The Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers, named after the first Queen of all the Ralsiians who also became an Empress of the Ralsiian Star Empire after The War of the Quadruple Entente, are intended as the ultimate in heavy scouting vessels for the battle-line, with a co-purpose of being used as a fast, long-range commerce raider and cruiser killer.
But in a world where all potential enemies use far larger numbers of cruisers in their fleets than the Ralsiians, the Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers is now primarily a cruiser killer; Using high acceleration and long range guns, a lone Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruiser can maneuver and "sweep up" an entire squadron of cruisers such as the Warshield class with the possibility of never even receiving damage from anything except long range missiles!

There were originally to be twenty Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers built, but the last ten were cancelled in favour of ten large fleet carriers when the usefulness of large concentrations of fighters both for combat and for scouting was acknowledged by the Royal Ralsiian Navy.
The ten ships are organized into the five major combat fleets of the Ralsiian Star Empire, each of which has 2 Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers supporting the core of the fleet and operating as an element together and used to cover the Fleet Carriers. These ships will often operate alone, however, usually in the company of a single destroyer squadron, or even unaccompanied as "lone wolf" raiders, using a combination of speed and long range guns to deal with packs of smaller ships that might attack. Unlike other major fleet combat warships, the Empress Mikela IV class is not considered to require escort at all times; The class is more than fully self-sufficient.

Like all Ralsiian Warships, the Empress Mikela IV class is designed for long range engagements, and it's main weapons are 20 menacing Ion Bolt Cannons, which have barrels in excess of 100 meters long! These massive guns accelerate a jacketed plasma burst to barely sublight speeds (99.6% of the speed of light is the speed to which the bolts are accelerated!), and the combined energy of the plasma hitting and the awesome kinetic energy caused by the plasma hitting at such extreme speeds insures impressive damage despite a very small amount of plasma actually being used. The cannons have an incredible recoil, and the majority of the systems inside the heavily armoured turrets are for dealing with this awesome recoil. However, Nebula are the bane of Ralsiian long-range weaponry, as they severely degrade range.
For use against lighter ships, the Empress Mikela IV class carries a battery of destroyer-sized guns, though with shorter range than those mounted on destroyers, for secondary use, which can double as anti-fighter weapons. Cruise Missiles can be used for long range anti-ship use, while medium range missiles are used for anti-missile and anti-fighter/power armour work. Finally, octuple plasma cannons are used for last ditch CIWS defence against missiles, fighters, and power armours.

The Empress Mikela IV class is superiour to any Battlecruiser or Cruiser or Pocket Battleship in service in any force in Three Galaxies, and is really the ultimate vessel.. But only when used in it's intended role. Though the Empress Mikela IV class has the same shielding levels as a Protector class Battleship, it has weaker armour despite being larger (Indeed, more of it's survivability comes from good design and compartmentalization as opposed to armour, which is very thin for a ship of this size.). The Empress Mikela IV class could potentially engage a Protector with some chance of victory, but would require a very skilled Captain and crew, and even then the risk is great enough to not be advisible; Likewise for Kreeghor Doombringers.
Also, like with all Ralsiian ships, the biggest problem is that the shields cannot be shifted about the ship to all be focused on one side. To make up for this, captains of Empress Mikela IV class Battleships often use the tactic of "Rolling" the ship 180 degrees to present it's opposite broadside once one shield has been depleted by enemy fire to present a fresh shield and continue engaging while the depleted shield recharges. Another advantage is that Ralsiian shield generators can "recycle" the shields, a risky but very valuable operation in combat.

The Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers form the dashing "Cavalry" of the fleet. Since the RIA-piloted Interceptors draw less attention and glamour, considering the history of the "Big Gun" ships in the survival of Ralsiia, these ships are seen as symbols; Cavalry to the plodding infantry of the Empress Nivarna II class. Captains and crews and Admirals commanding elements of these Battlecruisers are always the best, and consider themselves such. The Empress Mikela IV herself was converted as a Royal Flagship for Empress Saverana II's tour of the Three Galaxies, and is also famous as the flagship of the granddaughter of the Countess of Kriesdale.
Utilized properly, these ships can be horrifically devastating to cruisers and other battlecruisers. Against battleships, any action would be a "Near 'Frought Thing", and is highly inadvisable, as the results could be devastating to the Battlecruisers, just like the fatal result of the brave, impetuous Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Charge at the battle of Jutland. However, as a demonstration to superiour hull armouring schemes and internal sub-division, the Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers have an equal hull strength and armour to the Protector class Battleships of the CAF, though some of this is accounted for by the fact that they're simply larger than the Protectors.

The ship carries relatively few fighters, only 80 in all, including 16 Torpedo Bombers, and 64 space-capable Power Armours, and has minimal planetary assault capabilities. This is the standard loadout for all large Ralsiian warships.

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

Model Type: Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers.
Vehicle Type: Large Cruiser Killing Starship.
Crew: 15,000 (500 Officers, 325 Warrant Officers, 2,425 Petty Officers, 12,000 Enlisted)
Troops: Maximum: 1,600
Craft pilots and Support Personnel: 2,400.

Vehicle compliment:

	16	Torpedo Bombers
	64	Heavy Starfighters
	64	Space Capable Power Armors
	16	Multi-purpose non-combatant shuttles
	16	Boarding shuttles/dropships

M.D.C. By Location:

	Heavy Ion Bolt Cannon Barrels (20):	2,000 each
	Heavy Ion Bolt Cannon Twin Turrets (10):	10,000 each
	Medium Plasma pulse cannons (48):	300 each
	Anti-Missile Octuple Interceptors (32):	180 each
	MRM Pepperbox Launchers (12):	1,000 each
	Launch/Recovery Bays (4, two left, two right):	5,000 each
	[1] Bridge:	25,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	25,000
	[2] Main Sensor clusters (2, forward dorsal, aft dorsal):	5,000 each
	[3] Cruise Missile Tubes (64):	200 each
	[4] Main Body:	225,000
	[5] Central support wings (2):	25,000 each
	[6] Ion Fusion Engines (16):	10,000 each
	[6] Gravitic Engines (2):	15,000
	[7] Shield Banks (6):	20,000 a side

Notes:
[1] ] The forward superstructure on the dorsal side of the ship is the main bridge structure; The actual bridge is buried deep inside of it and this is the damage required to punch through the incredibly thick and heavy armour that makes up the bridge to reach it. The secondary bridge is in the after dorsal superstructure, similiarly protected. Even if both bridges are taken out, the ship can still be piloted from the Flag Bridge, though the Flag Bridge is rather more vunerable, and contrary to it's name, Admirals rarely use it because of it's vunerable position (Though it is fitted for use by an Admiral and staff). As a final backup, the ship can be operated from engineering, but the 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] The first Main sensor cluster is located on the forward control tower section; The second on the after superstructure/third launching bay structure. Destroying first one has no effect, but destroying both means that the ship loses it's tachyon sensors and tachyon (FTL) communications systems. This will, in addition to taking out the Tachyon sensors, limit the ship to lightspeed only communications. The conventional sensors are buried deep in the hull, and serve as the tetriary systems.
[3]The Cruise Missile Tubes are recessed into the hull, and normally flush with armour plates serving as the outer tube hatches. This makes the Cruise Missile Tubes a very difficult shot; They require a called shot at -3 to strike to hit.
[4] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Battlecruiser out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including artificial gravity but excluding life support, which is so compartmentalized as to remain functional. Fighters and other craft can still be launched and recovered, and if the ships carry any missiles they could also be launched; However, otherwise, the ship would be effectively dead and drifting. At -5,000 MDC, the ship will likely (80% chance) explode violently, inflicting 1D4x1000 damage on any craft within a 20km radius of the site of the ship's explosion. If it does not, then it will simply break apart into dozens or hundreds of pieces without exploding. There are enough emergency lifepods onboard for the entire crew, troops, and pilots/support personnel for shuttles and fighter/PA craft.
[5] ] Destroying one of the wings will destroy four interceptor cannons, and take out one gravitic drive, reducing maximum acceleration to 0.4% of the speed of light per melee round (Total), as it will not only destroy one gravitic wing, but hence leave the other out of alignment and unable to be used. Destroying the second will destroy another four interceptor cannons, but will not cause further reductions in speed, as the drive is already inoperable from the imbalance from the loss of the first wing. The FTL drives are buried deep in the hull and are unaffected by the destruction of either or both wings, being totally seperate.
[6] The Destruction of one Ion engine reduces the ships maximum acceleration by 0.025% of the speed of light per melee round; Each Ion Engine destroyed increases that by another 0.025%, until, with all sixteen engines knocked out, the maximum acceleration is 0.6% of the speed of light per melee round. The results of destroying a gravitic drive are covered above.
[7]Each shield generator covers a specific area of the hull, one sixth of the coverage, and cannot be "stacked" over a single area. Each shield bank takes damage and recharges seperately, at a rate of 5% per melee round (1,000 MDC per melee round per shield). They will simply be back up at 5% of their maximum levels in the next melee round. This means that the enemy must constantly inflict more than 5% of the shields' M.D.C. per melee round or the hits won't get through. However, since the shields are limited to each side they protect and are not variable, this is not as impossible as it may first seem. The shields may be recycled safely once per hour. "Recycling" the shields involves dumping energy stored in large capacitators into the shields. The energy instantly brings the shield bank being recycled back to maximum power (Each of the six shield banks must be recycled seperately). A second attempt can be made to recycle a shield bank in less than an hour, but only after the capacitators have recharged, which takes five minutes, also, if this is done, there is a 40% chance that the shield bank will burn out and be overloaded and destroyed. An attempt to recycle the shields a third time in less than an hour is impossible. (Note, however, that the recycling "Hour" starts counting from when the first recycling is done, not the second, if a second is successfully completed.)

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: : The starship does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers can reach a top acceleration of 1% of the speed of light per melee round, but due to high fuel consumption will normally only travel 0.6% of the speed light per melee round, which is the maximum speed the gravitic engines can provide on their own; The Ion Engines are normally not used at all, the gravitic engines functioning as "Cruising Turbines" would on a water-borne naval warship. The Ion engines are engaged for boosting the ship to it's flank acceleration of 1% of the speed of light per melee round.
Because the Battlecruiser is shielded from the effects of radiation and hypervelocity atomic particles, the Battlecruiser can be operated at speeds of up to 60 percent of light.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The ship can enter the atmosphere, but at -5 to all piloting rolls, a top speed of Mach 10, and is rather cumbersome. Water landings are possible; the battlecruiser can float comfortably in water deep enough to hold it.
Stardrive: The Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers use the latest model of Contra-Gravity FTL drives developed by the Ralsiians, which allow a maximum speed of 6.5 lightyears per hour, the maximum really possible for such drives. As with all such drives, outside of the rim of any of the galaxies, the speed is increased x500.
Maximum Range: Conditionally unlimited, while the fusion reactors give power for over two decades of service, the ships Ion Engines are limited by the ships reaction mass. Hence, the Gravitic Drives are used for cruising, as they provide effectively unlimited range. .
The Battlecruiser carries six (6) Days of reaction mass for travel at 0.1% of the speed of light in acceleration per melee round using only Ion engines. Double the consumption of fuel for 0.1% of the speed of light per melee round for each additional 0.1%; A total of 0.4%. There is no fuel consumption for the Gravimetric engines (Max acceleration of 0.6% of lightspeed per melee round), other than the fact that they drain large amounts of power, but that is well within the fusion reactors' capacity. The ship will often accelerate for a period of time and then shut down the engines and travel using the ships velocity. The ship only has enough fuel for 18 hours at maximum continuous acceleration normally. Should the ship use more than half of its reaction mass when accelerating, the ship will be unable to decelerate fully using only Ion engines. If the ship runs out of fuel then it must decelerate using gravitic drives only. With the Bussard Ramscoops activated, increase the length of time the battlecruiser is capable of spending at it's current acceleration x80 and double the amount of fuel required to sustain that acceleration (That's the physical reality of the matter; For game play purposes, increase the time by x40.).
At Flank Acceleration, the ship will burn it's full reaction mass in 18 hours; However, with the Bussard Ramscoops, the ship will take 30 days at flank acceleration to burn through it's reaction mass, thereby virtually negating the need to refuel or worry about use of maximum acceleration for long periods of time; The hydrogen collectors on Ralsiian ships are very advanced, and since the Gravitic drives are reliable, the ships mostly cruise on them exclusively.

Statistical Data:
Length: 3934 feet (1,180 meters)
Height: 713 feet (214 meters) for the hull only; 1,380 feet (414 meters) including the superstructure; An additional 167 feet (50 meters) for tachyonic scanners and sensor arrays on the dorsal surface.
Width: 733 feet (220 meters) for the hull only; 2,133 feet (640 meters) overall including the wings.
Mass/Weight: 17 million Tons (15.5 million metric tons)
Power System: 8 Altaira type Heavy Plasma Fusion reactors. (25 year duration) However, it is recommended that the drive and power system have routine maintenance every 5 years. Also, the ship only carries about a three month's supply of reaction mass for the ion engines. (Note: the Gravitic drives don`t need any!)
Cargo: 200,000 tons maximum.
Market Cost: 50 billion credits to construct

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Ten (10) Twin Heavy Ion Bolt Cannon Turrets :These are the primary weapons of the uniform battery Battleships/Battlecruisers of the Ralsiian Imperial Star Navy. Each turret has two cannons. These guns, like those of all Ralsiian warships, emphasize on range over hitting power. The design of the battlecruiser allows no less than 20 of these cannons to be presented to either broadside, or 8 either forward or aft. The extreme range of the guns is made possible by the Ionized Plasma being encased in a magnetic bottle which decays over a certain period of time; It's highly energized to begin with, and eventually wears down and disperses, leaving the plasma alone, which likewise disperses, meaning that the effective range listed for the cannons is also the maximum range. In gaseous enviroments like planetary atmospheres or nebula, the range is considerably reduced.
   Range: 156 miles (250km) in the atmosphere and 156,860 miles (250,000km) in space, 77,930 miles (125,000km) inside a Nebula's perimeter.
   Mega Damage: 4D4x100+500 per cannon.
   Rate of fire: Once per melee round.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Sixty Four (64) Cruise Missile Tubes : : 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). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code 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.) See Modified starship rules for more details, Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Each Cruise Missile Launcher is limited to one target per melee. The tubes are in four clusters of seven and twelve Triple-clusters of tubes, recessed into the hull.
   Range: : 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
   Mega Damage: See Phase World Missiles (Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC)
   Rate of fire: One at a time per each tube, per melee round, for a maximum of 64 missiles per melee. Cruise Missile Tubes are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
   Payload: 512 total, 8 cruise missiles per tube. No reloads normally carried, though extra missiles can be carried in the cargo holds and reloaded manually or with robotic vehicles; Definitely not something to do while in combat.
3. Forty Eight (48) Medium Plasma pulse cannons: These are the primary weapons of Destroyers and are used as the secondary weapons on virtually every other Ralsiian design, including the Mikela IV class, though some older light ships also have them as their main guns. These guns, like those of all Ralsiian warships, emphasize on range over hitting power. The design of the battlecruiser allows four of these weapons to fire to either broadside, or four to fire forward, or four to fire aft. The extreme range of the guns is made possible by the Ionized Plasma being encased in a magnetic bottle. These cannons have the same range problems in Nebula that all weapons firing encased plasma do, resulting in inferior ranges to those of capital ship secondary batteries when in Nebulas.
   Maximum Effective Range: 62 miles (100 km) in the atmosphere and 62,344 miles (100,000 km) in space, 31,172 miles (50,000 km) inside a Nebula's perimeter.
   Mega Damage: 4D8x10+50 per cannon.
   Rate of fire: Three times per melee round.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
4. Twelve (12) Medium Range Missile Batteries : : Weapons 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.
   Range: : 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space
   Mega Damage: Varies with medium range missile type, see Phase World Missiles
   Rate of fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, 6, or 12 missiles per launcher per melee round. Launcher automatically reloads another missile as soon as one has been expended, that tube(s) being ready for firing in the next melee round.
   Payload: 288 per launcher for a total of 3456 medium range missiles. No reloads normally carried, though extra missiles can be carried in the cargo holds and reloaded manually or with robotic vehicles; Definitely not something to do while in combat.
5. Thirty Two (32) Octuple Interceptor Plasma Pulse Cannons and Medium Range Missile Launchers: These are the main point defense weaponry of all Ralsiian warships and are mounted on some Ralsiian merchant vessels, as well. They are capable of being used against both fighters and missiles, though otherwise unarmed merchants will also use them, particularly the missiles, against capital ships as an act of desperation. These mounts are distributed evenly around the hull of the battlecruiser. Each Turret can rotate 360 and has a 90-180 arc of fire. The weapons have no penalties to strike small targets but are relatively short ranged when firing plasma bolts. However, the weapons consist of eight barrels built in a circle around a central tube that fires medium range missiles, useful against incoming heavy missiles, power armours, fighters, torpedo bombers, and other such threats, though it has a limited payload.
   Maximum Effective Range: Plasma Cannon: 11.5 miles (18.5 km) in the atmosphere, 500 miles (800 km) in space. Range Medium Range Missiles: 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space.
   Mega Damage: 6D6+50 for the plasma cannon; Varies with Medium Range Missile type for Medium range missiles (see Phase World Missiles
   Rate of fire: 6 bursts of six plasma pulses per barrel (A total of 48 pulses in one burst), per melee round for plasma cannons. One missile per melee round for Medium range missile launcher; Launcher automatically reloads in the same round.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited for Plasma Cannons; Eight medium range missiles for the missile payload for each weapon; 256 Medium Range Missiles total. Medium Range Missiles can be reloaded from stores, but this is complicated and definitely not advisable in combat conditions.
   Bonuses: +6 bonus to strike fighters, power armours and missiles/torpedoes, for Plasma cannon ONLY, NO special bonuses for the Medium Range Missiles.

Special systems:

• Tachyonic sensor arrays: Like all Imperial Ralsiian ships, the Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers uses Tachyonic sensors. These have an effective range of ten lightyears, and the tachyon sensor pulse travels one lightyear a second, meaning that the time from the sending of a pulse to the return of it's data is two seconds at a range of one lightyear, twenty seconds at maximum range. Sensor data is effective instantanious at ranges of 0.25 lightyears or less. The pulses can provide highly accurate data on the mass, dimensions, energy output, range, position, heading, and acceleration/speed of another vessel along with all variety of platforms and space debris. They cannot detect lifesigns, however.
  The Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers also have a full range of passive sensors and active sensors of the standard type in use by all military-grade warships of the three galaxies; However, these are buried in the hull and are not considered destroyed until the ship it's self is destroyed.
• Communications: Like all Ralsiian ships, the Empress Mikela IV class Battlecruisers use Tachyon communications arrays linked with their tachyon sensors. Before this technology was developed, the Ralsiians did not have FTL communications. Tachyon communications are some x10 times faster than normal communications in the three galaxies. If both Tachyon sensor arrays are knocked out, the ship will be limited to sublight communications only.

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By Marina O`Leary (LusankyaN@aol.com ).

Copyright © 2001, Marina O`Leary. All rights reserved.