This starship design is a product of the Free Worlds Council and there are few ships similar to it. The Free Worlds Council started mainly by using converted cargo ships as carriers but while converted cargo ships are cheap, it was decided to try for a very small full carrier design. The plan was for the ships to be constructed in sections and unlike most designs actually assembled on planets. This is very important because of the very limited shipbuilding capacity of the Free Worlds Council and allowed the ships to be assembled in non traditional methods. As a benefit, a relatively large number of these ships have been able to be produced. A few mercenary fighter squadrons have expressed a strong interest in purchasing this ship and one is currently working for the Free Worlds Council in return for getting one of these vessels. There has been some discussion of selling the plans to an outside interest for a large sum of money although it is simply a matter of time until another group begins manufacturing a similar design.
The concept of this ship is to carry and be able to maintain as many fighters as possible in as small a design as possible. The ability to maintain fighters is important to the design and otherwise the design for the Centurion class starfighter transport might have worked just as well. The Eagles Nest can carry and maintain up to six medium fighters. Medium fighters include the Black Eagle, Katana, and Flying Fang fighters. Smaller fighter can be carried as well but fighter numbers are still limited to six fighters. Larger fighters such as the Proctor cannot be carried by the ship. Each fighter is in its own separate bay with three bays on each side of the ship. The ships ability to reload fighters is limited, assume the carrier can fully rearm each fighter four times but will then be out of missiles. The ship maintains no power armors or marines.
The ships are only lightly armed with only a few weapon mounts. The ship has two turrets with one in the top middle rear of the ship and the other in the bottom middle rear of the ship. The turret has three anti-ship laser cannon. While the cannons have a high rate of fire, these mounts are too large to be used against fighters and are too small to dissuade destroyers when the ship is operating alone. Two or more pocket carriers are capable of driving off destroyers when they are operating together. The turrets each also carry a medium range missile launcher. While the launcher appears to only have one tube, the missile launcher actually has eight tubes and can fire up to eight medium range missiles as a volley. This weapon system acts as both the ships main anti-fighter weapon and anti-missile weapon. The remained of the ships weapon systems are purely point defense. The ship has two mini-missile launchers, two point defense rail gun mounts, and two point defense laser mounts. Shield on the ship are lighter than those on most destroyers but are still capable of withstanding moderate damage before being breached.
The ship does have two main advantages over converted cargo ships. The first is that the ship is faster. The ship is designed to outrun most larger ships. Only a few destroyers can come close to matching this ships acceleration and the ship can accelerate as fast as a Kreeghor Flying Fang Fighter. The second advantage is that the ships can also maintain a fast FTL speed and can reach emergencies more rapidly that the fleets other carrier classes.
Tactics for these ships are different than most carriers. These ships are often forced to operate by themselves or in pairs. The ships will drop out of FTL far beyond the normal system boundaries and enter system on standard propulsion. The fighters are launched for a raid. The ship will then shut down it engines and slingshot around the star and pick up the fighters on the other side of the system. If other ships go after the ship, it will FTL out of system and attempt to recover fighters later.
The ship is about the size of a small destroyer or large corvette. The ship is wider than it is tall and in rear of the ship is one large engine. In front of the ship, the ship narrows to a very blunt point. The ship is not especially aerodynamic but is still relatively capable in an atmosphere. These ships are very cramped and have quarters that are almost as restricted as a Proctor class heavy fighter and are more cramped than a Hunter class destroyer.
This starship design uses modified starship speed and ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details
Model Type: DDLV-5
Vehicle Type: Space, Pocket /Escort Carrier (Corvette Size)
Crew: 24 ships crew and 12 for fighter maintenance
Troops: 12 fighter pilots.
Vehicle:
Fighter Compliment:
| 6 | Medium Starfighters (Various) |
M.D.C By Location:
| Main Turrets (2- bottom and top rear of ship): | 1,200 each | |
| Medium Laser cannons (3 each turret) | 500 each | |
| Medium Range Missile Launcher (1 each turret) | 500 each | |
| Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (2): | 200 each | |
| Rail Gun Mounts (2): | 200 each | |
| Mini-Missile Launchers (2): | 150 each | |
| [1] Fighter Bay Doors (6): | 400 each | |
| [2] Main Body: | 2,800 | |
| [3] Bridge: | 800 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field | 800 a side (4,800 Total) |
Notes:
[1] Each Hanger is subdivided from the other hangers so destroying
one hanger door does not put all other hanger areas in vacuum. Loss of
a hanger door does reduce atmospheric speed to 200 mph or less due to huge
amounts of wind drag.
[2] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Carrier out of
commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck.
[3] 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.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (600 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 1.0 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 1 (741.4 mph /
1,193.3 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave and is much better
at atmospheric flight than most ships her size.
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship
to reach a maximum of 5.5 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
The Ship carries about one year worth of supplies on board.
Statistical Data:
Length: 225 feet (68.6 meters)
Height: 65 feet (19.8 meters)
Width: 115 feet (35.1 meter)
Weight / Mass: 5,500 Tons (4,990 metric tons)
Power System: Nuclear with a average life span of 25 years.
Ship normally only operates for 8 years between refueling and refit.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 600 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment
of supplies and ammunition. The ship also has small lockers for the ships
crew and fighter pilots for personal items.
Market Cost: 450 million credits but virtually impossible to
purchase because the Free World Council need all ships constructed.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
Copyright © 1999, Kitsune. All rights reserved.