R.E.F. Minerva class Battlecruiser:

The Minerva class Battlecruiser was designed to carry more firepower than an Ikazuchi command carrier yet at the same time be a slightly smaller starship. In physical appearance, the ship is wedge shape similarly shaped to the Protector class battleship from Phase World although the ship is of course mich smaller than the protector is. Unlike the Ikazuchi, this ship is designed to fight in ship to ship combat and have a good chance of defeating Zentraedi destroyers and cruisers

The ships increased firepower comes from the ship having four mega lasers instead of one. The other weapon systems have been scaled back because of the amount of space that the weapon systems take up. For secondary weapons, the ship has twelve Zentraedi style laser turrets in place of the normal mounting of sixteen turrets on the Ikazuchi command carrier. The Long range missile launcher have also been reduced because they have limited utility in ship to ship combat at high sublight speeds.

A later addition to this ships class was a pod that is fitted to the underside of the ship. This pod carries a particle beam cannon similar to what is carried on Zentraedi ships but with a reduced range and increased rate of fire. The pod vastly increases the ships firepower but reduces the ships acceleration and makes the ship unable to land on a planetary surface.

The Number of mecha have also been reduced to when compared to the Ikazuchi class but the ship still carries enough fighters to operate as a carrier as well as a Battlecruiser

All Ships of the Minerva class are named for Greek Gods. The Commanding officer of the first ship of the Minerva class, the RFS Minerva, is Captain Scarlet Moor.

This power armor design uses modified starship speed and ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.

Model Type: SFBC-3000
Class: Space fold Battle Cruiser
Crew:

Bridge Crew:

Military Command Crew:

Remaining ship’s Crew (under the ship’s captain's command);

Total Crew: 1031
Troops: 280 Veritech Pilots (Not including Hover tanks), 60 Hover tank Pilots, 55 Destroid Pilots (includes Zentraedi), and 1500 Cyclone Riders.
Total Troops: 1875
Total of Crew and Troops: 2904, An additional 200 more can be Accommodated

Squadrons of Note on the RFS Minerva:
"Solar Angel Squadron" VVJ-08 (VF-1s, Ajax & Logans), "Black Angel Squadron" VV-305 (Vindicators & Shadow Fighter), "Crusaders Squadron" VVA-1099 (Alphas), "Queen of Hearts Squadron" VVB-723 (Betas), and Pilots "Challenger Battalion" VHT-256 (Hover tanks)

Mecha Compliment:

Standard

Minerva

Veritech Fighters/Hover tanks: 260 Total

24	24	Super Veritechs VF-1S
8	8	Eagle Eye VF-1S
6	24	Ajax
6	12	I.C.E. Logans
100	60	Standard Alpha Fighters
4	6	Hurricane Alphas Fighters
4	24	Shadow Alpha Fighters
52	24	Standard Beta Fighters
4	24	Shadow Beta Fighters
4	4	Vindicators
0	2	Super Vindicators
48	48	Hover Tanks

Destroids: 45 Total / 53 for RFS Minerva

12	12	REF/RDF Excaliburs
12	12	REF/RDF Gladiators
1	1	REF MAC III
6	6	REF/RDF Raidar X
6	6	REF/RDF Spartan
6	6	REF Z-1 Zentraedi Battle Pod
2	10	REF Z-2 Zentraedi Officers Battle Pod

Cyclones: 2000 Total

1500	1500	VR-052 Battlers
100	100	VR-048 Saber
400	400	VR-038 Light

Shuttles: 2 Total

Horizant Transatmospheric Shuttles

M.D.C By Location:

	[1] Front Section (1/3, Main Body):	15,000
	[1] Midsection (1/3, Main Body):	15,000
	[1] Rear Section (1/3, Main Body):	20,000
	[2] Main Bridge:	12,000
	[2] Secondary Bridge:	12,000
	[3] Main Engines (2 banks of 4 for a total of 8):	5,000 each
	[3] Secondary Engines (2):	2,000 each
	Laser Turrets (12):	150 each
	Missile Bays (6):	100 each
	Quadruple Forward Mega-Lasers (4 lasers):	600 each
	Heavy Particle Beam Pod:	10,000
	Hull Per 40 ft Area :	100
	Airlocks (lots):	100 each
	Hanger Bay Doors (10):	500 each
	[4] Pinpoint Barriers (Force fields, 4)	5000 each

Notes:
[1] Unless on of the main body section is specifically being targeted, divide all damage by three and subtract damage from each main body section. If used in Rifts, all sections should be added together and the ship should have a main body of 50,000. Destruction of Forward section will destroy all four mega lasers and half of the fighter bays, destruction of middle section will cut the ship in half and destroy half of the fighter bays, destruction of the rear section will destroy all propulsion.
[2] 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 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.
[3] Destruction of all eight main engines will reduce the ships acceleration by 80%, destruction of Secondary engines will further reduce the ships acceleration by 15%. With all engines destroyed, the ship will only be able to accelerate at 5% of normal acceleration using maneuvering thrusters.
[4] The ship does not have a full force field but instead has four mobile shields. Each shield measures 200 ft (61 m) in diameter and can withstand 5000 M.D.C. each. Each shield regenerates all 5000 M.D.C. every four seconds. The shields when operated by a trained operator are +7 to parry (In addition to skill bonuses) and the operator has eight parries per melee (unless hand to hand gives more attacks per melee). An untrained operator has their normal parry bonuses and their hand to hand attacks only. The shields can be used to parry virtually any attack but follow special rules when attempting to parry weapons like the heavy particle beam from a Zentraedi flagship.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not possible but can land on a planet if absolutely necessary.
Sublight: 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 1.0 percent of light per melee. When ship is carrying the particle beam pod, the ship is reduced to an acceleration of .75 percent of light per melee.
Space Fold: The ship is estimated to travel a total of 100 light years per hour in normal space and 500 light years per hour in deep space such as between galaxies. This allows the ship to travel between even galaxies very rapidly. Note: When the Minerva uses its space fold, it will also transport all vessels /objects within 2 or 3 miles. Fold drive does not work deep in a gravity well (Gravity wells interfere with fold drives)
Planet Bound: The Minerva can land on a planet if absolutely necessary, but is not designed to maneuver in an atmosphere (uses anti-gravity and conventional propulsion). The ship cannot land with the particle beam cannon mounted on the underside of the ship.
Maximum Range: Unlimited. Protoculture engines give it an estimated life of 30 years of constant use. Sublight engines and space fold offer virtually infinite range.

Statistical Data:
Length: 1,901 feet (579.5 meters)
Height: 260 feet (79.2 meters) without particle beam cannon pod, 320 feet (97.5 meters) with particle beam cannon pod
Width: 480 feet (146.3 meters)
Weight: 15 million Tons (Pod Weighs an additional 4 million tons)
Main Engine: Reflex, heat pile system (estimated life of 30 years of constant use)
Gravitational Control System: Internal and External
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 150,000 tons of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition.
Market Cost: Never been sold, would cost around 12 billion credits to build. The ships are constructed by an automatic Robotech factory.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Particle Beam Cannon Pod (1): Due to the weakness of REF ships when compared to Zentraedi ships, the Minerva class battlecruisers were fitted with a special pod under the hull of the ship. The pod has its own independent power supply. This weapon generates a beam 50,000 miles long and 500 feet wide. It takes one melee (15 seconds) to prepare to fire initial blast and then takes 8 melees (2 minutes) to recharge before it can be fired again. This cannon can destroy virtually any target with one beam but the weapon is not as powerful as those mounted on Zentraedi capital ships but its higher rate of fire makes up for this. These weapon systems have standard penalties to strike small targets.
Mega-Damage: Normally destroys all targets within beam. Weapon does 1D4x1,000,000 M.D.C. to huge target that are unable to be destroyed by one shot and will create a crater a planet that is 1D6x100 feet deep and eight times as wide.
Maximum Effective Range: 25,000 miles (40,000 km) in the atmosphere, range is doubled in space (50,000 miles/80,000 km).
Rate of Fire: Once every two minutes or eight melees.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Quadruple Main Laser Cannon (a.k.a Mega-Lasers): Instead of the standard one laser mounted on the Ikazuchi class command carrier has, the Minerva class has four Mega-Lasers. These weapons are capable of destroying frigates and destroyers in one strike and wrecking cruisers in a few hits. The cannons fire directly forward and only have a 30 degree arc of fire. These weapon systems have standard penalties to strike small targets and can be linked together for greater damage.
Maximum Effective Range: 200,000 Miles (320,000 km) in space and 100,000 Miles (160,000 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: 1D4x1000 each (All four may be combined on one target for a combined damaged of 4D4x1000)
Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire ONCE per melee.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Twelve (12) Zentraedi style laser turrets: The ship carries fewer light anti-capital ship mounts than the Ikazuchi command carrier but still carries a respectable number of weapon mounts. Each Turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. These weapon systems have standard penalties to strike small targets. While the weapons are not linked together, some groups may wish to combine rolls to decrease bookkeeping.
Maximum Effective Range: 200,000 Miles (320,000 km) in space and 100,000 Miles (160,000 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: 1D4x100 each
Rate of Fire: Each turret can fire twice (2) per melee.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Six (6) Long Range Missile Bays: The ship has a total of six missile launchers. These launcher are both used to launch anti-ship strikes and to launch against starfighters. Missile are assumed to accelerate at 2 times normal mach speed in Gs greater than the starships speed when used in space. Missiles can be launched at non moving targets beyond the powered range of the missiles to hit targets without the chance of the launching ship being hit by missiles itself. Each of these launchers can be targeted and fired at multiple targets. The missiles normally used are Reflex Missiles.
Maximum Effective Range: varies with missile type, long range missiles (Powered Range is x8 in space)
Mega-Damage: varies with missile type (Long Range Missiles only)
Rate of Fire: Two (2) times per Melee, but can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of 2 or 4.
Payload: 100 each bay (600 total)

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Image drawn and copyrighted by Roman Kochnev (r_kochnev@hotmail.com) .

More Roman Kochnev artwork at The Science Fiction Art and Design Portfolio of Roman Kochnev

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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