Topic: New Magadha: the last Humans

This is my campaign fleet that opposed  the Machine Socialists.

The people of New Magadha were chosen by fate to be the last of the human colonies to fall to the rapid encroachments of Machine Socialism.  While initial encounters seemed to show that the robots were easily dispatched, the overconfidence this engendered was quickly punished by the machines' rapid rate of innovation.

The Magahdan fleet structure was based around one or more capital ships mounting the long range wave disruptor, firing electroweak standing waves that wreaked havoc with the target's systems, hopefully rendering them easy prey for high speed Shiva fast patrol ships.  The capital ships were protected by tough, hard hitting escorts, design to punish any foes who attempted to close with the line. 

The primary weapon of the Magadhan fleet was the particle lance, firing microsecond bursts of exotic particles at relativistic speeds, timed to decay into cascades of secondary radiation as they passed through the target.  This offered excellent shield penetration characteristics and good damage on a successful strike, but the precise timing required taxed even the best fire control systems and rendered the weapon unreliable.

Post first-contact Magadhan designs also included the plasma cluster, short range sprays of superheated plasma flak intended to deal with the fighter designs fielded by early machine socialist fleets.  Unfortunately the robots switched away from these designs almost immediately, rendering this system mostly useless.  The design failure was most pronounced in the refitted Shiva-Bs, where the addition of the plasma cluster required severely restricting the fields of fire of the particle lance mounts, while slowing down the production lines as a result of integrating the complex new system.  As a result, the original pre-war Shiva-As continued to be favored by front line commanders.

Magadhan designs also made use of a number of missile and drone designs to supplement the direct fire capability of its ships.  These designs changed substantially throughout the war; the ones presented here are the final versions used in the last few pivotal battles.

Note: the designs presented here were done with different multipliers for certain traits (primarily Piercing) that have since been revised.  I have not recosted the ships to reflect those changes.

Re: New Magadha: the last Humans

(182) Devi-class New Magadha Cruiser

Hull:    08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
Engines: 06 06 05 04 03 03 02 01
Shield:  03 03 03 02 02 02 01 01
Weapons: 1:XY 2:XY 3:XY 4:Y 5:Y 6:Y

X: Wave Disruptor: 6/12/18, 1/4+/3/1
Inverted Range Mod; No Hull Damage
[HG] [AB] [AB] [GI]

Y: Particle Lance: 4/8/12, 1/5+/1/2
Piercing
[AB] [AB] [AC] [AC] [BD] [BD] [E] [F]

Special: Seekers/Strikers (54), Launch Capacity 2

Class representatives: Sarasvati

Originally envisioned as the core unit of the Magadhan fleet, with excellent multirole capability, only one hull, the Sarasvati, was ever completed, as production capacity was diverted to the heavier Lord Ram class in the face of the robot threat.  The Sarasvati, in concert with her Hanuman class escorts managed to give excellent account of herself on numerous occasions throughout the war.

(124) Hanuman-class New Magadha Battle Escort

Hull:    06 05 04 03 02 01
Engines: 06 05 04 03 02 01
Shield:  04 04 03 02 02 01
Weapons: 1:XY 2:YY 3:YY 4:YY 5:Y 6:Y

X: Wave Disruptor: 6/12/18, 1/4+/3/1
Inverted Range Mod; No Hull Damage
[G]

Y: Particle Lance: 4/8/12, 1/5+/1/2
Piercing
[AB] [AB] [AC] [AC] [BD] [BD] [E] [F] [L]

Class representatives: Hanuman, Garuda, Varaha

The tough Hanumans probably represent the most successful design fielded by the beleaguered colonists.  Hanumans were legendary for their ability to soak up fire while continuing to fight.  Their excellent weapon arcs avoided blind spots, while allowing an impressive concentration of fire against any target unlucky enough to cross their centerline.

(63) Shiva-A-class New Magadha Fast Patrol Ship

Hull:    02 01
Engines: 09 05
Shield:  00 00
Weapons: 1:XX 2:XX 3:XX 4:XX 5:XX 6:XX

X: Particle Lance: 4/8/12, 1/5+/1/2
Piercing
[AC] [BD] [G] [G]

Special: Armor, Countermeasures, Stealth

These light attack craft combine significant speed with a heavy punch for their size, while relying on an impressive electronics package to misdirect enemy fire in place of conventional shielding.  While the Shiva featured a heavily armored crew compartment to make it more survivable, Shiva crews had to be among the bravest or most foolhardy in the fleet.

Re: New Magadha: the last Humans

The previous three designs defined the core concept of the pre-war Magadhan fleet.  The following designs were either partially or wholly completed after the war commenced.

(280) Lord Ram-class New Magadha Battlecruiser

Hull:    10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
Engines: 06 06 05 05 04 03 03 02 02 01
Shield:  03 03 03 03 02 02 02 01 01 01
Weapons: 1:XZ 2:X 3:X 4:Y 5:Y 6:Z

X: Wave Disruptor: 6/12/18, 1/4+/3/1
Inverted Range Mod; No Hull Damage
[A] [A] [G] [B] [B]

Y: Particle Lance (Quad): 4/8/12, 4/5+/1/2
Piercing
[AC] [AB] [BD]

Z: Plasma Cluster: 1/2/3 3/4+/1/1
Doubled Range Modifiers
[ACEF] [BDEF]

Special: Seekers/Strikers (81), Launch Capacity 3

Class representatives: Lord Ram, Lord Bharata

Laid down prior to first contact with Machine Socialism, the Lord Ram was intended to operate as a dedicated fleet striker in support of the Devi class in fleet engagements.  Its upgraded wave disruptor battery sacrificed versatility of arcs for heavier striking power.  The innovation of grouping several particle lance projectors around one central driving accelerator allowed an increased volume of fire at the risk of a lucky hit taking out several weapons at once.  Finally the design was the first to incorporate the plasma cluster for close defense, a last minute design change which in retrospect consumed hull capacity that might otherwise have been put to better use.

In fact, although the Lord Rams included some uneasy design compromises, they performed reasonably well in the field.

(74) Shiva-B-class New Magadha Fast Patrol Ship

Hull:    02 01
Engines: 09 05
Shield:  00 00
Weapons: 1:XXY 2:XXY 3:XXY 4:XX 5:XX 6:XX

X: Particle Lance: 4/8/12, 1/5+/1/2
Piercing
[A] [A] [B] [B]

Y: Plasma Cluster: 1/2/3 3/4+/1/1
Doubled Range Modifiers
[CDEF]

Special: Armor, Countermeasures, Stealth

Shiva-Bs were designed to stand up to early war robot fighters that had proved difficult to handle with the A models.  Unfortunately that turned out not to be the foes they had to face.  In the end, the extra manufacturing cost combined with the unfortunately restricted firing arcs (based on obsolete data from early war robot attack patterns), left the Shiva-Bs as poor cousins to the original model.

(130) Ganesh-class New Magadha Multirole Escort

Hull:    06 05 04 03 02 01
Engines: 06 05 04 03 02 01
Shield:  04 04 03 02 02 01
Weapons: 1:XY 2:X 3:X 4:X 5:X 6:X

X: Particle Lance: 4/8/12, 1/5+/1/2
Piercing
[A] [B] [AB] [AB] [AC] [BD]

Y: Plasma Cluster: 1/2/3 3/4+/1/1
Doubled Range Modifiers
[CDEF]

Special: Fire Control, Seekers/Strikers (54), Launch Capacity 2

Class representatives: Ganesh, Vinayaka

A variant design using the Hanuman hull, the Ganesh class was intended to increase total fleet missile capacity by supplementing the Devis or Lord Rams.  Installing launch bays required eliminating a third of the particle lance mounts, as well as restricting some firing arcs on the remaining mounts.  However the addition of a much improved target prediction package increased the effectiveness of the remaining batteries.  While not capable of the same dedicated close range slugging as a Hanuman, the Ganesh proved a capable addition to the Magadhan order of battle.

(320) Arjuna-class New Magadha Missle Escort

Hull:    06 05 04 03 02 01
Engines: 06 05 04 03 02 01
Shield:  04 04 03 02 02 01
Weapons: 1:X 2:X 3:_ 4:_ 5:_ 6:_

X: Plasma Cluster: 1/2/3 3/4+/1/1
Doubled Range Modifiers
[ABCDEF] [ABCDEF]

Special: Seekers/Strikers (216), Launch Capacity 2

Class representatives: Arjuna

Magadhan ship designers dabbled with a pure missile carrier, but the initial example built did not survive its first engagement.  With a construction cost exceeding that of a Lord Ram, it was declared a failed experiment, and the idea was not pursued.

Re: New Magadha: the last Humans

New Magadha Standard Missiles & Drones

Lotus AFM: 4/15/4+/0 (27 Capacity)
Seeker; ROF-3

Jasmine Hunter-Killer: 4/12/4+/0 (27 Capacity)
Striker; ROF-2

Foxglove ASM: 4/8/3+/0 (26 Capacity)
Seeker; IMP-2; DMG-3

The Lotus Anti-Fighter Missile was a clever implementation of a fairly low-tech concept.  Its terminal stage releases a huge cloud of semi-ballistic "smart rocks", each with a few seconds of course correction capacity.  It proved nearly as effective in an anti-ship role as it did versus the robot heavy strikers.  This flexibility, combined with its high speed, led Magadhan ship captains to favor this in their loadouts over the more single purpose and slower Foxglove.  Meanwhile the Foxglove proved ineffective against the heavy shielding of the Sun Ras which were their natural target.  Its heavy thermonuclear warhead was of little use if it could not make contact with its target.

The Jasmine was a late war innovation in response to the more flexible and unpredictable AI guidance systems used by the machines; it proved effective when deployed in a mix with the Lotus.