Initially the Scimitar class patrol ship was discarded by New Coventry for a ship for their forces due to the ships weapon systems but it has recently been reconsidered for service with New Coventry. This process was begun soon after the Long Bow class of modified Scimitars began entering service with the Consortium Armed Forces. It was realized that this design could be used as escorts for battle groups and convoys. This would, along with the using Nelson class cruisers as well for convoys, would allow the releasing of many of New Coventry's cruisers for independent duties. Like the Consortium Navy itself, there is a serious concern that the cruisers are not being used up to their full capacity due to their need to be used for escort duties. In many ways, these ships almost become light cruisers. The only serious considerations against this design has been that the design requires a much larger crew than a Hunter class frigate and they cost more to operate. The present plan is to purchase a reasonable number of the ships over the next few years. New Coventry has worked out a very advantageous deal to purchase the Scimitar class. In return for New Coventry being one of the shipyards that refit Scimitar class ships to Long Bow class patrol ships, they will be sold Scimitar class patrol ships as if they are stripped of all weapon systems, armor, and military class sensors but in reality will only be stripped of heavy gravity rail guns and mini-missile launchers. The ship that is to become the HMS Morningstar is due to arrive at New Coventry within two to three months for New Coventry's shipyards to begin upgrading the ship. It is likely that New Coventry will be willing to sell this design to outside interests once their forces are up to desired levels.

Like the Longbow, the ships hull, shields, and propulsion are unmodified from a standard Scimitar but due to weapon changes, the computers and sensors have been modified. In reality, they have been upgraded due to there being more weapon systems tied to the fire control systems. Like the Long bow, the heavy laser cannons have been retained and the Heavy Gravity Rail guns have been replaced by long range missile launchers. After this, the design has been greatly modified. Virtually all of the ships cargo space has been removed and in place of that is cruise missile launcher like that carried on a Hunter class frigate. The number of warheads is limited to only about 30 warheads with 10 normally being probe, decoy, or jamming warheads but it still gives the ship far more long range offensive firepower. The ship is larger than the hunter and the fire control could be upgraded more. As a result, the ship will be able to carry eight pepperbox cruise missile launchers externally. The ships defensive weaponry have been upgrade on a New Coventry model as well. In place of the eight mini-missile launchers, the Morningstar will carry four medium range missile launchers. In emergency, these weapon systems can be used for close defense for the rest of the ships it is protecting although the launchers have far fewer missiles available to them. The point defense particle beams were retained but two point defense rail guns and two tachyon scatter guns were added to increase the ships inner point defense.

However; All of these upgrades are not without a price. The Scimitar is a very spacious starship internally, the Morningstar is a very cramped ship for the crew and has no real storage space. The automation of the ship is much greater than that of a Scimitar to allow for a smaller crew. The number of marines on the ship have been gutted from 100 to 50. This is not quite as bad due to the fact that the troops are all in light power armors but still is much smaller in number. As well, all passenger staterooms have been eliminated and passengers can only be carried by displacing marines. The fighters hanger bays are reduced to four but instead carry medium starfighter. This is so that fighters with FTL engines can be carried to be used for scouting missions. While the plan is to outfit the ships with Lightning class starfighters, Black Eagle and Katana starfighters might be substituted initially for New Coventry's new fighter.

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

This ship design uses modified starship speeds and weapon ranges.

Model Type: SFFG-20B
Vehicle Type: Frigate Combat Ship (Destroyer)
Crew: 98 (14 Officers and 84 Enlisted)
Troops: 50 (8 fighter pilots & crew, 10 silverhawk pilots, 32 marines)

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:

	32	Combat Environment Power Armors
	10	Silver Hawk Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

4

CSF-6X Lightning Medium Starfighter

M.D.C. By Location:

	12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (2):	800 each
	GR-1000 Gravity Rail Gun Turrets (2):	200 each
	Point Defense Particle Beam Cannons (4):	150 each
	Tachyon Scatterguns (2):	200 each
	Cruise Missile Launcher (1, underside):	1,000
	Long Range Missile Batteries (2):	600 each
	Medium Range Missile Launchers (4):	500 each
	Fighter Hanger Bay Door	500
	[1] Main Engines (2)	1,200 each
	[2] Bridge:	2,000
	[3] Main Body:	5,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	1,000 a side (6,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] Destroying the main engines means that ship FTL propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[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. Even if the bridges is destroyed, 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.
[3] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the destroyer 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% (300 MDC) per melee

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 0.8 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 2, 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 5 lightyears per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system. Carries about one year worth of supplies on board and has a small hydroponic section.

Statistical Data:
Length: 500 feet (152 meters).
Height: 80 feet (24.4 meters).
Width: 140 feet (42.6 meters).
Weight: 13,500 tons (12,250 metric tons)
Power System: Anti-Matter with a 50 year life span. The ship normally only goes 10 years between refueling and refitting.
Cargo: Tiny cargo hold that can carry up to 30 tons worth of materials not including standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ships officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: 580 million for a Morningstar with new weapon systems. The Black Market or the Kreegor would offer several times it's value for an undamaged completely working ship.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Two (2) 12 cm Heavy Laser cannons: The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities. Weapon has standard minuses to hit fighters and small targets. The barrels can be can be rotated 180 degrees in all directions. Up to two may be fired as one volley.
   Range: 16 miles (25.8 km) through atmosphere and 16,000 miles (25,800 km) in space.
   Mega Damage: 2D6x100 MDC each. Both laser cannons can be combined for 4D6x100 Mega Damage.
   Rate of fire: Maximum of Two (2) times per melee each.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Two (2) GR-1000 Large Gravity Rail Gun Turrets: 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: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: 10,000 Rounds (500 Bursts) each cannon.
3. Four (4) Point Defense Particle Beams: These weapons are used for anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter defense. 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: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
4. Two (2) Tachyon Scatter Guns: Replaces two of the rail gun turrets. The other two are replaced by more powerful rail guns. The main purpose of this system is as an anti-missile point defense. They do this by firing a wide blast that effects 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.
5. One (1) Cruise Missile Launchers: 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, 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 pepper box launchers.
   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: One per melee attack (special software allows 4 to 8 missile to be launched as one volley depending on gunners hand to hand attacks).
   Payload: 30 cruise missiles total (usually 10 are a combination of decoy, probe, and jamming warheads). The ship will also normally carry 8 Pepperbox launchers outside of the hull
6. Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missile has 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 are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
   Range: 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 (Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, or 32 per launcher, per melee attack.
   Payload: 512 total, 256 long range missiles per battery.
7. Four (4) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Weapon system is used for hitting enemy robots, fighters, and against incoming cruise missiles. Like other Phase world systems, weapon system range and speed has been greatly increased compared to Rifts Earth systems. Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
   Mega-Damage: varies with medium range missile type (See Phase World Missiles).
   Range: 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space
   Rate of fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, 8, or 16 missiles per launcher.
   Payload: 320 per launcher for a total of 1280 medium range missiles.

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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).

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