Paladin Steel Storefront

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel RS300 ‘Scaup’ Flying Boat
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/usa/sik_s-38.gif

“Why are we detaching the wing? Wouldn’t it be easier to just overfly the entire area?”
“No....that’s dense jungle down there and if we want to see what’s really down there, we don’t want to go shouldering in with the wings still attached, getting jammed up on every vine and branch when, with just the boat, we’re a lot more maneuverable on the water. And there’s another good reason for sending the wing up...”
“Oh?”
“If we get kakked on the river, the wing’s going to be orbiting. It will let the follow-up teams know where we went down and they can hopefully recover what’s left of us.”
“...can I stay with the wing?”

The PS RS300 ‘Scaup’(named for a species of North American duck) at first looks like a straightfoward modern rebuild of the Sikorsky RS3/S-38 Amphibian, an early aviation era light flying boat design of rather spindly appearance. In reality, the is a whole new beast with some surprises Sikorsky likely never thought of.
The RS300 resembles its forebears in appearance in so much as it shares the same enclosed boat-shaped lower fuselage, attached to a framework of tubular struts reach up to a parasol wing and linked twn tail booms, the two prop-engines (or ducted fans in the more modern rebuild) suspended between the wing and the cabin. The construction is of tough, light, megadamage alloys and composites.
In reality, the RS300 is two craft in one; the lower fuselage is a fully functional powerboat that can detach and motor about at high speed on the water, even hydroplaning on its own pontoon ‘wings’. The rest of the aircraft, after retracting its struts, becomes a remote-control, semi-autonomous flying wing drone that can fly overhead and serve as an unmanned aerial surveillance platforn or communications relay. When needed, the flying wing drone can fly down and quikly re-attach itself to the lower fuselage-cabin, and become a whole aircraft again. Detaching takes less than 5 seconds; re-attaching the two components of the craft takes about 15 seconds.
The RS300 is being marketed as a recreation and light exploration aircraft for adventurers. It sees some use in the GNE as an air taxi and delivery aircraft, especially to waterfront towns and communities.
Type: PS-RS300 Scaup
Class: Dual-Mode Flying Boat
Crew: 2+1-10 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body(cabin/powerboat) 280
Hydrofoil Wings(2) 45 each
Wing 170
Engines(2) 80 each
Tail Booms(2) 50 each
Height: 13 ft 10 in.
Width: 71 ft 8 in.
Length: 40 ft
Weight: 6,500 lbs empty, 11,000 lbs fully loaded
Cargo: Small space in cabin/under seats for survival packs, sidearms and/or light luggage. If not carrying passengers, can carry up to 4,000 lbs of cargo
Powerplant: Electric (w/ 800 mile range--batteries alone) or Nuclear w/ 15 year energy life
Speed:(Ground) The entire aircraft can taxi along at about 5 MPH, or just the cabin can zip along on three wheels at 30 MPH.
(Water) The entire aircraft can taxi on the water at 7 MPH, while just the cabin can run at 90 MPH.
(Flying) The entire aircraft can fly at 120 MPH, maximum altitude of 16,000 ft, while just the wing can fly at 220 MPH and 20,000 ft altitude.
Market Cost: 290,000 credits for solar-electric, 7.2 million credits for nuclear.
Systems of Note:
Standard Aircraft Systems, plus:

*Landing Gear---The cabin portion has two retractable powered wheels on the sides and a small tail wheel, but the vehicle is perfectly roadable.
The Wing portion has small landing gear for alighting on land; two forward wheels in the foward connection struts and two small tail wheels on the end of each boom. The landing gear also have small pontoons, allowing the wing section to land on water and taxi up over the cabin section to lock in place.

*Solar Electric Wing---The dorsal surface of the high-wing is fitted with solar panels, and the powerplants supplanted/complemented with a Super-Solar Power System. Flying in broad daylight, mostly unobstructed sunlight gives the batteries an 8-hour charge; cloudy and overcast days cut available power to three hours.

*Wing Drone---The detached upper wing section can be piloted by remote control or can fly on its own drone autopilot. The drone can also be engaged by the cabin crew to act as an autopilot, allowing the crew to rest(or recover, if injured) on long flights.
*Basic Robot Audio/Optics
*Basic Power Armor-Grade Sensor and Communications Systems
*Radio Beacon/Signal Finder
*Navigation: 85%
Bonuses: The UAV doesn’t have any combat programming per say, but does have some basic evasion programming: Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 4, Dodge: +2

Weapons Systems: None standard, but the RS300 has the following options:
Powerboat: The lower fuselage can be fitted with a small turret forward and a second small turret aft. These can be fitted with light machine guns or energy rifles.
Racks can be added to the float sponsons for ordnance; up to four mini-torpedoes each.

Flying Wing: the Flying Wing portion can be fitted with four underwing pylons able to hold ONE of the following each:
a) Torpedoes---3 mini-torpedoes each hardpoint
b) Bombs---Can carry a 250-lb Bomb per hardpoint----2d4x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius, or two mini--bombs, each equivalent to a mini-missile, only DOUBLE the blast radius.
c) Mini-Missiles---15-shot pod
d) Flare/Chaff Pod
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 12 per launcher
e) Recon Pod----Exact sensors vary, but can include wide-angle cameras, nightvision optics, terrain-mapping radar, molecular analyzers, magnetometers, laser scanners/illuminators(5 mile range), and the like. Generally one type of sensor per pod.
f) Searchlight Pod---Directable searchlight: 9,000 ft range

Variants:
*PS-RS300(TW)---Technowizardry version of the Scaup. The wing in this case is a giant TW Wingboard, allowing for speeds ranging from Hover to 250 MPH on a Ley Line, and indefinite range on a ley line. Off the ley line, however, the electric or nuclear engines have to take over. Cost: +500,000 credits

*PS-UtW300---This is just the Wing section with a specialized attachment harness, allowing the wing to straddle and carry payloads up to 5,000 lbs. Efforts were made to adapt this to carry the Gibbs Amphibian Suspension System series vehicles, but the latter were found to be too heavy to be compatible. Cost: 130,000 credits for solar-electric, 7 million credits for nuclear.

[abtex]

Paladin Steel RS300 ‘Scaup’ Flying Boat

Simple, but nice. So many possible uses for the Drone wing [or manned] and vehicle combo.
Like a flying tank

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel RS300 ‘Scaup’ Flying Boat

Simple, but nice. So many possible uses for the Drone wing [or manned] and vehicle combo.
Like a flying tank

Armored car...never tank...that's just too painful...Not even the Ontos/Zerkat.
While sufficiently high technology(or magic) makes impractical ideas workable via brute force, some ideas are just too boneheaded, like putting disposable wings on a tank....I'll stick with big gliders/landing boats, carrier aerospace craft, or high performance hovertanks.

[abtex]

Sarah Palin complaining about the wolves in Alaska having suddenly acquired anti-aircraft armaments(like Stinger/Black Talon LSAMs) we're not saying anything about either(though Marketing is rather happy with a recent deal)(whistles).

Where did this tale come from? Real?

No, I just have a pathological dislike of the woman(maybe it's because her daughter makes more speaking for something she ISN'T than I make WORKING in a whole year), or her twisted take on 'her' Alaska, where she hunts wolves from a helicopter (one good unbraced recoil out an open and unsecured door, that's all I ask). The whole hunting a helicopter becomes more sporting if the wildlife can shoot back.

She is using a different helicopter now.
Little more info.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Valiant Station ‘SunChaser’ Multipurpose Light Aerospace Corvette
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img143copy3.jpg

“This little zipper’s typical of a thousand emerging shipyards across the galaxies...it’s new, it’s perky, it’s not quite up to the better designs available from established manufacturers like Naruni, Galaxcorp, or MC, and you’re less likely to find replacement parts any great distance’s throw from the place you bought it. On the other hand, it’s inexpensive, compared to the establishment prices, tough, structurally reliable, and it’s got promise if you have the credits and patience to spend upgrading it on your own.
If you’re really feeling brave, though, take a trip direct to the manufacturers...If you can stand the risk of all that bad mojo in the local ecosystem, and the big Splugorth enclave a puddle jump away, you can buy direct and save yourself even more...maybe even get the shipyards to toss in a few mods for a song or a piece of tech they haven’t seen before...they’re big on acquiring new tech there...Then take a good look around, and shop the local markets...Odds are, you can get a good deal on a system nobody else has ever heard of, like a phantasm projector or dimensional shifter drive gimicky, for a real cheap price, because the local developer doesn’t know its true value in Galcreds, or is so desperate to get offworld, they’ll let you have it for a ride with you when you leave...Just be careful, though, the CCW Ship Standards Lab laws and protections don’t extend to Earth, so if you go in thinking you’re going to sucker a bunch of planetbounds, odds are you’re the one who ends up skinned...or worse...”
----Amus Proloog, shipbroker and writer for Harpis Weekly MultiMedia(“The Magazine for the Intelligent Dimensional Traveller”), StepStone, United Worlds of Warlock

“The SunChaser’s clearly an attempt to attract a higher tech crowd into buying a low-tech piece of hardware, get them to outfit it with their own resources, and convince them they got a real bargain...Everything about this bird is pretty much modular and can be unbolted, swapped out, and replaced with something else....The external engine pods, the main sensor tower, the main power core, the armaments, and all the external cargo pod attachments....It’s pretty much half a ship that you spend one and half times more than you should making it comfortable for your whim...Like selling a bicycle as upgradable to a hoverbike...So what if it’s built by the apes on this ‘Rift-World’; you’re better off buying from someone who can’t claim ‘interdimensional interference’ for not returning your complaint calls...”
-----Hadron Lasp; technology critic; The Lasp Report, Phaseworld Level Three

“Forget about all the cargo geehaws and utility add-ons...that’s just window dressing for people who aren’t spending their own money...Even the Outcast Station can cobble up something from scrap components that can push more mass, but it’ll be a hog and just as ugly...This clipper’s for getting places FAST and looking good doing it!”
-----Captain Eldrew Chan, Free Spacer owner of the AFMN Flash/Fade, Ares Freehold, Mars.

The ‘SunChaser’ is Paladin Steel Aerospace’s latest offering from its Valiant Station space yards, part of its new ‘third generation’ of advanced spacecraft designs. These new designs are aimed at filling out the ranks of PS’s aerospace forces with a large force of light, fast, relatively inexpensive, multi-environment spacecraft that can serve effectively as raiders, escorts, long range scouts, and fast transports. These smaller craft can also be given to smaller Orbital allies of PS, filling out their ranks with high-quality aerospace craft, without being dependent on the increasingly polarized anti-PS/GNE Lunar and Laika Station yards. The newer light craft can also be more readily cloned off into ‘civilian’ designs for sale to the commercial market in the Orbitals, and, supposedly, to the interdimensional markets, if rumors about PS’s growing connections to such alternaties as the Three Galaxies are correct. The sale of these ‘third generation’ craft, in turn, will allow PS to finance the next phase large-scale construction projects of their aerospace program.
The SunChaser is an elongated, rather elegant, craft, with a flattened main body, flaring off to the sides in relatively short wings, before flaring out into wide triangular wings, and finally ending in three large main engine pods with four tail fins that double as heat radiators. However, among noticeable differences is a large wide-winged ‘flying bridge’ section set back from the nose on the back, looking like a canard section, but which is actually a detachable bridge section. The SunChaser has sometimes been likened to a scaled-up high-maneuverability atmospheric jet fighter with a large ventral air intake(really the docking position for its payload modules).
The SunChaser is powered by no less than three variable thrust gravitic-fusor drive units, each with its own reactor, with a fourth main reactor for back-up. These hybrid engines use a combination of high energy plasma and low-yield focused gravitic drivers to accelerate drive plasma to higher velocities than normal magnetic control coils can, for a cleaner, more efficient drive system. The incorporation of three engine nacelles gives the SunChaser both a high turn of speed, and multiple engine redundancy, though critics of PS contend that this is really to cover for the problems of a barely-tested hybrid drive. In an emergency, the two systems can be operationally separated, and operated independently, in event of a loss of reaction mass, or aberrant gravitic conditions that prevent one or the other systems from operating...although the fusion torch and traction drive systems tend to operate at lower performance thresholds than when acting in concert.
The ship does not come standard with an FTL drive system, but PS has obligingly left enough internal space and added power generation capacity for buyers with the connections and resources to install their own(FTL drive systems are still a relative rarity in the Rifts solar system, and PS is currently keeping its handful of systems for its own forces).
Internally, the SunChaser has four decks; two central passenger accommodation decks, a lowermost level dedicated to machinery spaces and cargo bays, and an upper command deck platform. The ship can hardly be considered roomy by Galactic standards, though it is certainly spacious by pre-Rifts space program standards, and even sybaritic by post-Rifts scrounge-culture. Internal artificial gravity is another luxury standard on these ships. though it is typically turned off, and the interior remodeled to suit by most native micro-gravity-adapted Orbital buyers.
The SunChaser is designed to be readily modifiable to both military and commercial purposes, and has a variety of features to make that easier.
Core to the concept of the SunChaser design is a large pod mount hardpoint on the front of the ship, tucked under and between the nose sensor arrays. This large pod mount allows the SunChaser, like PS’s other utilitarian light freighters, to be quickly customized to a variety of different purposes, simply by swapping out the pod for other special modules. The SunChaser typically carries a large passenger accommodation pod or special purpose high security module(for diplomatic negotiations, prisoner transfer, or intelligence gathering missions among others), that can be detached in an emergency and serve as a lifeboat. Unlike the Brunel’s larger cargo ‘box cars’, the SunChaser’s modules are mounted well forward, and can be outfitted for atmospheric reentry. However, the pod can also be substituted for cargo modules or heavy weapons mounts, allowing the SunChaser to be quickly converted into a fast freighter or light warship.
The SunChaser has multiple light turrets and hardpoints across the main hull and wing assembly for fitting weapons systems or additional sensors. The factory-standard forward sensor pallets and amidships communications/sensor tower can also be removed and replaced quite quickly with new systems of the customers’ choosing. Armor is modest, but upgradable, and is complemented by both integral antiparticle and light battle screening, which can also be upgraded at extra cost. A dorsal spinal compartment is rigged for virtual shielding(forcefield) generators....The SunChaser comes standard for sale with an integral forcefield that also aides in streamlining the ship during in-atmospheric operations. However, the generator housing can be refitted with more powerful systems...PS/ASI/GNE-owned and -operated SunChasers sport much more powerful variable forcefield systems with higher regeneration rates than the commercial models.
On the underside of the ship’s main wing assembly is a pair of cargo pod clamps that are compatible with standardized Orbital cargo modules, and Three-Galaxies Standard Cargo ‘Cans’, up to Type 3 ‘Big Cans’. However, when maximum payload external cargo is carried, reduce overall speed/acceleration by 40%.
Other ‘quick change’ features include a central power core compartment that can be easily altered to accommodate a new powerplant, while an adjacent space is set aside for either additional cargo storage or the possible installation of FTL drive components. And of course the rear engine nacelles can be quickly serviced to mount different engine types. Various cosmetic tweaks can also be added to the ships, including new wing sections(doesn’t affect the cargo clamps and end hardpoints unless specifically asked for) and detailing.
Paladin Steel has acquired the bulk of production of SunChasers produced in the Sol System(Valiant Station maintains about four of these ships on ready-alert status as part of its Orbital/Deep Space Rescue squadron), so far, to outfit its space forces and commercial scouts, but a few of these ships(sans the more advanced systems) have already been sold to Orbital concerns, and it is believed that a few have been retailed through Aegis Stellar Industries to other cross-dimensional markets (likely to be the design’s primary market, if early sales pan out as hoped). As the Amberjin facility gears up with greater access to 3G technology, the SunChaser is expected to be produced and made commercially available in greater numbers to the Galactic market, with the PR campaigns already pitching the design to a broad base of courier concerns, adventurer groups, private and public security agencies, survey organizations, and spacial yachtsmen. The SunChaser is produced by Valiant Station and Amberjin facilities.

(Note: the illo depicts a privately-owned Three Galaxies SunChaser configured as a high-security yacht with forward luxury accommodation module, heavy and light weapons turrets, and laser-reflective armor. Two un-redetailed cargo pods are clamped under the wings.)

Type: PS-PSS-LHMP-ADST-25 SunChaser
Class: Aerospace Multipurpose Corvette, Aerospace/Deep Space Transport
Crew: 8(however, can be run effectively for short periods/or with extensive automation with a skeleton crew of two)
Main Hull accommodations for 20 passengers(50 under cramped conditions)+ possible Main Pod accommodations
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 3,800
Bridge 900
Sensor Tower 500
Heavy Turrets(1-2) 250 each
Light Turret Mounts(1-4) 150 each
Main Engines(3) 700 each
Forcefield(standard)* 900
Variable Forcefield(optional)**1,000 per side (6,000 total)

*Shield Refresh Rate is 5% per melee
**Shield Refresh Rate is 10% per melee

Height: 80 ft(main antennae mount)
Width:145 ft at wingtips
Length: 380 ft
Weight: 3,600 tons + pod weight
Cargo: 200 tons internally, + up to 40 tons externally on the wing clamps.
If not fitted with an FTL generator/drive system, the ship can carry an additional 100 tons of cargo in the open engineering space.
See also Options with regards to pods.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) The SunChaser is fully atmosphere-capable, and can both land, take off, maneuver, and reach escape velocity without problems in its ‘clean’ configuration. Hover to Mach 6(can escape the atmosphere)
(Space: In-System)
(Sublight) Mach 8.5
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.85% of light speed per melee)

(FTL) None standard, but can be fitted with a variety of FTL drive packages. The standard Three Galaxies models are offered with a 3 light year /hour drive system

Market Cost: 200 million (Rifts Earth)credits/ 60 million CCW credits* for the basic vehicle
(*PS may actually offer discounts for known Galactic buyers, in an effort to acquire more hard Galactic currency )
Systems of Note:
*Full Sensor Suite---Specialized sensor pallets include radiation detectors and counters, spectrographic analysis devices, gravitic sensors, electromagnetic activity readers, and optics packages.
*Long Range Radar---Phased Array Search and Early Warning Radars
Maximum Target Resolution: 200,000 miles
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video
*Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 250,000 miles
*Optical Tracking Clusters----These are transparent blisters fitted with gimbal-mounted high-resolution visible-light/IR/UV optical telescopes that continually scan the arc of sky before them. Linked to the navigational arrays and other tracking sensors, and to a series of highly-sophisticated near-AI search and discrimination software systems, these sensors attempt to detect objects that have low radar returns/sensor signatures, such as stealthed vehicles, iceballs, or asteroids. The high-tech equivalent of the man in the crow’s nest with a pair of binoculars.

*Airlocks---The SunChaser has four main airlocks/access points; two lateral airlocks with extending pressurized docking tunnels and universal docking collars, a bottom main access/airlock lift(used when landed), and a large cargo lift forward of the ground personnel lift. If so desired, the nose pod can fitted with its own docking collars and airlocks.

*Life Pods---Has 4 eight-man life pod modules with emergency first aid gear, emergency beacons, crash kits, water filtration/recycling, and 1 month of life support/rations.

*Detachable Bridge Life Module----In addition to the life pods, the entire bridge module can detach and serve as a lifeboat. It has somewhat more maneuvering thrust capacity than the standard life pods, allowing it to rendevouz with the lifepods and shepard them together(‘rafting’ them to share resources).

*External Hardpoints(2)----The SunChaser mounts two hardpoints under the ‘wings’, each of which can handle a 25 ton external cargo pod. Typically used to carry dangerous(radioactive, toxic) or extraneous cargo that doesn’t merit internal stowage.

Weapons Systems:
None standard, but the SunChaser mounts the forward main pod module, a pair of heavy turret mounts(one dorsal, one ventral, just behind the bridge/docking collar), two light weapons mounts on both the ventral and dorsal surfaces of the ship(4 total), and two hardpoints on the wing section(one on each side).(Please note that the ventral cargo clamp hardpoints CANNOT be fitted with weapons pods)
The following are some of the configurations available from the manufacturer:
*Heavy Turrets(2, dorsal and ventral)
a) Laser Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)5 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Unlimited

b) Particle Beam Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 4 miles in atmosphere, 8 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Unlimited

c) Ion Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)5 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space
Damage:2d4x10 MD per blast,
In addition to physical damage, the cannon does EM damage. Percentage of EM damage is determined in relation to target’s main body((damage/main body)x100=percentage). For every 10% of damage from main body in ion damage, target will be -1 to strike, parry. and dodge. In space target acceleration will be reduced by 15%, in atmosphere top speed will be reduced by 15%. Roll once on critical hit charts in Phazeworld or Conversion book as appropriate.
If target takes 60% of main body in ion damage, ship or vehicle will be disabled completely. All weapon, navigation, and other systems will shut down and need to be repaired/replaced to work again/reboot.
Does NO damage against non-mechanical/electronic targets.
The ion cannon is equally effective against bionics
Rate of Fire: Five times per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

d) Plasma Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 2.5 miles in atmosphere, 5 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)2.5 miles in atmosphere, 250 miles in space
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 5 times per melee
Payload: Unlimited

e) Rail Gun
Range:(Palladium) 11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
Damage: 3d4x10 MD per 40 rd burst(can only fire bursts)
Rate of Fire:EPCHH
Payload: 8,000 rds

f) 30mm Autocannons(1x4)
Range: (Palladium) 11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
Damage:4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst per single cannon...so a full burst of six rounds each from all four cannons firing simultaneously....12d6x10!
Rate of Fire:EPCHH
Payload:1,600 rds, 400 rds per cannon
Bonuses:Independent laser and radar tracking system; +1 strike set on automatic against aerial attack, +2 strike fired by gunner



*Light Turrets(4, two ventral, two dorsal)
a)Laser Cannon---PS-RFL-25B Pulse Laser Turrets
Range:(Palladium)6,000 ft in atmosphere, 24,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values) 11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 2d4x10 MD per heavy blast-burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

b)Particle Beam Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)5 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space

Damage: 3d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

c)Ion Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 4,000 ft, 16,000 ft in space)
(Kitsune Values) 1 mile in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast,
In addition to physical damage, the cannon does EM damage. Percentage of EM damage is determined in relation to target’s main body((damage/main body)x100=percentage). For every 10% of damage from main body in ion damage, target will be -1 to strike, parry. and dodge. In space target acceleration will be reduced by 15%, in atmosphere top speed will be reduced by 15%. Roll once on critical hit charts in Phazeworld or Conversion book as appropriate.
If target takes 60% of main body in ion damage, ship or vehicle will be disabled completely. All weapon, navigation, and other systems will shut down and need to be repaired/replaced to work again/reboot.
Does NO damage against non-mechanical/electronic targets.
The ion cannon is equally effective against bionics
Rate of Fire: Five times per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

d)Plasma Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 6,000 ft, 24,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values) 1.2 miles in atmosphere, 120 miles in space Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload:Effectively unlimited

e) Rail Gun
Range: (Palladium)5 miles, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)5 miles, 500 miles in space Damage: 2d6x10 MD per 50 rd burst; can only fire bursts
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: 8,000 rd drum

f)Tachyon Scattergun
Range: (Palladium)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

*Wing Hardpoints(2, 1 each side)
a)Mini-Missile Launcher----100 MMs(Volleys of 1-10)
b) Short Range Missile Launcher----48 SRMs(Volleys of 1-12)
c) Medium Range Missile Launcher----24 MRMs(Volleys of 1-6)
d) Long Range Missile Launcher----8 LRMs(Volleys of 1-4)
e) Cruise Missile Launcher---3 per hardpoint(Volleys of 1-3)
f) Heavy Gravity Rail Gun Pod
Range:3 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 5d6x10 per 20 round burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 3,000 rds(100 bursts)

g) Anti-Missile Point Defense Laser Pod---A pod mounting a swivel mini-turret and independent target acquisition/fire control, used for point-defense against enemy missiles.
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere,1,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 per pulse blast
Rate of Fire: Eight attacks per melee round
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonuses: +4 to strike


h)Plasma Torpedo Launcher
Range: (Palladium)10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space
Damage: 1d6x100 MD to an 80 ft diameter blast radius
Energy ‘torpedo’ has a disruption MDC of 30
Rate of Fire: Every other melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

i) Tractor Beam Emitter----Effectively 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: 25,000 ft

Options:
***Hull Armors----At the customer’s request, the SunChaser’s armor plating can be upgraded, similarly to other Orbital systems:
*Laser Reflective Armor---Orbital Standard; this relies on layers of highly reflective, prismatic material to reflect and disperse the effects of laser energy; lasers do HALF damage, but variable frequency lasers can compensate(typically within 1d6 melees) to do damage as normal. Increase overall mass by 4%
Cost: 335,000 credits

*Laser Ablative Armor---An expensive, but popular option. This uses Paladin Steel’s ceramic and embedded superconductor sandwich armor to disperse and slough-off laser energy. Lasers do HALF damage, but VFLs CANNOT adjust to compensate. Furthermore, Arkhon Tribeam weaponry does 10% LESS damage when striking LAA. Increase overall mass by 5%
Cost: 700,000 credits

*Stealth Armor----Special radar-absorbant armor, combined with modified cooling/radiation systems and internal EM baffling insulation.
Normal radar systems have only an 11% chance of detecting the ship at long range. Increase overall weight by 1%
Cost: 22 million credits

***Drive Upgrades
The modular design of the drive bays means that the ship can be upgraded/altered to accept a variety of different engine types, especially for upgrade purposes. Currently PS/ASI doesn’t offer any such engines for sale(only the standard fitout), as they are still developing their propulsion technology and production(as well as cultivatingrelations with companies already producing such propulsion systems, but the SunChaser’s structure has been stress-tested to speeds of Mach 14.

***Sensor Refits---The central sensor ‘well’ was designed for quick swap-outs of different systems, allowing different(presumably upgraded) systems to be quickly added.
A basic list of available different upgradeable sensors can be quickly reflected/represented by Eric Fackler’s Rifter article on Galactic Tracer Starship Creation Rules(Rifter # 34, pg. 47-57) with prices as follows:
-Premium SoroCom Sensor System(or equivalent)---- Normal Space Detection: 210,000 miles, FTL Detection: 1.1 light years. Cost:10 million credits.
-Military Grade Sensor System--- Normal Space Detection: 240,000 miles, FTL Detection: 10 light years. Cost:10 million credits.
-CAF Deployable Listening Array(available only as a Main Pod option)---Normal Space Detection: 9 million miles, FTL Detection: 25 light years. Cost: 30 million credits.

***Main Pod Module---The forward pod mount is the big options draw here; here are a few of the standard pod types available commercially;

*Passenger Pod(Commuter)(typically 550 MDC)----Basic accommodations for 30 people(another 15 can be shoehorned in under emergency conditions, but life support will be reduced to 50%, and conditions will be cramped).
Cost: 200,000 credits

*Passenger Pod(Luxury)(typically 500-800 MDC)----Luxury accommodations for VIPs or a wealthy shipowner. Usually accessorized with additional security features(EM shielding, separate communications suite, independent forcescreening, etc....). Typically houses 1-10 people in close, but high, comfort.
Cost: 200,000 + credits, depending on interior fittings

*Cargo Pod(typically 500 MDC)---Basic cargo pod can hold up to 100 tons.
Special purpose cargo pods outfitted for special cargoes, like high-security pay-vault pods(with their own security systems), shielded radiation containment vessels, exotic environment pods, or cryogenic storage modules, can cost 100-500% more, depending on the modifications.
Cost: 110,000 credits

*Heavy Cargo Pod(typically 1,000 MDC)---This oversized module sticks out well ahead of the ship an extra 25 ft, and can hold up to 200 tons of cargo. However, its weight and awkward positioning make it very hard to pilot the ship in an atmosphere, making takeoffs and landings nearly impossible(-15% to pilot rolls while in atmosphere).
Cost: 700,000 credits

*Tug Module(typically 500 MDC)---This replaces the nose pod with a reinforced rig that opens up into an array of electro-mechanical gripping pads, shock absorbers, and bumper trunions, for nosing up to, and latching onto oversized payloads in zero-gravity, allowing the ship to act as a pusher tug. Special reinforcing rods and pins stretch back to better distribute stevedoring stress and strain over the ship’s structure. However, its weight and awkward positioning make it very hard to pilot the ship in an atmosphere, making takeoffs and landings nearly impossible(-15% to pilot rolls while in atmosphere). This pod is commonly found with salvagers and space rescue units.
Cost: 800,000 credits

*Fighter Cradle---This module mounts a shell of light armor over a framework of docking armatures and system hookups, allowing the forward point to hold a single aerospace fighter, combat robot, or small shuttle. The protective ‘hangar shell’ provides 800 MDC.
Cost: 800,000 credits

* Recon Pod---No armaments, but this module package is crammed to the gills with long range military sensor equipment, including lidar, terrain mapping radar, EW detection/locator gear, gravitic sensors(8,000 mile range).
Cost: 6 million credits, plus extra for any specifically specialized sensor types.

*Long Range Sensor Pod---This module typically has a bulbous nose protruding well ahead of the rest of the ship, and holds gravitic sensors capable of detecting normal drive activity at 1 million miles away and FTL drive activity up to 18 light years away. Cost: 18 million credits.

* EW Pod--A powerful version of fighter onboard ECM systems, intended to provide wide area sensor jamming for squadrons or defense grid penetrations. This pod has provision for a three man EW operations crew
Effects:(Jamming) Jams civilian band communications with 90% effectiveness, military systems with 75% effectiveness. Enemy radar- and laser-guided weaponry is -4 to strike
(Cloaking) 95% chance of evading sensor detection to everything in the area of effect. All weapons fired at the craft in the cloaked field are -5 to hit
Range:(Jamming)800 miles
(Cloaking)1,000 ft radius
Cost: 85 million credits, and ONLY to approved customers


* Forcefield Generator Pod--A more powerful forcefield generator that produces a battlescreen of 3,000 per side (18,000 total) MDC strength(regenerates at 5% per melee)
Cost: 9 million credits


**Weapons Pods:
These pods typically have their own onboard power system, as well as targeting systems, though they can be tied to the ship’s own power grid and sensor suites.

* Missile Pod Type A-Carries 150 short range missiles(SRMs)(Volleys of 1-15)
Cost: 12.4 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

* Missile Pod Type B-Carries 80 medium range missiles(MRMs)(Volleys of 1-10)
Cost: 12 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

* Missile Pod Type C--Carries 20 long range missiles(LRMs)(Volleys of 1-5)
Cost: 30 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

* Missile Pod Type D---Carries 10 cruise missiles(Volleys of 1-2)
Cost: 32 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

*Special Weapons Pod(Exclusive to Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries)---This allows the SunChaser to carry and deploy a single Long Lance III or IV Heavy Nuclear Missile.

*Special Spacial Demolitions Pod(aka ‘Rock Buster’)----This is a variable-mode heavy shaped-charge plasma-nuclear warhead meant for destroying rogue asteroids and comets, or at least pushing them on new and harmless courses. The demolition payload is mounted on a thruster-equipped ‘bus’ that is docked to the SunChaser’s pod-mount, and deployed when within suitable range of the target. Depending on the type of target, if the target asteroid is relatively ‘soft’ and easily broken up, the warhead will maneuver to direct the plasma jet produced upon detonation so as to carve the asteroid apart. If the asteroid is too large or solid for this to be effective, the warhead will be maneuvered and oriented so as to provide a powerful boost, ideally pushing the target on a new trajectory.
The maneuvering ‘bus’ is too slow(about Mach 3 at maximum burn) to make it an effective weapon against other spacecraft(too easily spotted and shot down/evaded), though it could conceivably be used against a spacestation or already crippled vessel.
Range: Typically deployed from about 200 to 1,000 miles away from the target.
Damage: 1d6x1000 MD to a 200 ft wide, 5,000 ft long, area

* Cannon Pod Type A---Mounts a high power gauss cannon
Range:(Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 10,000 rds(500 bursts)
Cost: 3.6 million credits

* Cannon Pod Type B---Mounts a slightly less powerful rail cannon and 16 MRMs(or 32 SRMs) behind it.
Range:(Gauss Cannon)(Palladium) 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)4 miles in atmosphere. 4,000 miles in space
(Missiles) Varies by Missile Type(x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: SRMs: 10 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space.
MRMs: 160 miles in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles in space.)
Damage: (Gauss Cannon)4d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
(Missiles) Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Gauss Cannon) ECHH
(Missiles) Volleys of 1,2,4, or 8
Payload:(Gauss Cannon) 1,000 rd drum(500 bursts)
(Missiles)16 MRMs OR 32 SRMs
Cost: 2.8 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

*Cannon Pod Type C---Mounts a double-mount heavy kinetic kill weapon of the type already deployed as a secondary armanent on many PS/ASI capital ships. Known as the ‘A-1000’, ‘Triple-Ugly-Stick’, ‘Sword-Swallower’, and ‘Triple-Hammer’, this weapon pod’s mounting means the entire ship has to be pointed to fire it. Its recoil-vibration back into the structure of the SunChaser requires extra care to piloting and programming the maneuvering thrusters to compensate for the weapon when firing; otherwise it will impose a -10% to piloting rolls the melee round the weapon is being fired.
Range: (Palladium) 10 miles in atmosphere, 40 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere/ 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:1d4x100 MD per 80 rd burst, 2d4x100 MD double cannon burst,
Rate of Fire:ECHH
Payload: 32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon
Cost: 20 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type A---Mounts a high powered laser cannon. This is an extremely powerful weapon, but its power and range are offset by its slow rate of fire.
Range: (Palladium)8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 60 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type B---Mounts a more powerful x-ray laser cannon that can punch through laser-ablative/reflective armors
Range:(Palladium)9 miles in atmosphere, 18 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 18 miles in atmosphere, 18,000 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 75 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type C---Mounts a high powered Ion Destabilizer cannon
Range:(Palladium)5 miles in atmosphere,10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space Damage:1d4x100 MD per blast,
In addition to physical damage, the cannon does EM damage. Percentage of EM damage is determined in relation to target’s main body((damage/main body)x100=percentage). For every 10% of damage from main body in ion damage, target will be -1 to strike, parry. and dodge. In space target acceleration will be reduced by 15%, in atmosphere top speed will be reduced by 15%. Roll once on critical hit charts in Phazeworld or Conversion book as appropriate.
If target takes 60% of main body in ion damage, ship or vehicle will be disabled completely. All weapon, navigation, and other systems will shut down and need to be repaired/replaced to work again/reboot.
Does NO damage against non-mechanical/electronic targets.
The ion cannon is equally effective against bionics
Rate of Fire: Five times per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 60 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type D---Mounts a high powered Particle Beam Cannon. Like the “Energy-A” configuration, this pod’s power is offset by a slow rate of fire, and greater expense.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 50 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type E---Mounts a high powered Plasma Torpedo Launcher
Range: (Palladium)10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune) 20 miles in atmosphere, 20,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x100 MD to a 120 ft diameter blast radius
Energy ‘torpedo’ has a disruption MDC of 50
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 55 million credits

[taalismn]

Sarah Palin complaining about the wolves in Alaska having suddenly acquired anti-aircraft armaments(like Stinger/Black Talon LSAMs) we're not saying anything about either(though Marketing is rather happy with a recent deal)(whistles).

Where did this tale come from? Real?

No, I just have a pathological dislike of the woman(maybe it's because her daughter makes more speaking for something she ISN'T than I make WORKING in a whole year), or her twisted take on 'her' Alaska, where she hunts wolves from a helicopter (one good unbraced recoil out an open and unsecured door, that's all I ask). The whole hunting a helicopter becomes more sporting if the wildlife can shoot back.

She is using a different helicopter now.
Little more info.

I'm drooling. I may have to apply this to existing PS heavy aerodynes(though it might be cheaper to just up the rate of fire on the 40mm grenade launchers or add more rocket launchers...).

[abtex]

But the BOOM would just not be the same. It just would not be the same.

Just make the gun we find something to build around it or mount it too.

[taalismn]

But the BOOM would just not be the same. It just would not be the same.

I'll admitt that. Short of punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier, nothing quite sez '#### you!' better than hoisting two big cannons effectively on your shoulders and firing them off at somebody.

[abtex]

Why should Mecha pilots have all the fun? Copter pilots [and other aircraft] just want to have fun too. So what if the weapons cost more than their vehicle. A full payload of ammo even more. But as the 'Hell From Above' copter crew in their big birds say "We can reload without leaving the fight. Cargo space can be used for things other that hauling ground fodder around. Light door guns 're fun the see in combat. Even if some of them is over sized Auto Sentries and you tell them what to shot at. But Heavy belly ones just give a hole new meaning to Close Support." As the next barroom brawl starts.

[Shark_Force]

But the BOOM would just not be the same. It just would not be the same.

I'll admitt that. Short of punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier, nothing quite sez '#### you!' better than hoisting two big cannons effectively on your shoulders and firing them off at somebody.

in robotech, they punch you in the face with a submersible aircraft carrier/landing craft/battleship (with an indestructible barrier for an armor-piercing tip) which then drops it's ramp and bombards you with a small army of 60 foot tall mecha from the inside (of you/your ship/whatever).

so, i mean... don't go around thinking you're super-awesome just because you can punch things with an aircraft carrier. in the grand scheme of things, apparently that's pretty wimpy

[taalismn]

But the BOOM would just not be the same. It just would not be the same.

I'll admitt that. Short of punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier, nothing quite sez '#### you!' better than hoisting two big cannons effectively on your shoulders and firing them off at somebody.

in robotech, they punch you in the face with a submersible aircraft carrier/landing craft/battleship (with an indestructible barrier for an armor-piercing tip) which then drops it's ramp and bombards you with a small army of 60 foot tall mecha from the inside (of you/your ship/whatever).

so, i mean... don't go around thinking you're super-awesome just because you can punch things with an aircraft carrier. in the grand scheme of things, apparently that's pretty wimpy

Well, in th e old E.E. "Doc" Smith space operas and later in the 'Diebuster' anime, they use accelerated PLANETS to punch people...and Stephen Baxter has his future humans throwing a freakin' STAR as a projectile, so, yeah, the Daedalus Maneuver is tater-tots.

[glitterboy2098]

But the BOOM would just not be the same. It just would not be the same.

I'll admitt that. Short of punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier, nothing quite sez '#### you!' better than hoisting two big cannons effectively on your shoulders and firing them off at somebody.

in robotech, they punch you in the face with a submersible aircraft carrier/landing craft/battleship (with an indestructible barrier for an armor-piercing tip) which then drops it's ramp and bombards you with a small army of 60 foot tall mecha from the inside (of you/your ship/whatever).

so, i mean... don't go around thinking you're super-awesome just because you can punch things with an aircraft carrier. in the grand scheme of things, apparently that's pretty wimpy

Well, in th e old E.E. "Doc" Smith space operas and later in the 'Diebuster' anime, they use accelerated PLANETS to punch people...and Stephen Baxter has his future humans throwing a freakin' STAR as a projectile, so, yeah, the Daedalus Maneuver is tater-tots.

in Schlock Mercenary, the Fleetmind is in the process of ramming the Milyway galaxy into their enemy..
using a galactic core-turned-zero-point-energy-drive.

[Nightmask]

But the BOOM would just not be the same. It just would not be the same.

I'll admitt that. Short of punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier, nothing quite sez '#### you!' better than hoisting two big cannons effectively on your shoulders and firing them off at somebody.

in robotech, they punch you in the face with a submersible aircraft carrier/landing craft/battleship (with an indestructible barrier for an armor-piercing tip) which then drops it's ramp and bombards you with a small army of 60 foot tall mecha from the inside (of you/your ship/whatever).

so, i mean... don't go around thinking you're super-awesome just because you can punch things with an aircraft carrier. in the grand scheme of things, apparently that's pretty wimpy

Well, in th e old E.E. "Doc" Smith space operas and later in the 'Diebuster' anime, they use accelerated PLANETS to punch people...and Stephen Baxter has his future humans throwing a freakin' STAR as a projectile, so, yeah, the Daedalus Maneuver is tater-tots.

in Schlock Mercenary, the Fleetmind is in the process of ramming the Milyway galaxy into their enemy..
using a galactic core-turned-zero-point-energy-drive.

Well to be fair they attacked first trying to set up the Zero-Point energy source to destroy the Milky Way Galaxy (and making it one of the largest bombs seen) and Petey just managed courtesy of time travel to take control over it before it was too late.

[taalismn]

Please..Paladin Steel doesn't have any Big Guns anywhere NEAR that level..and our current countermeasure recommendation when encountering such power levels is "RUN AWAY!!!!"

[ZINO]

Paladin Steel/Valiant Station ‘SunChaser’ Multipurpose Light Aerospace Corvette
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img143copy3.jpg

bravo very well done man
even if you dont say anything back to me
Bravo N1 well done
and just to let everybody know sorry taalismn didn't want u to feel uncomfortable in anyway sorry man
still love you ship

[abtex]

they punch you in the face with a submersible aircraft carrier/landing craft/battleship (with an indestructible barrier for an armor-piercing tip)

they use accelerated PLANETS to punch people...
and Stephen Baxter has his future humans throwing a freakin' STAR as a projectile, so, yeah, the Daedalus Maneuver is tater-tots.

the Fleetmind is in the process of ramming the Milyway galaxy into their enemy..

they attacked first trying to set up the Zero-Point energy source to destroy the Milky Way Galaxy

Please..Paladin Steel doesn't have any Big Guns anywhere NEAR that level..and our current countermeasure recommendation when encountering such power levels is "RUN AWAY!!!!"

A little bitty question, Where?

[taalismn]

[

Please..Paladin Steel doesn't have any Big Guns anywhere NEAR that level..and our current countermeasure recommendation when encountering such power levels is "RUN AWAY!!!!"

A little bitty question, Where?

Other dimensions. Why else do you think we're setting up such an extensive extradimensional trade network(okay, besides finding new markets, skirting trade restrictions, and finding lots of cool stuff to buy/adapt/rip-off/copy/swipe/use)?

[taalismn]

And to celebrate the ancient(but still honored)pre-Rifts celebration of Independence Day, Paladin Steel is offering a 75% off sale on all signal flares, pyrotechnics, and star shells, and 50% off all ammunition if you're actively fighting for independence from tyranny, oppression, enslavement, and being devoured. Today only!

Happy Fourth, those of you of the USA. May your day be filled with pride, happiness, and celebration. May this day find you in good company, good weather, and good times.

[abtex]

Hope you and all other enjoyed the day.
PS workshops are working over time getting ready for the sale right?

[glitterboy2098]

And to celebrate the ancient(but still honored)pre-Rifts celebration of Independence Day, Paladin Steel is offering a 75% off sale on all signal flares, pyrotechnics, and star shells, and 50% off all ammunition if you're actively fighting for independence from tyranny, oppression, enslavement, and being devoured. Today only!

does this include white phosphorus "illumination" rounds?

oh, and on a semi-related topic:
this is probably the best 4th of july comic i've ever read.

alien 1: "so Historically, these humans seek dominance by attempting to detonate one another with precise munitions."
alien 2; "right"
alien 1: "And being dominated they attempt independance by detonating their oppressors with the same precise munitions."
alien 2: "right"
alien 1: "and once liberated, humans celebrate by launching and observing elaborate displays of precise munitions hand crafted and set to music"
alien 2: "exactly"
alien 1: ..........
alien 1: "we're.... lucky to be alive, aren't we?"
alien 2: "sometimes i wake up screaming.."

[taalismn]

alien 1: "so Historically, these humans seek dominance by attempting to detonate one another with precise munitions."
alien 2; "right"
alien 1: "And being dominated they attempt independance by detonating their oppressors with the same precise munitions."
alien 2: "right"
alien 1: "and once liberated, humans celebrate by launching and observing elaborate displays of precise munitions hand crafted and set to music"
alien 2: "exactly"
alien 1: ..........
alien 1: "we're.... lucky to be alive, aren't we?"
alien 2: "sometimes i wake up screaming.."

I've always thought, looking over my home valley on ID, that anybody not familiar with the holiday would think we were fighting a war..despite local ordinances restricting fireworks to sparklers, the sheer variety and volume of pyrotechnics going off all around simply astonishes(and there, just now, was a dull report of some unused ordnance being 'disposed of' in my neighborhood...and again!).

[abtex]

Squirrels, matches and the things they found in the bushes.

[taalismn]

Squirrels, matches and the things they found in the bushes.

Nah...they store up unexploded stuff, and use them to boobytrap their nut caches during the winter.

[abtex]

Squirrels, matches and the things they found in the bushes.

Nah...they store up unexploded stuff, and use them to boobytrap their nut caches during the winter.

Oh they get the good stuff trading with the K-9s at the Marine base? First hand knowledge? Have you hurt your self while feeling like a nut in the winter?

[taalismn]

Squirrels, matches and the things they found in the bushes.

Nah...they store up unexploded stuff, and use them to boobytrap their nut caches during the winter.

Oh they get the good stuff trading with the K-9s at the Marine base? First hand knowledge? Have you hurt your self while feeling like a nut in the winter?

Little bastards...they forget where they put the triplines...I'm raking leaves and BLAM! Third foot replacement this season.

[taalismn]

Hope you and all other enjoyed the day.
PS workshops are working over time getting ready for the sale right?

Just goes to show you that a mechanically-inclined population is a tyrant's worst nightmare when it comes to quick victories.
The guy in the officechair's giving me ideas(hey, PS office staff fight too!).
And the comfy anti-aircraft gunner? Priceless.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel R-7 Dekar Revolver
http://www.genitron.com/Unique/Le-Mat-Revolver.jpg

“The Dekar’s definately a ‘low-intensity conflict’ weapon---you’re not going to be storming Chi-Town or the City of Brass with this thing and expect to drop anybody who really needs dropping with this peashooter. On the other hand, there are lots of places out in the beyond where having a Dekar gives you some serious artillery, especially where high-tech energy weapons don’t work. The Dekar’s reliable, damn reliable, and once you get over the weight..and most serious shooters I know are augmented anyway, and the tendency of auto-shooters to hold the trigger back expecting rock and roll, the Dekar’s a real shooter-friendly iron. The nine-shot cylinder means you can’t use regular six-shot rechargers, but invest in a few dozen R-7 speedloaders and it isn’t a problem. Having the mini-cannon under the barrel for a shock-tap or surprise-knock is an asset too, as long as you remember you only got the one shot before reloading. Other than that, the weapon’s just about idiot-proof.”

“Okay; shotgun shell first to knock’em down, then you can pump the rest of your bullets into them while they’re trying to get back up!”

The PS R-7 Dekar is a personal sidearm based on the pre-Rifts Le Mat cavalry revolver. Though the Le Mat, a concept to combine two calibers in one weapon by adding a single shotgun barrel to a regular revolver, tanked as a result of heavy weight and poor build quality, PS felt the time and technology was right to have another go at the idea. Refining the weapon would also give one of the many smaller PS factory-workshops springing up around the Megaverse invaluable experience and an inexpensive product to sell to the low-end market.
The Dekar bundles a .357 revolver with special oversized cylinder holding nine rounds(instead of the conventional six), with a single shot twelve-gauge shotgun cylinder under the .357’s barrel. Construction is of lightweight corrosion-proof megadamage alloy and ceramics(though PS would also offer the weapon in a much cheaper, if decidedly more breakable, version made using regular materials), utilizing the bonded dry-lubricant coatings on moving parts to reduce wear and tear and increase reliability under the rigorous handling conditions. The shotgun barrel can be set off by a lockable stud trigger just in front of the normal trigger guard. As a projectile weapon, the Dekar can handle a variety of different ammunitions, increasing its versatility.
The main complaints about the Dekar are low magazine capacity and slow reloading(compared to automatic pistols), heavy weight, and a lack of stopping power(again, relative to more modern weapons). However, there’s damn little that can go wrong with the revolver action, the weapon is very inexpensive for an MD handgun(the cost’s really in the ammo), and the Dekar has acquired a following with gunfighters and security officers(who have learned that the 12-gauge barrel makes a good door opener and room sweeper).
Weight: 2.2 lbs
MDC: 15
Range:(.357) 180 ft effective range, 300 ft maximum range(HALF damage )
(12 Gauge) Varies(see below)
Damage:
(.357)(Standard)5d6 SD
(Express Round) 5d6+3 SD(increase effective range to 250 ft, and maximum range to 350 ft)
(Ramjet) 1 MD per rd
(Wellington Exploders) 15d6 SD per rd
(PSX-2) 1d8 MD per rd
(12 Gauge)
*Standard Shotgun shell--100 ft range, 5d6 SD
*Standard Buckshot shell---100 ft range, 4d6 SD to 5 ft area
*Teargas shell---100 ft range, 25 ft radius---victims are -10 to strike, parry, and dodge, -3 initiative, lose 1 melee attack/action, for the next 1d6+1 melees
*Baton shell---100 ft range, 2d6 SD, plus humans and human-sized D-Bees must roll a D20 to maintain their footing (must equal or surpass the attacker's roll to strike...Full rules in TNW p.174).
*S-9Dex Incapacitation Munition ---100 ft range, Essentially a paper-shelled shotgun shell-sized gas-propelled 'cold rocket', packed full of taser beads. Beads powder on impact, reducing the chance of bystanders or ingoing police stepping on undischarged beads. Great for crowd control and dealing with closed-space situations(alleyways, rooms, vehicle interiors, etc...)
Effective Range: 100 feet, w/ 20 ft radius
Damage: Nil. Humanoids struck with this weapon must save vs. coma or be shocked unconscious for 1D6 minutes.
Cyborgs have a 60% chance of having their cybernetics disrupted for 1D10 minutes, and a 30% chance of a non-vital system being permanently shorted out.
*High Explosive Armor Piercing Shell---400 ft range, 6d6 MD(no blast radius)
*Mini-Grenade(plasma)--- 400 ft range, 5d6 MD to 5 ft blast radius
*Mini-Grenade II(Fragmentation)---400 ft range, 2d4 MD to 10 ft blast radius
*Standard HESH Shell---400 ft range, 2D4 M.D. plus 4D4 S.D.C. to the person(s) inside of EBA power/body armour & roll versus knockdown (14)

Rate of Fire:(.357)Single shot, ECHH
(12 Gauge) Single shot
Payload: (.357) 9 rds
(12 Gauge) 1 rd, hand-loaded
Special Features:
*Top Rail---for mounting a sight or scope
Cost: 2,000 credits(an SDC version is also available for a mere 450 credits)

[abtex]

Hope you and all other enjoyed the day.
PS workshops are working over time getting ready for the sale right?

Just goes to show you that a mechanically-inclined population is a tyrant's worst nightmare when it comes to quick victories.
The guy in the office chair's giving me ideas (hey, PS office staff fight too!).
And the comfy anti-aircraft gunner? Priceless.

Like them try this one.
Libyan Rebel engineers have been experimenting with mounting machine guns on remote control toys.
Are they available at local PS outlets yet?

[taalismn]

Hope you and all other enjoyed the day.
PS workshops are working over time getting ready for the sale right?

Just goes to show you that a mechanically-inclined population is a tyrant's worst nightmare when it comes to quick victories.
The guy in the office chair's giving me ideas (hey, PS office staff fight too!).
And the comfy anti-aircraft gunner? Priceless.

Like them try this one.
Lybian Rebel engineers have been experimenting with mounting machine guns on [url=
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011 ... trol-guns/]remote control toys.[/url]
Are they available at local PS outlets yet?

I HAVE been thinking of making a larger heavier 'Handi-Trac' for carrying infantry weapons, as cheap attack drones(since the idea is already, what, ten years old by now?).

[abtex]

Test pilot for Squirrel project needed.

Item 1
Item 2

[taalismn]

Test pilot for Squirrel project needed.

Item 1
Item 2

Kzin: "First the damn monkeys, and now their rodents!? YOU EARTHLINGS!!!!!! YOUR PLANET BREEDS NOTHING BUT MADNESS!!!!!!!"

[abtex]

Like taalismn needs more ideas.

Life Man and space - Lunar Base look like Can Houses to be used on mars and at the Training bases in the arctic circle on Earth.

Smily Face space stations or transports?

Giant Space ferry - Bombers into space shuttle?

Sealab is nice, but the Artist's concept support ship is sweet.

Submarine Icebreaker for Arctic Oil picture set is something to dream about.
Icebreaker, Tug, barges.
The wonders about clean [not BP] drilling rigs and support stations open up.
What is BP doing in all these strange places - artic circle/'hole in the pole', jungles and sea beds with lost cities? Is the British Empire - East India Tea company - BP still in power behind open veiw?

So much for page one.

[taalismn]

Oh, that's a blast from my past! I remember seeing the guy's space illustrations in Time-Life Books' Man in Space, a book I started paging through even before I could read and understand it.
The icebreaker I'll have to compare to something I saw on Secret Projects Naval Projects(another design I'd like to do, but not without RADICAL modifications to survive in Rifts Earth0.
Overall, thanks, Abe!

[abtex]

Oh, that's a blast from my past! I remember seeing the guy's space illustrations in Time-Life Books' Man in Space, a book I started paging through even before I could read and understand it.
The icebreaker I'll have to compare to something I saw on Secret Projects Naval Projects(another design I'd like to do, but not without RADICAL modifications to survive in Rifts Earth0.
Overall, thanks, Abe!

Abe?
Do you remember which Naval project? Link if possible.

[taalismn]

Oh, that's a blast from my past! I remember seeing the guy's space illustrations in Time-Life Books' Man in Space, a book I started paging through even before I could read and understand it.
The icebreaker I'll have to compare to something I saw on Secret Projects Naval Projects(another design I'd like to do, but not without RADICAL modifications to survive in Rifts Earth0.
Overall, thanks, Abe!

Abe?
Do you remember which Naval project? Link if possible.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,10902.0.html

[abtex]

The icebreaker I'll have to compare to something I saw on Secret Projects Naval Projects (another design I'd like to do, but not without RADICAL modifications to survive in Rifts Earth).

Do you remember which Naval project? Link if possible.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,10902.0.html

Concept, yes. I guess the drawings grow on you.

Cruise ships, Light carrier, Cruiser and Destroyer military ships, Arctic circle open ice merchant shipping, Yachts and other personal craft into PT and landing craft type. Most likely designed to work with your Submarine base stuff.

Mix with the 'BAe Stealth UXV UCAV Carrier concept' -- stuff in the postings starting here. But does not have to be UCAV craft and Mini sub, Power armor and cyborgs fit into the design specs very well.

The Russian unfolding barge idea has some possible uses. Start unfolding under water using controlled ballast tank and instant flat top - carrier or floating base is available.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries Assegai Light Cruiser
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img147copy.jpg

“The Assegai, overbuilt? We’re a new presence in this galaxy, in this universe. We’re the babes in the deep dark woods, stumbling around trying to find our place in this strange new land. A lot of people would have our place as being that of prey. We don’t want that. We can’t afford mistakes, so we can’t cut corners as much as we’d like, because we don’t know what we might face next week, or even the next hour. We have to be prepared, because there’s no opportunity for ‘oops, forgot to include that! I’ll remember that for next time!”; there is NO next time. So we build strong and we build redundant.”

“And what have we here...?”
“THAT certainly looks like the Galactic Police cruiser that passed us eighteen hours ago, doesn’t it?”
“ The one that advised us against travel in an unsecure sector of space, in spite of our declared intent and ability to patrol? It certainly does. Looks like they’re in a spot of trouble right now. They don’t appear to be under power and that isn’t their usual tow service, if I’m not mistaken.”
“To be more precise, that looks like a decommissioned heavy cruiser...as refitted as a pirate warship. Apparently refit powerful enough to overwhelm that GP vessel.”
“That damage doesn’t look faked, and those are boarding locks burned into it.”
“Any indication either of those ships is aware of us?”
“No sign, sir. Not a twitch or a challenge from the pirate, and the police cruiser’s otherwise preoccupied.”
“....with being stripped and looted as a prize. Oh dear, we can’t have the local sector law enforcement being mugged, can we? We should be good neighbors and help out our local police. Keep our current heading and reduced energy profile, but lay in an intercept course and prepare to hotstart the main engines. Have the Stelmarines prep for a hot dock behind cover fire. As soon as we clear this rock shielding us, fire a full spread of jammers and thermal decoys, then we’ll run a full raking broadside, attention to taking out their powerplant, bridge, and main weapons. Be careful not to hit the police ship and try not to vent the pirates’ life support? The ‘marines will be going for the parts of the ship opposite the boarding tubes. I want to shock and awe those brigands before they decide on a hostage gambit.”

The Assegai is PS/ASI’s equivalent of the Warshield Cruiser and is built along similar lines. Constructed on the same general frame as the Javelin-class missile cruiser and sharing many common components, the Assegai eschews speed and missile armament for direct firepower and endurance. Though Paladin Steel favors a ‘run as fast as you can’ to avoid fighting it out with more powerful and advanced foes, what with the state of PS/ASI’s technology, the ship architects realize that speed won’t always suffice to save their ships, and standing and fighting is the only choice. PS/ASI has designed the Assegai to be able to stand and fight, shielding less well-armored units and providing some muscle to their formations. The Assegai’s engines are still oversized to provide an extra kick of speed above many contemporary designs fielded by other star nations. The extra speed makes the vessel well-suited to escort duties, where it can keep up with fast transports and dash from one part of a convoy to another in response to threats.
Still, for all its extra legs, the Assegai is designed to deal out punishment and take it at direct fire ranges. Slightly larger and heavier than the Javelin, the Assegai devotes much of its extra mass to armor and armament. Its physical armor has been beefed up to the maximum that the frame can handle and attention has been paid to the force shielding. Long range missile capability is replaced with a mixed configuration of energy and kinetic weaponry, allowing the ship to stand and deliver at short to medium ranges, with a large laser for long range work, though a cut-down missile capacity is retained. Also, unlike the Javelin, the Assegai carries both a sizeable Stelmarine contingent and a squadron of fighters.
Assegais first saw combat with ASI’s convoy escorts, when the heavily-armed light cruisers were unleashed on pirate raiders. They have continued to see service with PS/ASI convoy security, but also serve as the heavy elements of the Amberjin space-based militia/defense force, the evolving heavy warship elements of the Greater New England Space Forces(and the associated ‘national mercenary’ units loaned out), and the Explorer Corps. Assegai based out of Amberjin have been conspicious in anti-piracy patrols in the sector, and have earned a respectable number of kills against pirates operating in the region.
PS/ASI has produced a number of variant models of the Assegai, as they tinker with various weapons configurations to find an optimal mix of systems. The ships are built at Valiant Station in Sol System and in the Amberjin yards in the Three Galaxies. Though PS/ASI/GNE directly own and operate the majority of CGG-08 Assegais thus far produced, a handful of the cruisers have been reportedly sold to affiliates.

Type: PSS/ASI-CGG-08 Assegai
Class: Light Cruiser
Crew: 90+ 40 man Stelmarine security contingent
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 65,000
Bridge 10,000
Main Engine 3,000
Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x5) 500 each
Medium Laser Cannon Turrets(2x8) 500 each
Point Defense Lasers(14) 90 each
Point Defense Rail Guns(10) 100 each
LR Missile Launchers (2) 550 each
Hangar Bay 3,000
Variable Forcefield 5,000 per side, 30,000 total
Height: 120 ft
Width: 220 ft
Length:550 ft
Weight: 120,000 tons
Cargo: 7,000 tons
Powerplant:Nuclear Fusion, w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:(Atmosphere) Hover to Escape Velocity
(Sublight)(Gravitic Drive) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4 light years per hour
(Underwater) (all Marks) Not possible
Market Cost: Estimated cost at around 2.2 billion credits.
Systems of Note:
*Full Sensor Suite---Specialized sensor pallets include radiation detectors and counters, spectrographic analysis devices, gravitic sensors, electromagnetic activity readers, and optics packages.
*Long Range Radar---Phased Array Search and Early Warning Radars
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video
* Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 50,000 miles
*Optical Tracking Clusters----These are transparent blisters fitted with gimbal-mounted high-resolution visible-light/IR/UV optical telescopes that continually scan the arc of sky before them. Linked to the navigational arrays and other tracking sensors, and to a series of highly-sophisticated near-AI search and discrimination software systems, these sensors attempt to detect objects that have low radar returns/sensor signatures, such as stealthed vehicles, iceballs, or asteroids. The high-tech equivalent of the man in the crow’s nest with a pair of binoculars.

*EW Jamming Systems---In combat, the Assegai will attempt to use its electronic warfare suite to confuse enemy sensors as to the ship’s exact position and activity. Communications Jamming has a 10,000 mile range, is 90% effective against civilian systems, and is 65% effective against more sophisticated channel-jumping military communications suites. Missiles and sensor-guided weapons are -4 to strike.

*Passive Stealth Systems----The Assegai uses passive stealth systems to reduce its sensor signature by as much as 40%, but in order to achieve this, the ship cannot be under acceleration, and its engines must be running ‘cold’.

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Laser(1)--Mounted low in the main hull is a massive laser generator feeding through a relatively small turret aperature. This is the cruiser’s main long range punch for both anti-spacecraft and surface attack work.
Range: 30 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in atmosphere, 100,000 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2)Twin-Barrel Medium Laser Cannons(8x2)---For a secondary armament, the cruiser mounts eight twin-barrel laser cannons.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per cannon, 2d4x100 MD per dual blast from both cannon in a turret simultaneously(one attack)
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

3) Long Range Missile Launchers(2)---These are not as large as those on the Javelin, with half the magazine capacity, but they still pack a punch.
Range: Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 per launcher
Payload: 80 LRMs per launcher-pod, 160 total

Alternately, the launchers can be modified to fire the following:
a)Heavy Nuclear Missile Launcher--These weapons were developed from early efforts to create an Alliance equivalent of the Galactic-level Cruise Missiles. The effort wasn’t entirely successful; the weapons have the range and warhead yield, but lack the advanced targeting and AI systemry of their galactic counterparts. They are also very large weapons, roughly the size of small SLBMs, making them fairly easy targets for Three Galaxies-standard point defense systems. To compensate for their lack of accuracy, PS mounted the heaviest nuclear warheads they could come up with in the Long Lance II missiles, counting on pure brute city-buster force to carry the day when more precise targeted strikes cannot. Paladin Steel has retained these weapons for special attack purposes, such as orbital platform strikes and attacks on massed enemy formations. These weapons are designed strictly for deep space use, and are NOT for use on surface targets; such use is BANNED by PS/VFS/GNE policy.
Range: 1,000 miles(4,000 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 2.6 mile destruction radius in space
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3,4, or 6
Payload: 6 missiles per launcher

(Option) PS Long Lance IV---The Long Lance IV is the next generation heavy anti-spacecraft missile from PS, and was developed after the abysmal failure of most of the launched Long Lance IIs to reach the target during the Dreadnought Crisis . This SLBM-sized weapon is smarter, heavier, and carries its own ECM and countermeasures decoy launchers to give it a better chance of penetrating a target’s defenses. The Long Lance IV is available to both the Falx and the Javelin-class cruisers.
Range: 1500 miles(6,000 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 2.6 mile destruction radius in space
Bonuses/Special:
*ECM----The missile has its own expert system and EW transmitters for jamming enemy radar, as well as evading their sensors. The missile is -6 for guided weapons to strike. 60% chance of evading radar detection to begin with.
*Flare/Chaff Launchers(1, 6 bundles)
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is nuetralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees

4) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x5)---Mounted in main hull turrets positioned one ventral and one dorsal each side of the hull, these weapons can pivot for maximum arc of fire.
Range: 10 miles(40 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere/ 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:1d4x100 MD per 80 rd burst, 2d4x100 MD double cannon burst, 3d4x100 MD per triple cannon burst
Rate of Fire:ECHH
Payload: 32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon before needing reloading from stores(takes about 30 minutes)

5) Point Defense Lasers(14)----Spaced around the hull are standard laser PDS turrets for fending off enemy fighters and missiles.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere(4 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

(Optional)Slayer -D Quad- Laser Cannon(PS-RFL-40D)---A slightly more powerful quad-laser system with a higher rate of fire.
Range: 6,000 ft in atmosphere(4 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Mega-Damage: 2d10 MD single shot, 2d4x10 MD short burst (four shots, one from each barrel), or 4d4x10 MD medium burst (eight shots, two from each barrel in sequence).
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

(Optional) Laser/Mini-Missile PDS----These are standard CCW-pattern dual laser/mini-missile launchers that have been installed for close-in defense.
Range: (Lasers) 4,000 ft in atmosphere/2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere /200 miles in space)
(Mini-Missiles) 1 mile in atmosphere/2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere/ 100 miles in space)
Damage:(Lasers) 1d6x10 MD per blast
(Mini-Missiles) Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Lasers) EGCHH, or auto-fire; 6 attacks per melee
(Mini-Missiles) Volleys of 1-8
Payload: (Rail Gun) Effectively Unlimited
(Mini-Missiles) 32 mini-missiles per turret; additional mini-missiles can be carried as cargo(typically takes 2d6 minutes to reload from the holds).
(Option)---The Mini-Missile launcher component of these turrets can be modified to fire the “S-Sting” ‘Smart Mini-Missile -----The S-Sting(for ‘Space Stinger’) is an attempt to adapt the guidance systems and accuracy of the ‘Black Talon’ L-SAM to a space-based missile. The missile resembles a rather stubby cylinder with a blunt-nosed optical cluster and protruding verniers(extend after launching), owing to the fact that the vacuum of space negates the need for streamlining the weapon.
Note that the ‘S-Sting’ has only limited effectiveness in an atmosphere....HALF bonuses in a thin atmosphere and weak gravity well like Mars’, and NO bonuses, and HALF range in a thick atmosphere and standard gravity like Earth’s.
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 32 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD to a 15 ft blast radius
Bonuses: +7 to strike
Cost: 10,000 credits per missile

6) Point Defense Rail Guns(10)---Standard Phalanx-style rapid-fire chain guns.
Range: 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere/ 200 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per 60 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, or 6 attacks per melee in auto mode
Payload: 12,000 rds per gun(200 bursts each)
Radar Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike

(Optional)30mm Anti-Aircraft Flak Cannon---- Heavier automatic cannon with a slower rate of fire, but a heavier shell, modified for space, and mounted in a dual-mount.
Range:10,000 ft in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Damage:4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst. DOUBLE for both cannon firing simultaneously.
Rate of Fire:EPCHH
Payload:1600 rds, 800 rds per cannon
Radar Targeting Bonus: +2 to strike

Auxiliary Craft:
12 Aerospace Fighters (originally a mix of Hesperia and Gandiva fighters, but later replaced by the Star Tiger)
4 Shuttles

Variants:
*PSS/ASI-CGG-08D---This variant replaces the LRM launchers with four smaller medium range missile launchers, providing increased mass-barrage mid-range defensive fire at the expense of long range missile capability.
Range: Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1, 2, 4, 5, or 10
Payload: 240 total, 60 missiles per launcher

*PSS/ASI-CGG-08E---An experimental model that does away with the LRM launchers altogether, and mounts an extra pair of heavy laser cannon in their place. This variant has great close-in firepower, but lacks long range projectile weaponry, limiting it in long range pursuit and fire support operations.
Range: 30 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in atmosphere, 100,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x1,000 MD per blast, 4d6x1,000 MD for both cannons firing simultaneously on the same target.
Rate of Fire: Once per melee per cannon
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

*PSS/ASI-CGG-08G---This variant replaces the main laser cannon with a heavy massdriver cannon and ammunition.
Range: 20 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 300 miles in atmosphere, 300,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Kinetic Slug) 6d6x100 MD
(Scattershot) 1d6x100 MD to a 1,000 ft wide swath
Rate of Fire: EGCHH(5 times per melee under computer operation)
Payload: 180 shells ready to fire; additional shells can be reloaded from cargo holds within 45 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 6 shells)


*PSS/ASI-CGG-08H---This variant replaces the main laser cannon with a heavy particle beam cannon, trading range for damage.
Range: 20 miles in atmosphere, 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 80 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

[abtex]

Cute. Need to fix the '[url]' in the title.

[taalismn]

Cute. Need to fix the '[url]' in the title.

Thanks. Fixed.

[ZINO]

still very well done taalismn

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel ‘Magnolia’-class ASW Corvette
(aka ‘Plastic Flower’, ‘Cyber-Rose’, ‘Steel Magnolia’)

http://www.cbrnp.com/profiles/naval/Flower_Class-Corvettes.htm
http://shop.warshiphobbies.com/images/HMS%20Buttercup.jpg

“I still think it’s silly, putting them in those uniforms.”
The gesture was towards the several dozen robot drones scampering about the deck, each one clad in white plastic-fiber overalls, complete with neck scarves and white sailors’ caps, or wearing blue fatigues with life jackets and helmets.
“It’s traditional, Mister Owens; we’re the Navy and we can’t very well look like we don’t take our jobs seriously.”
Lieutenant Laar-Owens glanced over at his Captain. The full conversion cyborg could have been mistaken for a robot himself, especially on this ship, as he was wearing the full combat blues of the Greater New England Navy, his own life jacket and naval helmet on over them.
“And we don’t want the rest of the fleet to think we’re not serious about our job, do we?” Captain Karsh made his little dig while gesturing to the distance, where several distant vessels were barely visible. “Especially not today and not now. “
“Yes sir!” Lieutenant Owens saluted back
“Captain! Contacts, multiple, small, coming our way!”
“Underwater?”
“Aye, sir! Moving like assisted swimmers!”
“Sir, they likely heard our active sonar. They know we’re here.”
“Aye, and in their way. Well, we’re out here to mop up for Fleet, and it’s mighty obliging of the Horu-scum to come our way, so let’s get to it!”
The Captain’s amplified voice rang out over the length of the small corvette; “You heard sonar, gentlemen! We have swimmers heading our way! Those would be the expected fugitives from that Horune strike ship the Fleet just broke up over there! They may be shipwrecked, but those pirates are likely mad as hell and not happy that we’re in their way. They’ll be looking to take us out to keep us from calling in the Fleet on them, and they’ll want some payback as well. Let’s show them that the Navy isn’t through #####ing the little bastards over just yet today!”
#”Aye-Aye, Captain!”# came the near-simultaneous electronic response, intermingled at the end with a somewhat more ragged and off-time response from the organic members of the crew.
Minutes later Owens was snapping closed the last of the closures on his body armor, but had left his faceplate open and up. He glanced over at his instruments, at the men and stations that were his repsonsibility, and was satisfied with what he saw. He turned to deliver his status report to his captain, also finishing suiting up and settling his command helmet connections.
“Stations ready for combat, sir!”
“Very good, Mister Owens.”
“CONTACTS AT TWO THOUSAND!” sang out the sensor officer over the common channel.
“And not a moment too soon. Here we go. Guns as they bear!”
Underneath his feet he felt a rippling vibration and felt the ship begin to heel somewhat more than with the waves; the underwater cannon were firing at something. Something close.
“Hard aport and full throttle, Mister Tempkin! Ready on racks one and two!”
#”Ready Racks One and Two!”#
The boat wheeled about as fast as it could, which meant that it moved like a slug to Owens’ combat-telescoped sense of time; too slowly, the wake churning up behind it in a knuckle of water. Even over the increased laboring of the engines, he could still feel the submarine guns hammering away.
“Fire Racks One and Two! Three each!”
#”Firing Racks One and Two!”#
In rapid succession six dark drums rolled down the racks and were tossed into the air, to splash down several dozen yards aft of the ship as it made waves.
“Ready for the count!”
That was when the sea aft of them seemed to belch white, before erupting in a rising plume of spray.
One-Two!
One-Two!
One-Two!
Owens thought he saw flying bodies, or parts thereof, in the last two explosions.
“They’re coming up!”
“Prepare to repel boarders!”
Several of the ‘bots and crew dropped what they were doing and snatched up weapons, positioning themselves to scan the waters around the hull, guns ready. The gun-tub pom-pom depressed as far as it could go, the big automatic weapon shifting its aim left and right like a shaky compass needle. In addition to the big forty-millimeter, Owens counted several light machine guns and a portable plasma cannon. Owens drew his own ion blaster, slapping in a long e-clip.
They weren’t long in waiting; the ship lurched from several impacts, and the deck was suddenly being scalloped as bolts of energy sprouted from the waters, smashing into the deck, sending detached debris flying. Even before the armored and air-tanked figures began leaping from the water, the corvette’s crew was firing in response. The big three-incher’s deep thumping provided a background tempo to the rapid-fire rattle and screaming of smaller automatic and rapid-fire weaponry in churning the surrounding water into flying spray and boiling steam. Some of the eruptions of water were oddly colored by things dissolved in them. Suddenly the boat lifted and seemed to slither sideways in midair as a depth charge, dropped nearly under the boat, exploded and belched a geyser into the air. The ship shook and rattled, but held together and rode the foam down to settle and rock in the water for a moment of peace...before it again was shook by alien fire erupting from the sea around it.
Owens found himself putting a blast of ion bolts into one grotesquely goggled face as it attempted to bring its glowing trident to bear on him, had the satisfaction of seeing the helmeted head and the five-eyed face under it fly apart in boiling ichor. But it was what he saw rising out of the violated waters behind the falling body that sent icy urgency racing through his blood.
“URCHIN!!!”
As the dark bespiked Kittani power armor ascended into the air to bring its weapon-festooned arms to bear on the beleagured corvette, Owens knew the fight had just gotten a lot harder....

The Magnolia-class corvettes are an eccentric mix of systems and technologies both new and old, with the desired end-result being an easily mass-produced, cheap and expendable escort and coastal defense ship for mercantile shipping.
The hull is nothing new; it’s based on a WW2-vintage ‘Flower’-class corvette; a quickly-designed small-hulled escort ship mass-produced by the British Empire to meet the needs of countering the German U-boat threat. These small, but reliable, boats were mass-produced to escort merchant convoys, and assist destroyer squadrons in hunting down marauding submarines.
Paladin Steel, working off museum schematics recovered from Canada, has resurrected the design with a few changes. The hulls are now made of molded composite plastic and wire-reinforced polycrete. An enclosed bridge replaces the original open bridge deck. More modern weaponry has been added, including a pair of retracting underwater turrets in the underside of the hull..
Finally, extensive automation has replaced most of the crew. A central CPU and a complement of work and combat drones handle most of the work, though there is a small living crew to provide backup and supervisory oversight.
All in all, the Magnolias have proven a mixed success. While very good sea boats, and being relatively inexpensive to manufacture and outfit, the Magnolias are hampered by their speed, which prevents them from being able to keep up with faster ships and pursue(or escape) quicker underwater targets. The light armament is also a minus for some crews, more familiar with heavier-armed vessels like the Capricorn or Coalition designs like the Barracuda. Finally, many people are put off by robot-crewed vessels, a problem which has only been partially remedied by the small complement of living crew, and by PS’s putting out of an unautomated variant for export. Still, while there are those who consider being assigned to a Magnolia to be the equivalent of being sentenced to a penal battalion or exiled to Antarctica, there are those crews who take pride in their small ships, or who look back with nostalgic reverie at the time they spent honing their maritime skills aboard such craft.
Magnolias are deployed by the GNE primarily as harbor defense boats, minefield maintenance craft, fisheries protection, and coastal convoy escort. They are also used as lightships, weather monitors, and life stations. A number of them have been sold to smaller communities for similar purposes.

Type: PS-PG44 Magnolia
Class: Anti-Submarine Corvette
Crew: 12 and 78 robot drones(typically a mix of ‘Danbot’ and ‘Magnus’ types)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,200
Bridge 400
Forward Turret 250
Aft Gun-Tub 150 (+100 MDC gunshield)
Height: 36 ft from keel to mast-top. 12 ft draft.
Width: 33 ft
Length: 205 ft
Weight: 940 tons displacement
Cargo: 25 tons
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel (3,600 mile range) or Nuclear(w/ 15 year energy life)
Speed: 16 knts(about 17 MPH)
Market Cost: 3.9 million credits for liquid fuel, 10 million for nuclear
Outside the GNE, privately purchasing the ships with their robot crews could cost 34-50 million credits(PS gives the GNE a tremendous discount on the robotics).
Systems of Note:
Standard Robot/Naval Vessel Systems, plus:
*Radar--100 mile range
*Sonar---60 mile range
*Armored Lifeboats(2)---For the living crew the Magnolias carry armored lifeboat ‘pods’, each having 200 MDC, an electric motor good for 5-6 MPH(powered by a combination of a fuel-cell, that produces potable water as a byproduct, and has a 300 mile range, and solar cells on the roof), an emergency sail/water catcher, and supplies for a week.

*Crane-Winches(2)---These are two small cranes, each with a 5 ton lifting capacity, that can be used for deploying towed sonar/decoy arrays, mine-sweeping pavanes, unmanned underwater vehicles, and nets.

*Concrete/Composite Constuction Hull---The Magnolias’ quick-build hulls of megadamage concrete and molded fiber-composite give their hulls a low EM signature preventing them from triggering MAD-equipped magnetic mines and torpedoes.

Weapons Systems:
1) Forward Gun Turret--The original ‘Flower’ design called for a 4-inch gun to be fitted, but Paladin Steel offers several options for the Magnolia.

a)3-Inch(76mm) Gun---A holdover from the classic armed merchantman. PS has updated the design with more modern MD alloys and ceramics for lighter construction, longer life, and easier maintenance, added more advanced fire control(and in some cases and auto-loader), and supplied the weapons with more advanced MD munitions and safer gun propellants. Originally, these weapons were serviced by a 10-man crew; modern automation has reduced that to a 4 man crew(Gunner, Layer, and 2 Loaders).Typically this sort of heavy weapon in mounted in the fore- and aft- heavy weapons positions.
Range:14,600 yards in a surface role, 29,800 feet in anti-aircraft mode
Damage:
(Fragmentation) 4d6 MD to 20 ft blast radius
(High Explosive-Armor-Piercing)2d4x10 MD to 8 ft blast radius
(Flare)Burns for 1d4 minutes, illuminating a 2,000 ft area
Rate of Fire: 20 rds per minute(5 shots per melee)
Payload: Single shot feed
Cost: 200,000 credits

b)5-Inch(127mm) Gun---A holdover from the classic armed merchantman, improved by PS same as with the 3-inch weapon. Too slow to be effective as an anti-aircraft defense against modern jets and particularly fast moving monsters, it is effective against surface targets. Even Splugorth Slaver-craft have learned to respect old tube-artillery firing micro-tacnuke shells. Originally, these weapons were serviced by a 10-man crew; modern automation has reduced that to a 5 man crew(gunner, gun captain, layer, and three loaders). Can also be mounted in a fully-enclosed turret.
Range:17,575 yards* in a surface role, 37,200 feet in anti-aircraft mode
(RAP/Rocket-Assisted Projectile) 23,770 yards
(*Note: It would take over a minute for shot to hit the target at maximum range...est. 68 seconds)
Damage:
(Fragmentation) 6d6 MD to a 35 ft radius
(High Explosive-Armor-Piercing) 1d6x10 MD to 12 ft blast radius
(Plasma)2d4x10 MD to a 30 ft blast radius
(Flare) Burns for 1d4 minutes, illuminating a 2,000 ft area
(Chaff Round)Spreads radar-disrupting chaff similar to Triax-type chaff
Rate of Fire: 3 rds per melee
Payload:Single shot feed
Cost: 360,000 credits

c) Rapid Fire Rail Gun
Range:11,000 ft
Damage:3d4x10 MD per 40 rd burst; can only fire bursts.
Rate of Fire:ECHH
Payload: 8000 rd drum(200 bursts)


2) Rear Gun Tub---Mounted in a high-sided parapet amidships is a rapid-fire gun meant for air defense, and fitted with a gun shield.
a)PS/FA-A9 2-pounder (40mm)Autocannon(Single or Twin MOunting)---Typically operated by a three-man gun crew(gunner and two loaders responsible for swapping out the ammo drums).
Range:(High Velocity Round)5,000 yards(15,000 ft)
Maximum AA altitude w/ HV shells: 13,300 ft
(Low Velocity Round) 3,800 yards(11,400 ft)
Damage:(Fragmentation) 4d6 MD to 6 ft blast radius
(High Explosive) (HV) 1d4x10+3 MD to 1.5 ft blast radius
(LV)1d4x10 MD to 1.5 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: 120 rounds per minute(or up to 30 rds per melee)
Payload: box magazine of 200 rounds
Cost: 150,000 credits
High Velocity(Fragmentation) shells cost 200 credits apiece, 245 credits for HE
Low Velocity(Fragmentation) shells cost 180 credits apiece, 200 credits for HE

b)PS-862 AC 30mm Anti-Aircraft Flak Cannon(Paladin Steel knockoff of the TriaxTX-862FC), Can be mounted singly or in two-gun mounts.
Range:10,000 ft
Damage:4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst
Rate of Fire:EPCHH
Payload:800 rds, 400 rds per cannon
Bonuses:Independent laser and radar tracking system(range: 11,000 ft). +1 strike set on automatic against aerial attack, +2 strike fired by gunner
Cost: 500,000 credits

c)*20 mm Rapid-fire Cannon---A ship- mounted “Taskin” Rifle, and a favorite “light” weapon that can be set up and mounted just about anywhere. Typically pintle-post mounted, with a gun shield to protect the gunner. Typically operated by a two-man gun crew(gunner and loader). Can be mounted singly or in two-gun mounts.
A longer-ranged Model 2N for naval vessels has recently been introduced, with a longer barrel, more powerful propellants, and higher cost.
Range:(20mm)4000 ft, 7,200 ft for the Model 2N
Damage:(20mm) 1d4 MD per shell
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst
1d4x10+4 MD per 10 rd burst
Airburst does 1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius(single shot)
(20mm PSX-1) 4d4 MD single rd
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 1000 rd drum
Cost: 40,000 credits. 50,000 credits for the Model 2N

d)PS-HSGC-AAM-11 20mm Six-Barrel Super Vulcan Cannon---A proven system with good range and damage, but a tendency to seize up under protracted firing.
Range: 7,000 ft
Damage:(Proximity-fuzed High-Explosive) 4d4 MD single shot (2 ft blast radius)
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
2d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst(but -1 to strike)
6d6x10 MD for a 40 rd burst(takes THREE attacks and is -3 to strike targets smaller than 20 ft long)
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 4,000 rd drum
Penalty: If more than 4 full 40-rd bursts are fired consecutively, there is a +10% cumulative chance per additional burst of the weapon overheating and seizing up....Takes 1d6 melees to purge the coolant system and unjam the mechanism. Firing multiple lower-volume bursts incurs NO penalty.
Cost: 250,000 credits

e) PS-MMLR-14 Mini-Missile Launcher ---One of Paladin Steel’s minor triumphs of reverse-engineering has been the knock-off of the Coalition’s CCT-M20 Missile Rifle,complete down to the light laser, but modified to take advantage of PS’s advancements in lighter weight composites and ceramics. Has the advantage of having a light laser for additional firepower. Can be mounted singly or in two-gun mounts.
Range:(Mini-Missiles) Varies by Missile Type(usually about 1 mile)
(Laser) 2,000 ft
Damage:(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
(Laser) 2d6 MD per blast
Rate of Fire:(Mini-Missiles) Volleys of 1, 2, or 4
(Laser) ECHH
Payload:(Mini-Missiles)20 per launcher(10 per launch tube)
(Laser) Effectively Unlimited attached to an external generator, or 20 shots per standard E-clip/30 per long E-clip as backup.
Cost: 36,000 credits per launcher

f)L-SAM ‘Black Talon’ Launcher---A light weapon mount RAM(rolling airframe missile) launcher adapted for shipboard use.
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD to 40 ft blast radius
R ate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3, or 4(all)
Payload: 8 per launcher
Bonus: +5 to strike, and gets TWO attempts to strike the target(agile enough to loop back on a target and try again)
Cost: 200,000 credits per launcher, 10,000 credits per missile

g)M-Ion Cannon----A PS copy of the Triax TX-8841 Ion Cannon(sans MRM launchers, though some buyers have them fitted for installation in large gun mounts). PS has also managed to adapt its ion-weapons modification technology to further augment the M-Ion weapon
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload:200 shot battery. Effectively unlimited if attached to a nuclear powerplant.
Cost:200,000 credits
Options:*Ion Scatter-Shot Module---This is a barrel mod that turns the cannon into a short range shotgun with an area of effect blast. Reduce range to 2,000 ft, but does 5d6 MD to a 30 ft wide area. Cost: 10,000 credits
*Ion Booster Module---Another mod that boosts the range of the ion bolts, albeit with a small reduction in damage capability. Reduce damage to 1d4x10 MD, but boost range to 7,000 ft. Cost: 12,000 credits

3)Ventral Underwater Turrets(2)---Remote control weapons turrets for defending the underside of the ship from swimmers and swarm attacks. When deployed, the turrets impose a -2 MPH speed penalty due to additional drag, but each turret can be fitted with a rapid-fire cannon firing supercavitating ammunition, or an energy weapon.
a) L-Ion Cannon--A lightweight weapon derived from the ‘Beach Stormer’ power armor rifle. It does more damage, but more importantly, is small enough to be mounted as a light weapon, and coupled in twin mounts on light gun positions, or in batteries of four on large gun-mounts.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10+10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload:200 shot battery. Effectively unlimited if attached to a nuclear powerplant.
Cost: 230,000 credits

b) PS-44LG Pulse Laser
Range:4,000 ft
Damage:3d4x10 MD per rapid-fire pulse blast(1 attack)
Rate of Fire:six times per melee
Payload:500 bursts battery, Unlimited nuclear
Cost: 250,000 credits

c) PS-100U Rail Gun
Range: 3,000 ft underwater
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD 60 rd burst
Rate of Fire:EPCHH
Payload:12,000 rd drum(200 bursts)
Cost: 100,000 credits

d)Sonic Cannon(PS-UHFSC-02)
Range:4,000 ft underwater
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast, plus 6d6 MD to a 20 ft diameter area around the blast area
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 95,000 credits

e) Micro-Torpedo Launcher---A machine-gun-style micro-torpedo launcher ‘gun’.
Range:(Pattern-MT1A)2,500 ft underwater,
(Pattern-MT1B)2,500 ft underwater
(Pattern-MT1C)3,200 ft underwater
(Pattern-MT1D) 4,000 ft underwater
Damage:(Pattern-MT1A)6d6 MD to 3 ft radius
(Pattern-MT1B) Screamer Round;Screamers are specialized one-use munitions that when fired, broadcast a massive burst of noise across all audio/sonic frequencies, with the intended effect of destroying acoustic target(sonar) locks, and allowing the sub/diver to escape opponents using sonar to detect or track them. -60% to track the sub via sonar while the Screamer is in effect, while sonar-guided weapons are -10 to strike .
Screamers also have the effect of stunning dolphins, whales, and other creatures using natural sonar and echo location. These creatures are disoriented/stunned for 1d4 melees.
A typical screamer will last 1d4 melees until it burns out or is destroyed.
Screamers can also be fused to ignite/activate anywhen up to a minute(4 melees) after deployment.
Effective radius of effect of the 18mm screamers is aproximately 1,000 ft
(Pattern-MT1C) Sonic Warhead---2d4 MD per blast to an 8 ft blast radius, 1d6x10 SDC to another 10 ft beyond that, Does only 1d4 MD to a 4 ft radius in air
Sonic weapons do HALF damage through light ‘soft’ armors like MDC barding and padded armor(such as wetsuits).
(Pattern-MT1D) 1d4x10 MD to 3 ft blast radius
Bonuses:(Pattern-MT1A) None; unguided
(Pattern-MT1B) None; unguided
(Pattern-MT1C) (+1 to strike in water. Micro-Homing Sonar Chip) Can also home in on a tracer beacon, and can track moving targets.
(Pattern-MT1D) (+3 to strike in water. Micro-Homing Sonar Chip)Can also home in on a tracer beacon, and can track moving targets.
Rate of Fire: Bursts of 1-10, EGCHH
Payload: 600 round drum.
Cost: 60,000 credits for the cannon
(Pattern-MT1A)250 credits
(Pattern-MT1B) 220 credits
(Pattern-MT1C) 360 credits
(Pattern-MT1D) 400 credits

4) Depth Charge Rack---The rear deck is fitted with two depth charge racks.
Range: Can be set for down to 2 miles deep; the racks throw the depth charges about 50 ft to the rear of the ship.
Damage: 2d4x10 MD to 100 ft radius, and 4d6 MD to an additional 30 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Drops one a time
Payload: 40 depth charges
Cost: PS sells depth charges for about 4,200 credits each

5)ASW Projector--- Rear deck-mounted launchers, firing forward and to the sides. Rocket-propelled light depth charge launchers; actually ‘hedgehog’ spigot-mortars firing finned bombs.
Range: 4,000 ft, 1,000 ft maximum depth
Damage: 7d6x5 MD to 50 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,4, 5, 8, or 16
Payload: LASRW-16: 16 rounds, with 72 reload rounds
Cost: 80,000 credits for the launcher(81,000 credits for the LASRW-8 , 84,000 credits for the LASRW-16; price covers installation) 3,000 credits per shell

6) (Optional)Light Gun Mounts----Most Magnolias have provision for 1-6 smaller rapid-fire guns(up to 20mm) mounted on pintle-pedestal mounts with light gunshields(60 MDC) mounted around the ship.

7)(Optional) Submarine Drones---Many Magnolias carry several dozen ABA-1 Wrasses that can be readily programmed with a hand set and easily hand-launched over the side to serve as decoys, recon units, trackers, or light attack RPVs.

8 ) Countermeasures:------Paladin Steel has adopted a series of standard countermeasure packages for use aboard their vessels. Notably they have adapted the US Navy Mk 38 Rapid Bloom Off-Board Countermeasures(RBOC-2) launcher system and the Replica radar signature decoy system. The RBOC-2 fires rocket-mortar shells of flares and chaff up to 1.25 miles away, to heights of 3,000 ft(the better to fool missiles coming in over the horizon), and fires clouds of chaff from deck mortars at closer ranges to confuse other guided weapons).
The Replica system resembles a folded-liferaft capsule when in its launcher, but can be fired off up to 300 ft, and rapidly unfolds to become two linked floating radar and sonar reflectors that give the appearance of a much larger object, and hopefully divert enemy fire and attention away from the targeted vessel.
A variant on this system includes attaching active sonar decoys or “Screamers” to attract or confuse acoustic sensors and homing torpedoes.
Range: The RBOC can toss decoy bundles 1.25 miles, and to an altitude of 3,000 ft
Damage: None. The RBOC is too inaccurate to be used as an effective weapon(oh, it could probably blow a person off the deck if they were standing too close, but that goes without saying) Effects are similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
(Flare/Chaff)Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: Flare/Chaff launchers typically have 10 shells each. A Replica launcher will have 2 decoys per launcher. The Magnolias mount two Replica launchers aft, and two flare launchers.

Options:
*PS-L-CIWS Vulcan Chain Gun(aka “Button Guns”)---This installation, introduced on the Type 9 Battlemover, then adapted as an air defense weapon option for the VW Camper Gunship, has been adapted for shipboard use as PS’s standard light maritime weapons system. The system is a very compact and neat installation that takes up little space, and has been compared to the pre-Rifts Russian ADMG-630 30mm Gatling CIWS that saw extensive service aboard Russian warships. The PS-L-CIWS is often called the “Button Gun” because of its squat, flattened dome-like turret.
The Magnolias can actually mount up to FOUR of these weapons on their hulls.
MDC: 100
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per 20 rd burst(can only fire bursts)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, as an automated defense system linked to a radar/sensor system, the “Button Gun” has a +2 to strike, and four attacks per melee.
Payload:8,000 rd drum(200 bursts)
Cost: 30,000 credits

*Towed Sonar Decoys----These are floated pods trawled at the end of stern lines, up to a mile long, and equipped with noise makers to decoy accoustic-homing weapons away from the escort ship(and any vessels they’re protecting); such weapons are +3 to strike the decoys
Numerous attempts have been made to trail explosive-laden(typically a 2,000-lb Bomb----2d4x100 MD to 80 ft blast radius) ‘bait’ in similar fashion to draw the attention of various sea monsters and lure them into attacking(and swallowing) the explosives, but this has met with only limited success. Horned Demon-Fish, Sea Maws, and Sea Serpents have been known to go for the traps, but smarter monsters, such as Storm Riders, Giant Squid, Shadow Sharks, and Devil Kraken have learned to ignore the bait and go for the tow ship.

*Towed Missile Pods---Missile/Torpedo Pod are essentially cargo barge-pods modified to act as massive Captor Mines, and can be anchored off-shore, just under the surface, and either set to fire at a pre-determined remote signal, timed interval, or boobytrap sensor trip. Typically one-use expendable weapons platforms. Magnolias often use them as ASW systems, though at least one GNEN operation used a flotilla of Magnolias to act as a bombardment unit against a Horune shore base, figuring that the pirates would ignore the smaller ships in favor of the larger vessels maneuvering for a more conventional attack.
a)LRM/LRT Pod--Holds up to 10 long range missiles or long range torpedoes. Cost: 13 million credits
b) MRM/MRT Pod--Holds up to 20 medium range missiles/torpedoes. Cost: 4 million credits
c)SRM/SRT Pod---Holds up to 40 short-range missiles/torpedoes. Cost: 2.5 million credits
d) MM/MT Pod---Holds an astonishing 80 mini-missiles/torpedoes. Cost: 1 million credits
e)Mine Pod---Essentially a cargo pod cramped to the gills with high explosives for demolition work. Does 2d6x100 MD to a 100 ft blast radius, and can heave many small vessels into the air if exploded directly underneath. Cost: 800,000 credits


Variants:
* PS-PG44C---Conventional manned variant without the automation, requiring a full 60 man crew, but costing 40% less. Some in the GNEN regard these ships as little better than armed trawlers, but they sell quite well outside the GNE.

[abtex]

Paladin Steel ‘Magnolia’-class ASW Corvette
(aka ‘Plastic Flower’, ‘Cyber-Rose’, ‘Steel Magnolia’)

A Flower child. "Peace Man. Like Peaces, everyone in range of our weapons. Spreading the Love with Depth Charges and stuff like that. That's the way."
Nice work.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel ‘Magnolia’-class ASW Corvette
(aka ‘Plastic Flower’, ‘Cyber-Rose’, ‘Steel Magnolia’)

A Flower child. "Peace Man. Like Peaces, everyone in range of our weapons. Spreading the Love with Depth Charges and stuff like that. That's the way."
Nice work.

Peace Through Superior Firepower.
On Rifts Earth, Tank Driver Give YOU Pretty Flowers.

[abtex]

Paladin Steel ‘Magnolia’-class ASW Corvette
(aka ‘Plastic Flower’, ‘Cyber-Rose’, ‘Steel Magnolia’)

A Flower child. "Peace Man. Like Peaces, everyone in range of our weapons. Spreading the Love with Depth Charges and stuff like that. That's the way."
Nice work.

Peace Through Superior Firepower. .

...that's Superior FlowerPower, Man

On Rifts Earth, Tank Driver Give YOU Pretty Flowers.

[taalismn]

[...that's Superior FlowerPower, Man

DDDDDUUUDDdddddddeeeeeeeeee!!!!
That why the Invid are like so...GREEN and MAGENTA!

[abtex]

You might like to read this. Flower Class Corvette

Looking for deck plans layout.
You need a ‘Magnolia’-class ASW Corvette converted to fishing boat or whaler.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel BattleRings---Space Weapons Platforms

“We have eight, repeat, eight pirate contacts on attack approach to the planet! They’re coming in hot and armed.”
“Just like last time. Kelsa, fire up platforms one through twenty; let’s see if those Paladin lads were true in their advertising. At the very least they’ll buy groundside time to prepare a warm reception for the raiders.”
“Batsats are confirming full weapons activation. Targets acquired and tracking. Target acquistion...better than expected. We can fire on your command, Marshal.”
“Welcome to the meatgrinder, boys.”

“I don’t see why we have to run the combat exercise with those people present! They may have provided the hardware as per contract but I don’t see why we should let them in on ALL our security secrets!”
“Because, General, this was PART of the stipulated contract. They don’t turn over full activation keys until they’ve tested our programming for themselves.”
“But---”
“Minister Gahat? If I may interject? General, I can well understand your wanting to keep at least some of your command protocols out of the hands of more parties than is absolutely necessary to the security of your nation, but we also need to know that we’re not going to get a call in the middle of the night that one or more of our defensive satellites meant to safeguard you from invasion by your neighbors has been turned into an offensive weapon, or is targeting your own nation and taking out your air traffic or your cities, because a command routine you installed that we didn’t know about up and got compromised or corrupted. Now, we have a series of ‘idiot-proofing’ exercises we want to run against your software. That child over there is one of our hack-master proteges; if she can’t find a hole in your security and have that satellite lazing her name in one of your wheatfields, we’ll sign off on your software installation. Until then, we reserve the right and the ability to lock out control.”

PS BattleRings are a remnant of the old PS spacecraft program when they were dependent on centrifugal force to generate gravity in their ships. With the move-over to more advanced technologies, PS discarded the manned aspect of the older designs and saw fit to continue operation of the old freefall assembly lines to produce deep space structures.
The BattleRing is a classic example. Once a modular component in manned deep space warcraft, these hull structures have been retasked as space station parts and battle satellites. Battle Rings are typically deployed as orbital defensive systems(against outside threats, but also against hostile ICBMs), but they can also be used as offensive surface bombardment and blockade/quarantine platforms, as surveillance and communications relay units, and as orbital supply caches. More innocuous(or secondary) purposes are as large earth-science monitors, solar power sats, weather monitoring, and orbital refueling stations.
A BattleRing is a rigid-frame ring, supported by 6-8 spokes from a central hub. The Hub supports a service connector/docking interface, sensor arrays, manuevering engines, and a small cabin for manned operation/inspection(no more than 10 people can be squeezed into the cabin). The ring rim supports multiple hardpoints for the mounting of weaponry and additional systemry. Each hardpoint can be accessed through a service tunnel in the spokes from the hub, and an access way in the rim. The rim tunnel is large enough to shift ammunition from hardpoint to hardpoint if necessary, and may even be used to store ‘speedloaders’ of ammunition between ‘stations’.
BattleRings can be ‘stacked’ both for towing/transport by a tug(such as the Brunel or Goethels) or warship to where they are to be deployed. In some instances, they can also be interconnected at the hubs to form larger battleplatforms with greater firepower.
Though too expensive for the average adventurer group to acquire, BattleRings are typically bought by companies and governments looking for ways to shore up their space defences. Since attaining Rifts Earth orbit, the government of Greater New England uses BattleRings to shadow and protect their valuable space assets, such as Plymouth One and Valiant Station, and the satellites are increasingly common in the ‘flocks’ of free-flying equipment around Paladin Steel outposts. PS outworld enclaves when possible will loft BattleRings in orbit to provide defense, communications, scientific survey, and early warning.

The BattleRing system is manufactured both in Rifts Earth orbit(by the Plymouth One and Valiant Station facilities) and by Aegis Stellar Industries at the Amberjin shipyards(as a result, both PS and ASI facilities are protected by a network of BattleRings).

Type: PS-SDS-040 BattleRing System
Class: Modular Orbital/Deep Space Weapons Platform
Crew: None, automated defense platform
Many BattleRings will have a small cabin capable of sustaining up to 10 personnel who could manually operate onboard systems, but these accommodations are meant primarily for inspections, maintenance, and training, and onboard supplies are limited to little more than a week’s worth of consumables.
MDC/Armor By Location:
Ring(4 quadrants)
(Light Battle Ring)(4) 1,000 each
(Medium Battle Ring)(4) 2,000 each
(Heavy Battle Ring) (4) 3,000 each
Spokes
(Light Battle Ring)(6) 500 each
(Medium Battle Ring)(6) 700 each
(Heavy Battle Ring) (8) 900 each
Hub
(Light Battle Ring) 1,000 MDC
(Medium Battle Ring) 2,500 MDC
(Heavy Battle Ring) 3,600 MDC
(Light Battle Ring)
(Medium Battle Ring)
(Heavy Battle Ring)
Width: 250 ft diameter
Length: 80 ft
Weight/Mass:
(Light Battle Ring) 1,000 tons
(Medium Battle Ring) 4,000 tons
(Heavy Battle Ring) 6,000 tons

Cargo: Up to 800 tons can be stowed in each ring quarter, if access is not an issue
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 30 year energy life between refuelings.
Depending on circumstances, solar cells or electromagnetic tethers can supplement the main power, extending the effective lifespan of the satellite.
Speed: (Space Maneuvering) 400 MPH
Cost: (Light Battle Ring) 50 million credits
(Medium Battle Ring) 85 million credits
(Heavy Battle Ring) 2 billion credits
Systems of Note:
*Long Range Sensors---Military grade; can detect ships in normal space at 240,000 miles, and FTL transits at 10 light years.

*ECCM system: An automated system that uses electronic encryption and frequency jumping to (attempt to) negate jamming systems. The system has an 85% chance of negating radar or communications jamming (non-magical) on its own.
Note that this only applies to received communications (the system filters them out from the jamming clutter) and sensory data received by that unit alone (other units cannot make use of it, unless they have an unaffected datalink/info-share with the ECCM equipped unit). Magic/psychic jamming is NOT affected by this system.
This system is especially important for maintaining clear lines of communication to the sats in an EW-rich combat environment. While most buyers/users have a default that prevent the Battle Ring from engaging without clear orders, others have programmed default combat routines in the event that jamming prevents real-time direction of the sats(Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries does NOT take responsibility for any damage such routines may cause if the programs have been installed post-purchase without PS/ASI consultation).

*Battle Computer---BattleRings are run by onboard drone AIs that have limited tactical caapbility(mainly, their programming consists of prioritizaing programmed target profiles and shooting anything matching them when they come within range).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee:(Special) The battle computer can handle the maximum number of attacks for a weapons station up to 6 weapons stations; so if the BattleRing has four weapons stations, it can fire each weapon at its maximum number. If the BattleRing has EIGHT weapons stations, then it can only fire six stations, or fire four weapons at maximum rate, and distribute the remaining attacks of the remaining four stations so each weapon fires at HALF its maximum rate.

Weapons Systems:
1) Hardpoints:
Light Battle Ring---- 4 Energy Weapons, 4 Hardpoints
Medium Battle Ring--- Supports 8 Hardpoints(any kind)
Heavy Battle Ring---- 12 Hardpoints(any kind)
Note that the following is just a sampling of the more commonly used/available systems---PS is constantly experimenting with new plasma, x-ray laser, ion weaponry, and sensory systems.
Each Hardpoint can accommodate one of the following:
a) Docking Port---Can service up to a Medium Shuttlecraft, Fighter, or a heavy satellite. Tankage connections allow for refueling/recharging and limited resupply of onboard consumables. This can be increased if Cargo Pods are mounted on other hardpoints(the rim accessways can shift consumables to the docking hardpoint).
Cost: 400,000 credits

b) Cargo Port-----A Cargo Pod Point can carry/hold up to 1/8 of the Ring’s mass in cargo.
Cost: 200,000 credits

c) Light Particle Beam Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)16,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x100 MD
Rate of Fire: EGHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 18 million credits

d) Heavy Particle Beam Cannon---These weapons are so large that they cannot tap into the satellite’s main power grid without severely taxing it. So, in order to maximize the weapon’s usefulness, each HPBC must mount its own separate powerplant, which in turn increases its mass, and expense.
Range: (Palladium) 70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 70,000 miles in space
Damage:1d4x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 100 million credits

e) Light Laser Cluster
Range: (Palladium) 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)10,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x10 MD short burst per twin barrel blast, 3d4x10 MD heavy burst, 3d6x10 MD maximum burst,
Rate of Fire: 8 short bursts, 6 heavy bursts, or 4 maximum bursts per cannon arm.
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 3 million credits

f) Medium Laser Cluster
Range: (Palladium) 64 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 64,000 miles in space
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 18 million credits

g)Heavy Laser Cluster
Range:(Palladium) 70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 70,000 miles in space
Damage:2d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 72 million credits

h)Light Rail Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 32 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)32,000 miles in space
Damage:3d6x10 MD per 80 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload:32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon
Cost: 1 million credits

i)Heavy Rail cannon
Range:(Palladium) 40 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 40,000 miles in space
Damage:1d4x100 MD per 80 rd burst
Rate of Fire:ECHH
Payload: 32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon
Cost: 6 million credits

j)Mini-Missile Launcher
Range: Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire: From 1-60 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 900 MMs per hardpoint
Cost: 12 million credits

k)Short Range Missile Launcher
Range:Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire:From 1-50 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 600 SRMs per hardpoint
Cost: 17 million credits

l)Medium Range Missile Launcher
Range:Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire:From 1-30 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 270 MRMs per hardpoint
Cost: 19 million credits

m)Long Range Missile Launcher
Range:Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire:From 1-15 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 90 LRMs per hardpoint
Cost: 22 million credits

n)Cruise Missile Launcher---Cruise Missiles are still fairly new to Paladin Steel, but the Paladins have been quick to see their advantages, and have made provision to refit their craft and stations with these weapons when they become available.
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:From 1-15 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 30 Cruise Missiles per hardpoint
Cost: 27 million credits

o)Reentry Vehicle Launch Rack---This option is really only useful to orbital bombardment or science survey platforms for deploying space-to-surface landers, penetrators, or munitions. The rack simply kicks out an individual RV or MIRV ‘bus’, the vehicle’s maneuvering engines align it for re-entry, and gravity takes over. A Docking Port or Cargo Point can serve as an improvised RVLR in a pinch, but dedicated Racks are better suited to ‘garaging’ RVs until needed.
Range:Varies by missile type
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire: 1-20 RVs can be deployed in one volley
Payload: 20 RVs per hardpoint
Cost: 2 million credits

p)Forcefield Generator---An early effort to retrofit older spacecraft with state of the art battlescreen protection. External forcefield generator nodes are possible; these generators come complete with their own independant power generation capacity.
MDC: 1,000 per generator. Regenerates at 100 MDC per hour
Cost: 12 million credits

q) Maneuvering Drive---Maneuvering drives add speed to a BattleRing but MUST be bought and mounted in pairs(so as not to unbalance the ring). Manuevering drives are typically plasma-electric thrusters.
Speed: Mach 5; adding additional pairs of engines only increases speed by an addition one Mach per pair of engines
Cost: 60 million credits for a set of two engines

Other Options:
*Long Range Sensor Array---Can detect vessels moving in normal space as far away as one light year, and FTL ships as far away as 25 light years
Cost: 35 million credits

*Ground-Scan Sensor Array----Common to Battle Rings used as ground support weapons, orbital quarantine, and anti-ICBM sats. These systems include microwave radar that can pick out features as small as 2 ft across(Useful for terrain-mapping), ‘lookdown’ radar that can pick out movements of ground vehicles and aircraft, thermal-radiation detectors for spotting missile launches, and optics that can read a license plate from Low Earth Orbit.
Cost: 25 million credits

*Laser Aerosol Dispensers---These spray a cloud of nanoparticles and silvered chaff that reflects and disipates laser strikes(lasers do HALF damage).
The vapor cloud lasts about 4 melees/1 minute before disipating. Each dispenser has 20 canisters(more can carried as cargo and reloaded; a single canister weighs about 1.2 tons).
Up to 4 can be fitted on a Light Battle Ring, 12 on a Medium Battle Ring, and 36 on a Heavy Battle Ring
Cost: 1 million credits

*Sand Caster---Sand-Casters dispense a grittier and more substantial material than LADs, but only reduce laser damage by a third. However, they also do damage to ships passing through the cloud equivalent to the ship/missile’s Mach speed xd6 in MD.
Sand Caster launchers can throw canisters as far out as 5 miles. The Sand cloud covers a 1,000 ft radius and lasts about 5 melees before dispersing. Each launcher has 20 canisters(more can carried as cargo and reloaded; a single canister weighs about 1.5 tons).
Up to 4 can be fitted on a Light Battle Ring, 12 on a Medium Battle Ring, and 36 on a Heavy Battle Ring
Cost: 1 million credits

*Scrambler Fields---Scrambler Fields are onboard EW; they jam all radio transmissions in an 80,000 mile range in space, and have a 45% chance of deflecting ordinary missiles.
For tripe the cost, the jamming field can be made powerful enough to penetrate atmosphere
Cost: 18 million credits

*Decoy Launchers----Though mainly based on systems in use by the Orbital powers of Rifts Earth, and thus decidedly crude by Three Galaxies standards, these decoy systems can still prove effective, or at least distracting at critical moments.
Range: Typically launch out to 10 miles or more from the satellite under the initial expulsion charge.
Damage/Effects:
-Ballute Decoy---This is an inflatable metallic balloon-form meant to be highly visible to enemy radar and optics. A small maneuvering drive (equivalent to a heavy Manned Manuevering Unit) gives the decoy some capacity to micmic a ship’s normal movement.
-Wild Weasel---A more maneuverable version of the above, but the WW relies not on passive sensor reflection but on active emissions to fool enemy sensors. The WW is more robust, and can ape a more vigorous range of maneuvers on the part of the ship it’s supposed to be imitating. Effective Speed: Mach 6
Duration: 10 minutes per pod
Effects: The decoys have a 70% chance of fooling enemy sensor operators and expert systems. They are also +2 to enemy sensor-guided munitions to strike, increasing the chance that the missiles will elect to pursue the ‘louder’ sensor signature(the missile rolls to strike for both the original ship and each decoy deployed....highest to strike roll determines which target the missile(s) go after).

-Smart Chaff--- Jams radio signals(75% chance of jamming military band command-guidance ordnance), and 60% chance of deflecting ordinary missiles.

-Laser Aerosol---Laser Aerosol Clouds are chancy; they impede the lasers of the ship they’re supposed to be shielding as readily as those of the attackers, and the cloud does not move with the ship if maneuvers are necessitated(it will continue moving and expanding in a straight line until it completely disispates).
Rate of Fire: Can deploy up to 5 decoys at a time.
Payload: Each CM array holds 50 Ballute decoys, 20 maneuvering decoys(“Wild Weasels”), 100 ‘Smart Chaff’ canisters, 50 laser aersol canisters
Cost: million credits

*Heavy Maneuvering Drive---This adds a larger and more powerful engine to the Hub for more efficient hard maneuvering.
Speed: Mach 8
Cost: 80 million credits

*Stealth Armor---Though expensive, this feature can shield the satellite from immediate detection by radar and laser at ranges greater than 2,000 miles.
Cost: 90 million credits

*Disguise Feature---This camouflages and conceals the Ring’s weapons systems or less benign features as something else(typically a power sat or communications array) via active and passive design systems, similar to a baffling array. This system can be ruled by teh GM to automatically give a false reading to scans, or can be more realistically be portrayed as giving a -50% to enemy sensory scans to correctly identify at ranges greater than 500 miles.
Cost: 30 million credits

*Self Destruct---Nuclear self-destruct system
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 3 mile radius
Cost: 18 million credits

[abtex]

Paladin Steel BattleRings---Space Weapons Platforms

Thanks for this creation. May never have a use for it in Space. Couple thoughts come to mind for using them as crashed ground bases.

-) Mage tech them so they can create rock around them might be an option.

Still waiting for wondering mind to return.

Side note go look at Popular Science magazine Aug 2011. On cargo ships article. In print but not online that I can find.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel BattleRings---Space Weapons Platforms

Thanks for this creation. May never have a use for it in Space. Couple thoughts come to mind for using them as crashed ground bases.

-) Mage tech them so they can create rock around them might be an option.

Still waiting for wondering mind to return.

Side note go look at Popular Science magazine Aug 2011. On cargo ships article. In print but not online that I can find.

Oh yeah...killer asteroids(or asteroid killers?).
Mount anti-gravs on them or suspend them under a Lyn-Syrial Cloud Castle and you got some series floating firepower.

[abtex]

More like wrecked on a planet or build as a fortress on/in islands or in mountain tops maybe ranges. Maybe floating bases.

http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s340/warshipsresearch/BBUSSFortIsland.png

http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s340/warshipsresearch/SHIPBUCKET%20ALVAMA/FORTFortbijIJmuiden1888-1948.png

http://i509.photobucket.com/albums/s340/warshipsresearch/SHIPBUCKET%20ALVAMA/FORTFortbijIJmuiden1888-1948AbrahamCrijnssen.png

suspend them under a Lyn-Syrial Cloud Castle

Do you mean use Lyn-Syrial cloud magic to float the base?