Frangerian Navy

[Battlegrinder]

The current batch of Frangerian starships.

Hlín Scout

Spoiler

Show

Forseti Frigate

Spoiler

Show

Ullr Destroyer

Spoiler

Show

Thor Cruiser

Spoiler

Show

Magni Light Carrier

Spoiler

Show

Heimdallr Assault Carrier

Spoiler

Show

Tyr Battleship

Spoiler

Show

Odin Super-Dreadnought

Spoiler

Show

Eir Mobile Repair Yard/Supercarrier

Spoiler

Show

Full Fleet

Spoiler

Show

[Battlegrinder]

I've recently resumed work on the Frangerian Navy, now that the ground force construction is going into hiatus. I've changed the fleet's design away from its previous style, which felt a bit unfocused, and am instead modelling the Frangerian ships after the ironclad warships of the US Civil War. I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions.

Here's the first of the new ships, The Hlín class scout ship based off the CSS Manassas.



The scout ship (still working on a formal name for the class) is a small, fast ship, with light armor and a single laser cannon. It is intended to harass opposing fleets and provide anti-fighter support. In addition, it's reinforced bow allows it to safely ram enemy ships, and the scout ship can carry enough infantry to launch a boarding assault if the ramming attack connects.

A few more shots, with a Frangerian bumblebee fighter for scale.








Just finished the 2nd ship, the Sol class light frigate based on the USS Monitor.










It's armed with 4 laser cannons and two light P.H.A.S.E (Plasma enHanced lAser Sheathed Eradicator) cannons located in the turret. The cannons are a little weak for use against capital ships, but against smaller ships they're highly effective. Light frigates like this one make up the bulk of the Frangerian fleet, along with the heavy frigate I'll be posting shortly.


Size comparison with scout ship.





Edit: former 1st post moved to the begining of this post, to free up first post for use a link and picture repository.

[Battlegrinder]

3rd ship is finished, the Máni class Heavy Frigate. It's a variant of the normal frigate that trades speed and maneuverability for firepower and slightly more armor. The Heavy Frigate mounts a single P.H.A.S.E cannon in the turret in place of the two light cannons in the standard frigate. The four independent laser cannons have been replaced with a single quad laser cannon, and the rear laser battery has been replaced with a pair of missile launchers.





Side by side with the standard Frigate.




The PHASE cannon is the primary weapon employed by the Frangerian Navy. Originally, the navy was going to use immortal plasma weapons, but the sophisticated immortal design proved beyond the capabilities of Frangerian manufacturing, and the immortals were unwilling to supply the Protectorate with the number of plasma weapons they'd need. After attempts to replicate ASE and Scythian laser weapons also meet with failure, someone in R&D decided to try and merge the two weapons. With the help of GT technology from the ZMC, the Frangerians were able to create the PHASE cannon, which works by surrounding a dense core of plasma with a sheath of coherent light. The resulting weapon was not as fast and accurate as a laser, nor as damaging as plasma bolt, but it was far faster and more accurate than any other plasma weapon, and hit far harder than any laser of comparable size. While the PHASE cannon has proven effective in combat, it's complex design makes maintenance intensive and difficult, and also makes it slow to manufacture. Howfully, those issues will fade as the Protectorate closes the tech gap between it and the rest of the galaxy.

[Battlegrinder]

Enjoy this latest ship design, a the Ullr class destroyer based off of the CSS Arkansas.








The destroyer is the backbone of the Frangerian Navy, as its the smallest ship able to carry the complex CnC equipment required to coordinate a flotilla's actions. Given the relatively small number of capital ships in commission, most fleets will only have a handful of them available, and usually compensate by organizing their lighter vessels into a number of smaller squadrons, and assign a destroyer to each squadron.




Destroyers are armed with 10 laser cannons, 5 light PHASE cannons, and 4 standard PHASE cannons. They also have a small missile rack that can hold up to 9 type 2 missiles, or twice that number of type 1 missiles.



Size comparison with frigate.

[loafofcheese]

Really loving the ironclad style!

[Silverdream]

I like the original designs, however these look a little lightly armed. I don't think everything should be a fuckton of guns, but it seems to me that there's a lot of unused space on these ships that could be used for other details.

[Battlegrinder]

I like the original designs, however these look a little lightly armed. I don't think everything should be a fuckton of guns, but it seems to me that there's a lot of unused space on these ships that could be used for other details.

I'm glad you like the hulls, getting them to look just right has been very challenging.

For these lighter ships, they are coming in a little under-armed compared to the average ship, but that kinda fits the Frangerian theme of being slightly behind the technological curve compared to many other nations. The heavier ships are going to be much nastier than the lighter ones, however. I'd also point out that these ships are about three times larger than they should be, since my LDD skills are too deficient to build ships in scale with the rest of the forum.

[Battlegrinder]

After almost a week of building, I'm proud to present the Thor class cruiser, based off of the USS Carondelet. Thor class cruisers form the core command structure of most Frangerian battle groups, due to the rarity of heavier vessels within the fleet.





The Thor class cruiser is the first ship to incorporate protective gun ports over its main batteries. With the main guns concealed and the missile racks locked down, it still packs enough firepower to gut most light ships using only the secondary batteries, which consist of a dozen PHASE cannons, 5 tri-barreled long range laser cannons, and a number of quad laser arrays.




When the guns are run out however...watch out. With 7 heavy PHASE cannons, 4 rotary PHASE cannons (basically, a four barreled Gatling version of the standard PHASE cannon), and four high capacity missile pods, a single salvo can cripple anything lighter than a full fledged battleship.




But wait, there's more! the Thor also carries a pair of Fenris heavy missiles to deal with tough opponents, alongside a single Ragnarok ultra-heavy missile. Each missile is equipped with shielding to block interdiction attempts, and the Ragnarok is also armed with a dozen laser cannons to ensure it reaches its target.




The Cruiser's largest weapon is the Rift Cannon, an advanced weapon that fuses technology and magic. The Rift cannon was designed as a counter to the thick shielding and armor used my most of Frangeria's rivals (neither of which PHASE cannons can reliably penetrate), and works by opening an interdimensional portal inside a target's shields. The portal can be to any number of alternate dimensions or realities, but is usually calibrated to access an area where even the briefest exposure can cause crippling damage, lose of lives, or break teh minds of those who gaze into it (popular choices include the Plane of Plasma, the Plane of Unimaginable Horrors Beyond The Minds of Mortals, The Plane of Anti-matter, and Detroit).

The Rift cannon has proved to be a difficult weapon to work with. While low maintenance and easy to manufacture, the cannon has resisted all attempts to scale it down or up. The small ones have constantly failed to function reliably, while the last attempt to build a scaled up version resulted in the cannon misfiring and shifting the entire shipyard into another reality (as of yet, all attempts to locate the missing faculty have failed). consequently, plans to replace the logistically challenging PHASE cannon with miniaturized Rift cannons have been permanently shelved.



A close-up of the forward point defense array. The larger turrets are long range laser cannons, a reverse engineered and hybridized version of ASE and Scythian laser weapons that was resigned for increased range and accuracy in place of power.





Size comparison with destroyer.

[cleanupcrew]

You call that a cruiser? That monster is bigger and better-armed than some dreadnoughts.

[Battlegrinder]

You call that a cruiser? That monster is bigger and better-armed than some dreadnoughts.

I'm not working in the same scale as is standard for LDD ships, since I can't work in the level of detail I want with ships that size. At a rough guess, all my ships are 3 or 4 times larger than they actually should be.

Also, if you think the Thor out-guns most dreadnoughts, I can't wait until you see they actual Frangerian dreadnought.

[Battlegrinder]

Ok, next ship, the Magni class light carrier. Based off of the cruiser's proven hull design, the Magni provides fighter support for Frangerian battlegroups when the larger fleet carrier isn't available (which, given the rarity of such ships, is most of the time).




The Magni drops most of the Thor's weaponry to provide room for the flight deck and other carrier systems. While the main PHASE cannon batteries have been removed, it does retain the missile pods and the bow/stern point defense batteries. It also swaps the upper PHASE turrets for laser turrets, and downgrades the Rift cannon to a pair of heavy PHASE cannons. It also dumps the Ragnarok missile, though the Fenris missiles are still in place. This weapons loadout gives the Magni tremendous anti-fighter/anti-missile capability, which allows it to provide point defense for most of the battlegroup, leaving the rest of the force free to engage opposing ships.




Cutaway view of the flight deck, including a view of the conveyer system that deploys the ship's fighters. The two short side runways are used to allow fighters that have exhausted their ordinance or sustained battle damage to dock and rearm/repair without interfering with launch and recovery operations. The Magni can support up to two dozen fighters, but due to battle loses and logistical issues, most squadrons have been depleted to around 50-60% of their capability.

[Zupponn]

Get guns on the bottom of those ships.

[Battlegrinder]

Get guns on the bottom of those ships.

I've considered doing that, but A) it doesn't really fit the ironclads design theme, and B) It generally isn't needed, since most of the ships have guns that are articulated enough to fire at targets below them, or are maneuverable enough to spin around and fire at enemies below them.

[Battlegrinder]

Ok, next ship, the Tyr class Battleship. I designed it as an expansion of the cruiser, so it's loosely based on the Carondelet. There are only a handful of these ships in service with the Frangerian Navy, most of which are assigned to the the Frangerian navy units deployed to the immortal front, where they have established a reputation as one of toughest and most powerful capital ships in the Immortal Alliance inventory.




The Frangerian naval design bureau continues to demonstrate its commitment to the concept of "excessive force". In addition to a pair of dual Rift Cannon turrets, each broadside packs 18 PHASE cannons and a pair of ultra-high capacity missile pods. The bow and stern batteries mount 4 and 3 cannons respectively, along with a handful of long range laser turrets. The bow also carries 3 Ragnarok missiles.





There are also two bow mounted "flyswatter" plasma wave projectors. The projector's main strength is the ability to blast vast areas of space with huge amounts of plasma. Unfortunately, the projector's range is limited to only a few miles at best, and it doesn't have enough power to do a reasonable amount of damage to anything bigger than a starfighter. On the plus side, it's really good point defense.





The last weapon system is a set of 9 Fenris missiles loaded into a vertical launch system built in between the main turrets.





View of the stern battery and engines.







Side by side with cruiser. Daww, it's take your kid to work day.

[Vami IV]

His dreadnoughts are going to be the size of a planet! (I'm well aware Colette already made an argument).
I do feel like some areas of these ships could use some greebling.

Other than that, these are really awesome ships.