In all ship designs, the United Worlds Warlock has to construct vehicles their own way. This included the civilian sector as well as the military. One of the most unusual creations is a cargo ship that looks like an old Streamlined Steam Locomotive. The cargo or passengers are then carried in cars behind the engine. These cargo ships have become known as space trains and can be found in most of the space controlled by the U.W.W. Space trains come in many different styles and while most are designed to look like old Terran trains, some are very exotic. Each train is an amazing techno-wizard creation.

The ships normally operated on ley lines because it increases the ships performance (both speed and cargo capacity) but the ship and cargo modules have contra-grav systems to operate in other areas. There has been several accidents with the Comets operating on the same ley line. This has resulted in the careful monitoring of space trains within U.W.W. territories. Each locomotive unit can pull up to 25 fully loaded cars (50 when traveling on ley lines) so the cargo that can be carried is considerable. This general system would be impossible for any group other than techno-wizards because of it being virtually impossible to pull this much cargo using any form of FTL travel. Fortunately, the Rifts fold drive system allows the ship to travel from system. Unfortunately, the Rifts Jump Drive require a huge amount of magical energy and can only once every four hours. The trains crew occupy a special short car that is set up with both crew quarters and support equipment such as a small kitchen.

Standard ships only carry minimal point defense weaponry. Due to this, some independent owners have added additional weaponry but the ship is not designed to engage in combat. An interesting innovation has been to arm the ships with weapon cars. When the ship is attacked, the sides open up to reveal the equivalent firepower of a Patrol Ship not including the ships fighters.

A passenger car can carry up to 100 passenger with each passenger having their own personal quarters. The cars also have kitchens and various support equipment. These cars are popular for romantic escapes and several of the trains operate for this purpose only. Troop transport cars are similar but can carry 400 passengers each but it much less comfort. Cargo containers come in variety of different types. The most common types are general cargo and liquid containers. There are special containers that are designed to carry smaller vehicles as well.

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

Model Type: UWW-CST-176-C
Class: Cargo Hauler
Crew: 25 (5 needed to operate)
Passenger Capacity: Each passenger car can carry up to 100 passengers in comfort or 400 troops in more confined quarters in troop cars.

M.D.C. by Location:

	Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons (4):	100 each
	Twin TK-Machinegun Turrets (4):	140 each
	Control Room (Rear :	30,000
	[1] Locomotive Main Body:	1,800
	Cargo/Passenger Car Main Body:	800

Notes:
[1] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Engine out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

Speed:
Driving on the ground: Can only be operated on special giant rails. On rails the train has a top speed of 120 mph (193 kph). Rails are commonly used to land the trains.
Atmosphere CG Propulsion: 250 mph (217 knots / 402.3 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight.
Atmospheric Ley Line Propulsion: Mach 1 (741.5 mph/ 644.3 knots/ 1,193.3 kph), must stay on ley line to retain this speed.
Sublight CG Propulsion: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 20 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.3 percent of light per melee.
Sublight Ley Line Propulsion: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 40 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.9 percent of light per melee. Must stay on ley line to retain this speed and acceleration.
Star Drive: Rift Jump Drive; maximum safe jump of 20 light years every four hours
Range: Life support will keep crew alive for up to three years, as long as the P.P.E. generators are kept in working order.

Statistical Data:
Height: Locomotive & Cars: 30 feet (9.1 meters)
Width: Locomotive & Cars: 20 feet (6.1 meters)
Length: Locomotive: 220 feet (67.1 meters). Cars: 100 feet (30.5 meters)
Weight/Mass: Locomotive: 700 tons (635 metric tons). Cars: 100 tons (90.7 metric tons)
Cargo: Locomotive: The locomotive can pull up to 25 cars on CG propulsion and 50 cars on Ley Line propulsion.
Cargo Cars: up to 400 tons each (this means that the train could theoretically pull 20,000 tons of cargo on a ley line)
Power System: Combination Fusion & Techno-wizardry with 10 year life span. The Space Locomotive also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 500 P.P.E. per hour (Activating the Rifts drive costs 2,000 P.P.E.) and can hold up to 2,000 P.P.E. in storage. This P.P.E. can be used to power the Rifts Drive or can be used to power spells cast by the Locomotives crew.
Market Cost: The Comet space Train sells for 450 million credits and is sold to both military and civilian interests.

Weapon Systems:

1. Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons (4) in Single Mounts: Mounted on top of the ship along the sides of the ships hull in turrets. Cannons turrets can fire at up to a 90 degree angle up or 55 degree angle down and can rotate up to 360 degrees side to side. The gun does not have penalties to strike small targets. Uses the spell of the same name from page 143 of Federation of Magic. The spells must be renewed every two months (costs 400 PPE and 20,000 credits per Cannon) but during theat period the weapon can fire unlimited blasts
   Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space. 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 1D6x10+10 per cannon.
   Rate of fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the cannons have been used or not.
2. Twin TK-Machineguns Turrets (4): these cannons are identical to those mounted in the Shadow Bold Starfighter but are in twin mounts. Mounted on top of the ship in turrets. Cannons turrets can fire at up to a 90 degree angle up or 55 degree angle down and can rotate up to 360 degrees side to side. The gun does not have penalties to strike small targets. Because the cannons do damage by impact, they do full damage to targets that are using the spell impervious to energy. The spells must be renewed every two months (costs 400 PPE and 20,000 credits per Cannon) but during the period the weapon can fire unlimited blasts.
   Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 12D6 per burst for both cannons in a turret.
   Rate of fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the cannons have been used or not.

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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).

Copyright © 1998, Kitsune. All rights reserved.