Earthforce Advanced Omega class Destroyer (Babylon Five):

President Clark was very concerned about losing his power. Because he was afraid of many of the other governments, he worked with the beings known as the Shadows to keep his hold on power. Because he was especial nervous about both the Minbari and the forces under Captain Sheridan, he looked for a way to be able to defeat them both. His answer was to combine Earth Force technology with the bits of shadow technology that Earth was able to acquire.

The Advanced Omega class looked much like a normal Omega class destroyer and was in fact a heavily modified Omega class. The biggest items that stood out was the ships hull. When looking at the ship, it was a black molted color that any being that has seen a Shadow vessel would immediately get chills down their spine. The ship’s armor was the same material that Shadow ships are constructed out of. This armor gave the ship a huge amount of protection, even more than the armor of a Sharlin class ship. The other modifications in the ship were much less obvious: all of the Ion Laser Cannons and the pulse cannons had been replaced by various sized fusion cannons, a weapon previously only seen on Minbari ships. Even the Centauri do not have these weapons. The rest of the ships upgrades were more Conventional in nature and were the result of research by Earthforce itself rather than the result of Shadow interference. The Particle beams were upgraded versions of those carried on the Omega class Destroyer. The ship had improved sensors over earlier systems and were capable of negating the Minbari ECM systems to some extent.

The one area where little progress had been made was in the propulsion of the destroyer: it still used the same four Ion fusion engines that can put out a good thrust to weight ratio but which is much less than the engines of the Minbari, Centauri, and the races of the Three Galaxies. This was because the Earth Force engineers had not yet been able to perfect a working gravity drive, and the force fields that go with it. They are very sure that these developments are just a matter of time though.

In terms of fire power, the ship was very impressive due to the Fusion cannons, replacing many of the weapon systems that were copies of other races technology. The main weapons of this ship were six heavy fusion cannons and 18 medium fusion cannons. The ship has 12 particle guns for anti starfighter defense. Also the ship carried a launcher for long range missiles. Because the Earth Alliance engineers did not yet have a good grasp on force field technology the ship retained a (upgraded) interceptor grid system. The ship also retained the missile decoy system from the Omega class destroyer.

The other area that no improvement was made was in the production of artificial gravity. As in the Omega Class, The ships crew section rotated to provide artificial gravity for the crew and control rooms and the ships berthing areas were located in the rotation crew section. Also a (small) hydroponics section could be found here.

Because the entire ship was covered in the Bio-armor it had gained a very threatening look: Where the Omega looked entirely business like, the Advanced Omega had at various places spines sticking out of its mottled black hull. It looked very intimidating and suggested nothing but trouble for its attackers. Or victims of course. The latter was very much more likely: The Earth Alliance had adapted a rather forceful outward expanding policy under president Clark.....

Because of the new systems in the design the Advanced Omega class ships cost almost two and a half times as much as the Omega Destroyers. Quite a bundle, and one can only wonder how much the entirely new Warlock class Destroyer is going to cost.

The Advanced Omega class Destroyer carried the same number of Star Fighters as the Omega class Destroyer but because the ships were new construction, all starfuries were the new SA-26 Thunderbolt version. The ship also retained the ability to carry a large number of troops for assault missions but the ship normally had only 120 marines onboard for shipboard defense.

It should be noted that these ships were a step between the Omega destroyer and the new Warlock class destroyer, which is a entirely new design. The Advanced destroyers were made because the frames for the Warlocks were not yet finished, and Earthforce needed a ship capable of standing off the Whitestar fleet. As it turned out, the forces loyal to Sheridan came too fast. The systems of the Advanced Destroyers had not yet fully integrated, and there were too few of them to stop the Whitestars. All of these ships are believed to have been destroyed.

Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the Destroyers velocity and distance traveled:

Model: Earthforce Advanced Omega- Class Destroyer
Class: Battleship / Light Carrier
Crew: 850 (30 Officers and 820 Enlisted)
Troops: Standard; 120, Maximum; 800

Vehicle Compliment:

	32	SA-26 Thunderbolt Star Fighters
	6	Standard Atmospheric Shuttles
	6	Standard Shuttles

M.D.C. by Location:

	Heavy Fusion Cannons (6, 2 forward / 4 aft ):	5,000 each
	Med. Fusion Cannons (18, 2 forward / 4 aft / 12 in weapon pods):	1,300 each
	Particle Guns (12, in weapon pods):	950 each
	Weapon Pods (12, sides):	2,600 each
	Long Range Missile Launcher (1):	1,400
	Launch Bay (1, front):	13,000
	[1] Main Sensor cluster (1, front):	10,000
	[2] Main Body:	160,000
	[3] Engineering Section:	46,000
	[4] Rotating Crew Section:	65,000
	[5] Ion Fusion Engines (4):	16,000 each
	[6] Interceptor Grids (6):	5,000 a side

Notes:
[1] The Main sensor cluster is located above and below the Launch Bay. Destroying it means that the ship loses all sensor bonuses vs. ECM. The ship will have -40% to read sensory rolls, all sensor ranges are half ranged, and all long range weapons have a -2 to strike
[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Destroyer out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support. Rotational crew section will stop rotating. The ship will be a unsalvageable wreck. The hull of the ship has the ability to repair itself (sadly its internal systems do Not) The hull regenerates damage at 2D4 x 100 M.D.C. per minute. The hull cannot regenerate more than half its total M.D.C.
[3] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[4] If the M.D.C. of the Rotating Crew Section is reduce to less than half, the crew section will loose power to the rotational system. The rotating crew section will slow down at the rate of 10% of its speed for every twenty minutes that the power is out for rotating the Rotational Crew System. In about three hours, the rotation will completely stop. Main control is in the rotating crew section so destroying the section will eliminate the bridge. If the control center 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 in the crew section that do not destroy the ship can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[5] The Destruction of one engine reduces the ships acceleration by one quarter. The destruction of two Ion Engines reduces the ships acceleration by one half. Destroying three Ion Engines will reduce the ships acceleration by three quarters. Destroying all four Ion Engines means that the maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[6] The Interceptor Grid gives only partial defense against energy weapons and as the system absorbs more damage this percentage of damage will be reduced. The system will absorb up to 5,000 M.D.C. per side. Initially, the system will absorb 80% of damage from plasma weapons and pulse cannons (Actually another style of plasma cannon - does not work at this higher efficiency on other weapon systems that fire in pulses). This is because is it much easier to disperse plasma than an actually energy beam. The system does not absorb damage from rail guns, other projectile weapons, and from missiles. Initially, the ships will also absorb 40% of other styles of energy weapons as well (This includes non plasma style pulse weapons as well). For every 500 M.D.C. that the system absorbs, the system will be reduced in effectiveness by 10% for subsequent strikes (Example: If an Interceptor Grid absorbs 1000 M.D.C., the Interceptor Grid will only absorb 60% of plasma damage and 20% of the damage for any other energy weapon when struck next.) The defense grid recovers at the rate of 150 M.D.C. per minute. The missile decoy portion of the system is described separately below.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Space Propulsion: The starship does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Earthforce Destroyer can reach a top acceleration of 4 G but due to high fuel consumption and extra strain on the engines, the ship will normally travel at 0.5 G for any extended trips. Top acceleration is only meant for emergencies and combat maneuvers.
Because the Advanced Omega Destroyer IS shielded from the effects of radiation and hypervelocity atomic particles , the destroyer could be operated at speeds of up to 40 percent of light. (note, it COULD reach that speed, but had only enough reaction mass to slow down to 20 % of light if it did so)
Atmospheric Propulsion: The Earth Force destroyer cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: Uses 4 "Lockheed Mitchell Corp." HSI-7A Vortex generators to enter hyperspace, they allow the ship to reach a maximum of 15 light-year per hour. This means that the Earth Destroyer can cover the three galaxies in about 9 months (will need to refuel periodically). The ship enters hyperspace by means of a jumpgate. This ship can use an already made jumpgate or can form its own jumpgate.
The Advanced Destroyer has enough power to open a jumpgate every fifteen minutes (60 rounds). The gate then takes one round to open, two rounds to traverse, and another to close.
Maximum Range: Conditionally unlimited, while the fusion reactors give power for over a decade of service, the ships propulsion is limited by the ships reaction mass. The ship can be refueled at ground based facilities, space stations, and other star ships as long as they have the special facilities. The ship can also be refueled by fuel shuttles.
The Destroyer carried six month of reaction mass for travel at 0.5 G of acceleration. Double the consumption of fuel for 1.0 G of acceleration and double the consumption again for every 1.0 G of acceleration beyond 1 G. This means the ship will burn the fuel 16 times faster at maximum acceleration than at 0.5 G of acceleration. The ship will often accelerate for a period of time and then shut down the engine and travel using the ships velocity. If the ships uses more than half of its reaction mass when accelerating, the ship will be unable to decelerate fully and the ship will normally only use a third or less of its fuel on accelerating so it does not run into a problem.. If the ship runs out of fuel then it must be refueled by another vehicle traveling faster or be lost. If the ship has a large amount of flight operations, the ship is limited to about four months endurance at cruising speed from the fighters using the ships reaction mass.

Statistical Data
Height: 1131.1 feet (344.5 meters)
Length: 4956.7 feet (1,400 meters)
Width: 1131.1 feet (344.5 meters)
Weight: 13.9 million tons (12.6 million metric tons)
Power System: 4 Tokamak Corp. 650 Fusion Reactors (12 year duration). However, it was recommended that the drive and power system have routine maintenance every 5 years. Also, the ship only carried about a six month supply of reaction mass.
Cargo: 200,000 tons
Cost: 50 billion credits to construct. Any race in the three galaxies would pay many times that amount for a fully functional Advanced Omega due to the Shadow technology that is incorporated into it.

Weapon Systems

Heavy Fusion Beam Cannons (6): The cannons take high mass particles and compress them until they reach fusion. These particles are then fired in a beam. This cannon is far more powerful than the ion laser it replaces. It is a offshoot from data recovered during the Earth/Minbari war and data learned from the shadow vessel on Ganymede. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Weapons mounted together can be linked. They have a 40 degree arc of fire. Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 1,000,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks
Mega Damage: 2D4x1000 per fusion cannon blast. (4D4x1000 for both cannons forward and 8D4x1000 for all four cannons that fire aft.)
Maximum Effective Range: 87 miles (140 km) in an atmosphere and miles 87,000 miles (140,000 km) in space.
Rate of Fire: Once per melee per cannon (Beam lasts entire round).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Medium Fusion Beam Cannons (18): Basically a smaller version of the new main weapon system. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Each fusion beam cannon has a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire. Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 1,000,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks
Mega Damage: 2D6x100 per fusion gun blast.
Maximum Effective Range: 49.8 miles (80 km) in an atmosphere and miles 49,800 miles (80,000 km) in space.
Rate of Fire: Three Times per melee round per cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Particle Guns (12): These guns are an updated and more powerful version than those mounted on the Omega class destroyer and have a higher damage output than the earlier mounts. Like the originals, these guns fire bursts of atomic particles at close to the speed of light. They are very effective against fighters but are not as effective against larger ships. All particle guns are located in the weapon pods along the ships hull. Each mount has a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire.
Mega Damage: 4D6x10 per cannon
Range: 6.2 miles (10 km) in an atmosphere and 621.8 miles (1,000 km) in space.
Rate of Fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
One (1) Long Range Missile Battery: Consists of 40 launch tubes recessed in the ships hull. Reloading is done through internal magazines. These launcher are both used to launch anti-ship strikes and to launch against starfighters. Missiles are assumed to accelerate at 2 times normal mach speed in Gs greater than the starships speed when used in space. Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, 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 dead is at -25% to detect.) Long range missiles are all considered smart missiles. Each of these launchers can be targeted and fired at multiple targets.
Maximum Effective Range: varies with missile type, long range missiles (Powered range is 8 x normal in space (Go to revised bomb and missile tables for details.)
Mega-Damage & Properties: Varies with warhead type (Go to revised bomb and missile tables for details.) Heavy fusion is 2D4x100 M.D.C.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20 or 40 per melee attack.
Payload: 9 reloads per launch tube for a total payload of 400 long range missiles.
Missile Decoy System: These systems launches clouds of chaff and electromagnetic decoys around the ship. This system is the final part of the interceptor grid. The decoy cloud will remain around the ship for a period of time unless the ship accelerates, decelerates, or changes course which will take ship out of the chaff cloud within one melee. The system is a series of decoy launchers that are placed around the ship. Even if the main interceptor system is not functional, this system will still operate.
Mega-Damage: any vehicle flying through take 2D6 M.D.C.
Effects:
1. Has a 50% chance of confusing or deflecting missiles from most younger races. This system does not work on missiles from Centauri, Minbari, or other Race with similar or more advance missile systems.
2. Disguises ships radar signature. This gives a -2 penalty to strike. (Does not work on Centauri, Minbari, and races that are as advanced or more advanced than the Centauri and Minbari)
As long as the ship does not accelerates, decelerates, or changes course the chaff will take five melees to disburse. If the ship accelerates, decelerates, or changes course, the ship will leave the chaff cloud in one melee.
Maximum Effective Range: Ship and 1,000 feet (305 m) radius around ship
Rate of Fire: Once (1) Per Melee.
Payload: 50

Special Equipment:

Adaptive Hull: The hull of the Advanced Omega is made out of Shadow Bio-Armor and can adapt to attacks on it. Once a specific attack has been used against the ship, it will adapt to that attack and any such attack will only be at twenty percent effectiveness afterwards. Variable frequency weapons such as variable frequency lasers can be reset to do full damage once the attacker finds out about it. The adaptation takes about ten hours to be completed.
ECM: Not really a intended effect of the Shadow Bio-Armor, but useful nonetheless. The Armor provides the ship with a partial form of ECM. This prevents the targeting systems from the ships of the younger races (except Minbari and Centauri) to lock on. Attackers are -9 to strike the ship when outside visual range. Inside visual range (approximately 500 miles) a attacker is -5 to strike. Missiles would have a 70% chance of being unable to lock on, but after multiple engagements this could be compensated for, with only 30% unable to lock. The More advanced Sensors on Minbari, Centauri, and the First Ones ships are more sophisticated and would not be hindered by the ECM. This also includes the systems on Phase World, Macross 2 and Robotech ships.
Sensors: The sensors onboard the ship have been specially designed to counteract the Minbari ECM and that of the other younger races. When used to target ships with this type of ECM the targeting penalties are reduced by about two thirds. On Minbari ships specifically, they can target the ships beyond visual range but are at -6 to strike at that range, at visual ranges the ship will have a -3 to strike, and the ship systems would be able to target missiles on Minbari ships 30% of the time with a 70% chance of being able to achieve lock once engaged and the individual factors have been calculated for. The sensors are not effective at all against the ECM used by Vorlons, Shadows, and other members of the races known as the First Ones. Because the ECM used by the Drahk is partially based on Shadow technology, the sensors are not as effective as against Minbari ECM but more effective than the ECM would be against the Shadows. Against the Drahk, penalties are reduced by 1/3 (-12 to strike beyond visual range, -6 to strike at visual ranges, and 20%/40% of missile locks). The Sensors are also less effective against the ECM in Phase World, Macross 2, and Robotech. This is because the various ECM systems are based on different technologies and cannot be accounted for. Penalties from these systems would be reduced by 1/3.

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Technical information sourced partially from Babylon 5 Technical Manual!

CGI of Ship by Craig P. Condu . More of his CGI pictures of B-5 Ships at Epsilon Jumpgate.

Writeup by Mischa (E-Mail Mischa) and by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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