Harrier and Kestrel class Corvettes:

Produced in massive numbers, the Human Alliance Ferret is one of the most common corvette classes in the Three Galaxies. As the ships were retired from Human Alliance and Consortium service, huge numbers were sold as surplus. As a result, there was little reason for somebody to build a ship which filled a similar role.

As time went on there were issues with the Ferrets. Many of them had bee operated for decades if not more, many had been damaged and repaired multiple times, and they were never meant as much more of an emergency design as it was and was designed to be semi-disposable. It would have been shocking to those who first designed the Ferret how long many of them have lasted in service. In addition, most modern warships were faster with regards to faster than light travel at least.

Still, a number of operators really preferred the Ferret over other options. Even though far larger, the Scimitar class patrol vessel had nothing in the way of missile weaponry and the Hunter class simply could not fire anything like as large a volley of capital missiles per volley. In addition, most other options required larger crews, the Scimitar especially. Not even counting marines and fighter pilots, you can crew half a dozen Ferret class corvettes for a single Scimitar class.

The Consortium of Civilized Worlds had begun manufacturing a corvette class which fills a very similar role known as the Cheetah class. In addition, the Human Alliance has begun manufacturing the Soyakaze class corvette which also fills a similar role. The problem is that neither class is currently available outside of their respective militaries. While it might be possible in some cases to rebuild a Ferret completely, in most cases it is not considered cost effective and may actually cost more than building a new ship.

At one time there were numerous shipyards producing Ferret class corvettes. When production stopped, those facilities were all shut down. Over the years some were converted to other roles, others were simply scrapped, and only a handful remained in mothball status. Even most of them were stripped of a large amount of important equipment.

Still, a handful of engineers saw an opportunity and thought it would be worth producing an updated version of the old Ferret. It was decided that in order to reduce production costs that wherever possible the new vessels would use civilian components to reduce costs. The heavy use of civilian components does make for a slightly larger corvette. Interestingly, even though a more modern design, the new design actually costs less to manufacture than a direct copy of the old Ferret would.

During development, it was decide that there would be two versions of the corvette. One, which the designers decided to call the “Harrier” is armed with a capital missile battery. The other, which was given the name “Kestrel” is instead armed with a long range missile battery. The first is primarily used for anti-ship strikes while the second is more an escort design. Some operators operate the corvettes together with the Kestrel acting as a protective escort for the Harriers during strike missions. Currently there is no minesweeping version of the Kestrel class corvette although theoretically it could be used in that role although its sensors are not properly up to the task.

These launchers are more modern launchers than those mounted on the original Ferret and can throw more missiles per volley than the old corvette design. Part of the increased mass of the new designs is to increase magazine space although the number of missiles carried is still extremely limited. Otherwise the other weaponry of the corvette is purely defensive in nature. Standard is a pair of mini-missile batteries along with two conventional electromagnetic rail guns and two point defense laser batteries. While older weapon systems, they are easy to maintain while still quite effective.

A number of operators of these corvettes replace the point defense batteries with different weapon arrays. Some replace the four mini-missile batteries with a pair of medium range missile batteries. The medium range missile batteries give a better depth of defense. Other options include replace the conventional rail guns with GR-1000 heavy point defense rail guns and the point defense lasers with either standard point defense particle beams or variable focus particle beams.

As with the original Ferret, the corvette is powered by a fusion plant. It is considered far safer than an anti-matter plant while it is also designed for low maintenance and manning. The propulsion system only gives a normal space acceleration equal to the original Ferret although it does have a faster than light speed of 4.5 light years per hour. While not as fast as the newest Consortium and Consortium designs, it is still far better than the original Ferret.

One of the systems that is military is the force field generator. It is similar to the system mounted on a number of destroyer designs. Like the power plant and the propulsion, the hull uses modern civilian materials instead of the more advanced military composites and alloys. Even so, the additional mass of the harrier and Kestrel means that they can absorb just a bit more damage than the original Ferret. They are still extremely fragile however and just a few hits tend to wreck the corvettes.

One of the things that is interesting about the Harrier and Kestrel is that even though they are both larger than the designs they are based on, they require a smaller crew due to additional automation. As with the Ferret, these corvettes do not have any accommodations for marines. Still, the berthing spaces on the corvette are slightly more spacious than the original corvette as a result of reduced manning.

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:	A-FFL-05-A	“Harrier” class Attack Corvette.
	A-FFL-06-E	“Kestrel” class Escort Corvette.
Vehicle Type:	A-FFL-05-A	Attack Corvette.
	A-FFL-06-E	Escort Corvette.
Crew:	A-FFL-05-A	14 (2 Officers).
	A-FFL-06-E	14 (2 Officers).

M.D.C. By Location:

	Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (2):	150 each.
	Double Barrel Point Defense Laser Turrets (2):	150 each.
	Cruise Missile Battery (“Harrier” Attack Corvette):	800.
	Long Range Missile Battery (2 - “Kestrel” Escort Corvette):	600 each.
	Mini-Missile Launchers (4):	100 each.
	[1] Bridge:	1,000.
	[2] Main Body:	2,800.
	[3] Variable Force Field:	1,000 a side (6,000 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 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.

[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the corvette 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] 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 that allows the ship to travel up to 50 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.90 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 1.8 (1,370.3 mph/2,205.1 kph), can enter an atmosphere because flight system is by contra grav.

Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 4.5 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system. Carries about one year worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:

Length: 124.02 feet (37.8 meters).

Height: 237.85 feet (72.5 meters).

Width: 85.96 feet (26.2 meters).

Mass/Weight: 2,500 tons (2,288.0 metric tons).

Power System: Advanced Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting.

Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 100 tons (90.72 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: Manufacturing cost is around 280 million. These corvettes usually sell for between 400 to 600 million credits each. Some upgrade models with medium range missiles, particle beams, and/or heavy gravity rail guns tend to cost a bit more.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Two (2) 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 gun at a significant fraction of the speed of light. When used in an atmosphere, projectile velocities are slower to prevent them from burning up but still are at hypersonic speeds. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. These rail guns use 15 mm depleted uranium projectiles. Some operators replace these with GR-1000 heavy point defense gravity rail guns.

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 (2) Point Defense 2cm Lasers in Double Mounts: used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon. Each laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Some operators replace these with a pair of pair of particle beams, either standard or variable focus models.

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.
Main Missile Batteries: As previously described, the corvette comes in two different versions. The “Harrier” attack corvette is armed with a single capital / cruise missile battery while the “Kestrel” escort corvette is armed with a pair of long range missile batteries.
1. Harrier class Attack Corvette:
  1. One (1) Cruise Missile Battery: Missiles have a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship) in space. Whether missiles can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missiles. When drive goes dead, missiles will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct or receives a destruct code, but have very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missiles, when unpowered, are at -25% to be detected.) Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but almost always smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. These are modern Consortium missile batteries similar to those carried on a number of warships and the ship could have larger batteries than the original Ferret Corvette.
    
    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 and Fusion multi-warheads inflict 3D6x100 M.D.C. each.)
    
    Rate of Fire: Can fire cruise missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or thirty-two (32) cruise missiles per melee round. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
    
    Payload: 32 cruise missiles with 2 reload of missiles (64 cruise missiles total in reloads.)
2. Kestrel class Escort Destroyer:
  1. Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missiles have a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship) in space. Whether missiles can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missiles. When drive goes dead, missiles 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 missiles, when unpowered, are at -25% to be detected.) Long range missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets, unlike cruise missiles, and are almost always smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
    
    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 long range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or twenty-four (24) long range missiles per battery, per melee attack.
    
    Payload: 192 total, 96 long range missiles per battery.
Four (4) Mini-Missile Launchers: These are missile turrets used for point defense against enemy fighters and missiles. Missiles have a top speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 2% of light per turn in space. This is 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. Mini-Missiles in the Phase World / Three Galaxies setting are normally smart missiles. Some operators replace these with a pair of medium range missile batteries.

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.

Payload: 128 per launcher for a total of 512 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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