The F3 Hotspur is the Core Systems Republic Navy's primary light attack craft. It replaced the F2 Golgotha fighter in 2470. It can be used on attack runs of spacecraft or point targets, but generally speaking lacks the firepower to damage large vessels.
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Table of Contents
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Design
Hull Design
The Hotspur is a 40-ton small craft with a lifting wing design for atmospheric operations. It is armored with 2 cm of ceramol armor on all facings. It features a Bamitec N-class gravity drive and fusion plant combination, built inside an armored cradle and the plant itself surrounding its hydrogen fuel capsule. The crew seats can be cocooned for limited escape pod potential, and the top-central portion of the fuselage can carry up to 12.3 tons of cargo (although most of this space is used for missiles).
Electronics
The cockpit supports 2 crew, a pilot and a gunner, and is equipped with the latest in Inratech holographic controls synchronized with the onboard Pyte Three computer. The pilot is computer-assisted with fire control and evasion software. The venerable AN/R95 sensor array from the F2 Golgotha is reused in the F3.
Armament
The most common loadout for the F3 is a fixed-mount missile launcher in the wings and a pulse laser along the ship's belly. The missile racks and autoloaders inside the wings can be removed to make way for two shipbuster torpedoes on wing mounts, but the Hotspur sacrifices its pulse laser fire to make torpedo runs, which makes it vulnerable to point defense or other fighters.
Standard Military Loadout
| F3 Hotspur-class Fighter | d-Tons | Cost (Cr) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 40 tons | Hull 1 | 1.54 MCr | |
| Streamlined | Structure 1 | |||
| Armor | Ceramol | 8 points | 4 | 0.56 MCr |
| No Jump Drive | ||||
| Maneuver Drive sN | Thrust 6 | 8 | 16 MCr | |
| Power Plant sN | Fusion Plant | 5.7 | 10 MCr | |
| Cockpit | 2-man | Holographic Controls | 3 | 0.25 MCr |
| Computer | Model 3 | Rating 15 | 2 MCr | |
| Electronics | Basic Military | +0 Sensors DM | 3 | 2 MCr |
| Weapons | Hardpoint #1 | Double Fixed Mount (missile launcher/pulse laser) | 1 | 1.5 MCr |
| or | ||||
| Hardpoint #1 | 2x Torpedoes | 5 | 0.01 MCr | |
| Fuel | 2.5 tons | 2 weeks | 2.5 | |
| Cargo | 12.3 tons | 12.3 | ||
| Extras | Fuel Scoops | |||
| Escape Pods | 0.5 | 0.1 MCr | ||
| Software | Maneuver/0 | |||
| Evade/2 | 2 MCr | |||
| Fire Control/3 | 8 MCr | |||
| Library | ||||
| Total | 40 | 43,960,000 Cr | ||
Variants
A proof of concept design was made for the F3 Hotspur which trimmed all the unnecessary parts of the hull down into one compact, 30-ton hull. Termed the F3X Bonespur, the 30-ton fighter trimmed much of the unnecessarily large bulk away but retained most of the Hotspur's survivability - the two concessions being the sacrifice of internal integrity measures, which makes hits that penetrate the fighter's ceramol armor harder to compensate for, and the loss of the forward mounted pulse laser - as well as most of its magazine space.
| F3X Bonespur-class Fighter | d-Tons | Cost (MCr) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 30 tons | Hull 0 | 1.3 | |
| Streamlined | Structure 1 | 0.13 | ||
| Armor | Ceramol | 8 points | 3 | 0.52 |
| No Jump Drive | ||||
| Maneuver Drive sN | Thrust 8 | 8 | 16 | |
| Power Plant sN | Fusion Plant | 5.7 | 10 | |
| Cockpit | 2-man | Holographic Controls | 3 | 0.25 |
| Computer | Model 3 | Rating 15 | ||
| Electronics | Basic Military | +0 Sensors DM | 3 | 2 |
| Weapons | Hardpoint #1 | Single Fixed Mount (missile launcher) | 1 | 0.95 |
| or | ||||
| Hardpoint #1 | Torpedo | 2.5 | 0.005 | |
| Fuel | 2.5 tons | 2 weeks | 2.5 | |
| Cargo | 4.3 tons | 4.3 | ||
| Extras | Fuel Scoops | |||
| Escape Pods | 0.5 | 0.1 | ||
| Software | Maneuver/0 | |||
| Evade/2 | 2 | |||
| Fire Control/3 | 8 | |||
| Library | ||||
| Total | 30 | 41,250,000 Cr | ||
Redesign Candidate (Reiz)
| F3 Hotspur-class Fighter | d-Tons | Cost (Cr) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 40 tons | Hull 1 | 1.4 MCr | |
| Streamlined | Structure 1 | .14 MCr | ||
| Armor | Ceramol | 6 points | 3 | 0.42 MCr |
| No Jump Drive | ||||
| Maneuver Drive sR | Thrust 8 | 11 | 12 MCr | |
| Power Plant sR | Fusion Plant | 7.5 | 16 MCr | |
| Cockpit | 2-man | Holographic Controls | 3 | 0.25 MCr |
| Computer | Model 3 | Rating 15 | 2 MCr | |
| Electronics | Basic Military | +0 Sensors DM | 2 | 1 MCr |
| Weapons | Hardpoint #1 | Double Fixed Mount (missile launcher/pulse laser) | 1 | 1.5 MCr |
| Ammunition | 60 Missiles | 5 | 75 kCr | |
| Fuel | 2.5 tons | 2 weeks | 2.5 | |
| Cargo | 4.5 tons | 4.5 | ||
| Extras | Fuel Scoops | |||
| Escape Pods | 0.5 | 0.1 MCr | ||
| Software | Maneuver/0 | |||
| Evade/2 | 2 MCr | |||
| Fire Control/3 | 6 MCr | |||
| Library | ||||
| Total | 40 | 42,885,000 Cr | ||
