Mon Calamari tech

[Granitehewer]

hey guys
have got a wargame this week, and am the imperial fleet apparently, am up against the rebels inc the mon calamari.
i didn't design the rules, just sculpt the ships so haven't the foggiest about capabilities.
my friend tells me that he created the rules from the films and novels but the last time i saw one of the films was a good few years and the only novel i read was ''shadows of the empire''.
anyone here know if the mon calamari vessels as seen in ''swrotj'' are superior or inferior to standard imperial star destroyers?
am playing safe and assuming rough parity, but may be in for a shock or surprise.
thanks
pete

[Tyyr]

They're about the equals, maybe a bit better. They didn't have as much firepower but they were tough as nails.

[Granitehewer]

someone mentioned that the mon cal star cruisers had weaker hulls but three times the banks of shield generators, as originally they were converted cruise liners, no idea about maneuverability,target acq or firepower etv

[Deepcrush]

Mon Cal MC80s (the cruisers in the film)
-Better shields then an ISD. While each gen is only half the power of the ISDs, MCs have 3 times the number allowing a rotation of which gen is online and which is offline for repair or recharge.

-Better ion weapons then an ISD. Just better tech, more effective.
-Better all around defensive fire.

ISDs

-Greater fire power. More turbo lasers and missile launchers.
-Greater hull armor. MC80s really just lack armor.
-Greater focused fire forward.

In the end, they fall about even in battle.

[Captain Seafort]

In the end, they fall about even in battle.

Direct quotes from Ackbar and Calrissian disagre with you.

At that range we won't last long against those Star Destroyers

We'll last longer than we will against that Death Star, and we might just take some of them with us.

ISDs are clearly considered to be superior to the typical Mon Cal cruiser.

[Lighthawk]

In the end, they fall about even in battle.

Direct quotes from Ackbar and Calrissian disagre with you.

At that range we won't last long against those Star Destroyers

We'll last longer than we will against that Death Star, and we might just take some of them with us.

ISDs are clearly considered to be superior to the typical Mon Cal cruiser.

I disagree with that conclusion. I believe both we're refering to the survivability of their fleet vs the SD fleet, which was MUCH larger than their own. At that point they were only being engaged by TIEs and the DS, while the ISDs were just sitting around. So of course they wouldn't last long bringing their fleet, which was by no means made entirely of Mon Cal ships anyway, into close range combat with the heavy hitters of the Imp fleet.

[Deepcrush]

Lighthawk nailed it on the head. Half dozen ships vs fifty. The fact that they even survived should be enough to slap that "ISDs are superior" statement to the deck.

[Coalition]

I'd give the Mon Calamari better all-round firepower, but not enough power to operate all of them at the same time. Each gun would have on-mount capacitors, so in an attack all the guns would be charged and could be fired, but for sustained fire it would not be able to keep it up. The advantage is that if the Mon Cal warship loses a few guns, it doesn't affect their firepower as much.

For defenses, since they are refitted cruise liners, this means they cannot handle kinetic hits that easily. Their structure will not be as sturdy as a properly designed warship, so they have to either put more power into structural fields, or risk more internal damage from ordinary hits. Even shields will need more reinforcement, as a kinetic impact on the shield will transfer to the generator, which will transfer to the bolts holding the generator in place. If those bolts aren't strong enough, the generator will pop loose and bounce around inside. So the ships have to put in more structural bracing to handle that.

Mon Cal ships though, are essentially converted cruise liners. So there will be more hulls available for the weaker ones. The ones built as dedicated warrships will be few and far between, but will be able to stand up to a Star Destroyer.

Imperial ships would be optimized for forward firepower, but from the SW2:ICS, the weapon capacitors can handle the full power of the main reactor. This means that an ISD can pump all of its power through a single gun. This gives them some combat survivability, as a lost gun doesn't affect them as much. It also means a combat assault means they can come in with all guns charged, and kill whichever ships appear in front of its guns. Firing them in this manner will be less efficient, so charging up with full power doesn't mean 8* damage from a single gun. Maybe +50% per additional 'gun power' put in? If you use resistant shields, this will work, but a straight hit point based shields mean more shot = better.

The shields are properly braced, so keeping them in shape means no excess power needed.


An Imperial ship would be best set up against a single target, able to focus all of its firepower on the target. A Mon Cal ship can charge into a fleet, and fire at whichever ship seems to be the best target. So all ships that are within range have to take a chance on getting hit, while Mon Cal ships not in line with the main Imperial firepower don't have to worry as much.


Imperial tactics: line up on a target and kill it. If there is nothing forward, decide if pumping more power through one side is worth it, and if not, burn your engine to turn.

Mon Cal tactics: get in the middle of the fleet, and focus fire on whichever ship looks the weakest. Use your distributed guns to damage anything nearby, while trying to stay out of the forward arcs.

[Deepcrush]

Okay, so where is this stuff coming from???

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Sounds like some canon mixed with supposition, hypothesis and guesswork.

[Sonic Glitch]

Sounds like some canon mixed with supposition, hypothesis and guesswork.

So pretty much any conversation we have on here, condensed into one post?

[Deepcrush]

I'd give the Mon Calamari better all-round firepower, but not enough power to operate all of them at the same time. Each gun would have on-mount capacitors, so in an attack all the guns would be charged and could be fired, but for sustained fire it would not be able to keep it up. The advantage is that if the Mon Cal warship loses a few guns, it doesn't affect their firepower as much.

Where is this from?

For defenses, since they are refitted cruise liners, this means they cannot handle kinetic hits that easily.

Or this?

Mon Cal ships though, are essentially converted cruise liners. So there will be more hulls available for the weaker ones. The ones built as dedicated warrships will be few and far between, but will be able to stand up to a Star Destroyer.

And this?

Imperial ships would be optimized for forward firepower, but from the SW2:ICS, the weapon capacitors can handle the full power of the main reactor. This means that an ISD can pump all of its power through a single gun. This gives them some combat survivability, as a lost gun doesn't affect them as much. It also means a combat assault means they can come in with all guns charged, and kill whichever ships appear in front of its guns. Firing them in this manner will be less efficient, so charging up with full power doesn't mean 8* damage from a single gun. Maybe +50% per additional 'gun power' put in? If you use resistant shields, this will work, but a straight hit point based shields mean more shot = better.

And again... this???

[Granitehewer]

thanks everyone for helping its really appreciated, think i may have to search the novelisations.
so far will go on the assumption that mon cal have better shields and field of fire.

the only bugger is re: executor,have been told to use the old stats from when it was supposed to be 8000m long rather than 17.6-19km, suppose it means less points spent but still, i love my wonder weapons lol.

Another friend is going through a bad patch so i gave him some non-cannon pirate ships (i sculpted them for another sci fi universe but then the orders fell through, right to zero, whoohoo) as well as some sssi ruuk ships and bossk's hounds' tooth and ig88's ship and a rebel ship called the flurry, am a bit unsure however as to how powerful or weak to make his ships, so reckoning make them all weaker hulled and shielded than the rebel ships but perhaps in some cases greater firepower, thinking q ships and wild weasels, a bit like dukat's freighter in ''return to grace''. Sound like a plan?

[Monroe]

I think people hit it on the head more or less. So long as your ship doesn't go head to head the Mon Cal should be on equal grounds. Remember the ISD is designed for capital ship and planet destruction. Its main guns are going to be towards the front and on the lower half (for bombardment purposes it has some kick ass guns).

I think a Mon Cal can out turn an ISD as evidence in the movie you see Mon Cal's ships doing nice-ish turning while the ISD evasive maneuvers suck balls. So keeping that in mind just try to stay above and slightly behind the ISD and you'll be in its biggest blind spot.

[Deepcrush]

I think people hit it on the head more or less. So long as your ship doesn't go head to head the Mon Cal should be on equal grounds. Remember the ISD is designed for capital ship and planet destruction. Its main guns are going to be towards the front and on the lower half (for bombardment purposes it has some kick ass guns).

The ISD models don't show any special guns on the under hull for planetary attacks. The heavy guns are on the upper aft hull beneath the tower. With the weak point of the launch bays, being below the ISD would be a great place for the MonCal to be. It would allow the MC to focus fully half of its fire power on the ISD. The ISD wouldn't be able to return anywhere near that.