Aotrs Shipyards is a webstore on Shapeways.com, a 3D print house which had production and shipping facilities located in the USA and the Netherlands.
This monthm, we have a couple more support ships for the Xyriat Hegemony and the Wodef Enclave.
Xyriats
CST01C Yaxir Supply/Transport Cruiser
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The Yaxir is the Hegemonic Navy's primary transport and supply vessel Further, it is one of the few that also serves in a civilian capacity as is one of the most common sights in the Xyriat spaceways. Like several Xyriat hull designs, the Yaxir is a venerable design that has had several major refits. The Yaxir hull is no longer in production, but is so numerous that as yet, no major attempt has been made to replace it.
One of the Yaxir's major roles is as a refuelling vessel. As such, it was designed to be able to interface with the refuelling lances on the larger Xyriat vessels as they would normally with a starbase. The sheer size of the refuelling lances and the typical configuration of the Xyriat vessels made this a somewhat difficult problem to solve. The Yaxirs were initially equipped with two huge refuelling probes, attached on the upper superstructure (where the fuel was stored) that unfolded from the sides. To start with, this configuration seemed to work, but as the burgeoning Yaxir fleets aged, the refuelling probes began to cause problems. The stresses involved in swinging out the 300-plus-metre tubes took a severe toll on the mechanisms. Even after several attempts were made to reinforce the mountings, this made them increasingly expensive to maintain. While maintenance of the components alleviated this issue for a while, the tubes themselves were starting to suffer. Then, in the space of a year, there forty-four separate incidents of the refuelling probes simply rupturing entirely in both civilian and military instances. Fourteen of these were serious enough that the fuel leak caused damage to one or both of the vessels involved. In the worst incident, an unfortunate confluence of events lead to the loss of a Yaxir and both of the vessels it was refuelling and severe damage to a nearby corvette.
There was furore in the aftermath, as it was revealed that these weaknesses had long been well known to both military and civilian authorities, but had been suppressed due to the expense of solving the issue. The problem had been buried in red tape in the hopes that it would simply never happen. The Omnicron was also most displeased, and thorough purge of all concerned followed.
Solving the issue required a fundamental re-design of the Yaxir. The solution was simple, if perhaps unorthodox. The refuelling probes were removed entirely, and replace with a single, static probe, mounted on the upper hull. To refuel, the Yaxir inverts relative to the target vessel and docks to it upside-down and back-to-front. This keeps the fuel transfer well away from both vessel's ventral thermal exhausts and their engine wash, both of which could cause potential problems. Precise computer controlled manoeuvring insures that the few tens of metre of clearance is safely maintained. The major downside to this solution is that it is significantly harder to refuel at any degree of sublight speed, as it requires the Yaxir to be moving through its own thrusters or more dangerously, being held by the refuelling vessel's tractor beams.
This modification necessitated the removal of the front of the upper super structure to secure a mounting point, the blocking the Yaxir's dorsal cargo ports, formerly the primary way non-fuel cargo was loaded. Instead, six new smaller cargo ports were created on the sides of the vessel's mid-structure. These were placed between the huge buttresses that had previously heled the refuelling probe in their resting position. Both the buttresses and the primary mounting for the old refuelling probes had been so heavily reinforced that is was simply not cost-effective to remove them entirely.
The cost of refitting the Yaxirs to the new design was enormous, and draining the Hegemonic coffers more than any other single program previously. However, even that cost was smaller than having to replace the civilian and military infrastructure's most prevalent transport entirely. The Omnicron also required that civilian transport be refitted as well, with a large part of the cost being footed by the organisations and companies that had conspired to suppress the issue.
The Yaxir's current modification has caused – so far – few issues and the design is expected to serve for more years yet (indeed, the primary reason that no more transport have thus been developed is that expense of refitting the Yaxir fleet).
The Yaxir is well-protected by comparison to many transports, with nine particle beam turrets for point-defence and shields and armour little short of a regular cruiser of its size. It is also only a little slower than the military vessels it supports. Some civilian version, however, downgrade the engines or shields to use the space for more cargo space.
One common variant is the CT01 Yaxir, built specifically for civilian use as passenger liners or cargo vessels. The CT01 version was not built with the refuelling probes. These ships thus escaped the safety issues and thus continue to use the Yaxir's initial, dorsal loading hold design. This version was also used as the basis for the Handrodar Troop Transport Cruiser.
TTR02A Handrodar Troop Transport Cruiser
Handrodar and Kolots
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Handrodar by itself
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(Note – if anyone is interested in Kolots by themselves, that would be trivial to do – I just didn't, since they are sufficiently small it didn't seem worth doing so, given Shapeway's floor base cost.)
The Handrodar Troop Transport Cruiser was developed from the CT01 Yaxir variant. The CT01 was never built with the CST01's problematic refuelling probes, and sees uses primarily as a civilian transport. The CT01's dorsal cargo hold was easily converted into hangar space to house the TBV01 Kolot and its direct predecessors.
The Handrodar, like the military versions of the Yaxir, has respectable speed, shields and defences for a transport ship, sharing the same armament of nine particle beam turrets.
Before the introduction of the Kolot, the remaining space was for a small number of troop quarters. Since the Kolot, unlike the BV05A Kariot is replaced, houses the troops itself directly, this space has been converted to additional cargo holds. This allows the vessels to two-and-a-half times the number of troops in the same ship space.
Though its cargo hold is only a quarter of the size of the cargo hold of a Yaxir, it nevertheless extends the operational range of the Kolot/Handrodar pair to just over five months.
Careful reorganisation of the Handrodar's internal structure, however, allowed it to retain and even expand on the number of recreational and supplementary crew facilities. This part of the Handrodar's modification from the CT01 Yaxir was made late in the process of the design of the Kolot, when concerns were raised about the very basic living conditions aboard the vessels and how it might affect morale. It necessitated a somewhat costly last-minute adjustment to the Handrodar project, but when they entered service a year after the Kolots the difference was immediate and lauded.
While most often paired with Kolots, the Handrodar's capabilities also allow it to fulfil the role of a light carrier – most often for long-range scouts. The morale of the crews aboard these vessels is very high, given the comparative plethora of recreational facilities when not in use by ten troop companies. The Handrodar is also used as a personal transport by several high-ranking government and military personnel; some of these vessels sacrifice hangar space for more facilities.
TBV01 Kolot Army Transport/Boarding Vessel
The Kolot Army Transport/Boarding Vessel is, like the smaller Vutkor, technically a self-sufficient smallcraft. Build at the leading edge of such technology, the Kolot was intended to serve as troop ship, landing craft and assault shuttle; a small, highly mobile platform nonetheless able to carry a significant load of troops.
Unlike many such vessels, the Kolot does not merely transport, but houses army units – up to five companies of troops. However, on a combatively small vessel, space was at a premium, and thus the troop quarters are Spartan and cramped and recreational facilities are very minimal.
The Kolot has strong shields for a smallcraft and is quite resilient to damage. It is armed with several particle beam turrets for both defence and offense, backed up by a pair of light torpedo turrets, typically armed with a mix of warheads.
Though the Kolot can carry enough supplies to last just over two months by itself, Kolots are in practise deployed in pairs from the Handrodar Troop Transport Cruiser. The Handrodar, while serving as an additional supply store for the Kolots, also has a disproportionate amount of supplementary and leisure facilities, somewhat making up for the Kolot's lack and easing the pressure on the troops.
Wodefs
Hadfe Morr-Noalo Dro'Sanla Tug
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The Hadfe-Morr Noalo configuration serves as the Wodef Enclave fleet's primary Dro'Sanla tug, used to piggy-back on the UCDR's node station system.
Over a third of the light cruiser's hull is taken up by the Dro'Sanla drive systems, allowing the vessel to haul to a staggering twenty-four times its own size through a teleport jump. However, a load of more than three times its size is beyond the Hadfe Morr-Noalo's own sublight engines, meaning that the vessels it is to haul must themselves manoeuvre to attach to it. While it has a pair of tractor beam arrays to supplement its towing array, if more than three vessels are being transported the remainder must attach to it using their own towing arrays. Further, unlike the larger (and completely purpose built) Andrast tug of the Xyriat Hegemony, the Hadfe Morr-Noalo lacks the former's designated latching points.
As a result, using the Hadfe Morr-Noalo to transport a fleet is an operation that leaves the fleet – and the tug especially – more vulnerable during the latching and undocking process.
To compensate for this weakness, the vessel shares the same armament and shields as the rest of the Hadfe Moor family, and mounts nine Rulifnoor Point Defence Turrets making it better protected than the Andrast.
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Photos of Replicator 2 protoypes.
Next month will see the start of the third elenthnar power – the Phystyulons! As a sneak peak, here bare the Phystyulons in action against the Xyriat Hegemony at Partizan last Sunday!
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Accelerate & Attack: Aeons of War is also out now (a generic build-your-own ships system suitable for any set of models) is also now available of Wargames Vault here:
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There is also a free Web Enhancement Pack; this contains the markers and the QR sheet the latter of which is an indicator of the level of the game if you want to have a quick nosey.
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And, of course, I'm always happy to answer questions about it (though your best bet is to contact me through the Wargame Vault or Shapeways PM, since that PM system here isn't open to everyone and these days, putting your email address on a forum is a no-no!)
is back from Council of Five Nations.
