Free Worlds Council Eagle’s Nest class Pocket Carrier:

This starship design is a product of the Free Worlds Council and there are few ship designs in the Three Galaxies similar to it. In the carrier role, the Free Worlds Council started mainly by using converted cargo ships. While converted cargo ships are cheap, it was designed to develop a full fledged carrier design. It was decided to develop an extremely small carrier actually destroyer classed. The name that was decided on was “Pocket Carrier.”

The construction of these ships is extremely unusual in that they are constructed in sections and then assembled. The whole shipbuilding is done on planetary surface. In large part, this unconventional shipbuilding is due to the Free Worlds Council having very limited shipbuilding facilities and these are committed to the building and refitting of larger vessels. One advantage of this non tradition shipbuilding is that a large number of these vessels have been able to be built in a comparatively short time.

A few mercenary fighter squadrons have expressed a strong interest in purchasing these ships and a small company is currently working for the Free Worlds Council in return for getting one of these vessels. So far, none of these vessels have been sold due to the Free Worlds Council needing every ship they can get their hands on. It is more likely that the Free Worlds Council might sell the design of the ship. Even if not, it is most likely simply a matter of time until another group begins manufacturing a similar design.

The concept of this ship design is to carry and as well as maintain as many fighters as possible in as small a design as possible. It is not simply the number of fighters it can carry but the ability to do at least limited maintenance and support on the fighters. Otherwise the design for the Centurion class starfighter transport might have worked just as well.

Standard compliment for the Eagle’s Nest class pocket carrier is six medium fighters. Most common medium fighters include the Flying Fang, Osprey, and Gladius fighters. Usually, the upgraded Flying Fang is carried instead of the standard Trans-Galactic Empire design. Less common are the Black Eagle and Katana fighters. In a few cases, other medium fighters might be carried especially on special missions. Smaller fighter can be carried as well but fighter numbers are still limited to six fighters. Larger fighters such as the Proctor and Mosquito simply cannot be carried by the pocket carrier. There are no facilities for power armors and marines.

Unusually, each fighter has its own separate bay allowing fighters to be launched extremely rapidly. There are three bays on each side of the ship. Even though the ship is designed to provide support, missile magazines are limited. In general, the pocket carrier is designed to be able to reload and rearm each fighter four times before being out of missiles in the ship’s magazines.

These carriers are only comparatively lightly armed with only a few weapon mounts. Even so, the pocket carriers have limited anti-ship weaponry. These are mounted in a pair of turrets, one in the top center rear of the vessel and one in the bottle middle rear of the ship in effectively mirror positions. Each has three 10 cm rapid firing lasers combined with a medium range missile battery. Even though the tracking of the rapid fire laser is limited against fighters, it often will still engage them because if it hits it is devastating. Still, the heavy laser weaponry is not considered very effective against large vessels. It requires two or more pocket carriers to drive off destroyers when they are operating together. There has been some discussion of replacing these with different weapon systems.

The medium range missile batteries in the same mount are generally considered more effective. While the mount appears to only have a single missile tube, the battery actually has eight tubes and can fire up to eight medium range missiles as a single volley. These allow the pocket carrier to engage both missiles and fighters at comparatively long range.

The remainder of the small carrier’s weapon systems are considered purely point defense. The ship has two mini-missile launchers, two point defense gravity rail gun mounts, and two point defense laser mounts. Shield on the vessel are lighter than those on most destroyers but are military class variable force fields and are still capable of withstanding moderate damage before being breached.

Still, the ship has a number of things going for it. One of the most important is that ship is simply designed to be fast. It is designed to be able to outrun most larger warships. In normal space, there are only a few destroyer classes which are as fast in normal space. Can outrun the Trans-Galactic Empire Berserker, the most common ship which might threaten it, and its acceleration is similar to the Flying Fang fighter. In addition, these ships rapidly deploy with a faster than light speed of five and a half light years per hour, faster than most other Free World Council warships. As a result, these ships are often the first vessels to respond to emergencies.

Tactics for these pocket carriers are different than most carriers. These ships are often forced to operate by themselves or in pairs. The ships will drop out of faster than light far beyond the normal system boundaries and enter system on standard propulsion. The fighters are launched for a raid. The ship will then shut down it engines and slingshot around the star and pick up the fighters on the other side of the system. If other ships go after the ship, it will use its faster than light drives to escape the system and attempt to recover fighters later.

The ship is about the size of a small destroyer or large corvette. The ship is wider than it is tall and in rear of the ship is one large engine. In front of the ship, the ship narrows to a very blunt point. The ship is not especially aerodynamic but is still relatively capable in an atmosphere. These ships are very cramped and have quarters that are almost as restricted as a Proctor class heavy fighter and are far more cramped than a Hunter class destroyer.

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: DDLV-5.

Vehicle Type: Space, Pocket /Escort Carrier (Corvette Size).

Crew: 24 ships crew and 12 for fighter maintenance.

Troops: 12 fighter pilots.

Vehicles:

Fighter Compliment:

Medium Starfighters (Various)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Main Weapon Turrets (2 - bottom and top rear of ship):	1,200 each
	12 cm Medium Laser Cannons (3 each Turret):	500 each
	Medium Range Missile battery / Launcher (1 each Turret):	500 each
	2.5 cm Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (2):	200 each
	2 cm Gravity Rail Gun Mounts (2):	200 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (2):	150 each
	[1] Fighter Bay Doors (6):	400 each
	[2] Main Body:	2,800
	[3] Bridge:	800
	[4] Variable Force Field:	800 a side (4,800 Total)

Notes:

[1] Each Hanger is subdivided from the other hangers so destroying one hanger door does not put all other hanger areas in vacuum. Loss of a hanger door does reduce atmospheric speed to 200 mph or less due to huge amounts of wind drag.

[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the carrier out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

[3] 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.

[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (600 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 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 1.0 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach One (761.2 mph / 1,225.1 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave and is much better at atmospheric flight than most ships her size.

Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 5.5 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. The Ship carries about one year worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:

Length: 225 feet (68.6 meters).

Height: 65 feet (19.8 meters).

Width: 115 feet (35.1 meter).

Weight / Mass: 5,500 Tons (4,990 metric tons).

Power System: Nuclear with a average life span of 25 years. Ship normally only operates for 8 years between refueling and refit.

Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 600 tons (544.3 metric tons) of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. The ship also has small lockers for the ships crew and fighter pilots for personal items.

Market Cost: 450 million credits but virtually impossible to purchase because the Free World Council need all ships constructed.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Two (2) Combined Triple Laser / Medium Range Missile Launcher Turrets: The turrets are mounted near the rear of the ship on the top and bottom of the ships in mirror positions of each other. The laser canons act as the ships main anti-ship weaponry and the medium range missile launchers are mainly used against missiles and starships. The turret has the ability to rotate 360 degrees and mounts have a 75 degree arc of fire upwards.
1. 10 cm Rapid Fire Laser Cannons (3 each mount): The laser cannons have a high rate of fire but do not have sophisticated enough fire control so the weapon system has standard penalties to hit small targets such as missiles and starfighters. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
  
  Maximum Effective Range: 10 miles (16.1 km) through atmosphere and 10,000 miles (16,090 km) in space.
  
  Mega-Damage: 1D4x100 each (Can be combined for up to 3D4x100).
  
  Rate of Fire: Maximum of twice per melee per turret.
  
  Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Medium Range Missile Battery / Launcher (1 each): This launcher is a slightly larger tube mounted to the right of the two laser cannons. The launcher is normally used against starfighter and missiles but can be used against larger ships as well. The launcher can launch on multiple targets at the same time. Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. While not normally done, missiles may be launched on targets and allowed to drift dead to their target. The launchers may pull from each other’s magazines in emergencies.
  
  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 (Multi-warhead heavy warheads inflict 5D6x10 M.D.C. each - See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
  
  Rate of Fire: Can fire medium range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) medium range missiles per battery.
  
  Payload: 128 medium range missiles total (64 total each launcher.)
Two (2) 2.5 cm Point Defense Lasers in Triple Mounts: Mainly used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapons and have no penalties to strike small targets. Each laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Both turrets are mounted on the bottom of the ship. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 2.5 miles (4 km) miles through atmosphere and 250 miles (402.3 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: 3D6x10 M.D.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) 20 mm Point Defense Gravity Rail Guns: Both rail guns are mounted on the top of the ship in front of the hanger section. 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 the rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Rail gun uses a 20 mm projectile. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 2 miles (3.2 km) through atmosphere and 200 miles (320 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Rail gun inflicts 2D4x10 M.D.C. for a 20 round burst.

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

Payload: 10,000 Rounds (500 Bursts) each cannon.
Two (2) Mini-Missile Launchers: One mount is on the top of the ship and the other is on the bottom of the ship. 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 mini-missiles one at a time or in volleys of four (4) or eight (8) mini-missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 128 per launcher for a total of 256 mini-missiles. Cargo hold has an additional 512 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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