Athena-class Warships

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

The main warships of the Grelfucan Defense Fleet were small, but powerfully armed, not often sharing design similarities. In fact, the only similar things about these designs are the coloration, and generational classifications.

What this means is that every few decades, the Grelfucans create an entire new line of warships, which all fufill the same roles as the ones they replace, and share the same class name. So, a battlecruiser and a frigate from sixty years ago would both have the same classification, such as the newest generation (I've only included two, though).

Firstly, the Athena-series Zeus-class Heavy Cruiser:

Spoiler:

The broadside of this ship packs a punch, as seen below.

Spoiler:

The four undersized engines leave this ship slower than some, but the heavy armor plating makes up the lack of speed.

Spoiler:

The Zeus-class HC was designed with the first part of her designation in mind: heavy. A full eight 24-caliber anti-grav mass-driver cannons adorn the sides, as well as sixteen 20mm twin-barreled machine gun turrets, and a total of fourteen missile tubes. A single massive 36-claliber "Marauder" anti-grav mass-driver cannon adorns the front, with an additional two 20mm twin-barreled machine gun turrets. For an improved z-axial defense, four 10-caliber twin-barrel anti-grav mass-driver turrets cover the top and bottom spinal mounts of the ship.

The Zeus-class HC's Specs:

-Length: 506 meters

-Armament:
--36-caliber "Marauder" anti-grav mass-driver cannon ( 1 )
--24-caliber anti-grav mass-driver cannons ( 8 )
--10-caliber twin-barreled anti-grav mass-driver turrets ( 4 )
--20mm twin-barreled machine gun turrets ( 18 )
--Multi-Drive Missile Launchers ( 14 )

-Armor: 3m-thick Rhenium-carbon-ceramic alloy plating.

-Complement:
--24 Hercules-class Fighters
--One each:
---Infantry Regiment ( ~1,500 troops )
---Light Armor Company ( ~160 troops, 64 vehicles )
---Heavy Armor Company ( ~160 troops, 32 vehicles )
---Artillery Battalion ( ~80 troops, 30 cannons )

Now, for the Athena-series Odysseus-class Frigate:

Spoiler:

The oversized engine makes this frigate fast enough to keep up with most fighter craft both in and out of atmosphere:

Spoiler:

Though the weaponry of the Odysseus-class Frigate looks heavy - and some of it is - its primary role is to counter smaller craft, hence the oversized engine.

The stats of the ship:

-Length: 279 meters

-Armament:
--24-caliber anti-grav mass-driver cannon ( 1 )
--10-caliber twin-barreled anti-grav mass-driver turret ( 1 )
--20mm twin-barreled machine gun turrets ( 4 )
--.50-caliber machine gun turrets ( 7 )

-Armor: 1m-thick Rhenium-carbon-ceramic-alloy plating.

-Complement:
--12 Hercules-class Fighters
--One Rifle Company ( ~165 troops )

An interesting note of all Grelfucan starships: rather than exposing the commanders on an open-viewport bridge, both the primary and auxiliary command centers are located in the central fore and aft sections of the ship, with the reactor usually between them. This is possible due to ultra-high-tech sensor equipment and multi-dimensional image projectors.

Due to the new discovery of the Arnhem Treaty's willingness to allow the Grelfucan Triumvirate use its Rift drive technologies, they are not equipped on any Athena-series ships. (In reality, I don't feel these ships are worthy of facing proper foes. That, and I'm a grunt, not a swabbie. I prefer smashing things with the massive cannon of a tank, not the cannon of a starship. )

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

Awesome ships, ARC! They both look awesome.

But, uh, when did I tell you about the rhenium armor? I know I mentioned it as possible armor for the Raider, but I don't recall mentioning it for starship armor...  Oh well, I guess it's not exactly the first bit of tech we're sharing.

[GuestGuest]

Not bad at all, ARC! These are really quite good! I love the Dreadnaught-class look to the heavy cruiser, and the frigate is beautifully ungainly.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Uh, thanks guys!

Arik: Well, I figured durasteel was out of the question, so I went researching awesome armor metals for the metal-ceramic alloy, and I remembered you said something about rhenium for the Raider, so I figured, "What the hey?" and went with it.

I noted the Dreadnaught-class look, hence why I made it an HC. Originally it was going to be a frigate or something, and the actual frigate a corvette. I decided against that though.

Can I ask something though? Is the idea of a generational class name a good idea, or should I start coming up with idividual class names?

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Those are some nice ships!    They look both well armored, and heavily armed! Both sleek, and deadly! Nice work! I would suggest lowering the armor amounts though... According to RMM, who would know, Imperial Star Destroyers have roughly ~20 meters of armor (correct me if I'm wrong RMM, it could just have easily been 16 meters, or even 32  ) I suggest the ten meters of armor for the HC, and 2-3 for the Corvette.

As to the naming system, I STRONGLY suggest giving each ship it's own name, they will be easier to remember that way. However, you could have a series name. EG, this is the Athena series, but each ship might be, the Hercules class, Zeus class, Odysseys class, Centaur class, Troy class, Spartan class, Hoplite class, etc.    

Other than that, you've got some really cool ships here! 

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Ohhh, that'll work! I like it.

As for the armor, well, they're supposed to be heavily armored, but if it's a ridiculous amount, I can decrease it. Keep in mind the thickness isn't just plating, it's also...other systems that I don't want anyone to know about yet until I reveal them.

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

ARC: Hey, it's fine. And since you took initiative and came up with it pretty much on your own, this time we won't have to use the excuse that my people gave it to you.

Also, Dino's probably right. I don't know if you're using the same ship scale as everyone else (where each stud is 10 meters' thickness), but if you are, the heavy cruiser is only eighty meters wide total. If sixty meters of that width was solid armor... well, you wouldn't have much trouble staying in one piece, but it'd be hard to fit much inside. Keep in mine, Even ten meters of armor is over thirty feet thick, so you're not exactly lacking. And that armor composite of yours ought to be very tough as it is, regardless of thickness...

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Uhhh, no, I forgot about that. I kinda used an arbitrary scale for the length. I suppose I should decrease the armor, then...

[RememberMMRecruit (No Affiliation)]

Actually I have no idea how thick the armor of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer is. Neither does Wookieepedia, so I suspect that it's never been mentioned in any canon source. 

You can use either the 'Perfect Grade' scale, which is 1 stud=10 meters, or you can use the 'Master Grade' scale, which is 1 stud=12.5 meters. Dino and I use the Master Grade scale, and everyone else uses Perfect Grade.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Ah, okay. I think I used to try and keep a scale, but, ah, I've never really done that...

Okay, so one stud equals ten or twelve-point-five meters. Thanks! What about groundside vehicles? I'm mainly going to be trying to build tanks, trucks, gunships, etc.

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

For ground vehicles, the scale is usually 1 inch equals 5 studs.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

...But, 8 studs is closer to 2.5 inches, making a stud juuust abouuut 5/16 of an inch. Meaning that your scale of 5 studs would actually be about 25/16 of an inch, which is a bit over an inch and a half. Your scale makes no sense whatsoever.























































Luckily for everyone, I'm well aware you were joking, Arik.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

(replying to RMM) YAY! Someone else who uses Master Grade!


The truth is, it's your ship ARC, you build it how and to whatever scale YOU want to. 

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Ten meters of armor? Really? That seems like...MASSIVE overkill, at least for any ship under 1000 meters, and even then it's a solid 1% of your length. I assumed starship armor would ten FEET thick, especially for a frigate (200-400 meters). Do you have a citation for armor that thick, Dino? I'm not trying to sound aggressive, I'm honestly curious.

VERY impressive ships, ARC. I especially like those guns, I've been meaning to design similar ones myself, but it seems you beat me to it!

Also, I should point out that you cannot have a "ceramic alloy," nor a carbon alloy. Ceramics are defined as nonmetallic, inorganic substances formed by shaping and firing a mixture until it hardens. An alloy is a combination of two metals, and carbon is a nonmetal. It would be possible to create a Rhenium-carbon mixture (though I have no idea what sort of compound that would produce, it could be an explosive gas for all we know), and layer it with a ceramic, or to simply layer Rhenium and ceramic armor, and leave out the carbon altogether.

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

@Supe: It's not necessarily infeasible. I managed to get roughly 10-20 meters of heavy armor covering a large portion Bismarck-class (https://phoenixcommandgroup.rpg-board.net/t90-bismarck-iv-class-frigate) in the LDD model, which, while the armor has several areas it doesn't cover (such as the middle section between the upper and lower "halves" of armor, the thrusters, the bridge, etc., all of which still have decent armor but not nearly as much). So it isn't at all means impossible.

As to the armor and what it's made of, I think he's just referring to a layered composite, not a true alloy. So, for example, you have (I'm doing this in a random order ) the ceramic on top, the rhenium right under it, and the carbon-fiber layer under both, with the combined armor being 10m thick.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Arik, similar. You smelt the Rhenium and mix it in with the clay once the rhenium is cool enough to work with, but still malleable. Then you have the carbon-fiber layers in-between slabs of clay before slow-firing, and then you have one plate of-ah, yes, composite-armor.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Daragon I seem to recall the original had 20-30 meters of armor, I was just trying to get it only half as overkill Either that, or I got meters and feet mixed up again. Ten meters WOULD be a LOT of armor for a ~ 500 meter ship, but I hardly think that 1% of a ship's length beying armor is overkill, as long as the ship is in space (EG, not landing for troop deployment or repairs) then it's in very low gravity, so technically, weight isn't the same issue as even a ground vehicle on earth. You still have to get it moving and get it to stop though. So I think that around 5 meters max for super-heavy armor would be more realistic for a ship that size.

While I'm on armor, I could be mistaken on the thinness of Federation ship armor, it could easily be 10 feet thick on larger ships with only lighter ADDITIONAL plating. I'm just not sure. Wow... did I just admit to not knowing something?!?!?!

[Andre TholvelCEO]

20 FEET sounds much more reasonable than 20 METERS. And it's not the weight, I mean the space-- 1% of the length is a LOT when you consider you need to pack several hundred crew, weapon stations, nav/med/aux bridges, fighter bays, service bays, generators, reactors, labs, and whatever else you might put on a starship. 5 meters on the ground? That's not as heavy as you would WANT, that's about as heavy as you could possibly MOVE, within reason.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

So, are we done talking about the armor plating, or do I still need to fix it.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

OKAY, EVERYBODY!

There, now that I've your attention, I have finally fixed the units on the armor plating. Once again, I got feet and meters mixed up. NOW it's fixed.

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Ah, awesome. Well, considering you probably just reduced the weight of your ships by ten percent, they're that much faster!

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

True. But they're still supposed to be floating fortresses.

[Andre TholvelCEO]

Three meters of armor, especially with Rhenium armor, is still pretty powerful, especially when augmented by shields. I mean, obviously you're free to make it as thick as you like, I apologize if I sounded like I was ridiculing it.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Nah, it's good.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

We're just a bunch of old guys offering advice from our glory days, don't mind us. (Speaking for myself, and I think the others) we weren't bashing your design, we were just discussing armor thickness in general for a ship this size... which is admittedly off topic.    the new 3m thickness is perfectly reasonable, especially since it's YOUR ship; not ours to mess with as me please.   But armor thickness aside, these are some seriously NICE ships!

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