Bushido Industries Raiden class Light Cruiser:

In the past, both the Bushido Confederation and Bushido Industries counted on larger ships that they purchased for both patrols and escorting convoys. The government and company only kept a relatively small number of ships and most of what they had were small Corvette type ships. Recently, a large number of convoys have been attacked and destroyed and it is suspected by many that Naruni Industries is behind the raids. In addition, rumors have reached the leaders of both the company and the government that the ships were sometimes being sabotaged by other competitors.

As a result, it was decided by both organizations that they would greatly increase the size of their forces and they would start acquiring larger vessels such as cruisers. They did not want older ships, the Consortium Military wants three times their construction cost for Warshield class cruisers, and they did not want to spend the next few years negotiating with other powers and companies. As a result, the best option seemed to be to construct their own and it would have the added advantage to keep their ship numbers independent of other government's decision. Instead of going with a larger ship class like New Coventry, they went with a smaller ship class cutting back on items that were seen as unneeded when comparing to the Warshield Cruiser and producing a true light cruiser. The ship both considerably less to construct and are much less expensive to operate.

Several ships entered into service and some mercenary companies and planetary governments watched the performance of the ships to with an eye to determine if they should consider purchasing the ships themselves. As a result, when two Raiden class light class light cruisers stopped a major pirate force, it became quickly know that these ships were quite capable. Orders for the Raiden light cruisers started coming in and while most of the ships are purchased by the Bushido Confederation or are kept by the company, a trickle of the ships is being sold to outside interests. It is planned by Bushido Industries that they will expand production over the next few years.

In the weapon system the Raiden carries, some people have considered it as a stripped down Warshield class Cruiser but that is a poor description. The Raiden is semi modular and can be constructed with three different possible configurations for the ships missile battery. The ship can be constructed with two cruise missile batteries, four long range missile batteries, or one cruise missile battery and two long range missile batteries. About half of the ships purchased by the Bushido Confederation are of the first configuration with the other two each being about a quarter of their purchases. To back up the main battery, the Raiden carries four medium range missile batteries. They are used primarily as defensive weapons and make good protection against other ships cruise missile volleys. The main energy weapons of the ship is four 20 cm heavy laser cannons but the supporting rail guns and smaller heavy lasers were not retained. This allows the ship to have about half of the Warshield’s firepower in direct fire confrontation. For lighter direct fire weapons, the Raiden carries a total of sixteen mounts with a combination rail gun and variable focus particle beams in the same mount. The system is identical to the weapon system that is carried in the Bisento class heavy fighter.

The hull of the Raiden is well constructed but the ship cannot withstand as much punishment as the larger Warshield. To partially compensate for this, the Raiden has shields that can withstand as much damage as those on the Warshield. The light cruiser carries huge engines which makes it quite a bit faster than the Consortium's main cruiser in both normal space and faster than light travel.

Unlike most larger cruisers, the light cruiser only has one bridge and does not have proper facilities for a flag officer and staff. Surprisingly, the ship is only slightly more cramped than most other cruiser classes and is quite capable of operation for large periods of time. The ship has a drastically reduced marine compliment and can carry either one full squadron of light fighters or with medium sized fighters, a light squadron of eight fighters.

This starship design uses modified starship speed and weapon range rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.

Model Type: BIC-04-M
Vehicle Type: Light Cruiser
Crew: 152 (18 Officers, 134 enlisted)
Troops: 20 Marines (10 in medium or light power armor), 16 to 24 fighter pilots, and can carry up to 10 passengers in addition to standard military personnel

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:

Light Power Armors (BI-PA-60B Kage Tengu)

Fighter Compliment:

	12	BIF-75 Tanto class Light Starfighter (or other light starfighter).
	or
	8	BIF-67 Katana fighter ship (or other medium starfighter)

M.D.C. By Location:

	20 cm Main Laser Cannons (2, Front):	1,200 each
	Combined GR-1000 Rail Gun / Particle Beam Cannon Turret (16):	400 each
	Cruise Missile Batteries (Varies):	1,000 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (Varies):	600 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (4):	500 each
	Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	150
	Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	100
	[1] Bridge:	6,000
	Hanger Bay:	5,000
	[2] Main Engines (2):	8,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	25,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	4,000 a side (24,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. This ship does not have an auxiliary bridge. Even if the bridge 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.
[2] Destroying the main engines means that ship faster than light propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. 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.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1200 M.D.C.) per melee rounds

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 0.95 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 650 mph (1046.1 kph), 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 7 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about a year and a half worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 565 feet (172.2 meters)
Height: 85 feet (25.9 meters)
Width: 120 feet (36.6 meters)
Weight/Mass: 55,000 tons (49,900 metric tons)
Power System: Anti-Matter with a 30 year life span. The ship normally only goes 10 years between refueling and refitting.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 2,000 tons of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ship’s officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ship’s spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: 1.6 billion to construct. These ships are sold on the open market and are rare and Bushido Industries sells them with a 75% markup (2.8 billion credits) but are still far cheaper that a new Warshield class cruiser costs to purchase.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Modular Missile Batteries: The Raiden is constructed so that it can carry one of three different configurations of primary missile batteries. Theses batteries are put in during construction and it would be a major operation for a shipyard to change them out although it is not impossible. A Raiden can carry either two cruise missile batteries, four long range missile batteries, or one cruise missile battery and two long range missile batteries.
1. Cruise Missile Batteries: 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.) Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will continue to travel in a straight line 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 is at -25% to be detected.) See modified starship rules for more details - Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. These are modern Consortium missile batteries similar to those carried on a number of warships. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
  Maximum Effective Range: Cruise 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) in space.
  Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Anti-Matter multi-warheads inflict 5D6x100 M.D.C. each.)
  Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or thirty-two (32) missiles per battery per melee round (Can be combined with additional batteries). Batteries are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
  Payload: 32 cruise missiles per battery. Ship has 8 reload of missiles (256 cruise missiles reloads) per battery.
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.) Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, battery, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will continue to travel in a straight line 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 unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Long range missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
  Maximum Effective Range: Long Range Missile range is 3,400 miles (5,470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.
  Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Fusion warheads inflict 2D4x100 M.D.C. each.)
  Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or thirty-two (32) missiles per battery, per melee attack.
  Payload: 320 long range missiles per battery.
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 revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Maximum Effective Range: Medium Range Missile range is 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 two (2), four (4), eight (8), or sixteen (16) missiles per battery.
Payload: 320 per battery for a total of 1280 medium range missiles
Two (2) 20 cm Heavy Laser Cannons: Cannons are located on the front of the starship and are used as anti-capital ship weapons and can take out frigates in one shot and can do large amounts of damage to bases or larger starships. The Laser cannons can be combined together or each one used separately. They cannot be used faster than the speed of light. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for large starship weaponry. The barrels can be fired either forward or behind and can be rotated 60 degrees horizontally or vertically. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 100,000 miles (161,000 km) in space and 100 miles (161 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 1D4x1000 M.D.C. each and can be combined for a total of 2D4x1000.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee per cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited..
Combination GR-1000 Rail Gun/Particle Beam Cannons Ball Turret (16): Mounted in turrets are one GR-1000 Rail Gun with a particle beam above the rail gun laser cannons. Turret are main defensive weapon of starfighter and they inflict a huge amount of damage. Both weapons can be fired together if the weapons are within range and both are controlled by the turret gunner. The turrets may be put under the bridges control. Turrets have 360 rotation and 120 degree arc of.
- GR-1000 Rail Gun (1 each mount): Very powerful rail gun mounted in turret. This is the same weapon system that is mounted in the nose of the Scorpion starfighter. The weapon cannot be used while the ship is traveling at FTL speeds.
  Maximum Effective Range: GR-1000 Rail Guns: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 1,600 miles (2,575 km) in space.
  Mega Damage: GR-1000 Rail Guns: 40 round burst inflicts 4D6x10 M.D. (Combined particle beam [on heavy setting] and rail gun inflicts 8D6x10)
  Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
  Payload: 10,000 rounds (250 Bursts)
- Variable Focus Particle Beam Mounts (1 each mount): The particle beam is copied from those carried on the CAF Assault Shuttle and will fire a very powerful narrow beam and can fire a scatter effect that is less powerful but is capable of striking multiple targets. The weapon system is quite useful against missiles although the cone is not as wide as Tachyon cannon sprays are (Gives +2 bonus vs fast moving targets such as missiles.) The weapon cannot be used while the ship is traveling at faster than light speeds.
  Maximum Effective Range: 300 miles (480 km) in space and 3 miles (4.8 km) in an atmosphere.
  Mega Damage: Single Target: 4D6x10 per blast. Wide Beam: 5D6 to all targets within a 5,000 foot (1,524 meter) diameter area. When fired as a wide beam, the cannon cannot be used on targets closer than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) away (Combined particle beam [on heavy setting] and rail gun inflicts 8D6x10).
  Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
  Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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