I am hoping we will see one two of these show up soon.
Rereading the end of episode 7 it makes me think the " trap" was probably set up for returning recon flights. It would make sense as the Jung have turncoats and would possible know how many are still out.
It does raise the possibility of more trained crew and recon assets available in the future. Not to mention ranking line officers.
Could these ships be retrofit with a jump drive?
I was thinking of that also. A set of a few jump-enabled recon ships would really help the Alliance's war efforts. They need to monitor Jung fleet activity, so they can figure out how to best neutralize them. If even one Jung warship showed up in the 79 Herculis system right now, they could devastate the population.
And then more Falcons as the modern version of the Calvary (fast strike and some recon)... 🙂
Yes, the FTL recon ships are an interest in mine as well. I think one of my early posts was a schedule of returning FTL ships, assuming 8c speed, 3 light years from Alpha Centauri, and keeping at least two on station at all times. There should be some returning unless they got neutralized at Alpha Centauri.
I think that considering the current Jung capabilities anything but jump able recons is a waste of time. While they might be able to retrofit couple of Earth FTL recon (assuming that they are still there), but I think that (EP11? warning) Casimir newlly acquired wings of 402's will play that role, after all this is exactly what they were designed todo.
I think that considering the current Jung capabilities anything but jump able recons is a waste of time. While they might be able to retrofit couple of Earth FTL recon (assuming that they are still there), but I think that (EP11? warning) Casimir newlly acquired wings of 402′s will play that role, after all this is exactly what they were designed todo.
And Loki will be teaching the class on recon!
I think the FTL shuttles will be great to supplement the 402s since they can spend more time on target observing than a 402. I also bet that if shields and a ZPM can be added they could make great gunships. They're gonna be larger since they carried a crew for months, with a jump drive the space for consumables isn't needed and could be turned into weapons or troop transport. Imagine a couple of these with plasma cannons or turrets, and shields. No match for a cruiser but but could handle those frigates with ease.
Anyone know the approximate size of the recon ships? The picture makes them look much larger than a shuttle, at least too big to git in the aurora's hanger. It also looks like 4 antimatter reactors in line, seems like a lot since the Aurora has the same but larger reactors.
I think your right. With the heat exchange like fittings around them and the shape, I would think that they would be reactor radiation dissipation domes (Look at the Aurora Specs), which would point 4 reactors of some kind. I would assume that the recon ships would be about 3-4 times the size of a Combat Lander, which would maybe be about 60-100 meters long. Engines, power generation, and FTL systems take up over 1/2 of the length ship though. Not much armor on them either, but you could attempt to build another hull around the existing outer hull of the recon ships, and place your weapons, armor, and shield/jump emitters to it. Unfortunately, you would still have to lug around the weight of the original FTL system and reactors. You could of course gut the FTL system and reactors, but you would have excess space around the ZPED with no use for it.
Truthfully, you wouldn't want to make the recon ships into fighters. You could make them into better recon ships, KKV deployers, command and control relay ships, or even missile boats (jump, fire, jump) pretty easily, but they wouldn't really be effective as a close in fighter without a major overhaul. Any major overhaul would take time a resources away from other projects, and you would probably be able to build a gun boat in the time it took to modify a recon to perform the same job.
I think the best use of a recon ship, would be to scout Jung worlds and military assets, since they already have the equipment for the job. Just add a jump drive. Wouldn't even need a ZPED to do it either, just link the antimatter reactors to a small bank of batteries that could get the recons to jump 1-2 light years at a time and recharge really fast (seconds to minutes).
They have 16 402's (Falcons) left. I hope they will share with Josh and Loki.
They have 16 402′s (Falcons) left. I hope they will share with Josh and Loki.
I think it is the first wave of 402's.
A thought on 402s.
They had to pull out the FTL gear to make room for the jump drive.
402s have two reactors.
If you pull both reactors and replace with a micro ZPED, would that leave enough room for FTL gear?
Can a ship jump while traveling FTL?
If so instead of flying thru a waterfall, you could go FTL, then jump 1/2 light year, drop out of FTL, turn 90* and jump again.
The Jung would never be able to follow that.
I agree Josh and Loki will end up as "Top Gun" 402 instructors, they know more about that ship than anyone.
iirc Jump drive transitions between two points, ignoring shields but not things with big mass in its way. While FTL could't do either. So the extra energy would be better used for shields, no?
