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Aerospace Fighter Performance Specs

Started by Nebfer, Sep 09 2014 10:11 PM

7 replies to this topic

#1 Nebfer

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Posted 09 September 2014 - 10:11 PM

I made this some time ago, posted it a few times here and their, Heh this version i'm posting was originally posted on MAHQ (which often deals with Gundam topics) of all places.

You know how sites like Wikipedia have these specs on the pages on aircraft that list their specifications, like their empty mass and max take off weights, their speed and so on. Well I wondered If I could do that with Battletech aircraft, well going off their record sheets and the rules, it turns out you can get a fairly decent idea of what they could do, though the novels to mention a few times where fighters where flying at hypersonic velocitys (mach 5+) as low as 500m above the ground, though in general the fluff dose not spend much time on B-techs aircraft... at the lest it would seem they can go a bit faster than what the game would indicate and by extension these specs...

So technically what i'm presenting is not exactly canon, but is based off what their canon stats would indicate via the rules. Which is at the lest is as canon as the novels and fluff (and depending on context more so). So at the lest this should give a rough idea of what their performance capability's would be.

A few notes where the data comes from (Total warfare & Strategic operations mostly)
Mass: from listed weight of unit, Empty is devoid of fuel and ammo, if omni weapons as well, max take off is based off the rules for external bombs
The Power plant thrust is derived from the units acceleration rate and mass
Acceleration rate: comes from the units thrust points, in which 1 point is equal to 0.5Gs of thrust I.e. a Thrust of 5 would equal 2.5Gs of thrust
Climb rate: is taken from the Rules indicating that it takes two thrust points to climb one level of altitude using the capital scale which translates into 300m/s each level climbed
ceiling: As Aerospace fighters are capable of Single stage to orbit their ceilings is unlimited (atmospheric only units are limited to ~35,000 meters)
Flight speeds: the low comes from the fighter scale rules, used at low altitudes, and is derived from a single hex moved is equal to 50m/s (500m wide hex /10 seconds) with a max speed being 2x safe thrust, high is derived from the 18km wide hexes (and 60 second turns) used at higher altitudes and in space (though it's technically possible to fly at sea level using these rules) in general the max speed is the same but their are speed limits at various altitudes... The Mach numbers are for that altitude. Example a unit with a safe thrust of 5 can move up to 10 hexes in a single turn which would be 1,800 or 10,800kph respectively.
Ferry range: is derived from the units endurance and how fast it would be traveling at a economical velocity (typically 2,160kph which is the equivalent of two hexes of movement at "high altitude" rates, and that a unit can fly for XXX minutes at that velocity).
Delta V is based off the fact that each hex traveled in space is 300m/s of Delta V and most ASF have 3 to 5 tons of fuel or 240 or 400 thrust points multiplied by 300...
The space range is effectively max fuel with external and a continuous burn at economical ratings and how far it would of gone (Acell/decell profile) as B-tech units use brachistochrone trajectory's.

One last thing fighter displays, from the write up in Tech manual, B-tech fighter pilots use a full up helmet mounted HUD (see the real world F-35 Lightning II for more info), with MFDs as back ups, using either a mini joystick (on older fighters) or using the pilots own subconscious mind to control the various menus (on newer fighters or Vintage SLDF units), which is why they have Neural helmets like battlemechs do. However the Free Worlds league, the old SLDF and likely the Clans have access to full up virtual reality displays (I.e. Hey could of sworn I was sitting in a fighter cockpit a minute ago?).

And so Here's we are.
Note this is not going to contain all of the units, I will post up more select units of the heavier fighters, mostly as once you see one spec most of the others are similar in over all performance... But if one wants I can post up more of the heavier units.

Edit: Theirs an intersting thing in the Rules here using the low altitued rules (0 to 17,999 meters) Max Speed is simply 2x Safe thrust, however using the High altitued rules which also provideds flying at the same altitueds the max speed is simply just two movement points which converted to kph is 2,160kph, which is the same as a movement of 12 on the low altitued rules, so their are points where either one can be faster...
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Inner Sphere Light Aerospace Fighters
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Note Fuel for all fusion powered craft is regular Hydrogen, they do not use deuterium, tritium, He3 or other such fuels.

Edit: as requested I have put spoiler tags to only show the text when needed, to keep the post from being a bit long, I also added code tags to give some more contrast to the values, to see more entrys click on the light omnifighter entry, for some odd reason the Dropship spoiler tag dose not want to work...
The entry below will be a preview

Name: SDY Z1 Seydlitz
Date in service: 2504
Operator: Lyran Alliance
Empty Weight: 17 tons
Mass: 20 tons
Max Take off weight: 24 tons
Power plant: Shipil 180 fusion rated at 1,664kN (374,850lbf)
Acceleration: 8.5Gs (11/17)
Climb Rate: 1,500m/s +
Service Ceiling: Unlimited
Max Low altitude speed (0-17km): 3,960kph (2,475mph) -Mach 3.74
Max High altitude speed (+90km): 16,200kph (10,076mph) -Mach 16.7
Fuel load: 3 tons +2 tons external
Max Ferry Range: 8,640km (14,400km with droptanks)
Max Interplanetary/Space range: 705,600km
Max Endurance: 21 to 240 min (37 to 400 min with droptanks)
Delta V: 72km/s w/internal - 120km/s w/external
Armor mass: 2 tons Standard
External ordnance: 4 tons
Radar Range: 10,000km in space (atmosphere is unstated -this is true for all units)
Weapons: 1x RAMTech 1200 Large Laser


Spoiler



-----------------------------------------------------
Inner Sphere Light OmniFighters
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Spoiler

Edited by Nebfer, 10 September 2014 - 11:16 AM.

#2 Mech42Ace

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Posted 10 September 2014 - 09:37 AM

Wow dude nice work! Lotta information you got there! :P

#3 Nebfer

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Posted 10 September 2014 - 10:22 AM

One thing to note and one I forgot to put in my first post, is that while not mentioned much in the novels but the game states they can is the fact that all Aerospace fighters are VTOL capable, and can do this largely by their RCS alone (at the lest they use a F-35 set up of the main drive rotating down and balanced by their RCS).

#4 AdamBaines

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Posted 10 September 2014 - 10:33 AM

I like the post and it has some interesting info, but I would suggest either breaking this up into multiple posts, or use the show/hide spoiler function to help keep this post manageable.

#5 Nebfer

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Posted 10 September 2014 - 11:18 AM

View PostAdamBaines, on 10 September 2014 - 10:33 AM, said:

I like the post and it has some interesting info, but I would suggest either breaking this up into multiple posts, or use the show/hide spoiler function to help keep this post manageable.

Done, though their seems to be a few quirks in the coding
It was supposed to be in two posts but for some odd reason when I posted the second part it either made it into one post or I some how forgot to post the first one and did not notice...

#6 9erRed

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Posted 10 September 2014 - 02:01 PM

Greetings,

Thanks for the Aerotech spec.'s.

The item we have in-game is far for any indication of what these craft are or can do.
- The artwork is much too small, about the size of a Mech's head.
- It's only rendered for a short distance and will either vanish or fly into terrain
- Currently there is no warning this vehicle is active and 'inbound' on a run.
- It cannot be 'engaged' with AAA fire, one of the Jaegers prime rolls.
(although Bryan did say this was coming in a future update to this aerospace unit)
- It only serves as a single use 'bomber' now and has no direct fire abilities.
- It can't be 'targeted' or 'locked' on to single targets to follow and track their movement before launch or drops.

If we ever saw the full potential of these units, as the Clans field them in groups of 3 elements per flight, they could be quite devastating for single targets. Requiring a whole rework of some Mech's to start bringing the AAA capabilities back to the Battlefield.
- Most Mech's can't even aim high enough to even engage these units.
- Might be a requirement for the 'Kneel' position to be modeled as this provided additional stability and elevation to some Mech's.

Note: Really too bad we have to wait till 3062 for the RAC's to be developed.

Just some thoughts,
9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 10 September 2014 - 02:07 PM.

#7 Spokes

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Posted 11 September 2014 - 04:04 PM

Thanks for the numbers Nebfer, I love this kind of stuff. :)

I've put a few real world comparisons under the spoiler tag for those interested.

Spoiler

#8 Nebfer

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Posted 13 September 2014 - 07:41 PM

View PostSpokes, on 11 September 2014 - 04:04 PM, said:

Thanks for the numbers Nebfer, I love this kind of stuff. :)


One can find that a number of B-tech fighters are much heavier than their real world counter parts.
Though the F/A-18E Super Hornet under the same stats I used would be like so.

Name: F/A-18E Super Hornet
Date in service: 1999
Operator: United States Navy
Empty Weight: 14.5 tons
Mass: 21.3 tons
Max Take off weight: 30 tons
Power plant: 2x General Electric F414-GE-400 turbofans rated at 195.8kN (44,000 lbf)
Acceleration: .93 Gs (value for max internal fuel and nothing external)
Climb Rate: 228m/s
Service Ceiling: 15,000+ meters
Max Speed (0-17km): 1,915kph at 12.2km
Fuel Load: 6,750 kg internal + ~6,000 kg external
Max Ferry Range: 3,330 km with 3x droptanks
Max Endurance: 2.25 hours (w/3 droptanks, 280km from base, 6x AAM)
Armor mass: none
External ordnance: 8 tons maximum
Weapons: 1x 20mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon, 9x under wing hard points, 2x wing tip hard points
largely provided by wiki, some global security

And the F-22 Raptor
Name: F-22 Raptor
Date in service: 2005
Operator: United States Airforce
Empty Weight: 19.7 tons
Mass: 29.3 tons
Max Take off weight: 38 tons
Power plant: 2x Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 pitch thrust vectoring turbofans rated at 312kN (70,000 lbf)
Acceleration: 1.25 Gs (value for 50% internal fuel, max internal weapons)
Climb Rate: 250m/s and higher
Service Ceiling: 20,000+ meters
Max Speed (0-17km): 2,400kph altitude unknown, likely over 10km
Fuel Load: 8.2 tons internal
Max Ferry Range: 3,220km with ~2x external tanks
Max Endurance: NA
Armor mass: none
External ordnance: NA
Weapons: 1x 20mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon, 4x under wing hard points, ~8x Internal hard points

Again Wiki, though with some assumptions.

As one can see Modern aircraft are in for a hard time. A B-tech ASF like say the SB-27 Saber which is in the same 30ish ton range as most real world fighters.
The Saber has Compared to the F-22 Raptor has SIX times the acceleration, at lest FIVE times the Climb Rate, more than FOUR times the range on internal alone, unlimited flight Ceiling (owing that it's Single stage to orbit capable), it actually has armor protection and has roughly 50% greater speed at the same altitude.
It is also VSTOL capable, the Pilot has a full up Helmet HUD, and likely said HUD is controlled by the pilots own subconscious.

Worrying for the F-22 is also the fact that modern Air to Air missiles are generally not configured to deal with significant amounts of armor.

Edited by Nebfer, 13 September 2014 - 07:42 PM.

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