HAFS Ferret class Missile Corvette:

This starship design might be best described as the Human Alliance Forces Navy version of the Kreeghor Berserker class attack ship. The ships were first produced as an emergency combatant during their first war with a major interstellar power. Before then, the Falchion class patrol corvette had been the mainstay small combatant vessel operated by the Human Alliance.

Even though the design was rushed into service due to the emergency, the ship has proven that it's worth its weight in battle. There were no designs of faster than light heavy fighter designs at the time with faster than light drives and the Ferret was one of the smallest warships when introduced with that feature. Even though larger than the Falchion, it was much faster in faster than light travel than the older patrol corvette. It was not as flexible as the patrol design but was a more effective combat design.

The missile corvettes were designed for rapid production and incredible numbers of these ships were built during the course of the war and were still in production at the end of the war. At the end of the war, remaining production was halted and scrapped. With the dearth of these ships, many were put in mothball fleets even though they had virtually no service time on the hulls. There were so many of these ships that often new ships would simply be pulled from reserve forces instead of refitting operational vessels. Because of the huge number of Ferret class corvettes, all of the Falchion class corvettes were simply retired and sold or scrapped.

Eventually, when the Human Alliance became part of the Consortium of Civilized Worlds, many of these ships were given to the Consortium Fleets and operated alongside Hunter class destroyers. They served well in many battles although in some cases they were ill equipped for the duties they were assigned. With the introduction of the Scimitar class patrol corvette and the Proctor class heavy fighter, many were retired. In many cases fighters may perform roles once performed by the corvette.

Still, these ships are operated by the Human Alliance and Consortium, nothing like in the numbers of the past, but still in surprising numbers. Many more are in the mothball fleets of the two militaries. There are even more ships which are hulks, stripped out to keep others operational. Few repair parts are being still manufactured and parts now either have to be fabricated individually or salvaged from old ships.

Even with the Scimitar and Proctor classes, the Consortium is lacking a ship which fills the same role as the ferret. That is a ship which is a virtual pure missile platform. Because of this, the Consortium has introduced a new ships which in many ways is simply an upgraded Ferret. The ship is the Cheetah class missile corvette. So far it has only been built in relatively small numbers but the hope is to authorize funding for many more of these ships. Unfortunately, these ships have almost zero part compatibility with their predecessors. Most smaller governments consider the original Ferret to be good enough and are not interested in an upgraded version.

There are a number of ships derived from the Ferret class corvette. There is a minesweeper which replaces the cruise missile launchers with long range missile launchers to target mines from long range linked with a powerful sensor systems. The Free Worlds Council operates a version of the Ferret where the missile reloads are replaced by a battle link system which allows multiple fighters to operate together in a tight linked group. As well, there is an electronics warfare version of the corvette.

These ships were originally designed as expendable missile launching platforms. The means that the ships were constructed to minimize construction cost while giving the ship as many launchers as feasible. As a result, this ship design has no beam weapons other than light point defense weaponry. The ship carries a battery of twenty four cruise missile launchers for missile launchers but only has a total of two reloads for the launchers. The ship has good point defense for the ships size so it can fight other ships in missile duels. The ship carries two rail guns, two laser cannons, and four mini missile launchers for point defense. Power, unlike newer ships, is provided by a fusion reactor. This is both easier to mass produce and much cheaper than anti-matter.

As might be expected, these corvettes carry no fighters and no troops. These corvettes are fairly cramped although are more comfortable than the Proctor class fighters. The two officers share a single stateroom and the crew share a bunk room. The ship has a tiny but functional galley.

The Human Alliance Forces Navy and the Consortium Armed Forces have not given these ships names. Some crews have given their ships unofficial names and many of the ships in the service of Independent Forces and outside of the Consortium of Civilized Worlds have been given actual names. Many captains in both the Consortium and the Human Alliance find it is good for moral for the ships to have names.

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: FFL-04
Vehicle Type: Missile Corvette
Crew: 16 (2 officers)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Point Defense Rail Gun Turrets (2):	150 each
	Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (2):	150 each
	Cruise Missile Battery:	800
	Mini-Missile Launchers (4):	100 each
	[1] Bridge:	800
	[2] Main Body:	2,000
	[3] Variable Force Field:	800 a side (4,800 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% (240 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 0.9 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 2, can enter an atmosphere because flight system is using contra grav.
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 3.5 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about one year worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 115 feet (35.1 meters)
Height: 220 feet (67.1 meters)
Width: 80 feet (24.4 meters)
Weight: 1,800 tons (1,632.9 metric tons)
Power System: Fusion with a 25 year life span (fusion was far cheaper than anti-matter). 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 take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: Ship would cost about 300 Million credits to manufacture in present time in the Three Galaxies. Ships are no longer being produced. These ships normally sell for 200 to 400 million credits.

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. Each rail gun is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. The rail gun still fires projectiles at incredible velocities compared to rail guns on Rifts Earth and projectiles are fired from rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. It is used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
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 2 cm 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.
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
Cruise Missile Battery: 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.) Since star ships will no longer engage at 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 dead is at -25% to be detected.) See modified starship rules for more details - 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. Launcher is reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
Payload: 24 cruise missiles per battery. Ship has 2 reload of missiles (72 cruise missiles total)
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) 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.

[ Altara TM, Brodkil TM, Bushido Industries TM, CAF TM, Catyr TM, CCW TM, Consortium of Civilized Worlds TM, Coyles TM, Free Worlds Council TM, Gene Splicers TM, K-Hex TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kreeghor TM, Kydian TM, Machine People TM, M.D.C. TM, Mega-Damage TM, Metzla TM, M’Kri Hardware TM, Monro TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Noro TM, Paradise Federation TM, Phase World TM, Psylite TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Seljuks TM, Splugorth TM, Sunaj TM, Trans-Galactic Empire TM, Tri-Galactic Military Service TM, United Worlds Warlock TM, U.W.W. TM, Wolfen TM, and Zembahk TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

Image drawn and copyrighted by Roman Kochnev (r_kochnev@hotmail.com)

More Roman Kochnev artwork at The Science Fiction Art and Design Portfolio of Roman Kochnev

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Return