Conflict War Vessels and Miscellaneous space technology
The world of SLA Industries is a wild and war torn place a place where life is cheap and death cheaper. The cold voids of space are no exception to this institutionalised brutality. Across thousands of worlds SLA attempts to hold onto the reigns of control through "law and order". But often the sheer weight of mankind's bestial savagery erupts into rebellion.
A prime example of this savagery is the profession of piracy. Pirates prey upon all those they come across, all they respect is power. In space only the strong survive. Pirates have learned of the established trade routes and system entry points used by foldships. The Pirates await their victims like a spider awaiting a fly. These unsuspecting victims of the Pirates fiendish greed enter the systems a few short hours journey from their destination planet in order to prepare for orbit. When a ship with booty the pirates want comes into position the pirates strike.
Boarding these ships is relatively little trouble for seasoned pirates. The pirate's first goal is to disable the ship and prevent it from escaping. This objective is usually achieved by taking out the engines or in the case of foldships the control turret. It is these first few minutes that the Pirate Captain will give his ultimatum. This is usually along the lines of, "Surrender now or die". When the ship has either had its engines disabled or has surrendered the pirate ship is manoeuvred alongside the vessel and the boarding begins. The favoured boarding method is to connect a boarding tube and send down the veteran pirates to quell any resistance. There are other richer or more adventurous pirates who utilise boarding torpedoes and other extravagant means, but these are rare.
Pirates are savages who follow no laws or moral codes and this is never more amply demonstrated then when they board their victim's ships. Usually it is combat hardened Pirate veterans who board first as an advance force. These Pirates quell any sign of resistance in the most brutal manner and blow out doors and other barriers, which would impede the onrushing pirate hordes. If resisted the Pirates fight like crazed maniacs, a lot of the veterans are already completely mad from the near constant flow of UV through their systems. More often then not the ship crew are easily beaten by these berserk maniacs.
When the ship is secured the time comes to pick up the booty and get out. This plunder ranges from slaves to SLA weapon shipments and everything in between. Often the pirates will fight each over the right to keep an especially good piece of booty and sometimes the Captain himself will have to step in if this brawl goes beyond a bit of entertainment for the lads.
When the pirates have finished they leave the ship floating crippled and empty. The pirate vessels then return to their secret bases and will soon be untraceable. There are literally hundreds of pirate ships scattered across the galaxy hiding out in their hidden bases. The area of space near White Earth has quite a high pirate population, as they know Foldships find it hard to navigate in this part of space. Asteroid belts and nebulae are also favoured hiding places for Pirates. The more successful or powerful Pirates control portions of the outlying independent worlds. In such secret bases they are hidden from the seeking eyes of SLA Industries and launch daring raids seemingly disappearing into nowhere afterwards. There is no definite knowledge of how many Pirate gangs there are but estimates put it as high as fifteen thousand gangs. These range from single ships all the way up to Thresher battle fleets.
Due to Pirate raids most ships that dare the intergalactic void are armed to defend themselves. These weapons are often not enough to stop the Pirates. But they often give the ship enough time to summon more powerful aid such as a Necanthrope Battle Cruiser.
All Pirates (with a few exceptions) are limited to Ion Drive vessels. These vessels while slower than foldships have a slight edge when it comes to manoeuvrability and armament. A number of these ships are remnants of the Conflict war races and contain advanced weapon systems, but over the years these systems have atrophied and are unable to be repaired. At present there are few ships left which have functional conflict war weaponry, but those that have are fearsome engines of destruction indeed. Ion Drive vessels are armed primarily with projectile weapons, commonly this consists of a limited amount of missiles and two to four large gun batteries. These gun batteries are operated by a gun crew of 3 - 5 pirates skilled in the use of heavy weapons. Each ships guns are connected to a weapons platforms and each gun has backward facing ports cut into it to stabilise the gun when it's fired. These ports are necessary to counteract the forward's momentum of the weapons projectile. These guns are commonly used to cripple engines or occasionally to destroy those who dare stand up to the pirates.
Pirate ships fall into roughly five classes which are as follows; Scout , Piranha (Light) , Barracuda (Medium) , Shark (Heavy) , Dreadnought (Battle). As Pirates are drawn from disparate cultures these classifications have no individual names as do SLA ships. All pirate ships have automatic protection systems which close bulkhead doors and seal of those areas that get holed during combat.
These Pirates are among the most feared in the galaxy. Their crews are all highly skilled warriors and their ships are among the most advanced Ion Drive vessels available. The Shaktar pirates are still loyal to the Shaktar code of honour or at least to most of it's tennents. they merely refuse to accept SLA as their superior. This makes them outcast from the rest as Shaktar society as they have gone against the word of the High Lord Shahanti. Their position as social pariahs gnaws at their souls and they gradually slip back to a more savage form of existence. The no longer show mercy for those who are weaker than them , only the strong survive. The Captain of s Shaktar vessel is the most able warrior on board and must prove his superiority in duels and other challenges. The Shaktarian captain may be challenged at any time during peace , but during combat his word is law and any who disobey are summarily executed. Shaktar crews have a strict hirearchy of command and everyone knows their place at a given time. The Shaktar pirates are the only people who still possess ships with operating solar sails. These ships harness the universal Solar Winds as a power source and were once the pinnacle of Conflict War space technology. There are only a handful of these ships left in existence.
Thresher uses their remaining foldships for space travel. These vessels are similar to SLA foldships. But SLA Industries has advanced since those days and Thresher are limited to only three classes of foldship. These classes are as follows , Missionary (Light) , Crusader (Medium) , Inquisitor (Heavy). Another major difference is the fact that Thresher has retrofitted their Foldships. Using a mixture of machinery and science friction they have armed their ships with lost conflict war technology. These weapons usually consist of two forward gun batteries. Thresher foldships are also unique in the fact that they are crewed by a mixture of Ebons and humans. But the Humans sole job is to operate the ships retro-fitted gun systems.
Dark Night rarely engage in piracy and commonly use their vessel merely for the moving of operatives and supplies. Dark Night is limited to scout and Piranha class ships with a few Barracuda's. These ships are all old Conflict war craft and few of them have working weapon systems and very few indeed are capable of combat. But unknown to all Dark Night have recently found a cache of Conflict War technology which while mostly inoperable did contain three fully working Phantom class cruisers. These cruisers were designed for guerrilla combat and quick strikes against enemy strongholds. To facilitate this the ship's were fitted with a complex cloaking system which hid it from their enemy's sensors.
There are very few independent worlds that have developed the technology for space travel and those that have are commonly too engaged in their own intercine quarrels to turn to piracy. But there are a few planets, which have their fair share of Pirate hideouts. These planets commonly become thriving centres of black market operations where anything may be bought or sold. They also serve as a place where all factions can come to trade without fear of SLA Industries. The location of these planets is a closely guarded secret and one, which SLA would dearly like to know. The most famous Pirate world is the world of Avalon. Avalon is a planet of the outermost rim of SLA's influence in an area of space close to White Earth. It is a small planet and is mostly covered by seas. There is one large landmass surrounded by thousand of tiny islands. This planet is a haven for all the undesirables in the known universe. It is presided over by a council of powerful Pirate captains. It is a wild and lawless place, a cesspool of evil and corruption.
The crews of a foldship are all specially trained and each of them has a set task, which they must perform. The nominal captain of the foldship is the navigator. It is they who actually meld with the ship and allow it to fold. The Navigator is contained in a specially designed cocoon within the ships control turret. This cocoon enhances the Ebon's reality folding abilities and also allows them to integrate their consciousness with that of the ship. A Foldship is "alive" in the same way as a Deathsuit is alive and over time foldships form a bond with their navigators.
The second part of the crew usually consists of those Ebon's who have an aptitude for the destructive ebb disciplines. These Ebon's are the ones who man the ships flux-cannons which are the ship's main weapons. The flux-cannons are similar to a flintlock in that they enhance the users Force Ebb Kinetics ability. But the flux-cannons are many times more powerful than a flintlock and are also much more demanding to use. The flux-cannons are commonly attached to the top, bottom and sides of the foldships to enable them to cover all approaches. The flux-cannon is roughly 9 foot long and is shaped much like a torpedo with an elongated point. The flux-cannons are attached to the ship by means of a strangely organic science-friction ball and socket arrangement. This allows the flux-cannon to rotate freely and give it maximum available visibility. The flux-cannons are in fact hollow and have enough space to fit a person inside. The Ebon operators of the cannon climb inside where they connect themselves to the cannon by means of an attachment, which joins with the abdomen of their Deathsuit. This connection allows the Ebon to control the movements of the flux-cannon with his mind and also to patch into the ships sensor system. This makes flux-cannons uncannily accurate, as the gunner is aware of targets before they enter his range. The link also allows the user to channel his Force Ebb Kinetics through the flux-transformers of the cannon. This allows the Ebon to increase the destructive force of their abilities many times over their effects as the glyphs encoded into the flux-cannon enhances the Ebons natural abilities to many times the norm. All Flux Cannons contain an eternal gem, which contains 120 FLUX. The flux-cannon operators must have reached at least Rank 10 in the Blast Ebb discipline.
The remaining members of the crew fill a number of minor rolls. Those Ebon's with high ranks in Detect are typically given control of Communications. The rest of the Ebon crew are typically there to operate the more prosaic onboard machinery and to provide soldiers should close range combat ensue.
At present there exist four classes of SLA vessels. They are as follows : Angel (Light) , Virtue (Medium) , Domination (Heavy), Leviathan (Battle). Leviathan class ships are piloted and crewed exclusively by Necanthropes. They are fearsome vessels of destruction and the Necanthropes who crew it are commonly part of a union. This makes them fearsome opponents indeed as the entire ship fights as one. If a foldship gets holed during combat the ship automatically seals of this area , much like a body clots around a wound.
The basic mechanic for space combat is:
Gunnery Skill + Ship's Attack Factor against Difficulty 11 + Defending Ships Manoeuvrability + Distance,etc.
If the gunnery roll is successful then the enemy ship is hit. If a ship's engines take damage equal to three-quarters the engine's total ID then the ships is crippled. This means that the ship cannot move and it's manoeuvrability drops to 0. This damage is not possible to fix in under an hour and so the ship is effectively motionless for the remainder of combat. Foldship's may still fold no matter what state their engines are in.
Actions Available During A Round
Action Duration Change Range 1 Phase e.g. to move from short to medium it takes one phase, it takes all Ion Drive ships apart from scouts 2 Phases to change range. Initiate Ion Drive 2 Phases Fold Ship 1 Phase Raise Cloak 1 Phase (Phantom class only)
Ship Attack Factor and Manoeuvrability
Ship Class Affiliation Propulsion System Attack Factor Manoeuvrability Angel SLA Foldship 1 5 Virtue SLA Foldship 2 4 Domination SLA Foldship 3 3 Leviathan SLA Foldship 4 3 Scout Pirate Ion Drive 1 6 Piranha Pirate Ion Drive 2 4 Barracuda Pirate Ion Drive 3 2 Shark Pirate Ion Drive 4 1 Dreadnought Pirate Ion Drive 5 1 Solaris Shaktar Solar Winds 4 4 Phantom Dark Night Ion Drive 3 4 Missionary Thresher Foldship 2 4 Crusader Thresher Foldship 3 4 Inquisitor Thresher Foldship 4 3
Modifiers for distance and aiming are as follows:
Point Blank (Within .25 of a mile) = +2 Short Range (Within .5 of a mile ) = +1 Medium Range (Within 1 mile) = -2 Long Range (Within 1.5 miles) = -4 Extreme Long Range (Outside 1.5 miles) = -8 Engines = -2 Bridge = -4
Angel PV : 100 ID Main Hull : 1110 ID Engines : 670 ID Bridge : 450 Virtue PV : 150 ID Main Hull : 1670 ID Engines : 1000 ID Bridge : 666 Domination PV : 200 ID Main Hull : 2100 ID Engines : 1300 ID Bridge : 870 Leviathan PV : 275 ID Main Hull : 3060 ID Engines : 1850 ID Bridge : 1220 Scout PV : 60 ID Main Hull : 670 ID Engines : 400 ID Bridge : 270 Piranha PV : 115 ID Main Hull : 1280 ID Engines : 770 ID Bridge : 510 Cruiser PV : 175 ID Main Hull : 1950 ID Engines : 1180 ID Bridge : 780 Heavy PV : 215 ID Main Hull : 2390 ID Engines : 1440 ID Bridge : 950 Dreadnought PV : 300 ID Main Hull : 3300 ID Engines : 2000 ID Bridge : 1300 Solaris PV : 200 ID Main Hull : 2222 ID Engines : 1340 ID Bridge : 890 Phantom PV : 125 ID Main Hull : 1390 ID Engines : 840 ID Bridge : 550 Missionary PV : 110 ID Main Hull : 1220 ID Engines : 740 ID Bridge : 490 Crusader PV : 160 ID Main Hull : 1780 ID Engines : 1070 ID Bridge : 710 Inquisitor PV : 210 ID Main Hull : 2340 ID Engines : 1400 ID Bridge : 930
Multiplies the Effects of Blast by a factor of 8. Due to the link between the Ebon and the ship's sensor array modern SLA flux-cannons gain a bonus to-hit. Thresher are using older flux-cannon design and thus do not receive this bonus.
Angel : 3 Flux Cannons Bonus added to "to-hit" roll : +1 Virtue : 4 Flux Cannons Bonus added to "to-hit" roll : +1 Domination : 5 Flux Cannons Bonus added to "to-hit" roll : +1 Leviathan : 7 Flux Cannons Bonus added to "to-hit" roll : +2 (due to Necanthrope union) Missionary : 2 Flux Cannons Crusader : 2 Flux Cannons Inquisitor : 3 Flux Cannons
Each weapon must be affixed to a "hard point" on the ship. Each ship has only a limited number of hard points and so the selection of appropriate weapons is extremely important to a Pirate vessels continued survival. Each of these hard points contain only one weapon unless otherwise stated. Thresher foldships have their flux-cannons built into the ship and thus the flux-cannon doesn't require a hardpoint. The number of hard points per ship are as follows:
Class # of Hard Points Affiliation Scout 1 Pirate Piranha 4 Pirate Barracuda 5 Pirate Shark 6 Pirate Dreadnought 8 Pirate Solaris 5 Shaktar Missionary 1 Thresher Crusader 2 Thresher Inquisitor 3 Thresher Phantom 4 Dark Night
The Pulsar cannon seems to have been the standard weapon fitted to most Ion Drive ships. The Pulsar cannon is actually a highly advanced form of particle accelerator. The cannon itself consists of a number of pipes called drift tubes that are separated by accelerating gaps. Rapidly alternating electric fields accelerate the ion particles as they pass through the gaps. The drift tubes enable the particles to coast from one gap to the without losing power. As the particle passes through the accelerating gaps it gains speed and builds up energy. The drift tubes insure that the target will strike it's target with maximum force. The cannon takes 1 phase to power up and one phase to fire. The length of the cannon determines the ultimate force of the particles emitted. This means that only the largest ships can mount the awesome Devastator Cannon.
Light Pulsar Damage : 100 AD : 25 Pen : 90 Range : 210m Charge Time : 1 phase Hardpoints : 1 Medium Pulsar Damage: 150 AD : 50 Pen : 135 Range : 280m Charge Time : 1 Phase Hardpoints : 2 Devastator Damage : 250 AD : 90 Pen : 180 Range : 350m Charge Time : 3 phases Hardpoints : 4
The rail gun is a weapon that uses electrical current to propel a projectile. There are no moving parts, except the projectile, of course. This makes it excellent for space combat.
The weapon itself consists of two parallel gold rails and a electrical current source; in this case, the source is the Ion Drive that charges up a bank of capacitors. The projectile is placed between the two rails, and actually completes the circuit. This means the projectile must be able to conduct electricity. The pirates use a strip of graphite as the conductor on a tungsten-molybdenum alloy slug. When the gun is fired, energy from the capacitor bank is discharged, and the current will flow from one rail, through the projectile, to the other. This generates a directional magnetic field, called "Lorentz Force," that propels the projectile. The gun takes approximately .3 of a second to charge the capacitors. The pirates guns are approximately a meter long rail gun that fires a projectile at a barrel velocity of six kilometres per second. The Rail Gun occupies 1 hardpoint.
Tungsten-Molybdenum alloy Slug Damage : 70 Pen : 45 AD : 26 Range : 500m Charge Time : 2 phases Depleted Uranium Slug Damage : 75 Pen : 40 AD : 28 Range : 470m Charge Time : 2 phases (Thresher Only)
Mass drivers use electromagnets to grab onto the metal in most space debris and accelerate it, much like a giant round of buckshot. Those ships which have mass drivers mounted have a scoop on the ship to collect meteroids and other space debris. These scoops contain a Well, the bore would be about as big as you wanted it - there would be a selector system in the collection hopper that would prevent chunks that are too big from getting to the firing mechanism and jamming the weapon. The supply for a mass driver is virtually infinite though the storage space for the debris does require a relatively large section of the ship. The Mass Driver requires 1 hardpoint as does the scoop/containment area. For each day the ship is in space the scoop will gather enough debris for 4 shots. The debris container can store enough for 12 shots. Extra containers may be added , each extra container requires one hardpoint. Each burst of fire lasts for 2 phases.
Mass Driver Burst Phase 1 : Damage : 60 Pen : 36 AD : 36 Range : 200m Phase 2 : Damage : 50 Pen : 28 AD : 36 Range : 200m
The Plasma cannon is a remnant of the old Conflict War technologies. The plasma cannon fires a superheated ball of quasi neutral gases of charged and neutral particles which exhibit collective behaviour. This superheated ball tears through hulls bringing burning liquid death in it's wake. The Plasma cannon is a truly fearsome weapon which can cripple most ships with a single shot. Luckily the technology for these devices is long lost and few indeed remain. Those Pirates who possess these weapons are fearsome foes indeed.
Plasma Cannon Dmg : 300 Pen : 200 AD : 120 Range : 150m Charge Time : 2 rounds
The Ion Cannon bleeds Ion's from the ships Ion Drive and then accelerates them to a phenomenal degree. As the ion's are accelerated they gain mass and energy. This ionic flow is then concentrated and accelerated further. This intense beam of ionic energy is then focused upon the enemy vessel. This beam of highly focused electromagnetic radiation disrupts the electronics and drive systems of the enemy vessel rendering it open to attack. The effectiveness of an Ion Cannon is greatly reduced if the target ship has any kind of electromagnetic shielding. Ion Cannons don't actually do the ship physical damage but they do reduce it's manoeuvrability and disable it's communications. If an Ion Cannon successfully hit's an enemy vessel then that's vessel manoeuvrability is decreased by 1 level. It takes 5 minutes to get a ships navigation controls back on line.
The Ion Cannon takes 1 round (5 phases) to charge up though if the captain want's he can charge the cannon for a longer period of time. Each additional round of charging decreases the target ships manoeuvrability by 1 if it strikes.
Ion Cannon ROF : 1 Range : 300m Charge Time : Variable , minimum 1 phase.
All ships (including foldships) can be fitted with EM shielding as follows , each level of EM shielding lowers the ships manoeuvrability by .5 e.g. 2 levels of EM shielding would decrease a ships manoeuvrability by 1. Each level of EM shielding protects from 1 "charge" of an Ion Cannon or other electromagnetic radiation device e.g. if a ship with 1 level of EM shielding was attacked by a vessel which had charged it's Ion Cannon for 2 rounds , the EM shielding would absorb one of these charges.
The Phantom class was the premiere spy and infiltration vessel used by Conflict War societies. Due to it's uniquely constructed and coloured hull combined with highly complex signal jammers this vessel was virtually undetectable to ship's sensors ( To detect the Phantom one needs at least 1 extra bank of sensors and must make a detect roll of 20 or more at a -10 penalty). This made the Phantom the best ship available for infiltration and guerrilla war tactics. The Phantom ships would travel in "packs" of 3-6. They would infiltrate enemy space and sit up a base in a handy asteroid or other out of the way location. They would then strike at the enemy from this secured location, using their advanced cloaking techniques to disappear when their mission objective was achieved. Recently a Dark Night vessel came across 3 of these ships in an abandoned conflict war base. The ships are still in working order and though Dark Night cannot replicate the technology used in their construction they intend to make the best use of this find that they can. The Phantom must drop it's camouflage in order to fire it's weapon systems.
The Solaris was when it was created and still is the only ship ever to take advantage of the Solar Winds which permeate the cosmos. The Solaris is propelled and powered by the use of these Solar Winds. Solar Winds consist of photons which are thrown out by stars , as these photons accelerate away from the sun they gain mass. It is this atomic mass which forms the solar "wind" currents. The Solaris attracts these photons to the front of the vessel using a strong electromagnetic field. These protons are then forced through a linear accelerator which stretches the length of the ship. These photons are then used to create a fusion reaction in the ships engine core which powers the vessel. The Solaris is one the fastest and most manoeuvrable spacecraft in existence. This manoeuvrability allows it to change range in only one phase much like a foldship.
The Enviro-suit is one of the few available technologies which will allow the user to survive in the vacuum of space. The Enviro-suit consists of a highly compact moulded plates , these plates are layered over a flexible polymer. This outer layer is then connected with another layer of temperature resistant polymer cloth. The space between these two layers form a vacuum which protects the user from the ravages of space. The suit also consists of a helmet with an In-built light , communications array and 3 hour air supply. This helmet connects with the suit to form a hermetically sealed whole. The user navigates through space by use of a backpack which uses gas expulsion to propel and steer the user. The backpack contains enough gas for 2 hours continuous operation. The Enviro-Suit also has electromagnetic clamps on the hands and feet to allow it to connect to a ships outer hull.
Enviro-Suit PV : 6 ID Head : 8 ID Torso : 16 ID Arms : 12 ID Legs : 14 Cost : 600c
Each weapon aboard a ship has a certain firing arc depending on it's position. Weapons may only fire at those targets within their firing arc. When using firing arcs it must be stated which ships weapons are covering which firing arc. Unless otherwise stated a weapon may only cover one firing arc. Flux-cannons due to their unique construction and placement are able to cover two firing arcs. Firing arcs are as follows :
0 Degrees | | | 270 Degrees =======0======= 90 Degrees | | | | 180 Degrees Front Arc : 300 - 60 Degrees Rear Arc : 135 - 225 Degrees Left Side : 225 - 300 Degrees Right Side : 60 - 135 Degrees
Scanners are used to help detect the approach of enemy vessels and other large objects. All ships are fitted with basic scanner systems. These systems are used to detect basic data about the ships surroundings ,the number and type of celestial bodies occupying a system , space debris etc. . This scanner will detect that there is a ship approaching but that is all that it will do. To determine more details about the ship a detect roll is required at -5. A success will give a rough estimate of the ship such as Heavy or light etc. If the success is over 20 then a more precise Identification is made , e.g. Thresher Inquisitor class.
Extra banks of scanners may be added , each additional scanner bank adds +2 to the detect roll. Each extra bank of scanners also deducts .25 from the ships attack factor. This is to reflect the fact that the scanners take up space which is usually used for weapon systems. So an Angel class ship with two additional scanner banks would make a detect roll with a penalty of -1 , and would have an Attack Factor of .5 .
