Guide:Tycho

Tycho
Class Overview
Category	light sublight fightercraft
Operational	2262 - 2289
Constructed	720
Dimensions
Length	4.8 m
Beam	wings extended: 4.4 m wings folded: 2.8 m
Height	wings extended: 1.7 m wings folded: 1.3 m
Mass	42 mt (w/o pod)
Performance
Max Speed	0.8 c
Endurance	4 days
Complement
Crew	1
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	2x phaser IV emitters (ventral bow)
Shields	1-layer conformal forcefield
Canonicity
Design	Brian Thomas
Name	Dreadnought! (Pocket Books: Diane Carey)
History	Dreadnought! (Pocket Books: Diane Carey)

Background: Hobbyist's Guide

The much-needed compact escort craft for troop hoppers and assault shuttles was finally created out of modular elements. The basis for the sublight escort design was the ubiquitous Patterson-Massey PFD-200 series work pod design, the most recent representative of the pod category commonly known as the "workbee". The barebones pressurized control cabin had already been fitted onto a variety of space cranes, cargo module trains, and waldoes in several imaginative ways. It was also a more or less standard feature aboard all starships in the 2260s and, as such, a practical life support module for the projected fightercraft.

At Star Fleet request, an impulse engine for space propulsion, a pair of wings for atmospheric maneuverability, a gravitic system for deck handling and landing, and a shield generator were clustered by Daewoo into a single module massing just 42 tons despite the driver and shield coils. The workbee cabin would latch onto the bow of the module, cradled on the lower flanks by a structure that extended the shield grid over the cabin. The cradle also mounted compact phaser IV emitters, to give sting to the "hornet", as the modular mini-fighter fondly was called.

The more official designation for the craft was Tycho Class Five sublight fightercraft. Up to eight Tycho kits were carried aboard select heavy cruisers and twelve aboard some heavy frigates from 2262 onwards. The workbees could be turned into Tychos at a moment’s notice, the moment being somewhat shorter on the frigates (20 minutes) than on the cruisers (40-50 minutes) due to the more accessible stowage arrangements and the roomier processing spaces. Coronado through-deck cruisers now routinely carried pre-assembled Tychos, rather than Torches or Talions, for troop transport escort, although these came too late to protect the vulnerable first generation of Benares hoppers whose withdrawal from the ships began in 2265. Folding wings allowed for very compact stowage, even when assembled.

The "Polliwog", a kit assigned to USS Enterprise as of 2270, cradles a workbee, but not of the PFD-200 series. The kits were compatible with a range of work pod cabin models; a pilotless command capsule was also proposed but found inferior to the use of dedicated combat drones.

The Tycho cabin/engine combination was flawless in technological execution, but suffered from several shortcomings nevertheless. Onboard typical multipurpose vessels, the process of assembling or disassembling the craft was found disruptive to normal operations. What some strategists dismissed as a minor nuisance, the captains of these ships considered a price not worth paying, not for the minuscule tactical value of the Tycho. Planetary assault escort was the only plausible task for the craft; attacks against starships would have been suicide and defense of mothership an equally untenable position. Low endurance (four days at economic flight mode), low acceleration (200 g at best), and limited onboard avionics further reduced the space combat value of the Tycho; they were the direct result of using the cramped, sparsely equipped, and fragile work pod as the structural core.

As a tactical concept, the sublight escort fighter remained a contested issue. The actual operational record of the Tycho class played a far smaller role in the debate than century-old doctrinal views did. No true combat victories could be scored in Tycho operations between 2263 and 2282, due to the overcautious deployment tactics employed. On the other hand, losses were light, mostly limited to noncombat failures of navigation or life support systems, or the rare reactor explosion. Cabin separation via an explosive severing of the cradle structure was a theoretical emergency bailout option, yet was never successfully performed in an operational situation.

After the end of active operations in early 2280s, the Tycho was flown in the basic trainer role at Star Fleet Academy. In a sense, this came naturally for the craft since, among other things, the work pod had recently been harnessed as a shipboard flight simulator cabin. The "retirement job" did not last long, however. Having non-generic control qualities and performance, yet not corresponding to any operational craft either, the Tycho was a non-ideal trainer in every respect. By 2289, only a couple of dozen craft were still flying, mainly for nostalgic reasons. In the final burst of escalation before the Khitomer peace, nostalgia did not carry far and the Gadfly light impulse fightercraft was substituted as the basic/lead-in trainer.

Notes

• The Tycho replaced the gunship version of the Benares hopper in the early sixties.

• The statement regarding Tycho operations between 2263 and 2282 appears to suggest that was the active shipboard operational range for the fightercraft, as we know that they were operated by Star Fleet Academy after that active period, until 2289.

References

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• Back to the Table of Contents
• Small Craft
• Appendix A: Of Ship Statistics
• Appendix B: Glossary
• Appendix C: Star Fleet Organization - General Outline
• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside