"Foxfire" class Neural Prime (CAF):

Only a tiny handful of these ships exist but after the Trans-Galactic Empire got intelligence on the shakedown of the first ship of the class, many Kreeghor Warlords were still very concerned. The information that they acquired was one of the work up test of the ship. The ship engaged and destroyed in simulated combat two Hunter class Destroyers, two Scimitar class Patrol Ships, and a Warshield class Cruiser during the same engagement. Luckily, the Trans-Galactic Empire does not realize the main weakness of this ship. This is that the ship is incredibly expensive and costs about half as much a Protector class Battleship and as such it is likely that not may Neural Primes will be produced.

The heart of the Starship is the most advanced Artificial Intelligence computer system believed to be operated in the Three Galaxies. It is mostly because of this computer system that the ship is probably the most powerful ship ton for ton. The Neural Prime computer core is actually a combination of both a Neural and a Transferred Intelligence and was through the studies of technology from the race that built the Machine People. The computer is initially programmed as a standard neural intelligence. The final step is that a person is hooked up to the computer via sophisticated and permanent cybernetics and as a result they merge. The computer and the person then form a bond closer than brothers, sisters, or lovers. They are so close that if the person dies, the computer will commit suicide. The person is connected to the computer by a special data link system that has a constant communication signal between the computer and the person. If this signal is broken, both the computer and the person will be in intense pain. As a result, the person will rarely if ever leave the ship. To compensate for this, the quarters are very comfortable and the ship has special recreational facilities. The selection process for the crew member of a Neural Prime is one of the toughest ever developed. The first screening is for the mental qualities need for being able to crew the ships. These people are then requested to volunteer for a program that they are not told what they are volunteering for. These volunteers are then sent through two years of intense training and testing to see if they are able to handle being connected to a neural prime. As well, though-out this time, they are screened multiple times by psychics for both stress levels and loyalty to the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. This loyalty is very important because the Consortium Armed Forces does not want these ships to get into others hands and would go to almost any lengths to get the ship back or at least destroy it. This training and testing takes about four years amdtotal of 96% of the initial training core that volunteer wash out of the training and testing programs. The remaining 4% are told about the program and are asked again if they volunteer for service. Even though only about one in four will volunteer for the actual crewing of one of these ships there is still a huge excess of available crew to ships.

Most of the space saved by the crew only being one person is spent on incredible armor and weaponry. While the ship is a fair amount smaller than a Warshield class cruiser, the ship has two thirds of the armor of a Warshield and far greater firepower than the Warshield. The ship is also faster and more maneuverable than any other ship its size and has been coined by some as an extra large fighter (it rivals many fighters in speed and maneuverability). The ship is even designed to be able to be able to be landed on a planet on four stout landing gear. The shields are also twice as powerful as the shields on the standard C.A.F. Cruiser. The weaponry is far more beam heavy than most ships in service with the Consortium. The main battery consists of ten fusion pulse cannons with two groups of five. These weapons can inflict great damage but use up far more power than the laser weaponry on smaller ships and as a result the ship has a huge anti-matter reactor that is more advanced than anything mounted on other ships in the C.A.F. which makes it one of the most advanced reactors in the Three Galaxies. The Military is working on a version that does require less power and can be mounted on more of their smaller ship classes. The ship also has four Graser cannons as a secondary battery and to deal with additional targets. The remainder of the ships energy weaponry is used for point defense. Having very little room for missiles, the engineers mounted most of the missiles in external racks. The advantage of this is that a greater initial throw weight of missiles is possible than if the missiles were in launchers and different types of missiles can be carried as well. The ship does have two cruise missile launchers but those are mainly used for launcher decoys.

The Ship's countermeasure systems are in many ways just as spectacular as the ships weapon systems. The essence of this system is a powerful ECM system. This system can hide the ship from most other ships in the Three Galaxies and can make the ship look like other ship classes as well . The ship has a holographic system that can disguise the ships visual appearance. It can act as a chameleon system and hide the ships with the background. The Holographic System can also change the appearance of the ship and the ship can appear to be other ship types including other military classes and civilian classes.

This starship design uses modified starship speed and ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model Type: NPCL-155
Vehicle Type: Attack Ship (by size terms is a light cruiser)
Crew: 1 (has passenger space for up to 4 passengers)
Vehicles: 1 Small Transport Shuttle

M.D.C. By Location:
[1] Main Body (Primary Hull):35,000
Gravity Drive Engines (2):10,000 each
[2] Bridge:10,000
Cruise Missile Launchers (2):1,000 each
Pulse Fusion Cannons (10):500 each
Graser Cannons (4):1,000 each
[3] Variable Force Field:10,000 per side (60,000 total)

Notes:
[1] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the ship out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship does not have an auxiliary bridge. If the bridge is destroyed, normally the person linked to the computer will also be killed. This will normally result in the ship committing suicide. Depending on the ships personality (based on the persons personality), the ship may just dive into a star or may attack the enemy until taken out itself.
[3] 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 (Ship can land on planet if necessary).
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 1.2 percent of light per melee round.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 12.5 using contra grav flight systems. Due to starship having gravitic propulsion systems, starship can enter and leave the atmosphere.
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 8 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system. Carries about four years worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 344.5 feet (105 meters)
Height: 91.9 feet (28 meters)
Width: 213.3 feet (65 meters)
Weight: 27,550 tons (25,000 metric tons)
Power System: Anti Matter with 40 year life span. Ship normally only goes 10 years between refueling.
Cargo: Very Small, Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 100 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. The crew quarters on the ship are very comfortable and have ample space.
Market Cost: 30 billion to construct. No ships of this design have ever been put on sale on the market. Either Black Market or the Kreeghor would offer huge sums of money (100 Billion+ Credits) for an undamaged completely working ship.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

  1. Pulse Fusion Cannon Mounts (10): The guns take high mass helium and hydrogen isotopes and compress them until they reach fusion. These particles are then fired in a beam. In many ways, these weapon system are the heart of the starship weaponry. On the front of the starship are ten forward firing fusion cannons that do incredible amounts of damage but are shorter in range than the heavy laser weapons of most Phase World starships. These weapon only have a small arc of fire so that the weapons have easier targeting than if the fusion cannons were fixed weapons. Normally, all ten fusion are fired at the same time and in a heavy bursts. In bursts, this weapon is capable of destroying some smaller ships in one shot and severely damage ships that are larger than it. The weapon system can fire overcharged bursts that inflict greater damage but they put more strain on the system and it must be cooled down after just two minutes of burst firing. While it is cooling down, weapon system cannot be fired. When the weapon is overcharged, the range is also reduced. Weapon system is controlled by the Neural Prime computer and has half the normal negatives to hit small targets such as fighters and missiles. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities.
    Range: Normal: 60 miles (96.6 km) through atmosphere and 60,000 miles (96,600 km) in space. Overcharged: 20 miles (32.2 km) through atmosphere and 20,000 miles (32,200 km) in space.
    Mega Damage: Normal: 2D6x100 per fusion cannon. All ten fusions firing a combined burst does 2D6x1,000 and costs one attack. Overcharged: 3D6x100 per fusion cannon. All ten fusions firing a combined burst at overcharged does 3D6x1,000 and costs one attack.
    Rate of fire: Up to six times per melee (Can fire six single shots or burst)
    Payload: Normal: Effectively Unlimited for normal fire Overcharged: Can fire for two minutes straight before needing to cool down the system. Cooling takes 30 minutes.
  2. Four (4) 15 cm Graser Cannons: Graser cannons use focused gamma radiation and are very powerful. The weapon mounts have about a 25% increase in both range and damage over standard laser cannons of the same size. These cannons are the support battery of the ship and while quite powerful, they do not have the incredible firepower of the main battery. Two cannons are mounted on the top of the ship and Two cannons are mounted on the bottom of the ship. Batteries can be fired up to 180 degrees toward the rear on either side and can fire at a 90 degree angle up or down. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for a large starship weaponry. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities.
    Range: 20,000 miles (32,200 km) in space and 20 miles (32.2 km) in an atmosphere.
    Mega Damage: 3D6x100 MDC each (two can be combined for a total of 6D6x100)
    Rate of fire: Maximum of Two (2) times per melee per cannon.
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
  3. Four (4) GR-1000 Large Gravity Rail Gun Turrets: The designers decided to give the starship more powerful rail guns than the standard rail guns mounted on CAF starships. The GR-1000 Rail gun was selected as the rail gun to be mounted on the starship. They are used as an anti-Starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. Each Rail Gun is in a Turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Projectiles come out of launchers at close to the speed of light. Cannon uses a 30 mm projectile. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities.
    Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 1,600 miles (2,575 km) in space.
    Mega-Damage: 40 round burst does 4d6x10 M.D.
    Rate of Fire: Maximum of six (6) times per melee each.
    Payload: 10,000 Rounds (500 Bursts) each cannon.
  4. Four (4) Point Defense Particle Beams: These weapons are used for anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter defense. Each particle beam mount is in a Turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities.
    Range: 600 miles (960 km) in space and range is 6 miles (9.6 km) in atmosphere.
    Mega Damage: 3D6x10 MDC each.
    Rate of fire: Maximum of six (6) times per melee each.
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
  5. Four (4) Tachyon Scatter Guns: The main purpose of this system is as an anti-missile point defense. They do this by firing a wide blast that affects all targets in a cone 6.2 miles long and 3.1 miles wide in an atmosphere (Quatrupled in space) that can destroy whole volleys of missiles before the strike the ship. This system has an interesting property that the system can actually be used at FTL speeds because Tachyons travel faster than the speed of light.. Each Tachyon Scatter Gun is in a Turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.
    Range: 24.8 miles (40 km) with a width of 12.4 miles (20 km), range and width is one quarter in atmosphere.
    Mega Damage: 2D4x10 MDC each.
    Rate of fire: Maximum of four (4) times per melee each.
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
  6. Two (2) Cruise Missile Launchers: Cruise missile launchers fire forward. Missile has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. While missile are only launched at the rate of one at a time per launcher, the ships computer has special software that allows all the missile to hit a target at the same time for the purpose to make point defense of a target is more easily overwhelmed. This is done by slowing down the acceleration of missile and by setting some for delayed activation and target must be a least 30 seconds away. Missile are then considered to only have an acceleration of 5% of light for the first turn. These launchers can also be combined with external missile racks as well. The ships normally carries decoys for about half of the missiles. When the ship engages in combat, it will normally keep making erratic maneuvers and keep launching decoys to draw the enemies fire.
    Range: Missile range is 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds)
    Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC).
    Rate of fire: Launcher can fire up to eight times per melee and can fire one missile per launcher melee attack (special software allows 16 missile to be launched as one volley using both launchers)
    Payload: 24 cruise missiles each launcher for 48 total (about half of the missiles will be decoys)
  7. External Missile Hard Points (80): The ship carries its main missile compliment externally instead of launching the missiles from internal launchers. This reduces the payload that the ship could carry but increases the number of missiles that can be fired in one shot. Either cruise missiles or long range missiles can be carried in external racks. The ship can also carry a mixture of missile sizes. Cruise Missiles have a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Long Range Missiles have a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Long range missiles do not have minuses to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles and both types of missiles are considered smart missiles. Missiles can be launched on multiple targets each at the same time.
    Range: Cruise Missiles: Missile range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space Long Range Missiles: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,89700 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.
    Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Anti-Matter cruise missiles do 4D6x100 MDC and fusion long range missiles do 2D4x100).
    Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, 20, 40, or 80 per melee attack (Computer can fire up to 4 volleys per melee).
    Payload: 1 Cruise missile or 2 long range missiles per hard point (80 hard points)
  8. Micro-Repair System: The starship has about ten thousand tiny robots to do repairs. These robots can repair both system damage or hull damage. It repairs system damage by repairing and replacing component, wave guides, and wire runs. It repairs hull damage by first stabilizing he damage (repairs about half of damage), then by using on-board storage (carries 500 MDC of materials), and finally by scavenging from objects around it. The ship can only scavenge from objects that it is touching or that it can travel on a surface to the object being a scavenged from. When stabilizing hull or using on board storage, MDC is repaired at the rate of 100 MDC per hour, but when micro-robots are scavenging, repair rate is limited to 25 MDC per hour or less based on the availability of supplies.

Other Systems:


There are very few people who can withstand to be merged with the computer. The person must have a minimum I.Q. of 20 and M.E. of 20. The Intelligence is required to be able to operate the complex neural and cybernetic linkages and the high mental endurance is to be able to withstand the mental strain. The person once linked also cannot get outside of 3 miles (5 km) without suffering intense pain.

[ Phase World TM, TGE TM, Kreegor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

Vehicle concept is inspired by the Alpha Synth from the book "Path of the Fury" by David Weber

Image created and copyrighted by Kevin S. Wiliams (kevin@omcp.com) .
More Kevin S. Wiliams artwork at His Starship Gallery

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).

Copyright © 1998 & 1999, Kitsune. All rights reserved.

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