The K-Wing

[CRMcNeill]

The K-Wing bomber came up in a recent discussion under another topic, and rather than continue going off-topic with it over there, I thought I'd start up a new topic here.

I've always been a fan of the Black Fleet Crisis, and the K-Wing was one of the things that hooked me. I loved Stephen Coonts' Flight of the Intruder series, and the K-Wing seemed very much like an SW version of the old A-6 Intruder.

Unfortunately, the K-Wing doesn't seem to have gotten the treatment that such a potentially powerful craft deserves. Cracken's Threat Dossier ignored, it, and the Starships of the Galaxy version was strikingly different from what was seen in the novels.

One thing that threw me was that Michael P. Kube-McDowell (the Author of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy) actually stated after the fact that the K-Wing was not equipped with a hyperdrive. This seemed off to me, as hyperdrive equipped starfighters are the hallmark of the Alliance military. A hyperdrive equipped K-Wing would greatly enhance power projection for the New Republic Fleet, especially with its emphasis on starfighter combat.

K-Wing losses to Yevethan fighters at Doornik-319 would certainly support the addition of defensive weaponry in the Mark II variant seen in the EGtVV, but the massively outsized turrets on that ship seem very excessive, and it seems as if the authors of the article were using words at random when mounting a quad-turbolaser on the K-Wing.

Adhering to canon requires that the initial K-Wing have no integral cannon weaponry and no hyperdrive; not much can be done about that. However, if I were to do my own stats for the Mk. II, I'd change up the following:

1). Replace the third (center-line) engine with a hyperdrive. This engine is intended to give the K-Wing added speed and is mounted at an angle to help the ship pull out of high-speed bombing runs, and there are other ways that can be achieved (see below).

2). Mount a single dorsal turret just behind the cockpit for anti-starfighter defense. I'd put either a dual or quad blaster in it, since it is strictly for defense against attacking starfighters.

3). Retain the concept of the crew module being detachable as an escape pod, complete with its own engines. My idea is that the secondary engines on the crew pod can be used in vectored thrust mode while the pod is still attached to the K-Wing, and that angled thrust replaces the center-line thruster's off-axis effect.

Thoughts?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Hellcat]

Well first there's the stats in Gry's Starship Stats, Revised and Expanded.

[CRMcNeill]

One glitch that I can see is that it is supposed to have more crew; probably 2-3 gunners...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Hellcat]

No glitch, even in the novels it only had a total crew of two, pilot and gunner.
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FLUFFY for President!!!!

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[CRMcNeill]

[Henrik.Balslev]

[Hellcat]

Again I have to disagree. The 4 crew comes from the WotC stats, but Wookieepedia points out in the Behind the Scenes on the K-Wing that the novel placed the pilot and gunner one behind the other. The WotC stats come more frome an image which places the gunner beside the pilot to "increase their field of vision." If one were to be placed behind and above the other they'd both have a better field of vision.

The Saga edition claims during the Black Fleet Crisis there was a crew of four, yet Kube-McDowell makes no mention of two extra crewmen which you'd think would be an important feature when introducing a new fighter. It also states that the K-Wing depicted there is supposed to be a second generation which added two turrets. The K-Wing of the novels sounded more like a first generation, so what were two more men for if their turret's didn't exist?

Sorry if I'm being a jerk, guys. But I'm just not buying the four man crew based on the novels. Now it's possible you could claim the stats in Gry's Starship Stats PDF represent the first generation and those in the conversion of Saga Edition Starships of the Galaxy represent the second edition (the conversion does list three gunners and one pilot). But I just don't see that as the K-Wing.
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[Henrik.Balslev]

[CRMcNeill]

[TyCaine]

In many ways the two versions remind of two very different 20th century aircraft.

The novel version seems similar to the A-6 Intruder, an aircraft IIRC fitted with payload weapons only, so usually bombs and missiles, designed for precision strikes but usually nothing in the way of minigun armament for ground support or self defense.

While the NEGVV version seems more akin to the A-10 Thunderbolt (or Warthog as some might know it better), commonly known as the Tank Buster in it's time due to the heavy cannon mounted in it's nose and the substantial payload it could carry, used for close support of ground troops.

I'm no military guy, just an enthusiast so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on the above, but the two types are designed for very different roles, so the fact that we might be trying to fit them together as two versions of the same aircraft seems off to me...

Personally, I like the Warthog version of the K-Wing, and use it as such in my own SWU, mainly from the fact I always saw the Rebels and later the New Republic, as needing more multi-role aircraft than specialized, and though the X-Wing & Y-Wing have their specialties, they could fill many roles... Which is how I see the K-Wing fitting in...

Just my .02


T.C.

[CRMcNeill]

[TyCaine]

[vanir]

I often trash EU starship stats and rewrite them to suit my own sensibilities, or just make some minor adjustments. My game's X-Wing models are called T-65A, B, C and XJ variants (with a number of subvariants, eg. C-1, 2, 3 and 4).

I usually apply conditioning as per IRL warbirds like some of you, which I'm quite familiar with (have developed java script flight models for some commercial combat sim mods).

The K-Wing here follows along the lines of some PC engineered starship creation projects during campaigns, and I'd apply those same house rules for it.
What you essentially have here is a starfighter-scale frigate, not unlike an Imperial customs vessel or a very heavily modded freighter in terms of power requirements and systems requirements. But much stricter engineering requirements as those types of vessels, I'm ruling it'd be a complicated, unreliable and expensive craft to deploy or maintain with a very low serviceability rate.
What the K-Wing attempts to do is place a customs frigate amount of punch and power into a ship which flies and is crewed like a starfighter.

There are dozens of engineering problems with this kind of layout, which makes it expensive relative to its serviceable benefits.
Quite often what you find in real world jetfighter engineering is a compromise between what is possible and what is affordable to deploy and maintain for the role.

In our gaming starfighters have servicability issues and other engineering related material you don't have to worry about as much with larger craft. Starfighters rely upon a lot of automated systems controlled by a cut down centralised flight computer, when really that's inadequate for a starship. They need engineering stations and multiple redundant systems to operate effectively and safely in deepspace.

But the idea of starfighters is short haul use and frequent tear down maintenance in order to perform specific combat roles similarly to a much larger and more expensive craft, in the short term. You do a raid with them, bad idea to fight a war with them unless you're desperate. Your crews just won't come back and neither will their ships and the expense, but you may very well achieve the strategic objective.

That's what it comes down to you know, cost/benefit ratio to achieve a given strategic objective. Often it's just cheaper in the long run to send a fleet of cruisers. Starfighters are really for small planetary security forces and point defence. They're a waste of credits and lives for almost everything else.

Hey this is the very same argument in jetfighter engineering, the air superiority multirole versus expensive single roles like the Foxbat. At some point making a specialised craft too expensive actually costs you more than you can gain. It's why the Warthog is designed like it is, cheaply in tech terms with old school innovations to compensate. There was a roof on its budget. The Eagle had an open cheque book, that's why it's so good at everything.
And specialised craft are not better than air superiority mulitroles, they're designed to be as good at one thing, for a cheaper price.
A Fitter-K or a Strike Eagle is as good as a Warthog at anti-armour, don't kid yourself about that. They are. But the Hog is much cheaper and easier to field and has logistical benefits regarding serviceability and deployment (which also make it cheaper). But the Hog won't double in air combat like the other two will and take on just about anything.

It's all cost/benefit ratio for what you're trying to achieve.

Now I'd send a smaller fleet of starfighter scale frigates rather than K-Wings for the same effect more reliably at a cheaper long term cost, with a higher mission survivability rate on sustained operations.

I think it's a desperation craft, like using X-Wings in place of Star Destroyers. You can get lucky, but don't plan wars on it if you don't have to.

Anyways the serviceability issues with starfighters during operations is the reliance on a centralised fully automated flight computer with no redundancy. This is especially a problem with multicrewed starfighters with complex power distribution requirements.
It also looks to me like 2 crew and 2 gunners are required. The copilot is actually a flight engineer and may not coordinate, without him the whole power grid shorts out as soon as you power up that quad. The gunners are in the ball turrets.

I'd use the mishaps tables for that starship.

[Gamer]

[CRMcNeill]