Elven Crown Bases

Blackmaer wrote:
>>Ben Wafer said:
>>Incidentally, Base of Woes inspired me to do a write-up on elven 'Crown 
>>Bases' as I call their rings. If anyone's interested I'll send it to the 
>>list.
> 
> 
> I'm interested, and I hope I count as an "anyone".
> 
> --Blackmaer

Good enough for me! OK, here you go (note the ship stats are 2nd edition):

Crown Base (average size)
Built by: Elves
Used Primarily By: Elves
Cost: 985,000 gp
Tonnage: 455 (50 for individual Archaic Men-o-War, plus tonnage of 
citadel components)
Hull Points: 455 (50 for individual Archaic Men-o-War)
Crew: 0/455 (total weapons crew: 77)
Maneuver Class: G (D for individual Archaic Men-o-War)
Landing-Land: No
Landing-Water: No
Armor Rating: 8
Saves As: Ceramic
Power Type: none (major or minor helms for individual Archaic Men-o-War)
Ship's Rating: 0 (as per helmsmen for individual Archaic Men-o-War)
Standard Armament:
     7 Heavy Ballistas
        crew: 4
     14 Medium Ballistas
        crew: 2
     7 Medium Catapults
        crew: 3
Cargo: 250 tons
Keel Length: 290'
Beam Length: 290'

Description

During the first Unhuman War, the Imperial Elven Navy developed a new, 
more maneuverable and more powerful version of their ubiquitous 
Man-o-War, making all of their older Men-o-War (now referred to as 
Archaic Men-o-War) obsolete. During wartime, the elves needed all of the 
warships that they could grow, and so the Archaic Men-o-War continued to 
serve alongside their modern cousins. Once the power of the goblinkin 
was broken, and the great hunt to wipe out their fleeing ships was 
largely complete, the IEN began looking at removing the surviving 
Archaic Men-o-War from active service.

The IEN had discovered during the war that the asteroid bases that they 
were acustomed to using as fleet command centres were inadequate in many 
ways. Since the war had spread across such a vast area of space, and 
since the hottest, most desperate fighting tended to move from sphere to 
sphere rather than remaining in one place, the elves realized that they 
would have been much better served by bases which would primarily remain 
stationary, but which could be moved from one sphere to another if 
needed. In practice, this had led to the increased importance of Armadas 
as command ships, and a decrease in the importance of command bases, 
with those bases serving more as supply depots than anything else. While 
for many situations, an Armada was an adequate command vessel, in other 
situations a larger command base was needed.

The retirement of the Archaic Men-o-War proved to be the solution to the 
elven need for semi-mobile command bases. These Men-o-War were piloted 
to locations where bases were needed, along with pre-fabricated citadel 
components. Once they had arrived at the base location, the Men-o-War 
were joined at the wings into a ring formation, with the ships' "heads" 
and all weapons facing outwards, while the citadel components were 
assembled in the centre of the arrangement. The resulting base design 
was dubbed a Crown Base due to its resemblance to an enormous crown. If 
needed, a Crown Base can be disassembled into its component Archaic 
Men-o-War and citadel components, and transported via the helms of the 
Men-o-War to another location, however it is highly uncommon for a Crown 
Base to be moved more than once every few decades. Each Man-o-War in a 
Crown Base will retain a helm in case the base needs to move. If a move 
is needed, it will usually take about a week to disassemble the base and 
prepare for transport. While in theory, each Archaic Man-o-War will tow 
15 tons of citadel components during a move, typically most of the 
Archaic Men-o-War will only be equipped with minor helms, and will thus 
be unable to do so. Instead, all of the citadel components will be moved 
by 2-3 of the ships, which will be equipped with major helms for just 
this purpose.

Crew

A Crown Base is usually stationary, and so there is no need for sailors 
to maneuver it, except when disassembled into Archaic Men-o-War. On 
average, the permament staff of such a base will be approximately 300 
elves, with many transient personnel as naval vessels dock and depart. 
The permanent staff will include approximately 200 weaponeers, marines, 
and flitter pilots, with the remainder of the staff made up of command 
and support elements. A Crown Base is always commanded by an admiral, 
and it will have a command structure as strict as that found on any 
Armada in the Imperial Elven Navy. The hurly-burly of visiting ships s 
kept tightly under control by the base staff, who are strict about what 
personnel from docking ships are allowed to board, and what areas those 
personnel are allowed to access.

Ship Uses

Semi-Mobile Base: Crown Bases serve the Imperial Elven Navy as 
semi-mobile bases which can be deployed to trouble spots or evacuated 
from dangerous areas as needed. Most Crown Bases serve in a command 
role, and will be the base from which the navy of a given sphere is 
coordinated. Perhaps half of elven sphere navies are commanded from such 
bases, while the rest are either not large enough, or not strategically 
important enough to warrant the deployment of a Crown Base. In some 
cases Crown Bases are deployed for reasons other than command, but this 
is rare. Other base functions include defense, interdiction, supply, and 
recreation (this last function is extremely rare, with only one known 
example). The layout of a Crown Base's weaponry makes it dangerous to 
attack from the top or any side, however its underbelly is vulnerable. 
In most cases the Crown Base will be deployed in a manner intended to 
minimize the risk of attack from that direction, however the IEN is not 
foolish enough to rely on this as protection. Instead, a Crown Base will 
typically be assigned 40-100 Flitters to provide close defense, and 1-6 
Cutters to provide mid-range defense. Since other naval vessels will 
often be in the area as well, this is considered to be adequate defense. 
In at least one case, however, the vulnerability of Crown Bases to 
attack from beneath was brutally exposed. During the second Unhuman War, 
a scro battle fleet used diversionary attacks to draw away the defending 
craft of the Crown of Corellon. The scro followed up with a boarding 
action undertaken by ships approaching from below the Crown Base, and 
managed to capture the station for their own use.

Other Configurations

Alternate Sizes: The statistics given here are for an average-sized 
Crown Base made from a ring of 7 Archaic Men-o-War, however the modular 
design of the Crown Base allows them to be made in many different sizes. 
In practice, Crown Bases use anywhere from 5 to 15 Archaic Men-o-War, 
although even larger bases are theoretically possible. The overall 
commad base for the admiralty of the IEN, Lionheart, is said to be a 
Crown Base made up of 15 Archaic Men-o-War. Since every detail regarding 
Lionheart is a closely-guarded secret (especially its current location), 
this size is nothing more than conjecture, and it is quite possible that 
Lionheart is even larger. It has even been suggested that Lionheart is 
not a ring of Archaic Men-o-War at all, and is actually a ring of 
Armadas! In almost all cases, a Crown Base will be 65 tons per Archaic 
Man-o-War used in its construction (this represents 50 tons for the 
Man-o-War, plus 15 tons of citadel components), with corresponding hull 
points and weaponry (ie. 1 heavy ballista, 2 medium ballistas, and 1 
medium catapult per ship). In some cases extra citadel components will 
be used, however this is rare.

-- 

Yes, Mr. Death ... I'll play you a game!
But not chess!!! Bah ... Fooey!
My game is Jarts!!!