munroburton wrote:We know a little - they're upscaled versions of the Sharks with internal magazines to fire those graser torpedoes. We also know the original Oyster Bay was meant to be carried out by the LDs and include Haven, which has many more shipyards spread around.
I haven't seen any good theories on what they were supposed to do with them after Oyster Bay. Textev is, obviously, very scarce on that point.
My speculation is the actual OB attack we got could have been carried out by four LDs - one for each physical location(Manticore, Sphinx, Gryphon, Blackbird). The rest would've been doing the same to Haven's more scattered yards.
So what's next? Probably ambushes - figure out where the GA's going to visit, speed ahead with their improved hyper generators and lay doggo at a low relative velocity. The problem with that is, the LDs are no faster than the Ghosts or Sharks, so they would eventually be pinned down by recon drones operating with active scans, rather than passives.
cthia wrote:Theemile wrote:Monroburton, you forgot a couple things.
1) Like the Sharks, they are podlayers.
2) As you implied, they mount the Spider drive, limiting their accel as you mentioned.
3) They probably mount a bubble sidewall (which cannot be used when the spider drive is active.)
4) They are considered to be true capital ships by the MA.
5) They are very large - when less than 50% complete, they were larger than the ~5 Mton Sharks.
Wow, just a few posts and I've already learned a lot.
cthia wrote:2. When I first read discussions regarding low accel, I thought that would be a serious disadvantage against a much more maneuverable opponent. So I wondered if RFC would give them an advantage in either initial accel (sprinters), then top out at ~ 400-500 gravities. Or vice versa with a max accel greater than the GA's. Perhaps, I'm in error about both?
In the Honorverse, all that needs to be done is set the accel where you want it, and then you go at that accel, instantly, or near enough as makes no difference. It's not a slow gradual buildup over time, and any "sprint" mode just means you're topping out your accel.
cthia wrote:3. Regarding your third point. It seems that would be a serious disadvantage during battle, no? They wouldn't be able to maneuver in a hell storm of incoming missiles w/o losing a fair amount of ship defenses - all else being equal?
Correct. It's a serious disadvantage. Very similar to LACs not being able to accelerate when their full buckler is up. The LDs drive attaches itself to the Alpha wall, and that means that it can't operate through a bubble sidewall.
cthia wrote:Unless that disadvantage is offset with a much greater non ballistic missile range?
Unless they've got MDMs of their own comparable to the GAs, no.
cthia wrote:4. I wonder if they will also form some kind of wall of battle, being true capital ships. Or are they designed to operate as solitary units?
These things are designed for stealth. A supposedly undetectable drive, combined with as much other stealth capabilities as are possible in the Honorverse. A wall would kind of defeat that purpose, and they are definitely not going to be able to stand up against a wall of regular HV warships. A bubble sidewall just won't cut it against capital ship missiles - they can't even "roll wedge" since they HAVE no wedge.
cthia wrote:5. They could conceivably scale up to 10+ Mton when complete? Though I thought they'd be even larger. Has textev given if indeed the spider drive is what accounts for the extra tonnage?
IIRC, it's not so much that the Spider Drive contributes to the tonnage, but that the Spider Drive isn't limited to the mass/compensator efficiency ratio like a wedge is for standard drive warships. Also, the compensator doesn't have to cover as much since the crew is genetically designed to withstand many more G's than "normal" pitiful humans. OTOH, as noted above, the maximum accel is much lower than that of a wedge, until your ship mass crosses the mass limit for a wedge/compensator combo. Once a standard HV wedge-drive ship crosses that limit, its accel drops rapidly.