Starship designs...

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Interstellar Industries ‘Tongia’ Medium Interstellar Troop Transport
(aka ‘Tong’, ‘Speed-Turtle’, ‘Terapinator’)

“Okay, listen up! You may have heard we’re going to be taking out that big Kasaro base encampment that’s been squatting on one of our colony worlds. You heard correctly; we’re going to remove those cannibals and any Splugorth that helped them. Bad news is: we can’t open a Rift and walk through to the target because the cosmic leylines are all wrong, so we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way and fly there. Good news is we’ll be flying in Tongs, so any of you worried about walking on air on final approach, the Navy punks are going to sticking their heads in the same fire as the groundpounders, so you all know they’re going to be extra-careful coming down and extra-thorough to suppress any ground fire that might be coming up. We haven’t seen any indications, but given how that encampment popped up all sudden-like after we claimed that planet, we gotta figure they either got Shifters or Kittani helping them. Our escorts will peek and pound, and we’ll go straight in, weapons hot, and mop up the craters and any stragglers. We embark in six hours, cast off in twelve, and you’ll get your assignment details en route.”

The Tongia-class is a troopship conversion of the PSS/ASI-CGS-07 ‘Javelin’ Missile Cruiser, and is meant to supplement the PSS-FFS-17 Rangers already in service. One of PS/ASI’s early development criticisms was that, despite having a potent and well-equipped ground army, the company(and by extension, GNE/Alliance) had little in the way of proper combat transports to carry them in power projection. Mainly, the GNEAF relied on modified cargo transports, while warship production was focused on escort craft better suited to protecting trade convoys and fending off raiders and pirates. With some breathing room afforded by the establishment of several new warship production lines, PS/ASI turned its attention to developing suitable assault transports.
Converting the lean and mean Javelin frame into a proper troop transport required removing the central hull section and replacing it with a beamier reinforced section with accommodations for troops, and ramped bays for vehicles. The Tongia‘s heavily-armored and ovoid midsection has earned it such nicknames as ‘Galapagos’ and ‘Speed-Turtle’. The Tongia can carry two companies’ worth of troops and their vehicles directly into combat. The bridge pod was revamped to include a CIC and expanded communications section for coordinating the ground troops. Armament was revised less for long range anti-ship combat and more for point defense and tactical support and security of a landing zone.
The main criticisms of the Tongia are a lack of auxiliary air support; the vessels are meant to deploy their troops directly, and so their two small hangar bays cannot carry enough small craft sufficient to deploy their full complements of troops. This means risking the entire ship close to, or actually in, a contested landing zone, unless the ships are accompanied by other vessels that can be used to transfer troops to smaller landing craft. The same lack of hangar space means that Tongias lack integral air support for their battalion; any air support must be able to use the same embarkment hatches as the ground troops. Tongias deployed to the field thus often are accompanied by other carrier vessels, such as Sagadag light carriers or Brunel/Geothals carrier-conversions. Also, compared to other troop carriers like the CCW Explorer-class, the Tongia is fairly lightly armed, without the heavy guns needed to take on enemy capital units or entrenched and fortified ground positions. Heavy surface bombardment would be the province of attending support warships.
All in all, most military analysts in the major Three Galaxies powers(the CCW, the TGE, the GRk), regard the PS/ASI Tongia as a good first effort, but at best a second line combatant. PS/ASI itself isn’t wholly satisfied with the design in retrospect(and the GNEAF/ASF has stepped up its purchase of WZ-TAC-274X Dark Justice Trans-Atmospheric Shock Trooper Carriers from WZTechyards to fill out their growing Stelmarine and Army transport capability), but the economy of its construction makes it attractive to smaller militaries and mercenary organizations, so PS/ASI continues to produce new runs of Tongias. The design has also proven itself an effective armed cargo transport, being both faster, cheaper, and less obvious than the hulking Webb Hayes transport-cruisers.

Type: PSS/ASI-FFS-22 ‘Tongia’
Class: Space Medium Troop Transport
Crew: 60+ 10 man Stelmarine security contingent+ 450 troops
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 35,000
Bridge 9,000
Main Engine Bloc 9,000
Auxiilary Engines(2) 3,500 each
Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x2) 500 each
Medium Range Lasers(8 ) 90 each
Point Defense Laser/MissileTurrets(10) 100 each
Point Defense Rail Guns(10) 100 each
Medium Range Missile Launchers (4) 550 each
Hangar Bay 1,000
Variable Forcefield 3,000 per side, 18,000 total
Height: 120 ft
Width: 220 ft
Length: 500 ft
Weight: 90,000 tons
Cargo: 2,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 25 year energy life
Speed:(Atmosphere) Hover to Escape Velocity
(Sublight) (Gravitic Drive) Mach 12
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.2% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: Estimated cost at around 1.2 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
*Enhanced Sensors----The Tongia mounts a sensor suite slightly more powerful than those typical of its class, and has 25% better range(effective -Fleets of the Three Galaxies- range of 320,000 miles)
*Laser Targeting-------250,000 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 Tongia 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 Tongia 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) Medium Range Lasers(16, 2x8, four turrets forward, two ventral midsection, two dorsal rear section )---Double-barreled turrets. The two ventral midsection turrets are effectively shrouded when landed, and thus unusable, but the forward and aft turrets are still available for air defense and ground support.
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

2) Medium Range Missile Launchers(4)---Mounted in the midsection in retracting turrets are four large-capacity MRMLs. These are used for both anti-fighter ‘missile massacre’ attacks and ground support suppressive bombardment.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-12
Payload: 96 missiles each launcher, reloading from the cargo hold takes 1d6 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 24 missiles)

3) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x2)--- Triple-barrel-mounts of a design harkening back to PS’s first-generation space warships; they’ve been slightly improved, but are still the same effective weapons. Mounted in main hull turrets positioned one ventral and one dorsal, these weapons can pivot for maximum arc of fire. Again, the ventral turret is prevented from firing when landed, but the dorsal turret can still act as both a direct fire point defense weapon and ballistic artillery.
Range: 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, 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)

4) Laser/Mini-Missile PDS(10) ----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

5) Point Defense Rail Guns(10)---Standard rapid-fire railguns familiar to both naval and space warship architects. Fire rapid-fire bursts of flechettes that can shred fighters, missiles, or ground forces that get too close to the vessel.
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

Auxiliary Craft:
2 Shuttles
4 Light Aerospace Fighters or Light Gunships can also be carried.

Variants:
*PSS/ASI-FFSAK-22C---Cargo conversion with 8,000 tons carrying capacity in place of the troops. This variant has arguably enjoyed better success than the troop carrier, especially as an armed escort cruiser, protecting other less well-protected transports.

*PSS/ASI-FFSSN-22(X)---Experimental submersible warship, capable of entering and operating underwater. Presumably intended to help secure PS/ASI/GNE’s aquatic possessions in the Thundercloud(though it’s also been rumored that word of this design has been leaked to put the Golgan Republik on notice to stay away from claimed water-worlds). The hull has been sealed for deep-diving(1 mile maximum depth), sonar (100 mile range)added to the sensor suite, auxiliary hydro-engines added to ship(can make 30 MPH submerged), and the troop compartments modified with extra-reinforced airlocks for underwater operation. Troop capacity drops to 240 troops(little more than a reinforced company), but provision has been made for carrying extra mini-submarines and amphibious transport gear The MRMLs have been modified to fire PS-made ‘SeaFire’ torpedo-missiles, lasers modified for blue-green spectrum, and the rail guns fitted with supercavitating ammunition.

[taalismn]

Magic sensors courtesy of Kitsune.

Paladin Steel/Aegis Interstellar Industries ‘Palatar’ Heavy Cruiser

‘We’re starting to see some big old monsters of reconditioned older tech-gen craft among some of the smaller and newer players in the Thundercloud. Their heavy cruisers in particular are big and fairly slow bricks that show up quite nicely on long range scanners, and have problems maneuvering, but with modern engines and upgraded armaments, they can bring a lot of bang to the battlefield. Best to give these things plenty of room; if you find yourselves having to take one on, keep your range open and snipe at them from outside theirs; most of them have pretty weak shields, but heavy hull armor, but most captains are reluctant to sacrifice ablative hull that will take weeks or even months to repair and replace. Do enough damage to their screens, and if they have an out, they’ll concede the field.
At least, that’s what the REASONABLE captains will do. You might just get one of the ‘death before dishonor’ yahoos, instead.”
----Captain Vicen Trancluw, CAF, in a briefing on the Independent naval forces of the Thundercloud Expansion Zone

“Damn powerful vessels. We finally get some BIG guns. The Palatars have given us a taste of what SERIOUS space power feels like.”

“Powerful or not, our two Palatars still got mauled interdicting that planetkiller and its escorts. Our own screening force got hit much worse, arguably because we couldn’t coordinate covering fire from the capital ships effectively enough. We may have some heavy iron now, but we still have to learn how to properly use it.”

When Paladin Steel/Aegis Interstellar Industries’ Amberjin facilities proved not up to the task of meeting all the incoming orders for vessels, and the mobile Asteroid Cruiser shipyards not yet in great enough numbers, PS/ASI turned to its larger trade partners for assistance. Contacts such WZT Techyards, the Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League, and the Cisen-Adeta Republic were willing to loan ASI the use of underutilized assembly yards(and in the case of C-AR, to develop the facilities) to build new ships.
In the case of the CTRL, this had unexpected benefits. As the CTRL Navy was in the process of modernizing their fleet to keep up with CCW and TGE units expected to appear with greater frequency in their region of the galaxy, they saw fit to sell off several of their older vessels, including heavy units. ASI was offered a good deal on several of the CTRL’s Mynar-class heavy cruisers, in return for their cooperation in funneling WZTechyard technology to them, and the GNE jumped at the opportunity to get some serious heavy iron to bolster their space forces.
The Mynars were big, massive, FTL-capable cruisers that nevertheless relied on remass-fed fusion torch drives and hybrid traction drives. They were fast enough and heavily armed enough to travel quickly within the relatively close confines of the CTR stellar region, and they formed the bulk of the relief forces rushed to liberate Rosette. However, renewed contact with the CCW soon showed the Mynars long in the tooth and rapidly approaching obsolescence. Thus, the CTRLN decided to launch a Bloc II upgrade program to some of the later Mynars to serve in the interim while newer designs were being laid down, while culling the fleet of older vessels. Some of these would be transferred to PS/ASI, along with the specs for the Bloc II upgrade. PS/ASI would be able to carry out their own upgrades on the Mynars, albeit at their own expense, giving them several heavy units for a fraction of the cost of wholly new construction.
Mynars are big, owing to the less efficient systems designed into them at the time their keels were laid down. Their early model CGdrive systems and supplementary torch drives took up a lot of space, which was put to good use when the CTRL started installing more efficient modern CG drives, and the extra space repurposed. Mynars are rather fast for their size and tech-level, owing to CTRL engineers deciding to use the opportunity to install larger CG drive units than necessary to match the older models’ speed. However, they are still fairly slow(able to keep up with the CCW’s Warshield cruisers, but slower than the Explorer, Golgan Bindas, and Splugorth and TGE cruisers. Refitting with even more powerful engines has been suggested for a Bloc III modification, but the CTRL Navy has decided that it would be more cost effective to incorporate higher speed and other improvements into a newer generation of warships already on the drawing boards.
GNE/ASI-flagged Mynars, re-designated the ‘Palatar’-class, are little different from their CTRL Bloc II sisters. ASI has incorporated some TW systems as a fallback, a modification looked at with considerable interest by the CTRL Navy, that has little experience with magic, let alone technowizardry.
The GNE/Alliance has found the Palatars’ speed useful in convoy escort duties and fast response patrols. Their large cargo capacity also makes them useful for delivering substantial-sized high-priority cargoes. Palatars are typically assigned to the rare PS/GNE/ASI taskforces, long range exploration flotillas, or large high priority mass convoys(usually as the directing command ships).

Type: PS/CTRL-CG-17 Palatar
Class: Heavy Cruiser
Crew: 360+ 50 marines and 48 aerospace group
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 65,000
Bridge 4,000
Hangar Bays(2) 3,000 each
Main Thruster Bloc 27,000
Heavy Laser Cannon(6, forward) 700 each
Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(12, 4 forward, 4 each side) 800 each
Cruise Missile Launchers(6) 400 each
OR Superheavy Strategic Missile Launchers(2) 1,000 each
OR Plasma Torpedo Launchers(4) 1,000 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(3) 300 each
Medium Range Missile Launchers(12) 250 each
Heavy G-Cannons(12) 300 each
Medium Laser Cannons(30) 300 each
Point Defense Turrets(24) 100 each
Starship TW Multiplexors(2) 500 each
*Variable Forcefields 7,000 per side, 42,000 total
*Shield Refresh Rate is 10% per melee

Height: 500 ft
Width: 500 ft
Length: 2,821 ft
Weight: 840,000 tons
Cargo: 65,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 93 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus;

*Long Range Sensors----PS/ASI imported over the large multimedia sensor arrays of the CCW Lasser-class frigates they had been working on , the argument being that if the ships can see trouble coming, the better prepared to receive it they will be. The CTRL has adopted a similar refit to their own Mynar Bloc IIs. The sensors can pick up on vessels moving at FTL up to 25 light years away, and vessels moving through normal space up to 0.9 light years away.

*Docking Hardpoints(9)----Nine external docking cradles with extending tubeways for servicing additional small starships docked to the vessel.

*Ectofiber Insulation Grid
-Magical Attacks do HALF damage/effect

*ORACLE Mk V---Omni-diRectional Aura Classification and Locator Electronics---A TW development of the SNARLS PPE Scanner, this system consists of a series of advanced Technowizardry scanner systems(TW optic mounts, static crystal PPE meters, and whatnot) stationed around the ship, feeding into a central computer system with special TW-derived interface program algorithms. The system is designed to detect incoming magical/paranormal attacks and alert the crew to them(hopefully in time to allow them to take defensive measures). Linkage to the Ectofiber Grid has increased the sensitivity and effectiveness of this system.
See Aura: Slightly different than the spell in that it can scan an entire target such as a ship or station. The enchantment can be used to target a single individual but only have one tenth normal range when being used in that matter. Costs 60 P.P.E. per activation due to extended range. Range: 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers) in space and 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) in an atmosphere. Effects / Abilities: Gives an approximate count of the number of life forms onboard. Gives the average level of experience, highest level of experience, and lowest level of experience [Given in these terms: Low (1-3), medium (4-7), high (8th and up).] Tells if there is any magic onboard. Gives if there are any psychics onboard (Mind Block will prevent detection), Gives a general count on the amount of P.P.E. the target has (basically the P.P.E. of the crew and any devices which store P.P.E.). Detects if there is any kind of possession. Finally sees if the crew or ship has any unusual aberrations.
• See the Invisible Sensors: The ships has several special optical and other sensor systems with see the invisible on them. Same as spell and used at will (requires no P.P.E. to activate). Range: 2,000 miles (3,220 kilometers) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere. Effects / Abilities: Can see forces, objects, and creatures which can turn invisible, or are invisible. Can also see vaporous beings and astral bodies.
• Sense Magic: The ship has sensors which the give the ability to detect active magic. Similar to spell and used at will (requires no P.P.E. to activate). Range: 200,000 miles (322,000 kilometers) in space and 200 miles (320 km) in an atmosphere. Effects / Abilities: detects the presence of magic if within detection range of ship and gives bearing on magic and basic range although not exact position. Detects active enchantments but will not generally detect spell casters in general.
• Sense Rifts: Ship has sensors which effectively allow Rifts to be detected. The system can be (requires no P.P.E. to activate). Range: 500,000 miles (805,000 kilometers) in space and 500 miles (805 km) in an atmosphere. Effects / Abilities: Detects the presence of Rifts (including those created by Rifts Drives) and unlike when detecting magic gives position very accurately.


Magical Systems:
The Palatar has benefitted immensely from PS’s experience with the TW-enhanced systems of its GMR skyships.....thanks to improvements in TechnoWizardry design and production, the earlier and cumbersome systems have been refined and made smaller and more efficient.
The Palatar carries 4 PPE Generators and regenerates at 50 PPE per hour(200 PPE per hour total). Each also has an adjacent PPE Battery Bank, that can hold up to 500 PPE each(2,000 PPE total), and recharges/absorbs energy at 100 PPE per 24 hours, plus it accepts any surplus from the generators during low demand times.
All TW Generators have been retrofitted with a Ley Line Storm Defense System that automatically locks down the generators and shields them during leyline storm activity. Though leyline storms are rare in open space, the existence of solar leylines means that they DO exist, and can be quite severe.

*Impervious to Energy( 640 PPE per activation, duration of 5 minutes per activation)

*Expel Demons(35 PPE per activation )---This is an internal defensive system, incorporated into wards around major areas of the ship, such as the engines, bridge, and sickbay...It CANNOT work outside of the ship. Fear of supernatural beings teleporting aboard ship and taking control has been a great fear of GNE crews, from their naval experience(as one salty put it; “Ain’t nothing worse than being on a ship of the Possessed... nowhere to run, damn few places to hide, and damn little time to do anything else.”), and thus PS has made this system fairly standard on its ships.

*Space Wormhole(450 PPE per activation)----This magic propulsion addition is novel, but hardly reliable; it randomly carries the ship away 1d6 light years from the point of origin. PPE-cheap for an FTL drive, it still makes a good quick escape mechanism.

Other ‘internal’ systems that have been tested as both centrally powered systems and emergency PPE-Battery-powered systems, include Sheltering Force(ideal for emergency vac-shelters), Air Bubble, Globe of Daylight, Breath Without Air, Extinguish Fire, Ice(great for temporarily sealing hull breeches), and Mend the Broken.

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Laser Cannon(6, forward)---Though shorter ranged and less powerful than the particle beam cannons, the lasers make up for it with a faster rate of fire.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 15 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 15 miles in atmosphere, 15,000 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6x100 per blast, 3d6x1,000 MD for a barrage of six.
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(12, 4 forward, 4 each side)
Range: 14 miles in atmosphere, 50 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 50 miles in atmosphere, 50,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD per blast, or 2d4x1,000 per dual blast, 4d4x1,000 MD for a barrage of four.
Rate of Fire: Once per melee; typically two cannon will fire per melee while the others cycle through recharge
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Cruise Missile Launchers(6) ----The Palatars have been upgraded from long range missile batteries to more powerful cruise missile launchers. Some GNE/ASI-service Palatars carry a more substantial modification to carry the larger and more powerful Long Lance IV ShSM.
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 1-10 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 30 Cruise Missiles per launcher. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 6 missiles)

In the alternative, the CMLs can all be replaced with Superheavy Strategic Missile Launchers(2)---PS Long Lance V---The Long Lance V is the next generation superheavy 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(updated from the previous Long Lance IV’s) to give it a better chance of penetrating a target’s defenses, but its sheer size limits the number of missiles that can be carried.
Range: 1,500 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 4.6 mile destruction radius
NOTE: PS combat doctrine FORBIDS the use of strategic nuclear devices against planetary targets, without full authorization and coded permission from the top echelons of High Command(fortunately, as few ships carry Long Lances or strategic nuclear weapons, there have been few chances to test this doctrine).
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, 12 bundles)
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
(Option)TW Breaching System(optional)---This can be fitted to any LRM/CM missile prior to firing. Despite its high-PPE installation cost, the system is popular because it allows PS’s relatively low-tech missiles to penetrate high-tech energy shielding, and deliver a surprise knockout blow! Uses the Energy Disruption spell to penetrate enemy defenses. If facing a known magic-using enemy, this system may be enhanced with Dispel Magic Barrier. The system(values taken from Siege on Tolkeen 1, pg. 69) costs 495 PPE to install, 20 PPE to activate per minute of operation.
Payload: 25 per launcher, 50 total

A THIRD alternative configuration replaces the cruise/superheavy missile launchers with a set of heavy plasma torpedo launchers modified off the PSS/ASI-CGS-07D ‘Centaurus’-variant of the Javelin Light Cruiser. Each missile launch bay has been refitted with a combination PTL/tractor beam mount with the following:
a) Tractor Beam Projectors(4, 2 in each bay) ----Intended less for grabbing hold of other ships and more for guiding the Plasma Torpedoes. Rated at 500 tons haul weight.
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).

b) Plasma Torpedo Launchers(4, 2 each bay)---These are direct-fire weapons that fire bolts of plasma trapped in a temporary magnetic ‘shell’ centered on an evaporated ‘seed’ of ultra-dense deuterium ice, allowing the plasma to travel farther without losing cohesion and damage potential, and allowing the plasma to explode with area of effect on target. The result is an energy missile with superior range to normal energy weapons(though still well short of comparable missile weaponry) and potentially unlimited payload. However, the plasma packets CAN be grabbed/deflected by tractor beams(this is how the ship’s gunners can manipulate their energy projectiles at short range and correct their course....each of the launch arrays’ mounted tractor beams being able to grab and direct a volley of plasma bolts), or destabilized by ion or particle beam weapons fire(takes 20 MDC to disrupt the plasma containment).
Range: 20 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 200 miles in atmosphere, 200,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast to 100 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Each array can launch volleys of 1-8 torpedoes, twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited


4) Long Range Missile Launchers(3)---These were retained from the original configuration, before the CTRL and GNE/ASI acquired the ability to manufacture Cruise Missiles.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(Long Range Missiles)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type(Long Range Missiles)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-20
Payload: 240 per launcher; additional missiles may be carried as cargo, and reloaded from storage.

5) Medium Range Missile Launchers(12)---These launchers are used primarily for antimissile and -fighter defense.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 80 missiles each launcher, reloading from the cargo hold takes 15 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 24 missiles)

6) Heavy G-Cannons(12)----These cannons are used primarily to interdict missiles and fighters.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 300 bursts per cannon

7) Medium Laser Cannons(30)----The Palatar is fairly festooned with these lighter-caliber cannons, meant to deter enemy fighters and strike craft.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per single blast, 8d6x100 for six cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

8 ) Point Defense Turrets(24)----Dual Laser/Mini-Missile Launchers--- These are standard CCW-pattern dual laser/mini-missile launchers that have been installed for close-in defense, replacing the small rail guns fitted to CTRL vessels. The lasers are less powerful and shorter ranged, but the mini-missiles have volley capability against fighters and missiles.
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: (Lasers) 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

9) Starship TW Multiplexors(2)---The Palatar mounts two starship-grade modular TechnoWizardry spell-projectors, as proven on the smaller and earlier Aurora-class destroyers.
The current model of Starship Multiplexor can carry up to six separate spells, typically of high-level space spells(See Rifts: Fleets of the Three Galaxies). Still, however, this weapons system gives PS/ASI ships a SERIOUS magical bite lacking even in many UWW warships.
-Space Dust(150 PPE per activation, duration of 10 hours per activation, 500 mile range---500,000 mile Kitsune range, and 100 mile radius)
-Solar Flare(250 PPE per activation, duration of 1d6 hours +5 hours per activation, 1,200 mile range---120,000 mile Kitsune range )
-Summon Meteor Shower(150 PPE per activation, duration of 10 minutes per activation, 3 mile range---300 mile Kitsune range)
-Summon Ion Storm--Can generate up to a Level/Magnitude 5 ion storm (150-250 PPE per activation, duration of 1d6x10 minutes per activation, 10 mile range---1,000 mile Kitsune range)
-Gravity Well(550 per activation, duration of 50 minutes per activation, 400 mile range---40,000 mile Kitsune range, 100 mile radius )
-Create Nebula(500 per activation, duration of 10 hours per activation, 20 mile range---2,000 mile Kitsune range, 5 mile diameter)


Auxiliary Craft:
4 Heavy Shuttles
24 Aerospace Fighters

Variants:
*PS/CTRL-CGC-17---These are older Mynar hulls that could not economically be upgraded to the Bloc II spec. Instead, they have been converted to heavy transports. These ships have a cargo capacity of 130,000 tons .

[DhAkael]

Okay; addmitedly this is for another "property"... BUT, if your Phaseworld battles don't evoke images like this in the minds eye, then your GM really needs to go back to school
http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/256673751/movie480.webm?t=1479224382

...and remember Turbo-Jocks & Jockettes... "RAISE HELL!"

[glitterboy2098]

or at least this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN_CP4SuoTU

[SolCannibal]

Heartily approved of either way.

As an aside, do we have any examples of meteors or asteroids carved into a mamooth-sized ship or station?

[DhAkael]

Sadly no: aside from vague references attributed to the Star-Dwarf 'smithy' and the Dwarven "Spell-Jammer" mobile forts in the game of the same name for D&D. As for VIDEO reffs? Youtube has scads of short indi clips using Blender / Autodesk and even 3DStudio (now there's a blast from the past) for sci-fi. Might find something in there.

[taalismn]

Heartily approved of either way.

As an aside, do we have any examples of meteors or asteroids carved into a mamooth-sized ship or station?

You mean, like THIS?:

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries Asteroid-Cruisers
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/S9000042-Artwork_of_mining_of_asteroids-SPL.jpg
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/S9000043-Artwork_of_Asteroid_mining-SPL.jpg

“That asteroid? It just changed direction! It’s heading right for us! And it ain’t alone!”
“That ain’t no asteroid!”

“Our workship? Did I forget to mention it’s ARMED?”

Asteroid-ships are hardly new in the Three Galaxies and elsewhere; many societies build mobile space stations that nominally qualify as spacecraft, using asteroids as bases. Some even qualify as starships, being meant to travel between star systems, usually at slower-than-light/relativistic velocities, as sleeper ships or generational starships, and a few cultures fit these constructs with FTL drives of various sorts and quality. This latter approach is what PS/ASI has done, using their acquired Gorang gravitic technology(magic?).
Asteroid ships are attractive because they are fairly easy to build; if one has access to a good -sized asteroid and is already proficient in asteroid mining, it’s a simple matter to tunnel in and hollow it out, and fit it with internal compartments, typically constructed using refined metals made from the asteroid itself, and maneuvered about slowly using slag byproduct as reaction mass. The mass of the asteroid provides thick and cheap protection from the hazards of deep space such as the radiation of the solar wind. Meters of thick rock and nickel-iron make for good protection from radiation. This thickness also provides a fair amount of low/no-cost protection against other hazards as well, such as lighter-calibre projectile and energy weapons. Finally, there’s the SIZE; even a small-sized asteroid of five hundred meters or larger can provide a lot of potential space for facilities to be built inside or mounted outside. Modification is relatively easy with the addition of new external turrets and modules, and the fitting of extra generators and powerplants to power more systems. Under the right circumstances, and with some attention to disguising the obvious artificial features of the asteroid-ship, a converted asteroid can also appear as nothing more than another random space-rock, making for a good long-term surveillance platform.
For many, converting a sky-rock into a colony ship or battlewagon is a cheap, low-cost alternative to constructing large ship tonnage without having to invest in massive shipyards. For PS/ASI, Asteroid-Cruisers allow for the relatively quick construction of very impressive mobile industrial complexes, factory-ships, heavy transports, and mobile weapons platforms, the initial rock often providing much of the needed metals and minerals for its conversion and reconstruction.
The shortcomings of Asteroid Cruisers are that they aren’t reinforced for acceleration and deceleration like a proper ship; they maneuver very slowly and without extensive forcefield shielding and inertial damping, tend to have to be run up to speed slowly, and braked equally slowly to prevent stress fracturing of their ‘hulls’(i.e., the asteroid rock matrix). Their sheer mass, though impressive, translates into large energy expenditures if performing any sort of short term and drastic course corrections. Asteroid Cruisers are also slow and obvious; there’s nothing stealthy about a large mass of rock and metal making deliberate course changes and velocity adjustments across a solar system.
Furthermore, as protective as all that rock may be, it lacks the per-unit(square meter/ton) protection value of manufactured armor. Weapons blast far more easily through rock far more effectively than they would through layered armor, and against battlecruiser-strength weapons in concerted barrage, even several dozen meters of nickel-iron can be ablated away within a few minutes of combat(for this reason. ‘bare wall compartments’ are rare aboard Asteroid Cruisers; each section of the interior hull is a self-sealing double-walled habitat module).

That having been said, the Asteroid Ships of PS/ASI have an advantage enjoyed only by a very few; FTL propulsion. While the CG propulsion capabilities of star nations like the CCW and TGE seem to (currently) have an upper limit to the mass that a CG field can safely envelope and efficiently move, the Gorang-derived drive used by PS/ASI is able to push quite large modified rocks beyond the light barrier, a feat only reliably done by the UWW’s own World Eater ‘flying mountains’. As the UWW uses magitech propulsion to rift-fold their asteroid-ships from location to location, and the Gorang drive seems to be at least partially ISP-based, magic seems to be able to accomplish what pure technology cannot. However, PS/ASI has not been able to make the Gorang-derived drive work on anything other than modified asteroids and comets; purely artificial spacestations have not been able to be moved via the drive(at least 50% of the vehicle’s mass has to consist of a natural body; asteroid or comet).

PS/ASI constructs its Asteroid-Cruisers in one of two ways; the first is to take a good-sized(kilometer or bigger) rock and burrow into it, then outfit the tunnels with reinforced modules, connect them together, then outfit the rest of the ‘ship’ as needed.
The other process is more complicated; a suitable metal-rich asteroid is taken, cored out, and a central shaft stuffed with ice. The asteroid is then placed at the focus of several large solar reflectors set up to concentrate the heat(sometimes assisted by large solar-powered lasers or microwave beamers) and set to slowly spinning. As the heat permeates the asteroid, the rock and metal melt, and eventually the heat percolates down to the ice core, which sublimates, generating steam. The expanding gas pressure inflates the molten rock and metal ‘balloon’ to the desired size, at which point the heating is slowed down, the gas vapor released and re-condensed for reuse, and the asteroid finished by the fitters.
The sheer amount of space on an Asteroid Cruiser means that it can be fitted with all manner of facilities not found aboard smaller conventional starships. Large enclosed repair facilities, manufactories, recreation and agricultural space, and the like make Asteroid Ships destinations unto themselves. They often serve as depot vessels and the support motherships of task forces of smaller ships, who use the facilities aboard them to repair, maintain, and rehabilitate their equipment and crews.
PS/ASI typically outfits its Asteroid Cruisers as mobile factory complexes, allowing their Contract Engineering Corps to move to work sites(asteroid belts, moons, or planetary orbit) and set up shop onsite with relative ease. Others are set up as exploration and deep space surveillance platforms, frequently operating as motherships to squadrons of smaller scout and search-and-rescue craft. A handful have been quietly constructed as dedicated warships, mainly acting as system-defense carriers and orbital fortresses.
PS/ASI generally operates these massive vessels only in the Rim, Fringe, and outer worlds. Few core worlds of the CCW and other stellar kingdoms/organizations that PS/ASI does traffic with are willing to allow such massive vessels, with the easy capability of becoming relativistic planet-smashing missiles, near the more densely populated regions of the Three Galaxies(while ignoring the many more smaller threats presented by smaller, less visually imposing, craft).

Type: PS/ASI-CGBB Asteroid Cruiser
Class: Asteroid Cruiser(equiv. Heavy Cruiser/Battleship/Carrier/Heavy Transport/Mobile Industrial Complex-Tender)
Crew: Varies from 1,000-10,000, plus provision for up to x3 its complement in additional troops/passengers.
Most also have a contingent of 1,000-4,000 work robots.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body*(Varies) 1d10x10,000 - 2d6x100,000
Internal Modules(Varies)(10-50) 4,000-10,000 each
External Domes(Varies)(4-50) 3,000-10,000 each
Forcefields(Used to protect specific locations) 500-2,000
**Variable Forcefields(Overall protection) 5,000- 18,000 each side( 30,000-120,000 total)

Typical Construction Features:
Solar Mirrors 3,000 each
Hangar Bays 3,000-5,000 each
Large Ship Slip/Anchorage 5,000-10,000 each
Small Sensor Dishes(many) 400 each
Deep Space Antennae Clusters(6-25) 2,500 each
“Arecibo Array” Large Sensors(1-6) 3,500 each
Rocket Stacks 500-1,000 each
Factory Sheds 1,000-9,000 each
AgroDomes 3,000-5,000 each
Skycranes(4-20) 500-1,000 each
Heavy Tractor Beams(4-40) 500 each
Medium Tractor Beams(8-50) 300 each
Targeting/Light Tractor Beams (12-60) 200 each

Capital Weapons Mount 500 each
Heavy Weapons Mount 500 each
Medium/Light Weapons Mount 500 each
Point Defense Weapons Mount 500 each



*This is the nickel-iron and rock bulk of the former asteroid, and takes DOUBLE damage from kinetic weapons, such as rail guns and explosive missiles

**Shield Refresh Rate is 20% per melee due to the larger dedicated generators.

Size: Varies; ‘Natural’ Asteroids range in diameter from 1,000 ft to 5 miles; the smaller ones tend to more irregularly shaped, while the larger tend to be more spherical.
Melted and reshaped ‘ballooned’ asteroids tend to have more uniform shapes and sizes, though even then there is variation, depending on the starting asteroid and the ultimate purpose of the resulting cruiser.
Weight: Several million tons
Cargo: Capacity varies, but typically around 500,000-1 million+ tons.
Powerplant: Combination Nuclear Fusion/TechnoWizardry Power Generators. Estimated energy life between reactor refueling/refurbishing is 60 years. Often the Asteroid Cruiser can gather and refine its own fuel through ramscoops and auxiliary ships gathering materials.
Supplemental power provided by solar arrays and electromagnetic tethers(in the latter case, when orbiting around planets with string magnetic fields).
In addition to the gravitic propulsion (typically centered somewhere at the core of the former asteroid), most PS/ASI Asteroid Cruisers can use several ‘rocket stacks’(actually large fusion plasma thrusters) for gross physical course corrections(typically no more than Mach 2 on these thrusters alone).

Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to 300 MPH; no altitude limitation and is transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Can accelerate at up to 0.8 gees/Mach 8
(Kitsune Values) 60% of light speed, and can accelerate/decelerate at 0.8% of light speed per melee
(FTL) Typically can travel along at 2-3 light-years an hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: Asteroid Cruisers start at around 10 billion credits and scale up, depending on the size and features.
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 Resolution Range of 300,000 miles(about 500 miles in atmosphere).
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles(about 50 miles in atmosphere)
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video---Typical range of 200-500 miles in atmosphere(x1,000 in space)
*Optical Tracking Clusters----The equivalent of automated telescopes and binoculars, these systems are constantly scanning the surrounding area(and in space, the starscape), using advanced pattern-recognition software to look for anomalies(objects and phenomena), as well as helping to fix the asteroid-cruiser’s position.

*’Arecibo Arrays’(1-6)---These are giant fixed-dish multispectral antennae that look like they fill in craters on the asteroid, and have diameters from 800-1,000 ft. Depending on the size and purpose of the Cruiser, there may be as many as six of these massive arrays. Though large and crude compared to more modern sensor arrays available from the CCW, these arrays make up for it in raw radiation gathering power. Arecibo Arrays have extreme range of 10 million miles, and can detect FTL wakes out to 35 light years.

*Onboard Life Support Plant, Factories(typically heavily automated autofacs), Hangar Space, Living Quarters, Repair and Assembly Shops, Warehousing, and Engineering Laboratories. The onboard facilities, supplied with materials, can produce spare parts and ammunition for the onboard complement of troops and aerospacecraft, and can do limited prototyping and small-batching production of vehicles.
Depending on the primary purpose of the Asteroid Cruiser and its size, the onboard facilities can be specialized for one or more special purposes, such as chemical engineering, shipbuilding, antimatter production, agriculture, or the like.

*AgroDomes---Many Asteroid Cruisers feature surface-mounted ‘AgroDomes’, essentially high-tech enviro-habitats or greenhouses, their hulls permeable to visible light, but screened for more dangerous levels of radiation, that take advantage of ambient star/sunlight to nourish foliage and agriculture. These domes provide supplemental food, oxygen and water recycling, and recreational areas for crews. Some AgroDomes are specially fitted so as to be detachable, and can even make successful atmospheric reentry, allowing them to be detached from a Cruiser and used to provide support for space and planetary colonies and other facilities. A typical AgroDome is 100 ft tall, 200 ft wide at base, and has 3,000 MDC, but some are larger.

*Skycranes(4-20) ---These are massive multi-jointed lifting apparatus used for loading cargos in-atmosphere that are too big to be carried aboard by a lighter. Because of the peculiar nature of the gravitic field surrounding the asteroid-ship, the skycrane is a giant jointed arm that positions a lifting cradle or lift-head that uses its own gravitic drive(or, in the case of the less wealthy Gorang clans, JATO pods) to lift out of the ship’s own gravitic field until the planet’s gravity can take over. Then the crane reels out up to a mile of heavy cable to the surface, where the lift cradle picks up whatever needs to be lifted. Once the cargo is lifted back to the edge of the asteroid-ship’s gravitic field, the crane arm reverses orientation and works like a conventional crane to lower the payload to the surface of the asteroid.
A standard skycrane array will have over 5,000 ft of cable and a lifting capacity of 400 tons each. Larger ‘cranes may have much more cabling available and lift capacities in the thousand ton-plus capacity.

*Grappling Arms(many)---Typically found around factory sheds and hangar bays, these massive four-jointed multi-position robotic arms are used for grappling onto objects, shoving about cargo pods, and doing heavy duty work. Each has a reach of 200 ft, and has a four-fingered gripper, electromagnetic head, spotlight, and stereoscopic video camera at the end. They’re not agile or fast enough to be very useful in melee combat, but if they can catch an object, they can punch for 1d6x10 MD, or crush for 2d6x10 MD(2 attacks). Each arm typically has 200-400 MDC each.

*Heavy Tractor Beams(4-40)-------Long range heavy duty emitters with a range of 80 miles, and able to handle up to 1,000 tons each
Range: 80 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 80,000 miles in space).

*Medium Tractor Beams(8-50)---Smaller emitters used for handling small craft and cargo containers. 500 ton capacity each
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).

*Targeting Tractor Beam Projectors(12-60) ----Intended less for grabbing hold of other ships and more for guiding Plasma Torpedoes(or deflecting incoming missiles...roll to strike; a successful ‘hit’ means that the missile is -4 to reacquire the target). Rated at 100 tons haul weight.
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).

*Stealth---Forget about it; unless you’ve lucked into some POWERFUL alien technology, you’re not going to be able to render a giant mile-wide asteroid-ship invisible. However, you can still damp down radio and thermal emissions, and even reduce the reflection from surface structures to reduce the chances anybody will detect the artificial portions of the asteroid ship. The Asteroid Cruiser MIGHT pass for a normal asteroid at extreme range, provided the locals haven’t thoroughly charted the paths of the local sky rocks already. Active alternatives include brute force jamming of a broad spectrum of radar and radio frequencies, letting everybody in the area know that there’s something there, but not exactly WHERE, short of direct visual contact. If the AC has sufficient material stocks, another active system is to pump out a cloud of fine grit and microparticles around the vessel, giving it the appearance of a comet, and obscuring both accurate radar and optical readings of the object.


Weapons Systems:
As no two Asteroid Cruisers are exactly alike, and because they are so large, as to provide plenty of space for multiple weapons, their armament configurations vary from ‘ship’ to ship.
Note: See Rifts Dimension Book Six: The Three Galaxies, pgs 127-130 for additional information on the various classes of weapons.

1) Capital-class Weapons:
An Asteroid Cruiser will generally have 2-4 Capital Weapons mounts, but, depending on the Cruiser’s size and function, may have as many as 50-60 capital weapons mounts.
Typical weapons of this class seen on Asteroid Cruisers include 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.
These weapons are typically mounted in large battery launchers set in the body of the asteroid.
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 1-24
Payload: 24 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 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

b)Mass Drivers---Military grade massdrivers are illegal, and PS/ASI abides by treaties, but industrial massdrivers are commonplace tools of space-based industry. And it’s no secret that with a little modification, these reaction drives and material transporters can be turned into deadly bombardment weapons. Besides a solid ‘slug’ of rock and asteroid metal, the devices can also throw proximity-fused fragmentors that break apart like a giant shotgun shell, spraying a wider area with hypervelocity shrapnel(this is more effective against ships and other maneuverable targets).
Typical militarized massdriver:
Range: 500 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 50,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Kinetic Penetrator) 1d4x1,000 MD against space targets, 1d6x10,000 MD if fired at a planetside target.
(Multi-Munition Fragmentor) 6d6x10 MD to 800 ft radius.
Rate of Fire: Once every five minutes.
Payload: Usually has about 20-30 ten-twenty round ‘shells’ ready to fire.
Penalty: -10 to strike ship-sized targets for slugs, -3 to strike for fragmentors.

c) SuperHeavy Laser Array----Sometimes disguised as a solar system laser communications array or laser launch/propulsion system.
Range: 60 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 200 miles in atmosphere, 200,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x10,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Once every ten minutes(40 melees)
Payload: Effectively unlimited

d)Heavy Laser Arrays---Smaller, more flexible turreted laser arrays, often mounted 2-4 in a turret.
Range: 50 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in atmosphere, 100,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD
Rate of Fire: Once every other melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

e) Heavy Particle Beam Cannon----Truly SERIOUS arrays of these weapons may feature 3-4 weapons in a single turret/array.
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

g) Multiplexors----- Many Asteroid Cruisers mount large TW Multiplexor arrays based on those PS developed for warships and spacestations, and to provide extra protection. The typical installation fits the Cruiser with four PPE generators(4 PPE Generators and regenerates at 50 PPE per hour(200 PPE per hour total). Each also has an adjacent PPE Battery Bank, that can hold up to 1,000 PPE each(1,200 PPE total per mounting) and a large TW Spell Projection Array.
The current model of Starship Multiplexor can carry up to six separate spells, typically of high-level space spells(See Rifts: Fleets of the Three Galaxies).
At most times, three of the Multiplexors are fitted for space and the remaining three armed with atmospheric spells:
(Atmosphere Configuration)
- Create Fog(10 PPE per activation, duration of 1 hour per activation, 1,500 ft radius)
- Atmosphere Manipulation(110 PPE per activation, duration of 8 hours per activation, 10 mile range)
-Anti-Magic Cloud(140 PPE per activation, duration of 15 minutes per activation, 5 mile range, 300 ft radius area of effect)
- Summon and Control Rain(200 PPE per activation, duration of 8 hours per activation, 80 mile range, 8 mile area of effect)
- Wind Blast (40 PPE per activation, instant duration, 1 mile range, 2d4x10+30 MD per blast, +6 to strike, and aircraft/fliers struck by the blast are -25% to their Piloting rolls.
-Calm Storms (20 PPE per activation, duration of 3 hours per activation, 10 mile range)

(Space Configuration)
-Space Dust(150 PPE per activation, duration of 10 hours per activation, 500 mile range---500,000 mile Kitsune range, and 100 mile radius)
-Solar Flare(250 PPE per activation, duration of 1d6 hours +5 hours per activation, 1,200 mile range---120,000 mile Kitsune range )
-Summon Meteor Shower(150 PPE per activation, duration of 10 minutes per activation, 3 mile range---300 mile Kitsune range)
-Summon Ion Storm--Can generate up to a Level/Magnitude 5 ion storm (150-250 PPE per activation, duration of 1d6x10 minutes per activation, 10 mile range---1,000 mile Kitsune range)
-Gravity Well(550 per activation, duration of 50 minutes per activation, 400 mile range---40,000 mile Kitsune range, 100 mile radius )
-Create Nebula(500 per activation, duration of 10 hours per activation, 20 mile range---2,000 mile Kitsune range, 5 mile diameter)



2) Heavy Weapons:
An Asteroid Cruiser will generally have 10-30 Heavy Weapons mounts, but, depending on the Cruiser’s size and function, may have as many as 70-80 heavy weapons mounts.
Typical weapons of this class seen on Asteroid Cruisers include the following:

a)Cruise Missile Launchers
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 1-10
Payload: 40 missiles per launcher, ready to fire. Additional missiles may be loaded from storage(typically takes 15-30 minutes)(1 ton of cargo per 6 missiles).

b)Long Range Missile Launchers---Though not as powerful individually as the CMLs, LRMLs tend to make up the difference by launching in volume. The ‘standard’ LRML described here is derived from the main launchers of the PS/ASI Javelin Missile Cruiser/Frigate.
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 1-32 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 160 LRMs per launcher-pod. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

-ML/MLRS-240 Heavy Missile Launcher---A retractable trainable box missile launcher. Military experts from Rifts Earth would immediately recognize this as the adapted launcher from the Iron Bolt Missile Vehicle, complete with top mounted mini-missile launcher. Though it has less immediate fire capacity than the larger battery described above, the ML/MLRS-240 has the advantage of combing two weapons systems in one, making it a popular choice for both anti-ship and point defense.
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:(LRMs) From 1-6 missiles can be fired in one volley
(MMs) From 1-10 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 12 LRMs and 120 MMs per launcher-pod. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)


c) Heavy Massdriver Cannons---Paladin Steel hasn’t yet perfected G-Cannon technology, so it makes do with large conventional electromagnetic massdrivers. The following is a typical 450mm massdriver type:
Range: 25 miles in atmosphere, 70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 70 miles in atmosphere, 70,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Kinetic Penetrator) 3d6x100 MD to 15 ft radius
(Multi-Munition Fragmentor) 3d6x10 MD to 300 ft radius
(Heavy Plasma) 2d6x100 MD to 150 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: 200 shells per cannon. Additional shells may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(3 shells per ton of cargo)
Penalty: -5 to strike fighter-sized targets

d)Heavy Laser Cannon----Turrets of 2-4 cannons; another derivative of PS/ASI’s warship programs.
Note: These weapons typically fire in salvos of three(all three guns in a turret firing simultaneously)
Range: 16 miles in atmosphere, 1,600 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast. 6d6x100 MD for a triple burst
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

e)Heavy Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 10 miles in atmosphere, 40 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere/ 40,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD per salvo
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

f) Solar Cannon---Though not designed as weapons, these massive solar focusing dishes can be refocused and pivoted to strike targets with concentrated sunlight, sending temperatures soaring and exceeding the limits of most safety and shipboard coolant systems. Lesser craft and power armors are literally boiled to death. In the past, this feature has been used to ‘cook’ rotating asteroids for materials...PS hopes to also use it to superheat asteroids, spin them, then ‘lathe’ them into shape as space habitats! However, the Solar Mirrors are slow, hard to track targets, and woefully limited in their weapons capabilities. Solar Cannon are also dependent on ambient light; they are most efficient in regions of 1.2 AU or less from a star, and far less effective to useless the further one gets from a sun. These arrays are also used for illuminating planetary surfaces with reflected light, and for focusing heat on such materials as ice, in order to melt it. Industrial Asteroid Cruisers may sport as many as ten of these arrays for working on various large projects.
Range: 10 miles
(Kitsune Values: 1,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per full melee of tracking
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Penalties: -2 to strike targets 100 ft or larger, -6 to strike anything smaller

g) Heavy Plasma Torpedo Launchers---These are direct-fire weapons that fire bolts of plasma trapped in a temporary magnetic ‘shell’ centered on an evaporated ‘seed’ of ultra-dense deuterium ice, allowing the plasma to travel farther without losing cohesion and damage potential, and allowing the plasma to explode with area of effect on target. The result is an energy missile with superior range to normal energy weapons(though still well short of comparable missile weaponry) and potentially unlimited payload. However, the plasma packets CAN be grabbed/deflected by tractor beams(this is how the ship’s gunners can manipulate their energy projectiles at short range and correct their course....each of the launch arrays’ mounted tractor beams being able to grab and direct a volley of plasma bolts), or destabilized by ion or particle beam weapons fire(takes 20 MDC to disrupt the plasma containment).
Range: 25 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in atmosphere, 100,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x1,000 MD to a 100 ft blast radius per missile
Rate of Fire: Two shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited


3) Medium/Short Range Weapons---Backing the main Heavy weapons will be batteries of Short to Medium rating weapons. In general, there will typically be 2-5 times as many of these lighter classification weapons as Heavy weapons, arrayed to give all-around coverage and mutually-supporting fire.
Typical weapons of this class seen on Asteroid Cruisers include the following:

a) Heavy Kinetic Cannon---These are heavy-duty triple-barrel rail cannon mounts from PS’s Orbital warship programs.
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 15 minutes)

b) Heavy Ion Gattler---This is a quad array of heavy ion cannon.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per blast per single cannon, 8d4x100 MD for all three cannons firing simultaneously
The ion blasts can also be ‘shotgun spread’, doing HALF normal damage to everything in a 30-degree arc out to HALF normal range.
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

c)Heavy Laser Cannon---Two-three gun turrets, another PS’s Orbital warship program off-the-shelf component.
Note: These weapons typically fire in salvos of three(all three guns in a turret firing simultaneously)
Range: 16 miles in atmosphere, 1,600 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast. 6d6x100 MD for a triple burst
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

d)Medium Laser Turrets----These are simply laser turrets from the existing Javelin/Assegai production lines, mounted on the asteroid-ship.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per single blast, 4d4x100 double-barreled blast
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

e) Light Plasma Torpedo Launchers
Range: 20 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 200 miles in atmosphere, 200,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast to 100 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Each array can launch volleys of 1-8 torpedoes, twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

f) Medium Range Missile Launchers
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: 100 missiles per launcher, 200 missiles total, reloading from the cargo hold takes 1d6 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 24 missiles)



4) Point Defense Weapons---For close-in defense, even civilian-application Asteroid Cruisers will mount multiple arrays of PDSWs. Like the larger S/M weapons, there will generally be 2-10 times the number of PDSWs as Heavy weapons.
A typical PDSW turret will have 200 MDC
Typical weapons of this class seen on Asteroid Cruisers include the following:

a) 40mm Rapid-Fire Guns(mounted in 2-4 gun mounts)
Range: 2.6 miles in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2.6 miles in atmosphere, 2,600 miles in space)
Damage:(Proximity Fuzed Fragmentation) 3d6 MD to 15 ft blast radius(30 ft in space)
(Armor Piercing Tracer) 5d6 MD single shot
(High Explosive Tracer) 4d6 MD to 10 ft blast radius( 20 ft in space)
Rate of Fire: EPCHH, typically in bursts of 5-10 rounds. Six attacks per melee in automated mode
Payload: Effectively Unlimited; large ammunition supplies.
Radar Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike

b)Laser PDS
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, six attacks per melee in automated mode
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Radar Targeting Bonus: +4 to strike

c)Laser/Mini-Missile PDS----These are standard CCW-pattern dual laser/mini-missile launchers that have been installed fro 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

d)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)
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


Auxiliary Craft:
Asteroid Cruisers typically have 1-6 separate hangar facilities for small craft; usually a large main bay and a number of smaller bays for maintenance craft. They will also have provision for docking 4-10 larger craft(starships).
Fighter/small craft complements can vary from 100-600 craft(the larger, as yet unrealized, asteroid cruisers are projected as having capacity for as many as 2,000 small craft).

[SolCannibal]

Sadly no: aside from vague references attributed to the Star-Dwarf 'smithy' and the Dwarven "Spell-Jammer" mobile forts in the game of the same name for D&D. As for VIDEO reffs? Youtube has scads of short indi clips using Blender / Autodesk and even 3DStudio (now there's a blast from the past) for sci-fi. Might find something in there.

Spelljammer... oh boy, does that name bring memories. Crazy fun stuff. Hmmmm, might filch some old pickings for member-nations of the UWW or regional rivals in the "arcane tech" business niche.

[taalismn]

Sadly no: aside from vague references attributed to the Star-Dwarf 'smithy' and the Dwarven "Spell-Jammer" mobile forts in the game of the same name for D&D. As for VIDEO reffs? Youtube has scads of short indi clips using Blender / Autodesk and even 3DStudio (now there's a blast from the past) for sci-fi. Might find something in there.

Spelljammer... oh boy, does that name bring memories. Crazy fun stuff. Hmmmm, might filch some old pickings for member-nations of the UWW or regional rivals in the "arcane tech" business niche.

Indeed....Spelljammer is just ripe for looting for the UWW and affiliated alternate universes.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Heartily approved of either way.

As an aside, do we have any examples of meteors or asteroids carved into a mammoth-sized ship or station?

You mean, like THIS?:

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries Asteroid-Cruisers
….snip{/quote]

This is an outline of a type of construction method type of ships, not a class of ship in and of itself.
There are lots of details left out pertaining to size and space for stuff

The only system I really can object to is the "f) Solar Cannon---". This is a variant of the "Solar System" (Gundam) or SPLA (Troy Rising) idea. There is no Min. Hull Size requirement listed.

The thing is that it would require a vast collection field to produce the listed damages and there is noting about not being able to maneuver while this is deployed or the risks of damaging the mirrors if the ship does maneuver. And no text about how is has to be mounted outside the hull to work. thus subject to soft/proximity damages.

Yes yes…these are RW/Hsci type things. I realize they are more SW 'it works' cause it is cool.

[DhAkael]

Sadly no: aside from vague references attributed to the Star-Dwarf 'smithy' and the Dwarven "Spell-Jammer" mobile forts in the game of the same name for D&D. As for VIDEO reffs? Youtube has scads of short indi clips using Blender / Autodesk and even 3DStudio (now there's a blast from the past) for sci-fi. Might find something in there.

Spelljammer... oh boy, does that name bring memories. Crazy fun stuff. Hmmmm, might filch some old pickings for member-nations of the UWW or regional rivals in the "arcane tech" business niche.

Indeed....Spelljammer is just ripe for looting for the UWW and affiliated alternate universes.

Already did so for my campaign; the titular mobile manta-ray shaped space city already made an appearance ... then vanished just as mysteriously as it arrived.

[SolCannibal]

Sadly no: aside from vague references attributed to the Star-Dwarf 'smithy' and the Dwarven "Spell-Jammer" mobile forts in the game of the same name for D&D. As for VIDEO reffs? Youtube has scads of short indi clips using Blender / Autodesk and even 3DStudio (now there's a blast from the past) for sci-fi. Might find something in there.

Spelljammer... oh boy, does that name bring memories. Crazy fun stuff. Hmmmm, might filch some old pickings for member-nations of the UWW or regional rivals in the "arcane tech" business niche.

Indeed....Spelljammer is just ripe for looting for the UWW and affiliated alternate universes.

Already did so for my campaign; the titular mobile manta-ray shaped space city already made an appearance ... then vanished just as mysteriously as it arrived.

Once, taking a cue from a paragraph in the book itself "remake the old, just give it a repaint and new description to catch players by surprise" and disguised the 'Jammer as a colossal sea urchin composed of crystal towers, some of them actual inhabited towers, some titanic lasers and a number of mamooth-sized alien limbs and feelers among them. A sort of living hybrid of Death Star and Fortress of Solitude, a ghost-citadel inhabited by the holographic records of all beings it served/gathered/consumed through the aeons of its existence. Very eerie and entertaining end result overall.

[taalismn]

[

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries Asteroid-Cruisers
….snip{/quote]

This is an outline of a type of construction method type of ships, not a class of ship in and of itself.
There are lots of details left out pertaining to size and space for stuff

The only system I really can object to is the "f) Solar Cannon---". This is a variant of the "Solar System" (Gundam) or SPLA (Troy Rising) idea. There is no Min. Hull Size requirement listed.

The thing is that it would require a vast collection field to produce the listed damages and there is noting about not being able to maneuver while this is deployed or the risks of damaging the mirrors if the ship does maneuver. And no text about how is has to be mounted outside the hull to work. thus subject to soft/proximity damages.

Yes yes…these are RW/Hsci type things. I realize they are more SW 'it works' cause it is cool.

Well, honestly, I never used the Solar Cannon anywhere else on any smaller platforms, so I assumed that its presence on a ship/mobile station built into an asteroid would imply it's frickin' big, attached to a mobile platform that wallows like a boulder. I also left out 'performance may vary according to distance from local primary star and type of star'.
I figure each Asteroid Cruiser is going to be different due to its base-rock and available local resources, so a specific class would not make sense; there might be specializations, say, colony-support ACs, fleet tender ACs, troop transport/assault ACs, factory-ships, etc., but these would vessel-specific, rather than standardized design. I really kinda drew more on the 'Okies' from James Blish's 'Cities in Flight'(though that same series features a Death Star-like 'Vegan Orbital Fort'). More homogenous designs might end up looking like the Zentraedi ships and spacestations from Robotech/Macross(one fanon had the larger constructs made by spinning up asteroid material, heating it, and making a base structure from the zero-gee milled foamed metal).

[taalismn]

[

Once, taking a cue from a paragraph in the book itself "remake the old, just give it a repaint and new description to catch players by surprise" and disguised the 'Jammer as a colossal sea urchin composed of crystal towers, some of them actual inhabited towers, some titanic lasers and a number of mamooth-sized alien limbs and feelers among them. A sort of living hybrid of Death Star and Fortress of Solitude.

"That's not a spacestation, it's Cthulu!!!!"

[SolCannibal]

[

Once, taking a cue from a paragraph in the book itself "remake the old, just give it a repaint and new description to catch players by surprise" and disguised the 'Jammer as a colossal sea urchin composed of crystal towers, some of them actual inhabited towers, some titanic lasers and a number of mamooth-sized alien limbs and feelers among them. A sort of living hybrid of Death Star and Fortress of Solitude.

"That's not a spacestation, it's Cthulu!!!!"

With a little bit of Close Encounters mixed in. Beside this did a little twist on the Neogi and their Umber Hulk servants with a race of escravist insects that would "possess/ride" other intelligent beings in a kind of Master/Blaster parasitic relationship and Mind Flayers as psionic carnivorous plants - with detachable flying "heads". Fun stuff.

[taalismn]

Solex Federation Sengoku-Class Battleship

“If you go by records alone, the Solex Federation’s line of battle looks pretty impressive, with over fifty battleships. But the reality it, the design’s been around over ninety years, and is long in the tooth compared to what the big players in the ThreeGee are fielding. Furthermore, the Solexians can’t raise the full number for combat; officially they’re all operational, but in reality over a third of them have vanished off the fleet rolls, either defected to suspected rebel colonial forces forming in the outworlds, or to special anti-colonial taskforces being set up by the more zealous coreworlders. Either way, they’re not going to be available for full fleet actions.”

“Sengos are pug-ugly bastards; they look like steam-boilers and maneuver like paddle-wheelers. They DO, however, mount enough armor and weaponry that they’re not easy pushovers for anybody who hasn’t done their homework or isn’t all the way on the ball.”

The Sengoku-class is a ‘standard’-class design of heavy warship fielded by the Solex Federation. By modern CCW or TGE standards, the vessel would be classified as a heavy cruiser, and a dated one at that, the Sengokus being slow and undergunned by capital ship standards of the major powers of the Three Galaxies. Still, they are fairly tough and durable as warships go, and have, until fairly recently, been sufficient to maintain the peace and security of the Solex.
Large and bulky by the more refined aesthetics and technology of the CCW and other more advanced power blocs, the Sengoku has the advantages of being fairly easy to build and maintain with the tighter budgets and resources available to the Solex Federation. The design has seen a long life, with multiple bloc modifications, but the overall reliability of the design means that even unmodified early production models are still in service in various capacities in the Federation.
The Sengoku is configured around batteries of heavy lasers and long range missile launchers as its primary striking weapons. Two dual-purpose missile launcher sponsons and hangar bays flanking the main body provide the ships with the ability to carry extra missile supplies for extended operations, supplying other vessels, or for carrying fighters, extra shuttlecraft, and troops. The armaments are kept concealed behind armored shutters and in retractable turrets in the main hull, where they are protected by heavy armor(and incidentally are shielded from long range scans), so that it is not immediately evident what the ships are packing in the way of weaponry. Physical armor is quite heavy, as Solex shield technology is not well developed, and point defense coverage is mediocre at best.
Overall, the Sengoku is an imposing vessel...to lesser star nations. The ship can outfight a Republik Bindas-class cruiser, but is sorely lacking compared to cruisers, let alone the battleships, of equivalent mass fielded by the CCW and TGE.
Because of the fairly large numbers of these vessels built(relative to the ratio of battleships built to fleets of other nations) the Sengokus see a lot more patrol activity cruising the spaceways of the Federation than other nations would have their heavy iron be doing. It is also not uncommon for Sengokus to operate independentally, without escort or battlegroup, especially within the borders of the SF.
The greater numbers of Sengokus built in the Federation has also meant that the vessels are fairly common as ships of the line in both sides of the developing schism in the Federation. Command of older Sengokus is often the first assignment of newly-minted central government flag officers, training up to hopefully assume command of more modern vessels. However, the large ships are also sought after by the revolutionaries of the colonies, in part because of their firepower and their large crews, which are large potential pools of recruits. Frequently the two aspects collide, as new flag officers seek to establish their commands in the face of internal dissent among the lower rank crew, and heavy-handed efforts by inexperienced command personnel to quell disruption are unfortunately common. Because the vessels often represent a microcosm of the Solex Federation’s growing problems between the central government and the colonies, many of the vessels have become virtual battlegrounds between the factions; already several have been involved in open mutinies, and some have outright disappeared, either vanished to join rebel factions or have been destroyed in internal fighting. A number have also reportedly surfaced as pirates outside the Solex sector.

*WHISKEY GARDEN
WHISKEY GARDEN is the codename assigned to an ex-Solex Federation Sengoku-class battleship captured by United Systems Alliance/Greater New England aerospace forces in the Cheronute Sector. The vessel appeared, apparently by navigational accident, several sectors away from the Solex Federation, and the crew made contact with the peaceful local Kinesi, seeking to trade for parts and information. However, the Kinesi had suspicions about the battleship’s crew and quietly contacted, through Aegis Stellar Industries contractors working in Kinesian space infrastructure, the GNE/USA, who dispatched a security flotilla to shadow the errant battleship as it made its way through the sector. Gathered intelligence eventually allowed the flotilla to ascertain that the vessel had recently mutined and was in the hands of its colonialist crew, who had slaughtered or mind-ripped any dissenters, and were now rogue, at least until they could return to Solex territories. The battleship was also engaged in piracy and slave-trading, starting with non-colonial crew members, but extending to several small transports the ship had encountered in the Cheronute Sector. Having no trade or diplomatic ties to the Solex Federation, and being cautious enough to avoid any contact with the brewing civil war there, but unwilling to ignore the battleship’s activities, the decison was made to attack and capture the vessel.
Under heavy sensor and communications jamming, a force of GNEAS Stelmarines was able to storm the vessel and seize control of it. Those mutineers who survived the attack were interrogated, tried for slavery and piracy, and those who didn’t get a death sentence were landed on an isolated penal asteroid. Their mind-reamed slaves were farmed out to rehab colonies until some means could be found to restore them to themselves and safely repatriated to the Solex.
Currently WHISKEY GARDEN is laying camouflaged in a desert system asteroid belt, while ASI engineers examine the vessel.

Type: SF-BB0107 Sengoku
Class: Space Battleship
Crew: 650+ 200 troops
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body(Forward) 15,000
Main Body(Midships) 12,000
Bridge 6,000
Hangar Bays(2) 4,000 each
Engine Bloc 17,000
Auxiliary Engines(2) 4,000 each
Main Turrets(2) 1,000 each
Medium Laser Cannon(8) 500 each
Point Defense Rail Guns(12) 300 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(4) 400 each
Forcefield 4,000 per side (24,000 total)
Height: 300 ft
Width: 400 ft
Length: 690 ft
Weight: 56,000 tons
Cargo: 2,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 40 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric. Rarely enters a gravity well/atmosphere.
(Sublight) Mach 7
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.7% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 2 light years per hour
(Underwater) Limited; Sengokus can land and take off from water, but rarely do so, and they cannot operate underwater.
Market Cost: 8 billion Galactic credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems

Vulnerabilities:
Being several generations in technology behind advanced star nations, Sengokus have a number of shortcomings:

*Slow FTL Engagement---The massive FTL drive units of the Sengokus take roughly 30 minutes(or 6d6 minutes) to go from a ‘cold’ start to readiness for jump to FTL. Also, upon dropping out of FTL, they cannot re-engage safely for 45 minutes. A ‘hot’ jump can be attempted, but this carries a 30% chance of doing 6d6x10 MD internal stress damage, a 40% chance of taking the FTL drive COMPLETELY offline(+another 30% failure chance and TRIPLE the internal damage if the engines are still operational and another ‘hot’ jump is attempted).

*Sensor Self-Masking---If the forcefield is engaged, the ship’s sensor acuity and range drops by 30%. The main direct fire armaments will be at -1 to strike beyond 70% of their maximum range(missiles are unaffected).

*Sensor Jamming Vulnerability---Solex Federation sensors are generally at a -18% disadvantage to see through ‘standard’ CCW/TGE-level jamming/active cloaking systems.

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Particle Beam Projection Cannon(2)---Mounted in two retracting turrets in the bulbous forward section, and fed from a massive cyclotron installed there, are two particle beam projectors. Though larger and more cumbersome than more modern installations aboard CCW, TGE, and even Golgan vessels, the PBPs are still powerful enough to pose a threat to capital vesssels.
Range: 25 miles in atmosphere, 50 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 50 miles in atmosphere, 50,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x1,000 MD per blast. A simultaneous salvo from both cannons does 4d4x1,000 MD.
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Heavy Laser Cannon(4)----The slow rate of fire of the particle beam cannons necessitated the installation, alongside them, of a set of heavy laser cannons to keep up barrages while the main cannons recharged.
Range: 30 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in atmosphere, 100,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Medium Laser Cannon(8 )---Secondary laser batteries used for dealing with smaller targets or missile barrages.
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere,10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per single barrel, 2d4x100 MD for two cannons firing simultaneously(counts as one attack).
Rate of Fire: Four shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Point Defense Rail Guns(12)----The Solex rely on rail guns for point defense. These are fairly effective at throwing out a ‘flak curtain’ around the ship, as long as their fire control can coordinate their firing.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per cannon
Rate of Fire: Each barrel can fire four times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

5) Long Range Missile Launchers(4) ---Mounted in the lateral hangar bays where they can draw upon the same missile magazines as embarked fighters/torpedo-craft, these launchers give long range bite.
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 1-20 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 100 LRMs per launcher. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

Auxiliary Craft:
Standard complement of 6 shuttles
Can carry 12 fighters

Variants:
The Sengoku design has been around long enough that several refits and upgrades have resulted in a number of variants being fielded.
*Heavy Transports---At least four older Sengokus are known to have been modified into heavy transports, able to transport up to 1,000 troops.

*Heavy Carrier----The Solex Federation’s tactical doctrine doesn’t place much store in fighters as anything other than planetary assault units, so fighter carriers(and fighter designs)have tended to languish. Recently, however, both the central government and the colonial separatists have looked into modifying their older battleships into carrier platforms, both because both factions have been buying more advanced fighters from outside the Federation, and in anticipation of planetary assault operations. Carrier conversion Sengokus carry the standard complement of shuttles, plus 48 fighters.

*Assaulter---The Solex Federation central government recently raised protests from the colonials when it was learned that the homeworld congress had quietly approved the conversion of some later-model Sengokus with a more extensive missile armament, replacing the shuttle bays with added missile stowage, and the addition of four more long range missile bays with the ability to fire up to 50 missiles each, more than doubling the Sengokus’ volley-count. And alterations to the avionics suggest active jamming systems and sensor penetration aides. The fact that none of these conversions have been made available to general fleet assignments has many in the outworlds convinced that the ships are meant as planetary bombardment ships alrady assigned to terrorize the colonies.

[gaby]

Gread,I like to see Civilain ships from the members of CCW,TGE,GR,UWW and CA.
I think each race would want to keep making civilains ships.

[taalismn]

Not really, Gaby.
The problem with the civilizations of the Three Galaxies is that younger races coming on the scene, especially if they were introduced to startraveling fairly early in their spacefaring development by more advanced civilizations, risk falling into the trap of being overwhelmed by existing designs, Unless their phsyiological needs are so great, or their philosophical and aesthetic outlooks so different, many will fall to the convenience of copying, adapting, and using existing designs such as the baselines we're shown in the Three Galaxies books.
We see this on Earth where less-developed countries simply buy automobiles from wealthier, more industrialized, nations, or, in a few cases, where they set out to build their own, more often than not will buy the tooling of obsolete car lines, and the license rights to older designs, make a few cosmetic or cost-cutting changes(often for the worse, performance and reliability-wise), and slap a new marque badge on them.
And large civilian ship design hasn't changed much either, aside from accessory electronics like GPS. A WW1 naval officer might be a little flummoxed looking at modern warships with their many systems, but a merchantman from the same era might more readily take to a Liberty Ship or the many derivatives still sailing today.
The radical production innovations are going to appear mainly in warship design, followed by specialized cargo handling, and the really oddballs are going to appear with limited production or one-off yachts.
Most species will go, after the initial shock wears off, the easy route of adapting what clearly works for their more advanced neighbors, with only small modifications to meet their own species biology needs, and available economic resources. And that's not factoring in pressure to adapt standardization so their airlocks ad loading equipment can interface with the greater galactic economy more readily.

[SolCannibal]

Not really, Gaby.
The problem with the civilizations of the Three Galaxies is that younger races coming on the scene, especially if they were introduced to startraveling fairly early in their spacefaring development by more advanced civilizations, risk falling into the trap of being overwhelmed by existing designs, Unless their phsyiological needs are so great, or their philosophical and aesthetic outlooks so different, many will fall to the convenience of copying, adapting, and using existing designs such as the baselines we're shown in the Three Galaxies books.
We see this on Earth where less-developed countries simply buy automobiles from wealthier, more industrialized, nations, or, in a few cases, where they set out to build their own, more often than not will buy the tooling of obsolete car lines, and the license rights to older designs, make a few cosmetic or cost-cutting changes(often for the worse, performance and reliability-wise), and slap a new marque badge on them.
And large civilian ship design hasn't changed much either, aside from accessory electronics like GPS. A WW1 naval officer might be a little flummoxed looking at modern warships with their many systems, but a merchantman from the same era might more readily take to a Liberty Ship or the many derivatives still sailing today.
The radical production innovations are going to appear mainly in warship design, followed by specialized cargo handling, and the really oddballs are going to appear with limited production or one-off yachts.
Most species will go, after the initial shock wears off, the easy route of adapting what clearly works for their more advanced neighbors, with only small modifications to meet their own species biology needs, and available economic resources. And that's not factoring in pressure to adapt standardization so their airlocks ad loading equipment can interface with the greater galactic economy more readily.

Yes, this pattern is all too common even with military technology might be said, as the spread of variants of older models of the Phantom series or MIGs across a number of developing (and quite developed) countries acroos our contemporary world can show all too well.

The only major "defense" a number of those nations might have against such techno-economical trampling would be that space is a quite big place and depending on where a civilization starts it might develop a considerable design identity and territorial/economic sphere of its own before ever coming in contact with the "official major powers" of the 3 Galaxies.

[taalismn]

[
The only major "defense" a number of those nations might have against such techno-economical trampling would be that space is a quite big place and depending on where a civilization starts it might a considerable design identity and territorial/economic sphere of its own before ever coming in contact with the "official major powers" of the 3 Galaxies.

That, and really tough, bordering on insular, local trade protection laws...but insular societies are unlikely to come out to play with the rest of the Three Galaxies crowd, so their ships will rarely show up on the galactic market.

[SolCannibal]

[
The only major "defense" a number of those nations might have against such techno-economical trampling would be that space is a quite big place and depending on where a civilization starts it might a considerable design identity and territorial/economic sphere of its own before ever coming in contact with the "official major powers" of the 3 Galaxies.

That, and really tough, bordering on insular, local trade protection laws...but insular societies are unlikely to come out to play with the rest of the Three Galaxies crowd, so their ships will rarely show up on the galactic market.

Not to mention such laws can be detrimental on themselves, end up becoming a self-imposed embargo, fomenting contraband and through it a number of other illegal/criminal enterprises and sources of corruption, disorder and instability, with the Opium War as possibly the most harcore/vicious historical example ever i can think of.

[taalismn]

Protectionism of native industry, depending in circumstances, can be a good or bad thing...but when it comes to interstellar transit, then, yeah, I see few basic workable designs dominating the market.
I mean, how many dhows do you see sailing the transoceanic trade?

[SolCannibal]

Protectionism of native industry, depending in circumstances, can be a good or bad thing...but when it comes to interstellar transit, then, yeah, I see few basic workable designs dominating the market.
I mean, how many dhows do you see sailing the transoceanic trade?

True, true, and even where the tech gap ain't so extreme, the "good hardware/low costs" combo can play a role, as NATO basically adopting the use of fighters of the F-series instead of more recent versions of models like the Mirage or Grippen kind of shows.


But now going into a another subject, one thing i like very much in this thread is the bits of star-nation-building that stealthily go into the background and description of many of the starship models. Making a list of sorts could be useful i guess. Some of them from other topics too, no?

[taalismn]

[


But now going into a another subject, one thing i like very much in this thread is the bits of star-nation-building that stealthily go into the background and description of many of the starship models. Making a list of sorts could be useful i guess. Some of them from other topics too, no?

You read my mind...I've already compiled a folder-file of ship names and classes, and the organizations they're built by that I've created, and that can be easily expanded to include the starship designs already posted here.

[SolCannibal]

But now going into another subject, one thing i like very much in this thread is the bits of star-nation-building that stealthily go into the background and description of many of the starship models. Making a list of sorts could be useful i guess. Some of them from other topics too, no?

You read my mind...I've already compiled a folder-file of ship names and classes, and the organizations they're built by that I've created, and that can be easily expanded to include the starship designs already posted here.

That i would like to see - with a little editing and some art (maybe some from the many sample links given in the topic) it could make a pretty good fanbook sequel to Fleets of the Three Galaxies.

[taalismn]

[
That i would like to see - with a little editing and some art (maybe some from the many sample links given in the topic) it could make a pretty good fanbook sequel to Fleets of the Three Galaxies.

Sadly, DarkMaxx(who pretty much started this thread with his contributions), his CGI art seems to no longer be available, unless somebody has saved, cached, and mirrored them...

[SolCannibal]

Damn shame that. Well, we can at least give it a try, order the stuff of the thread, edit & polish it a little with some formatting, recheck pages and links to see what's still salvageable. At least to see how far we can go and what needs a recovering of sorts.

[taalismn]

I'll have to do a page-by-page to get the ship names, designation numbers, classes, and organizations they belong to to fully represent the list/codex.
Like I said, I have my own stuff(mostly) all listed in the folder, but there are a lot of indie posters here and one-shots that have appeared. And that's not counting some of the Ancient designs that have occasionally popped up or been mentioned.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries ‘Bering’ Medium Interstellar Transport

“Got another rush order for an entire new rear replacement hull for a Bering.”
“ANOTHER? What’s the reason this time?”
“Trader in the Thundercloud ran into a prospect that went bad fast. Got the crew into the forward section and had to jettison the rear hull to go its own way to oblivion. Got somebody to tow her bridge back here and she wants a new rear hull to attach it to.”
‘...You know, we could mention to her that it might be cheaper to just buy a whole new ship rather than have her old bridge freighted back here.”
“Not going to work with some of these Fringe captains. As long as she has part of her old ship, and the command deck at that, she didn’t abandon her ship. This way, in her eyes, we’re not selling her a new ship, we’re doing REPAIRS to her old one.”
“Well, the customer is always right. I’ll tell the yard to start working the order up.”

The ‘Bering”-class medium interstellar transport is a WZTechyards’-licensed updated copy of the Forraker Aerospace ‘Medin’ freighter. Having signed a probationary deal with WZT, ASI is permitted to produce approved designs from the WZT database, into which defunct Forraker Aerospace’s catalogue and R&D files were enfolded.
The original Medin design enjoyed over a hundred years’ worth of production during the mercantile boom in the old Human Alliance following the end of the Automaton War. The freighters, with their blocky appearance, distinctive long ‘neck’, half-circle bridge pod, and large sensor/communications array tower, often followed smaller Forraker-built transports into the new trade routes, and made small fortunes for their owner-operators. Though the design went out of production eventually as newer technologies took hold, the large numbers of vessels already produced continued to serve quite ably through generations of businesses, earning high marks for reliability and steadfast performance from their operators. WZT decided to assign one of its newer members, ASI, the task of producing new parts and even entirely new spaceframes for those still operating the vessels, or wanting a new one.
The Bering-class is superficially identical to the Medin, but features a number of significant upgrades, especially to propulsion and safety systems. The Berling retains the Medin’s ‘boom and boxcar’ hull configuration, with its ‘scallop’ forward hull attached by twin pylons to a boxy rear hull section containing the main engines and cargo holds. One of the Medin’s distinctive features was the ability of the bridge to detach in an emergency from the rear hull and act as a lifeboat; this feature made the Medin a common conversion to hazardous cargo carrier and munitions tender during the many small brush wars that broke out attendant the Great Expansion out of the Human Alliance.
While not as popular with mainstream merchant concerns in the core worlds because of its ‘antiquated’ lineage, the Berling is, in its intial offering, enjoying brisk sales in the Fringe and rim-worlds where some of the original Medins still cough along on the starlanes, and the upgraded Berling fairly shines in performance next to them. The fact that it’s produced by a smaller firm(albeit part of the WZT consortium), rather than one of the big coreworld corporations, further endears it to independent-minded fringeworlders.

Type: PS/ASI-FA/MC-317 Bering
Class: Medium Interstellar Transport
Crew: 25
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 5,900
Bridge/Forward Hull 3,000
Communications/Sensor Tower Array 700
Connecting Pylons(2) 400 each
Engine Bloc 1,200
Forcefield 4,000
Height: 95 ft
Width: 220 ft
Length: 500 ft
Weight: 95,000 tons
Cargo: 29,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 40 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 6
(Kitsune Values: 20% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.6% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 3 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: 170 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:

*Detachable Bridge---The entire forward section of the Bering can detach to become a large lifeboat. The forward hull has accommodation(under cramped conditions) for up to 30 people, and has separate propulsion capable of pushing the section up to Mach 6.

Weapons Systems:
None standard, but comes with provision for up to 6 light weapons stations

Options:
Most post-sale Berlings get modified with better engines or defenses, or specialized cargo bays for carrying special cargoes. The bridge-and-boom design makes the Berling particularly attractive to operators wanting some distance between their crews and their cargoes(as with toxic, radioactive, pathogenic, biogenic, psionically-active, or otherwise hazardous cargoes).

*Bridge Section FTL---Some buyers, especially those operating in the Thundercloud, outfit the bridge lifeboat section with its own FTL drive(usually with a 3-4 light year/hour capability), giving a crew a better chance of reaching civiliation in event of a bail-out situation. Cost: 47 million credits.


Variants:
*MC-317AVQ---Armed Auxiliary ‘Q-ship’ variant produced in limited numbers by ASI as part of its mercantile protection program. This variant removes most of the cargo capacity in favor of fitting the ship with extra shield generators, armor reinforcement(increase armor on main hull components by 30%), sensor spoofers and jammers, and a concealed armament, including multiple laser and missile batteries. The auxiliary control center in the rear hull has been reformatted into a proper bridge, and the traditional forward detachable bridge section now operates as an armed heavy pinnace. The established practice for the MC-317AVQ is, when cornered by pirates, to ‘abandon’ the rear section to be approached and boarded, then power up and open up with the concealed weapons on the (hopefully) surprised pirates, the ‘lifeboat’ circling back to attack the pirates from the flanks.
Changes/Modifications:
Crew: 35, plus 24 marines
MDC/Armor by Location:
Increase Main Hull/Bridge/Pylons/Engine Block values by 30%
(Main Hull)
Concealed Medium Laser Turrets(4) 500 each
Kinetic Kill Rail Cannon Batteries(2) 500 each
Point Defense Turrets(6) 100 each
Missile Launchers(2) 300 each
Variable Forcefield(Main Hull) 1,000 per side, 6,000 total
(Lifeboat/Bridge)
Concealed Light Laser Turrets(3) 150 each
Point Defense Turrets(2) 100 each
Variable Forcefield(Bridge) 500 per side, 3,000 total
Speed:(Main Hull) Mach 7
(Lifeboat/Bridge) Mach 8
Cargo: Reduce cargo capacity to 400 tons, and this is mainly maintained as a cover for pirate scanners to detect/port spies to see, or is jettisoned in combat as camouflage.
Systems of Note:
*Hull Sensor Scramblers---These do not prevent the ship from being detected, but they do confuse efforts to see INSIDE the hull, and prevent outside sensors from getting an accurate read of the ship’s power profile, internal arrangement, and contents.

Weapons Systems:
(Main Hull)
1) Concealed Medium Laser Turrets(4)
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 simultaneously(one attack)
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

2) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannon(6, 2x3)--Mounted in triple mounts concealed behind disguising armored shutters.
Range: 6 miles in atmosphere, 12 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 12 miles in atmosphere, 12,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x10 MD per cannon, 8d6x10 MD for two cannons firing simultaneously, 2d4x100 MD for all three firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 500 bursts per gun

3) Point Defense Turrets(6)
Range: (Palladium) 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, or auto-fire; 6 attacks per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

OR, can be fitted with the following:
Dual Laser/Mini-Missile LauncherTurret
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: (Lasers) 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


4) Missile Launchers(2)---The main cargo bay has been modified into a modular missile launcher, the standard ASI system being an adaptation of the combined missile launcher used on the old Iron Bolt missile tank, that would give a single launcher 120 mini-missiles and 12 long range missiles.

(Lifeboat/Bridge)
1) Medium Laser Cannons(2)
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD pr blast, 2d4x100 MD per dual blast from both cannon simultaneously(one attack)
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Medium Range Missile Launcher
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 80 missiles

3) Point Defense Turrets(2)---These can each mount ONE of the following:
a) Laser Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 3.5 miles in atmosphere, 7 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 7 miles in atmosphere, 700 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

b) Ion Cannon--(ionization rules courtesy of Henning Rogge)
Range: (Palladium) 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space
Damage: 2d6x10 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

c) Plasma Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 2 miles in atmosphere, 24,000 ft/4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space
Damage: 5d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload:Effectively unlimited

d) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 1.5 miles in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

e) Dual Laser/Mini-Missile LauncherTurret
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: (Lasers) 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

[taalismn]

Aegis Stellar Industries’ Tabar-class Heavy Cruiser

“Yes, commissioning a brand new Tabar-class cruiser was rather expensive, more so than for a second- or third-hand Warshield, especially for a new spacefaring nation like our own, and yes, it may seem a tad presumptious for somebody like us to acquire such a large ship, but we’ve had no complaints from either our closest neighbors or from our citizens. Truth be told, the capabilities of this vessel fit our needs quite nicely. The only negative remarks about her that we’re concerned about are from those neighbors who have failed to respect our sovereignty and our citizens’ rights or property. THOSE naysayers’ complaints about our guns tell us we did the right thing.”
-Captain Charan Ellalh Dar’Ishvalan, RARSS -Davaseen-, Royal Amestrian Republic Space Navy

The third of the cruiser line based on the basic configuration of the Lasser-class frigate, the Tabar-class CGs are the ‘heavy’ version. Armor protection and armament took precedence over anything else, and the Tabars are admittedly rather slow, but hard to kill. The Tabar draws heavily from the earlier Assegai Light Cruiser, which, it was discovered, was more heavily armed and armored, as well as less expensive, than the larger LaFayette Heavy Frigates, owing to discrepancies in the production and labor practices between the respective construction sites(and universes).
The Tabar dispenses with the modularity of the LaFayette in favor of a more fixed configuration emphasizing staying power in combat. Overall, the Tabar’s layout resembles the weapons configuration of the CCW Explorer-class light cruiser, only shoehorned into a smaller frame, and without the troop capacity. This fits with PS/ASI’s developing space strategy that focuses less on long range ground force projection, and more on anti-spacecraft protection and aerospace denial. Like most of PS/ASI’s warships, the Tabar is meant and configured primarily for the anti-ship role(especially in the convoy escort or planetary defense roles), although it can provide space-to-surface fire support in a pinch. The Tabar does carry a small contingent of fighters and security/boarding troops, but nowhere near that of the Explorer’s capacity.
Armor on the Tabar is heavy, to allow the ship to engage in slugging matches with other vessels and survive. However, the ships also possess a good turn of speed, assisted by multiple redundancy in their heavily-armored engines, so they can both close with combat and safely remove themselves from it if necessary. They fairly bristle with weaponry, earning them such nicknames as ‘porcupine cruisers’ or ‘sting-burrs’.
Tabars are still new to the PSASI/GNE fleet, so not many of them have been produced as yet. In GNE service they act as system defense cruisers or heavy convoy escorts. A number of export vessels have also been produced and sold to GNE/USA affiliates where they serve similar roles.

Type: PS/ASI-SCG-19 Tabar
Class: Heavy Cruiser
Crew: 220+60 marines
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 76,000
Bridge 11,000
Main Sensor Array 900
Secondary Sensor Arrays(3) 600 each
Heavy Lasers(2) 900 each
Secondary Lasers(12) 300 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(2) 500 each
Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(8 ) 500 each
Point Defense Turrets(14) 100 each
Hangar Bay 3,000
Engines 19,000
Secondary Engines(4) 4,000 each
Variable Shields( 1,200 each side, 7,200 total)
Height: 160 ft
Width: 100 ft
Length: 950 ft
Weight: 290,000 tons
Cargo: 8,800 tons
Powerplant: Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 50 years energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 9; rarely lands
(Sublight) Mach 9.
Auxiliary Engines: Mach 7
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
Market Cost: Est. at 13.7 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:

*Long Range Sensors----Tabars retain the large multimedia sensor arrays of the Lasser-class, the argument being that if the ships can see trouble coming, the better prepared to receive it they will be. The sensors can pick up on vessels moving at FTL up to 25 light years away, and vessels moving through normal space up to 0.9 light years away.

*Docking Collars(4)----Four external docking collars with extending tubeways for servicing additional starships docked to the Tabar.

*Tractor Beams(4)--------Effectively each rated for 1,500 tons dead weight, but can be used for imparting small changes in momentum/direction to ships/structures several times that mass.
Range: 10 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 10,000 miles in space).

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Lasers(12, 3x4)---The main bite of the Tabar-class is a quad-array of triple-barreled heavy lasers mounted in the forward hull.
Range: 10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 20 miles in atmosphere, 20,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x100 MD per single blast, 8d6x100 MD double-barreled blast, 12d6MDx100(or 1d6x1,000) MD triple-barreled blast
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Secondary Lasers(16)---backing the main laser cannon is a larger array of lower-powered weapons for saturation attacks. Up to six cannons can be brought to bear simultaneously on the same target.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per single blast, 8d6x100 for six cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Long Range Missile Launchers(2)---These launchers are also used to deploy recon drones, probes, and special ordnance.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 120 per launcher; additional missiles may be carried as cargo, and reloaded from storage.

4) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(24; 3x8)---Mounted in eight main hull turrets positioned around the ‘waist’ of the hull, these weapons can pivot for maximum arc of fire.
Though based on an early model PS KEWC, the weapons mounted aboard the Tabar-class can also throw proximity-fused fragmentation rounds, allowing them to ‘sandblast’ missile and fighter swarms.
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
(Fragmentation rounds) Do 4d6 x10 MD to a 100 ft wide area with an 80 rd burst, 6d6x10 MD to a 150 ft wide area double cannon burst, and 8d6x10 MD to a 200 ft wide area 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 Laser/Mini-Missile Turrets(14)----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


Auxiliary Craft
*18 fighters
*20 Power Armors
*3 Shuttlecraft

Variants:
While it has been proposed that several variants of the Tabar be produced, mainly focusing on replacing the main batteries with other weapons types, these proposals remain paper studies, and no operational variants of the Tabar have been produced. Variant weapon fit-outs are considered to be the province of the modular LaFayette, and the specialist Mazules.

[taalismn]

PS/ASI HInstel-SC420 ‘Roamer’-class Heavy Transport
(‘Space Arrow’, Pointercraft’)

“Hey, Rhenee, take a moment from going over the books and join me here over in the observation deck, will you? Let’s just soak in the view for a moment; isn’t the Thundercloud just absolutely BEAUTIFUL from here? Isn’t this what space travel is really all about? Seeing things from a perspective like this?”

When Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries joined the WZTechyards consortium, they gained access to a pooled collection of technical data that was considered ‘common domain’ for members of the consortium. This included the files of a number of defunct companies whose intellectual properties WZT had acquired, such as Forraker Aerospace. The ‘Roamer’ was a FA design that the company had begun development of late in its corporate lifespan, when executives saw declining sales in the face of strengthening competition from more connnected and energetic new companies such as Wolfpack Armaments, Naruni Enterprises and General Galaxy, all of whose subsidiary ‘civilian’ production lines, subsidized by their military sales, could eclipse entire older companies such as Forakker. The ‘Roamer’ was one of several new designs with which Forraker hoped to recapture market share and revive their lagging sales, reversing the company downspiral. However, the new intiatives came too late, and the ‘Roamer’amounted to little more than advanced design studies and VR mockups before the company was forced to declare bankruptcy. Over a century later, Aegis Stellar Industries got permission from Forraker’s properties-holders, WZTechyards, to see about producing an updated version of the Roamer design.
The Roamer shares many of the same signature traits of Forraker designs; a long body and ‘pagoda’ upper hull, and an emphasis on spacious fittings, but with a sharper prow, swept-wing ‘arrowhead’ forward hull, three dome ‘pavillions’, and a more streamlined look. Many smaller details, however, show the updating of technology, such as improved auxiliary thrusters, more robust and fuel-efficient engines, more compact and energy efficient shield generators, stronger construction materials, and updated avionics. Modular bays allow for quick refit for a variety of different roles, allowing one ship to perform a wider range of jobs. Long range and capacity for being fitted with a fairly heavy complement of self-defense armaments are obvious efforts to tailor the design with traveling the wilds of the Thundercloud in mind.
Ironically, the Rush for the Thundercloud has re-ignited a demand for comfortable, multi-purpose, extended-capability vessels like the Roamer. One of the first customers for the new Roamer was Gold Star Transport, an ancient passenger and freight line originally based out of the Human Alliance, and which still operates many of the ORIGINAL Forakker transports. GST managed to stave off bankruptcy and dissolution by selling itself to the Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League and the Grenanian Family, one of Corinus’s Founding Families. The transfer of focus of operations to the booming Thundercloud Galaxy has given GST a new lease on life, and they’ve chosen to celebrate it with the buying of new ships; the roll-out of a new version of a design-family that has served GST so well was a happy coincidence that they’ve been all too pleased to take advantage of. Thus, a good number of new transports emerging from CTRL and ASI slips are destined to wear the star-spangled gold dorsal stripe of GST.

Type: PS/ASI-HInstel-SC420 Roamer
Class: Long Range Heavy Interstellar Transport
Crew: 25+ provision for 1-200 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 5,600
Bridge 1,000
Observation Deck 800
Engine Bloc 2,000
Sensor/Communications Arrays(3) 400 each
Shuttle Deck 500
Forcefield(Default) 5,000
Height: 65 ft
Width: 120 ft
Length: 670 ft
Weight: 58,000 tons
Cargo: 10,000 tons, distributed between three internal bays. Can carry an additional 3,000 tons if not carrying passengers.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 25% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4 light years per hour
(Underwater) Can land on water, but cannot operate underwater(See Variants)
Market Cost: 145 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*Long Range Sensors---In keeping with a frontier-cruiser, the Roamer has better-than-average sensors.

*Type Two Recycling Systems----The Roamer is designed with long range in mind, and so advanced life support recycling is integral to the design. It’s estimated that the Roamer’s onboard recycling systems can sustain the crew for four years of constant use, without resupply.

*Detachable Bridge---The entire forward pagoda-saucer of the Roamer can detach to become a large lifeboat. The forward hull has accommodation(under cramped conditions) for up to 50 people, and has separate propulsion capable of pushing the section up to Mach 6.

*Lifepods---Roamers come standard with provision for lifepods for 150% of rated crew. Passenger models may increase this to account for passengers with added lifepods in the remodelled cargo bays.

Weapons Systems:
None standard, but comes with provision for up to 10 PDS stations, 6 light weapons stations, and 4 medium weapons stations.

Auxiliary Craft: (Standard Complement)
2 Aerospace Shuttles

Options:
Most buyers will seek to customize the Roamer with different weapons and defense measure configurations, different internal fittings, sensors, more powerful forceshielding, and beefed-up propulsion(especially FTL). Few Roamers remain ‘factory standard’ for very long.

Variants:
*HInstel-SC420C----Amphibious variant, fully capable of underwater operations. Can dive to depths of 10,000 ft, and move through the water at 45 MPH. Sonar and EM sensors come standard on this variant. This variant is proving to be very popular in the Thundercloud, as it allows for the exploration/exploitation of many water worlds. A military variant fitted with underwater weaponry such as supercavitating rocket-torpedoes, blue-green lasers, and sonic projectors, is also rumored to be in the works, if not already deployed, as a publicized counter to Golgan Republik strongarming on several promising colony prospects in the Thundercloud. Cost: 186 million credits

*HInstel-SC420D----Upgraded version with more powerful engines, capable of hitting Mach 10. Cost: 175 million credits

[taalismn]

(Ion weapon stats courtesy of Henning Rouge)

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries ‘Naegling’ Cruiser (PS/ASI-C55(X)

“Yep, they must have thought we were just another pirate modification of another military surplus ship, only they neglected to take it a third step removed from original ownership. Bless our cryptography boys and girls and AIs that they managed to crack the pirate transponder codes, because we were able to nose right up to that slaver and hard dock, and they had the ‘merchandise’ all racked and ready to load soon as they got payment, before they got the nastiest shock of their gutter-spawned lives. Even with them on guard against a double-cross, we still got the drop on them. Burned the hell out of their engines and their escort on the other side of us with our capital mounts. Not that it wasn’t dicey for us; they had a whole hold full of unprotected helpless slaves right next to hard vacuum where one bad shot or a flip of a switch could dump them all naked into death nil-pressure. But Naegling cut fine and cut close and we bagged ourselves another two prizes of war...make it one, since we had to replace the engines of one with those we stripped off the other.”

When Paladin Steel/Greater New England Expeditionary Space Force units surprised and successfully invaded a pirate asteroid base in the Three Galaxies, besides liberating a large number of slaves/hostages and gaining themselves a base, they also acquired a substantial amount of technical data and usable hardware. Among the surprises was a capital ship drydocked inside the pirates’ concealed base, undergoing refit. The vessel was actually a CCW Warshield cruiser, or rather the transport conversion of the class, with most of its armaments stripped off, and its cargo capacity greatly expanded. Evidence in the pirates’ base showed that the vessel had been decommissioned and sold off to a periphery nation as a military transport. The pirates had acquired the vessel through bribery and corruption(the then-owners arranging for the vessel to be conveniently ‘lost’ in an accident in deep space) and were in the process of refitting it into a fully operational warship again, and had already used it as a heavy transport in several of their own actions.
Captured intact by the PS/GNE marine force, the vessel was declared a prize of war, and plans were made to retain the vessel as part of the defensive assets of the newly-named ‘Rum Bay’ outpost. The Warshield has been gone over by PS/ASI engineers, and they have decided to continue the refitting of the vessel, only with PS/ASI equipment. The heavy warship was renamed ‘Naegling’ by GNE authorities, the name coming from human mythology, and the name of a sword found by the hero Beowulf in the lair of the mother of the monster Grendel.
Major modifications to the ship include altering the lines of the ship with additional armor, building in the uparmored hull/command pod from the Javelin/Barong-class vessels as the bridge ‘tower’, and turning the cargo holds back into weapons bays. Lacking, as of yet, anything like the CCW’s Battleram assault robots, the launch tube for the giant robots has been converted into an additional weapons bay.
To compensate for the extra mass, the engine bloc has been expanded and two additional engines added. The Naegling is still somewhat sluggish compared to standard Warshields, but it is arguably more heavily armed and armored.
The Naegling has seen little heavy action since its refit, as it remains close to Rum Bay in order to defend the facility. It has, however, seen several incidents of combat against pirates who have entered the sector, still believing that the former pirate base is still in operation. These actions have netted PS/ASI additional salvage(including goodwill from liberating slaves) and intelligence.
PS/ASI has as yet no plans to produce any additional Naegling-class units, due to the expense of producing one from scratch and the focus on more versatile capital units(such as the Webb Hayes-class transports and LaFayette-class cruisers), but lessons learned from the Naegling are likely to be applied to other designs. Of course, PS/ASI COULD produce additional units to the Naegling-spec if so desired(and when capability becomes available), or, more likely, convert older Warshields to the configuration.

Type: PS/ASI-C55(X) Naegling
Class: Cruiser, Armored
Crew: 260 +70 troops and a 40-man aerospace contingent
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 50,000
Bridge 13,800
Hangar Deck 13,000
Plasma Torpedo Launchers(4) 500 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(6) 500 each
Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x2) 500 each
Ion Cannon Turrets(4) 400 each
Rail Gun Turrets(8 ) 300 each
Point Defense Turrets(8 ) 200 each
Tractor Beam Turrets(6) 250 each
Main Engines(4) 12,000 each
*Variable Forcefields 6,000 per side(36,000 total)
*Shield Refresh Rate is 5% per melee

Height: 150 ft
Width: 280 ft
Length: 660 ft
Weight: 125,000 tons
Cargo: 10,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 2; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8.3
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.83% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: Exclusive to PS/GNE/ASI. If sold or duplicated, could be expected to cost 2.8 billion credits.
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*EW Jamming Systems---In combat, the Naegling will attempt to use its electronic warfare suite to confuse enemy sensors as to the ship’s exact position and activity. This is particularly useful when ambushing pirates, as it keeps target vessels from communicating with any companion vessels that might be in the same system. 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.

*Tractor Beams(6)----Four are rated for 500 tons dead weight, and two are rated for 1,000 tons, but can be used for imparting small changes in momentum/direction to ships/structures several times that mass. They also assist in the initial aiming of the plasma torpedoes.
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)
(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).

Weapons Systems:
1) Plasma Torpedo Launchers(4) ---PS/ASI doesn’t like to advertise that they have the technology for this weapon, believed to have been developed by the Shemarrian Star Nation, in part due to the fact that they don’t want to jeopardize the still tentative relationship with the SSN(in fact, it’s the other way around; the SSN got the basis for the PTL from PS/ASI, from research into Mechanoid plasma weaponry!).
The Naegling mounts four battery-launchers of this potent weapon.
Range: 25 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in atmosphere, 100,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD to a 100 ft blast radius per missile
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8 plasma bolts. Three volleys per melee.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Heavy Laser Cannons(2)---Restored from the original design.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per single blast, 8d6x100 for both cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited


3) Long Range Missile Launchers(6)---PS/ASI has replaced the cruise missile launchers with long range missile launchers, saving the hard to get CMs for faster and more agile ‘torpedo-boat’ style heavy fighters and light combatant platforms.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 40 missiles per launcher, plus 80 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 12 LRMs)

4) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x2)---Mounted in main hull turrets positioned on either side of the former Battleram bay, and kept concealed behind armored shutters.
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) Secondary Ion Cannons(4)--Given the nature of the Naegling’s anti-piracy deceptions, PS/ASI decided to replace the secondary laser batteries with high powered Ion Destabilizer cannon, with a better chance of disabling ships for capture.
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

6) Rail Guns(8 )---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


7) Point Defense Turrets(8 )---PS/ASI engineers decided to replace the PDS mini-missile launchers with dual-mode laser-and-mini-missile launchers
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


Auxiliary Craft:
10 Aerospace Fighters
20 Power Armors
4 Shuttles

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries PS/ASI-(S)BB01 ‘(Emperor) Joshua Norton’ Space Battleship
(aka ‘J-Nort’)

“Yes, we noticed that your defense station seemed to be ....rather lacking, from what we could tell of what was left of it. Our condolences for your missing station crew; I’m sure they put off a valiant fight. From what we’ve heard, though, that was a SMALL pirate band that jumped your defenses. And where the small fry go, bigger predators often follow. You wouldn’t happen to be interested in acquiring something more...substantial? Like maybe some battleship-level firepower on a mobile base? We happen to have a few designs on our books and ships in stock...”

“If having lots of firepower to throw at opponents is an indication of success, I’d say the Norton-class battleships are a successful design. However, a battleship is more than just lots of firepower. It has to be a fully integrated weapons system, a balance of attributes and capabilities. That’s where the Nortons begin to break down.”

“Targeting scanners?! From where?! HOW many weapons just came active on that big transpo--?!”
---Last words of pirate flotilla leader encountering a J. Norton on the Rim.

The ‘Joshua Norton’ is an attempt by Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries to build a battleship, and on the cheap, too. Though PS/ASI/GNE had no immediate foreseeable need for heavy-end warships, lacking a planetary territorial base large enough to require such firepower, the emergence of the United Systems Alliance, of which PS/ASI/GNE was a major contributor, promised a future need for capital ships. The Joshua Norton was undertaken as a stopgap design for a heavy mobile weapons platform that could be assembled from existing components. The design was given new priority when it was clear that the desired vessel, the Providence-class battlecruiser, was in Development Hell, suffering delay after delay.
The Joshua Norton is built on the reinforced frame of a ‘Goethals’ Heavy Transport, Ringing the main core hull are eight hulls of Barong-class Corvettes, virtually complete, save for their engines and FTL drives being removed. Gaps in between the hulls are plugged with weapons and sensor modules from other ship-lines. This modularity makes the J.Nortons easy and fast to refit and repair, while the sheer number of plug-ins gives the ships a tremendous amount of potential firepower throw-weight. The main engine has been lengthened and enhanced with a secondary booster ring that increases the CG factor for greater thrust.
Despite, or because of, Paladin Steel’s efforts to make the Joshua Norton on the cheap and fast, the design naturally suffers a few problems.
The major complaints about the Joshua Norton is that despite its beefed-up main drive, it lacks the sharp acceleration and agility of vessels built from the start as warships. Another complaint is with the incorporation of the Barong hulls, minus their engines, but complete with powerplants and shields. Although this gives the ship’s shields and weapons a great degree of redundancy, despite exhaustive sim-work, the separate shielding systems could not be made to work synchronically with each other, leading to gaps and lags in coverage. It was not until PS/ASI completely reworked the shield communication algorithms that the problem was resolved, but not before several delays that threatened to put the program into a Development Hell of its own. Similar, but lesser, problems occurred with getting the various fire control systems to work with each other, and PS/ASI shipfitters soon discovered that the original ‘plug and play’ hopes of ship construction were overly-optimistic, and a new software team brought in to rewrite the design’s computer code specifically for the J.Nortons. Still, the J.Nortons retain an eight-shield configuration that disconcerts starship engineers more familiar with the more common six-shield projection system.
Other problems with the design are a lack of integral fighter complement, and an unorthodox internal access design dictated by the configuration of components. Crews more used to the definite up-down designs made possible by planar artificial gravity, often find themselves confused by the multitude of counterintuitive gravity directions aboard a Joshua Norton, and crewmen unfamiliar with the internal configuration have become lost just trying to report to their stations.
Despite these early problems, the J. Nortons have attracted a surprising amount of interest from members of the United Systems Alliance. These spacegoing ‘arsenal ships’ are seeing initial deployment as system defense ships and orbital fire support carriers. Because of PS/ASI’s earlier armed conversions of the Brunel and Goethals class heavy transports, the J.Norton is also often mistaken for a heavy interstellar transport or tender, and several times enemy vessels have foolishly closed into range, underestimating the amount of firepower the ‘transports’ are really packing.

Type: PS/ASI-(S)BB01 Joshua Norton
Class: Space Battleship
Crew: 550
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 30,000
Engines 8,000
Bridge 2,000
Heavy Particle Beam Cannon Turrets(2) 600 each
Weapon Hulls(8) 5,800 each
Medium Turrets(8) 450 each
Point Defense Turrets(80) 80 each
Weapons Pods: (28) 1,000 each
Hangar Bays(4) 1,000 each
Forward Ablation Shield 11,000
Variable Forcefield (8 ) 2,500 each (20,000 total)

Height: 300 m(990 ft)
Width: 300 m( 990 ft)
Length: 800 m( 2,640 ft)
Weight: 500, 000 tons
Cargo: 20,000 tons in core cargo bays. Additional cargo can be carried in external pods, but that would mean sacrificing weapons/hangar pods.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Not Possible
(Sublight) Mach 7
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.7% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5.6 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 12 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*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 Resolution Range of 4 million miles

*Gravitic Sensors----55 million mile range
*Neutrino Detection----55,000 mile range
*Tachyon Radar---3 million miles

*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video

*Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 200,000 miles.--For tight-beam communications, ship to ship, or ship/surface. The Laser can even be modulated to the blue-green for communicating with submerged vehicles.

*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.

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(2, 2 forward)---These are the big guns of the Hayes heavy transport, and have been adapted for the J.Nortons, but their slow rate of fire limits their effectiveness. They are typically used to engage small enemy spacecraft such as destroyers and frigates that get too close, hoping to incapacitate them with a single hard-hitting shot, or at least dissuade them to back off.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Once every two melees/30 seconds
Payload: Effectively Unlimited


2) Dual-barrel Medium Laser Turrets(8)---These are part of the original Barongs, only the original single barrel dorsal and ventral turrets have been combined into a single larger dual-barrel dorsal turret.
Range: 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per single barrel, 2d4x100 MD per double-barrel blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

3)Point Defense Turrets(80)---- Standard energy-based PDS.
a) Laser PDS
Range: 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

b)Dual Laser/Mini-Missile Launchers---Alternate fitting available, taking the place of the lasers. These are standard CCW-pattern dual laser/mini-missile launchers that have been installed for close-in defense. The lasers are less powerful and shorter ranged, but the mini-missiles have volley capability against fighters and missiles. Any or all of the fourteen PDS turrets can be replaced with these turrets in place of the standard lasers.
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: (Lasers) 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

4) Weapons Pods (28)---The main teeth of the J. Nortons are their rings of modular podded systems arranged in two tiers, each just aft of the weapons/Barong hulls. While these can swapped to customize the battleship for specific missions, including troop and fighter transport, generally they maintain a mix of energy weapons and missile launchers.
This system gives the J. Nortons the potential for carrying incredible amounts of firepower, and the use of independent powerplants and fire control in each pod means reduced chance for ship-wide shutdowns from damage, but the configuration also means challenges for system integration .

Heavy Pods
a) Habitat Module---Can accommodate up to 200 people. Independent life support(good for up to eight months). If so desired, at extra expense, the Habitat Module can be built with its own independent propulsion system(maximum speed of Mach 3), and can make planetary reentry on its own. On the J. Norton, this is sometimes used to deploy Stelmarine units, the detached pods serving as combat reentry capsules and ground bunkers.

b) Hangar Pod---Holds enough space for 2 medium shuttles or 4 fighters

c) Point Defense Module---Holds an array of PDS systems, missile launchers, and a separate powerplant to power them all.
*Rail Guns(4)
Range: 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 200 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per 60 rd burst
Rate of Fire: 6 attacks per melee
Payload: 12,000 rds per gun(200 bursts each) with 5 reload drums per gun(drum changes out in 5 minutes). Additional drums are available in cargo, and can be loaded in 15 minutes(an ammunition drum weighs 1 ton).
Advanced Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike
*Laser Cannon(4x2)
Range: 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per single blast, 4d6x10 MD per double blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, or 7 per melee on automated mode.
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Advanced Targeting Bonus: +4 to strike
*Mini-Missile Launchers(2)
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-20
Payload: 400 missiles per launcher, 800 total, plus 400 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 96 MMs)
(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


d)Medium Range Missile Launchers(2)
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-30
Payload: 240 missiles each launcher, plus 500 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 24 MRMs)

e) Long Range Missile Launchers(2)
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 1-25
Payload: 600 LRMs per pod, plus 500 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 12 LRMs)

f) Medium Lasers(4)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

g) Heavy Lasers(2)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

h) Medium Particle Beam Cannons(4)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

i) Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(2)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 60 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 60,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x1,000 MD per single blast, 2d6x1,000 MD per double-barreled blast.
Rate of Fire: Once every melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

j) Heavy Rail Guns(1x3)
Range: 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Exploding/Fragmenting Fletchette): 5d6x10 MD to anything caught in a 120 ft wide cone/’cloud’----Targets are -2 to dodge the ’shotgun spread’
(Penetrator): 2d6x100 MD
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: 100 rds per cannon, reloading from the cargo hold takes 1d6 minutes( 500 tons ammunition storage, 1 ton of cargo per 12 rounds)

k) Eight-Inch Six-Barrel Rail Gun Gatling(1)----This massive weapon was first fitted as the main armament of the Sangu-class destroyers, and earned a reputation as a ‘Kitty Spanker’ for its ability to shatter Arkhon vessels. A turreted pod mounting one of these guns and a generous supply of ammunition is available to be fitted.
Range: 40 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 20,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Armor-Piercing Long Rod Penetrator)---- 5d6x10 MD to 40 ft radius per single shot
(High Explosive)---4d6x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
(Plasma)-----2d4x 50+30 MD to 80 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Six shots per melee
Payload: Has 1,200 rds ready to fire


l) Long Lance Missile Pod----Before PS/ASI acquired the ability to make/acquire reliable supplies of 3G cruise missiles, they made do with their own SLBM-sized heavy 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. To compensate for their lack of accuracy, PS mounted the heaviest nuclear warheads they had in their arsenal, in the Long Lance II missiles . 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. Each Long Lance pod gives the J.Norton the missile capacity of a smaller and earlier Falx missile destroyer.
Range: 1,000 miles(4,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 4.6 mile destruction radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3,4, or 6
Payload: 12 missiles

(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)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 4.6 mile destruction radius
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

m) Cruise Missile Launch Pod----As PS/ASI’s ability to acquire/manufacture Galactic-style Cruise Missiles in quantity grows, the weapons are expected to become more common on their spacecraft.
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, 5, or 10
Payload: 120 missiles per pod


Auxiliary Craft:
8 shuttlecraft

Variants
* PS/ASI-(S)BB01B---A proposed upgrade of the Joshua Norton would replace the Barong-hulls with the mission module secondary hull pods from the PS/ASI-SCG-17 LaFayette Light Cruiser line. This would increase the armor protection of each section from 5,800 to 11,000 MDC each, but would require some refitting of the ‘footing’ of each new module to install new power and forcefield generators, PDS hardpoints, and crew accommodations. The new pod hulls would retain the ten PDS turrets(which would be moved to the mounts), but could accommodate heavier ordnance.
*’B’-Barracks Pod---Adds passenger capacity, housing up to 120 passengers in diplomatic comfort, or 320 troops in more spartan accommodations.

*’C’-Cargo Pod----Dedicated cargo module, adding 10,000 tons cargo capacity.

*’D’-Drive Pod----Removes hangar capacity in favor of an additional engine section, acting as auxiliary engines and boosting the ship’s sublight speed to Mach 9. MUST be mounted in pairs.

*’E’-Escort Pod---Outfitted with a complement of point defense weapons systems for use in picket and interception duties
-Point Defense Turrets(6)---Adds six more PDS turrets identical to 3) above.
-Tachyon Scatter Guns(4)
Range: (Palladium)6 miles (10,000 m) in space w/ 3 mile wide arc(cannot operate in atmosphere)
(Kitsune Values: 600 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

*’F’-Plasma Pod---Mounts two heavy plasma torpedo launchers.
---These are direct-fire weapons that fire bolts of plasma trapped in a temporary magnetic ‘shell’ centered on an evaporated ‘seed’ of ultra-dense deuterium ice, allowing the plasma to travel farther without losing cohesion and damage potential, and allowing the plasma to explode with area of effect on target. The result is an energy missile with superior range to normal energy weapons(though still well short of comparable missile weaponry) and potentially unlimited payload. However, the plasma packets CAN be grabbed/deflected by tractor beams(this is how the ship’s gunners can manipulate their energy projectiles at short range and correct their course....each of the launch arrays’ mounted tractor beams being able to grab and direct a volley of plasma bolts), or destabilized by ion or particle beam weapons fire(takes 20 MDC to disrupt the plasma containment).
Range: 20 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 200 miles in atmosphere, 200,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast to 100 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Each array can launch volleys of 1-8 torpedoes, twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited


*’G’-Gravity Gun Pod---Mounts two heavy gravity guns in place of embarked fighters(still retains the shuttles).
Range: 25 miles in atmosphere, 70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 70 miles in atmosphere, 70,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Kinetic Penetrator) 3d6x100 MD to 15 ft radius
(Multi-Munition Fragmentor) 3d6x10 MD to 300 ft radius
(Heavy Plasma) 2d6x100 MD to 150 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: 100 shells per cannon. Additional shells may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(3 shells per ton of cargo)

* ‘H’-Hangar Pod----DOUBLES fighter capacity to 32 fighters.

*’I’-Ion Pod---Adds capacity for four heavy ion cannons and a dedicated powerplant.
Ion Cannon--(ionization rules courtesy of Henning Rogge)
Range: (Palladium) 4 miles in atmosphere, 12 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 12 miles in atmosphere, 12,000 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

*’L’-Laser Pod---Adds capacity for three more Heavy Lasers and a dedicated powerplant.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x100 per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

*’M’-Missile Pod--- Mounts an additional battery of long range missile launchers.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(Long Range Missiles)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type(Long Range Missiles)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 200 per launcher; additional missiles may be carried as cargo, and reloaded from storage.

*’N’-’Net’ Pod---A module fitted with heavy area-of-effect weaponry . Typically used as an anti-fighter/missile picket.
a) Heavy Tachyon ScatterGuns(4, 400 MDC each)
Range: 5 miles (2,500 m) in atmosphere, 10 miles (10,000 m) in space w/ 6 mile wide arc*
(Kitsune Values: 5 miles in atmosphere, 5,000 miles in space)
*Width are reduced to 1/4th in atmosphere
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
b)Heavy Rail Guns(2, 500 MDC each)
Range: 40 miles in atmosphere, 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere, 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Exploding/Fragmenting Fletchette): 5d6x10 MD to anything caught in a 120 ft wide cone/’cloud’----Targets are -2 to dodge the ’shotgun spread’
(Penetrator): 2d6x100 MD
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: 100 rds per cannon, reloading from the cargo hold takes 1d6 minutes( 200 tons ammunition storage, 1 ton of cargo per 12 rounds)


*’O’- Medical Pod(aka ‘OR’)---Flying field hospital with a capacity of caring for up to 200 patients at a time. Includes 6 fully equipped operating rooms, recovery wards, laboratories, and hangar capacity for 6 shuttles(no fighters).

*’P’-Planetary Assault Pod---This pod carries the launch systems for freefall kinetic and explosive weapons meant to be deployed against surface targets(the ‘superbomber’ concept). Can typically carry up to 8,000 tons of deployable ordnance, such as the following:
a) Kinetic Bomb---Fairly typical 2 ton ‘rod from god’ high density kinetic penetrator
Range: Orbit to Surface
Damage: 2d6x100 MD; effective blast radius of 120 ft. Can penetrate up to 400 ft into solid rock, dropped from orbit.

b) Light Kinetic Penetrator Module ---Works similar to a WWII ‘Earthquake Bomb’. Kinetic weapons have the advantage of leaving little or no radiation to contaminate a battlefield or potential postwar acquisition. The LKP module actually carries three separate RVs on a maneuverable ‘bus’ stage, allowing three separate targets to be hit, or a single target to be bracketed. Each RV does 1d6x100 MD to a 100 ft radius and can penetrate up to 250 ft of loose soil(100 ft of rock or concrete)
Weight: 4 tons

c) Heavy Kinetic ‘Smasher’--- A single-shot warhead(no multiple warheads) weighing 12 tons. Hits with considerably greater velocity and kinetic energy. Does 1d6x100 MD to a 90 ft radius, and does DOUBLE damage to any fixed-foundation structures in a 200 ft radius, due to ground shock.

d) Heavy ‘MaxSlap’ KEW-----Designed to be ‘lobbed’ for maximum kinetic impact, the super-heavy bomb does 1d8x1,000 MD to 250 ft blast radius, and can penetrate up to 500 ft of earth(300 ft of rock or concrete), for attacking bunkers or undercutting larger structures.
Weight: 21 tons

e) Fuel Air Explosive Munition---A single warhead(no multiple warheads) non-nuclear area of effect weapon that disperses a cloud of volatile fuel droplets in a mist over the target area, then ignites it in a rapidly propagating explosion. Besides thermal damage, the real damage from this weapon comes in the massive overpressure shockwave that it creates, capable of forcing its way into open ducts and vents, and imploding vehicles and bunkers. Also known as a ‘Daisy Cutter’, it is often used to simultaneously secure and clear landing zones of obstacles(both sentient and material). The heavy FAEM can do 4d6x10 MD to a 500 ft radius, plus 3d6x10 MD to everything else in a 3,000 ft ft radius. Those caught within the blast radius are also likely (01-88%) likely to be bowled over by the blast and stunned, if not worse....
Weight: 15 tons

f) ElectroMagnetic Pulse Weapon---Designed to knockout unprotected electronics and power distribution networks, exploding at high altitude for maximum effect. Up to four of these weapons can be carried on a common ‘bus’.
Damage: 5d6x10 MD to 100 ft blast radius
EM effects: Used against unshielded power grids(such as cities and towns), the particle blast has a 99% chance of knocking down electrical systems, including vehicles, in an 100-mile radius of the point of detonation. Unprotected computers and other hardware not protected by surge protectors, and hooked into the common power grid, may still be affected up to a hundred miles or more away by power surges through the power lines.
The EMP is less effective against shielded systems such as those on space structures(25%) and military systems(10% for surface military vehicles), which are hardened against radiation.
Weight: 1 ton ‘bus’

g) Heavy Nuclear ‘SunBombs’---These are the heavy PS/ASI-made weapons used exclusively by their forces. They are rarely used against inhabited/habitable worlds(used against exclusively military targets).
Weight: 10 tons
Range: 1,000 miles(4,000 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,000 miles in atmosphere, 1,000,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 4.6 mile destruction radius

h) X-Ray Laser Bombs
Weight: 10 tons
Range: 1,000 miles(4,000 miles in space)+laser range
(Kitsune Values: 3,000 miles in atmosphere, 1,000,000 miles in space)+laser range
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD laser blast; range 70 miles(Kitsune Value: 70,000 miles). Laser-reflective armors do NOT halve X-ray laser damage.---One-shot weapon that destroys itself in the process of firing.
Advanced models can target as many as 10 separate targets within range simultaneously.

i) Plasma Jet Bombs(aka ‘Casaba Howitzer’, or ‘Sunspot Bomb’)---A cousin of the X-Ray Laser Bomb and predecessor to the Plasma Torpedo, the Plasma Jet Bomb is essentially a shaped nuclear charge, generating a conical wave of super-excited plasma and radiation. The Plasma Jet Bomb lacks the range and multiple target engagement capability of the laser mine, but because it doesn’t expend all its force in all directions, it can produce higher damage than a regular omnidirectional plasma warhead.
Weight: 10 tons
Range: 1,000 miles(4,000 miles in space)+plasma range
(Kitsune Values: 3,000 miles in atmosphere, 1,000,000 miles in space)+plasma range
Damage: 1d6x1,000 MD plasma blast; range 30 miles(Kitsune Value: 30,000 miles), in a cone 30 degrees wide. The radiation also has a 60% chance of blanking out the target’s sensors for 1d6 melees---One-shot weapon that destroys itself in the process of firing.

j) TW Weapons---Based on the work done between Paladin Steel and its allies, strategic TechnoWizardry weapons are a safer, more ‘morally acceptable’ alternative to vaporizing enemy cities with nuclear weapons. TW warheads also have certain advantages against magic-vulnerable opponents. They are also lightweight, allowing more of them to be carried and deployed.
The downside is that strategic TW weapons are hellishly expensive in both the crystal matrices needed to hold the weapons-grade spells, and the high-level mage talent needed to produce and empower them.
Still, PS produces and deploys a wide variety of these weapons, just in case.
Weight: Each RV ‘bus’ weighs 1 ton.

j1)TW Disharmonize---Actually more of an airburst weapon that deploys thousands of small individual grenade-sized TW ‘skeet’ warheads over a wide area, that fall to an appropriate altitude for maximum effect, then explode, causing no initial physical damage, but sowing massive chaos throughout both military forces and civilian populations. Tremendously expansive in terms of magic energy investment, and relatively short-term in its effects, it nevertheless can be an effective weapon in disrupting an enemy’s defenses in advance of a raid or troop landing.
Each MIRV can carry up to 200 ‘skeets’ each
The carrier shell is designed as an airburst weapon(300-1,000 ft up), with the dispersal charge firing the skeets out on wide arc frisbeeing trajectories to cover a maximum area of effect. Each submunition skeet affects a 500 ft radius(some overlap is unavoidable), and effects last 50 minutes. Everyone caught in the area of effect must save versus magic or else lose HALF their attacks per melee, lose initiative, and be -20% to perform all skills. Furthermore
The beauty of this weapon is that the mage-munition officer or loader, if one is available, can , simply by touching the shell before loading and launching, and uttering a safing incantation(Magic telepathy or psionic telepathy will also do the trick), fuze the weapon to affect ONLY enemy soldiers...KNOWN allies are UNAFFECTED by the magic! Of course, if no such trained combat mage or psychic is available , then the ‘generic’ shell will affect EVERYONE in the area of effect.
Needless to say, however, at 150 PPE per submunition, these weapons are awfully expensive.

j2) TW Magma Weapon(RV)---Modified River of Lava spell, that creates a pool 450 ft in diameter instead, that lasts 15 minutes. If deployed in shallow water it lasts only 7 minutes and does HALF damage, but creates huge bubbles, kills local sea life, and produces a massive cloud of superheated steam that blinds anyone on the surface, fouls up thermographic imaging systems, and creates a belching sonar static that can screw up passive sonar systems in the area.

j3) TW Tsunami Weapon(RV)---Designed for attacking coastal targets,this weapon deploys up to 5 independently targeting RVs that each generate a tidal wave.
Each warhead creates a tidal wave roughly 150 ft high, 3,000 ft long, lasts 15 melees, reach as far as 450 ft inland, and does 4d6x10 MD per melee. Also has a 75% chance of capsizing any ships it catches.
Note: This weapon is INEFFECTIVE unless aimed at a sizable body of water, such as an ocean, large lake, or deep river.

j4) TW Hurricane Weapon(RV)----Ocean-attack weapon, but can also be used against large lakes. Each MIRV creates a massive sea storm that covers a 120 ft area, 100-150 mph winds, and 30 ft high waves. Does 3d6x10 MD per melee to large structures, and 1d6 MD to anyone caught out in the open. Effects last 15 minutes.

j5) TW Maelstrom Weapon(RV)---Another ocean-attack weapon, for attacking shipping and submarine warships/installations. Like the Tsunami Weapon, the ‘bus’ can deploy up to 5 independently targeting RVs that each generate a sizable whirlpool in any large body of water they are aimed at.
Whirlpools are 120 ft wide, lasts 15 minutes, and does 1d4x10 MD to anything caught in its center, 2d6x10 MD per melee to large ships, and 1d6x100 MD to hem if they get submerged or if the whirlpool ‘breaks the ship’s back’.

j6) TW Earthquake Weapon(RV)---Each warhead acts as a 15th level Elemental Earthquake spell; 3500 ft area of effect, doing 2d6x100 MD per melee, for fifteen melees. Generates a fissure 900 ft long, doing damage to everything within 600 ft on either side of it. A full spread of Earthquakers can destroy a county.

j7) TW Stormfront Weapon(RV)---Airburst warheads that unleash multiple Tornadoes(one per warhead), and an accompanying Summon Storm, all equivalent to the 15th level Elemental Warlock Spells.
Tornadoes are 100 ft in diameter, last 15 minutes, and do 3d6x10 MD per melee to anything caught by them, and an additional 2d6x10 MD to anything hurled out. Wood, clay, and stone structures take 4d6x10 points of damage(SDC or MDC), and trees are uprooted in one melee round. The tornadoes will also randomly wander about in a half-mile area before dispersing.
The storm element creates a drenching, obscuring downpour that drops 4 inches of rain per hour, does 1-6 points of structural S.D.C. per half hour, immobilizing floods, and reduces visibility to near zilch; storm covers a 14 mile area, and lasts 7 hours

Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-20
Payload: 80 free-fall RVs. Additional RVs may be carried as cargo.


*’S’-Sentry Pod---Holds an advanced long range sensor system. The ship can now pick up on vessels moving at FTL up to 30 light years away, and vessels moving through normal space up to 1 light year away.

*’T’---Tender Pod---Designed to work with the module-equipped Sunchaser- and Windfola-class corvettes. This pod is an open-framework holding additional modules(up to 30) to swap out with the smaller ships, and the apparatus needed to do it in the field.

*’U’---’Universal’ or ‘Unknown’ Pod----A dedicated science pod with dedicated laboratory facilities. Can be variously outfitted for astronomical or planetary sciences studies, including quarantine facilities for medical research. Has onboard living facilities for up to 30 research staff, although in the more extensive/secured research configurations, the scientists may live entirely in the main hull of the ship, and direct automated systems in the science pod. Some variants on this pod can be detached and deploy station-keeping thrusters and external solar panels and antennae to act as free-flying mini-space stations.

“Y”-Pod---Special designation given to a ventral hangar or drop-pod holding a large submersible vehicle that can be deployed from the ship. Reports that several examples have been used to deploy combat submarines on worlds of the TGE contested by the FWC, or Golgan worlds (especially those contested by nationalist movements) remain unsubstantiated.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries ‘Orbis’-class Space Habitat
(aka ‘Bernie-Balls’, ‘Cue-Ball House’, ‘Urbis’)

“Three hundred thousand people? For a space station? Where we going to find that many?! That’s a major chunk of Greater New England! We starting to evacuate the homeworld? Is that it? This station’s a fallback redoubt?“
“No, we’re going to find the people in our refugee rescues, people looking for new homes. Job-seekers from the core worlds, now that they’re learning there are jobs to be had out here. Pioneers, wanting new space and new opportunities. Even if most only stay a short time and decide to move back, or to a dirtball, we’ll have people looking to move in. All the cubic we’re building here won’t go to waste. It will fill up faster than you think.”

The ‘Orbis’-class is the largest(not counting colonized asteroids) space habitat to be possibly built by PS/ASI, and is an adaptation of the ‘Bernal Sphere’ design. The first PS/ASI Orbises were constructed with the assistance of The Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League, whose Corianus Halo had already built several such habitats. The addition of WZTechyard technology and resources has made production of the massive stations all the more technologically and economically feasible.
Orbis-classes follow the general layout of the Bernal Sphere; a large central habitat sphere holding life support and atmosphere, capped at the poles by axial docking masts, bookended by multiple agricultural and industrial ring modules, and also sprouting large radiator ‘wings’ and ring-mirror arrays.
The Orbis-class uses rotation to produce centrifugal gravity for its inhabitants, but also incorporates Three Galaxies-style gravity generators as well, giving multiple redundancy and back-up in conditions and situations that prevent one or the other types of gravity-generation from being effective.
Orbis-classes are built on-site; there are currently no means of effectively and safely moving them FTL, despite ongoing efforts to research Gorang-style ‘astro-drives’(which seem to need to use a natural asteroid as a base-anchor) or wormhole generation systems(ASI is still notably weak in high-end FTL research) capable of moving the massive stations. It is rumored, however, that PS/ASI recently has had promising results using one of their larger Asteroid Cruisers as a ‘tug’ in piggybacking Orbis-mass test objects through FTL transit. If so, this would greatly facilitate the construction and opening of new Orbis habitats, since they could be built to order at specialized facilities such as Ambercirn or Corianus, and delivered to customers, ready to occupy.
No Orbis-class stations have been built in the Rifts Sol System(s) as of yet. The sturdy and heavily-armored nature of the Bernal Sphere/Orbis design makes the habitats a good choice for free space space stations in regions of high radiation or micro-debris, such as the radiation belts of some gas giants, and PS/ASI has built several in just such locations, as part of deep space resource development. The first Orbis was effectively a rented and modified habitat in the Corianus system, PS/ASI crews allowed to partially disassemble and modify an older and largely defunct Belter hab as part of the company’s rent-tenure servicing the CTRL shipyards’ retooling. The first Orbis built from the ground up(as it were) was as part of PS/ASI’s expansion of their own shipyards in the Amberjin system, after PS/ASI realized that the need for more workers was quickly overwhelming the surface community’s support capabilities. Additional Orbis-class stations have been considered as possible staging areas and temporary habitats for some of the member-states of the United Systems Alliance, especially those with deteriorating homeworld environments(the idea being to temporarily house migrating populations while larger offworld habitats and colonies are developed).

Type: PSS-SPH-7 Orbis
Class: Large Orbital Habitat
Crew: 350,000 residents under maximum capacity
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 3 million
Outer Hull per 100 ft area 500
Habitat Mirror Arrays(2) 30,000 each
Polar Masts(2) 20,000 each
Radiator Wings(4) 10,000 each
Agro/Industrial Rings (10-20) 1,000-2,000 each
Primary Mirror 40,000
(Optional)Heavy Weapons Mounts( 6-12) 1,000 each
(Optional)Medium Weapons Mounts(8-24) 800 each
(Optional)Point Defense Weapons Mounts(30-90) 200 each

*Many Orbis-Habs, especially those in gas giant orbits with high background radiation, will have heavy-duty forceshielding, even variable forceshielding.
A standard monoplanar forceshield will have an MDC rating of 50,000
Variable Forcefields 12,000 each side( 72,000 total)

Height: Central sphere is generally 6,000 ft in diameter
Width: Central sphere is generally 6,000 ft in diameter
Length: 38,000 ft along the axial poles
Weight: 45 million tons
Cargo: 6 million tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion supplemented by solar and EM-dynamic tethers.
Speed: (Space) Station-keeping only, though some Orbises have been moved between planets using slow Holtzmann-style orbits, assisted by ion thrusers and/or large solar sails
Market Cost: Est. 90 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
Maximum target Resolution: 4 million miles
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video
*Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 500,000 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.
*FTL Sensors---Many state-run large habitats mount (overtly or covertly)large sensor arrays for tracking space traffic, including long distance FTL drive events, as part of early warnig systems, or space traffic control(especially important in strategic systems, frontier regions, and trade hubs). The arrays may be under civilian control, or maintained and operated by the military. A typical long range array can track FTL transits up to 25 light years away(equivalent to the CAF Deployable Listening Array discussed in detail in Eric Fackler’s Galactic Tracer Starship Creation Rules, Rifter #34, but these arrays are MUCH larger and more brute force systems).

*Internal Artificially Generated Psuedo-Gravity---The Orbis class space stations rely primarily on centrifugally-generated gravity, but selected areas have limited psuedo-gravity capability, particularly military stations, rescue stations, and the command/traffic-control deck, in event of emergencies.

*MagTech Radiation Shielding----Besides physical material armoring against radiation, the stations are equipperd with a steady-state electromagnetic shield that deflects cosmic radiation, includng solar flare flux.

*Full Medical Facilities(equivalent to a large, well-staffed, city hospital in terms of quality of treatment). Includes quarantine and lab facilities.

*Hydroponics Bays and Environmental Recycling---Primary life support purification of air and water is through the hydroponics systems, supplemented with chemical and mechanical processes. Though not 100% closed in terms of materials usage(some air, water, and mass is lost through operations and waste), the system greatly reduces operating/supply costs, keeps the station fed, and morale high(there’s something about growing things that dispels that deep space ennui). With all the interior space available aboard am Orbis, the green spaces can be quite impressive. In addition to the dedicated agro-modules, many residences will have the equivalent of truck gardens.

*Forcefield Generators--The habitat mounts multiple shield generators for full coverage. In general, the standard field fitted has a total of 50,000 MDC, or 72,000 MDC for variable fields, which are typically enough for resisting light weapons, meteor impacts, or collisions with spacecraft. Shields generally regenerate at 1d4x100 MD per hour running off a standard powergrid, or 10% per melee if using dedicated powerplants. Depending on circumstances, heavier shields can installed and powered up.

*Scrambler Shield---A more powerful version of the standard particle protection EM Fields. As a backup against the failure of the main forcefield generators, the Scrambler Shield deflects radiation, and all ion and particle beam weaponry does HALF damage.

Weapons Systems: None standard, but most PS/ASI habitats will mount basic point defense, and have provision for mounting heavier weapons.
The following are some of the standard PS/ASI-made weapons systems available to be fitted to space stations:

a)Long Range Particle Beam Cannon--- (typically 6-12)----Heavy anti-capital ship weaponry.
Range: (Palladium)70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 70,000 miles in space
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

b)Point Defense Lasers(typically 30-90)----Intended for anti-robot/fighter defense.
Range: (Palladium) 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 400 miles in space
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH. Under automatic control, they have six attacks per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Bonuses: +3 to strike

c) Dual Laser/Mini-Missile LauncherTurrets(typically 30-90).
Range: (Lasers) 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 200 miles in space)
(Mini-Missiles) 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 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: (Lasers) 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

d)Short Range Missile Launchers(10-30)---Intended for anti-robot/fighter defense.
Range:Varies by Missile Type(Range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values) 500 miles in space
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:Volleys of 1, 2, 5, or 10
Payload: 150 missiles per launcher. Additional missiles are stored in cargo, and can be reloaded in 30 minutes

e)Tachyon Scatterguns(10-30)---Multiple tachyon accelerator cannon, with ‘scattershot’ firing focus, are mounted to cover all arcs of the habitat’s hull. These are typically used for destroying incoming missiles, fighers, and other projectiles, and are favored for their area of effect scatter-mode.
Range: 6 miles (10,000 m) in space w/ 3 mile wide arc
(Kitsune Values: 600 miles in space w/ 30 mile wide arc)
Damage:2d4x10 MD per single cannon firing
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited


Auxiliary Craft:
A typical Orbis will have provision for hosting a dozen or more large passenger/cargo shuttles, and upwards of fifty EVA modules for construction and repair work.
Many Orbis-class habitats will have 1-4 squadrons of fighters and 1-6 small warships(corvette-class or bigger, typically destroyers or frigates) attached as part of their permanent security contingent.

[taalismn]

Golgan Republik RABCC-HV8.18 ‘Santag’ Cruiser

“Sir, four Golgan heavy cruisers on approach to our position! They’re going flank speed and closing fast!”
“We really don’t have to worry about those frog cruisers until they start to make a turn. They’ll whip around to present their heavy cannon to us, and lay down a few power-shots on us, but then they’ll be hard away and heading out, showing us their tails-”
“Sir, those cruisers are continuing to close! They’re showing no signs of turning!”
“What the he-?!”

The ‘Santag’ is a development of the GK ‘Bindas’-class light cruiser, as produced by the shipyards of Hebidise. Hebidise is a predominantly human-settled world, but is steadfastly, even enthusiastically, loyal to the Republik, and actively fights to remain within the Golgan sphere. They possess the industry to build their own weapons, but most of their military-industrial complex is in the service of the Republik, doing contract work for the Argosy. When the Republik finally allowed Hebidise to produce Bindas hulls for the Argosy, the shipwrights suggested a variant that could complement the existing models.
The Santag follows the general lines of the Bindas, but has a more aggressive stance, and has been modified accordingly. The Santag noticeably differs from the Bindas in removing the rear-mounted Mega-Disruptor Cannon. The reason for this was twofold; one, the Hebidisians favor a more aggressive approach to combat, and saw little reason to mount the ships’ most powerful weapon in the rear, and two, the Republik limited the number of high-end starship weapons the Hebidisians could produce. By removing the Mega-Disruptor Cannon, the Hebidisians could build more Santags without bottlenecking production over the issue of getting permission to produce more MDCs, or having them shipped in from elsewhere.
In place of the missing heavy cannon, the Santag adds a small hangar bay, allowing the ship to deploy fighters or scout ships. Other changes include the replacement of the Seige Disruptors with more conventional laser cannons, and more of them, along the front and sides of the ship. Because they are expected to engage in offensive combat, Santags have better armor in the front and flank sections of hull(this makes the Santag slightly less responsive in maneuvering, owing to the greater mass, but not significantly so from a Hebidisian standpoint).
Ironically, despite the Hebidisians’ zealous loyalty, the Golgan Argosy does NOT make much use of the Santag, regarding the changes made to the original Bindas configuration to render the ship virtually unusable by any SANE Golgan fleet-crews. They HAVE, however, agreed to allow the ships to be used by non-Golgan loyalists such as Lurgess and Zebuloid crews. More controversially, from the standpoint of the Republik coreworld administration, a number of Santags have been ‘leaked’ to known dissident groups within the breakaway former satrapies of the Republik. Thus, the cruisers have appeared in the ranks of various privateer, brigand, and ‘rebel’ groups contesting the split-offs from Republik control. Though some Golgan ministers have questioned the wisdom of arming unreliable, and effectively criminal, groups (that could potentially turn on them) in regions that have rebelled against the Republik, the backers of the plan have pointed out that the former client-states are now more preoccupied with dealing with the well-armed counter-revolutionaries and pirates, than with further harassing Republik interests. The same ministers backing the plan have also ruthlessly used Hebidise’s predominantly non-Golgan population and government as cause for plausible deniability, subtly hinting to those claiming the Republik is arming counter-revolution that the steadfast Hebidisian administration is rife with corruption and is selling the vessels of its own volation to criminal elements outside the Republik. This whole business puts the Hebidisians in a rather precarious position; on one hand their loyalty makes them an important source of military production for the Republik, while at the same time they’re being used as scapegoats for escalating violence in the former Golgan territories. For now the Hebidisians seem blissfully unaware of the mixed messages the Republik high command is sending about them, and are just pleased to be making a small profit off the ship orders coming their way.

Type: RABCC-HV8.18 Santag
Class: Heavy Cruiser
Crew: 820(220 officers, 570 enlisted, 30 air group)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Interior Bulkheads per 10 ft(3 m) 55
Interior Hatches 70 each
Exterior Hatches 100 each
Medium Laser Turrets(10) 600 each
Particle Beam Cannons(6) 600 each
Long Range Missile Launchers (2) 800 each
Particle Beam Cannon Point Defense Turrets(4) 150 each
Hangar Bay 4,000
Foreward Hull Section 6,000
Midships Hull Section 6,000
Aft Hull Section 8,000
Variable Forcefields----6,000 each side(36,000 total)
Height: 200 ft
Width: 650 ft
Length: 1,220 ft
Weight: 265,000 tons
Cargo: 55,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 30 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 12
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.2% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 6 light years per hour

Market Cost: 6.4 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems
Weapons Systems:
1) Medium Laser Turrets(10) ----The placement of the laser cannons along the front and sides allows for a broadside of up to five cannons at once, or a forward salvo of six cannons.
Range: 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

2) Particle Beam Cannons(6) ---The Hebidisians fitted a secondary battery of powerful particle beam cannons; shorter ranged than the lasers or the disrupters they replaced, but more powerful in terms of damage potential. Using them effectively means the Santag has to close with an enemy, but Hebidisian crews favor a more aggressive approach to space tactics.
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

3) Long Range Missile Launchers (2) ---As with the Disruptors, the Golgans were reluctant to allow the Hebidisians to mount the more powerful Nuclear Torpedo launchers on their ships, so they’ve had to install more conventional long range missile launchers.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(double range in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type. Golgan directives generally limit the Hebidisian military to the less powerful standard nuclear(1d6x100 MD) warheads. Typically, Hebidisian ships fire a mix of heavy LRM fragmentation and plasma to compensate for the slower rate of fire of the point defense systems.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-20
Payload: 1,000 missiles each launcher, 2,000 total; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

b) Medium Range Missile Launchers(2)---Some Santags replace the heavy torpedo launchers with medium range missile launchers. Shorter ranged, but the MRMLs can pump out heavier volleys of missiles that can paste enemy fighter formations and missile launches at better range than the point defense weapons. Since Republik missile systems are generally outdated compared to other star nations’, the Argosy doesn’t depend as much on long range missilery as others, so the MRML configuration actually makes a fair amount of sense.
Range:Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-50 each launcher
Payload: 2,500 missiles each launch bank(5,000 total); Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 24 missiles)


4) Particle Beam Cannon Point Defense Turrets(4)---Identical to those mounted on the standard Bindas. The Hebidisians lack Zebuloid gunnery crews, so they’ve had to make do with dedicated turret gun crews.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Auxiliary Craft:
12 fighters---These are typically older model Naruni-style fighters

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries PS/ASI-DDE019 ‘Bullet’-class Destroyer Escort
(aka ‘Rampant Porcupine’, ‘Waspeater’)

“ASI is really squeezing as much as they can out of their older designs, and the Bullet is a sign of how far they’ll go to get that last ounce of value. I suppose it’s a testament to both the original design and the innovation that the cockamamie new design actually WORKS. ”

“Bullets are ugly little birds, but they more than earn their keep against horde attacks like missile storms and starwasp swarms. Fighters learn to avoid these things because of the sheer volume of fire they can spray around them.”

“Those murderous killbots would have -massacred- the Argentum Queen and everybody aboard her if that stubby little -Bullet-class defender hadn’t gotten between her and them. Decoyed away the missiles, chopped up the boarding shuttles and several dozen free-flying berserkers, and finally tanked a nuke meant for the spaceliner. Held the rearguard long enough for the Queen to make the evacuation jump-point, and barely managed to follow, but I hear they lost most of the corvette’s crew. Still, I think that crew wouldn’t hesitate to make the trade they did, if they were asked.”

The ‘Bullet’-class DDEs are among the odder-looking of PS/ASI’s spacecraft designs. The Bullet-class resembles three PS/ASI-DDC09 ‘Barong’ Corvettes joined at 60-degree angles to each other, and thus affording none of the blind spots endemic to many more conventionally laid-out vessels. The vessel is meant as a picket and escort cruiser with an emphasis on point defense capability.
The peculiar hull design has required some gutting of the lower two hulls and the reorientation of the few inhabited decks inside. While some first-assignee crews have questioned the strength of the structural integrity of the composite craft, the apparent slapdash attachment is actually built on a reinforced internal ‘cage’ that distributes hull stresses. The design also has a fair amount of redundancy, especially in engines and shields, lowering the chances of any one ‘golden BB’ taking out either shield protection or propulsion. Command and control is consolidated in one bridge module, with a secondary damage control/engineering center providing backup. Automation and system cross-linkage has reduced crew requirements, and the three linked hulls actually provide some extra room for the crew that remain, making these vessels decidedly more comfortable on extended tours of duty.
Because of their design, Bullets are not recommended for atmospheric operations, and they are intended for deep space combat. Most will never enter an atmosphere or even land in any sort of a gravity well, and instead act as orbital defense monitors, escorts, and picket craft for space stations and free space colonies. Occasionally, it is used for space interdiction and blockade duties, supported by other ships and fighters.
The ‘Bullet’ is often offered by Paladin Steel/Aegis Interstellar Industries as part of larger planetary defense packages(along with Orion-class nuclear pulse monitors, BattleRing System Modular Orbital/Deep Space Weapons Platforms, and various surface to space weapons systems. Despite its rather adhoc origins, meant to economically produce a dedicated anti-fighter/antimissile picket, the Bullet has also seen a surprising amount of innovation applied to it, especially the PS/ASI-DDE019B variant, which adds a centerbody module that can mount additional systems.
Despite their classification as destroyer escorts and their heavier weight, DDE019 Bullets are often criticized for being too lightly armed for destroyers, and of being too overspecialized to be effective in the multiple roles expected of destroyers. The same critics contend that for a lower cost per unit and less sophisticated logistics, the faster ad more versatile HF-75 Hunter-class destroyer is a better overall vessel that can fill the same role as the Bullet, especially when the Hunter is deployed in squadron strength. The DDE019B variant adds additional capabilities, but some tech evaluators fear that the added mass and armament may mislead crews into thinking they can take on larger opponents. PS/ASI counters, however, that the Bullet can remain on defensive call station longer than the Hunter and is better in the area defense role. Deployed wisely, the DDE-019 can provide more than adequate support-defense against enemy raiders and missile attacks. The marketing to defense-minded clientele seems to be paying off; orders have remained steady, especially to new colonies and communities fearing pirate attack or missile raids.

Type: PS/ASI-DDE019 ‘Bullet’
Class: Destroyer Escort
Crew: 40
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 12,000 (3 hull sections, 4,000 each)
Bridge 2,000
Drive Sections(3) 1,200 each
Medium Turrets(3) 300 each
Point Defense Turrets(18) 80 each
Forcefield 7,500 (3 shields, 2,500 each)
Height: 48 ft
Width: 90 ft
Length: 340 ft
Weight: 12,900 tons
Cargo: 300 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 50% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 3.6 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: 620 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:

*Advanced Fire Control----Improved avionics networks the various hull sensors and fire control for more accurate targeting, a must when dealing with small agile targets such as fighters and missiles. Advanced Targeting Bonus: +4 to strike

Weapons Systems:
1) Medium Laser Turrets(3)---Part of the original Barong armament, these weapons give the Bullet extra punch against larger vessels such as Berserker raiders.
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
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

2)Point Defense Turrets(18)---- The basis of the Bullet concept is in its numerous point defense turrets, meant to give it coverage on all firing arcs, and enough capacity to interdict fighter squadrons, power armor attacks, and barrages of missiles.
a) Laser PDS---Standard energy-based PDS.
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

b)Dual Laser/Mini-Missile Launchers---Alternate fitting available, taking the place of the lasers. These are standard CCW-pattern dual laser/mini-missile launchers that have been installed for close-in defense. The lasers are less powerful and shorter ranged, but the mini-missiles have volley capability against fighters and missiles. Any or all of the thirty PDS turrets can be replaced with these turrets in place of the standard lasers.
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: (Lasers) 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

3) Decoy/Countermeasures Launchers(3)----- Each trimaran hull mounts a countermeasure launcher; three separate sorts of countermeasures are available:
The first is simple sensor-reflective chaff and thermo-flares. These countermeasures are inexpensive and very effective against lower-end targeting systems and sensor equipment(such as that used by nations equivalent to the Coalition States on Rifts Earth), but are ineffectual against more advanced technology.
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.
In space, anything flying at high speed through the cloud will take 2d6 MD +1d6 MD per every 100 miles of speed over 670 MPH.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 50 bundles are available per pod

The second system releases a nanotech swarm of active jamming pods and decoys that are programmed to emulate a spacecraft’s sensor signature, or, at the very least, bury enemy tactical communications in ‘white noise’.
Effective Range: 25 mile jamming radius
Duration: 5 minutes per pod-spray
Effects: Jams radio signals(75% chance of jamming military band command-guidance ordnance), and 60% chance of deflecting ordinary missiles.
Payload: 25 swarm packs are available per pod

The third system uses modified grav-pack drives and signal projectors to create a moving pattern of sensor signatures. The grav-pack mini-missile drives can go for 10 minutes before self-destructing, and can either be remotely directed or run a preset pattern.
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 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).
Payload: 20 decoys are carried, and can be deployed singly, or in ‘packs’ of 1-3.


Auxiliary Craft:
None

Variants:
*PS/ASI-DDE019B----(aka ’Bulboid’)---This variant features a center-body hill sandwiched between the three outer DDC09 corvette hulls. The ‘B’ config is often not distinguishable from the standard base design on long range scans, as the centerbody is shielded by the outer hulls. The centerbody increases the ship’s mass by 25%, reduces maximum speed by 15%, and adds +900 MDC to the overall armor, but also provides space for ONE of the following:

a) Mini-Missile Launcher--- Launcher for PS’s much-touted “S-Sting” ‘Smart Mini-Missile
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
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-25, up to four times per melee.
Payload: 400 missiles

b) Short Range Missile Launcher---Longer range and heavier salvoes.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-20
Payload: 200 missiles

c) Medium Range Missile Launcher---Provides added range in interception.
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, up to four times per melee.
Payload: 100 missiles

d) Long Range Missile Launcher---This launcher gives the Bullet some punch against larger opponents. For wrk against smaller targets, the LRMs typically carry multi-warheads with area of effect scatter patterns.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 50

c) Space Mine Launcher---Typically used in orbital defense to deny enemy ships the ability to assume orbit.
Payload: 60 mines
Damage: Varies by weapon deployed
*Space Mine---A freefloating explosive war satellite. Various types exist, including stealth ‘sneakmines’, ASAT ‘limpets’, and enhanced EMP models, but the standard anti-ship version carries a powerful nucleonic charge that does 2d6x100 MDC to a 600 ft radius
Damage: Typically equal to a Cruise Missile warhead

*Orbital Net Mine---This weapon unfurls into a 10-kilometer(5 mile)-wide free-floating hexagon of high tensile-strength megadamage fibers. Any vessel hitting this net at high speed takes damage roughly equivalent to the UWW’s infamous ‘Death Cloud’ weapon. Improvements to the mines allow them to lie dormant and virtually undetectable until a target enters range, and then the net will instantly snap open, catching the victim. The net-mine has also successfully been used to catch MIRVs and other missiles.
Damage: Any ship flying into the net will take 4d6MD times its Mach Speed. Multiple the damage by 10 for ships weighing 10,000-40,000 tons, by 20 in the 41,000-100,000 ton range, and by 100 if more than 100,000 tons.
The net is virtually impossible to detect on radar and ships are -6 to dodge, while larger ships are -8!

d) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(2)--- Double-barreled mounting of one of Paladin Steel’s older space weapons.
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
(Exploding/Fragmenting Fletchette): 5d6x10 MD to anything caught in a 120 ft wide cone/’cloud’----Targets are -2 to dodge the ’shotgun spread’
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon

e) Heavy Tachyon ScatterGun
Range: 5 miles (2,500 m) in atmosphere, 10 miles (10,000 m) in space w/ 6 mile wide arc*
(Kitsune Values: 5 miles in atmosphere, 5,000 miles in space)
*Width are reduced to 1/4th in atmosphere
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

f) Neutron Beam Cannon---Continued experimentation with both neutral neutron beam ‘discriminator’ systems used to scan missiles for nuclear material, and reverse-engineering of Kittani weaponry has led to an improved neutron cannon that can neutralize some types of nuclear warhead and nuclear fission powerplants.
Range: 10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d10x10 MD
The beam will also cause fissionable nuclear materials to emit telltale radiation signatures, allowing better targeting on priority threats(such as fission warheads).
(Neutron Flux) On a Natural 16-20, the neutron flux will cause inadequately shielded fission powerplants to overheat, causing a partial meltdown or force an emergency shutdown by the safety systems, disrupting their power. Fission warheads will be rendered inert(and on a Natural 20 will prematurely go critical, suffering an additional 2d10x10 MD, destroying their casing, and likely spreading radioactive materials around).
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

g) Particle Beam---Mounts a high powered Particle Beam Cannon.
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

h) Plasma Torpedo Pod---Mounts a high powered Plasma Torpedo Launcher. Its area of effect explosion makes it nominally effective as an antimissile/fighter weapon.
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

i) Ion Energy Weapon ---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

j) ’Joker’ Countermeasure Pod---Expanded capacity countermeasure launcher. Anything that can be done to distract enemy fire away from more important targets.
Range: Typically launch out to 10 miles or more from the ship 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 Maneuvering 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 dissipates). Lasers firing into the cloud of micro-crystals do HALF damage, laser targeting systems have a 50% chance of losing lock, and objects flying through the cloud take 4d6 MD. Effectively lasts for 5 melee rounds(75 seconds).

Payload: The module holds 25 Ballute decoys, 10 maneuvering decoys(“Wild Weasels”), 100 ‘Smart Chaff’ canisters, 50 laser aerosol canisters

k) 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

l) 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.

m) EW Module---In the alternative, the centerbody can be fitted with a high-powered Electronic Warfare (EW) module useful in jamming or sensor decoy operations. The pod contains a dedicated powerplant and control stations for ECM operators.
-ECM----- A powerful communications and sensor jamming suite. Communications Jamming has a 5,000 mile range, is 98% effective against civilian systems, and is 80% effective against more sophisticated channel-jumping military communications suites. Radar systems are similarly degraded....they can pick up the emissions, but cannot pinpoint the exact location of the source within the area of disruption. Missiles and sensor-guided weapons are -6 to strike.
The EW Module can also project sensor ‘ghosts’ mimicking ships’ energy signatures...or can make the Bullet resemble a much larger vessel(up to cruiser class) on long range scans. The ‘ghosts’ can be projected with a displacement of 1d6x1,000 miles, and 1d6 additional sensor signatures can be generated. Accurate sensor readings are at -70% outside that range, -40% outside a 100 mile range.

*PS/ASI-DDE019C----Further modification of the ‘B’ configuration, which adds another 300 tons to mass, another 500 MDC, and an extra engineering section that boosts sublight speed to Mach 9, and FTL to 4 light years per hour. The ‘C’ model also costs an additional 100 million credits. The ‘C’ is being touted as allowing the Bullet to close with enemy forces faster and farther out, but some analysts suggest that the same interception role could be just as well filled by other purpose-built types already in PS/ASI production, such as the PSS/ASI-DDS-01 Sangu Light Destroyer, Crv018 Windfola Interstellar Corvette, or DDES-12 Brandestoc Rapid Deployment Space Destroyer.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries ‘Tychan’ Heavy Transport Cruiser
(aka ‘Delta-cruiser’)

“Do a pinpoint jump into a stellar dust cloud between two fleets of hostiles, hold off missile and energy fire from both just long enough to scoop up the wreckage of a heavy scout ship, then jump out from under their noses, thumbing them in the process? We don’t have to land anywhere?
Heh. Milk run. Sure you don’t want us to deliver anything while we’re there?”
---Captain Altor Krennoc

“Ever see one of these things make a planetside delivery, especially over the sea? Incredible. Awestriking. Frightening. You’re watching this massive metal thundercloud hover over you and drop a full-sized ship into the water as effortlessly as putting a toy boat in a bathtub.”

Lessons with the Webbe Hayes class taught PS/ASI that they were on the right path with their heavily-armed transports; growth of piracy in the Three Galaxies and a disturbing increase in thinly-disguised privateering meant that convoys were increasingly likely to be attacked in the more lawless regions of the 3G, and even in the more policed starlanes. There, too, was also PS/ASI’s ‘special operations’ such as blockade running, ‘hot’ extractions, and contested salvage operations. The Tychan was developed with the assistance of several trade partners(particuarly WZTechyards) to meet those needs.
At first glance, the Tychan would appear to be a heavily armed, heavily-armored, and very fast battlecruiser or heavy raider, but observers would be surprised to learn that the ship is actually a heavy transport, the center of its broad volume taken up by a large cargo bay(large enough to hold several smaller starships). The wedge/arrowhead-shaped Tychan stands in design contrast to the long-hulled, monolithic Webbe Hayes, with a broader beam and more streamlined appearance. Better suited to atmospheric operations, and equipped with a more powerful drive system, the Tychan can make high speed atmospheric reentries to deliver(or pick up) cargoes in contested systems.
The central cargo bay is large enough to accomodate fairly large ocean ships and fair-sized starships, making this vessel a favorite for delivering completely assembled oceanic craft directly to water, and for quietly sneaking deliveries of spacecraft(since the smaller ships are concealed from casual scans). The central bay is served by several smaller side-gallery bays, and the main cargo area can be further customized and subdivided into smaller holding areas, or specialized cargo sections, if need be.
Tychans are heavily armed, fairly bristling with point defense weaponry, and appear quite fearsome on scans, though they have few capital weapons appropriate to warships of their size. Again, this makes them attractive for delivering cargoes directly to a planetary surface, especially in contested ‘hot’ zones.
An interesting design feature is that the various habitation/control sections inside the giant hull are actually modified bridge pods from PS/ASI’s earlier Barong, Brandestoc, Sagadag, and Assegai design lineage. This compartmentalization increases the chances of crew survival during combat and other catastrophes, as the compartments can be ejected from the ship to serve as giant lifeboats.
The Tychan is stoutly constructed enough that a number of hulls have been converted to full-on warships, the central cargo bay and its large capacity being sacrificed for weapons and shield generators, or small craft bays, though the Tychan is still not equivalent to a dedicated-design warship of equal mass, especially with regards to speed and agility. The Tychan is also considerably more expensive than a more conventional deep space super-hauler of equivalent size and capacity, due to the in-atmo grav generators, reinforced hull, and added defense equipment.
The Tychan is currently produced at the large ship construction yards leased from the Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League, who have also adopted the design as part of the heavy transport element of their upgrading Navy.

Type: PS/ASI- SC10 Tychan
Class: Heavy Interstellar Transport
Crew: 35 command core, + 220 crew
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 65,000
Bridge 1,200
Modular Crew Pods(3) 1,000 each
Heavy Lasers(2) 900 each
Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x4) 500 each
Point Defense Turrets(14) 100 each
Main Engines(3) 3,900 each
Secondary Engines(4) 1,000 each
Hangar Bays(2) 900 each
*Variable Forcefields 800 per side(4,800 total)
*Shield Refresh Rate is 10% per melee

Height: 250 ft
Width: 1,260 ft
Length: 1,800 ft
Weight: 475,000 tons
Cargo: 180,000 tons
The main cargo bay can handle single-structure whole cargo up to 800 ft long, and 375 ft wide.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: 27 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---Maximum Resolution Range of 4 million miles

*Gravitic Sensors----55 million mile range
*Neutrino Detection----55,000 mile range
*Tachyon Radar---3 million miles

*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video

*Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 200,000 miles.--For tight-beam communications, ship to ship, or ship/surface. The Laser can even be modulated to the blue-green for communicating with submerged vehicles

*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.

*Tractor Beams(8)----Effectively each rated for 800 tons dead weight, but can be used for imparting small changes in momentum/direction to ships/structures several times that mass. Two emitters are mounted in each wing, and and one is mounted in each hangar bay.
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)
(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space).


Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Laser Cannon(2x2, nose)----These turrets are mounted to fend off larger ships, such as marauding cruisers or gunships.
Range: 10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 20 miles in atmosphere, 20,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x100 MD per single blast, 8d6x100 MD double-barreled blast.
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x4)---Mounted in main hull turrets positioned one ventral and one dorsal in each wing, these weapons can pivot for maximum arc of fire. Besides straight slug rounds, these cannons can fire exploding flak shells for better utility against fighters and missiles.
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
(Fragmentation rounds) Do 4d6 x10 MD to a 100 ft wide area with an 80 rd burst, 6d6x10 MD to a 150 ft wide area double cannon burst, and 8d6x10 MD to a 200 ft wide area 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)

3) Point Defense Turrets(14)---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

Auxiliary Craft:
4 utility shuttles, in 2 bays

Variants:
*PS/ASI- SC/CG10 ---Warship variant that completely refits the central cargo bay with additional shield generators and a spinal mount heavy particle beam cannon system. Twelve medium-grade weapons turrets are also added to the hull. Cargo capacity is reduced to 10,000 tons, in favor of converting the cargo space into crew accommodations and additional machinery.
Changes/Modifications:
Crew: 55 command core, + 500 crew
MDC/Armor By Location:
Spinal Energy Cannon Mount 1,000
Secondary Weapons Turrets(12) 300 each
Variable Shields( 2,000 each side, 12,000 total)
Weapons Systems:
1) Spinal Energy Cannon Mount
Range: 16 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x1,000 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: Once every 30 seconds(2 melees)
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Secondary Weapons Turrets(12)---Each can mount a Medium Starship-grade weapon.

3) Point Defense Turrets(25)---Nearly DOUBLES the number of PDS turrets

*PS/ASI- SC/CM10 ---Missile cruiser variant that outfits the central cargo bay with missile launchers. Eight large pods can fit comfortably in the main bay.
Changes/Modifications:
Crew: 55 command core, + 420 crew
MDC/Armor By Location:
Missile Launchers(10) each
Variable Shields( 2,000 each side, 12,000 total)
Weapons Systems:
a) 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: Volleys of 1-25
Payload: 600 LRMs per pod, plus 500 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 12 LRMs)

b) Long Lance Missile Pod----Before PS/ASI acquired the ability to make/acquire reliable supplies of 3G cruise missiles, they made do with their own SLBM-sized heavy 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. To compensate for their lack of accuracy, PS mounted the heaviest nuclear warheads they had in their arsenal, in the Long Lance II missiles. 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. These early, and decidedly crude, weapons continue to be manufactured and deployed with the GNE Space Forces because of their sheer destructive capability.
Range: 1,000 miles(4,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 4.6 mile destruction radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-12
Payload: 12 missiles per pod

c) PS Long Lance IV Missile Pod---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.
Range: 1500 miles(6,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 4.6 mile destruction radius
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
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-12
Payload: 12 missiles per pod

d) Cruise Missile Launch Pod----As PS/ASI’s ability to acquire/manufacture Galactic-style Cruise Missiles in quantity grows, the weapons are expected to become more common on their spacecraft.
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 1-10
Payload: 120 missiles per pod

*PS/ASI- SC/CV10 --- Carrier variant. This variant is sometimes used as a ‘Q-carrier’, concealing several squadrons of fighters, patrolcraft, or small guncraft, until a pirate or commerce raider ventures too close, thinking the ship to be only a freighter.
Changes/Modifications:
Crew: 55 command core, + 400 crew+320 aerospace complement
MDC/Armor By Location:
Variable Shields( 2,000 each side, 12,000 total)
Weapons Systems:
2) Kinetic Kill Rail Cannons(3x12)---Triples the number of KKRCs of the standard type. in order to give better flak protection.

3) Point Defense Turrets(20) ---Adds six more PDS turrets

Auxiliary Craft:
80 fighters

*PS/ASI- SC/LHA10 --- Troop transport variant. PS/ASI has long needed dedicated heavy troop transport capability, and the is part of an effort to plug the gaps in its TOE while the long-awaited Providence-class Multi-Role Heavy Cruisers finish their workups. Besides carrying troops, the ship’s crew has been expanded to include a complement of support medical personnel, technicians, and mechanics.
Changes/Modifications:
Crew: 55 command core, + 500 crew+ 2,000 troops/passengers
MDC/Armor By Location:
Variable Shields( 2,000 each side, 12,000 total)
Cargo:
Accommodations for 2,000 troops
45 heavy vehicles
60 light vehicles
Weapons Systems:
3) Point Defense Turrets(25)---Nearly DOUBLES the number of PDS turrets

4) Medium Range Missile Launchers(6)---Adds six large-capacity medium rage missile launchers to the dorsal surface of the transport. In addition to anti-fighter/antimissile defense, they are often used to support grounded troops in suppressing enemy activity around the landing zone.
Range:Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire:From 1-20 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 220 MRMs per hardpoint

Auxiliary Craft:
12 heavy shuttles

[taalismn]

Just a thought experiment....

Kasenti Stellanion ‘Determination Drive’(aka ‘Destination-Lust Drive’)

“The passenger lounge theater really hits you hard just before the ship jumps with a full sensory blitz....smell, sound, sight, even temperature...that make you, for a moment, think you’ve already arrived at your destination and have disembarked. It makes you REALLY WANT to get going and be there! I’m kinda surprised and worried, in fact, that no Kasenti starliner has accidentally popped in on top of a major landmark or tourist attraction, but I understand the Navigators’ Union makes sure the stimuli package isn’t TOO specific in its details.”

“I’m on my way to yoooouuuuuuuu, my starry looovvvveerrrrrr....”
-Common line in Kasenti space chanties.

“Driveman Mosihd, you’re excused from making the Madlik run. It’s come to our attention of your divorce, and that your ex-husband lives on Madlik. You’ve expressed reluctance to return there, even if only to orbit, so we’re relieving you from this flight, with the option of waiting on station here for another ship. It’s either that, or take null-sleep for the transit, and waking to return to service for the outbound from Madlik.”

“Is it absolutely necessary that we go into hibersleep chambers? I can speak for myself and for my companions that we all, ALL, really WANT to see Master Travian! It would make the trip go much faster if we could all remain awake!”
“You’re all Class-C indentures. Much as you may claim loyalty and want your reunion with your master, standard procedure requires your securing, including your conscious thoughts, during the transit. Over the distances this ship will be traveling, we can’t risk an aberrant thought of reluctance throwing the ship off-course and into unfamiliar territory. In and under you go until we arrive at our destination.”

For FTL travel, before the import of other drive types from outside, the Kasenti Stellanion developed their own magictech propulsion system. This system is based on a core of psychically-active crystals attuned to ‘harmonic resonances in the underlying dimensional ylem of space/time’.
The so-called ‘Determination Drive’ channels PPE to shortcut through folded space, but its most defining characteristic is that it appears to become more accurate, the greater the concentration of the ship’s crew on their destination. Though this is mainly determined by psychic crewmembers linked to the ship’s navigation array, the collective thoughts of the rest of the crew and passengers of a vessel may also affect the efficiency of the drive. For this reason, the Kasenti train their crews to become very familiar with various destinations, and encourage emotional attachment to various places along their ships’ routes(the reasoning being that if the crew REALLY wants to go to a place, it facilitates the FTL trip). For the same reason, passenger carriers will play multimedia about the destination to help focus the thoughts of passengers as part of a group ‘let’s go!’ experience.
However, unfocused and contrary thoughts can also(it is claimed) adversely affect the accurate transit of a ship’s course, so those with unfocused thoughts are encouraged to sleep through FTL jumps, and prisoners and slaves are routinely sedated or locked in stasis to prevent their thoughts from interfering with the surge into FTL and the transit.

The ‘Determination Drive’ is, by its nature, less efficient in the regions outside the known Stellanion systems and spacelanes, but works quite efficiently inside the familiar environs of the star kingdom. However, there have been tales of Kasenti crews making effectvely blind jumps to destinations motivated only by a collective desire to reach a specific other ship or individual....accounts of lost ships being found by determined rescuers, or criminals being tracked down to their lairs by particularly obsessed pursuers being popular in Kasenti media, and apparently being based on fact...over some quite considerable interstellar distances. Less publicized are the accounts of ships attempting to reach more ambigious destinations, such as at least one starship of cultists seeking ‘paradise’ during a transit, and disappearing forever.

Though many UWW stardrive mages and mechanics dismiss the antecdotal evidence presented about the ‘Determination Drive’ , the Kasenti swear by it.

Speed: Considered to be 4 light years/hour, but an unfocused, or reluctant, transit may travel at considerably slower speeds(down to 1 light year a DAY in one documented case) and may emerge 2d4x10 million miles off-course at the destination. Intensely focused transits may transit at much faster speeds; up to 8 light years/hour in some reported cases.

General Rules/Limitations:
-Really doesn’t want to go to a specific destination: -.01 ly/hour
-TERRIFIED of the destination: -.03 ly/hour
-PHOBIA of destination(must be a full-blown insanity): -.1 ly/hour
-Really WANTS to get to a specific destination: +.01 ly/hour
-Enraptured with the destination; lusts to get there: +.04 ly/hour
-OBSESSED/ADDICTED with destination(must be a full-blown insanity): +0.2 ly/hour
Multiply by number of passengers/crew in the above mental states
Outside Stellanion space, the above speed factors may vary in either direction as much as 200%.

[SolCannibal]

That's a pretty interesting example of arcane technology indeed. Could a psychic-focused civilization, like the Noro were for some time, craft something similar? Any ideas on parallels or differences?

As an aside, are the Kasenti cited in any books or a creation of yours?

[taalismn]

That's a pretty interesting example of arcane technology indeed. Could a psychic-focused civilization, like the Noro were for some time, craft something similar? Any ideas on parallels or differences?

As an aside, are the Kasenti cited in any books or a creation of yours?

The Noro MIGHT, but they're rather more psioncally disciplined, and also more inclined to the 'safe' standards of conventional CG travel.

But yeah, I'm thinking that FTL is easier in the Three Galaxies universe than in others(in fact, I'd consider that an add-on to the Megaversal Builder book...something along the lines of 'is the speed of light a constant/barrier, or how easily can it be circumvented in the universe?').
David Brin's Uplift Universe has maybe a dozen ways of blasting past light, some of them much more dangerous than others(the Tandu Episarch, for example, which can put you in an enemy's lap, but also has the possible side effect of negating your material existence).
So I allow a variety of FTL drives(including those from the old Mechanoids game) in the Three Galaxies.
Other universes? You might have to either resort to magic or chug along at relativistic velocities.

As for the Kasenti? They're posted in the Interstellar Kingdoms thread(pg 4)....they're basically pseudo-Drow in space, though somewhat nicer(considering they just had a near-coup attempt by an alien intelligence shaking up their politics).

[taalismn]

Rhilithian Gear Zaxas-II Battleship

“These big gals are stately ladies, pretty to look at, but look out for their baggage.”

“Isn’t she beautiful? That’s the Barb. She’s the new royal official flag-carrier of the Viscounts Cheyenne-Cisen, but make no mistake; she’s no dandified yacht. She’s got all her original teeth and then some.”

The warships of the Zaxas II class are interstellar battleships built by the Rhilith Gear on commission for various star-nations.
The Zaxas-II class is derived from the older Zaxas-class battleship(or ‘blastship’ as they are sometimes called), an old Rhilithian design that served the Gear for well over three centuries, since the beginning of Rhilithian galactic exploration. The Zaxas blastships were massive space-going weapons platforms, carrying heavy weaponry and multiple small craft for those occasions when diplomacy failed and the Gear had no other option but to resort to force. Though admittedly low-tech, the Zaxas-class battleships were formidable weapons systems, and served the Gear well through several First Contacts gone wrong, trouble abroad, and problems with galactic pirates. The last three operational Zaxas served in the Yorian War with distinction, and two were brought out of mothballs to serve in the Second Yorian War, though by that time they were little more than orbital gun platforms. With Rhilith’s entry membership in the United Worlds of Warlock, the Zaxas-class was finally retired(though the UWW has expressed an interest in converting some of the older craft still floating in orbital breaker yards off Rhilith IV, refurbishing them with magic, much as they had with older Aegis-Magister cruisers to produce the Aegis-Magistrex).
The basic design, however, was sound, and the Gear decided to undertake a study to see if the Zaxas could be updated with newer technologies. Removal of the old massive liquid-fuel tanks and the replacement of the ancient Corrine Fusion Drives with more modern Ademin WaveFront CG propulsion units allowed the hull to be shortened, and more internal space openned up to other purposes. Weaponry was updated with superior models, and a central fuel bunker now given over to a co-axial weapons bay. To handle the stresses associated with the higher speeds made possible by the new drive systems, the ships’ structures have been reinforced with kelenite fiber-steel and erentrium bracing. Total replacement of the large nuclear fusion powerplants was considered in favor of more modern anti-matter systems, but the decision was made to retain the older technology as being less maintanence- and cost-intensive, though the ships would achieve less thrust for their mass from the fusiin plasma generators. The resulting craft, though substantially improved, was regarded as an extension of the old Zaxas design, and was named accordingly.
The Zaxas II did not meet with contracts from the Gear High Command for its own use, since Rhilith was already working on the joint-service Everon-class battleships for the UWW, but the design was approved for sale to UWW affiliates. Gear-Emmeron Industries sank a sizable amount of their advance operating capital into a new shipyard facility on the gamble that new orders for the upgraded battleship design would pay back a handsome profit(though the Gear had assured GEI that if contracts were not forthcoming, the facilities could still be used for less potentially lucrative Everon subcontracts and heavy freighter work).

Since the introduction of the Zaxas-II programme, the Gear has made sales of over seventeen battleships, with at least twelve more on order. Many of these sales have been to UWW allies in the Anvil Galaxy, where worries about the Forge War have had systems scrambling to beef up their military defenses. The outbreak of the Minion War into the Three Galaxies will see the Zaxas-II in some of its heaviest combat to date, and Gear-Emmeron going flat-out to provide new customers with the vessels to combat the Infernal threat.

The perhaps best known ship of the Zaxas-II class is the Barb. ‘Barb’(aka Ishidan) is a late-model Zaxas II-class Battleship, currently in service to the Viscount and Viscountess of Cizer Adeta, as their Family flagship. Originally, Barb had the the distinction of being one of four battleship frames constructed at the Denasu Deep Yards for the Orlan Visarchy’s High Guard Fleet, during that regime’s rather flamboyant and short-lived period of prosperity, before the restructuring in the wake of the Vol Scandal and the Periphery Armaments Accords of 40823247 forced the Orlan Navy to sell off much of their FTL navy, especially those vessels in work-up. Barb, and her just completed sisterships (Argato, Tekel-Aghan, and Mahan), were sold back to the Gear, in time for the UWW’s Outlands Defense Initiative to snap them up. Anticipating expansion along the growing, but vulnerable, Coreward trade lanes to the Syndian Republic, and under some pressure from Saotech(C-AR’s state-run resource development corporation) to release heavy armaments to its territory development projects along those same routes, the ODI Board was able to hold Barb and her sisterships in escrow until Saotech was able to make a winning bid in the name of the newly established Cisen-Adeta Republic. Official transfer of the vessels was made in 40913455, and Barb was subsequently transferred to the Seward Eleven Shipyards for a massive avionics and structural upgrade. Barb was then able to make the long journey to Adeta under her own power and with escort, and outfitting was completed on-site in the host system, including final refit of her armaments and crew systems.
Barb is the official flag-carrier of the Cheyenne-Cisens, serving as base of operations for the dynamic Viscount and his wife, as flagship of the Black Horse Flotilla, and as ambassadorial ‘yacht’ of the Cisen-Adeta Republic, frequently making port-of-call visits to the Adetans’ allies and periphery territories.
The Barb is quite luxuriously fitted, but NOT at the expense of functionality. Owing to Adeta’s exposed (galactic-wise) position and strategic importance to the expanding wave of trade and development in the sector, as well as the unique nature of its owners, Barb has been fitted with dreadnought-level battlescreens, added armaments, redundantly shielded systemry, and other special systems not found on many standard ships-of-the-line. On paper, the Barb could fight a CCW Proctor to a standstill, but in reality, the CCW’s battleship groups could outmaneuver and overwhelm any escort force the C-AR can currently field in support of its battleships.
(Barb’s sister ships, Argato, Tekel-Aghan, and Mahan, have been retained by Saotech for its other development projects, though at least one ship has been slated for the C-AR’s growing navy. These ships are more likely to be fitted to the standard configuration presented below)

Type: Zaxas-II
Class: Battleship
Crew: 790, plus 200 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Cannon/Mass Driver Batteries (4) 3,500 each
Particle Beam Cannon(4) 2,500 each
Grazer Beam Batteries(16) 900 each
Secondary Medium Laser Batteries(48 ) 900 each
Cruise Missile Launchers (2) 900 each
Long Range Missile Batteries (8 ) 800 each
Point Defense Turrets(50) 100 each
Hangar Bays(2) 20,000 each
Main Engines(2) 25,000 each
Auxiliary Engines(4) 5,000 each
Main Body 210,000
Outer Hull Section(40 ft area) 120
Exterior Hatches 80
Inner Hull Section(10 ft area) 80
Interior Hatches 60
Bridge 5,000
Variable Forcefields----15,000 each side(90,000 total)

Height: 900 ft
Width: 1,000 ft
Length: 4,000 ft
Weight: 1,580,000 tons
Cargo: 300,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 60 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 7; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at .9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 6 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Cost: 41 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus;
*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 Resolution Range of 4 million miles

*Gravitic Sensors----55 million mile range
*Neutrino Detection----55,000 mile range
*Tachyon Radar---3 million miles

*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video

*Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 200,000 miles.--For tight-beam communications, ship to ship, or ship/surface. The Laser can even be modulated to the blue-green for communicating with submerged vehicles.


*Long Range Sensors--- The sensors can pick up on vessels moving at FTL up to 25 light years away, and vessels moving through normal space up to 0.9 light years away.

*Scrambler Arrays--Scramblers generate an intense electromagnetic field in a localized region, that will(hopefully) knock out the guidance and electronics of enemy missile systems and drones. 45% chance of affecting PW missiles, 75% chance of bolluxing Rifts Earth-equivalent weapons.

*External Docking Clamps(2)----The Zaxas-II has provision for hard-docking two vessels up to frigate size on its outer hull. Line of Battle Zaxas IIs will frequently carry fast attack, anti-fighter, or EW specialist ships on these cradles, deploying them when reaching a war zone.

Weapons Systems
1) Main Cannon/Mass Driver Batteries (4)--- Though slow-firing, these powerful fractional-cee projectile cannons have great range and power, making them good anti-warship and planetary bombardment weapons. Besides firing kinetic weapons, these cannons can project nuclear explosive payloads. The UWW has also considered a suggestion by one of their affiliates to develop TW warloads that could deliver such spells as Plasma Storm at range.
Range: 50 miles in atmosphere, 150 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 150 miles in atmosphere, 150,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Slug) 1d8x1,000 MD
(Fragmentor) 6d6x10 MD to a 1,000 ft radius
(Fusion) 2d4 x 1,000 MD to a 1.6 mile destruction radius
Rate of Fire: Once per three melees
Payload: 200 rds per cannon

2) Particle Beam Cannon(4)---These four cannon provide the mass drivers with an energy-based back-up that is quicker to recharge and fire.
Range: 18 miles in atmosphere, 70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 70 miles in atmosphere, 70,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x1,000 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload:: Effectively Unlimited

3) Grazer Beam Batteries(16)---These are powerful x-ray laser weapons that carve through laser-reflective armor and countermeasures.
Range: 30 miles in atmosphere, 90 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 90 miles in atmosphere, 90,000 miles in space)
Damage: 5d6x100 MD per blast, plus the high X-ray component punches through laser-resistant armors without diminishment of damage.
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Secondary Medium Laser Batteries(48 )---The sides of the Zaxas-II fairly bristle with secondary laser batteries. Up to 24 can be brought to bear on a single target in a withering broadside, or they can operate under individual fire control to take out smaller starships and fighters.
Range: 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

5) Cruise Missile Launchers (2)---CCW/TGE-style cruise missile launchers are still somewhat new to the Gear, but they are adopting similar systems. What the Zaxas’ batteries lack in number, they make up for in ability to launch large volleys of these high-powered missiles.
Range:Varies by missile type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire:From 1-15 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 30 Cruise Missiles per launcher. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 6 missiles)

6) Long Range Missile Batteries (8 )---These are more conventional LRM launchers that can quickly launch a veritable storm of missiles within seconds.
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 launcher. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

7) Point Defense Turrets(50)---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: (Lasers) 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).


Auxiliary Craft:
2 external docking cradles for frigate-sized vessels
36 Aerospace Fighters
8 Shuttles/Pinnaces

[taalismn]

Noirlan NASPF-F08 ‘Ragnroc’ Heavy Starfighter
“The Ragnroc’s a sweet bird for its tech-level. It’s pretty fast and agile, and its chem-lasers can one-shot an equivalent vessel. That’s its problem; once the Durok started refitting with tech bought from Naruni, the Rag became a sitting rock, and one that exploded when its ammo tanks were touched off. Oh, the Noirlan engineers anticipated that and put in quick-reflex ejection pods that punch out the moment the ship’s systems go critical, and that gives the crew a good chance of actually surviving. But with the Durokans holding the upper hand in space, surviving a crit-blowup only to be captured? Arguably a fate worse than death. After what we found out what the Durks were doing to the POWs they had, a lot of Noiries would rather they went up with their ships; they’d started getting in the habit of disabling the ejection system if they were operating anywhere other than right near one of their own planets where they stood a better chance of being rescued by friendlies.”

The F08 Ragnroc is typical of many of the more primitive generation starfighters and small combat craft that can be found operating with the less advanced civilizations of the Three Galaxies.
The F08 is the mainstay multi-environment combat fighter of the Noirlan Aerospace Protection Force in its long-running feud with its interstellar neighbor, Durok. The two human-inhabited worlds have been hammering away at each other for over thirty years in a conflict that has whipsawed back and forth with great loss of life.
The first thing about the F08 that strikes pilots more familiar with more advanced CCW and TGE designs is its size; the Ragnroc is easily the size of a pre-spaceflight inatmo supersonic bomber. This is because the Noirlanians use more primitive technologies; the F08 is reliant on large liquid fuel reserves to achieve its high performance in space, and in atmosphere. This limits the range of the F08 and adds considerable mass to the airframe. Another concern is that the fuel tankage is vulnerable to breaching, and even explosive reaction. Fortunately, the cockpit is heavily armored(more so than CCW/TGE designs) and fitted with a quick-response ejection system that power-boosts the pilot’s compartment clear of the hull in event of a fuel explosion. As the Noirlans lack any natively-developed forcefield generation technology light and small enough to fit aboard a fighter, the ships are dependent on physical armoring to survive any shots that make contact.
Balancing the primitive systems and size/mass are better armor and more powerful weaponry; the Ragnroc can be a real shipkiller in the hands of an expereienced pilot. However, again, the older technology is larger and more massive than more modern 3G systems. In particular, the Ragnroc uses chemically-fuelled lasers as its main armament, supplemented with various missiles. Still, these weapons have proven very effective in the brutal fighting, especially against vessels using similar systems.
Lately, however, the Noirlan/Durok war has taken a turn against the Noirlanians, as the Duroka have solicited aide from alien sources, particularly Naruni Enterprises. Rather than outright sell the Duroka obvious Naruni designs however, NE has instead supplied their engineers with more advanced starfighter components and assistance in incorporating them into their own designs. The reasons for this may be that Naruni hopes to lure the Durokans into progressively more entrapping deals, that they hope to siphon off any innovative ideas the Durokans come up with, or that Naruni hopes to avoid, for the immediate future, attracting others to arm the Noirlanians in response. In any event, the Noirlanian aerospace forces are finding themselves being gradually outclassed by new Durokan fighters incorporating regenerating high -intensity lasers, gravitic drives, and stealth systems, and the Ragnroc is getting mauled.
A number of F08s have recently appeared on the open market outside the Noirlan/Durok sector, and is believed that either the Durokans or Naruni are selling captured Ragnrocs.

Type: NASPF-F08 ‘Ragnroc’
Class: Heavy Starfighter
Crew: 1
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 400
Reinforced Cockpit 250
Fusion-Lasers(4) 200 each
Wings(2) 150 each
Height: 14 ft
Width: 32 ft
Length: 52 ft
Weight: 65 tons
Cargo: Minimal; small trunk-compartment-sized space in crew compartment, in addition to ejection seat survival pack
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 10 year energy life
Carries enough liquid deuterium fuel for 38 hours of continuous burn.
Drawback: If the ship is destroyed by energy weapon fire or plasma explosive, there’s a 30% chance of the remaining liquid fuel detonating. Each remaining burn-hour will do 1d6x10 MD to the immediate vicinity of the spacecraft.

Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 5; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 25% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Not fitted for FTL.

Market Cost: If offered for sale, a fully outfitted and operational Ragnroc can be expected to bring 74 million credits.
Systems of Note:
Standard Spacecraft Systems, plus:
*Cockpit Ejection System---The entire cockpit serves as a lifepod and can eject clear of the rest of the ship in an emergency. Given the unhappy tendency of the liquid fuel/ammunition tanks of the F08 to explode violently when hit by certain laser radiations, the automatic ejection treshold is set nearly hairtrigger, in order to get the pilot to safety even before they can consciously register a castastrophic fuel flashover.

Weapons Systems:
1) Fusion-Lasers(4)---The F08 mounts a quad-array of four heavy fusion-powered x-ray lasers. These early-tech lasers are primitive by CCW/TGE standards, but the size of the weapons that are mounted on the Ragnroc still makes them very dangerous, as a concentrated barrage shot can destroy even a shielded starfighter of more advanced make. The lasers, however, have a finite power supply, being powered by liquid-fueled fusion-plasma reaction, with the ammunition reservoirs adding to the tankage bulk of the fighter. The liquid deuterium also doubles as a coolant for the lasers.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 32 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 8 miles in atmosphere, 800 miles in space)
X-ray effect allows them to ignore laser-ablative reflective armors.
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per single laser firing
Rate of Fire: Each laser can fire four times per melee
Payload: Dedicated reaction fuel reservoir with 80 shots per laser
Drawback: If the laser cannon is destroyed by energy weapon fire or plasma explosive, there’s a 30% chance of the remaining liquid ammunition detonating. Each remaining shot will do 1d6x10 MDto the immediate vicinity of the spacecraft.

2) Hardpoints(4)---The F08 mounts four semi-recessed hardpoints under the main body for carrying expendable ordnance. Each hardpoint can carry ONE of the following:
a) Short Range Missiles---6 per hardpoint
b) Medium Range Missiles---3 per hardpoint
c) Long Range Missiles---1 per hardpoint
d) Freefall Bomb---Each hardpoint can hold up to 5,000 lbs of ordnance(20,000 lbs total). Spacemines are a favorite deployable weapon.

*250-lb Bomb----2d4x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
*500-lb Bomb----4d4x10 MD to 60 ft blast radius
*750-lb Bomb----4d6x10 MD to 65 ft blast radius
*1,000-lb Bomb----1d4x100 MD to 70 ft blast radius
*2,000-lb Bomb----2d4x100 MD to 80 ft blast radius
*5,000-lb Bomb----4d4x100 MD to 100 ft blast radius

Variants:
*NASPF-F08T---Two-seater training model. As the war suddenly turned against the Noirlanians, the F08T was refitted for combat and as an EW(NASPF-F08E) platform fitted with EW gear, mainly long range radio and radar jammers.

*NASPF-F08G---The ‘G’ model replaces the fusion-lasers with heavy rail cannon. The cannons have less range and do less damage than the lasers, and are slower to strike on target, but also have less chance of an ammo-fuel detonation. The rail guns are also more suscepible to directed EM interference(de-guassing of the stator coils is a common problem with the cannon, especially in the intense electromagentic belts of the Rhizant warzone).
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 8 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per 50 rd burst per single cannon firing. 2d6x100 MD for all four cannons firing simultaneously.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 10,000 rds per gun(200 bursts each)


*NASPF-F08D ---A response to the Durokans’ new fighters, the ‘D’-model mounts no less than SIX fusion-lasers, with an increase in ammo tankage. The ‘D’ had a better chance of barrage-blasting any Durok fighter that wandered into its sights, but the newer and more agile Durokan fighters have learned that the up-gunned Noirlanian ship explodes even more violently if taken out with a main body strike.


*NASPF-F09N---’New Type’. Noirlanian airframe refitted with a 3G-style contragravity drive and forceshielding. The NASPF-F09N has seen some action, but has lost ground to the imported PSVS-TAV-SFB-16 Mammatan, ‘H’ model, being sold to the Noirlan Aerospace Protection Force. Still, the -F09N is being seen as a testbed for refits and license-produced technology improvements in the Noirlan military.
Changes/Modifications:
MDC/Armor by Location:
Forcefield 800
Speed:
(Sublight) Mach 10
(Kitsune Values: 30% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) Can make 2-light year jumps (at a speed of 4 light years an hour)

[idahobeef]

Here is my latest ship. Enjoy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145642313@N07/46466150511/in/dateposted-public/

[taalismn]

Here is my latest ship. Enjoy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145642313@N07/46466150511/in/dateposted-public/

Looks like a workaday insystem ex-atmo workhorse(or course, with enough contra-gravity, you can probably get it up and down in a gravity well and atmosphere without any problems, aside from some atmospheric buffeting). Modular payload bays, and pretty much everything else looks snap-on/off/upgrade/replace with the assistance of a regular shipyard.

[taalismn]

Forraker Aerospace FA-LCV018 ‘’Archeris’-class Fighter Carrier

“Captain Schloss wasn’t afraid to bring his carrier in close to combat, especially in-atmo, to recover his birds. Come right down into the gravity well and the soup to recover fighters that were struggling to get back up out into the Black. Didn’t believe in leaving men behind. Schloss was a fool, a damned lucky fool, but a fool nevertheless, risking his command like that. Yeah, the Archerises were able to handle better in-atmo than a lot of other ships, but they weren’t fighters or shuttles, and they make great big targets wallowing in atmo-muck. Doing manuevers meant for smaller ships just ain’t good for big transports. Schloss got the love of his pilots, but he took several years off the operational lifespan of his ship’s frame with his antics, and I hear that as soon as they were able, the Alliance command transferred him to flying a desk.”

The legacy company Forraker Aerospace is not well known as a warcraft producer, but during the disruptions of the ‘Automaton War’ and attendant troubles, Forraker, like many other spacecraft manufacturers that escaped the disruption of the core worlds of the Human Alliance, was forced by necessity into the production of war material. A pressing need for fighter carriers led to Forraker engineers revamping a freighter design then on the drawing boards into a warship, and rushing the vessel into production and service.
From a distance, the Archeris resembles a massive four-engined atmospheric bomber than anything else, with a wide thick wing broken by four large nacelles, centered around a broad round saucer-’pagoda’ of the type favored by Forraker. In reality, the four ‘engines’ are hangar pods, open at both ends, allowing for ‘thru-thru’ operations of the ship’s complement of aerospace fighters and shuttlecraft. The main engines were directly behind the main pagoda-hull, which contained the living quarters, support equipment, and main sensor arrays. The forward hull could also separate from the rest of the ship to serve as a giant lifeboat in an emergency.
The Archeris carried modest weaponry appropriate to a carrier, said armament consisting mainly of point defense systems, but also including several heavy laser cannons positioned on the ends of the wings for maximum arc of fire, and a heavy long range missile launcher in the main hull.
Along with hundreds of other converted mercantile designs, Archerises served well, if not with any particular distinction, during the Troubled Times, often as escorts for supply convoys and civilian refugee fleets, though they did see some front line service, especially during the big offensives to reclaim Goldilox and Terra Prime. They began to be withdrawn from front line combat duty as more purpose-built warships from the recovering shipyards of such soon-to-be-giants as General Galaxy and Galactic Armory began to slide out of the construction ways. After the Troubled Times, most Archerises ended up being converted into freighters, the wing nacelles fulfilling their original design purpose as cargo bays. A few continued on in service as fighter carriers with system defense forces or mercenary groups, or as orbital shuttle tenders and garage-ships. Today only a handful of original-configuration Archerises still operate, mainly in rim world or backwater systems.
As the receiver of Forraker Aerospace’s title and intellectual properties, WZTechyards has the license and plans for the Archeris, but currently has evinced no plans to put the design back into production.

Type: FA-LCV018 Archeris
Class: Light Aerospace Carrier
Crew: 158 plus 50 aerospace crew
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 17,000
Escape Hull 9,000
Sensor Arrays(2) 1,000 each
Secondary Sensor Arrays(4) 500 each
Main Engine Bloc 9,000
Hangar Nacelles(4) 4,000 each
Heavy Laser Turrets(4) 300 each
Heavy Missile Launcher(1) 400
Point Defense Turrets(8 ) 100 each
Variable Forcefields 1,000 each side (6,000 total)
Height: 240 ft
Width: 790 ft
Length: 480 ft
Weight: 180,000 tons
Cargo: 3,800 tons(mainly munitions and spare parts for the fighters)
Powerplant: Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 40 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 7
(Kitsune Values: 50% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.7% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 3 light years per hour
Market Cost: 800 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*Long Rage Sensors----The Archeris’s many wing and antennae surfaces act as excellent broad-band sensor collection arrays, and range of passive sensors is generally considered to be 30% better than regular starship sensor systems(of the time).
Weapons Systems:
1) Medium Laser Turrets(4)----The main defense against other warships, if confrontation was unavoidable, is this quartet of medium laser cannons.
Range: 5 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d8x100 MD per single blast
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Heavy Long Range Missile Launcher(1)----Anti-ship LRM launcher, though Archerises, faced with a heavier opponent bearing down on them, would ‘spam’ missile barrages at the oncoming enemy, and use the distraction of the missiles to maneuver out of the way or make an escape run.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(Long Range)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-12
Payload: 120 missiles; additional missiles may be carried and loaded from cargo, but will take at least 15 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles),

3) Point Defense Laser Turrets(8 )
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Auxiliary Craft:
*24 fighters(typically early model Scorpions)

Variants:
*FA-C018---Post-War transport conversion that replaced the fighter bays with cargo space instead. Each cell can hold 1,000 tons of cargo.

*FA-MC018----Late War conversion, fitting the fighter bays as large missile launcher cells instead. FA-MC018s were used to attack surface targets and, even though early attacks were identified by the ground defense networks and the vulnerable missile carriers singled out for destruction, the carriers’ atmospheric handling capabilities proved their worth in ‘cloud-skimmer’ precision attacks.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(Long Range)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-18
Payload: 120 missiles per launcher, 480 total

*FA-CELINT018---At least one Archeris was refit during the War as an electronic intelligence spy ship, two of the fighter bays refitted with EW gear, to take advantage of the observed better accuity of the ships’ passive sensors. The remaining two bays were refitted to service stealth shuttles and spy-buoy launchers. These vessels prowled the edges of Network territory, listening to communications traffic and fleet signals. Post-War, it is unknown what happened to any surviving FA-CELINT018 conversions.

*WZT-LCV018----Though WZTechyards has evinced no plans for an upgraded Archeris, they did pass around a design team challenge to do a study on how best to upgrade it. The results of the design study were duly filed against WZT changing its mind and ordering the Archeris back into production. Likely features of an upgraded design would include new engines for a speed of Mach 9 in local space, FTL of at least 5 ly/hr, updated point defense, and upgraded hangar facilities.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries/WZTechyards ‘Shepherd’-class Light Cruiser
(aka ‘Sechschlepper’, ‘Nurse-cruiser’)

“With a full load of transports linked to its side, a Shep looks more like a momma thornback suckling a litter of quiplings. Still kicks like a hammerlegger, though.”
---Leddek Handsen, Free Spacer

“Trade is the lifeline and lifeblood of the Alliance. We all need it to grow stronger together. It unifies us and it nourishes us. We absolutely MUST protect our trade network and the vessels that sail on it.”
--Thaddius Gringe, Secretary of Commerce, United Systems Alliance

“The new ship should have advanced sensors to detect threats to its flock early, the speed to dart to where it is needed to defend them, and the firepower to drive off opponents. It should also have the ability to extract distressed convoy members quickly and efficiently, so as not to endanger the rest of its charges by absence while engaged in rescue operations. ”
--Vice Admiral Darian Koloff, Greater New England Space Force(Three Galaxies), on the requirements for the new (Requirement 3471-r) escort cruiser.

“The heart of the Shepherd is its twin Eon 8000 HyperSlingers. Those engines have to work hard and reliably, and WZT’s subcontractors in Deudex Drive Systems worked miracles in modifying their hypertug hauler engines to military specs. From coursing to carrying heavy loads within minutes, those engines have proven themselves so reliable maintenance on them’s a breeze.”
--Tibbec Chom, DockMaster, Kambro Station, Eshile System, United Systems Alliance

“You’re not going to be able to take out a raiding Servitude-class cruiser , but if you move fast, you might be able to save some folks from being killed by one. You can give a good thrashing to a Bindas and still be able to walk away, as long as you veer away the moment they try bringing their tail-end cannon into play, Same thing with Smashers; they got the heavy firepower over you, but not the staying power, If you bloody a raider enough, they’ll tend to run and find easier pickings rather than stick around and see if you got reinforcements coming in.”
--Viben Nor, Commodore(ret.), CTRLNavy, Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League

“Every one of these ships that Merchant Defense Force Command gets, frees up another ship for Frontier Defense Force and Ex-Eff-Arr. Better yet, some of the Sheps are paid for by subscription by the Alliance member worlds who are shipping stuff cross-space. Helps build trust and camaraderie amongst the star nations that way, when everybody’s putting what they can towards the mutual well-being.”
--Jennifer Samuels, Commodore, Greater New England Space Force(Three Galaxies)

The Shepherd class cruisers were developed to serve the needs of the nascent United Systems Alliance and its merchant marine. The USA could not rely on all its members to provide space assets to the mutual defense of the Alliance, as many of the worlds were impoverished, damaged, or not yet advanced technologically enough to finance and maintain expensive stellar warships. Indeed, many were dependent on the trade that the Alliance offered just to survive and make their way to some greater degree of prosperity and security. The USA relied heavily on the output of patron industries Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries and WZTechyards to produce the necessary military craft. Both concerns put out a variety of light- to mid-class warships that were good for escort duties, but given the importance of secure trade to the USA, it was felt that something else was needed that was specifically tailored to the role of mercantile protection.
The Shepherd has a number of features that make it uniquely suited to convoy protection duty. While the Weibb Hayes-class merchant cruiser was a heavy freighter with the firepower of a warship, the Shepherd would be a warship with the ability to act as a heavy transport; and rescue tug. The Shepherd has extra-large engines for high speed, and it has the ability to dock a half-dozen vessels to it and carry them through FTL. Normally, these docking slots are used to carry parasite craft such as heavy patrol craft, gunships, or light freighters/transport barges, but they can accommodate vessels up to Merchant-size. A Shepherd can thus quickly respond to a convoy attack, swoop in, gather up damaged vessels unable to resume FTL transit on their own, and carry them away from pursuers in its own FTL field.
Armament on a Shepherd is abundant, if not individually very powerful, consisting of a mix of lasers and projectile cannon, with a backup armament of long range missiles and a large point defense array. To keep the ship affordable and easier to maintain amongst the less technologically-advanced worlds of the Alliance, PS/ASI/WZTY deliberately chose less powerful/advanced systems for some of the Shepherd’s armaments. The ship retains a ‘growth’ potential, however, with provision made for future upgrades as funds and technology become available.
Physical armor is about average(on the light side) for a cruiser-class vessel, but slightly better than the old Stonewall-class cruisers that many pirate groups still use.
Since their introduction, most Shepherd-class cruisers operate under the command of the Merchant Defense Force, though several have also been sold to USA member nations for their own homeguard fleets. Several Shepherds see double duty as training vessels, acquainting their crews from less advanced worlds with starship operations and technology. Many sport a distinct orange color scheme as vessels of the MDF , similar to that of the System Guards(solar equivalent of Coast Guard units).
Early on, the concept of the Shepherd-class was nearly thrown into doubt when the USASS Sassi responded to an apparent pirate ambush. After driving off the pirates, but detecting heavier reinforcements inbound, the Sassi docked the two damaged merchantmen it found at the scene, preparatory to carrying them to the safety of a USA system. Instead, the crew of the Sassi found out that the two damaged freighters WERE the ambush, as hidden teams of boarders attempted to swarm aboard the cruiser and seize it. Fortunately, the Sassi’s stelmarines were able to repel the pirates and violently detach the freighters far enough for the cruiser’s guns to open up on them at pointblank range. Though heavily damaged in the fray, the USA warship managed to make its own escape and carry word of the tactic, as well as the identity of the pirate organization, back to base. The incident caused a subsequent review of security procedures with regards to distress call response, but the Shepherd program was not canceled.
While Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries and WZTechyards are still the primary producers of the Shepherd, several of the more advanced members of the United Systems Alliance have acquired licenses to produce their own, initially heavily subsidized by PS/ASI/WZT. The Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League also has a license to produce the escort cruisers.

Type: PS/ASI/WZT-C75 Shepherd
Class: Light Cruiser
Crew: 240+120 marines
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 36,000
Bridge 1,000
Main Engines(2) 3,800 each
Hangar Bays(2) 900 each
Medium Laser Cannons(10) 300 each
Heavy Gauss Cannon(16; 8x2) 500 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(4) 500 each
Light Particle Beam Cannon(4) 400 each
Point Defense Turrets(18) 100 each
Variable Shields( 5,000 each side, 30,000 total)

Height: 380 ft
Width: 390 ft
Length: 1,200 ft
Weight: 780,000 tons
Cargo: 150,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 50 year energy life.
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9. W/ a full complement of attached parasite craft, this drops to Mach 7.
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5.5 light years per hour. W/ a full complement of attached parasite craft, this drops to 3 light years per hour.
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 5 billion credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:

*Long Range Sensors----Shepherds carry large multimedia sensor arrays copied from the CCW Lasser-class, the argument being that if the ships can see trouble coming, the better prepared to receive it they will be. The sensors can pick up on vessels moving at FTL up to 25 light years away, and vessels moving through normal space up to 0.9 light years away.

*Docking Collars(6)----Six external docking collars with extending tubeways for servicing additional starships docked to the Shepherd. These are operationally used to carry patrolcraft, boarding barges, or small transports, but can carry a full-sized and fully-loaded Merchant-class cargo vessel(all 15,000 tons) in an emergency situation.

*Tractor Beams(6)--------Effectively each rated for 1,500 tons dead weight, but can be used for imparting small changes in momentum/direction to ships/structures several times that mass.
Range: 10 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)(Kitsune Values: 10,000 miles in space).


Weapons Systems:
1) Medium Laser Cannons(10) ----The Shepherd mounts ten medium laser cannons. These weapons are of a proven design already used on other PS/ASI warships. Firing in concert, they can do respectable damage to even heavy warships, and their relatively fast rate of fire allows them to engage fast targets.
Range: 10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 20 miles in atmosphere, 20,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x100 MD per single blast
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Heavy Gauss Cannon(16; 8x2)----These are dual-cannon mounts firing variable warhead shells based on Paladin Steel’s earlier kinetic kill cannon ammunition. The decision was made to use rail cannon over more sophisticated g-cannons to allow for maintenance using a lower tech-base, as might be found with many of the outlier worlds of the United Systems Alliance.
Range: 40 miles in atmosphere, 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere, 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Exploding/Fragmenting Fletchette): 5d6x10 MD to anything caught in a 500 ft wide cone/’cloud’----Targets are -2 to dodge the ’shotgun spread’
(Penetrator): 2d6x100 MD per cannon, 4d6x100 MD for a dual burst
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: 100 rds per cannon, reloading from the cargo hold takes 1d6 minutes( 500 tons ammunition storage, 1 ton of cargo per 12 rounds)

Bloc Upgrade: A proposed Upgrade would modify half the Shepherd’s Gauss Cannon to triple-barrel mounts capable of inflicting 6d6x100 MD on a synchronized mount-burst.

3) Long Range Missile Launchers(4)----These launchers are slightly less expensive and easier to supply than 3G Cruise Missiles, while still opening up the range between the warship and its targets. The launchers can also be used to launch decoy and recon probe payloads.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 80 per launcher; additional missiles may be carried as cargo, and reloaded from storage.

Bloc Upgrade: These launchers can be upgraded to cruise missile launchers.

4) Light Particle Beam Cannon(4)---These backup weapons are a concession to one of WZTechyards’ subcontractors, Megnatomics, who is seeking to introduce their longer ranged particle projection cannons to the market. Though slightly more expensive and larger than the general market PBCs, the weapons are still 75% parts-compatible, and their longer range makes them a good fit for the Shepherd.
Range: 9 miles in atmosphere, 18 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 9 miles in atmosphere, 9,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, or auto-fire; 6 attacks per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

5) Point Defense Turrets(18)----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

Auxiliary Craft:
6 Heavy Shuttles
12 Aerospace Fighters

Options:
*Hardpoint Armament Pods(1-6)---If not carrying ships docked to its cradle-collars, the Shepherd can carry the same weaponized cargo pods as used by PS/ASI’s MCLG-07C Merchant Cruiser version of the Brunel Heavy Freighter; this option is typically only used by training flights or system-defense craft.
a) Habitat Module---Can accommodate up to 200 people. Independent life support(good for up to eight months). If so desired, at extra expense, the Habitat Module can be built with its own independent propulsion system(maximum speed of Mach 3), and can make planetary reentry on its own.

b) Hangar Pod---Holds enough space for 2 medium shuttles or 4 fighters

c) Point Defense Module---Holds an array of PDS systems, missile launchers, and a separate powerplant to power them all.
*Rail Guns(4)
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: 6 attacks per melee
Payload: 12,000 rds per gun(200 bursts each) with 5 reload drums per gun(drum changes out in 5 minutes). Additional drums are available in cargo, and can be loaded in 15 minutes(an ammunition drum weighs 1 ton).
Advanced Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike
*Laser Cannon(4x2)
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per single blast, 4d6x10 MD per double blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, or 7 per melee on automated mode.
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Advanced Targeting Bonus: +4 to strike
*Mini-Missile Launchers(2)
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-20
Payload: 400 missiles per launcher, 800 total, plus 400 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 96 MMs)
(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

d)Medium Range Missile Launchers(2)
Range: Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-30
Payload: 240 missiles each launcher, plus 500 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 24 MRMs)

e) Long Range Missile Launchers(2)
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 1-25
Payload: 600 LRMs per pod, plus 500 tons of reloads, available to the launcher magazines within 15 minutes (1 ton of cargo capacity holding 12 LRMs)

f) Medium Lasers(4)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 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

g) Heavy Lasers(2)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 15 miles in atmosphere, 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 80 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1000 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

h) Medium Particle Beam Cannons(4)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
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

i) Heavy Particle Beam Cannons(2)----Pod mounts turreted cannon, as well as its own fire control and dedicated powerplant.
Range: 15 miles in atmosphere, 60 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 60 miles in atmosphere, 60,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x1,000 MD per single blast, 2d6x1,000 MD per double-barreled blast.
Rate of Fire: Once every melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

j) Heavy Rail Guns(1x3)
Range: 40 miles in atmosphere, 80 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere, 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Exploding/Fragmenting Fletchette): 5d6x10 MD to anything caught in a 500 ft wide cone/’cloud’----Targets are -2 to dodge the ’shotgun spread’
(Penetrator): 2d6x100 MD
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: 100 rds per cannon, reloading from the cargo hold takes 1d6 minutes( 500 tons ammunition storage, 1 ton of cargo per 12 rounds)

k) Eight-Inch Six-Barrel Rail Gun Gatling(1)----This massive weapon was first fitted as the main armament of the Sangu-class destroyers, and earned a reputation as a ‘Kitty Spanker’ for its ability to shatter Arkhon vessels. A turreted pod mounting one of these guns and a generous supply of ammunition is available to be fitted on the Brunels.
Range: 20 miles in atmosphere, 40 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 20 miles in atmosphere, 20,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Armor-Piercing Long Rod Penetrator)---- 5d6x10 MD to 40 ft radius per single shot
(High Explosive)---4d6x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
(Plasma)-----2d4x 50+30 MD to 80 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Six shots per melee
Payload: Has 1,200 rds ready to fire

[taalismn]

Kasori P.113 Light Space Transport
(aka ‘Korsi’)

“A lot of operators don’t bother with the ‘interstellar’ aspect of this design. Whenever one of the Republik buffer states that built these things under license split away, the licensees would often hold fire sales to clear the lots. People would pick these ships up cheap, fly them to their planets, strip out the FTL and sell that on the open market to help defray the cost, and use the ships as local space vessels that rarely see trips of more than circum-lunar. Might seem a waste of a perfectly good starship, but Korsis are built deep-space tough, so there aren’t many complaints.”
---- Monors Weekins, shipbroker, Central Alliance

“Landing the Korsi out in the boondocks is a dream, because the ship sits easily in just about any hydrosphere, but some worlds don’t like it if they know you’re flying a P113 in over their waters. They regard it as harder to contain and decontaminate your hull if you make a water landing as opposed to a hard-pad. Seems some amphib-lander crews have been less than considerate in dumping their garbage or their coolant into local waters, and there’s been some incidents, so it’s best to respect local air-space control and go along with what they tell you.”
-Kap’tan Gelosh Nibbits, GRMMSSS Spoonful of Goodness, Golgan Republik Merchant Marine

The Kasori P.113 is a light-mass space transport produced in Golgan space. Originally developed by Kasori Osostella Dynamics, the design has since been licensed to other manufacturers throughout Golgan Republik space .
The Kasori resembles an old-fashioned in-atmo flying boat, with a fared boat-like hull slung under overhead wing-like pylons, with rotating engine nacelles at the ends. A loading ramp is mounted in the nose, concealed under a thick reentry shield, and two smaller cargo bay doors are located along the sides. The hull is rugged in construction to handle repeated water landings. Besides the hull armor, the P.113 carries only a light monoplanar forcefield mainly for atmospheric streamlining protection. The situation of the engines does lead to some mixed performance reviews; many pilots find it an easy flier in low atmospheric and hovering flight, but a lumbering sled in climbing out of an atmosphere and accelerating up to maximum speed.
The main selling trait of the Kasori P.113 is its amphibious capabilities; the ship can land on, and take off from, water, and can even rather serviceably act as a waterborne ship. This endears it both to the amphibian Golgans who designed it, and to frontier captains, who can land the vessel on planets with suitable bodies of water, but no spaceports. The Kasori retains a dry surface landing capability as well, though some crews claim that the landing jacks aren’t as rugged as the rest of the ship(repeated studies and modifications have never proven this, though). The Kasori also enjoys an easy to use pilot interface and onboard control system that makes the vessel reportedly a ‘joy to pilot’, especially in atmosphere.
The P.113 is typically operated as a ‘bush flier’, flying transport flights on underdeveloped planets, between colonial settlements or remote resort communities. It is at best a short range FTL vessel, as it is too small, and lacking in capacity, to economically operate over large interstellar distances. The Kasori P.113, if it has to travel long distances, typically hitches a ride as heavy cargo on larger FTL transports.
Despite its shortcomings, the ship is fairly common in Golgan space, and has seen a surge in use in the newly opened territories in the Thundercloud Galaxy where its low maintenance, water landing capability, and ease of piloting make in popular with colonial homesteaders and supply runners. Though not an ideal combat transport because of its ponderous handling characteristics in acceleration and only light armament, the Golgan Argosy has been known to use the Kasori P.113 as a supply shuttle and occasionally battle taxi because of its amphibious capabilities. A number of former Golgan -satrapy polities also use the P.113, including several varieties produced by licensees.

Type: GLF(Kas)P.113
Class: Light Interstellar Transport
Crew: 18, but can operate with a skeleton crew of 6. Has provision for up to 400 passengers in addition to 880 tons of cargo
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 2,600
Bridge 600
Wings(2) 800 each
Engine Nacelles(2) 1,000 each
Forcefield 500
Height: 45 ft
Width: 85 ft w/150 ft wingspan
Length: 289 ft
Weight: 3,400 tons
Cargo: 880 tons(or up to 200 vehicles as a vehicle shuttle)
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 18 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 4
(Kitsune Values: 20% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.4% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 3 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible, but the P.113 CAN float on water and motor about at 45 MPH, or skim like a hydrofoil at 250 MPH.
Market Cost: 74 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*Amphibious---The P.113 very serviceably floats and can handle fairly rough water surface conditions.

*Depth Finder---Short range sonar system for charting water depth and channels. 10 mile effective range.

*Easy Flier----Despite its awkward appearance, the P.113 has an advanced piloting system and simple control configuration that makes it easy to fly and handle in atmosphere; pilots get a bonus of +3 % to piloting the ship when inatmo.

Weapons Systems:
None standard, but the P.113 comes with provision for up to four turrets/hardpoints capable of mounting starship weapons up to Light class.

Auxiliary Craft:
5 lifepods(10 person capacity)(transport configuration)

Variants:
Kasori Osostella Dynamics licensed the P.113 design to a number of other shipyards over the century since its introduction, and while those shipyards have kept the Kasori name, the design has been tweaked in small ways to reflect local technologies and available materials/manufacturing methods. Under the Republik’s bureaucracy, however, these changes have deviated the design little from its basic specs.
The most common official variants include bulk water carriers for shuttling liquid cargo from surface to space, fueling lighters, ‘daytripper’ excursion carrier with capacity for up to 650 passengers, and a four-engined heavy carrier with 30% more cargo capacity, but loses the handling bonus and accelerates/decelerates at a crawling 0.1% of light speed per melee.
Several former client-states of the Republik also manufacture the P.113, regional shipyards there having acquired licenses before their respective nations split apart. While most of these shipyards have ceased manufacturing the P.113, to concentrate on local designs or out of respect/fear of Kasori Osostella Dynamics taking them to court, a few manufacturers continue to defiantly produce the ship. Some of these shipyards have experimented with the design, producing variants that deviate from the basic P.113 specs, either downgrading or upgrading performance and hull configuration.

[taalismn]

(Reposted from the Paladin Steel thread, because you're more likely to encounter these things in the Three Galaxies)

PS/ASI-MInstel -SC11 Carpathia-class Medium Interstellar Freighter
(aka ‘Carp’)

“There’s better armed, better armored, and faster, but few more reliable than the Carp.”

“Nominally I’m still captaining a warship, which takes the edge off being in charge of an interstellar delivery van.”

The ‘Carpathia’-class MInstel freighter is often mistaken for a cargo conversion of the PS/ASI-SCG-17 LaFayette Light Cruiser, or, at the least, a re-tasked understudy design for that vessel. In fact, the Carpathia can be considered a sidereal extension of the Brandestoc , Javelin, and Assegai design lineage. The Carpathia uses the same forward hull ‘pod’ as the Bradestock, and spare engine modules from the Javelin series, mated to a lower hull reminiscent of the LaFayette’s modular ventral structure. Extended lateral cargo blisters mate the front and rear hulls together.
Because of their use of military-grade components, Carpathias are fast, durable, and well-armed. Thus, they are often used as military transports and high security cargo carriers. The United Systems Alliance uses a substantial number of Carpathias as mid-range government transports, convoy escorts, and training vessels. Sales outside the Alliance have been less enthusiastic, given the Carpathia’s fairly small payload versus its cost(the Catpathia is more expensive than the average Merchantman cruiser), but PS/ASI is hoping that as word of the ‘Carp’s” speed, durability, and reliability spread, the ship will appeal to more operators, especially those shipping smaller, but more important, cargoes.

Type: PS/ASI-MInstel -SC11 Carpathia
Class: Medium Interstellar Freighter
Crew: 21
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 4,000
Bridge: 2,000
Hangar Bay 900
Drive Section 1,200
Auxiliary Engines(2) 900 each.
Point Defense Turrets(6) 100 each
Forcefield 4,000
Height: 65 ft
Width: 90 ft
Length: 550 ft
Weight: 5,900 tons
Cargo: 3,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 50% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5.3 light years per hour
Market Cost: 230 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
Weapons Systems:
1) Point Defense Turrets(6)-------- Standard energy-based PDS.
a) Laser PDS
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

b)Dual Laser/Mini-Missile Launchers---Alternate fitting available, taking the place of the lasers. These are standard CCW-pattern dual laser/mini-missile launchers that have been installed for close-in defense. The lasers are less powerful and shorter ranged, but the mini-missiles have volley capability against fighters and missiles. Any or all of the PDS turrets can be replaced with these turrets in place of the standard lasers.
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: (Lasers) 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

Auxiliary Craft: 2 light shuttles
Options:
*Additional Point Defense Turrets(1-6)---Up to an additional six PDS turrets can be added.

*Weapons Turrets---An additional two turrets mounting two Light weapons or one Medium Weapon can be added.

*Upgraded Shields---Adds Variable Forcefields with 800 MDC per side(4,800 total)
*Shield Refresh Rate is 10% per melee


Variants:
*PS/ASI-MInstel -SGC11---Interstellar rescue cutter with advanced sensors and a medical bay/quarantine facility in place of cargo bays. Carries a light tractor beam(900 ton capacity) for grappling with other vessels. Typically carries a 25 man rescue team and has capacity for 60 ICU patients.

*PS/ASI-MInstel -SC11C---Heavy Courier variant. Reduce cargo capacity by HALF, but increase local space speed to Mach 11(and 55% of light speed), and FTL speed to 6 light years per hour. Distinguished by having two extra engine nacelles(950 MDC each) flanking the engines.

*PS/ASI-MInstel -SC11AVQ--- Q-Ship variant. Has more advanced Variable Forcefields with 900 MDC per side(3,600 total) and Shield Refresh Rate is 10% per melee. The lateral cargo bays split open to reveal two Medium Weapons, in addition to the existing provisional two medium weapons(6 total).

*PS/ASI-MInstel -SC11-DSVLS---Amphibious Lander able to land on/in and take off from water.
Speed:
(Underwater) 45 MPH, and can dive to depths of 1.4 miles.
Systems of Note:
*Large Airlock Cargo Bays---The main cargo bays can be safely flooded and pumped dry, allowing for underwater loading/unloading(or disembarkation of amphibious troops/passengers/vehicles).

*Sonar----Range: (Passive) 10 miles, (Active) 50 miles

Weapons Systems:
1) Short Range Torpedo Tubes(4, nose)----These are smaller torpedoes meant for self-defense and dealing with smaller attackers.
Range: 5 miles
Damage: (High Explosive-heavy) 2D4x10 MD to 10 feet blast radius
(Armor Piercing -heavy) 2D6x10 MD to 3 feet blast radius
(Plasma-heavy) 2D6x10 MD to 12 feet blast radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4
Payload: 40
Bonuses: +3 to strike

[taalismn]

PS/ASI-HInstel-SC717 Monmra-class Heavy Interstellar Freighter
(aka “Big Seven’)

“The Monnie’s got so many internal reinforcing braces and compartments that the ship can take a hard beating and hardly lose any atmosphere. It’s also become the bane of pirates, provided they can catch this thing, because they can’t just quickly empty out one hold; they’ve got six main bays plus several score of smaller storage compartments and strongrooms they have to cut their way into individually. And the United Systems Alliance also likes to use these ships as merchant cruisers because they can load the firepower on. Fast for a civie and armed to the teeth, not what your average pirate outfit likes to be facing. ”

“Many of the United Systems Alliance worlds may be dirt poor and struggling, but that hasn’t deterred the pirates, because the rest of the worlds in the Alliance are either working to support their less well-off neighbors, or helping them become attractive investments. That means aid convoys and commercial shipping, resource development shipments of hardware, and, going the other way, raw materials. Real attractive to pirate corporations looking for discount materials and equipment. Especially so since the Alliance is young and has limited military budgets...or so the pirates be thinking. Alliance space looks real nice right about now, because they’re young and weak, or so the Rim believe.
No wonder the Alliance likes merchant cruisers. Some of them can outgun a destroyer, and the Merchant Defense Force has got all sorts of tricks up its sleeve for catching pirates in the act. The Moammies are a case in point; some of the civie-looking haulers cruising around Alliance space are actually full-fledged battle carriers in disguise, and the Alliance spaceguard’s got little mercy for pirates and even less for slavers.
Not for anything would I want to be a pirate believing in the crap about Alliance shipping being easy pickings, I’d rather try to take raw meat from the jaws of a Kreeghor Hound.”

The Monmra-class heavy transport is a multi-role interstellar transport recently introduced to the galactic market. At first glance, the ship resembles to many observers three or four of PS/ASI’s HInstel-SC420 Roamer Long Range Heavy Interstellar Transports stacked together. This is in error, though the ships share a common ancestry in being built from designs started by now-defunct Forraker Aerospace, but never completed before the company was forced into bankruptcy. The company’s files were acquired by WZTechyards that allowed Aegis Stellar Industries to further develop them into modern designs.
The Monmra shares many features with the Roamer, including the distinctive ‘arrowhead fins’, of which the Monmra has six, now used as sensor arrays. Another Forraker touch is the dorsal habitat ‘pagoda’ dome.
Though slightly slower than the Roamer, the Monmra is larger and more robust, with an FTL speed better suited to the long distances between settlements expected in the Thundercloud Galaxy, where the Monmra is seeing its biggest sales.
The Monmra has been considered as the basis of a mid-sized passenger liner, based on its redundancy and reliability, though the same multiple compartmentalizing bulkheads that insure the safety of the crew and passengers, also cut short the long sweeping expanses of lounge and corridor that are the current trend in luxury carriers.

Type: PS/ASI-HInstel-SC717 Monmra
Class: Long Range Heavy Interstellar Transport
Crew: 30+ provision for 1-800 passengers
Main Body 25,000
Bridge 3,000
Observation Deck 2,000
Engine Bloc 8,000
Sensor/Communications Arrays(6) 600 each
Shuttle Deck 500
Forcefield(Default) 18,000
Height: 190 ft
Width: 270 ft
Length: 720 ft
Weight: 250,000 tons
Cargo: 54,000 tons, distributed between six internal bays and three smaller (large) cargo holds. Can carry an additional 18,000 tons if not carrying passengers.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion, w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 30% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Can land on water, but cannot operate underwater
Market Cost: 550 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems, plus:
*Long Range Sensors---In keeping with a frontier-cruiser, the Monmra has better-than-average sensors.

*Type Two Recycling Systems----The Monmra is designed with long range in mind, and so advanced life support recycling is integral to the design. It’s estimated that the Monmra’s onboard recycling systems can sustain the crew for six years of constant use, without resupply.

*Detachable Bridge & Observation Decks---Both the entire forward pagoda-saucer and the amidships observation decks of the Monmra can detach to become large lifeboats. The forward hull has accommodation(under cramped conditions) for up to 50 people, and has separate propulsion capable of pushing the section up to Mach 6. The observation deck saucer has provision for 100 people and a less powerful thruster system that can make Mach 3. Both sections have eight months’ worth of supplies.

*Lifepods--- Monmras come standard with provision for lifepods for 150% of rated crew. Passenger models may increase this with added lifepods in the remodeled cargo bays.

Weapons Systems:
None standard, but comes with provision for up to 30 PDS stations, 18 light weapons stations, and 10 medium weapons stations.

Auxiliary Craft: (Standard Complement)
4 Aerospace Shuttles

Options:
Most buyers will seek to customize the Monmra with different weapons and defense measure configurations, different internal fittings, sensors, more powerful force shielding, and beefed-up propulsion(especially FTL). Few Monmras remain ‘factory standard’ for very long.

Variants:
*HInstel-SC717AVQ---Q-ship variant of the Monmra, extensively modified for anti-pirate work. Maximum armaments on all known weapons mounts, two of the cargo bays have been converted into missile launchers(medium range, 400 MRMs each), two are hangar bays for fighters(6 fighters each, for a total of 12), and the remaining two are used to deploy decoys and countermeasure pods(including fake lifepods and inflatable shuttlecraft). Variable forcefields replace the commercial shields and the command bridge has been relocated to a heavily armored and EM-baffled citadel deep inside the main hull.
The HInstel-SC717AVQ apes the PS/ASI-FA/MC-317 Bering Medium Interstellar Transport Q-ship variant in having detachable hull components that double as combat craft. The bridge has been as noted above, relocated to an interior position, and both the detachable lifeboat bridge and Observation Deck sections are in reality fully maneuverable gunboat sections(or the rear observation deck dome can be replaced with a modified PS/ASI-LAT025 ‘Cosgrove’ Light Aerospace Transport). These heavily-armed Q-ships act as either escorts for convoys, or cruise around alone to bait pirates into attacking a target of opportunity.
Changes/Modifications:
Crew: 35, plus 50 marines
MDC/Armor by Location:
Internal Armored Bridge Citadel 4,000
Variable Forcefield(Main Hull) 1,000 per side, 6,000 total
(Lifeboat/Bridge)
Concealed Short Range Weapons Turrets(3) 150 each
Point Defense Turrets(4) 100 each
Variable Forcefield(Bridge/Observation Decks) 500 per side, 3,000 total

Speed:(Lifeboat/Bridge/Observation Decks) Mach 9
Cargo: Reduce cargo capacity to 600 tons, and this is mainly maintained as a cover for pirate scanners to detect/port spies to see, or is jettisoned in combat as camouflage.

Systems of Note:
*Hull Sensor Scramblers---These do not prevent the ship from being detected, but they do confuse efforts to see INSIDE the hull, and prevent outside sensors from getting an accurate read of the ship’s power profile, internal arrangement, and contents.

*False Damage Simulators----Special generators around the drives can emit energy signatures suggesting various propulsion problems, such a reactor leak/breach, or mistuned contragravity drives. A portion of the cargo bays and payload is turned over to countermeasure launchers, ‘debris’ launchers, and various panels that can be mounted on the hull to simulate space debris impacts.

Weapons Systems:
(Main Hull)
The main hull armaments max out with 30 PDS stations, 18 light weapons stations, 10 medium weapons stations, and two large MRM launcher batteries.

(Forward Detachable Gunboat)
Crew of 6. Can mount 4 point defense weapons and three short range weapons emplacements.

(Dorsal Detachable Gunboat)
Crew of 16, plus up to 20 marines. Can mount 8 point defense weapons and four short range weapons emplacements.


*HInstel-SAGS717----A handful of Monmras have been outfitted as deep space survey and surveillance vessels. These variants have extended forward sensor vanes and a large sensor array in place of the dorsal observation deck. Most of the cargo space is taken up by servicing and storage for probes and folding array surveillance-satellites. Both the GNEASF and the United Systems Alliance operate examples of this subtype.

[taalismn]

‘Free Space’ ‘Amok’-class Destroyer
(aka ‘Junk Raider’, ‘Zerker’, ‘Corroder’)

“Hey, Heroes, I hear you’re looking for a ship! Well, I happen to have a sweet little number I think you may be very interested in! It’s fast, got more guns than those chumped-up freighters you’ve been looking at! Got only a few hundred light years on the drives, the holes in the hull and life support section are sealed airtight, and the laser crystals still got a few shots left in them! I can sell it to you for a nice low down payment of just eighty-eight million gral! Not one bit of advice; don’t ever take it anywhere near Paltu Sector. Trust me on this!”

“The Amok reminds me of an aikay slug-thrower assembled in a backwater desert world weaponsmith’s work tent; it bears a resemblance to one built in a laboratory-clean coreworld fabrication center, but without the quality, shiny fittings, or the frills. It works, but in the crudest possible way. It gets the ugly job done.”

The ‘Amok’-class is a ‘dumbed-down’ version of the TGE Berserker, and is the result of a large-scale scheme by the TransGalactic Empire to destabilize the Consortium of Civilized Worlds and other threat nations by encouraging piracy in their space.
The Amok has a more angular and less streamlined appearance than the Berserker, but is clearly based on it. Because the TGE reserves its Nuss-alloy and psuedo-nuss materials for its Berserkers, the Amok is built with less advanced and more available alloys. Gone too are the signature thin vanes of the Berserker, and the tall dorsal fin is clipped. Armament of more modular, to allow for the use of more locally available and less expensive weapons systems. In place of the outrigger cruise missile launchers, the Amok carries pods for other types of missile systems, though cruise missiles remain the optimal weapon of choice. The horn lasers are missing entirely, replaced with a choice of lesser weapons. The propulsion section often varies from model to model, depending on the shipyard, as the finely tuned Imperial CG drives fitted with to TGE Berserkers are rarely available, and the already motley lines of the Amok are often further distorted by the addition of often mismatched propulsion stages. Despite this patchy quality, Amoks tend to share the characteristics of being light, fast, agile, and generally reliable, in addition to being inexpensive. More importantly, from the TGE’s view, they can be provided cheaply to anti-CCW organizations and individuals and still prove an annoyance to the CCW.
The TGE gleefully provided the plans(and in some cases assembled ships) for the Amok to client states and revolutionary governments along the rim of the CCW, Republik, and UWW. Sold as ‘system defense corvettes’ or ‘patrol defenders’, the Amoks are really meant to provide fuel to galactic fires of turmoil and lawlessness. Though clearly bearing the hallmarks of TGE design, the TGE has denied pushing the Amok, instead publicly proclaiming that it is a knockoff created by the rampant and unchecked capitalism of antagonists such as the CCW and Naruni Enterprises. Thus the Amok is often credited to anonymous ‘Free Space’ sources, though many Amoks are built, with the full knowledge of the TGE, in Imperial space.
The Amok has thus shown up in the hands of many Fringe space worlds , paramilitaries, pirates and terrorist groups. The main shortcoming of the Amok is its lack of versatility; like the Berserker it is based on, the Amok lacks the ability to carry troops, fighters, or cargo. This limits it to the attack role. In pirate groups, that means the pirates must have accompanying transports to board prize ships crippled by the Amoks.
Although inevitably, some Amoks have ended up in the hands of those perfectly willing to attack the TGE’s own shipping(the Free Worlds Council in particular has quite a few) as well as freelance adventurers, raising howls that the plan was ill-conceived, the TGE continues to quietly promote the Amok, seeing many more fires using them breaking out on the far side of the TGE’s borders and causing trouble for the Empire’s enemies.

Type: FS/TGE-Amok
Class: Corvette
Crew: 95
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 2,000
Bridge 1,000
Missile Launchers(2) 700 each
Weapons Mounts(1-2) 400 each
Point Defense Turrets(8 ) 50 each
Height: 90 ft
Width: 65 ft
Length: 300 ft
Weight: 7,800 tons
Cargo: 300 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion. A few of the more advanced models have matter-antimatter power systems.
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Not possible
(Sublight) Mach 8(Mach 9 for matter-antimatter-powered models)
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4-5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: 190 million credits. Not considered a black market knockoff as such because the TGE designed it to APPEAR to be a knockoff.
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems
Generally about 75% of Amoks encountered have had military-grade sensors and communications, but the remaining 25% have been fitted with civilian-grade commercial systems.
Weapons Systems:
1) Missile Launchers(2)---Amoks make do with a variety of available missile systems
a) Medium Range Missiles---120 MRMs per launcher (volleys of 1-24)
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)

b) Long Range Missiles-----60 LRMs per launcher(volleys of 1-12)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)

c) Cruise Missiles----The occasional lucky Amok operator may have access to these high-end weapons and their launchers, duplicating the Berserker’s original main armament. 50 CMs per launcher(volleys of 1-10)
(Kitsune Values: 8,000 miles in atmosphere, 4,000,000 miles in space.)

d) Ion Torpedoes----Occasionally, reavers (or black marketeers)along the Golgan borders are able to acquire stocks of these munitions, and the TGE supplies them to both anti-Republik and anti-separatist forces to stir up trouble. 40 torpedoes per launcher(volleys of 1-10)
(Kitsune Values: 8,000 miles in atmosphere, 4,000,000 miles in space.)

e)Freefall Bombs---Roughly equivalent in numbers and damage to missiles, but DOUBLE the blast radius. These weapons are rather hard to use, but are typically launched from orbit at surface targets.

f)Mine Deployer---Can deploy up to 60 mines(equiv. warhead yield to a Long Range Missile, but blast area x4). Stealthed mines are typically 80% to escape detection.

2) Ventral Weapons(1-2)---These take the place of the horn lasers of the Berserker, As with the missile launchers, Amoks are fitted with whatever weapons are available.
a) Laser Cannon---The preferred weapon, owing to its similar performance to the original TGE laser horns, but even here quality and performance can vary, depending on the supplier.
Range: 6-8 miles in atmosphere, 12-16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 12-16 miles in atmosphere, 12,000- 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 or 1d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

b) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

c) G-Cannon---Some operators forgo heavy energy weapons and install heavy rail- or g-cannon instead.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 250 bursts per gun

d) Disruptor Cannon(2)----As with the Ion Torpedoes, supplies of these weapons are acquired from Golgan space(and appear to be older models taken from scrapped or mothballed ships). They are very useful for false flag operations.
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 13 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 13 miles in atmosphere, 13,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast, 25% damage in a 20 ft radius of point of impact
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

e) Neutron Cannon(2-4)---A few Amoks have appeared with neutron cannons apparently salvaged from Kittani ‘Raider’ Combat Shuttles.
Range: 1.2 miles in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x10 MD per blast, double damage to organic targets.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Point Defense Turrets(8 ) ----These are virtually the only weapons unchanged from the original, but even here, not all operators have or want the Berserker’s GR-Gun/missile launcher turrets.
a) GR Gun/Mini-Missile Launcher Turret
Range:(GR Gun) 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage:(GR Gun) 3d6x10 MD per 40 rd burst
(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(GR Gun) EGCHH
(Mini-Missiles) Volleys of 1-4
Payload:(GR Gun) 8,000 rounds
(Mini-Missiles) 32 missiles per turret. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 15 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 96 missiles)

b) Rail Gun
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst. Can only fire bursts.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 300 bursts per gun

c) Laser Cannon
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

d) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

e) Disruptor Cannon
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast, 25% damage to a 6 ft radius of point of impact
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited


Auxiliary Craft: None; however, many operators will modify a lifepod slip and lifepod into a small shuttle, or else add provision to carry a shuttlecraft externally harddocked to the ship’s hull.

Variants:
*’Atmomok’---Atmospheric-capable Amok; transatmospheric-capable, but costs 280 million credits