The Kreeghor have found that the Smasher cruiser, while good in a number of ways, was simply sub-standard in others. They have watched their ships be destroyed by ships that should have been destroyed easily by the Smasher. The Kreeghor will periodically send their ships out to test designs but claim that the ships are in reality pirates. This fools few but protects the Trans-Galactic Empire from being blamed directly for incident. In these tests, the Kreeghor has lost far more Smashers than they expected for the missions that they were sent on. In order to solve this problem, the Trans-Galactic Empire shipbuilders have designed a heavier ship that hopefully would be more effective than the Smasher. They used the hull design of the older Defiler class in hopes that the CAF and others would dismiss it as an old design and it also allowed the designers to reduce some engineering. Most parties are too cautious for the looks of the ship fool them and CAF Intelligence has discovered that the ship is in reality is effectively an all new design. There are too many changes in the design for the Kreeghor to refit older Defilers without costing virtually the cost of a new heavy cruiser. For this reason, the Kreeghor will probably not refit any of the older Defilers class cruisers. Only a small amount is know about these ships from the outside but rumor (or intelligence, depending on how you look at it) indicates that the ships have a very long range missile launcher that has been dubbed Heavy Capital Missiles. Only about five of these ships have been constructed so far but the indication is that these ships may operate in conjunction with the X-Ray laser armed Berserker light attack ships. The usual tactic is to have the Heavy cruiser begin opening fire with missiles at long range while the Berserkers close. The Berserkers will then begin to open fire with normal cruise missiles. The Berserkers will then close into X-Ray laser range. Only if the Energy weaponry of the Defiler is though to be useful and not a high risk to the heavy cruiser is it suppose to engage in close combat. This ship is believed to be the most advanced ship produced by the Trans-Galactic Empire and is believed to be almost equal to CAF designs in technological level.
In physical appearance, they have tried to make the ship appear as similar as possible to the original Defiler and as such has a similar appearance to most Kreeghor ships. The ship carries more firepower than the Smasher or the older Defiler but is equipped for a different role as well. The key to all this firepower are the four heavy capital missile batteries. The biggest weakness of the system is that it has a limited payload of missiles. The ship has two powerful long range laser cannons and eight heavy laser cannons copied from the Smasher. The particle beams from a standard Kreeghor dreadnought were considered but it was decided that they had just too short ranged even though the particle beams have a much higher rate of fire. An upgraded version of the plasma cannons were considered but was rejected for more space for the ships missile magazines and the two extra laser cannons which have a much better range. Because this ship is meant for missile duels with other ships, point defense was critical. The ship carries 24 point defense mounts in all. Twelve are lasers and twelve are gravitic rail guns. Each point defense mount also has missile launchers coupled with their gun. The ship is much faster than the original Defiler and has twice the shielding and much heavier armored which greatly increases the ships survivability.
These ships have been among the first ships to receive the new Sharktooth fighters. The ship carries three squadrons of the fighters and when the ships are not being escorted by Berserkers, these ships act to protect the ship from close in combat. The ship does carry one squadron of Flying Fang Bombers for anti-ship strikes. Because the equipment is smaller than that on the original Defiler and the ship has a smaller crew it is less cramped but the ship is still far more cramped than C.A.F. ships. Senior officers have good sized quarters which takes up much of the extra space that was freed up from smaller equipment. Crews do consider the ship an improvement due to the fact that the ship has crew quarters at least.
This ship design uses modified starship speeds and weapon ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Model Type: TIV-DC-II
Vehicle Type: Heavy / Command Cruiser
Crew: 350
Troops: 400 Marines and 60 Fighter Pilots
Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:
80 | Warlord Mark I | |
40 | Warlord Mark II |
36 | ST-110 Sharktooth Light Starfighters | |
12 | FFB-120 Flying Fang Bombers (Carries 4 Cruise missiles) |
M.D.C. By Location:
Heavy Laser Cannon Lances (2, top): | 1,500 each | |
Secondary Heavy Laser Cannons (8): | 800 each | |
Heavy Capital Missile Batteries (4, front & Sides): | 1,200 each | |
Point Defense Lasers / Missile Batteries (12): | 350 each | |
GR Rail Cannons / Missile Batteries (12): | 400 each | |
Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area): | 150 | |
Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area): | 100 | |
[1] Bridge: | 12,000 | |
[1] Secondary Bridge: | 12,000 | |
Hanger Bay: | 10,000 | |
[2] Main Body: | 60,000 | |
[3] Variable Force Field: | 6,000 a side (36,000 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] 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.
[3] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1,800 MDC)
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. The cruiser can accelerate/decelerate
at the rate of 0.85 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 300 mph (480 kph),
can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for extended
atmospheric use.
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.
Carries about two years worth of supplies on board.
Statistical Data:
Length: 825 feet (251.5 meters)
Height: 310 feet (94.5 meters) from the laser cannons lances
to the bottom of the ship or 255 feet (77.2 meters) main body only.
Width: 252 feet (76.8 meters)
Weight: 240,000 tons (217,700 metric tons) fully loaded
Power System: Anti-Matter with a 50 year life span
Cargo: Small Cargo holds can carry an additional 4,500 tons.
If ammo was taken out, amount of cargo ship is able to carry would increase
greatly.
Market Cost: 3.2 billion to construct. No ships of this design
have ever been put on sale on the market by the Kreeghor Military. Various
intelligence groups of other governments would offer huge sums of money
to purchase on of these ships
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
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by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
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Image drawn and copyrighted by Roman Kochnev (r_kochnev@hotmail.com) .
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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
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