CAF Archer class Missile Battlecruiser:
The CAF have never been the ones to just rely on proven designs and to take it easy. Instead, especially in the last few years, there has been a flurry of new designs coming out of the shipyards of the CAF. Good examples of this are the Champion class heavy cruiser, and the update of the Protector class battleship into the Paladin class. One thing that was still lacking in the arsenal of the CAF was a Battlecruiser design. Various ideas had already been put forward, but none showed any real promise. The Battlecruiser would have to be able to fight it out with battleships, yet it would not enjoy the armor and shields of one. In addition to that, it would need to have the speed and maneuverability of a cruiser. These are difficult things to put into one package.
Part of the solution came when the New Coventry shipyards began to rebuild old Kurganov missile Cruisers into the new Nelson configuration. A Battlecruiser which used missiles as its primary armament instead of beam weapons would be able to fight even battleships, yet stay out of range of the battleships main batteries using its better maneuverability and speed. Previously the engineers had been looking to much at the new Graser weaponry as the solution to all things, but this was still limited by its range. Even so, the engineers were not very quick to begin designing a new ship, but a new incentive came with the news that the Kreeghor had begun building their new Eradicator class Battlecruisers in large numbers. That ships long range capital missile batteries pose a serious threat to capital ships at incredible ranges, and a missile Battlecruiser would be needed to fight the new Kreeghor ships in a effective way.
As a result, the Archer class was designed and build in what for the slow moving CAF design bureaus and shipyards was record time. So far, she is the only ship of her class, but her performance in fleet trials , and the increased Kreeghor threat, have prompted the CAF to allocate a substantial amount of its budget to the production of these ships.
The Archer class is a bit unusual in its looks, rather sleek for a warship with hardly any major weapons emplacements and a number of large hatches all over the ship, but the appearance of the ship was not anything of a factor in its design, the amount of weaponry that it could carry was. The ship has not been patterned off the Warshield design, as the difference in size and type of armament was too large to just increase the Warshield design. Instead of a blocky Warshield style design the hull looks surprisingly slim for such a large ship. It is not until the large hatches open up and reveal the missile tubes that it really becomes apparent that this is indeed a warship. Much of the ships interior has been given over to cavernous missile bays and magazines, and relatively little room was left for fighters, powered armors and freight. Compared to some recent designs, the room for the crew members was also markedly decreased, with only few of the usual pleasantries. The designers did not see this as a real problem, as the ship will visit ports more often, especially after combat, to replenish its stores. The crew performing the ships trials had rather other ideas about this though, calling the ship "cramped" and saying that it would be "unpleasant to serve on for longer stretches".
The ships engines are copies of the ones fitted into the new Champion class cruiser, as these have been found to perform well, and are very size efficient. The difference is that six of them had to be fitted to give the ship enough power and acceleration. A plus to this is that because so much of the ships weaponry is missile based, relatively more power is available for the engines.
The ship may be large, but as has been remarked, most of that size is to fit the huge load of missiles. the ships main battery consists of four heavy Graser cannons which have great power and range, enabling the ship to fight frigates and corvettes with impunity, as only one or two hits will destroy such small craft. Even cruisers captains will think twice before getting caught by these weapons. However, these are the only heavy beam weaponry that the ship carries. Its secondary weaponry are six heavy mass drivers, enabling the ship to hold its own against targets that are impervious to energy as well.
The real armament are the missile launchers, and here the ship excels: It has eight cruise missile launchers, enabling it to throw twice as much of these heavy weapons than even a Protector class battleship in a single turn! These weapons are for ship to ship combat, and give the Battlecruiser a fearsome long range punch. Backing this up is a series of no less than eight long range missile batteries. The magazines for these weapons are larger than the standard CAF design, allowing the ship to carry one and a half times more LRM`s per magazine than the normal design. In addition to being capable of being used for ship to ship combat, these missiles give the Archer the added ability to provide anti fighter and anti cruise missile fire for entire groups of ships, and this is their secondary purpose. To this end, more than a fifth of all LRM`s carried are fitted as Multi Warhead missiles, allowing the engagement of enormous amounts of fighters and missile volleys. All of these weapons are normally covered by large hatches that swing open to allow them to fire ( The prototype of the class, the Archer itself, is seen in the above picture just prior to firing all of its missile launchers in a fire control and systems test.).
For its own defense the ship carries ten medium range missile launchers (also behind the hatches), and for point defense it carries eighteen GR-1000 railguns, eighteen particle beam cannons, and surprisingly, six tachyon scatter guns. This configuration of its point defense is a test by CAF engineers to see if this array, previously only found on ships build or designed by the New Coventry shipyards, is truly more effective than the usual mix of railguns, particle beams and mini-missile launchers that CAF ships carry. A added bonus is that this array has much longer range than the standard CAF Point Defense array, and this is particularly helpful when faced with large amounts of missiles or fighters. The old adage of "doing it to them before they do it to you" also applies to point defense....
For its size the ship carries surprisingly few fighters, but this should not be much of a hindrance, as it is expected to fight at ranges so high that enemy fighters will take a long time to reach the Battlecruiser. In addition to that, the ships point defense is heavy and long ranged enough to make life very difficult for most fighters. The Archer carries two squadrons of light and two squadrons of medium fighters, these are coupled with four heavy fighters to make up the ships entire fighter compliment.
Its marine and power armor compliment are also rather small, with only 180 marines and 24 Silverhawks, and this too is simply because so much of the ship is magazines and launchers. There simply is not as much interior to defend as one would expect! No Battlerams are carried, as these would be useless at most of the ships combat ranges and missions.
The last, but certainly not the least part of the ships arsenal is the Battlelink Main Control System with which all ships in the class will be equipped. Since the Archers will often work in concert with other large ships, at relatively low ranges, it was decided that the Main Battlelink computers would be a standard addition to the class.
Despite, or maybe because, the Archers large firepower, the ship has found more than its share of critics. Much of the criticisms leveled at it is its lack of diversity: when it runs out of cruise or long range missiles (not unlikely in a large engagement), the ships beam weaponry is at best mediocre for its size. Neither does it carry much of a fighter force, and although this was done on purpose, some are now criticizing the designers for building what is in essence a large missile platform.
Despite this, the CAF high command feels that it has, for the first time, a true Battlecruiser in its inventory.
This starship design uses modified starship speed and ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details
Model Type: SBCM-122
Vehicle Type: Missile Battlecruiser
Crew: 520 (40 Officers, 480 enlisted)
Troops: 180 Marines (Typically 60 stay on board for ship defense),
80 fighter pilots, 24 silverhawk pilots, and can carry up to 700 passengers
in addition.
Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:
| 24 | SH-CCW100 Silverhawk Attack ExoSkeleton |
| 12 | SF-69 CAF Scorpion Star Interceptor | |
| 12 | BIF-67 Katana Starfighters or SF-101 Black Eagle Starfighters | |
| 4 | CAF LRF-25 Proctor Heavy Fighters |
M.D.C By Location:
| 30 cm Main Graser Cannons (4): | 3,000 each | |
| Heavy Mass Drivers (6, 2 forward and 2 on each side): | 1,200 each | |
| GR-1000 Gravity Rail Gun Turrets (18): | 200 each | |
| Point Defense Particle Beam Cannons (18): | 150 each | |
| Tachyon Scatterguns (6): | 200 each | |
| Cruise Missile Batteries (8): | 1,000 each | |
| Long Range Missile Batteries (8): | 600 each | |
| Medium Range Missile Launchers (10): | 500 each | |
| Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area): | 200 | |
| Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area): | 125 | |
| [1] Bridge: | 22,000 | |
| [1] Auxiliary Bridge: | 22,000 | |
| Hanger Bay: | 20,000 | |
| [2] Main Engines (6): | 15,000 each | |
| [3] Main Body: | 140,000 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field: | 10,000 a side (60,000 Total) |
Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon
to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship also has an auxiliary
bridge. Even if both bridges are taken out, the ship can still be piloted
from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be
at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the
ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Destroying one engine means that sublight acceleration drops by
0.15 percent of light, and FTL speed drops by 1 lightyear per hour. When
all engines are destroyed, the ship will be able to accelerate/decelerate
at 0.1 % of light per melee using maneuvering thrusters, and will no longer
be capable of FTL flight.
[3] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the cruiser out of
commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (3,000 MDC) per melee round
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship
to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate
at the rate of 1 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 450 mph (724 kph),
can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric
flight
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship
to reach a maximum of 6.5 light-years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
Carries about one years worth of supplies on board.
Statistical Data:
Length: 2,750 feet (825 meters)
Height: 620 feet (186 meters)
Width: 513 feet (154 meters)
Weight: 6.3 million Tons (5.7 million metric Tons)
Power System: Anti-Matter with a 50 year life span
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 40,000 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment
of supplies and ammunition.
Market Cost: An Archer will cost approximately 25 billion credits
to build. No ships are available on the black market, and the CAF will
not sell them to member states of the C.C.W.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
Other Systems:
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By Mischa (E-Mail Mischa)
Minor revisions by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune
).
Copyright © 1999, Mischa. All rights reserved.