Asteroid Fortresses (Large - Consortium / Human Alliance Based):

A common tactic for many of the planets, smaller governments, mercenary companies, and even corporations is to convert asteroids into incredibly powerful fortresses. Most asteroid fortresses are built on around 10 km wide asteroids but a handful have been built on far larger asteroids. Among the largest are the fortresses built on 30 km or larger asteroids. They mass twenty-five or more times more than 10 kilometer asteroid and have about ten times as much surface area. Only a comparative handful of these huge fortresses have been built. One purpose they are used is as command fortresses for smaller fortresses.

Even though far larger, the process to make these fortresses is virtually identical to building the smaller fortresses. A large metallic (Normally Iron/Nickel) asteroid is selected and pushed down the gravity well towards the planet which it is planned to be put in orbit of. Much larger asteroids are much harder to move. Once they reach near the planet's orbit, they are carefully maneuvered so that they enter a stable orbit around the planet they are to protect. Usual orbital distance is about fifty to sixty thousand kilometers.

Once in orbit, pits will be tunneled into the rock for the installation of weapon systems and hanger bays. In addition, control centers and reactors will be placed in the center of the asteroid. All of this is connected by an incredible set of tunnels. As required, any massive projections of rock will be cut away so as not to impede firing arcs. These fortresses are still far from spheres and a common description is a potato. The process of moving and then transforming the asteroid can take many years. Still, the creation of these fortresses is far cheaper than it would be to built a comparable orbital defense platform.

Theoretically, one of these fortresses could hold off a whole battle fleet. Of course if a standard orbital defense platform was built the size of one of these fortresses, they would have many times the firepower. The reality also is that when dealing with attacking warships that such ships will often fire their missiles outside of capital missile range and missiles will come in on a ballistic trajectory. This is especially effective because the fortresses do not have the ability to dodge incoming missiles. A second tactic against fortresses is to use fighters but have them stay out of the outer missile defense zone.

In order to reduce the cost to building these fortresses, often older weapon systems are for these titanic fortresses. They tend to come from scrapped Human Alliance designs with the heaviest energy batteries coming from old battleships. The larger fortresses are often armed with about twenty four heavy energy batteries and twenty four heavy missile batteries, giving them absolutely incredible firepower.

Each of these larger fortress on average carries the energy weapon firepower of approximately twenty-four Yamato class battleships or many times that number compared to the even older Agamemnon class. A total of forty-eight triple 40 cm particle beam mounts are carried on the fortresses. Smaller fortresses are more often armed with single 28 cm particle beams. Each cluster also has four 12 cm laser cannons and 8 cm rail guns. Generally, only the 8 cm rail guns are new mounts. Mounts have approximately a 150 degree arc of fire so multiple energy batteries can be brought to bear against a single target.

Missile weaponry is also usually pulled from older vessels. The large fortresses usually have about ninety-six capital missile batteries and almost two hundred long range missile batteries. Missile launchers from scrapped warships are more common than the heavy particle beams. Capital missile firepower is approximately equal to two dozen Kurganov class missile cruisers. Missiles have the advantage over energy weapons of being able to change course after firing. An incredible payload of missiles are carried on these platforms - approximately eight times as many missiles per battery as a Kurganov class cruiser for example.

Each weapon cluster or hanger is protected by point defense batteries. These include four point defense lasers, four rail guns, and four mini-missile batteries. While the heavy anti-ship rail guns are gravity type rail guns, these point defense mounts are electromagnetic rail guns. Still, the rail guns are extremely effective. The point defense weaponry work in concert and are designed to protect the whole fortress from all attacks not just the individual cluster or bay that they are located at.

Because of the large amount of rock between the control centers and the surface of the asteroid, the control centers are virtually invulnerable to attack. Smaller fortresses are less invulnerable that the larger fortresses but even they are incredible tough. Even so, most fortresses have a pair of control centers. If nothing else, the redundancy gives an additional level of safety and security. Weapon systems and fighter bays are more vulnerable to attack and are mounted in clusters so that they can be shielded. Most attacks will target the individual weapon systems and hanger bays. No shield has even been built which can shield the entire asteroid and instead individual locations are shielded.

While the asteroid fortresses have no propulsion systems, they are powered by sixteen powerful fusion reactors. For fixed fortifications, fusion plants have many advantages over anti-matter plants. They cost far less to build and operate than anti-matter reactors. Hydrogen, the fuel for most fusion reactors, is far easier to acquire and store than anti-matter. Space in not the concern with these fortresses as it is for starships so the biggest advantage of anti-matter reactors is comparatively unimportant.

Because of the enormous volume of a 30 km asteroid, it has a huge amount of space available for other uses. Some of this space is often used for huge bays for starships. A common feature are six bays for starships allowing these fortresses to act as a shipyards and resupply depots. Two of the bays can fit ships up to cruiser or escort / light carrier sized ships and the additional four bays can fit up to destroyer sized ships. The remaining bays, twelve in total, contain between them more fighters than four Consortium Packmaster class carriers have. A wide mix of different fighters can be found on these platforms, both old and new fighter designs. These fortress, because they are fixed have a vulnerability to troop attacks. As such, they carry a large troop compliment for defense against such attacks.

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

Weapon Clusters:
24 Heavy Energy Weapon Clusters each containing:

	6	40 cm Particle beams (or 2 Triple particle Beams)/td>
	4	12 cm Heavy Lasers
	4	8 cm Heavy Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Lasers
	4	Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers

24 Heavy Missile Weapon Clusters each containing:

	4	Cruise Missile Batteries
	8	Long-Range Missile Batteries
	4	Point Defense Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Lasers
	4	Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers

18 Hanger Defense Clusters each containing:

	4	Point Defense Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Lasers
	4	Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers

Model Type: ODF-L2
Vehicle Type: Orbital Defense Fortress
Crew: 25,400 (1,500 Officers and 23,900 enlisted)
Troops: 15,000 Marines (6,000 in power armor), 4,500 fighter pilots, and 2,000 Silverhawk pilots.

Vehicles:
Power Armors & Robots:

	2,000	Silver Hawk Power Armors
	6,000	Ground Pounder Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	800	SF-69 Scorpion Star Interceptor (SF-9 Vixen or SF-128 Bobcat light fighters in some cases)
	400	BIF-67 Katana Star fighters (SF-6 Osprey medium fighters in some cases)
	320	SF-101 Black Eagle Star fighters (SF-6 Osprey medium fighters in some cases)
	80	LRF-25 Proctor Long-Range Interceptors (SF-12 Puma heavy fighters in some cases)

Assault Shuttles & Starships:

SAS-12 Consortium Assault Shuttles (AS-4 Human Alliance Assault Shuttle in some cases)

M.D.C. By Location:

Main Energy Clusters (24):

	40 cm Triple Heavy Particle Beams (2 each cluster, 48 Total):	4,000 each
	12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (4 each cluster, 96 Total):	750 each
	Heavy Gravity Rail Guns (4 each cluster, 96 Total):	800 each

Main Missile Clusters (24):

	Cruise Missile Batteries (4 each cluster, 96 total):	800 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (8 each cluster, 192 total):	500 each

	Point Defense Rail Gun Turrets (264 total, 4 each cluster or bay):	150 each
	Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (264 total, 4 each cluster/bay):	150 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (264, 4 each cluster or vehicle bay):	100 each
	[1] Protective Forcefields (66, One each cluster or vehicle bay):	20,000 each
	Small Craft Hanger Bays (12):	40,000 each
	[2] Control Center:	10 Million
	[2] Auxiliary Control Center:	10 Million
	[3] Main Body:	30 Million

Notes:
[1] Instead of having variable shields, the station has shields over vital surface installations. These include weapon clusters, fighter bays, and starship bays. Each shield regenerates at the rate of 5% (1,000 M.D.C.) per melee round.
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the control center through the asteroids. The control centers are near the center of the asteroid. This fortress also has an auxiliary control center. Even if both control centers are taken out, the weapon systems can be fired using local control. Unlike most platforms, weapon strikes have to penetrate the asteroid fully to be able to injure crew on the bridge. If an attack is attempting to penetrate directly to the control centers, the damage is also applied on the main body of the asteroid.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will completely destroy the Asteroid Fortress. While the material the asteroid is constructed from are S.D.C. materials (Rock), a weapon must inflict M.D.C. damage to do any actual damage to the asteroid.

Speed:
Does not move; if the position of the Fortress is changed, fleets of tugs are used to move it.

Statistical Data:
Length: Approximately 20 miles (32.2 km)
Height: Approximately 20 miles (32.2 km)
Width: Approximately 20 miles (32.2 km)
Mass/Weight: Approximately 3.86 x 10¹⁴ tons (3.5 x 10¹⁴ metric tons)
Power System: 16 Large fusion reactions (20 year duration each)
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the asteroid fortress that allow for the storage of up to 20 billion tons (18.14 billion 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. Fortress officers have more space for personal items. Most of the fortress spaces are take up by extra ammo, armor, troops, and weapons
Market Cost: 80 to 120 billion credits to construct (Does not include standard fighter and power armor compliment.)

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Forty-Eight (48) 40 cm Main Particle Beam Batteries (144 Particle Beams Total): Mounted along the surface of the asteroid are twenty four mounts with two turrets in each beam weapon cluster. Each turret has three 40 cm particle beams on each mount which generally fire together. This give a total of six particle beams in each battery. While these weapons are not quite as powerful as the 102 cm laser batteries on the Protector, they are quite powerful and capable of taking out huge targets. Each battery can fire at up to three different targets or can be combined on one target. When these weapons are massed, they are capable of taking out cruisers in two blasts. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets. Weaponry is designed to be able to be fired in a 150 degree cone so usually multiple batteries can fire on a single target. Still, because of the positioning of the mounts, approximately half of the mounts can fire on any target.
Maximum Effective Range: 70,000 miles (112,650 km)in space and 70 miles (112.7 km) in an atmosphere
Mega Damage: 1D6x1000 M.D.C. each Particle Beam. All three in a battery can be combined to do 3D6x1000 M.D.C.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee per particle beam.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Ninety Six (96) 12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons: Mounted along the surface of the asteroid are twenty four mounts with four turrets in each beam weapon cluster. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets. The barrels can be can be rotated 180 degrees in all directions. Up to two may be fired as one volley. Weaponry is designed to be able to be fired in a 150 degree cone so usually multiple batteries can fire on a single target. Still, because of the positioning of the mounts, approximately half of the mounts can fire on any target.
Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (25.8 km) through atmosphere and 16,000 miles (25,800 km) in space.
Mega Damage: 2D6x100 M.D.C. each. Two can be combined for 4D6x100 M.D.C.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee each.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Ninety Six (96) 8 cm Heavy Rail Guns: Mounted along the surface of the asteroid are twenty four mounts with four turrets in each beam weapon cluster. These are gravity type rail guns. Used as one of the fortresses secondary batteries and they are used against targets that are impervious to energy as well. System can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee) and can rotate 180 degrees. Rail gun projectiles are fired from mounts at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Because of the positioning of the mounts, approximately half of the mounts can fire on any target. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets.
Maximum Effective Range: 10,000 miles (16,100 km) in space, range is 10 miles (16.1 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 1D4x100 M.D.C. per 80 round burst each.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: 32,000 rounds each (400 bursts).
Two Hundred and Sixty-Four (264) 15 mm Electromagnetic Point Defense Rail Guns: The Asteroid fortress has four point defense rail guns mounted in each heavy weapon cluster and around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress not just the cluster they are mounted in. Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World 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. Projectiles are fired from mounts at a significant fraction of the speed of light. 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.
Two Hundred and Sixty-Four (264) Point Defense Lasers in Double Mounts: The Asteroid fortress has four point defense laser cannons mounted in each weapon cluster and around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress not just the cluster they are mounted in. Used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon. Each laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.
Maximum Effective Range: 2.5 miles (4 km) miles through atmosphere and 250 miles (402.3 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: 2D6x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Ninety Six (96) Cruise Missile Batteries: The Fortress has four cruise missile batteries in each heavy missile battery cluster. 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 unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF cruise missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.
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 twenty-four (24) missiles per launcher, per melee round, for a maximum of 2,304 missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
Payload: 2,304 total, 24 cruise missiles per battery. Fortress has 30 reload of missiles (69,120 cruise missiles total) for each launcher.
One Hundred and Ninety-Two (192) Long Range Missile Batteries: The Fortress has eight long range missile launchers in each heavy missile battery cluster. 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, 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 be detected.) Long range missiles do not have minuses to hit small targets, unlike cruise missiles, and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF long range missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.
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 twenty-four (24) missiles per launcher, per melee attack.
Payload: 230,400 total, 1,200 long range missiles per battery.
Two Hundred and Sixty-Four (264) Mini-Missile Batteries: The Asteroid fortress has four point defense mini missile launchers mounted in each weapon cluster and around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress not just the cluster they are mounted in. 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 33,792 mini-missiles. Magazines hold has an additional 640 mini-missile for each launcher (168,960). Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes. Additional mini-missiles can be stored in the fortress.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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