Amastra Escort Carrier:

Since almost the creation of space navies, there were escort carrier designs. Actually, the concept goes back to ocean navies converting merchant hulls. They are far cheaper than military hull designs which makes them quite popular. What is almost amazing is that there are actually some remaining from almost the earliest days of star faring. Even so, there is really only a handful remaining operational anymore.

In some cases, these ships might be used for very poor system self defense forces or down on your heels mercenary companies. The escort carrier Amastra is one of these. It is amazing just how many hands this ship has been in since being built centuries ago, having carried many names, some forget forever. It is also amazing with the poor quality of maintenance and the amount of damage that it has taken that the ship is actually still operational.

The Amastra could be considered a typical design for an older escort carrier although each ship is quite different. It is built on a "Kraveel" class Bulk Transport hull. Many of the oldest escort carriers that are still operation have been upgraded. The Amastra however is almost unchanged since it was converted, It has been lost when the ship was actually been converted to an escort carrier. The ship yard that the ship was built has long been raised and all construction record have been long lost.

Generations of fighters have flown off these escort carriers. The first fighters operated off the carrier is believed to have been the Tiger IV starfighter. It is believed that a compliment of sixty of these fighters were once embarked carrier. Even today, a significant part of the compliment is made up of these fighter that are as ancient as the carrier itself. Later, the much more capable Osprey and Vixen fighters began being operated off the carrier. Now, a number of Hyena and Super Hyena supplement all of the older fighters which are embarked. With light fighters, a maximum of eighty-four fighters can be embarked.

The ship does have some measure of self defense beyond that of the bulk transport hull that it is built on but it has only light defenses compared to even a modern escort carrier. Supplementing the four laser batteries are four electromagnetic rail gun mounts. The standard pair of medium range missile batteries is doubled to four with additional payload per launcher. Backing these up are four mini-missile launchers.

As far as protection, the standard force field is replaced by a military variable force field. The shield generator is the same generator as was developed for the Boadicea class cruiser and Dauntless class light carrier. The ship also is slightly reinforced so that it can withstand more damage although is not armored to any great extend.

Biggest problem with the ship though isn’t the weaponry or protection of the carrier but its speed. A modern merchant ship can reach two times that of the Kraveel class and actual purpose built carriers can usually reach three times that of the escort carrier. The escort carrier not arriving in time can be the result of the slow speed of the escort carrier.

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

Model Types: Modified VQX-600 “Kraveel” class Bulk Transport

Vehicle Type: Space, Escort Carrier (Converted Medium Cargo Ship)

Crew:388 (32 Officers and 356 Enlisted Crew)

Troops: 40 marines ( typically stay on board for ship defense), 90 fighter pilots, and 24 power armor pilots

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Power Armors:

Light Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	24	HAF SF-4 Tiger IV Medium Starfighter
	6	HAF SF-6 Osprey Medium Starfighter
	24	HAF SF-9 Vixen Light Starfighter
	24	MSX-128 “Hyena” Light Starfighter
	6	MSX-133 “Super Hyena” Medium Starfighter

M.D.C. By Location:

	Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (4):	150 each
	Point Defense Laser Cannon Turrets (4):	180 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (4):	220 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (4):	100 each
	Outer Hull (40 x 40 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	80
	Inner Hull (40 x 20 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	60
	[1] Bridge:	1,800
	Hanger Bays (4):	2,000 each
	[2] Main Engines (2):	2,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	18,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	2,500 a side (15,000 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 hull. 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 the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.

[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the cargo ship 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% (750 M.D.C.) per melee round.

Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 20 percent of the speed of light maximum due to civilian shields. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.3 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 200 mph (321.9 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 1.5 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about two years worth of supplies on board for the crew but normally does not operate for that long without resupply.

Statistical Data:

Length: 880 feet (268.22 meters).

Height: 360 feet (109.73 meters).

Width: 410 feet (124.97 meters).

Weight:388,000 Tons (352,000 metric tons)

Power System: Fusion with a 12 year life span. The ship is usually only goes 5 years between refueling.

Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 20,000 tons (18,145 metric 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 taken up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: Including both the original cost of the cargo ship and modifications, the ship costs about 800 million credits.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Four (4) Point Defense 15 mm Electromagnetic Rail Guns: Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World / Three Galaxies starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. They are used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. Each rail gun is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. When used in space, projectiles are fired from rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Rail guns use 15 mm depleted uranium projectiles.

Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 800 miles (1,290 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Rail gun inflicts 3D6x10 M.D.C. for an 80 round burst.

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

Payload: 16,000 Rounds (200 Bursts) each cannon.
Four (4) Laser Batteries: Weapon system is used as an anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter. Weapons system has no penalties to hit fighters and small targets and can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee). The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 100 miles (161 km) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: 2D4x10 M.D.C. each.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Four (4) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Normally used for anti-fighter and point defense. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

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.

Mega-Damage: Varies with medium range missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) missiles per battery

Payload: 48 per battery for a total of 192 medium range missiles.
Four (4) Mini-Missile Launchers: These are missile turrets used for point defense against enemy fighters and missiles. Missile has a top speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 2% of light per turn (slightly faster than any starship except if it is exceeding it maximum safe acceleration.) Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

Maximum Effective Range: Mini Missile range is 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere and 100 miles (161 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Varies with mini-missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of four (4) or eight (8) mini-missiles.

Payload: 128 per launcher for a total of 512 mini-missiles. Cargo hold has an additional 2,048 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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