Mistral class Destroyer (Caramelles Kingdom):

The one area of engineering that the Caramelles Kingdom has huge troubles with is that of fighters. Their fighter designs can be considered second rate at best. Similarly, they have trouble with the smaller capital ships. There was an attempt to engineer a corvette class but the design was a spectacular failure. They have purchased a number of already rebuilt Human Alliance Falchion class corvettes and have also acquired a number of Consortium Proctor class corvettes. These ships are mostly used for customs duties.

As a result of their problems with smaller vessels, when the Kingdom decided to develop their own destroyer class, they decided to build a large destroyer. The destroyer class they developed, the Mistral class, is on the upper end of being a destroyer. It might be better described as a "destroyer leader." When the Caramelles Kingdom first formed, they had a number of Chevalier class light cruiser. This formed the basis for the development of the destroyer with most of the engineering effort put towards building a smaller version of the escort cruiser. The results are in many ways similar to the "Long Bow" version of the Scimitar patrol ship.

The Caramelles Kingdom doesn't have the options than many minor governments in the Three Galaxies have. The closest large neighbors to the Kingdom is the Consortium of Civilized Worlds but due to a variety of reasons, relations are strained and there is little ability to get advanced technology from the Consortium. They also did not want to settle for ancient cast off designs. It is likely that they could have acquired a number of Hunter class destroyers but likely could not acquire in the numbers desired and would cause logistical problems. As a result, the six system of the Caramelles Kingdom needed to develop their own military industry.

The original founders left the Human Alliance because they did not like the alien influences when the Alliance joined the Consortium. The few non humans within the Kingdom are treated as second class citizens at best and often are abused. Instead of being a democracy, the Caramelles Kingdom is virtually feudal monarchy. Most monarchies, for example New Coventry, are constitutional monarchies with the monarch mostly acting as a figurehead and there is a strong representative system underlying the monarch. This is not the case with the Caramelles Kingdom and virtually all of the power resides within the nobles with each planet under the rule of an Archduke, Archduchess, Prince, or Princess. Most being psychic, the power of nobles goes as far as all officers within the Kingdom being nobles.

The Kingdom eyes their neighbors with apparent interest in taking them over. If they could be sure that the Consortium would not get involved, it is most likely that they would attempt a smash and grab. One possibility which the Kingdom is waiting for is if the Consortium got involved in a major war with the Trans-Galactic Empire. The positioning of the Kingdom is such that the Empire is not considered a major threat. This is one reason why the Kingdom has a large fleet. Of course, if any of the neighbors that are under the gun thought that they could blunt the Kingdom, they would. They have been building larger fleets in defense against the Kingdom and the Kingdom is forced to respond by ever greater shipbuilding.

In addition to their own larger military, the Kingdom will sell their designs. They will sell to almost anybody and a number of their ships have ended up in the hands of pirates. About eight hundred of these destroyer have been built and is the most popular ship as far as exports. Currently, about three hundred and sixty of these ships are in service in the Caramelles Kingdom's navy with the remainder having been build for a diverse collection of interested parties. About a dozen additional destroyers are under construction, half for the Caramelle Navy. Unlike capital ships, these ships are not named after nobles.

These ships do have slighter better acceleration than capital ships of the Kingdom which makes them useful for scouting in front of the larger vessels. Their acceleration is actually better than the Consortium Scimitar class patrol ship. There was an attempt also to develop a better faster than light drive but it had a huge amount of problems and instead a unit based on the standard fleet units was used with a speed of four light years per hour. There is some home that the faster drive might perfected. The ship does use an anti-matter plant, not a fusion plant. When the class was first developed, it was the smaller anti-matter system built by the Kingdom. There is a rumor that the technology was develop partially through espionage from the Consortium.

A fairly blocky design, the Mistral class is not as well armored as the old Human Alliance Chevalier class escort cruiser but is still surprisingly well armored. Still, it is dangerous to consider it to be a light cruiser instead of a large destroyer. The variable force fields protecting the ship are also of destroyer class and are equal to those on the Scimitar class patrol ship and are actually only slightly inferior to those carried on the old Chevalier class. The shield generator is slightly more massive than the system carried on the Consortium patrol ship. Like most ships of this size, the destroyer lacks a secondary bridge. Except for the Kingdom's dreadnought class, all of the Kingdom's warships lack a secondary bridge.

Like most Caramelles Kingdom's warships, the Mistral class destroyer has a large crew, almost fifty percent greater than the Scimitar class patrol ship. These ships are more cramped generally than the Consortium design although officer quarters are quite spacious and luxurious. Like most of the Kingdom's warships, the enlisted quarters are not "bad" but they are lacking compared to Consortium ships of the same size. Ships operated by the kingdom have large officer compliments. On vessels not operated by the kingdom, the number of officers can likely be halved.

Except for the Archduchess Maria class dreadnought, the Kingdom's warships are dominated by missile weaponry. The Mistral class destroyer is armed with two long range missile batteries. These launchers do not have the ability to fire as large a simultaneous volley as the Longbow class although the launchers are physically a bit smaller as well. With just under four hundred missiles, the destroyer is able to fire a total of eight volleys of long range missiles before its magazines are empty. While they don't have the most advanced capital missile warheads, they have all of the standard long range missile types. These ships are also armed with a pair of 12 cm heavy laser cannons. For point defense, the destroyer mounts twelve light mounts. All have a mini-missile launcher, with forty-eight mini-missiles, combined with a direct fire weapon. Six of these are a triple particle beam and six are a 40 mm electromagnetic rail gun. Firing an extremely heavy round, this rail gun is extremely effective.

These ships are designed to be able to embark a pair of light fighters. It cannot carry medium fighters. Originally it was planned for these ships to carry four light fighters total but design compromises forced the reduction in fighter compliment. As it is, often the destroyers will embark no fighters. The Avispa class light fighter is not considered the best fighter design by most standards as it is so most captains are not too concerned with this situation. If a new light fighter is introduced such as a copy of the Ross ICE Hyena, this may change. Of course, the other operators of these ships often carry a wide variety of fighter types including the standard Hyena, the Scorpion, and the Vixen light fighters. These ships have space for up to twenty troops which about a dozen are often equipped with light power armors. Like with fighters, troops are not always embarked aboard the destroyer

The Caramelles Kingdom had a couple of Human Alliance Cobra class minesweepers when they were founded and managed to acquire a handful more a bit later on. As they began building Mistral class destroyer, the best remaining members of the Chevalier class light cruisers were converted into the minesweeper role. They are extremely similar to the Cobra class minesweeper although carry the inner point defense array carried by most Caramelles Kingdom military vessels. The remainder were either scrapped or sold, depending on their condition. As of the present time, no Chevalier class light cruisers with the exception of those converted to minesweeper roles remain in service with the Caramelles Kingdom. For minesweeping, high faster than light speed and normal space acceleration are not considered extremely important. The Kingdom is considering replacing the old mine sweepers with a new mine sweeper based on the Mistral class destroyer, replacing the heavy lasers with a powerful minesweeping sensor suite. As it is, the destroyers can be used as minesweepers if needed.

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

Model Type: Mistral class Destroyer
Vehicle Type: Heavy Destroyer (Space)
Crew: 136 (32 Officers, 104 enlisted)
Troops: 20 marines (12 equipped with power armors) and 4 fighter pilots. Troops and pilots are not always embarked.

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:

Light Power Armors (Not Always Embarked)

Fighter Compliment:

Light Starfighters (Not Always Embarked - Avispa Light Starfighters in Kingdom service)

M.D.C. By Location:

	12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (2):	750 each
	Electromagnetic Rail Cannons/Mini-Missile Batteries (6):	200 each
	Triple Particle Beam Cannons/Mini-Missile Batteries (6):	200 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (4):	600 each
	Hanger Bay Door (2):	400 each
	[1] Main Engines (2)	1,600 each
	[2] Bridge:	2,400
	[3] Main Body:	5,500
	[4] Variable Force Field:	1,000 a side (6,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. 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.
[3] 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 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% (300 M.D.C.) per melee round.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine and military shielding that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.85 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 450 mph (724.2 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave due to propulsion being Gravitic but is not designed primarily for atmospheric flight.
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 4 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about six months worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 484.5 feet (147.68 meters).
Height: 102.2 feet (31.15 meters).
Width: 143.6 feet (43.77 meters).
Weight: 16,400 tons (14,877.8 metric tons)
Power System: Anti-Matter with a 25 year life span. The ship normally only goes 10 years between refueling and refitting.
Cargo: Small cargo hold that can carry up to 200 ton (181.4 metric tons) of cargo not including 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: 400 million credits to construct and sells for around 600 million credits normally (Does not include standard fighter and power armor compliment - Caramelles Kingdom fighter compliment [Avispa and Torero Fighters] cost approximately 33 million and troop compliment 34 million.)

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Two (2) 12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons: Laser cannons are used against frigates and as against heavily reinforced targets. Located near the bow of the destroyer. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets. The barrels can be can be rotated 180 degrees in all directions. Both cannons can be fired as one volley. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
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 or 4D6x100 for both.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee each laser cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: 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 unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Long range missiles do not have penalties 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 although the actual battery is slightly smaller.
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 battery, per melee attack.
Payload: 384 total, 192 long range missiles per battery.
Six (6) 40 mm Electromagnetic Rail Gun/Mini Missile Batteries: Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World / Three Galaxies starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. Comparatively heavy weapons, the rail guns fire a heavy 40 mm high density projectile and have excellent range. Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Weapons are mounted around the ship for point defense. The rail gun still fires projectiles at incredible velocities compared to rail guns on Rifts Earth and projectiles are fired from the rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. 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). Missile launchers 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. Rail guns have a range of 12 miles (19.3 km) through atmosphere and 1,200 miles (1,930 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: Rail Cannon inflicts 3D6x10+30 M.D. for a 10 round burst. Mini-Missiles vary by mini-missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5). Mini-Missiles are fired one at a time or in volleys of two (2) or four (4) mini-missiles.
Payload: Rail Cannon has 2,000 Rounds (200 Bursts) each cannon, has forty-eight (48) mini-missiles at each launcher (288 total, can carry potentially several times more in storage holds).
Six (6) Triple Particle Beam/Mini Missile Batteries: These mounts are similar to the rail gun mounts with the rail gun replaced by a triple particle beam. While damage is similar, range is less that the rail gun mounts. Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Weapons are mounted around the ship for point defense. 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). Missile launchers 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. Particle beams have a range of 8 miles (13 km) through atmosphere and 400 miles (640 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: Triple particle beam inflicts 3D6x10 M.D. per burst. Mini-Missiles vary by mini-missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5). Mini-Missiles are fired one at a time or in volleys of two (2) or four (4) mini-missiles.
Payload: Effective unlimited for the particle beam mounts, has forty-eight (48) mini-missiles at each launcher (288 total, can carry potentially several times more in storage holds.)

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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