Techno Wizard “Electra” Destroyer:


Designs for Techno-Wizard vessels appear to be often based on those from the past with World War One destroyers being quite popular. This is likely due to the “Retro” look of them with multiple smoke stacks and unusual hull designs. The Tempest class destroyer is one of the best known but a number of smaller classes and “One Off” destroyers have also been built. Destroyers, being fairly small vessels, are some of the easiest to construct.


The Electra is another “One Off” destroyer with only a single one having been built but does have similarities with several of the other classes and appears to be patterned off World War One destroyer classes. It is often seen in the company of the carrier “Silver Comet” and the captains of the two vessels are old friends and in fact learned the techno-wizard arts together. Soon the Electra may have a sister. The previous executive officer of the Electra is currently attempting to build a second vessel identical to the Electra.


One major difference between the Electra and most other techno-wizard destroyers appears to be the power source. The Tempest class is powered by a fusion reactor while several others are steam converted techno-wizard engines. Instead, the Electra is powered by a techno-wizard electrical engine converted to a lightning power source. Unlike the smaller PT boat, this is powered through a Rift which links to the elemental plane of air for effectively unlimited range. This tiny tap also powers the vessel’s many of the vessel’s other enchantments. Top speed is a bit over forty knots and the electrical engines make for extremely rapid acceleration. The engine is also extremely quiet and unlike many techno-wizard designs, the vessel is designed with a masking system.


While the ship has three funnels, they have absolutely no purpose in the vessel’s operation. The hull is made from high strength alloys and composites which make it extremely tough, equal to that of most warships build in the later part of the Twenty-first century. A bit larger than most techno-wizard destroyers, it has a raised bow for better sea keeping. The use of composites and alloys makes the ship far easier to repair than enchanted materials would be to repair. The ship is fully environmental with a magical life support system.


Crew quarters are comfortable with the vessel designed around a standard crew of around fifty six and the ship can also carry a couple of dozen power armors. The crew usually has had at least four techno-wizards embarked to deal with the magical aspects of the vessel. Standard compliment of troops are about half mystic power armors and half “Angel of War” power armors. Like many other techno-wizard vessels, the insides are patterned after those from ships of the historic period although there is much question about just how accurate they are. This is because only about half of it comes out of books while half comes from movies, some likely of dubious accuracy.


Probably the single most fantastic feature of the design is that a lightning storm in the form of ball lightning orbiting the vessel can be generated. These lightning bolts can be fired off but more commonly, the field is kept intact to protect the vessel from incoming attacks. Missiles usually detonate in the field before striking the vessel. The ship also is unaffected by most electrical type attacks including conventional ion type weapons when the field is active. The crew can operate on deck when the field is active and there is a small pocket for them. The weakness of the field is that the ship cannot use any of its own missiles or heavy weapons while the field is active. As well, the field makes the ship almost impossible to hide.


Most of the weapon mounts are quite similar to those mounted on the escort carrier although the destroyer is lighter armed in some areas. Weaponry is a bit lighter than some vessels with bow and aft mounted twin flack cannons as the main battery. Two mounts are in the bow section while there is only a single mount in the after part of the vessel. They are the same basic weapon which is mounted on the NGR Hunter class armor. These weapons are extremely effective against aircraft but can be used against surface targets and against shore installations as well. The ship also mounts two pairs of lightning blasters which are on either side of the superstructure. These are powered by magical energy and never need to be recharged.


The rest of the ship’s weaponry is mainly missile type weapons. Behind the three stacks, the ship mounts a medium range missile launcher which fires vertically. It is a sixteen cell launcher but has an automatic reload system. Payload is sixty-four medium range missiles. A mixture of missiles is usually carried with often a number of anti-submarine rocket propelled torpedoes carried. This is augmented by a single short range box launcher mounted on the fantail above the flack cannon mount. The launcher carries thirty-six missiles and has one full reload available to it. Usually, the higher speed anti-air missiles are carried. While the do not carry as large warheads, the missiles are much more effective against targets in the air. As well, there are three tube torpedo mounts on either side. These tubes were originally designed for use against submarines but can be used against surface targets as well. The vessel carries forty-eight torpedoes for reloads although launcher is manually reloaded.


Electronics, the ship is mounted with a compact long range radar system which is backed up by a shorter ranged phased array radar system. This gives the vessel a better ability to track and target than it otherwise might have. The ship also mounts a short range hull sonar and a quite effective towed array radar system. Except for not having a VTOL embarked, the ship is a quite effective anti-submarine warfare platform. Instead of just having the ability top detect other vessel’s radar systems, the destroyer also has a jamming array. For additional defense, the ship mounts a magical “Fireworks” magical chaff and flare system. Like most techno-wizard designs, it does have magical optics designed to see invisible targets. Finally, the ship has a techno-wizard battery to charge the various enchantments.


Model Type: Techno-Wizard Destroyer.

Vehicle Type: Ocean, Magically Enchanted Destroyer.

Crew: 56 (With four techno-wizards).

Troops: 24.


Robots, Power Armors, and Vehicles:

 

12

Mystic Power Armors.

 

12

T.W. “Angel of War” Body Armors / Power Armors.

M.D.C. by Location:

 

Twin Barrel Flack Cannon Turret (3, 2 Bow and 1 Stern):

280 each.

 

Lightning Blaster Mounts (2, sides of stacks):

50 each.

 

Medium Range VLS Missile Launcher (1, 16 Cell):

300.

 

Short Range Missile Launchers (1, Aft):

150.

 

Medium Torpedo Launchers (2, sides):

45 each.

 

[1] “Ball Lightning” Balls (12 total):

20 each.

 

“Fireworks” Magic Chaff and Flare Dispensers (2, superstructure):

20 each.

 

Bridge (Superstructure):

600.

 

[2] Long Range Radar System (Superstructure):

200.

 

[2] Phase Array Radar Panels (4, Superstructure):

200 each.

 

[3] Main Body:

1,500.

Notes:

[1] These are small and difficult targets to strike, requiring the attacker to make a “called shot,” but even then the attacker is -4 to strike.

[2] Destroying Phase Array radar panels will destroy the ship’s main fire control systems but guns and missiles have backup systems and panels can compensate for each other. Destroying the long range radar system eliminates long range radar coverage beyond phased array range.

[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body destroys the ship’s structural integrity, causing it to sink. There are enough flotation devices and inflatable life rafts to accommodate everyone aboard.


Speed:

Surface: 48.4 mph (42 knots/ 77.8 kph).

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited (Special magical power source) Ship carries around three months worth of supplies aboard.


Statistical Data:

Length:                372.5 feet (113.54 meters) overall and 358.6 feet (109.30 meters) at the waterline.

Draft:                   16.4 feet (5.00 meters).

Width:                 38 feet (11.58 meters).

Displacement:     1,850 tons normal load and 2,760 fully loaded.

Cargo: Can carry 100 tons of nonessential equipment and supplies. 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 taken up by extra ammo, armor, troops, weapons, and engines.

Power System: Magical; Uses magical rift to elemental dimension of air to generate electricity (Indefinite duration).

Black Market Cost: Not available, would likely cost around 250 million credits to construct.


Weapon Systems:

  1. Three (3) Twin Recoilless Anti-Aircraft Flack Cannon Turrets: The cannons are mounted in twins mounts with two on the bow of the ship and a single mount on the after part of the vessel almost at the fantail. Each cannon is identical to the TX-862FC with the exception that the weapon’s ammunition bins are larger and are mounted in pairs. The cannon turrets can rotate 360 and the barrel can tilt up to 90 degrees. It is normally used for Anti-Aircraft purposes but also works as excellent but fairly short range artillery. Weapon cannot be used when electrical field is active because rounds will detonate in the field.

    Maximum Effective Range: 10,000 feet (3,048 meters).

    Mega Damage: Single Round: 4D6 M.D.C., Two Rounds: 1D6x10 M.D.C., and Six Rounds: 3D6x10 M.D.C. Double weapons damage if the gun is firing both cannons simultaneously (1D6x10 for two rounds / 2D6 x 10 for four rounds/ and 6D6x10 for twelve rounds).

    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 5 or 6) each (Firing both barrels counts as one attack).

    Payload: Total 1,200 for each barrel (2,400 total for mount). That is 200 volleys of 6 rounds, or 600 two round volleys.

    Special Feature: The flack cannon has both and independent power supply and its own laser targeting and radar tracking system (especially useful if radar system is destroyed). Sensor has a range of 11,000 feet (3353 meters). The system can also be set on automatic which gives it +1 to strike and three attacks per melee and will fire two round burst. Gives +2 when fired.

  2. Two (2) Heavy Lightning Blasters: Mounted on the vessel are two lightning blasters. These are mounted on either side of the ship’s “Fake” smoke stacks. Each one is controlled by a gunner and have a 360 degree rotation and 85 degree arc of fire. Additional optics and fire control have been added to enable the system to track and target aircraft and missiles The lightning blasters have a slightly better range and have an unlimited payload compared to hand held lightning blasters. The weapon pulls its energy from the elemental rift and does not need to be recharged. Lightning blasters are the only weapons which can be fired while the electrical field is active.

    Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,220 meters).

    Mega Damage: 1D4x10+10 per electrical blaster.

    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).

    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

  3. One (1) Medium Range Missile Battery: The missile battery is located aft of the ship’s smoke stacks. The launcher can launch up to 16 simultaneously each and automatically reload the launcher after each firing. This acts as the ships point defense and is normally used to engage incoming air targets and missiles. Launchers look like a vertical launch missile launcher similar to the Pre-Rifts Vertical Launch Sea Sparrow launchers. Special rocket propelled torpedoes can also be fired and missiles may also be fired at surface targets. Weapon cannot be used when electrical field is active because missiles will detonate in the field.

    Maximum Effective Range: As per medium range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)

    Mega Damage: As per medium range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)

    Rate of Fire: Can fire medium range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), eight (8), or sixteen (16) medium range missiles.

    Payload: Sixty-Four (64) medium range missiles total.

  4. One (1) Short Range Missile Launching System: Mounted on the fantail above the after turret, the launcher has a payload of thirty-six short range missiles and fills a similar role to the Pre-Rifts RAM missile launcher. The launcher’s primary purpose is to shoot down incoming missiles and usually the higher speed surface to air missiles are used. Missiles are usually a fifty / fifty mix of armor piercing and plasma missiles. Weapon cannot be used when electrical field is active because missiles will detonate in the field.

    Note: SAM style missiles are missiles that sacrifice payload for higher speeds, see Chris Curtis’ modified missile table for specifics.

    Maximum Effective Range: As per short range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details - SAM style missiles normally.)

    Mega Damage: As per short range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details - SAM style missiles normally.)

    Rate of Fire: Can fire short range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), six (6), or twelve (12) short range missiles. Reloading launcher requires two minutes (six missiles per minute); twice as long if the crew is not familiar with the loading procedure.

    Payload: Thirty-Six (36) short range missiles with an additional seventy-two (72) missiles for reloads kept in storage.

  5. Two (2) Torpedo Launchers: There is one launcher on each side of the ship. Each torpedo launcher has three torpedo tubes and tubes are 12.75 in (324 mm) wide. Torpedoes are normally used against submarines but can be targeted on surface targets as well. Ship carries forty-eight reloads for torpedoes. For the most part torpedo warheads are equal to medium range missile warheads. Weapon cannot be used when electrical field is active because torpedoes will detonate in the field almost right after launch.

    Maximum Effective Range: 20 miles (17.4 nautical miles / 32 km) for standard torpedoes.

    Mega Damage: By medium torpedo warhead type (See revised Rifts torpedoes for details.)

    Rate of Fire: Can fire torpedoes one at a time or in volleys of two (2) or three (3) torpedoes per side, Reloading takes one full melee per tube.

    Payload: Three (3) torpedoes each launcher for a grand total of six (6) torpedoes (Has 48 torpedoes for reloads)

  6. Magical “Ball Lightning” Bolts: The destroyer can generate up to a dozen ball lightning bolts. This creates a field larger than possible on smaller vehicles such as fighters. There is a small pocket on deck which allows the crew to go outside while the field is active. While this field is active, the destroyer glows a bright blue and cannot be concealed using the spells of Chameleon, Invisibility, or Shadow Meld. While the field is active, the warship (and the crew) is immune to all forms of electrical attack including ion weapons and magical lightning. As well, any missile or projectile must pass through the electrical field before striking the destroyer. Assume an object will make it about half way through the energy field before detonating to calculate to see if the blast radius will still affect the destroyer (reduce damage by half in that case.) Also effective against attempts to board the vessel by conventional means. Theoretically, the electrical field may be used as a weapon to attack targets by edging close to a target but piloting rolls are at -30% and is considered stunt piloting. The ball lightning may be fired at a greater range than the electrical field but reduces the power of the electrical field for each ball lightning that is fired. If more than four ball lightning are fired in a melee (less than eight remaining around the destroyer) then the electrical field will drop. As well, if more than four balls are destroyed (each ball has 20 M.D.C.), the electrical field is also lost. In either case, the balls will come back at the beginning of the next melee round and the field will be restored.

    Maximum Effective Range: Electrical Field: 80 to 120 feet (24.4 to 38.6 meters) globe around vessel. Reduce by 10 feet / 3 meters from 120 feet /28.6 meters for every ball lightning fired / destroyed. Ball Lightning Bolt: 600 feet (192.9 meters).

    Mega Damage: Electrical Field: 2D6x10+40 to anything within the electrical field (not including the vessel or crew.) Reduce field damage by 10 M.D.C. for each ball lower than twelve (Must maintain at least eight.) Ball Lightning Bolt: 3D6+6 each.

    Rate of Fire: Electrical Field: Active as long as eight or more ball lightning are around destroyer. Ball Lightning Bolt: One per melee attack of gunner (Usually 4 or 5).

    Payload: Twelve “Ball Lightning” Balls per melee. Balls are renewed at the start of each melee round.

  7. Two (2) Magical “Fireworks” Anti-Missile Chaff/Flare Dispenser: In many ways this system is similar to technological versions of the Chaff/Flare system. When the system fires, it looks like fireworks firing. The anti-missile system works by combining three spells. The three spells are Fire Bolt, Apparition, and Telekinesis. The physical effects of the system are similar to the Triax Anti-Missile chaff but instead of being reloaded, it is recharged by spells.

    Effect:

      01-35 - Enemy missile or missile volley detonates in chaff cloud - Missiles are all destroyed.

      36-60 - Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target.)

      61-00 - No effect, enemy missile or missile volley is still on target.

    Also note that the chaff cloud will also blind flying monsters that fly through cloud. They will suffer the following penalties: reduce melee attacks/actions, combat bonuses, and speed by half.

    Duration: 1D4 melee rounds.

    Payload: 10 Uses before being recharged. Each launcher is recharged by the spells Apparition (20 P.P.E.), Fire Bolt (7 P.P.E.), and Telekinesis (8 P.P.E.) The cost for all launchers to be recharged is 70 P.P.E. All launchers must be activated at the same time to operate correctly.

  8. Techno-Wizard Modifications: The vessel has the following techno-wizard modifications built into the ship. These require P.P.E. or I.S.P. from the ship’s crew or the ship itself. The P.P.E. and I.S.P. values listed inside of the parenthesis are if using higher P.P.E. costs for larger vehicles.

    Special Features:

      Impervious to Energy (6th Level) - 20 P.P.E. or 40 I.S.P. (80 P.P.E. or 160 I.S.P.)

      Invisibility-Superior (6th Level) - 20 P.P.E. or 40 I.S.P. (80 P.P.E. or 160 I.S.P.)

      Shadow Meld (6th Level) - 10 P.P.E. or 20 I.S.P. (40 P.P.E. or 80 I.S.P.)

Special Systems:

The ship has all systems standard on a robot vehicle plus the following special features:


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[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]


Line Drawing by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Copyright © 2010 & 2016, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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