Starship designs...

[DhAkael]

Okay.. a debate I can sink my teeth into.
Aesthetics.
Well, call me silly but I actualy LIKE the designs from the 'other guys' over at Games Workshop, impractical and downright silly as they may be at times.
The Imperial Navy have basicly flying curch cities (with steeples and flying butresses and all that) with broadside gun batteries likened to old iron-sides at the turn of the 19th. to 20th. century. Imprcatical as all heck BUT intimidating. I could see the Dwarven forgeworlds and some of the human Warlock Union designing ships like this...VERY steam-punk.

The Eldar ships... 'natch the Star Elf congress would make things like this. Pleasing and organic in form. Fast, lethal and manuverable. Only problem, fragile and using exotic materials, difficult to repair without specilized magitech.

The Tau go for an almost Romulan feel for the exterior of their vessels but the interior is (pardon pun) light years ahead in design. Quick, hardy and armed with incredibly accurate super advanced beam and pulse weaponry.

Other influences that one can draw from for 'visualization' are the various races from David Brins 'Uplift' Saga:
The Insectile Tandu use designs that look like fractal paintings made solid. Jophur go for massive hemispheres of bronze-like metal nearly a km in diameter. While poor humanity use hand me down designs based on the flying cigar-tube submarine look.

Then we have the official canon designs for Palldium its self in the works of Newton Ewel; Lots of fins spines and other odds and ends. For some ugly as sin, for others terror incarnate and for a few beauty and function.
You decide

Lastly, the 'Ninja Rocketships' of most anime from 1978 to mid 1990's.
WW2 era battleships in space, with 16 inch cannons firing plasma explosive shells that can turn in mid flight? Sure, why not
It all depends on what level of "Realism" and fantasy the GM and players want.
...and of course, Rool of Kewl

[taalismn]

What? No flying bannanas?!

[DhAkael]

What? No flying bannanas?!

Oh... if you want to include the Toon-verse

[gaby]

Well Starfleet Museum have some good Ships.

I always thought Enterprise would be better,if they use the ships from starfleet museum,s Romulan war.
It was the development of Matter/Antimatter Drives that allow Earth and it,s allies too Win over the still limited to Fusion powered warp ships of Romulans.

[taalismn]

Palladium Needs More Flying Saucers!

[Aramanthus]

There were some of those designs out there. Although there aren't official. I've managed to maintain copies of them. I'm happy that they exist, since variety is the spice of life.

[gaby]

So What power sources would you use for ships.

I think M/Am will only be for the big Power blocks like the CCW and TGE,it allows the Max speed limit of the CG Drives.

the Independent powers will be limited to fusion generaors with a limit of CG to half of what a M/AM can do.

What do you think about my idea?

[KLM]

Having a powerplant (be it fission, fusion, M/AM or hamsters in wheels) in itself does not
define FTL speed. For my part, I approach the matter from the perspective of technology
levels.

In this case it is actually two different (thought certainly related) technological levels.

First, the level of CG technology - this will define that a CG drive built by this civilisation:
- How fast it can go?
- How much energy it needs, how big it is, how much it weights?
- Is there a limit of how big/heavy ship it can propel?

Second, the level of "energy technologies" - it defines whether the given civilisation
has access or not to certain reactions (our civilisation for example has acces to fission
and very limited access to fusion), and how effective are they in certain kinds.

This will define that if for a given - required - output they build (or cannot!) a
powerplant, how big and heavy will it be. This is also modified by factors like
how long this reactor is supposed to run on "one tank of fuel" (the longer the
time, the bigger "tank" it needs).

Cooling, exhaust, whatever factored in.

-------------
This said, we will get results like civilisation A can build a spacecraft, which
can go with 5 lys/h, but the ship needs refuelling in every year, it must be
minimum 5000 tons in weight, but cannot exceed 13500 tons.

Also, if the ship is
- 5000 tons, the builders have about 100 tons for lfe support/accomodation,
armor, weaponry and cargo

- 8000 tons, it has about 1500 tons of "usefull stuff" (above)

- 13500 tons, it has about 2500 tons "free".

This is only an example, the numbers are only for illustration.

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Zero Point Energy for the really ADVANCED cultures....

[Aramanthus]

Those work for me KLM and Taalismn!

[taalismn]

Now if you had a drive system that somehow tapped the aggregate energy mass potential of STUPIDITY(though such a system would likely come with serious risks to the crew and passengers, if not catastrophic dangers to space/time)..."YOU PUNCHED A HOLE IN THE NARRATIVE FOURTH WALL?!!!"

[DhAkael]

Now if you had a drive system that somehow tapped the aggregate energy mass potential of STUPIDITY(though such a system would likely come with serious risks to the crew and passengers, if not catastrophic dangers to space/time)..."YOU PUNCHED A HOLE IN THE NARRATIVE FOURTH WALL?!!!"

...and quantumm causality just hung up the sign saying;
"I QUIT!'

[Aramanthus]

LOL Poor guy. I wonder if I could submit my resume for that position?

[taalismn]

Now if you had a drive system that somehow tapped the aggregate energy mass potential of STUPIDITY(though such a system would likely come with serious risks to the crew and passengers, if not catastrophic dangers to space/time)..."YOU PUNCHED A HOLE IN THE NARRATIVE FOURTH WALL?!!!"

...and quantumm causality just hung up the sign saying;
"I QUIT!'

...Thus justifying the responsible characters getting smacked around personally by a personification of cosmic omnipotence...

[Aramanthus]

And then I can have that now open position! Yahoo! Sounds great to me!

[taalismn]

Peoples’ Imperial Democratic Alliance ‘Defiant’ class Battleship
(aka ‘Nuclear Gulag’, ‘Black Misery’, )

“Being on one of these ships is akin to being on a Demonstar, but one of human design, and I count myself unlucky to have experienced both....Traveling at speed on a Defiant, one hears screams all the time, and it’s not always certain if the scream at any given time is some luckless ensign falling to a catastrophically failing subsystem, some luckless under-rating getting tortured by the shipboard commissars for failing to polish his uniform buttons properly, or some structural member giving way to centuries of neglect...I have no doubt that had the PIDArs learned that I was carrying around the latest in Altess personal concealed forcefield life-cocoons on my person, provided it wasn’t immediately confiscated by the not-so-secret police, I would have been constantly surrounded by crewmen looking to tear it off me for their own use the next time the air pressure alarms sounded...”
---Account of His Excellency Anorf Malh*, CCW Minister of Commerce, Tamalan Sector, Corkscrew Galaxy, of a visit of state to the People’s Imperial Democratic Alliance


The People’s Imperial Democratic Alliance is a small human-dominated star nation on the edges of Human Alliance space, occupying the region known as the Ellison Expanse. The original settlers of the PIDA systems fled the HA when it became apparent that the Human Alliance was buying into the whole cooperative Consortium thing that would become the CCW. Even more human-centric, manifest destiny-driven, and xenophobic than the most conservative HA diehards, the secessionists left the ‘corrupt’ Alliance to make their own fortunes and pursue their own policies with regards to dealing with non-humans, under the direction of their movement’s founder, General Cameron ‘The Scragger’ Cragger(a once highly respected, but increasingly xenophobic, IHA warhawk who became known for his draconic discipline of the ranks, and his increasingly eccentric religious views). They settled in the distant Ellison Expanse, colonizing a world they promptly and bombastically named ‘True Terra’, and set about working to ‘show how Humans do things!’
However, all the Ellisonian secessionists have done is spin their gears and muddy the waters. The ‘True Terrans’ promptly proceeded to collapse into self-imposed tyranny; the Peoples’ Imperial Democratic Alliance(said with all honesty and no acknowledgement of the obvious oxymoron) emerged; a military-industrial authoritarian regime that mandates permanent martial law, mandatory universal military conscription, and meritocratic privilege based on military seniority. The PIDA has declared war against just about everybody that annoys them, stands in their way, or just looks at them wrong. They’ve launched a series of campaigns against their stellar neighbors, and driven at least three local races from their worlds, and are at war with two more...
Fortunately, though, the PIDA’s ‘victorious campaigns’ are little more than brush wars...the three species they displaced were colonies of other larger star nations, and rather poorly performing ones at that, so the colonists were rather grateful to leave.
The truth is, the PIDA, which may have once posed a threat, is a fourth-rate power that has lost its edge, and is breaking down under the groaning weight of its own paranoid culture. The last century has seen the PIDA do little but roam about inside its borders, bluffing and blustering, saber-rattling to anybody who’d listen. The PIDA runs on sheer bureaucratic inertia these days, the military organization going through the motions as it drafts people, trains them to be interchangeable cogs in the machine, sends them out on assignment, and promotes those who survived through brutal sadism or scheming bean-counting into positions where they only work to maintain the system that ‘got them theirs’.
The ‘Defiant’ class battleships are a perfect example of PIDA’s problems. Massive(nearly as large as a contemporary Protector-class battleship), imposing, powerful-looking warships that ooze of martial prowess, the Defiants have served as the flagships of the PIDA’s warfleets, acting as mobile headquarters, prowling the domains of the Peoples’ Imperial Democratic Alliance, ready for action against the enemies of True Humanity. Citizens of the PIDA know the distinctive appearance of these ships, splashed as they are in virtually every newsflash and propoganda poster, and can’t help but feel both pride and fear at these icons of PIDA might.
However, the Defiants are ancient ships, built to obsolete specs, modified with knock-off technologies, and kept together by spit, baling wire, and prayer(at least when the anti-religious commissars aren’t looking). The ships should have been retired generations ago, but the PIDA’s ailing economy and military conservatism have meant that it’s easier and marginally cheaper to keep the ships running than to replace them. Most of the ships’ frightening bulk is fuel bunkerage for the ancient engines, a combination of ion thrusters, fusion-plasma torch drives, and high-power traction drives that don’t always work well together. The forcehielding is an older type, using principles that are no longer used by the rest of the HA and CCW, and much of the physical armor is older materials again no longer commonly used in the CCW, and kept in production only in the PIDA. The heavy armor is also poorly mounted and distributed, often denying the crew easy access to internal systems and damaged parts of the ship, greatly complicating repairs. The weapons systems are old and prone to breakdown, and are far less impressive than they would appear to be.
Only their reputations have kept them from being challenged by the warships of other star nations; the local opposition to the PIDA actually believe that the Defiants are at least nearly as tough as they claim, and so tend to give way when the ships majestically soar into a system(actually crawl at the best speed their engines can make without knocking the structure apart). The Defiants, while able to hold their own against frigates and destroyers, and possibly ships at the lower end of the cruiser class, would be still crippled in any serious exchange, and knocked to pieces very quickly against heavier vessels.
The PIDA has eight Defiants in service, though by now only four of them can still be considered operational in any sense; the remaining four are on effectively permanent ‘system assignment’, protecting key PIDA space stations, while hiding the fact that they’re being cannibalized for parts to keep their sister ships running. The remaining four ships patrol the inner systems of the PIDA, occasionally foraying into the rim to make heavily publicized appearances to support the various bush-campaigns the PIDA is involved in, and to engage in the few diplomatic functions the PIDA conducts with outside powers such as the CCW.

(*His Excellency Anorf Malh*---A sector Minister of Commerce for the Consortium of Civilized Worlds, Anorf Malh has led a surprisingly exciting life for a government functionary. In the course of his various diplomatic and trade negotiation duties, Malh has made numerous trips to Center, visited the TGE homeworld, was briefly kidnapped by Free Worlds Council extremists, was also briefly a prisoner of a Demonstar, arm-wrestled the Central Alliance’s Gneral Noldek to a draw during an alcohol-soaked trade negotiation session, survived an encounter with a rogue black hole, and witnessed the selection of a CosmoKnight...all of which he meticulously and drolly recorded in his journals...His accounts have been compared, by some Human scholars, to the writings of Britain’s Samuel Pepys)

Type: PIDA-DBB01 Defiant
Class: Space Battleship
Crew: 2,000+500 troops
MDC/Armor by Location:
*Main Body 100,000
Bridge 10,500
**Engines(5) 3,300 each
Secondary Engines(6) 1,500 each
Sensory/Communications Arrays(7) 3,000 each
Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(6) 1,500 each
Secondary Medium Laser Cannon Batteries(8) 500 each
Cruise Missile Launchers(3) 600 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(10) 220 each
Short Range Missile Launchers(18) 200 each
Point Defense Lasers(30) 120 each
Point Defense Rail Guns(80) 100 each
Hangar Bays(10) 1,200 each
External Docking Armatures(8) 900 each
Variable Forcefields 7,000 each side, 42,000 total

* Note: The poor quality and gradual decay of the main hull armor means that kinetic weapos such as rail guns, gravitic massdrivers, and missiles do 50% more damage, fracturing the brittle armor.
**Note 2: Destroying(or taking offline) two or more of the engines will send the ship into a slow roll; subsequent control/piloting rolls are at a -15% until the engine thrust is rebalanced(turning off engines opposite the offline ones, or firing up the secondary systems to compensate).

Height: 2,800 ft
Width: 3,100 ft
Length: 4,200 ft
Weight: 6 million tons
Cargo: 170,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 40 year energy life between main reactor refits/refuelling(as originally planned; currently the interval between complete core overhauls is 15 years).
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric. Not recommended due to hull fatigue.
(Sublight) Mach 4 (but it’s a really MAJESTIC Mach 4...)
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.4% of light speed per melee)
*The Defiants can ramp up their engines for dashes of Mach 11, but can only maintain that speed for 6 hours...every subsequent hour of maximum speed means a cumulative 10% chance of the engines overheating and malfunctioning, going off-line and requiring at least 3d6 hours of maintenance and repair.
Also, for every hour at maximum speed, there is a cumulative 10% chance of the ship taking 2d4x10 MD of internal structure damage per hour of travel...This takes at least 4d6 hours to repair every 60 MDC of damage due to the relative inaccessibility of the affected areas inside the ship.
(FTL) 3 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: Estimated to have cost the PIDA some 50 billion(by current Galactic standards) credits to build
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus;

*Tractor Beams(4)----Effectively each rated for 1,000 tons dead weight, but can be used for imparting small changes in momentum/direction to ships/structures several times that mass. Though these are fairly standard designs familiar to most mainstream Galactic spacefarers, through a combination of poor maintenance and incompetent operations, the tractor beam emitters on the Defiants have a 15% chance of losing target lock(25% if the object being grabbed is moving violently and unexpectedly). More than one incoming PIDA shuttle or fighter pilot, after lining up on a docking bay and handing over control to the Bay Operations booth for final approach, has had to abruptly switch back over to manual control and (try to) avert a last-second collision....
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).

*External Docking Armatures(8)---These prominent projections are docking and servicing gantries for larger ships that cannon safely dock in the Defiants’ many hangars or snug up to its hull airlocks. In the past, these armatures could be used to carry large non-FTL ships through hyperspace with the battleship, but more often then not the docking points are used by capital ships acting covertly as tugs to maneuver the Defiants into position after yet another engine malfunction...

Vulnerabilities:
*EM Balloon---The Defiant’s ion and traction drives have a 30% chance at any time of being improperly synched and aligned...the spacial-gripping fields used by the traction drives have the habit of trapping stray ions from the ion drives, creating a pocket of what can be described as ‘static electricity’ hovering in the ships’ drive wakes 10-15 miles astern..This ‘fuzz ball’ is readily detectable to radar and EM sensors at TWICE normal range.

See also Speed for drive limitations, and Weapons Systems for armament faults

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(6)---The main direct fire weapons of the Defiants are six heavy PBCs, that the PIDA rarely fire in anger...because the elderly weapons have a tendency to malfunction more often than not.
Range: 15 miles in atmosphere, 45 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 46 miles in atmosphere, 46,000 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6x100 MD per blast
However, every time a full power shot is attempted, there is a 10% chance of the cannon casing cracking, suffering 2d4x10 MD to itself , plus flooding its housing compartment with lethal radiation, for every subsequent melee of firing. If the weapon is red-lined, and depletes more than 50% of its MDC in this fashion, the weapon will explode, doing an additional 4d6x10 MD to the surrounding hull.
The PIDA typically fires these weapons at a lower power rating, doing only 1d8x100 MD per shot, but without the attendant risk of malfunction.
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

2) Secondary Medium Laser Cannon Batteries(8)---The secondary batteries of the Defiants consist of eight multi-barrel arrays of long range lasers. These weapons are most often shown in the PIDA media, smoothly swiveling to bear on the enemies of the PIDA, and openning fire in precision displays of directed mass destruction. There’s actually very little wrong with the weapons, and they work perfectly fine, but the lasers don’t always fire in synch so smoothly due to constant problems with the fire control systems.
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 1,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast, double damage for double-barrelled, dual-shot, blasts.
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Note: Up to four turrets can be brought to bear on the same target, but every time this is done, there is a 20% chance of the cannons losing target lock and being -1d4 to Strike the intended target.

3) Cruise Missile Launchers(3)----These launchers are known to be of non-PIDA origin, being based on the ancient SSHSM-02 system once deployed by the CCW(and now only found on a handful of older ships and Reserve vessels).
Unfortunately for the PIDA, their industrial espionage hasn’t kept up with more recent developments in weapons guidance, so the SSHSM-02s are vulnerable to more advanced jamming technologies. However, fired fast enough, even these old firecrackers can prove extremely dangerous to other warships.
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: 50 each launcher, 150 total. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 6 missiles)
Note: The SSHSM-02 system deployed by the Defiants lack the software and avionics updates available to the CCW-based systems; hostile EW operators get a +15% to efforts to jam the guidance systems of the PIDA missiles.

4)Long Range Missile Launchers(10)----Based on an old HA design, the Defiants’ Godard-K launchers have since been updated to the best of the PIDA’s ability with more modern avionics and targeting software. There are actually few things wrong with these weapons, making them among the most dangerous weapons on the Defiants, with regards to their intended targets.
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 per launcher
Payload: 36 missiles each launcher, 360 total; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

5)Short Range Missile Launchers(18)
The Ministry of Public Information loves featuring images of these weapons in operation, all eighteen launchers firing off maximum volleys all at once, filling the vid-screen with flashing missiles. Of course, such displays are of what is essentially light ordnance, and the launchers have the unfortunate tendancy to empty their magazines after four such volleys...but that isn’t made public knowledge....
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 1-25
Payload: 100 per launcher, 1,800 total; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 25 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 48 missiles)

6)Point Defense Lasers(30)
One of the few systems WITHOUT chronic problems, largely because of their simplicity, the PDSL arrays are actually quite impressive
Range: 1.2 miles in atmosphere, 2.4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2.4 miles in atmosphere, 240 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

7) Point Defense Rail Guns(80)
Like the PDSLs, the point defense rail gun systems are relatively problem free, seeing as they are little more than space-adapted machine guns. Compared to more modern G-cannon arrays, they do relatively little damage, though, and so present little threat to modern fighters. The systems also have minimal automation as well, and are predominantly managed by live gunners, so coordinated fire is wishful thinking. However, the Defiants mount a LOT of these weapons, and in the heat of battle, the troopers assigned to man these weapons bang away with impressive enthusiasm, making close approaches to a Defiant decidedly dangerous.
Range: 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage:1d4x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Auxiliary Craft:
80 Aerospace Fighters
30 shuttles
25 EVA pods(among the busiest ships aboard)

[DhAkael]

Waiting for 'Fleets of the 3 galaxies' to show up before I submit any more concepts.
(also, I been lazy )

[taalismn]

Bah! Too much life passes while one waits!

[keir451]

A nanotech based ship w/an AI avatar (like in Andromeda). The design of the ship comes from the "captains" subconcious, and the ship never needs to be retired or updated as the ship is self aware it (she actually, all our avatars ar female, for purposes of bonding w/the captain and the crew becomes "family", so no rogue AI's) uses it's nano resevoir to repair an evolve itself as time and experience acumulate.

[Aramanthus]

An excellent new ship Taalismn! I hope this means we are going to get some other xombat ship classes for this new group of fanatics. They sound cool as villians.

[taalismn]

An excellent new ship Taalismn! I hope this means we are going to get some other xombat ship classes for this new group of fanatics. They sound cool as villians.

Maybe...I have so many other projects...The PIDA, however, is just your average low-powered bunch of tinpot tyrants or forced-careerist troopers who tend to shoot first, shoot enthusiastically if an officer is looking on, and spend the rest of their time tryng not to do any real work, get stoned, get laid, and generally stay out of trouble, while the high command uses meatgrinder tactics on supposed 'heinous non-human threats', and their military-industrial complex wheezes along towards collapse....

[Aramanthus]

Still I hope we can see more of the eventually.

[taalismn]

Still I hope we can see more of the eventually.

Most likely as a post-reactor overload debris field in your forward viewscreens...

[Aramanthus]

We can be patient to see more of them. I can always be patient.

[taalismn]

AS time allows, since I'm already working on so many fronts...

[Aramanthus]

LOL I know that is definately true!

[DhAkael]

Previously Posted as a Dreadnaught, but now downgraded to JUST a Heavy Battleship .

Warlock Navy ‘AEther-Phoenix’ Heavy Battleship
Model: AEther-Phoenix
Class: Techno-Wizard Heavy Battelship
Crew: 600 (10 Officers and 560 Enlisted, plus 30 Techno-Smiths)
Troops: Standard; 2000, Maximum; 5,000

Vehicle Compliment:
48: WF F-15 Shadowbolt fighters or WF FB-17 Spectre strike fighters
8: Atmospheric Shuttles (may be replaced on 1 for 1 basis with Starghost phase-tech fighters)

M.D.C. by Location:
Interior Hatches: 70 each (exterior 80 each)
Forward Section (“Head“): 45,000
TW ‘Phoenix Cannon’ (Bow): 1500
Antiship Prism Lasers (11): 1200 each
Battleship Laser Cannons (5): 2500 each
Point Deffense Grav-Railguns (15): 180 each
Long Range Missile Launchers (6; 3 per wing): 1,200 each
Launch Bays (2; underside): 2,000 each
Wings (2) 33,000 each
[1] Emergency Bridge(Located 2 decks under bridge tower, in main body): 45,000
[2] Main Body: 300,000
[3] Engineering Section: 90,000
[4] Outrigger ‘D-Drive’ Pods (2) 20,000 each
[5] Variable Force Field: 12,000 a side (72,000 Total)

Notes:
[SPECIAL] The ships crystallis armor absorbs 50% of all incoming energy, not counting purely kinetic energy weapons. Subtract 50% of all damage done to the ships hit locations by energy weapons. Plus, all damage done by energy based attacks will fully regenerate 1 minute after combat ceases! Kinetic energy weapons and explosions do full damage.
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship also has an auxiliary bridge. Even if both bridges are destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the vessel out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[3] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[4] Destroying either pod will disable the ships special Dimensional-Drive system.
[5] Shield positions are variable and can be combined into one shield. The shields regenerate at a rate of 5% (3,600 MDC) per melee round.

Speed
Flying: Mach 15 combat speed. 0.4 sublight speed. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 1 percent of light per melee.
FTL: 5 LY / Hr. using negative matter drive (see later for Dimesion-drive).
Range: 10 years at optimal conditions, using both conventional and magical life support.
Statistical Data
Height: 1,200 feet (360m). Length: 3,936 feet (1,200m). Beam / Spine: 900 feet (274.32m) at widest point.
Wingspan: 3,500 feet (1,066 m). Weight: 58 million tons
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 70,000 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition
Drive Type(s): Primary; Twin negative-matter energy wave generators rated for factor 500.
Secondary; Dimension-Drive for point-to-point travel (see later for description).
Power System: matter/anti-matter reactor with 30 years at maximum output. Cosmic ley-line PPE syphons for techno-wizard devices; 1000 PPE/hr. and crystal storage cells with 20,000 PPE capacity.
Market Cost: Unknown. Estimated at 100 billion Tri-galactic credits if ever sold.


Weapon Systems
1) Bow-mounted ‘Pheonix Cannon‘: Located in the front of the Aether-Pheonix is the devastating ‘Phoenix Cannon’. This weapon is similar to the Arcane-X’s Flare cannon, but is much more accurate and potentially more lethal. When activated, a cluster of anti-protons is captured in a magnetic vortex while simultaneously a massive plasma cloud surrounds the magnetic ‘egg’. Upon firing, the entire cluster is propelled towards the target area at nearly 80% the speed of light, where at a pre-set distance the magnetic filed collapses. The result is a massive explosion enveloping several thousand cubic feet in raw nuclear fire!
Mega-Damage: 2D4X1000 to a 2000ft. (610m) radius area! Damage is inflicted to all exposed areas, and in the case of capitol ships, the blast will damage at least 3 shield facings (GM‘s call).
R.O.F.: once per minute (requires precise calculations). Range: 100miles (160km). Payload: 1000 PPE per shot.
Capitol Ship scale= -5 to strike small targets (due to large blast radius).
*Spells used in this design: Anti-Matter Blast, Magnetic Vortex, Nova (Rifter #10). Power Bolt, Sub-Particle Acceleration (FoM or R:MG).

2) Concealed Antiship Prism Lasers (11): Located port starboard & aft (6 dorsal, 4 ventral, 1 aft-dorsal), and covered by folding armour plates are concealed heavy prism lasers. Each prism firing port has a 90º arc of fire. Only called shots may damage the guns, and they are -25% to detect closed. These beams can damage any object or being that is only vulnerable to magical attacks. Finally, range is X2 on cosmic ley-lines or nexus points and damage is X1.5 to X2 depending on line or nexus proximity.
Mega-Damage: 1D8X100 per laser prism shot. R.O.F.: As per gunners actions (typically 4-5).
Range: 55miles (88km) in space. Payload: Effectively unlimited; tied into the vessels mystic generator.
Capitol Ship scale= -10 to strike small targets.

3) Battleship Laser Cannons (5): 5 powerful conventional laser cannons round out the main antiship weapons of the Aether-Phoenix. 2 are located in the ’head’ of the ship above and behind the main-gun, 2 are placed in the main body near the wing-roots, and 1 placed center-aft. Each cannon has 30 arc of fire.
Mega-Damage: 4D6X100 per shot. R.O.F.: As per gunners actions (typically 4-5). Range: 155miles (284km) in space.
Payload: Unlimited. Heavy Ship scale= -14 to strike small targets.

4) GR-100 Grav Autocannon turrets (15): These point defense gravity-guns are spaced evenly across the Aether-Phoenix's hull to protect from enemy fighters and incoming missile strikes. The turrets may be manually operated or set to auto-fire.
Mega-Damage: 1D6X10 per 10 round burst. R.O.F.: 1 bursts per action or 3 attacks automated.
Range: 3miles (4.8km). Payload: 1000 bursts each. Light Ship scale= No penalties. Note: The rotating turret gives a +1 to strike (plus any WP, weapon system lock-ons and sensor bonuses). If set for auto-fire, the guns are +4 to strike (+6 if lock on has been achieved).

5) Foreward LRM / Torpedo Launchers (6): In either wing are 3 single-tube LR missile & torpedo launchers facing forward. Typically these launchers are loaded with plasma or gravitic warheads.
Mega-Damage: As per LRM / Torpedo type.
R.O.F.: Individually or in volleys of two per launcher (total volley of 12 warheads). Each volley counts as 1 gunner action. Once 10 warheads have been launched, it takes 3 actions (1/2 a melee) for the auto-loading system to reload another 10 from the magazine. Range: as per warhead type.
Payload: 10 per launch system plus an additional magazine of 60 per launcher, for a total 420. An extra 360 missiles can be stored in the cargo hold, but require 1D4X10 minutes to transport to the launcher magazines.
*Note: Up to half the missile payload may be replaced with anti-magic, tech-disruption and/or ’breacher’ warheads.
See Carl Gleba’s ‘Rifts: Three Galaxies’ Pg. 130-131 for effects of these TW missiles.

Other Systems
Crystallis armour (½ damage from energy based attacks). ECM generators. Advanced Sensor Package. Geologic Sensors. Targeting and combat computer (+2 to strike, +1 to dodge). Auto-pilot & Supernavigation computer (50% skill). Atmosphere recycling system. 50 staterooms & 550 basic accommodations (troops are housed in barrack style areas). 2 Launch-bays (@200 tonne capacity each). Artificial gravity. 5 Recreation facilities. 300 Stasis pod facilities. Medical Facility (200 patients). 100 FTL life-boats. FCE pod (bridge unit). Auto-Breach sealing. FTL communications system.





Dimension Drive (Special)
This techno-wizard engine creates a stable wormhole that enables the Aether-Phoenix to travel enormous distances in a single jump. This system is a three part device. The first (and most important) component of the D-Drive is the ‘navigational cogitator’. Consisting of a series of massive parallel-processors programmed with navigationl charts, linked to a TW cloud chamber resembling a 30ft. ‘plasma-globe’ made of black crystal located deep in the center of the ship. The second part is the navigators chair, which connects the navigator mage to the sensor systems of the ship via TW neural links (a modified noro psi-helm). Finally, the drive nacelles which create the actual wormhole effect.
When activated, a glowing ring of bluish energy projects from the D-Drive nacelles to encircle the ship. Also, lines of glowing blue vein the surface of the Aether-Phoenix; each line composed of moving msytic sigils and glyphs. 1-6 minutes later, the ring shoots forwards opening the transit wormhole, drawing the ship along behind it.
Though capable of going ten times further than even the most advanced ‘Rift’ drive, and able to create relatively stable wormholes, the D-Drive is still subject to fluctuating travel ranges, and may take up to 6 minutes for the navigator and the ‘NC’ to calculate the safest endpoint for the wormhole. However, the D-Drive is still a marvel of TW spce technology.
Range: 1D6X100 light years. Payload: 1 Jump per 5 hours. PPE: 3000 per jump! Takes 1D6 minutes for the navigator & ‘navigational cogitator’ to calculate the wormhole endpoint (requires skill Navigation: Space/FTL).
*Spells used in this design: Create wormhole, Stabalize Wormhole (Rifter #10). Teleport: Superior (Rifts RPG).

TW Systems
1. Impervious to energy: 20 PPE / 20 minutes. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge.
2. Invisibility superior: 20 PPE / 30 minutes. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge.
3. Sustain: 12 PPE / 10 days. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge.
4. Spaceflight superior: 38 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 10th level power.
5. Pin-point deflectors: 20 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 10th level power.
*Spells used in this design: Deflect, Armour of Ithan.
6. Ship to Surface Teleporter (up to 20 crew or 10X10X10ft. Object): 600 PPE per use. Draws directly from the storage batteries, but can be activated by others from the bridge. Roughly equal to 10th level power, and uses Teleport Superior table for success rate; typically the ship sensors give a 99% accuracy rate (different weather conditions or anomalous energy fields can effect the accuracy. GM’s call).
7. 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).

[taalismn]

Nice...Now you'll have to come up with something for the 'Dreadnought' spec...

[DhAkael]

Nice...Now you'll have to come up with something for the 'Dreadnought' spec...

Well, for the Draconids among the UWW I have the Bahamut battleship.
Hmmm... running out of decent mythological beasties to use as names for vessels.

*shrug*
I guess... Leviathan for the Dreadnaught?

[taalismn]

Naturally...Or Charbodyis(sp?) or Scylla....
Gorgon-class warship....

[taalismn]

Here's some great little Battle Pods/Mecha that would fit nicely into Phase World:

http://artraccoon.deviantart.com/art/AM ... -115024590

http://artraccoon.deviantart.com/art/GT ... d-45034034

and the Snoopership / Salvage vessel
http://artraccoon.deviantart.com/art/St ... 3-73624490

>

Yep...those would do quite nicely, thank you!

[Aramanthus]

Cool pics Gadrin! Thank you for sharing them! I'd like to see you (DhAkael) create a variety of ship classes. Including a Dreadnaught class for the UWW.

[DhAkael]

yeah..about that... Now that Braden has changed the rulz on me again for the first time...
Gonna take a while for me get mah mojo-workin' again.
That, and a few personal issues (not directly effecting me, but still) have driven m'muse back into the absinth bottle again

[Aramanthus]

Well take your time and do it the way you feel like. I'm going to mix and match.

[taalismn]

yeah..about that... Now that Braden has changed the rulz on me again for the first time...
Gonna take a while for me get mah mojo-workin' again.
That, and a few personal issues (not directly effecting me, but still) have driven m'muse back into the absinth bottle again

Gee..My muse complains about the speckling and streaking on the bottle, even after a dozen rinses....

[Aramanthus]

LOL Interesting one Taalismn! Looking forward to new ships when you have the time.

[taalismn]

Zyganian Tosai-class Heavy Carrier

“You won’t see any mention of it in their press, but just after we won independence back from the Golgans, the Bulgins made a bid for our Lakmer colonies...Figured the Ulnu Nebula would block any signal traffic from the colonies and that our ‘puddle jumper’ fleet would be hesitant to go through that cloud....They guessed wrong...High Command sent the Fifth Fleet and two Tosais in to relieve the Lakmerians...The Bulgin Navy musta shat themselves when the Heavy Fleet came through the nebula, because all they had were gunships and a few light cruisers...Not that the Bulgins didn’t try to make a fight of it...That close to the Ulnu, the dust makes long range scanning hard, so it was a pretty even match...ships tended to run into each other and do hit and run attacks before fading back into the dust...The Bulgins got lucky early and bounced one of our carriers while her flights were away and really tore her up, but those Tosais are pretty tough, and the Galadet could still launch her fighter groups, so she was still in the fight...
End of the week, the Bulgins lost a third of their total fleet...They limped back home and claimed a navigational accident in the Nebula....Don’t know how they kept the crews from telling the truth, but I figure saying you were dumb enough to lose eighteen ships stumbling around in the dark HAS to hurt more than saying you lost them in combat...But the CAG tells me the Bulgins are funny about honor....they lose more face losing in a contest of arms than if they accidentally shoot themselves....accidents are acts of the gods, while combat losses mean somebody’s better than you....Whatever; they haven’t been back troubling us since, so somebody got a divine message or two.”
---Genadier Rexlos Paun, 81st Air Wing, Second Fleet, Imperial Zyganian Space Force

Independence from the Golgan Republik left the new Zyganian Empire woefully short of ships with which to defend itself. One of the most pressing needs was capital warships...though the Zyganians had a wide variety of light craft suitable for military service, they lacked larger fleet units, especially carriers, to deploy and support them.
The Tosai-class Thru-Deck Heavy Carriers are an interim solution to the Zyganian Imperial StarForce(ZISF)’s desperate need for fleet carriers. The Tosai-class are massive Berold-class superhaulers that have been modified for combat duty, converting ships that once carried colonial tribute from the occupied Zyganian sector back to the Golgan coreworlds, into warships carrying fighters to keep the Republik out. In order to make the lumbering superfreighters fast enough to keep up with other fleet units, the Zyganians have replaced the old Qaukrax-910 tractor drives with larger and more powerful Selsoc-B50 drive blocs taken off decommissioned Golgan Vlax-class Colonial Battleships. Even with the more powerful drives, the Zyganians have had to remove about thirty percent of the Berolds’ superstructure to lighten the ships’ mass and free up weight and space for other necessary modifications, such as armor and weapons.
The Zyganians have subsequently crammed practically every available externally-facing hold and airlock door with point defense weaponry. Unable to develop an adequate fire control system for all the various point defense weapons in time for the commissioning of the Tosais, the ZISF has resorted to independently manned weapons positions; accordingly, the Tosais have large crews to handle the demands of all the weaponry. While this sometimes leads to a loss of timely and coordinated firepower, it does however mean that the defenses do not have a centralized fire control computer system that can be neutralized and cripple defensive fire.
Another interim measure was the provision of long range sensors; the Zyganians stripped the early warning sensors from Golgan-constructed system garrison space stations to provide the Tosais with deep sensors. Though bulky and dated, the sensor systems provide the carriers with a good deep space tracking capability, and post-Occupation software upgrades have reduced the chance of the Golgans taking advantage of loopholes in their own systemry.
The result is blocky and ugly, but gets the job done. The ship has three co-axial flight decks, open at either end, allowing fighters and small craft to be deployed and recovered simultanously. The long flight decks are lined with servicing and hangar bays, serviced by ventral and dorsal cargo holds and armament bunkerage. The main drives occupy a midships ring in an arrangement similar to many early Golgan designs.
The lack of adequate variable forceshielding generators has necessitated improvization; rather than the three or four large central generators of purpose-built craft, the Zyganians have had to install a dozen smaller refurbished generators stripped from older craft, and rigged to work in concert to generate a variable defense screen. Since the computer control software is inadequate to the task of switching the field strength and diverting power accordingly, the Tosais must rely on dedicated crews of generator operators to diligently watch field strength and coordinate shield reinforcement.
The Tosai has only a modest turn of speed and only modest protection; that makes it imperative that the ships do not enter action unescorted, behind heavy screening by a flotilla of protective vessels. In battle, the Tosai tries to stay as far from combat as possible, deploying its fighter complement at long range. Even recovery efforts are best conducted by the carrier’s onboard corvette squadron.
Though the ZISF has begun producing new ship classes such as the Zortax-class Combat Carriers, the Tosai-class is expected to soldier on for another few decades, due to its large carrying capacity.
Type:ZCV-17
Class: Heavy Fighter Carrier
Crew: 1,000+320 flight crew and pilots. An additional 450 troops/passengers can be carried
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 50,000
Bridge 9,000
Long Range Sensor Arrays(4) each
Heavy Laser Cannons(4) 900 each
Medium Grav-Cannons(10) 400 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(4) 500 each
Medium Range Missile Launchers(8 ) 250 each
Point Defense Particle Beam Cannon (18) 180 each
Point Defense Laser Cannon(24) 100 each
Point Defense Rail Guns(40) 100 each
Point Defense Mini Missile Launchers(18 ) 100 each
Engine Pods(4) 1,300 each
*Variable Forcefields 2,000 each side, 12,000 total
* Note: It takes TWICE as long for the Tosai to re-align its shields than other ships, thanks to the distributed and manually-operated shield system.
Height: 800 ft
Width: 800 ft
Length: 3,000 ft
Weight: 14 million tons
Cargo: 1 million tons
Powerplant: Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 30 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Not Possible
(Sublight) Mach 6
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.6% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 11 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:

*Tractor Beams(8)----Effectively each rated for 1,000 tons dead weight, but can be used for imparting small changes in momentum/direction to ships/structures several times that mass.
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).

Weapons Systems:
1)Heavy Laser Cannons(4)---Mounted around the midpoint waist of the giant carrier are four heavy laser cannons; the most modern weapons on the ship, and part of the ongoing cruiser production programme. The Regmo HI-Elex cannons were finalized before the cruiser designs, so production started up early and the weapons made available to arm the carriers.
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Four shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2)Medium Grav-Cannons(10)
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 8 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 8 miles in atmosphere, 8,000 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 500 bursts per gun

3)Long Range Missile Launchers(4)
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 1-12, up to 4 times per melee
Payload: 384 LRMs, 96 missiles per launcher; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 15 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

4)Medium Range Missile Launchers(8)
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-18
Payload: 2,560 total, 320 per launcher; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 15 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 24 missiles)

5)Point Defense Particle Beam Cannon (18) ----Solenn-Yagetti Armaments hadn’t yet upgraded its weapons production lines when the rush-order to arm the Tosais came, so it did the best it could with its available stocks of Oreg-47 Particle Projectors. Despite the lack of range and power these weapons have, compared to the HI-Lus laser batteries, they came in very handy during the Chupa Nebula Campaigns, where the laser-distorting properties of the stellar gas clouds rendered the lasers nearly ineffective, and the nuetral beam settings of the Oreg-47s proved useful in picking out the shipkiller MAV warheads used against the Zyganian ships, from the decoys.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

6)Point Defense Laser Cannon(24) ----These are standard Zyganian Fleet Defense Regmo HI-Lus Point Defense Laser arrays.
Range: 12,000 ft in atmosphere, 36,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 8 miles in atmosphere, 8,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per single barrel burst, 4d6x10 MD for a double-barreled blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

7)Point Defense Rail Guns(40)----Regmo Industries first field-tested its Ketokrag PDS weapons on the Monkar corvettes, and the design has been used throughout the Zyganian Fleet ever since.
Range:1.5 miles in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per burst
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload: 1,000 bursts per gun; changing a drum takes 10 minutes

8 ) Point Defense Mini Missile Launchers(18)
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:Volleys of 1-20
Payload:Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 15 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 96 missiles)

Auxiliary Craft:
150 Aerospace Fighters
10 Heavy Cargo Shuttles
12 Shuttles
6 Corvettes

[azazel1024]

I felt like something was missing from the line ups.

Enter the Porcupine Destroyer Escort.

Porcupine Class Destroyer Escort
Let me tell you, the first time I shipped on one of them Porcupines I was expecting dull duty. I mean, you ain’t on some sleek, sparkly, new battleship or nothing like that. Doesn’t seem nothing glamorous about it. I learned different when our little squadron ran in to that pirate fleet at the Battle of Two Moons. Missiles were tearing in, fighters and power armor were weavin’ every which way and our little Porc’ was spitting death out in the middle of all of it like some Gods created shield for our squadron as we ran for it. That day we didn’t lose a single ship even though we were out numbered 3 to 1. I’ve been in love with the Porc’s ever since.
-Able Spaceman Roger D’Etan recounting his first cruise on the CSS Bristle

The Porcupine Class Destroyer Escort is an intermediate sized spaceship placed squarely between a patrol ship and a Frigate in size. The Porcupine was envisioned during the last CCW/TGE conflict as an escort for larger vessels to add an extra layer of defense against missiles, power armor and fighters. To this end the Porcupine is heavily outfitted with short and medium ranged weaponry out of all proportion for her size. Unfortunately this means that they are a little light on armoring and shields to fit all of this in. The first test of the Porcupine class was at the Battle of Two Moons in the Rindle System, Igoora sector, Corkscrew Galaxy 12 years after the commissioning of the first Porcupine. In that battle a single Porcupine class Destroyer Escort, the CSS Bristle along with a fighter wing from the CSS Angela Beaker fought a delaying action against a pirate fleet three times the size of the entire CCW squadron. The Bristle and the fighters managed to delay the pirate forces for 20 minutes allowing the CCW squadron time to escape. That day 7 CCW fighters and their pilots died without the loss of a single CCW sub-capitol or capitol ship while taking 42 pirate fighters and 18 suits of power armor to their cosmic grave with them.

After the Battle of Two Moons and the validation of the Destroyer Escort concept the CCW has been stepping up production enormously. However, with the tensions of war with the TGE and conflicting political priorities in the construction of larger and still better tested ships fewer then 300 Porcupine class ships are in service 20 years after their first commissioning. The few that are in service are almost exclusively assigned to squadrons, battle groups and task forces. It is rare to see a Porcupine class ship on independent patrol. The standard tactic for the Porcupine is to form up in front of and close to the main line of battle to screen the larger ships from incoming missiles, fighters and power armor.

The Porcupine is a rather unattractive ship as it resembles largely a watermelon covered in blisters and spikes (the weapons turrets) without much ‘decoration’ or design beyond that. The upside is that it gives the weapons great fields of fire without any protrusions interfering with the first arcs. The crew space is very cramped due to the size of the ship and the large amount of weaponry and ammunition carried on board. The weapons are heavily automated to reduce crew loads and to make manning such a small ship possible. Crews are frequently rotated through the ships on 3 to 6 month deployments since the cramped spaces can become psychologically wearing on many species. Crews are hot bunked on the ship meaning that off duty crewman share a bunk of a crewmate who is on duty. Common areas are small and cramped and there isn’t much room to stretch your elbows onboard. The larger races, such as the Seljuk, are never deployed on the ships as there simply is not enough room for them to fit comfortably for any period of time. The Porcupine class has introduced a new weapon system to the CCW called the CG flak cannon. The CG flak cannon is basically an oversized CG gun that fires single rounds at very high speeds and utilizes a combination of kinetic and explosive energies to damage a ship.

The TGE has been evaluating the Destroyer Escort concept to decide how best to counter the defensive abilities of the ships and to see if they should add similar ships to their own fleets.
Type: CCW DE-001 Porcupine
Class: Destroyer Escort
Crew: 19
Passengers: None, though for emergencies the ship could carry up to 40 passengers, but they’d be sleeping in corridors
MDC by location:
*Engines (2): 400 each
**Main body: 2,800
CG cannon/minimissile turrets (8): 200 each
Medium missile launchers (4): 250 each
Point defense laser cannons (8): 100 each
Medium CG flak cannons (4): 180 each
Bridge: 350
Variable force fields: 400 per side (2,400 total)
*Destroying a single engine reduces the maximum speed by -40%, destroying both reduces maximum speed by -95% (can still use maneuvering jets for minimal propulsion)
** Destroying the main body of the Porcupine renders it dead in space and a hulk. Reducing the main body MDC to -400 causes the Porcupine to explode doing 1d4x100MD to everything within 500ft.

Height: 45ft
Width: 80ft
Length: 180ft
Weight: 900 tons
Cargo: There is a small 8x8x10ft cargo bay for extra storage that can store 20 tons of equipment, supplies and provisions
Powerplant: Antimatter with a 50 year life
Speed: Mach 1 in an atmosphere, Mach 9.2 in space and 5ly/hr for its FTL CG drive
Range: Carries provisions for 2 months
Market cost: It costs the CCW 300 million to manufacturer a Porcupine and so far none have shown up on the black market, though if one were its price could be as much as two to three time higher.

Weapons systems:
1) Medium CG Flak cannons (4): The medium flak cannons use a rather arbitrary bore size of 57mm to fling shaped charged plasma shells at incoming fighters, missiles and power armor. The shells utilize a complex radar ranging system to determine if the shell will impact the target or of it will miss. If it will impact the target then shell delays its fuse for after impact, if the shell will miss it rotates the shaped charge plasma explosive to bear on the target and detonates at its closest approach to the target in the hopes of damaging it. The flak cannons have proven very effective against light armored targets, but their slow rate of fire and short range have proven ineffective against larger more heavily armored targets.
Range: 2 miles in an atmosphere, 10 miles in space
Damage: 3d4x10 damage for a direct hit or 2d4x10 damage for an indirect hit
Rate of fire: up to 4 shots per melee
Payload: 80 rounds in the ready magazine and are automatically reloaded from the hold which normally carries 160 rounds per gun. It takes 2 melees for the automatic loaders to reload from the hold
Bonuses: Since the shells move somewhat slower then a regular CG gun the guns suffer a -2 to strike directly, but due to their advanced fusing they are +3 to indirectly strike. Roll to strike at -2 and if the shell hits use the direct hit damage, if it misses, but the roll to strike with +3 bonus would hit then use the indirect hit damage
2) Medium missile launchers (4): The medium missile launchers are the outer shell to the Porcupines layered missile and fighter defense. The medium missile launchers are capable of volleying large numbers of missiles at a time as well as quickly reloading, switching targets and firing again. Unlike standard medium missile launchers the advanced fire control computers of the Porcupine allow each missile in the volley to be independently targeted to engage multiple incoming threats.
Range: 50 miles in an atmosphere, 100 miles in space
Damage: Caries, usually Plasma medium missiles doing 3d6x10 damage
Rate of fire: 1, 2, 4, or 8 missiles in a volley and a number of volleys up to the number of melee attacks of the gunner
Payload: 32 missiles are in the ready magazine with an additional 64 missiles per launcher stored in an armored hold. It takes 4 melee rounds to completely reload from the hold (8 missiles per melee)
3) CG gun/minimissile launcher (8): The CG gun/minimissile launchers are a turret with a pair of CG cannons and a single minimissile launcher on each one. The turrets are armored and are the primary short range weapon system of the Porcupine. The CG gun/minimissile launchers can be independently controlled, but normally they are operated by the fire control computers. When under computer operations they are +4 to strike and have 4 attacks per melee round.
Range: 1 mile in an atmosphere, 2 miles in space for minimissiles, 2 miles in an atmosphere, 6 miles in space for the CG guns
Damage: 4d6x10MD for the CG guns for a 20 round burst, varies for minimissiles
Rate of fire: limited to the number of melee attacks of the gunner, volleys of 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 for the minimissile launcher
Payload: 2,000 rounds for the CG gun and 32 minimissiles. An additional 10,000 rounds and 128 minimissiles per gun are stored in the hold. It takes 4 melees to reload from the hold (500 rounds or 32 minimissiles per round)
4) Point defense laser cannons (8): These are the last ditch defensive weapons of the Porcupine. They are used when all other defenses have failed. They are point blank weapons. They are normally under computer control and are +4 to strike and 3 attacks per melee when under computer control.
Range: 4,000ft in an atmosphere, 2 miles in space
Damage: 1d6x10MD
Rate of fire: limited to the number of melee attacks of the gunner
Payload: Unlimited
Other systems of note: The Porcupine has an advanced Electronics Warfare suite that allows it to jam incoming missiles and the targeting systems of power armor, it isn’t powerful enough to seriously degrade the targeting systems on fighters or larger ships. All Missiles targeting the Porcupine are -4 to strike and all power armor targeting the Porcupine is -2 to strike. Additionally the Electronics Warfare operator of the Porcupine can jam up to 4 other suits of power armor or missile volleys in a melee round that aren’t directed at the Porcupine (must be within or pass within 10 miles of the Porcupine).
Auxiliary craft: The Porcupine has 3 emergency escape capsules.

[taalismn]

Had something similar in the Kittani/Splugorth Nestis(Pufferfish)-class Corvette...only that was essentially a heavily armed(in short range calibers)missile bait ship commanded by penal crews and low-level minions to protect the REAL valuable ships of the line...
Have to see how the Nestis stacks up in simulated combat against the Porcupine...

[Aramanthus]

COOL!!! Nice too see a couple of new classes of ships. Awesome. Please keep them coming!

[azazel1024]

Had something similar in the Kittani/Splugorth Nestis(Pufferfish)-class Corvette...only that was essentially a heavily armed(in short range calibers)missile bait ship commanded by penal crews and low-level minions to protect the REAL valuable ships of the line...
Have to see how the Nestis stacks up in simulated combat against the Porcupine...

Probably well. I intentionally designed the Porcupine to be solely anti-fighter, anti-power armor and anti-missile. Its batteries could certainly be turned on something larger, probably with fearsome results with all those short range weapons, but they are pretty short range. Anything like a Frigate or Destroyer could probably take it apart with ease (basically anything with medium or heavier energy weapons). Of course missile broadsides aren't going to do a lot against the Porcupine unless you want to have several Bersekers targetting it at once with their cruise missile volleys.
-Matt

[taalismn]

Had something similar in the Kittani/Splugorth Nestis(Pufferfish)-class Corvette...only that was essentially a heavily armed(in short range calibers)missile bait ship commanded by penal crews and low-level minions to protect the REAL valuable ships of the line...
Have to see how the Nestis stacks up in simulated combat against the Porcupine...

Probably well. I intentionally designed the Porcupine to be solely anti-fighter, anti-power armor and anti-missile. Its batteries could certainly be turned on something larger, probably with fearsome results with all those short range weapons, but they are pretty short range. Anything like a Frigate or Destroyer could probably take it apart with ease (basically anything with medium or heavier energy weapons). Of course missile broadsides aren't going to do a lot against the Porcupine unless you want to have several Bersekers targetting it at once with their cruise missile volleys.
-Matt

Nestis would have to pretty much RAM the Porcupine...you got better missile systems....

[azazel1024]

Hey penal crews and low-level minions sounds like the perfect Kamikazi to me.

"Ram that ship or else your families' lives are forefit!"
-Attributed to an unnamed highlord

[taalismn]

Hey penal crews and low-level minions sounds like the perfect Kamikazi to me.

"Ram that ship or else your families' lives are forefit!"
-Attributed to an unnamed highlord

Yeah, that's pretty much how some Splugorth officers treat the Nestris and their crews...
"Draw their fire while we maneuver in for the kill! Your sacrifices will be remembered this day!(for all of about 5 seconds, then we'll congratulate ourselves on our courage and brilliance and you'll be forgotten by the second drink)"

[KLM]

Porcupine Class Destroyer Escort
(...)
CG cannon/minimissile turrets (8): 200 each
Medium missile launchers (4): 250 each
Point defense laser cannons (8): 100 each
Medium CG flak cannons (4): 180 each
(...)
Height: 45ft
Width: 80ft
Length: 180ft
Weight: 900 tons
(...)
Market cost: It costs the CCW 300 million to manufacture (...)

Nice ship, but - as always - I have a few suggestion.

Compared to the Scimitar (and especially the Hunter) class, the ship is a bit too light
for its size (1500 to 1900 tons would be closer) and is a bit too expensive for its capabilities.

So, either I would improve the main Flak guns (like 5d4*10 dmg on a direct hit and a tad longer range,
possibly with more penalty for shooting farther) or decrease the price tag.

Just to be more "in league" with canon CCW designs (from DMB2 and 3).

IMO, of course.

Adios
KLM

[azazel1024]

Yeah, I set the price to between the hunter and the proctor. I think that is my issue, to me the proctor is to much. I like all other prices, but I think the Proctor should be more like 120-150 million. If that were the case I'd price the Procupine at about 200-240 million.

As for weight, yeah I think your right, something more like 1,200-1,500t is probably more on the money.
-Matt

[taalismn]

Ah! Inform the shipyard of the design improvements...and Accounting of the price adjustments...

[Aramanthus]

You could always make that in the 2nd variant of the class.

[gaby]

How about making ships,that can launch robots into space like the ones on the Gundam,s TV series?

I am NOT saying for Conversions!

But If you want your ship to look like the ones in the TV,s shows it,s O.K.

[taalismn]

Adapt the catapult-tube design from the Warshield cruiser, which carries Battlerams.....fit them to other platforms...Maybe even conceal a set inside a bulk cruiser, if you're looking for a cheap mass deployment platform(maybe fit it with stealth, for creeping up on enemy worlds and launching surprise atatcks,,,though it's kinda hard to imagine the CCW doing something like that...)...