet the waypoint launch capabilities as well.

On The Deathblossom
Fully representing, accurate to the last detail, the Gunstar's deathblossom in battletech is impossible. The rules simply don't support it. I attempted several variations that might approximate it, but the one I settled on was using the Internal bomb bay quirk on each of 4 Cargo bays intended for the purpose of having weapon systems concealed. Theoretically, the original gunstar had figured out a way to mount energy weapons, in a similar way to how the rocket launcher racks can be mounted in place of bombs. I imagine a self contained system like a handheld chemical small laser could be mounted similarly, though that is house rule territory. For now the intention is to use ordnance mountable in bomb bays en-masse from these 4 bays.

On Tracking multiple targets
The Gunstar was clearly designed to engage numerous targets, seemingly uder the assumption that it would always be out numbered. So in addition to it's internal bomb bay quirks, the gunstar sports the multi traker quirk, suffering no penalties to enganging any number of targets simultaneously.

On Armor
The Gunstar, in a single battle, not only sustained fire from dozens of enemy craft, but also survived, intact, a glancing collision with a capital ship. This speaks to the huge amount of armor the gunstar must have had. With 100 Structural integrity and 1360 points of armor in each location, I feel confident this representation will feel that resilient on the battlefield.

On Control Systems
Despite it's size, the gunstar is operated like a heavy fighter, with a pilot and a gunner. It was very difficult to figure out how to represent this in BattleTech, since the crew requirements for even small craft starts above two people. The gunstar seemed to be representing the most state of the art technology possible though, and a great deal of automation to make the crew's job easier. In searching for how to do this on something this size, I found only one way of doing it.

The majority of the ship's functions are entirely automated, with the Caspar II system that is a hybrid of drone and robotic technology. It having drone elements allows for a human to be in control of it. Normally this is done via a command ship with a DTAC computer. So I simply installed a DTAC computer on the Gunstar itself, with the capacity to control a single unit, the ship it itself is on. This leave it a huge ship that is operated by a single crewman, via extremely state of the art technology. This is as close as I could get to the crew of the original gunstar.

This does bring up an interesting capability of the unit in that the crew can allow the drone systems to take over, and use their DTAC system to control another Caspar II unit remotely.

I did pay the full, brutal tonnage cost of mounting all that automation, including the steerage requirement in quarters for a caspar II unit, and there is an extra two ton cargo bay specifically for consumables for the crew, which should be more than enough for the one person to last a long time.

In BattleTech terms, I would expect this to be able to engage any decently sized force, even going toe-to-toe with smaller warships, and make a very strong showing for itself. It's lasers allow it to engage multiple targets, or, in the overlap zones of the fire arcs, to combine fire and seriously hurt a target. It's missiles allow it to be a danger to anything without sufficient point defense, and give it options to engage things far outside of normal ranges, standard capital missile shenanigans.

It's heavy armor and dense structure are where it really shines though, allowing it to survive things that would obliterate most anything else it's size. It's communication equipment allows it to replicate many effects of ECM, and several other options, it is really a toolbox-type piece of equipment.

It has several days of fuel for interplanetary actions, and it has enough space for consumables to last far longer than it's fuel will, enabling a pilot to also bring with them a small amount of personal effects, though cramped conditions would make any long journey uncomfortable.

The Crew control set-up I have worked up, and the representation of the death-blossom in multiple internal bomb bays are somewhat questionable as far as legality goes, so make sure to bring those points up with a group before using this.