Starship designs...

[taalismn]

Rebliss Dewann Industros Gazorg Torpedo-Fighter

“Think of it as a mini-Berserker...indeed, some of the first actions the Garzog has been involved in, have been defense against raiders...Including TGE Berserkers...For a fraction of the cost of those larger ships, we can field several squadrons of these fighters that can meet them with a weight of cruise missiles equal to, if not greater than, what those pirates can throw out!”

Many people are surprised to learn that the stolid Rebliss are responsible for this anachronism of a fighter. Knowledgable Terrans who first saw the Gazorg compared it unfavorably to the suicidal Second Global Conflict German ‘Natter’ point-defense rocket fighter. Indeed, the same philosophy seems behind the Gazorg’s simplistic design; a short range, high-speed craft meant to close to missile range with a larger opponent or opposition force, then unleash one or two large volleys of ordnance, then hopefully escape in the confusion, as the targets try to deal with the multiple incoming weapons.
The Gazorg eschews mixed energy and projectile weaponry in favor of a pure missile weapons fitout; eight cruise missiles wrapped around the midsection consitute the main armament, and for self-defense; a large nose-cluster of short-range missiles.
This limits the time the Gazorg can stay in combat; once its missiles are all expended, it must withdraw from combat to rearm. This limits the Gazorg to battles that are either expected to last only a short time, or where there is enough support to allow the Gazorgs to retreat, land at a facility or carrier, and reload their launchers. In combat, several squadrons of Gazorgs will approach an enemy capital ship formation at high speed, then launch their nuclear missiles all at once, hoping to use numbers to tax enemy point defense systems, and get at last one heavy missile through.
To its credit, and disproving that the Gazorg is meant as nothing more than a suicide fighter, the Garzog mounts a respectable amount of armor, a heavy forcefield(albeit of the monoplanar type), and automated EW suite meant to confuse counter-missile fire.
The Gazorg also uses a fairly powerful engine in the Rebexith Toowni HG-4 contra-gravity pulser, a reliable and proven design that has been used by the Rebliss defense forces for several decades now, and has a reputation for delivering a high acceleration/deceleration curve on demand. The Gazorg’s handling, however, is modest, mediocre at best, and pilots are advised not to try complicated maneuvers or mix it up in close quarters dogfighting with more advanced fighters like the Fang or Blackhawk.
The Rebliss use their Gazorgs as point defense vessels operating from planetary bases or orbital defense platforms. The Rebliss have also sold a sizable number of the ships to the FWC, on the strength of the Gazorg’s low cost and operating expense.

Type: RDI-TF14
Class: Missile Starfighter
Crew: One
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 350
Cockpit 100
Engine 180
Forcefield 900
Height: 18 ft
Width: 18 ft
Length: 30 ft
Weight: 7 tons
Cargo: Small space in cockpit for a survival pack and sidearm
Powerplant: Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 60 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Not Possible
(Underwater) Not Possible
Bonuses: +2 Dodge in space(no bonus in atmosphere)
Market Cost: 28 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starfighter Systems, plus:

-Scrambler System---A basic EW system meant to jam and confuse missile targeting systems; 45% chance of confusing enemy missiles.

Weapons Systems:
1)Cruise Missiles(8)---The primary weapon of the Garzog is a wrap-around ‘belt’ of eight cruise missile launch cells, each holding a single CM.
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 1 each launcher, 8 total

2)Short Range Missile Launcher---The secondary weapon of the Garzog is a nose-mounted battery launcher of short range missiles.
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-30
Payload: 30 SRMs

Variants:
*RDI-TF14B---An attempt to remedy the criticism that the Gazorg is too dependent on missiles, the -B replaces the forward SRM launcher with four pulse lasers instead. This modification allows the ship to remain in combat longer, after its missiles have been fired, but the relative short range of the lasers, the extra power they draw from the reactor, and the need to install a cooling chamber in the forward fuselage for the laser coolant, balances the advantage.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 mile in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per single laser blast, 4d4x10 MD for all four firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

*RDI-TF14E---In order to improve the chances of a squadron penetrating a capital ship’s defenses, the Rebliss have fitted the Gazorg with countermeasures gear and penetration aides, including decoy launchers, in place of the cruise missiles. Intended deployment is to have one ship of every assault squadron being a dedicated RDI-TF14E covering the advance of the rest.
Replace four of the Cruise Missiles with drone launchers: these are long range missile bodies packed with sensor jamming and signal-emulation gear designed to call attention to themselves. More sophisticated systems will even have their own EW, to further scramble and confuse missiles and sensors(since REAL fighters would also have EW/jamming gear). The Gazorg carries 4 long range decoys.
Replace the remaining CMLs with jamming gear:
* Sensor Jamming. Range: 300 miles. Jams civilian band communications with 80% effectiveness, military bands with 50% effectiveness. 70% chance of confusing guided missiles(especially ‘beam riders’ or radar-guided types). Enemy sensors are -20% to penetrate the jamming(can detect the actual jamming), or to detect the jamming vehicle at ranges of less than 1,000 miles.

[Aramanthus]

Excellent new ship Taalismn! Thank you for sharing it!

[KLM]

Gazorg

Not bad, stats are right for the price and ship size - especially compared to the Fire Eater as its
counterpart in the "bomber" role.

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Gazorg

Not bad, stats are right for the price and ship size - especially compared to the Fire Eater as its
counterpart in the "bomber" role.

Adios
KLM

Hey...mix and match...one takes out the capital ships, the other bombs the dockyard facilities...

[Aramanthus]

Very nice. It fills it's niche nicely.

[KLM]

Gazorg

Not bad, stats are right for the price and ship size - especially compared to the Fire Eater as its
counterpart in the "bomber" role.

Hey...mix and match...one takes out the capital ships, the other bombs the dockyard facilities...

As I see, the Fire Eater has the same firepower (if loaded up with bombs) but a more flexible
payload (LRMs can be used to take out fighters, cruise missiles cannot), and a more durable
and faster craft...

On the downside, the Fire Eater costs way more, weights almost twice as much, thought
does not take up twice as much space (always an issue on carriers).

Adios
KLM

[Aramanthus]

They could always create a variant which would allow it to carry bombs.

[taalismn]

They could always create a variant which would allow it to carry bombs.

The placement of the CMLs on the torpedo-fighter makes it difficult to achieve proper bomb deployment/separation....it's a rather specialized little bird...

[KLM]

Just a reminder: LRM "bombs" in the three galaxies aren't freefall bombs,
but a LRM warhead with a 200 km ranged engine section (instead of the
usual 600-3000 km range of full sized LRMs).

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Flan’Loure Productions Masakaui Fighter
(aka ‘Zippo-Fighter’, ‘Kill-Kazoo’)

“Looks like somebody’s idea for a teeny-flash grav-flitter, but it’s got a pulse-engine with some real legs crammed down one end, and a mini-nova photonic bazooks jammed down the other...It’s a slick, hot, number if you’re careful, but it will spin out on you if you ain’t...Don’t let the looks decieve you; this bird will slalom like an airboard, but try any of the more advanced maneuvers, like a VIFF and you’re going to send yourself skeeting out of control...after that, it’s a matter of whether you’re target practice or simply on your way into deep cold in a snazzy-looking plastic coffin.”

Flan’Loure Productions is a cut-rate ship manufacturer based out of Wulfen space, and can arguably be called the ‘Chipwell of the Three Galaxies’. FLP originally started out as a grav-car manufacturer of some distinction, before making the decision to expand into spacecraft manufacturing as their primary business; some critics say they should have stuck to producing contragrav-sportsters and hover-limos. FLP has the dubious distinction of churning out designs of little distinction or pizzazz, using common-domain technology, bare-minimum construction costs, and a squeak-by adherence to safety standards in its designs. To its credit, FLP has never turned out a blatantly BAD or flawed design, and the handful of times that an accident has been traced to mechanical problems in an FLP design, it’s managed to weather the lawsuits and keep on going. For the most part, FLP turns out a succession of plain-vanilla shuttles, transports, and cargo pods, but it has made one notable foray into the realm of military equipment with its Masakaui Starfighter.
The Masakaui(named for an ancient Wulfen war-hero) is a one-idea fighter; take a big energy weapon, couple it to a powerplant and CG propulsion unit, stick on a cockpit, and wrap the whole in a cheap fuselage. Bare minimum of sensors and avionics get stuck into the left-over spaces before the upper and lower hull halves are bonded together. Accordingly, the Masakaui looks like a plastic kazoo with a small transpex cockpit dome stuck on top. The hull is pre-fab injection-molded korgathyne megapolymer, a tough megadamage plastic that has the unfortunate characteristic of being nearly impossible to paint over on its slick surface. Some observers, familiar with FLP’s corporate history, have compared the Masakaui to some of FLP’s pre-spacecraft era hover-racer designs, only without the chrome and tail fins that made Flan’Loure hovercars classics in their day.
For weaponry, FLP selected the Mecrolite Jil400 medium laser cannon, a heavy weapon for a ‘light’ fighter, but with a good damage spread. FLP has pitched the argument that the greater damage potential of the cannon balances the slow rate of fire(something few fighterjocks agree with). FLP made a sweet agreement with the cannon’s manufacturer, though, Monro-owned Mercolite being able to salvage something of their recently failed bid to supply the CAF with medium pulse lasers(the CAF went with a split Naruni-Wolfpack Weapons deal as part of its covert plan to undermine Naruni), keeping the large factories Mecrolite had set up in anticipation of large orders open.
The powerplant is another corporate opportunity-favor; FLP managed to get long-time(some say long-suffering) corporate partner and drive-supplier Propulsagen to sign on to the Masakaui project, promising to cover the company’s development costs if the design flopped. Propulsagen obligingly produced an uprated version of its Pulsmar CG980, normally used in scout shuttles, for the fighter program. The CG980 is a fairly reliable engine,and the CG980M derivative retains that reliability, with slightly better long-duration power-on-demand response, and better deep space handling, but the drive tends to get fidgety when challenged with any extra weight-loading beyond what it’s tuned for.
Within its narrow parameters, the Masakaui works...It’s reliable and fairly durable, and there’s not much that can go wrong with it. On the minus side, there’s not much you can do with it; the design is pretty intolerant of modification, the lack of secondary weaponry limits its versatility, and it’s not terribly tolerant of pushing the envelope in terms of maneuverability. It’s pathetically slow compared to frontline fighterscurrently in service, but it’s still better than most high-end military drive vehicles available to the open market; the Masakaui can hold its own against most security patrol ships and snubcraft, speed-wise. And if it can get a steady, unimpeded, and unhurried target lock, its heavy laser armament can do serious damage to even a capital ship.
The Masakaui just isn’t taken seriously by most military powers, who favor more versatile fighters, and the design might well have mercifully vanished as an interesting experiment by a second/third-rate spacecraft designer, if a reptilean corporate exec(and by that we mean a Seljuk) hadn’t hit on the idea of peddling it to the Free Worlds Council. FLP took out some loans, established a factory on a world near the TGE border, offered employment to refugees who had settled on the world to escape the fighting, and offered the low-cost ‘freedom fighter’ to the FWC. Eager for weapons to use against the TGE, even a cut-rate snubfighter, the rebels have accepted the Masakaui with open arms. So FLP employs thousands of job-hungry refugees at minimum wage, stamps out thousands of ‘stoggie-fighters’, and smuggles them into TGE space where the rebels use them(often in the original unpainted bright pastel korgathyne base colors) to harass the TGE. In most battles, the Masakaui gets massacred by superior Imperial fighters, but often quantity takes on a quality of its own, and even ‘kazoo-fighters’ piloted by inexperienced newbie-jocks can take down a garrison force or sector patrol force if the rebels have numbers on their side. The FWC thus tends to deploy its Masakauis in regions where Imperial forces are stretched thin, freeing up more capable fighters for the more critical battlezones.
As much as many CCW authorities would like to shut down FLP for a number of reasons, including suspect business practices at the Masakaui plant, FLP has a newfound friend in the pro-FWC lobby in the CCW, which manages to derail any investigations or actions. Flan’Loure Productions may not make a steady profit on the Masakaui , as the FWC is not known for always paying its bills on time, but for the political clout FLP gets for supporting ‘the Cause’, they’ll keep the Masakaui in production. And now, with word of the FWC interest in the fighters, the company is making additional sales to other rim-nations and dirt-poor starpowers looking for some cheap fighter power.
Type: FLP-SF020
Class: Single Seat Starfighter
Crew: One
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 290
Reinforced Crew Compartment 100
Height: 7 ft
Width: 10 ft
Length: 35 ft
Weight: 6 tons
Cargo: Minimal; small space in cockpit for survival pack and sidearm
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 7
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.7% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Not possible
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: 22 million credits (FLP has been known to slash this price down to 18 million for the FWC)
Systems of Note:
Standard Starfighter Systems.
Weapons Systems:
1) Medium Laser(1)---The single weapon of the Masakaui is a Mecrolite Jil400 medium laser cannon, a cut-down version of a capital ship weapon...larger than standard for most fighters, but the heavier damage curve is balanced by the slower rate of fire. This has led to pilots getting a lock on a target and being unable to fire because their sole weapon has not completed its recharge cycle in time. The recharge rate can be shortened by overriding several safety circuits, but runs the risk of overheating the weapon.
Range: 3.5 miles in atmosphere, 7 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 7 miles in atmosphere, 700 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee*
*Can fire up to 6 shots per melee in ‘flash recharge’ mode, but every melee of maximum fire carries a 20% chance of overheating the weapon and shutting it down for 2d6 minutes
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Variants:
*FLP-SF020T ‘Double Bubble’--Training version of the Masakaui, that removes the heavy laser and installs a student cockpit complete with separate canopy, ahead of the main cockpit. In place of the heavy armament, the trainer only mounts two small light lasers(4,000 ft in atmosphere/1.2 miles in space, 4d6 MD per single blast, 8d6 MD double blast, EGCHH, and effectively unlimited payload) for training purposes.

*FLP-SF020D---An attempt to remedy the lack of additional weaponry, the “D” added four external launch rails for medium range missiles around the outside of the cannon. While this added slightly to available firepower, the extra mass and breaking of the streamlining resulted in impaired handling in atmosphere; NO bonuses to dodge.

*FLP-SF020(F)---A field modification instituted in the FWC after a number of Mecrolite Jil400 laser cannons effectively melted down in combat(and the pilots managing to escape back home) and couldn’t be quickly repaired for want of spare parts. FWC engineers attempted to create an interim type by replacing the laser cannon with a short range missile launcher. The SRM launcher has 48 missiles and can fire them off in volleys of up to 12 missiles at a time. However, the modification has its problems; the shifting mass of the feed-mechanism reduces the fighter’s dodge bonus to +1, and improper venting of missile exhaust gases has a 20% chance of inflicting 1d4 MD of damage to the forward hull plastic of the fighter every time a volley of 6 or more missiles is fired, with a cumulative 10% chance(every time damage is done) of jamming the missile firing mechanism. The FLP-SF020(F) isn’t very popular with crews, but often the rebels have nothing better(or else) available to them. FLP-SF020(F)s can often be identified by the off-color patches of thermal-insul quick-repair foam speckled around their prows.

[taalismn]

General Galaxy LightCraft SP-40D Courier

“Hey, somebody left their tinted contact lense laying out on the spaceport tarmac! Don’t step on it! Yuk-yuk!”
“You might want to look at getting some optical correction for yourself, keezo, that’s MY ship out there, and this is MY gun under your chins. DON’T make any sudden moves, now and give me your security pass-card, understand?”
“...yessir...”
----StarStalker Na’Drin(bountyhunter) and an anonymous security guard, D’Malti’s World, shortly before the involuntary extradition of Agos D’Malti.

The General Galaxy LightCraft SP-40D was a short-lived production-run design for a light courier, aimed at certain Periphery State markets. Though General Galaxy did its usual outstanding design work, it didn’t do its marketing research very well this time; the anticipated need for the couriers didn’t materialize, due to several large telecommunications mergers and political developments that rendered the courier role nearly obsolete overnight. The subsequent marketing campaign crashed and burned over fifty Standard Years ago, leaving several hundred of the small starships in General Galaxy remainer stocks, from where they’ve been periodically dumped onto the market. Being rather (over)specialized, the LightCraft SP-40D has been difficult to retask to other purposes, and its minimal-spaceframe/maximum-engine design doesn’t leave a lot of leeway for low-cost modifications. Eager to move on to other more promising and fiscally rewarding projects, General Galaxy has quietly shuffled the SP-40D offstage. That having been said, the relatively unknown SP-40D is enjoying some popularity among small regional couriers, bounty-hunters, and racing enthusiasts who have discovered the design.
The SP-40D is a small, squat, lenticular-shaped ship that sits on three stubby drive pods(in a ‘tail-sitter’ posture) that double as landing struts. There’s barely enough room inside to stand up in the cabin; instead the pilot lays prone in an acceleration couch/life support coffin. There’s enough cargo space for about a ton of gear and a single passenger, though passenger accommodations are equivalent to a coffin-hotel capsule, with no room to move about and really exercise. Armor is modest, as befits a courier craft, though the ship’s hull is surprisingly tough due to its simple design, and the ship mounts a three-gun point defense array, though its main defense is its speed and maneuverability.
The SP-40D was originally meant to be engined with a Class V courier-grade drive system and E-model hyperdrives, but only the first production runs(about 30 in all) are so equipped; subsequent production batches (the SP-40D(i)) dropped the expensive drive systems in favor of cheaper, but still respectable fast, Class III and Model D propulsion units. The line petered out with the last SP-40D(ii)s dropping that down to a Model CFTL drive, as GG attempted to cut costs and salvage sales. However, with the right parts and competent technical staff(and the money, of course), even the (ii) can be fitted up to the original drive standard.
Among its pluses is General Galaxy’s user-friendly control systems; the SP-40D is easy to fly(if uncomfortable on long trips) and quite agile. That, and its (easily camouflaged/concealed) small size, have made it occasionally sought-after by skiptracers and assassins...a number of humble little SP-40Ds have found their way into the backrooms of Oni customization shops to be fitted with stealth systems and sensor-jamming gear.
Type: GG LightCraft SP-40D(i)
Class: Courier
Crew: One, + 1 passenger
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,000
Cockpit 400
Communications/Sensor Array 300
Engine Pods/Landing Legs(3) 300 each
Forcefield(Non-Variable) 800
Height: 15 ft
Width: 25 ft in diameter
Length:25 ft in diameter
Weight: 60 tons
Cargo: 1 ton, plus 1 passenger in stasis
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 25 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 1, plus orbital insertion boost of Mach 6
(Space) Mach 5
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.5% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4 light years per hour
Cost: 32 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Ship Systems
Weapons Systems:
1) Point Defense Lasers(3)----The SP-40D mounts three light HI-Lasers in retractable turrets around the edge of the saucer-shaped main hull.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere/2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per single blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH, 4 APMs in auto-defense mode(+4 to strike)
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonuses: +1 dodge. +15% pilot, +1 strike

[Aramanthus]

Cool ships! I like them. I can see a lot of the fighter being sold to various interest in the 3 Glaxies. The second one is another awesome craft I can see fitting into a niche. I see see using that Rifter article to modify the shpi for various owners.

[taalismn]

Well, maybe I get out some capital ships soon...small craft are all fine and dandy, but they sort of miss the bang of the bigger battlewagons...

[KLM]

Nice ships, thought their performance is a bit under what I expect for their price.

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Nice ships, thought their performance is a bit under what I expect for their price.

Adios
KLM

Pricing ain't always fair in the Three Galaxies, depending on the local competition for sales.....Prices might fluctuate as much as 30% up/down depending on where you are and how desperate the seller is to unload the ship...

[taalismn]

Ninja Bunny Stealth Gunship

“Here comes Peter Cottontail...
(*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*FWOOOSHHH**ZAAARRRFFF!*)
....Gunnin’ Down the Bunny Trail...
Hippity-Hoppity
Judgement’s on Its Way
Bringing Every Goon and Punk
A Bomb Bay of HE Joy
Things to Make Your Work Day
Bright and Short
He’s got nano-pods for Spluggie
Plasma Bombs for GunSister Sue
There’s a Tac Nuke for the Kreeghor
and a Laser Barrage too, Oh!
Here comes Peter Cottontail...
(*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*FWOOOSHHH**ZAAARRRFFF!*)
....Strafin’ Down the Bunny Trail...
Hippity-Hoppity
Happy Demolition Day!
Here comes Peter Cottontail...
(*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*FWOOOSHHH**ZAAARRRFFF!*)
....Gunnin’ Down the Bunny Trail...
You Won’t See Him Coming, You Won’t Hear Him Say
‘Whoopee! Target-rich Environment!’
Maybe if You’re Extra Obstinate
He’ll Roll Lots of Plasma Bombs Your Way
You’ll Maybe Wake Up Afterwards
And You’ll know that he was there
When you find those smokin’ craters
That he’s blasted ev’rywhere,
Oh!
Here comes Peter Cottontail...
(*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*FWOOOSHHH**ZAAARRRFFF!*)
....Roarin’ Down the Bunny Trail...
Hippity-Hoppity
Happy Demolition Day!”

It isn’t known if the species known as the Ninja Bunnies developed this formidable weapons platform on their own, or if they had help. Regardless of its origins, it’s just one of the nasty accessories to the mayhem that the NB are capable of unleashing on their opponents. The NBSG is a tactical assault aircraft with multi-environment capability, advanced stealth capabilities, and major whupass armaments. It also has limited space capabilities(hence its inclusion here) allowing it to serve in some capacity as a starfighter or near-space attack ship.
The NBSG resembles the illegitimate offspring of a Mechanoid Wasp and a giant mechanical rabbit; only in this case the oversized ears are folding wing-planforms, the forepaws are swiveling gun-mounts, the large hind-feet are large gun clusters, and the round puff-tail is part of an elaborate electronic countermeasures suite. The gunship is both completely silent in stealth operations and nearly invisible thanks to advanced stealth design and technology. Armor is heavy, backed by a close-conformal forcefield, and well-able to shrug off any but the heaviest hits, on the offhand chance the stealth DOESN’T work. Weaponry is also heavy, consisting of swivel-mounted rapid-fire cannons of various types, and missile launchers, allowing the NBSG to live up its last name of ‘gunship’. Elaborate and powerful sensors run through a dedicated mission-support console allow the gunship to skirt trouble, as well as provide up-to-the-second tactical data to embarked ninja strike teams.
The NBSG uses a combination of low-emission reactionless thrusters for slow, tactical, ‘stealth’ propulsion, and a faster CG-’bounder’ drive for high-speed movement when stealth isn’t an issue. In ‘bounder’ mode, the gunship seems to flicker, actually slipping in and out of hyperspace, teleporting from one position to another. The fact that the ship can do this IN ATMOSPHERE and in a gravity well suggests extremely advanced technology indeed. Using the ‘bounder’ drive, the gunship can hit high Mach speeds without actually breaking the sound barrier. However, to gravitonic sensors, the ‘porpoising’ into and out of subspace is readily evident(similar to a CG FTL-drive wake) so it is rarely used when sneaking up on high-tech opposition that can track such phenomena.
It isn’t known how the Ninja Bunnies transport these close-support craft to the worlds where they’re needed; the NB have not been seen to own or operate any large spacecraft, so either they’re using stealthed transports of an unknown type, or they use other means(the most popular alternate theory is that they use magically- or technologically-generated wormholes...rabbit-holes--- for point-to-point transport).
It is not known how many of these vehicles the NB clans own...Then again, it’s not known how many NB clans there are. That’s the way they like it.

Type: NBGS-01
Class: Close Support Multi-Environment Stealth Gunship(Scoutship Frame)
Crew: 5(pilot, co-pilot/weapons officer, 2 gunners, sensor/countermeasures officer), +18 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,500
Reinforced Crew Compartment 600
Forepaw Mounts(2) 300 each
Thumper-Gun Mounts(2) 400 each
EarWings(2) 300 each
Forcefield 1,400
Height: 20 ft
Width: 35 ft(70 ft w/ ‘ears’ at full extension)
Length: 50 ft
Weight: 25 tons
Cargo: 2 tons(+3 tons if not carrying passengers in the ventral bay)
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 30 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Tactical Mode) 670 MPH maximum(but is completely silent)
(Bounder Drive) Mach 6, ‘jumping’ line of sight.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Not possible
(Underwater) Can submerge and move at 35 MPH, maximum depth of 800 ft.
Bonuses: +3 Dodge, +3 Strike
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ninja Bunny clans, not for sale. If made available on the Galactic Black Market, and buyers weren’t scared off by the prospect of invisible NB hit squads showing up to recover their property, the ships could expect to bring in at least 300 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starfighter Systems, plus:

*Stealth Systems---Combination of emission reduction, electronic jamming, and ‘hard light’ optical camouflage; 95% to avoid all forms of detection, and -5 to strike. Visual camouflage can be engaged to project a visual and EM holographic disguise about the ship, painting the conformal forcefield to disguise the carrier-craft as another airborne vehicle/creature, hide it against the background(rendering it invisible), or even provide a form of ‘dazzle camou’ to confuse enemy gunners. When rolling to detect the vehicle under the disguise, imposes a -45% to Surveillance and Read Sensory Instruments skills. This field is useful only at speeds under Mach 1.

*Communications Jamming----Can pump out enough multi-wavelength white noise to jam civilian band communications with 90% effectiveness, and military comms with 75% effectiveness, over a 30 mile radius.

*Tactical Sensors---Full range of shipboard sensors, but can also perform detailed communications tapping, grounds mapping using microwave and gravitic sensors(effective range of 3 miles), EM detection, and life-sign tracking, typically used to support NB commando teams, by ferreting out the security around a target site(land mines, motion detectors, guard animals, and laser-trips, for instance) and pinpoint the exact location of individuals within structures. +20% to Detect Ambush with a thorough sweep.

Weapons Systems:
1) Forward Lasers(2)---Mounted in the ‘forepaws’ are two rapid-fire gatling lasers. These guns can drop down and swivel down 90 degrees, and about 120 degrees.
Range:2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Thumper Gun Pylons(2)--Each ‘hindleg’ holds a cluster of three weapons; two heavy chain guns and a multi-munition missile launcher. Each weapon cluster can swivel down 90 degrees and about 200 degrees(yes, it CAN hit targets behind it).
Range:(Autocannon) 2 miles in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 6 miles in atmosphere, 600 miles in space)
(Missiles) Varies By Missile Type
Damage: (Autocannon) 4d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst per cannon
Both cannon in a weapon mount firing simultaneously does 8d6x10 MD!
All four cannon firing on the same target does 2d4x100+160 MD.
(Missiles)Varies By Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Autocannon) EGCHH(cannon can be fired in concert at one target for 1 APM)
(Missiles) Volleys of 1-6
Payload:(Autocannon) 1,000 bursts per gun.
(Missiles) Each launcher can hold 48 mini-missiles, 24 short range missiles, or 12 medium range missiles

3) (Optional) Bay Armaments---If not carrying passengers or cargo, the NBSG can carry bombs or missiles instead, and deploy them from ventral hatches. Can carry 16 long range missiles, 32 MRMs, 64 SRMs, or 128 mini-missiles, or the equivalent number of bombs(double the blast radius)(Note, NB commando teams often carry laser designators or target beacon chips to tag targets for homing ordnance). NBSGs operating in surveillance mode have also used the bay capacity to seed areas with micro-sensors, caltrop mines, or mini-flier nanodrone RPVs. At least one suspected NB ‘hit’ was prefaced by the use of anesthetic ‘sleep dust’ against a nearby community and police barracks.

Variants:
Some victims of the NB report seeing NBSGs with reversed weaponry; two light gravitic gatling guns in the forepaw positions, and two heavy lasers or particle beam cannons replacing the rear autocannons. An ‘uber-thumper’ version replaces the two rear grav-guns with a single more powerful massdrive cannon capable of firing different ammunition types.
Reports of NBSGs employing/exhibiting Phase Fields and TechnoWizardry modification suggest other variants. However, concrete data and solid evidence of these properties is extremely difficult to come by, and verifiable proof in short supply, as there are few level-headed witnesses remaining after a NB assault.

[Aramanthus]

LOL I bet Ninja Bunny like the new toy you just gave to him. I'm looking forward to seeing some new capitol ships too.

[taalismn]

LOL I bet Ninja Bunny like the new toy you just gave to him. I'm looking forward to seeing some new capitol ships too.

Yep...he was suitably...amused...

[Aramanthus]

Oh. So he got a copy mailed to him. Lucky Bunny!



Trix are for kids!

[taalismn]

...Plasma BOmbs for Kreeghor...

[Aramanthus]

Still looking forward to seeing the new capitol ships. I know I'm greedy!

[DhAkael]

The Sleipnir, reloaded. Now with extra thick crust and half the calories

'Sleipnir' Techno-Wizard Enhanced
Interstellar Frigate (Re-fit)
Model Type: XSF-03β Ragnarok Class
Class: Scout frigate / Heavy attack ship
Crew: 5; Captain, Pilot, navigator / com-officer, 2fire-control. May carry up to 18 extra passengers / crew.
M.D.C. By Location:
1.2GW Particle Cannon (1; under hull) - 1000
152mm Ball-Turret Lasers (12; 6 per dorsal pod) - 450 each
Point Deffense Lasers (6) - 100 each
Dorsal Engines (2)- 3125 each
Ventral Engines (2)- 4375 each
Forward Manoeuvre Pods (2) - 1500 each
Landing Gear / Grapple Claws (2) - 900 each
External Launchbay - 800 (Bay Door - 300)
Ventral Loading Ramp / Airlock - 1000
Nose / Forward 1/2 (sensors, etc...) - 3125
Main Body- 10,000
Observation Deck (under bridge)- 1500
Bridge-2250 (Dorsal Air-lock - 250)
Variable Shields (6 facings)- 1000 per side
Speed:
Flying: Inatmo; Mach 1.5. Exatmo; Mach 22+ on plasma drive, Mach10.75 by gravitic drive alone. See below for TW system
Note; reduce speed by 20% if dorsal engines inopperative, 80% if ventral engines damaged.
FTL: Standard CG-Drive; 4 LY per hour. Hypergravitic Activator Coils (Pg. 159 AU:GG for details). See below for TW system.
Range: The life-support system allows the crew to function for up to 1 year. The plasma fusion engines have a nearly unlimmited range (hooked directly into the reactors).

Statistical Data:
Height: 54m (landed), 65m (in flight)
Width: 45m (hull), 77m (wing-span). Length: 108m. Weight: 3,650 metric tonnes fully loaded.
Cargo: 10x5x5m bay, with 400 tonne capacity.
Drive Type(s): Primary; Plasma fusion drive.
Secondary; Gravitic Impeller.
Power System: Fusion with 25yr. life span. Cosmic ley-line PPE syphons for techno-wizard devices; 250 PPE/hr. and magicite-crystal storage cells with 2,000 PPE capacity.
Market Cost: 1.9 billion estimated (?).

Weapon Systems
1) 1.2 GW Particle Cannon (1): Under the hull along the centerline, the Sleipnir carries a powerful particle beam cannon. One blast from this weapon can devestate most small to mid-sized vessels, but is next to useless Vs. fighters. The cannon can rotate 90° side to side and depress 45° from centerline.
Range: 30km Inatmo, 160km in space.
Mega-Damage: 5D6X100 per blast at point of impact, plus an additional 1D4X100 to a 50ft. radius when used against capitol ships or large installations.
R.O.F.: 2 blasts per round.
Payload: effectively unlimited (has own powerplant). Captiol Ship scale= -11 to strike small targets.

2) 'Megaflare' TW Flame Cannon (1): The 'head' section of the Sleipnir contains a powerful TW cannon for use against targets that are only effected by magic, or as a shock-weapon. A glowing blue fireball forms at the nose section and then erupts forwards in a stream of mystic plasma, which on impact radiates outwards in a superheated shockwave.
Range: 8km Inatmo, 32km in space.
Mega-Damage: 3D4X100 per blast at point of impact, plus an additional 1D4X100 to a 50ft. radius when used against capitol ships, large installations or surface targets.
R.O.F.: 1 blast per round.
Payload: Requires 600 PPE to operate for 24 hours. taps into the PPE batteries. Captiol Ship scale= -11 to strike small targets.

3) 152mm Fusion Laser Cannons (12); These high-power lasers are mounted into the dorsal engine pods (3 per side of each pod), with only ball -turreted lenses being exposed. Each laser lens can rotate 30°.
Range: 4.3km Inatmo, 43.2km in space.
Mega-Damage: 1D4X100 per blast.
R.O.F.: Each laser can fire 3 times per round, and up to 6 may be fired at one target at a time.
Payload: Effectively unlimited. Heavy scale= -3 to strike small targets.

4) GR-2000 Gravity Cannons (2); These rapid-fire gravity guns are mounted into the manoeuvre pods (1 per pod), which are hidden until deployed. Each cannon can rotate 30° from center-line.
Range: 12.8km Inatmo, 25.6km in space.
Mega-Damage: 1D4X100 per 40 rnd. burst; may link fire.
R.O.F.: equal to HTH attacks per melee. Dual bursts are considered 1 attack. Controlled by pilot.
Payload: 10,000 rounds per gun (250 bursts each). Heavy scale= -3 to strike small targets.

5) Point Deffense Lasers (6): Located at key locations on the Sleipnirs' hull are small deffense lasers, used to repel enemy misslies and space fighters.
Range: 960m Inatmo, 9.6km in space.
Mega-Damage: 1D6X10 per pulse
R.O.F.: As per gunners' number of HTH attacks, or 2 per turn per gun on auto-targeting. See later for attack bonuses.
Payload: effectively unlimited

Other Systems
Defensive Systems
Anti-missile Chaff Ejector; Installed into the Sleipnir is a chaff ejector. A crew member may use a parry to launch a chaff globe, which has a +8 'parry' to attract incoming missiles / volleys; if effective, the missile(s) impact against the chaff. Useless against LRM's. Payload of 30 globes.
ECM Suite; on a successful 'electronic warfare' skill roll, the ship becomes +4 to dodge all incoming attacks, and all homing missiles are +6 to dodge.
Magnetic Shields & Laser reflective: Ion & Particle beam weapons only inflict 50% damage when this system is active, as well as having a 30% chance of disrupting missiles targeting computers (ineffective against LRM's & Cap-ship missiles) including ones fired from the protected ship. Laser based weapons also inflict only ½ damage. Variable frequency lasers take 1D4 successful strikes to counteract the hull plating resistance.
Cloaking Device; the Sleipnir is equipped with a cloaking device; able to mask almost all energy, radar, and visual signs. Enemy sensor rolls are at -95% at all ranges, and attacks are at -5 to strike. However, the Sleipnir may not fire any weapons, or utilize its shields with the cloaking field up.

Sensors
Advanced & Military Sensors; Can track and identify up to 500 targets with a 2000 mile range (3200km), and track an additional 25 objects out to 4000 miles (6400km);  range Inatmo. Objects as small as a golf ball can be seen at a distance of 300 miles Inatmo, or 26,000 miles in space (41,600km). Communications range is 200,000 miles (32,000km) in space. See later for combat bonuses.
Satellite Up-link Computer; Used for sending and receiving information from civilian and military satellites.
Super-navigation Computer & Auto-pilot; 50% skill for FTL and Sublight navigation, and 50% Skill for piloting.
A.I. System; ‘Sleipnir’ IQ 12 @ Lvl. 6 for purposes of Cyberjacking.

Miscellaneous
Artificial Gravity; Provides standard 1g environment within the ship.
Crew Quarters; Each crew member (23) has their own private cubicle with; bed, footlocker and computer unit. Bathrooms are communal.
Medical Facilities; Up to 5 crew members at a time may be cared for by the auto-doc system and regen- tanks. Cryo-Sleep tubes for 5 are also equipped.
Type 2 Recycling system (Atmosphere & consumables); Can continuously provide recycled, breathable air for 145 days for the crew plus passengers, as well as recycling water & wastes.
Trans-Atmospheric Capabilities; Design elements allow the Sleipnir to enter and leave planetary atmospheres. Thermal shielding only takes ½ damage from plasma and heat based weapons. See later for bonuses.
Hull Breach Auto-Repair; Triple redundancy system, prevents catastrophic loss of atmosphere from hull breaches.
Repair Systems; The Sleipnir has a built-in spacecraft repair kit that allows the crew and technical staff to effect any repairs in the field as long as there are spare parts and / or materials available. Up to 150% of the Sleipnirs' total MDC is carried in spare materials. See "Au; Galaxy Guide" Pg. 169 for details.
Remote Nanotech Repair Array; This system uses nano-fludic technology to repair internal damage to the ship. A mecahnics or electronics skill roll is needed (depending on internal damage type), from either a skilled crew member, or dedicated enigneering A.I. unit. Only 1 damaged system may be repaired at a time, and a repair roll failure (2 failed rolls out of 3) means the damaged system can not be repaired and must be replaced. Time for system repairs are reduced by 50% using the RNR array.
External Cargo Dock; 1 external docking system is standard on the Sliepnir by the bridge section.
External Launch Bay; 1 external launch bay is loacted under the main-body (can be ejected if needed), and can hold up to 100 tonnes of fighter / vehicles. Air-locks and support equipment are included in the E.L.B. module. A scaled down version of the R.E.F. Garfish launch bay (qv).
Grapple Claws; The landing-gear can also funtion as a crude grappler system. Rated for 5000 tonnes, and does 1D6X10 MDC per 'claw' (minimal damage in relation to capitol ships). Roll to strike is D20 plus targeting bonuses only; Pilot skill check may add additional +2.
Teleporter; this device is used to transport crew and material to and from the ship. Range is 1000km, and may not be used through shields or magnetic fields. 10 tonnes max. weight per transmission.
FTL Life-boats (2); See "AU; Galaxy Guide" Pg. 181 for details.
FTL Accelerators; This system allows the ship to go from Speed 0 (relative) to factor 1 (0.01LY / hr.) in less than 5 seconds, eliminating the acceleration time needed to "port" into FTL.
Self Destruct; To prevent capture of sensitive intelligence, prevention of ship theft, or as a last ditch retributive attack.

TW Systems
TW Sensors: Ley-line sensor, Sense Magic, Sense Dimensional Anomaly, See Dimensional Anomaly. Draws directly from the storage batteries. See Carl Gleba’s ‘Rifts: Three Galaxies’ Pg. 108-109 for descriptions, though ranges are based on the ’normal’ sensor suite (tied directly normal sensors).
Impervious to energy: 100 PPE / 20 minutes. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge. Equal to 8th level power.
Invisibility superior: 100 PPE / 30 minutes. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge. Equal to 8th level power.
Sustain: 60 PPE / 8 days. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge. Equal to 8th level power.
Spaceflight superior: 190 PPE / 10 hours. Draws directly from the storrage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge. Used when / if primary power is disrupted to the main engines. Equal to 8th level power = 24,000mph (38,400 km/h).
Pin-point deflectors: 30 PPE / 5 minutes per deflector (up to 10). Same effect as Deflect spell, but cover a 10ft. area per barrier. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge. Must be manually controlled. Equal to 8th level power.
Gravity Well Creation: 340 PPE per activation, creates gravity-well 6.4km ahead of the ship, duration of 2 minutes or until used. Magicaly creates an artificial free-floating gravity-well, large enough for use by the Sleipnirs’ Hypergravitic Activator coils. Two ways this can be navigated; the magus uses the Teleport: Superior table for success (this is typicaly used when nav-charts are not available) , or pre-loaded co-ordinates can be used from the Sleipnirs’ nav-computer. Equal to 8th level power
Design Note: The PPE expendatures are much higher than comparable UWW systems (approximately X5), due to fact of Rifts Earth's relative newness to techno-wizardry on this large a scale.

Auxiliary Vehicles
Up to 12 Power-Armour suits or 4 vehicles (light APC's, Hover Jeeps, etc) may be carried in the lower cargo / air-lock section. 1 vehicle equals 3 Pwr. suits. The external launch bay module can carry a further 100 tonnes of craft (fighters, small shuttle, etc).

Bonuses
+2 Initiative, +3 to dodge Exatmo & Inatmo, +2 to strike with all weapons and +15% to combat piloting rolls and +10% to weapon systems lock-ons.

[taalismn]

Love it ...Never can get enough of ships with an 'edge'...

[Aramanthus]

I agree! It is a very cool ship. Thank you for sharing it with us DhAkael!

[taalismn]

Val-Coltmar Vetigo Medium Fighter

“I had the opportunity to fly one of these things during the Val-Coltmar campaign on Durzella VIII, against the Gedo Pirates...got to take one of their ships up over the Deegy Mountains and get a feel for the whole shebang.
Scary as hell, I can tell you.... The Vetigo has it backwards...Engines up front, and the cockpit dragging behind....The front half of the ship just points and goes, and you feel like the ship is wagging you, not the other way around...And the ship is heavy, with most of the mass forward of hull midpoint...Those old Degazi engines they have ionize the air something fierce....the engine pods, which are mounted right where the pilot can’t help but look into them, look like they’re bursting into flames and spin off enough turbulence to give an inexperienced pilot the white-knucklies...the ship also tends to light on the stick, and she rolls easy, so I can see a newbie getting scared by his own ship, and flipping it into a spin....Problem goes away in space, but atmo-flying took some getting used to...If I hadn’t been a psychic and been warned about the Val-Coltmar psi-sensitive controls, I might have had to punch out early on the flight, and try explaining to my hosts how I lost the ship...
After some skipping in and out of atmo to get a feel for it in both mediums, I tried my hand at some simulated combat...the Vetigo’s a little nose heavy for the sort of dogfighting I’m used to with Scorpions and Black Eagles, but she jinks well...Then I got lined up for some air-to-surface work against some old Gedo bunkers the ‘Coltmar had cleaned out, and I cut loose with the heavy quad cannons up front....
With all four of the gatlers going, the whole airframe shakes like hell, and the vibrosaw noise can be felt all the way up through the cockpit seat and my flightsuit...I thought the ship was coming apart and I lost trigger-grip early...had to loop around to make another run at the target...had it been actual combat, I’d have lost the target too with a too-short burst...But those slug-throwers pump out a lot of heavy metal FAST...with a footprint that’s hardly neat or precise, but which guarantees that what you’re aiming at ain’t going to escape with at least a few hits. With those chunka-chunkas going full-autofire up front, I can see more than a few pilots getting addicted to old-fashioned gun-fighting and the whole ‘gun-gasm’ feel....not that the guys on the other side of the barrels are going to share the joy...
Landing’s equally hairy...even with repulsor assist, the tail and cockpit are going to bounce a few times until the pilot gets the trick of leveling out and easing in at the last moment....Swiveling the engines slightly on the landing approach helps with that, but I hadn’t the time to master that particular trick during my prientation flights.
The Vetigo’s got the makings of a real hair-ball dogfighter once you get the trick of turning the ship around the odd center of gravity, but it takes a psychic and a veteran not to send the ship out of control with a moment’s carelessness....”
---Captain R’lan Campor, Noro CAF Liaison(Fighter Command)

The Val-Coltmar crusaders have begun to appear in more regions of the Three Galaxies, pursuing their aggressive agendas against slavers and other races deemed ‘dangerous’, and thus the 3G is beginning to see more of their equipment. The Vetigo fighter is one of the Val-Coltmar designs that is seeing more exposure.
The Vetigo is clearly an early-Galactic technology design, but opponents are ill-advised to underestimate it on that basis. The design has a roughly T-shaped hull configuration, with a broad forward wing laying running perpendicular across the front of the main fuselage, two large engine nacelles at the ends of the T’s ‘arms’. The main sensor array lays at the front of the main fuselage, surrounded by the main armament trays, and the cockpit is at the end of the ‘t’, slightly raised for visibility above the foward hull(some early models relied entirely on sensors for forward visuals, but more traditional pilots insisted on having ‘eyeball coverage’ to the front of the spacecraft, requiring an angling-up of the rear hull and the additional of two horizontal tail surfaces to compensate). Immediately behind the cockpit, bringing up the tail, is a forcefield generator providing additional protection.
Armament is heavy, if based on relatively unsophisticated weapons. Four six-barrel rapid-fire gatling cannons surround the forward sensor mount, two small laser weapons are mounted outboard on the engine nacelles, and a belly-mounted tray can hold additional cannon, missiles, or bombs.
The Vetigo mounts strong armor for a ship of its type; given its secondary role as a ground support fighter, this makes sense. However, the armor is of an earlier type, and as such a greater weight of it is required to provide the same protection as more modern alloys. The cockpit is especially well armored with extra ‘chicken plate’ around it. The defensive forcefield generator abaft the cockpit is of a light, mono-planar type, providing some measure of added protection, especially to the cockpit module.
The Vetigo is also very maneuverable, with the placement of its engines; however, those same engines are also more vulnerable to damage. Losing one of its engine pods cuts dramatically the Vetigo’s agility.
For non-Val-Coltmar, the Vetigo is rather difficult to pilot without substantial modification to cockpit and controls. Being a strongly psychic species, the Val-Coltmar have designed their controls and communications systems with a psychic bias.
Though originally seen only in the hands of Val-Coltmar crusaders, the design(and variants thereof) have begun to appear in the forces of affiliates of the Val-Coltmar(such as the Sumi and Pinarii), suggesting that the original manufacturers are supplying it to their partners.
The Vetigo shares a common design plan with the smaller Asago fighter and the larger Kaitigo and Suhntigo bombers in Val-Coltmar service, suggesting either a common manufacturer in Val-Coltmar space or a common design philosophy arrived at by Val-Coltmar engineers.
Type: VCSN-SF18
Class: Air/Space Fighter
Crew: One
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 500
Reinforced Cockpit 240
Engine Pods*(2) 200 each
Forcefield 500

*Destroying one of the engine pods reduces the Vetigo’s maximum speed by 75%, and the ship loses all maneuvering bonuses. Possible bonuses from active psionic connection(such as an active Telemechanics power) still apply.
Height: 8 ft
Width: 30 ft
Length: 32 ft
Weight: 6 tons
Cargo: Small space in crew compartment for a survival pack and sidearm.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 16 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Not Possible
(Underwater) Not Possible
Bonuses:
+1 Dodge, +2 Roll, but non-psychics are going to be -15% to pilot the ship due to its construction(pilots with at least Telepathy, Telekinesis, or Object Read will NOT suffer any such penalties)
Remember that the Val-Coltmar are a psychic species, many of whom possess psionic powers like Machine Link, boosting their bonuses.
Market Cost: 38 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard StarFighter Systems, plus:

*Psionic Feedback---The Vetigo sports psi-sensitive controls that respond best to psionic feedback(note that the psionic powers don’t actually have to be active...the controls are attuned to low-level psi-levels)

*Psi-Comm---Psionic Radio---Range is shorter than for regular EM radio(HALF range) but is effectively unjammable.

Weapons Systems:
1) Gatling Rail Guns(4)---Mounted in ‘x’ formation around the forward sensor array are four gun trays holding six-barrel rapid-fire rail guns, giving the Vetigo the look of an old-fashioned radially-engined piston-prop fighter.
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per 10 rd burst
4d8x10 MD per 40 rd burst from all four cannons firing simultaneously(counts as one attack)
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload: 200 bursts per cannon

2) Light Lasers(4, 2x2)---Located outboard on the engine nacelles are two light pulse lasers
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6 MD single shot, 1d6x10 MD for a double-barrel blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) (Optional) Ventral Weapons Pod
a)Mini-Missiles-----18 shot pod
b) Short Range Missiles----9 shot pod
c) Medium Range Missiles---5 shot pod
d) Long Range Missile---One
e) Heavy Autocannon---An old-fashioned 75mm autocannon firing hypervelocity proximity-fuzed explosive shells.
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD to a 25 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: 35 rds
f) Plasma Cannon
Range: .5(3,000 ft) miles in atmosphere, 1 mile in space
(Kitsune Values: 1 mile in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage: 5d6x10 per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited
g) Laser Cannon
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited
h) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 1.5 miles in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4)(Optional) Wing Hardpoints(2)---Two hardpoints can be mounted, one under each wing inboard of the engine nacelles, holding the following:
a)Mini-Missiles----10 shot pod
b) Short Range Missiles----5 shot pod
c) Medium Range Missiles---2 per hardpoint
d) Long Range Missile---One

[taalismn]

Denven Alliance Kalos-Class Heavy Frigate
“The Choddies won’t come where you’re ready...They’ll come where you AREN’T...They want you to be afraid...Afraid of the big bwogiecrawl coming out of the dark and killing you in your sleep, killing the guys behind you, killing your families back home...They want you to be scared little mousies cowering for the felinoid to come to gobble you up....Or else they want us to leap out at the darkness and waste our strength on half-assed dramatic throws of the dice against their defenses, so they can mop up what we left behind...Well, we’re not going to play that game...When the Choddies come jumping out of the shadows with their jaws wide open, we’re going to jump down their throats and stick’em in the guts. We’re going to hit them point-blank with cruise missiles, and broadside them with every weapon we got..
I won’t sweet it for you; there will be heavy losses...a lot of you won’t make it to the finish line, but if you hold strong, the Choddies won’t either....they won’t get to your buddies, they won’t get through to the homeworlds...and they won’t pick on mice ever again...”

The last major conflict between the TGE and the CCW led to some major problems with the CCW’s newest members. With resources diverted to the war effort, the CCW found itself hardpressed to meet many of its treaty responsibilities with regards to the newly admitted member territories. The Choiloi War was one such result.
The Choiloi were an aggressive reptilean species that was expanding through the Serla Sector, and who were arguably worse in their racial outlook than even the Kreeghor. Profoundly believing that the goal of species existance was to destroy all competitors for resources, the Choiloi had already exterminated two other intelligent species near their homeworld, and had just annihilated a human-sept world, destroying the home planet with a matter-conversion bomb. The Choiloi were eagerly eying other worlds in adjacent sectors, having learned there were yet MORE intelligent species that threatened the Choiloi bid for dominance. The three-system Catyr-led Denven Alliance was right in their way. The prosperous Denven Alliance had previously applied to the Consortium of Civilized Worlds for membership, had received tentative approval pending a more formal allegiance, and was being fast-tracked for full membership, when they became aware of the Choiloi coming out of the adjacent region of space. Having learned of the extermination of two other races, and the effective annihilation of a third from refugees fleeing blindly through their space, the Alliance had no illusions of their own fate if the Choiloi went unchallenged, and they asked the CCW for help.
Unfortunately, the CCW couldn’t spare the ships or manpower to engage the Choiloi, what with recent TGE advances into CCW space demanding their attention. However, the CCW DID approve massive technological transfers to the Denven Alliance, including cutting-edge propulsion and ordnance systems, shipping the equivalent of several naval yards to the Alliance on lend-lease terms, as well as loaning the service of several ‘consultants’ on modern military tactics and strategy. The Denven Alliance immediately commenced a crash warship-building program and upgrading of their military forces.

The Kalos-class Heavy Frigate was one of the mainstays of the CCW-Alliance fleet that ultimately met the Choiloi advance into Redaswar Sector. The Kalos were designed for maximumfirepower and staying power in a fight against Choiloi battlewagons; speed was of little concern since Choiloi tactics favored closing with an enemy fast and engaging them at close range; the Alliance knew the enemy would come to them. Thus, physical protection was heavy, and variable forceshielding strong, to stand up to the Choiloi particle-beam barrages their battleships were capable of. To return the favor, the Kalos carried a heavy armament of energy weapons and missiles, able to do heavy damage at short- to medium-range. The Alliance expected to lose many of its frigates; thus extensive automation reduced the number of crew in harm’s way, though this also meant that the Kalos frequently required extensive maintenance between deployments. Creature comforts were few on Kalos frigates; the Alliance knew they were fighting a war for survival, and thus few resources were allocated to making accommodations aboard their warships any more than spartan. As escort vessels, the Kalos weren’t particularly fast, but they were quite manueverable; their extensive systems of gravitic pulsers and positioning thrusters allowed the vessels to quickly reposition themselves to bring their heavy armaments to bear on a target.
A hangar bay provided for the carriage of six fighters(typically SF-69 Scorpions) for recon and strike missions. A heavy assault lander or shuttle could be docked externally for boarding operations(though these tended to be hazardous undertakings, owing to the Choiloi habit of boobytrapping their ships with suicide charges). Later, these external mounts were used to carry heavy decoy platforms and gunships for the assaults on the Choiloi colonies.


With both sides on a more-or-less equal footing, the war raged for three blood-soaked years. It nearly ruined the Denven Alliance economically, and on three occasions, the war might have turned into disaster for the Alliance, but the balance of power turned against the Choiloi. In part, the superior Catyr physiology worked to the Alliance’s advantage; many of the Choiloi tactics, aimed at the ‘soft’ species(including human-septs) they’d previously encountered, were ineffective against the Alliance military. Alliance ships, for instance, could continue fighting, even with ‘minor’ radiation leaks, or their hulls irradiated by Choiloi anti-personnel weaponry. And the Choiloi tactic of infiltrating their enemies, wearing the outward visages of prisoners of war(the Choiloi were inordinately fond of skinning prisoners alive for the necessary integuments), proved useless in imitating the radioactive Catyr. Such Choiloi atrocities led to the Alliance, when they learned of them, offering no mercy to Choiloi forces, not that the Choiloi accepted any, or even gave any sign of understanding the concept. The Choiloi fought to the end when cornered, and their colonies had to be subjugated absolutely. As many of the colonies had already been bloodily wrested away from the previous three sentient species in the sector(and the original colonists hunted to extinction), the Alliance saw no problem in pounding the Choiloi occupiers into dust(Catyr infantry were notorious for calling in nuetron-ordnance at tactical ranges near their own positions).

Kalos-class Heavy Frigates were part of every major taskforce deployed by the Alliance. If not in the forefront, then the ships hung back, escorting carriers and support elements against the favored tactic of the Choiloi of jumping their battleships into the rear echelons of an enemy force to do maximum damage to the unprepared support and command elements. Kalos-class frigates provided a stiff and ready line of defense against such attacks, and were responsible for the destruction of at least three Choiloi battleships(though the Kalos frequently took heavy losses themselves in such encounters) engaged in such attacks.

The Choiloi War ultimately ended with a bang....The cessation of the most recent hostilities between the TGE and the CCW meant that the Consortium now had manpower to spare, and sizable CCW forces began to shift into Alliance space. With the CAF now guarding their homeworlds, the Alliance could free up more of their forces and drive through to the Choloi core systems. A heavy raid against the Choiloi homeworld’s orbital industrial belt ‘accidentally’ destabilized several black hole powerplants, at least one of which lost containment and dropped its singularity into the homeworld. Within days, the planet was rendered uninhabitable by severe tectonic stresses. The Choiloi war machine fell apart with unexpected speed; though several ‘bitter end’ strikes were launched at the Alliance over the next year by remaining Choiloi taskforces, most of the remaining Choiloi committed suicide as Alliance forces approached. CCW xenologists now speculate that the Choiloi racial mindset was dealt a severe blow by their defeat at the hands of ‘inferiors’ and that, unable to accept not being at the top of the foodchain as they perceived it, chose to rob their opponents of ‘prey’.

Though the Denven Alliance was itself criticized for its actions in the Choiloi War, including the hunting down of Choiloi refugee ships following the implosion of their homeworld, the CCW recognized that the Choiloi constituted a serious threat to the region. The matter, and the whole bloody war, were swept under the rug when the Denven Alliance was formally accepted as full members in the CCW.
Though badly beaten up, the Alliance fleet was repaired and retained in service. Several Kalos-class vessels have been transferred to the CAF as part of the Alliance’s common CAF service, and these vessels have recieved periodic updates of avionics and propulsion.

Type: CCW/DA-FFG-012 Kalos
Class: Heavy Frigate
Crew: 94+ 30 passengers(typically marines)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 20,000
Bridge 8,000
Cruise Missile Launchers(3) 800 each
Light Particle Beam Cannons(6) 250 each
Heavy Laser(1) 1,000
Light Lasers(10) 200 each
Medium Rail Guns(6) 120 each
Point Defense Lasers(24) 60 each
Point Defense Rail Guns(20) 50 each
Hangar Bay 5,000
Main Engines(3) 1,500 each
Variable Forceshields 3,000 each side, 18,000 total
Height: 100 ft
Width: 95 ft, wingspan of 120 ft
Length: 600 ft
Weight: 19,000 tons
Cargo: 1,000 tons
Powerplant:Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 30 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 3 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 900 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems
Weapons Systems:
1) Cruise Missile Launchers(3)(nose, and lateral batteries)
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4 each launcher
Payload: 80 each launcher, 240 total. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 6 missiles)

2)Light Particle Beam Cannons(6; 2 forward, four lateral)
Range: 1.5 miles in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 3,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Heavy Laser(1)---Early on, the Alliance caught on to the ChoiLoi tactic of attacking from an unexpected quarter, such as the rear of a vessel, targeting the vulnerable engines. Thus, the Kalos were refitted with a heavy laser mount between the engines. The decision to mount this weapon paid off handsomely on several occasions, claiming a number of Choiloi raiders.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 15 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 15 miles in atmosphere, 15,000 miles in space)
Damage: 5d6x100 per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Medium Lasers(5)---A nose-battery of photonic cannon
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per single blast, 1d4x1,000 for all five cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

5) Light Lasers(10)----A battery of secondary laser cannons, making up in rate of fire and volume what they lack in individual firepower.
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 4,000 miles in space)
Damage: 5d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

6)Heavy Rail Guns(4)---These laterally-mounted projectile weapons are used to sling swarm-shots of hypervelocity high-density shells at incoming enemy missiles and small craft.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per 40 rd burst
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload:10,000 rds(250 bursts) per gun

7)Point Defense Lasers(24)---An extensive web of automated light lasers circled the Kalos hull in several bands. Though of little use in the first years of the war(where the Choiloi favored heavy vessel engagements with energy weapons as opposed to lighter combatants and missile combat), the PDS systems proved their value later against the mine fields and suicide-attacks used by the Choiloi on the defensive.
Range: 1 miles in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Six times per melee automated fire
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Point Defense Rail Guns(20)---Similar to the lasers, these automated weapons, little more than machine-guns, could still chew up missiles and ram-craft.
Range:1.2 miles in atmosphere, 2.4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2.4 miles in atmosphere, 240 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1o MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: Six times per melee automated fire
Payload: 20,000 rds(1,000 bursts) per gun

Auxiliary Craft:
6 Fighters
4 Light Shuttles

Variants:
*CCW/DA-FFG-012G--The model currently in CCW service removes two of the medium rail guns and removes about half of the PDS chainguns to make room for improved crew accommodations, and upgrades the FTL propulsion to a more efficient Model E drive(5 light years per hour), making the ship better suited for extended long range deployments.

[Aramanthus]

Nice new ships. I can see the last ones maybe being sold to mercenaries if there were large numbers were produced.

[taalismn]

Yep,,,haven't done anything really big tonnage wise or 'bleeding edge' in awhile...

[Aramanthus]

Still it helps fill some niches out there on what some of the ships Mercs use. And the fighter is something that I'm sure could be sold to various parties.

[taalismn]

Gleian Lausson-class Destroyer

“Jump completed. Secure Jump vanes and initiate power down...Silent running protocols in effect....Sensors; give me a look-see. Are we alone?”
“Nothing...nothing...checking...Hold it...Got a point radiation source coming up behind the innermost warden-moon of Pegatal!”
“Weapons! Helm, plot an evasive course, but don’t execute. Get ready to dump the backup power to the Jump generator...Hedor, can you tell me anything else?”
“Got more info coming through on the long range...nuclear radiation...CG-lensing...definitely a drive....possibly commerical...It’s moving away from us at any rate...not particularly fast...”
“Hold on Jump, then...freighter? Any chance they saw us?”
“No...no...just routine-band radio chatter coming through, and no active scans....I recognize the profile now from the power reads....old fission-pile...but distinctive...neutron emissions indicate liquid metal cooling...I believe that was one of the Lotossians’ Laussons...probably skimming the rings for to slingshot home...”
“’Laussons’...those tubes? I hear the crews have to carry rad-badges at all times...Still, I don’t like the fact that it was out here when we came in...Your evaluation?”
“Heh...those lead sinkers were barely serviceable when they were new and under the command of the Gleians...The Lotossians only bought them because they were cheap and old, and the Lotis got spit for maintenance protocols...otherwise they’d have a sat grid JumpWatch net set up this far inside their system...No, that destroyer was probably heading home on routine patrol and was grav-slinging it to save power. They were paying more attention to getting back to base than anything out here.”
“Well, that saves a missile and some agg chasing them down and destroying them.”
“Plus we now know where at least one of their insystem defense ships is heading and likely to be for the next few days. Those lead-butts ain’t much faster than a commercial drag...”
“Okay, keep an eye on that deedee, but start looking for some merchie targets...I want a menu of prospective targets by lunch time!”

The backwater early space-age Rim-world Gleian Republic had had glancing encounters with the Golgan Republik, Central Alliance, and Zyganian Empire, and more lasting encounters with galactic merchants. That was enough to convince the Gleians that they needed to modernize their military and fast, against the possibility that they might face hostile galactics. Because most of their space fleet at the time was geared towards industry and exploration, the Gleians had to turn towards their naval industries to produce the needed vessels. The Gleians mortgaged several planets in their solar system for plans and examples of galactic-tech to jumpstart their technology, but faced the challenge of shoehorning the new tech into their existing industrial infrastructure.
The Lausson-class destroyer was among the first products of this move. Based on the frames of nuclear submarines, the Laussons retained the narrow, streamlined, cylindrical hulls of their ancestors, as well as the old-fashioned fission powerplants. Only now the old-style heat-piles powered commercial-grade CG drives. Several bands of reaction thrusters gave the vessels added maneuverability in space. The hulls were reconstructed of more modern megadamage Galactic alloys, and the hulls reinforced for the rigors of space travel.
Laussons mounted a nose-heavy armament of long range missile launchers and heavy lasers, with a secondary defensive weaponry of point-defense pulse lasers. This was barely enough to qualify them as effective combatants(compared to some merchant-warships), but made the Laussons for a time the most powerful ships in Gleian space.
Laussons were effective ships within limits; they were little faster than the galactic merchantmen their drives were based on, and their liquid-metal-cooled fission engines required more frequent maintenance and refuelling, and radiation leaks were always a concern with the ships. Their sensor systems were also sub-par; state of the art for the Gleians, but well below current 3G military standards. Interior space is also a frequent complaint about Laussons....the constraints of submersible operations and warfare aren’t always the same for equivalent space warships, and even with the more compact systems made possible with Galactic technology, there isn’t enough room for everything the Gleian Space Navy might want in a modern starship. Thus, Laussons lack auxiliary spacecraft(unless they are externally docked to the ship) and the capacity to carry extra crew and marines(for boarding actions), limiting their versatility and tactical flexibility.
Still, Laussons were among the most capable ships in the Gleian Space Navy, serving to keep pirates(more often than not domestically-grown) and privateers in check until the Republic managed to buy CCW-surplus Scimitars a few decades later, and began the manufacture of more modern warship types patterned after them. At which point, to offset the costs of acquiring the more capable and technologically-advanced galactic craft, the Republic began dumping its older ships on the black market. While inexpensive to acquire, and relatively cheap to operate (at least when the systems are operating perfectly), these older ships are even more prone to mechanical problems, especially with regard to the old heat-pile systems. Increasing deterioration of the radiation shielding and leakage of radioactive byproducts have led to several ‘hot’ accidents involving Laussons. This has led, in recent years, to Lausson SSSDs frequently being ‘shadowed’ by Vrusk hazmat ships, the radiation-resistant/loving aliens sensing potential opportunity for salvage work.
For military craft, Laussons are also rather ‘noisy’, emitting large amounts of EM and gravitic radiation that makes them easy to spot on long range sensors. While measures are possible to reduce the sensor signature, applied to the older Lausson frame they can be prohibitively expensive for marginal gains in effectiveness.
Type: GR-SSSD-014 Lausson
Class: Space Destroyer
Crew: 41
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 2,500
Bridge 400
Sensor Towers(3) 400 each
Point Defense Lasers(6) 90 each
Forcefield 1,000
Height: 29 ft
Width: 22 ft
Length: 359 ft
Weight: 5,000 tons
Cargo: 90 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fission w/ 10 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 7.5
(Kitsune Values: 20% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.75% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 2 light years per hour
(Underwater) Can land in water, but no longer has the capability of underwater operations.
Market Cost: 90 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems.

Weapons Systems:
1) Medium Pulse Laser Cannons(2)---The Gleians managed to acquire the plans for High-Intensity Lasers from CCW member merchants. The placement of the weapons in the nose of the vessel limits their arc of fire, however, requiring aiming the ship rather than a turret, in order to acquire targets. They also suffer from a slower rate of fire than equivalent mounts on CCW ships owing to the slower recharge capacity from the fission engines. Still, the weapons can inflict a fair amount of damage when they lock on target.
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 8 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 8 miles in atmosphere, 8,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Three shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Long Range Missile Launchers(6)----A Gleian copy of the Zyganian TZMS-009 Yoden missile system. The Laussons mount six launchers in the nose.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4 per launcher
Payload: 40 missiles each launcher, 240 total; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

3) Point Defense Laser Turrets(6)---Arranged around the hull to cover most fire-arcs are six pop-up pulse laser turrets for anti-fighter/missile defense.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

Auxiliary Craft: None

Variants:
No official variants of the Lausson exist. Most Laussons in non-Gleian hands see some effort to upgrade their sensors and avionics to modern standards, as well as to reduce their sensor emissions, but the effort is generally piecemeal and expensive; the design has proven difficult to modify.

[KLM]

Nice flavoured old ship, which is still cost-effective (read: deathtraps ), the only
thing I would change is the cargo capacity - 90 tons is a bit too small, 900 tons would
more reasonable, thought distributed in smaller bays along the long and thin hull.

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Nice flavoured old ship, which is still cost-effective (read: deathtraps ), the only
thing I would change is the cargo capacity - 90 tons is a bit too small, 900 tons would
more reasonable, thought distributed in smaller bays along the long and thin hull.

Adios
KLM

Thanks..>I based it on an old Soviet 'November'-class SSN...

[taalismn]

AddisonTechnar Fulsar Long Range Fighter

“The Fulsar’s a bit of a gawk...rather big to fit in most shipboard hangars, and it can’t fold for shipboard stowage. Its weaponry is on the light side for its size, too. In its favor, though, in the straightaway it’s actually faster than the Black Eagle, if the course is long enough for the Fulsar to overtake it...It’s got the upper limit drive profile of a Scimitar, but it really has to crank to get up to that speed...The good news is, that with the extra cockpit space mandated by the original CCW requirements, the pilot has plenty of elbow room to swing around in on those long hauls, so cramping isn’t a problem.
That’s served it in good stead in its export version....The Lotossians ponied up enough money to buy a wing of Fulsars to protect their new trade nexus. When they got word of a raider hitting merchantmen, they already had half their force on deep arc patrol and re-routed them to intercept...The Loti Fulsars were already close to max velocity, so it didn’t take them long at all to get to all-out scramble drive so they were closing alot faster than anticipated...Those pirates musta thought they had a whole flotilla of Scimitars coming down their throats from the drive profile because they Jumped out fast as THEY could before they got swamped.”
---Lieutenant-Colonel Theyor Mellitz, CAF, Office of Colonial Defense

The Fulsar is CCW Corkscrew-based corporation AddisonTechnar’s break-in starfighter design. Meant to compete for the same CAF requirement that ultimately yielded the Black Eagle, the Fulsar has many of the same features as dictated by the CAF bid rules. However, beyond that, the CAF encouraged the competing companies to come up with innovative designs for its next-generation medium fighter. AddisonTechnar, a well-regarded firm with a previous reputation for designing fast and effficient executive shuttles, commercial couriers, scoutships, and small transports, rose to the challenge.
AddisonTechnar turned in a design that looked like a winner with its clean sharp lines; a sharp-nosed central fuselage poised on the leading edge of a large unencumbered low-set delta wing. AT promised that its ATFX-303 ‘Fulsar’ was faster and cleaner in terms of its energy use than other designs, reducing maintenance costs to its engines, always a major factor in high-end, high-performance combat vehicles.
AddisonTechnar pinned its hopes on a new propulsion technology it called ‘gravitic planar flow multifactoring’ which substituted a broad CG-generation panel in place of the traditional narrow-focus ‘thruster bell’ more common to CG craft. The theory went, that by manipulating the CG-fields over a larger area, a smaller spacecraft could emulate the behavior of larger starcraft, achieving higher maximum speed at a lower energy cost.
Addison was only partially right; the Fulsar did indeed achieve higher speeds in trials than the Black Eagle and Katana, with a smaller and less expensive powerplant, but its acceleration and deceleration rates were much slower. While the Black Eagle and Katana were already out of atmosphere and scrambling for maximum speed, the Fulsar was still cranking its way out of the gravity well. Space performance wasn’t much better; the Fulsar’s launch-to-intercept qualities were mediocre, and its CG ‘footprint’ was larger than a fighter’s should have been, making long-range detection easier. In dogfighting trials, the broad-winged Fulsar proved as agile as the other ships in the competition, but the large wing/CG array proved a tempting target, especially when the ship couldn’t power-up to escape a pursuer.
Another concern was the dynamics of the design; the CG-field required by the GPFM-formulas called for a broad continious rear wing assembly. Under normal circumstances the CAF would have been pleased with a broad wing for better atmosphere handling characteristics and more room for external ordnance loading, but for the drives to operate at maximum efficiency, the wings had to be kept clean. Trials with weapons stations added, showed that even light ordnance hung under the main wing led to significantly diminished drive performance, and, in the worst cases, instability to creep into the control.
To give the ship SOME external stores capability, the hardpoints were moved to the two smaller canard wings just aft of the cockpit and above the leading edge wing-gloves of the main wing. This arrangement posed its own problems; 1) the amount of additional ordnance that could be mounted was small, and 2)the positioning of the wing hardpoints made servicing very difficult for existing hangar bay and field equipment. Special gantries had to devised for the Fulsar, increasing the overhead costs of deploying the design on a Fleet-wide basis.
AT lost the contract bid to Galactic Armory’s Black Eagle(which was smaller, more capable, and cheaper in its CAF configuration), but went on to offer its design( a stripped-down version with lower-powered systems) as a system patrol and escort fighter to CCW member worlds and colonial zones without extensive CAF coverage. Though slow to reach its top speed, its high cruising speed and long energy endurance meant that it was good for long range patrols and circuits. Addison-Technar found a number of buyers in the periphery regions with a need for long range and escort fighters. The design has also found purchase orders from many new former Golgan states, such as the Zyganian Empire, looking to build up their militaries quickly.
AddisonTechnar continues to experiment with GPFM, and has produced several promising transports incorporating the technology, but the Fulsar remains its only fighter design using the propulsion.
Type:CCW-AT-F-303C
Class: Medium Long Range Fighter
Crew: One, and can accommodate 1-2 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 400
Reinforced Cockpit/Escape Pod 120
Nose Cannon(4) 30 each
Chin Turret(1) 100
Main Wing 300
Forcefield 400
Height:16 ft
Width: 45 ft
Length: 55 ft
Weight: 13 tons
Cargo: Small space in cockpit for a survival pack, sidearm, and a few small personal possessions.
Powerplant: Advanced nuclear-fusion with 20 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 7; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 17(but takes 4 times as long as the Black Eagle to accelerate to speed)
(Kitsune Values: 60 % of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Not Possible
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 40 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starfighter Systems.
Weapons Systems:
1) Light Nose Lasers(4)---Four small light lasers are set into the nose
Range: 1.5 miles in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per single pulse burst, 4d4x10 MD for all four cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Chin Turret(1)---The Fulsar mounts a single medium laser cannon in a ventral chin turret under the cockpit, enabling the fighter to ‘track’ incoming targets and keep them locked in fire.
Range:2 miles in atmosphere, 5 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 5 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space)
Damage:1d6x10 MD per single pulse burst, 2d6x10 MD for a double blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

3) Wing Hardpoints(2)----Two hardpoints are mounted on the dorsal wings abaft and abreast of the cockpit. Each hardpoint can hold ONE of the following ordnance fitouts.
a) Mini-Missile Launcher----12 shot pod per hardpoint
b) Short Range Missile Launcher---5 per hardpoint
c) Medium Range Missile Launcher---2 per hardpoint
d) Long Range Missile Launcher---1 per launcher(but reduce atmospheric flying speed to Mach 2 due to the awkward weight placement and drag of the missiles)

Variants:
*AT-F-303B---Currently existing only in computer simulations, this is what the Fulsar might have been had it been accepted into CAF service and received its full outfit of CAF-standard equipment, including variable forcefields(250 MD per side, 1500 MD total. The four light lasers would have been replaced with 2 medium lasers similar to those on the Black Eagle, and the chin turret would have been fitted with a g-cannon(4 mile atmospheric range, 12 miles space range, 4d6x10 MD per 30 rd burst, 200 burst payload). The AT-F-303B, however, would be 14.8 tons and estimated cost 48 million credits.

[Aramanthus]

These are both some sweet ships. Thank you for sharing them with us Taalismn! Can't wait to see the capital ships.

[taalismn]

For some reason I've been having Power-Bloc...that inability to create a really power-heavy ship...can't explain it...

[Aramanthus]

It's ok. These one are very nice. Please keep them coming out. We'll use them in our games.

[taalismn]

Good Splugorth “AuroraHeron’ Multi-Purpose Cruiser

“Zysos! Take the Heart of Charity to survey the northern continent for survivors! Take a tow-tail of drop-kits; if you see anybody, drop them a pod and move on! Kadar Alocoi, the Gentle Reprimand will remain in orbit and consolidate the cargo pods into an orbital depot; you’ll also be responsible for gathering and policing the rest of the relief supplies when they get here with the reinforcements! Kadars Muphosen and Chelik, the Rewards of Virtue and the Wisdom of Little Beings are with me! We’ll quarter the southern jungle zone and see if there’s anything left of the communities that are SUPPOSED to be on this planet...”

The Zasix/’AuroraHeron’ is the Good Splugorths’ primary fast transport and emergency response craft. Sentients in universes serviced by the GS will be familiar with these craft as the most common GS capital ships and the ones most often encountered responding to a crisis.
The AuroraHeron bears a strong resemblance to the planet-bound Splugorth Magic Ark/Sea Skimmer, being roughly the same size, having a similar dipped bow and high stern, and similar arrangement of weapons and magic systems. However, the AuroraHeron is fully enclosed, and in place of hydrofoils, has a set of magnificent swept-forward wings and contrag-gravity propulsion systems.
The AuroraHeron is used equally by GS Relief and GS Peacekeeper forces. The GS send regular patrols of these ships through the fringe-worlds to monitor the health of the resident populations. In planetary catastrophes, squadrons of these graceful ships herald the arrival of Good Splugorth relief efforts, such as convoys of Life-Arks, Star-Fins, Nurse Sharks, and massive PearlStars. AuroraHerons are a welcome sight to the beleagured in the Good Splugorth continua, as it means that help is on the way.
Because humanitarian aide ships make tempting targets for the more lawless elements of galactic society, the AuroraHerons come equipped with a formidable array of magic and technological defenses. AuroraHerons carry both technological and magical forcefield protection, giving them multi-layered defenses. Since the ships often operate in warzones and still-dangerous catastrophe zones, this redundancy is necessary.
AuroraHerons are also incredibly fast, with a combination of Maqui Knouldum hyperdrives and cutting edge CG-impulse propulsion units. This allows them to be able to respond quickly to distress calls.
AuroraHerons carry small science/medical labs as standard, but can be outfitted(at the expense of cargo space) with more extensive laboratory facilities. Likewise, the cargo bays can be outfitted as passenger space, patient wards, special cargo pallets, or ammunition and hangar space(if acting as a military vessel). If serving in a transport mode, the AuroraHeron can tow ‘chains’ of cargo pods externally(although this reduces the speed and acceleration/deceleration capabilities of the ship).
AuroraHerons carry a varied crew of beings; typically the usual mixed retinue of Associate species, but they are also used to train and familiarize new recruits and new Associates in the operations of the GS organization. It is not uncommon for the GSA to ‘loan’ these vessels to new Associate races as part of setting up their network of aide depots and ready response stations. Like coast guard station deployments, AuroraHerons will frequently be the largest vessel on station at the smaller facilities, acting as a mothership for a flotilla of smaller scout, SAR, and transport vessels. Larger stations will have 2-6 AuroraHerons based from them, riding herd over squadrons of smaller craft, and as escort to larger vessels like Life-Arks.

Type: Good Splugorth Zasix/’AuroraHeron’
Class: Multi-Purpose Star Cruiser
Crew: 240+200 passengers.
If outfitted as a hospital ship, has provision for 4,000 patients
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 36,000
Bridge 3,000
Sensor Tower/Frill 3,000
Eyes of Eylor(30)---250 each and regenerate 1d4x10 MD per minute
Laser Turrets(6) 500 each
Tachyon Scatterguns( 8 ) 500 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(4) 500 each
Wings(2) 10,000 each
Magical Forcefield 7,000
Variable Forcefields ( 60,000 total, 10,000 each side)

*Shield Refresh Rate is 25% per melee
Height: 240 ft
Width: 120 ft main hull, 800 ft wingspan
Length: 2,000 ft
Weight: 62,000 tons
Cargo: 60,000 tons
Powerplant:Advanced Nuclear with 80 year energy life
*PPE Generators(3)---------The AuroraHeron has no less than 3 crystal TW generators, in order to power its magic systems. Each generator provides 400 PPE(1,200 PPE for all three generators combined) and regenerates at 50 PPE per hour(900 PPE per hour total). Each also has an adjacent PPE Battery Bank, that can hold up to 1,200 PPE each(3,600 PPE total), and recharges/absorbs energy at 100 PPE per 24 hours, plus they accept any additional power contributed by passengers/crew.
Note: All TW Generators are shielded by special Ley Line Protection devices, analogous to Faraday Cages, in order to prevent being disabled during infrequent, but powerful, deep space ley line storms. During such events, all magical systems are turned off and secured, until the storm passes. Invariably, though, some damage is inflicted to peripheral systems that could not be shut down or drained in time, but at least the main generators will not be damaged.
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 12
(Kitsune Values: 65% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.2% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 8 light years per hour
(Underwater) Can land on water and ‘skim’ along the surface at 200 MPH. Can also dive beneath the surface, to depths of 1.5 miles and propel itself at 120 MPH.
Market Cost: Not available; exclusive to the Good Splugorth. If one were available for sale, it could command 10 billion or more credits.
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:

*Long Range Life Sensors---Can detect lifesigns from as far away as 6 million miles.

*Solar Sail---In an emergency, the AuroraHeron can deploy a large solar sail(similar to the sail-canopy of the Sea Skimmer, but much larger) that acts as both a solar collector and as a photonic propulsion system.
Standard procedure if the ship is stranded far from help and forced to rely on the solar sail for interstellar propulsion is to set the ship on autopilot and put the crew into suspended animation(using suspension slime), waking up a duty officer every few years to check on the ship’s operation.

*Tractor Beams(3)---These are used to grapple with wrecked vessels, clear space-debris, and handle cargo pods. Each tractor beam projector can handle 5,000 tons, and has a range of 10 miles.
Used for pure towing, the tractor beams can haul up to 25,000 tons each, but reduce ship’s top speed/acceleration/deceleration by 50%

*Laser Resistant Armor---AuroraHerons’ clean and beautiful external hulls are more than just aesthetically pleasing; they’re laser-resistant. Lasers do HALF damage to the ships.

Magic Systems:
*Wings of Daylight---The sweeping arcs of wings can be made to glow with an expanded Globe of Daylight spell to illuminate vast areas around and under the AuroraHeron. This is particularly useful in anti-vampire operations.
Range: 3,000 ft radius
Damage: None---But does HP damage to vampires and other sunlight-vulnerable beings

*Mass Healing---The AuroraHeron can hover at ultra-low altitude above a gathered group of people and deploy special ‘dashold beam’ radiators that can be used to heal masses of people and fortify immune systems...useful when dealing with disasters where hundreds or thousands of beings are out in the open and at risk.
Range: 200 ft radius
Damage: None---Cures ordinary illnesses and repairs 1d6 SDC OR 1d4 Hit Points per person.
Can also temporarily ‘immunize’ people against diseases; immune to bacterial infections, +4 to save versus viral illnesses, and +1 to save versus toxins and poisons!
Rate of Fire/Duration: Instant and permanent
Disease Fortification lasts about 24 hours
PPE Usage:100 per activation

*Eyes of Eylor(30)---Same as on the Skimmer Ark, but are recognized as Avatars of the Living Planet Eylor in the GS continua. Invaluable during searches for survivors in disaster zones.

*Calm Storms---Effective range of 15 miles and affects a ten mile area; costs 200 PPE. Effects similar to that of the spell of the same name(page 143)

*Impervious to Energy---Upscaled version of the TW defensive mechanism. This renders the ship effectively invulnerable to lasers, ion beams, particle beam cannons, and threats such as plasma and solar radiation storms.
Range: Hull
Damage: Energy and radiation do NO damage to the ship while the protection is up.
Duration: 20 minutes per 160 PPE pumped into the system.
PPE Usage:160 per activation

Weapons Systems:
1)Laser Turrets(6)----The AuroraHerons carry a complement of laser cannons for self-defense, as well as for obstacle clearance and even weather modification.
Range: 6 miles in atmosphere, 12 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 12 miles in atmosphere, 12,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 5 times per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

2)Long Range Missile Launchers(4)---These launchers are typically used to deploy probes, decoys, or courier drones, but they can be used to fire defensive missiles and shipkillers.
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-6
Payload: 800 LRMs, 200 missiles per launcher(Many dedicated rescue AuroraHerons will carry half to a quarter of this amount of ammunition, using the freed-up space instead to carry extra rescue equipment).

3)Tachyon Scatterguns( 8 )---Multiple tachyon accelerator cannon, with ‘scattershot’ firing focus, are mounted to cover all arcs of the ship’s hull. Three are mounted along the edge of each wing, and one is mounted in the tail. These are typically used to create a ‘firebreak’ around the ship for destroying incoming missiles, mines, and other projectiles.
Range: 1.5 miles (2,500 m) in atmosphere, 6 miles (10,000 m) in space w/ 3 mile wide arc*
(Kitsune Values:6 miles in atmosphere, 600 miles in space)
* Scatter width is reduced to 1/4th in atmosphere
Damage:2d4x10 MD per single cannon firing
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

Auxiliary Craft:
4 shuttles (80 fighters/robots if a combat unit)
24 Power Armors/GS Rescue Rafts (300 power armors if a combat unit)

Notes:
AuroraHerons are suffused with such an atmosphere of hope and good will that patients will be at a +1 to save versus Coma/Death, illness, and insanity, while aboard the ships. Beings of evil will be -1 to save versus magic attacks directed at them, and must roll versus a Horror Factor 10 (Vampires and other Undead at Horror Factor 13) every 12 minutes they are aboard the ship or suffer the consequences.

Variants:
*GS Peacekeepers---GSA Peacekeeper units will typically carry troops and fighters rather than rescue vehicles. They also differ in having 2-4 additional weapons stations, usually medium-calibre g-cannon or particle beam cannons(though they may also carry additional missile launchers, including cruise-missiles). Special purpose Peacekeepers may also be fitted with active stealth jammers, minesweeping gear, and ECM suites. There is typically one Peacekeeper model AuroraHeron for every ten standard rescue AuroraHerons produced. These ships usually operate with Kittani or Kydian crews, but it is not unknown for T-Men, Norrek-Brotherhood, and the Sunaj to be found operating these ships.

[KLM]

Nice vehicle.

My two cents about stats that the ship would have a price tag of at least 10 billion
credits, in the 3Galaxies (just check the Dwarven Iron Ships' manufacturers price of 22 billion), even
if for true combat role it needs a bit of muscle for her size.

(Ie. extend the range of the main lasers and add a better flak/point defense system,
thought the latter can be provided by onboard PA's).

Still, as I said earlier, it can be a rather well thought asset in the tentacles of "not so good"
sploogies.

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

THanks...as it is, I figured it as a coast guard cutter first and glossed over the military version...but I can revisit the design and upgrade it accordingly to be tougher nut to hijack...and a meaner Peacekeeper...

[KLM]

...but I can revisit the design and upgrade it accordingly to be tougher nut to hijack...

Seems like a miscommunication.

What I meant is the price tag is low, compared to other 3G designs. Period. No need to alter stats for
its current role.

If, of course one would deploy them as cruisers, raise price even higher (not much), add a few longer
ranged guns (the Peacekeeper variant is exactly that), and load it up with military small craft.
Still, they will be more carriers, than cruisers, but then what... It still nicely fits for sploogie slave raids.

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

...but I can revisit the design and upgrade it accordingly to be tougher nut to hijack...

Seems like a miscommunication.

What I meant is the price tag is low, compared to other 3G designs. Period. No need to alter stats for
its current role.

If, of course one would deploy them as cruisers, raise price even higher (not much), add a few longer
ranged guns (the Peacekeeper variant is exactly that), and load it up with military small craft.
Still, they will be more carriers, than cruisers, but then what... It still nicely fits for sploogie slave raids.

Adios
KLM

Well, I went back, upped the price and added several more tachyon scatterguns(mounted on the wings they actually fit nicely with the visual aspect)...

[Aramanthus]

It's a sweet ride for the GS. I have to admit it'd be cool to drop some of them into the regular Phase World setting just to confuse the PCs.

[gaby]

Hope to see more ships.

[taalismn]

Hope to see more ships.

I hope to be able to write them up, but contributions to this thread are welcome when the usual team can't!

[taalismn]

Pulwar Aerospaki Cheolla Heavy Fighter

“The Central Alliance didn’t give me the time of the day, brother, nor did the Altess rep on Garadi.....We’re just too small to matter to them...So I had to go to the Golgans.”
“And how much paperwork did they give you to fill out before they’d help us with the Scori problem? I detest the idea of going to Naruni, seeing as they’re the ones who armed the damn bandits!”
“I didn’t go to the Republik government...I know better than you what they’re like...I went to Manwhesar District and looked up an old friend of mine. He graciously gave me some ships they weren’t using.”
“Some ships? What old relics did he slip us from the breakers?”
“A wing of Cheollas and the Zenini Brothers.”
“Cheollas? What good are THOSE?! They had those old Golgan stovepipes at Dernak, and they couldn’t get them off the ground before the Scori blew them to atoms! Damn it, sister, how are we supposed to defend ourselves with outdated ships?”
“First of all , my faithless brother, these aren’t old Cheollas...They’re the latest model, developed for the Golgan Fleet Rebuild program contract...My contact managed to ‘acquire’ a pre-production run of them for ‘advanced field testing’...but they’re thoroughly tested and reliable...and the Zenini Brothers were the test pilots....They’re all Zebuloids, by the way, and they’ve inherited the old Pulwar animosity towards Naruni, so they’d be more than happy to put their new equipment through its paces against the old Naruni hardware the Scori were able to afford!”

The Cheolla(from an ancient Golgan term for a heavy crossbow-like quarrel-projectile) is a centuries-old Golgan design produced by Pulwar Aerospaki, a long-lived aerospace firm, family-owned, that has been providing the Republik with respectable spacecraft designs for several centuries.
The Cheolla even resembles its namesake; a long, slender vessel with a bulbous nose and cockpit section, and six small tail fins. What looks like an airscoop under the central fuselage is a heavy missile launcher. Two rear-mounted remote-control laser turrets cover the aft quarters of the ship from fighters and missiles. The Cheolla is built tough and sturdy, with a powerful engine(for its time), but its atmospheric manuevering is rather stodgy on the stick. VTOL performance is particularly clumsy, and a fully loaded Cheolla frequently requires a takeoff-run or rocket assist to get up to speed. The ship is also quite large, and has problems fitting aboard many carrier vessels(most ships carry them externally).
Despite these shortcomings, the Cheolla is a good performer, with good armor and respectable armament. Its payload of missiles make it a good stand-off fighter-bomber. Its propulsion system uses parts and components that are familiar and available to most Golgan support technicians and depot units.
For a time, the Cheolla promised to become the new standard in Golgan heavy fighters, and looked to see Republik-wide deployment. However, at the same time that Pulwar was demo’ing the Cheolla to the regional Republik military acquisitions board in the Pulwars’ home galactic district, Naruni Enterprises was approaching the Council Politik on Gologo Maxus with a fabulous discount offer on the then-new Fire-Eater Attack Ship. The price for the spanking-new, state-of-the-art, combat ship was so good, and the Naruni negotiators so on top of the game, that rival bids for new heavy fighters from other sources were barely looked at. By the time the regional military governor submitted his glowing report on the Cheolla, the Council had already taken up the NE offer, and the Pulwar design was NOT accepted for service.
Goddaven Pulwar, the then-CEO of PA, was INCENSED. A patriotic Son of Gologo(and one of the more flamboyant of Golgan industrialists), Goddaven saw the selection of the Naruni Enterprises’ ships as a betrayl of native manufacturing. The Pulwars refused to accept a conciliatory offer to manufacture licensed support equipment for the Fire-Eaters, and kept the rights to the HFB017 design. Goddaven in fact passed company policy that Pulwar would work on no more original design military contracts for the Republikan Guard until a suitably chastized Republik apologized for their haste in outsourcing important defense contracts.
Naruni Enterprises gleefully made sure that any apology would be long in coming, marketting low-cost bulk weaponry to the Republik via the bureaucratic bean-counters. For its part, the Council took little notice of Goddaven’s “outburst” and continued to buy ships and equipment from the Pulwars, and licensed new technologies to them, but could not get the company to undertake any new military design works for them.
Ironically, as the centuries have passed, and the fortunes of the company have waxed and waned, in order to stay afloat, Pulwar Aerospaki found itself having to sell its ‘patriot ships’ to non-Golgans(often because those parties couldn’t or didn’t want to buy Naruni products!). Pulwar has continued to update and upgrade the Cheolla with new technologies as advancements permit; the original craft was intentionally overbuilt with long-term modification in mind, so the basic spaceframe is very tolerant of modification. In order to keep selling their ships, PA was obliged to update the design and produced several variants. As time has passed, Cheollas have shown up in the hands of border states on the fringes of the Republik, and naturally, in the hands of pirates, privateers, and secessionists. Several former Golgan secessionist nations have sizable numbers of Cheollas that were sold to equip colonial garrisons that were not important enough to recieve the more advanced NE equipment(subsequent generations of Pulwars getting around Goddaven’s ban by selling to bureaucratic offices not directly associated with the Guard infrastructure, like the Kolonial Industrial Enhancement Procurement Office, or Administration of Disgruntled Native Affairs). Thus, star-nations like the Zyganian Empire and the Central Alliance have Cheollas in their hangars.
The irony continues; Manwhesar District, the five-system home-district of Pulwar Aerospaki, is one of the few diehard Golgan enclaves on a quickly shrinking Golgan Frontier. At last count, nine surrounding solar systems have seceded from the Republik, leaving the District nearly surrounded by territories unfriendly(or at least apthetic) to the Golgan mainstream. At the same time, as the Golgans’ relationship with Naruni Enterprises has become choked by impending debt, many in the Council Republik are looking again to local concerns to provide for the Republik’s future military materiel needs. The Republikan Guard Quartermasters have recently approached PA with an offer of long-term installment payments for exclusive production for the Republik military. At the same time, many ex-Republik systems have similarly approached the Pulwars with increased orders for ships and equipment for their own forces. On one side, patriotic duty, the protection of the Republikan Guard, and the vindication of their ancestor pulls the Pulwar Family one way, while the other way quick money up front, and a desire to keep the peace with their neighbors has the Pulwars glancing the other way. If Pulwar should accept the Republik offer, the Manwhesar District shipyards may become a strategic target for their more aggressive and anti-Golgan neighbors(some who have hinted as much in negotiations), while if the District declares itself a Free Trade Enclave(andthere is some agitation for them to do so), they will be seen as traitors by the rest of Golgankind. With the District well-equipped with Pulwar-made equipment, and the region home to a large concentration of Zebuloids(the Republik’s premiere aerospace pilots), Manwhesar is a potential crisis point waiting to explode.
The HFB020 is the currently-in-production model of the Cheolla.

Type:GR-PAS-HFB020 Cheolla (“Quarrel”)
Class: Heavy Fighter/Light Strike Ship
Crew: 3
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,000
Crew Compartment 200
Ventral Cruise Missile Launcher 100
Point Defense Turrets(2) 100 each
Engine 400
Forcefield 1,000
Height: 19 ft
Width: 12 ft(26 ft at tail fins)
Length: 76 ft
Weight: 450 tons
Cargo: 3 tons internal capacity
Powerplant:Nuclear Fusion w/ 40 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 50% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 3.6 light years per hour
(Underwater) The Cheolla can make a water landing, but cannot operate underwater.
Market Cost: 190 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starfighter Systems.
Weapons Systems:
1) Nose Lasers(4)--Mounted in the nose are four long range lasers
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD MD per single cannon firing. 8d6x10 for all four cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Cruise Missile Launcher(1, ventral)---What looks like a ventral airscoop set back from the nose is in reality a cruise-missile launcher, with magazine capacity for three missiles.
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-3
Payload: 3

3) Ordnance Bay---Aft of the CML is a rotary weapons bay capable of holding the following configurations:
a) Short Range Missiles---56
b) Medium Range Missiles--28
c) Long Range Missiles---14
d) Cruise Missiles---5
e) Mines---Equivalent to Missiles in number and damage, only TRIPLE the blast radius

4) Point Defense Laser Turrets(2)---Two remote-controlled laser turrets are mounted amidships
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per cannon burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, or six times per melee in automatic mode
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

Variants:
*PAS-HFB017A---The original model. A handful of these craft still exist in the hands of regional Golgan militias and police forces, but most have been picked apart for spare parts. The A-model had a four-man crew, only 800 main hull MDC, mounted an long range missile launcher in place of the cruise missile launcher(4 shots), and lacked any FTL propulsion.
*PAS-HFB017B ---The B-model added FTL propulsion and 6 ft of additional length.
*PAS-HFB017C---The C-model was an A-model refit for improved in-atmo performance( 15 ft of additional wingspan and +1 to dodge in atmosphere), and mounted surface-scanning sensors for mapping targets and illuminating strike points for laser-guided munitions. The C-model saw the short-lived fitting of flare and chaff launchers to the design.
*PAS-HFB017D---A ‘heavy gun’ variant that replaced the four light laser cannons with two medium laser cannons(each doing 1d4x100 MD per shot) but with lose the main weapons bay capacity due to added power generators for the lasers.
*PAS-HFB017F---An electronic recon version that sacrifices all but the point defense lasers to make room for additional sensor bays and avionics.
*PAS-HFB018MC---A mine-countermeasures vehicle that dropped the ventral missile launchers and nose lasers in favor of mine detection and jamming hardware.
*PAS-HFB019R--A lengthened version, to make room for a more powerful FTL drive and powerplant. Capable of making 5.7 light years per hour

[Aramanthus]

Very nice. I like the history of these fighter. It means I have another fighter for various pirates in my game to use.

[taalismn]

Thanks...I'm still trying to work on some new capital ships, but I'll settle for doing the ships of the little guys...

[Aramanthus]

I've been trying to come up with some more ships too. Maybe sometime soon I'll have some more also.

News Flash!!!!! New Omni News Story!

[taalismn]

Nosan Adulac Yachts
“They call them ‘hunt parties’---Flotilla of three or more yachts from the more prosperous worlds, like the Paradise Foundation, CCW coreworlds, or even some of the Altess planets...especially those worlds with a large population of non-Altess hangers-on who come to style themselves aristocrats in their own right...get togther and go haring off into the colonial zones or the underdeveloped systems for a bit of fun and games where the authorities aren’t likely to notice. Usually it’s nothing more than landing someplace unannounced and annoying the locals by parking in somebody’s field or the muncipal park-and-pasture, but a lot of times it turns ugly...An altercation breaks out between a local and the hunt-tourist over sex, prices, or whatever, somebody takes a shot, and that’s the excuse for the visitors to power up the big guns on their yachts and ‘defend themselves’....But that’s usually more like revenge or big gun blackmail. A lot of these smaller communes, either by choice or by economic necessity, don’t have FTL comms, and often aren’t even registered for the sector patrol services, so by the time word gets out, the death toll’s already climbed and the perps have bigged out into Jump-space.... I’ve seen entire colonies get wiped that way.”

“There’s at least one story of a coreworlds yahoo who thinks he’s tech-savvy and buys one of those fancy new robo-yachts that does everything but breast-feed him...Goes out to some backwater world after reading only enough of the operator’s manual to figure out ‘select destination’ and ‘go’, lands, sets the security system on the ship, wanders off into the bush with his AC’ed comfort-fitted body armor and blasters, does a little ‘hunting’ that amounts to little more than blowing holes in the local landscape, then returns to find himself either locked out of his yacht and left to starve yards away from his goodie-backed freezer and emergency call beacon...or blasted by the perimeter security systems because he incorrectly keyed in the IFF transponder parameters...”

Nosan Corps’ Adulac-series Space Yachts are among some of the more common small private craft available outside the lines produced by the big companies like General Galaxy. Their distinctive, and often flamboyantly-painted, cone-shaped shapes are a common sight at smaller spaceports and in colonial zone tourist spots.
The Adulac-series all share the same general characteristics; cone-shaped tail-sitters with a sleek hull and well-appointed cabin spaces(2 decks, plus a garage/cargo deck that can be converted to extra cabin space at cost). They are also almost all very well-armed for civilian craft, with powerful automated defense systems and shielding that would be more at home on a military landing craft. Nosan defends this equipment by citing its marketing to tourists and sportsmen-adventurers travelling to underdeveloped worlds where local crime and indigenous wildlife often pose a threat to offworlders. ‘Travel in Total Comfort and Safety’ is the Nosan motto, and indeed their ships have some of the best ratings for safety, thanks to their near idiot-proof automated control systems and crash protection gear.
Thing is, Nosan Corp. is one of the legimate fronts run by the galaxies-wide Ganetti Syndicate, a criminal organization with its hand in a wide range of gun-running, smuggling, piracy, and blackmail schemes. While on one hand the Ganetti have been involved in running weapons to the Free Worlds Council, they’ve also been involved in the effective takeover of multiple small colonies across the Rim and expansion zones. They are also the arms suppliers to more than a few organized crime groups, bounty hunters, and privateers operating in the more lawless regions of the Three Galaxies. Nosan Corp. is a convenient means of laundering money, moving materials and technology about, and supplying hulls and weaponry to the Ganetti Syndicate’s many less-legitimate concerns(though it is interesting to note rumors that Nosan has been sued over the years in a number of copyright-, patent-, and intellectual property-infringement suits from smaller companies and individuals in various CCW and Rim courts, but the cases have all been thrown out soon after, usually due to the aggrieved parties retracting their suits...often under mysterious or tragic circumstances).
Thus, Adulac yachts have become a favorite of pirates and mercenaries of the petty ‘chicken-stealer’ calibre, in part due to their wide civilian distribution means that the more nefarious users can often blend into the background traffic while about their illegitimate business.
More serious criminals, bounty hunters, and privateers scoff at the Adulacs, pointing out that NEAR-idiot-proof isn’t the same as COMPLETELY idiot-proof, and citing the many examples when overconfidence in the automation has led to disaster. For those criminals, skipchasers, and bounty hunters who don’t have big wallets and the connections to custom outfit their own starchaser or marauder, the Adulac remains a low-cost, well-armed-as-standard, godsend accessory to their work.
For those NOT pursuing a side-career in planetary larceny, the Adulac is a popular investment with a proven safety record(within the limits of ‘reasonable hazard’), so there are plenty of the yachts in the hands of perfectly innocent law-abiding citizens. Despite, or perhaps because of, their tainted rep among law-enforcement authorities, Adulac yachts sell well throughout the CCW coreworlds and even the Paradise Foundation worlds(where Naruni Enterprises has curiously NOT voiced protest to a competitive design selling on their own territory).
Type: NC-SPS-2432 Adulac
Class: Space Yacht
Crew: 1, plus 1-8 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 900
Reinforced Cabin 200
Point Defense Lasers(4) 25 each
Plasma Cannon 180
Forcefield 1,000*
*Regenerates at 10% per melee
Height: 120 ft
Width: 45 ft at base
Length: 45 ft at base
Weight: 200 tons
Cargo: 30 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 30 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 2.2; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 5
(Kitsune Values: 20% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.5% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 2 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible. For an additional 8 million credits, the Adulac can be made amphibious so it can land, floats stably, and take off in water.
Market Cost: Prices start at 35 million credits, with the cost climbing sharply depending on what features and luxury fittings are added
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*Expandable Forcefield--The forcefield expands out about 50 ft from the hull, allowing for the creation of a ‘safe zone’ around the ship for tourists and campers. For an extra 10 million credits, this can be made selectively permeable, blocking/filtering out odors and toxic gases, though it will not hold back a non-breathable planetary atmosphere or external overpressure.

*Hazard-Scan Systems---Nosan has equipped its ships with a complement of sensors designed to alert the crew to hazardous environs...meaning atmospheric, chemical, biological, and incidentally many military target acquisition systems. This system rivals many First Landing planetary survey landers’ sensory systems. Note that this system works only against PASSIVE threats, like poisonous atmospheres and radiation; it will not detect hostile magic or psionic activity, and while it may warn passengers of external motion, it cannot distinguish between an incoming landslide, a large predator, or a local oversized sentient coming around to say hello.

*Crash Control Systems---In event of a crash, Nosan’s ‘goof-proof’ safety systems cut in, using a combination of airbags, quick-release inert aerogel, and cushioning forcefields to protect the passengers, reducing crash damage to them by 75%.

*Nosan Automated Piloting System--Nosan’s ‘foolproof’ piloting system with extensive A.I. pilot tutorial and situation response software makes the ships very easy to fly; +10% to pilot skill (or give a basic Pilot Starships/Spacecraft(small) skill of 60%, but the ships are -15% for extreme aerobatic maneuvers with the automated systems online...the safety systems tend to fight the pilot from doing death-defying feats that obviously endanger the ship and its passengers, and will automatically steer the ship onto a more conservatively safe course(this may lead problems if you’re skimming a star’s chromasphere to avoid the pursuing TGE cruisers on your tail).

Weapons Systems:
1) Nosan Point Defense System---”Because you can’t count on valet parking out on the Rim!” The standard fit PDS on an Adulac consists of an impressive automated suite of no less than four pulse lasers and a plasma cannon. The plasma cannon skirts several major CCW laws on the difference between permissible ‘civilian’ and military-grade armaments. Both the lasers and plasma cannon are occasionally replaced with ion and particle beam weapons, but never missile launchers or rail guns (Word on the street is Nosan doesn’t offer missile weapons because regardless of how powerful the explosive, there’s always the chance that some physical evidence can remain to link the destruction back to a Nosan product).
Range:(Lasers) 5,000 ft in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space)
(Plasma Cannon) 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 1.5 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 1.5 miles in atmosphere, 15 miles in space)
Damage:(Lasers) 6d6 MD per blast
(Plasma Cannon) 2d6 x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire:(Lasers) EGCHH; under control of the automated defense system, the lasers have 5 shots per melee
(Plasma Cannon) EGCHH; under control of the automated defense system, the plasma cannon has 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Auxiliary Craft:
Lower garage chambers have room for up to four personal hovercraft or hovercars, or a lifepod.

Options:
Few Adulacs go unmodified past the factory showroom; most buyers start adding geegaws; typically designer interiors and furnishings, a snazzy hull paintjob, persona-programming for the voice-interface computer, onboard recreational software, and recreational gear like external inflatable habitat modules for ‘roughing it’ in deep space or planetside. The more serious adventurers who aren’t smart enough to seek out better ships, or can’t obtain better ships, add improved shields, smuggling compartments, false code transponders, boosted engines, and other expensive improvements in hopes of making a cruiser out of a lifeboat.

[gaby]

Good ship.

Hope to see more.