Monolith
Sarna News
| |
| Monolith-class JumpShip | |
|---|---|
| Production information | |
| Manufacturer | Challenge Systems[1]
|
| Use | Military |
| Tech Base | Standard |
| Cost | 1,000,000,000 C-Bills |
| Introduced | 2776 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Mass | 430,000 tons |
| Length | 750 meters |
| Sail Diameter | 1270 meters |
| Fuel | 68 tons (170) |
| Burn Rate | 39.52 |
| Top Thrust | 0.1 Gs |
| Sail Integrity | 5 |
| KF Drive Integrity | 8 |
| LF Battery | None |
| Armament | None |
| Armor | 150 tons |
| DropShip Capacity | 9 |
| Crew | 30[5][6]
(Crew Types)[7]
Bay Personnel: 30[5] |
| Grav Decks | 2 x 105 meters diameter |
| Escape Pods/Life Boats | 5/0 |
| Heat Sinks | 137 (single) |
| Structural Integrity | 1 |
| BV (1.0) | 1,041[9] |
| BV (2.0) | ??? |
Contents
Description
The Monolith class is said to be the largest civilian JumpShip class ever built, though it is unclear if that notion refers to overall mass, overall length (with or without jump sail), number of hardpoints, or other factors or combinations thereof. Perhaps the Monolith's defining trait: the class's unique structural arms, each containing a docking collar that can extend from the hull of the Monolith, assist even the largest of DropShips to safety dock with the JumpShip and surround the cargo section in rings of three.[5][10]
Monolith class ships often serve as invasion flagships and coordinate operations due to their extensive command center which is equipped with advanced communication, analysis, and simulation equipment. The Monolith is also heavily armored, at least compared to other JumpShips, but is still discouraged from partaking in any actual combat.[10]
Numbers in existence
Prohibitive manufacturing and maintenance costs have kept the number of operating ships down, but their sturdiness and an abundant supply of spare parts ensure that they remain in service.
There is a notable discrepancy, however, in reports about how many Monolith class vessels exist: As of ca. 3025 and also 3057, the armies of the Successor States between them supposedly operate less than 50 Monoliths, half of which serve with the DCMS. At the same time it is demonstrably untrue that only the militaries of the Great Houses would employ the design, as mercenary units as well as mercantile corporations are also known to operate Monoliths.[11]
The stated number of "a few dozen"[10] or "less than fifty" vessels is also at odds with the known production numbers and the stated sturdiness and longevity of the vessels.[12] There is evidence that ComStar operated a large fleet of JumpShips, and a fan theory suggests that the greater part of all existing Monoliths in the Inner Sphere may actually have been ComStar vessels, and were thus omitted from the ComStar reports.
The Federated Suns was reported to be constructing two vessels every three years, via Challenge Systems presumably on Panpour,[13][14] while the Free Worlds League historically produced one every two years. The FWLM had potentially lost this capability, with no known facilities in 3025, and the Draconis Combine was reported as unable to produce the class, though it maintained almost half of the "known" Monoliths[10] and eventually was a known Monolith producer on Chatham.[4][3][2]
The Clans also operate the Monolith class and have upgraded it with their own advanced technologies. It is not known how many Clan Monoliths exist, but it should be noted that the design was only introduced eight years prior to Aleksandr Kerensky's Operation EXODUS, and with only a dozen Monliths produced, suggesting only relatively few Monolith-class vessels would have joined the Exodus fleet. There is insufficient information on production capacities in the Clan homeworlds to estimate how many, if any, have been built there since.
Armament
None, although two of the six Small Craft bays on a Monolith can be used for fighters.
Cargo
The standard Monolith has six Small Craft bays and has historically been described as being able to carry 7000 tons of cargo. However, this capacity is inaccurate under the current construction rules, which leave the Monolith with only about 1,457.5 tons of dedicated cargo.
The Monolith was also described as having extra fuel tanks to fuel DropShips or aerospace fighters on extended campaigns. However, as equipped under the current ruleset, the Monolith only has a capacity for some 70 tons of fuel, which is barely enough for its own operation.
While these discrepancies are legacy errors from earlier rulesets, they were never technically rescinded out and might be interpreted to represent different subvariants of the design; see below.
Variants and other apocryphal errors
Although no major variants are known, there are significant differences among the various sources describing the Monolith owing to the inconsistent, contradictory, and often erroneous application of different rulesets at different times.
Its stated mass was retconned from originally 380,000 tons to 430,000 tons because of a construction rule that was introduced after the specifications of the Monolith, which limits docking hardpoints to one per 50,000 tons of mass, rounded up; under that rule, a 380,000-ton vessel would only be allowed to mount a maximum of 8 hardpoints. Technical Readout: 3057 Revised officially altered the Monolith's mass, and the Master Unit List similarly lists it at 430,000 tons. It is thus doubtful whether a 380,000-ton version canonical existed in the BattleTech universe; but given the many and long-standing reports, there might conceivably exist a downgraded variant which would, however, only be able to mount 8 docking hardpoints. (The JumpShip Rubicon, for example, is both expressly described as a Monolith class vessel and as massing 380,000 tons in canon.)
The Technical Readout 3057 mentions the 7000-ton cargo capacity but states a mere 37 tons in the ship's stats table, presumably in error. It also gives the number of heat sinks as 140 as opposed to 137 as per BattleSpace rulebook.
See Also
Gallery
Original Monolith from DropShips and JumpShips
Monolith from TRO:3057
A Monolith in combat from Jihad: Final Reckoning
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 15
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Handbook: House Kurita, p. 162: "Pillar of Jade (Economics) - Direct Service (Military) Corporations - Stellar Trek Enterprises"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Objectives: Draconis Combine, p. 8: "Produced Components on Chatham"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Objective Raids, p. 68: "Stellar Trek Profile and Produced Components
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Technical Readout: 3057 Revised, p. 106, "Monolith JumpShip Profile"
- ↑ BattleSpace sourcebook, p. 53
- ↑ BattleSpace rulebook, p. 63
- ↑ DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 25
- ↑ AeroTech 2 Record Sheets, p. 277
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 24
- ↑ According to the Wolf's Dragoons sourcebook, p. 6, Wolf's Dragoons had at least two Monoliths when they first appeared in the Inner Sphere in 3005; as of 3025, Synguard Corporation, a medium-sized mercantile corporation, was mentioned to operate three Monoliths in MechWarrior (1st Edition), p. 109; Mercenary Handbook, p. 74, lists three Monoliths with the mercenary Eridani Light Horse as of 3025; and at least two named Monoliths, the Edinborough Express and the Spirit of Edinburgh, serve with the Northwind Highlanders as of 3067 and have implicitly been with them for a long time.
- ↑ See Essay:JumpShip distribution
- ↑ Handbook: House Davion, p. 165, "Challenge Systems Profile"
- ↑ Objectives: Federated Suns, p. 28, "Industrial Systems"