HAFS Intrepid Class Fleet Carrier:

Before the founding of the Consortium of Civilized Worlds, the Human Alliance Forces Navy had a large fleet on their own right. The primary carrier in service with the Human Alliance Forces Navy was the Intrepid class fleet carrier although a handful of Dauntless class light carriers were still operational. Approximately two hundred Intrepid class fleet carriers were built in total.

When the Consortium Armed Forces was formed, the Human Alliance Navy massively downsized. In many cases the Consortium fleet adopted Human Alliance vessels. In the case of the Intrepid class however, it was not adopted but instead the Wolfen Packmaster Carrier was adopted by the fleet. As a result, the Intrepid class carriers that were transferred to the Consortium were all decommissioned, some being put in mothball status while others were sold to other navies.

While the official government stance is that Packmaster class carriers were much better than any carrier design that the Humans or Noro had come up with, the fact is that the bureaucrats decided that a ship that combines both a fleet carrier and an assault carrier would be ideal. Many admirals at the time were strongly apposed to the adopting of the Packmaster because the marines simply are a waste on fleet missions and the ship huge fighter compliment is costly for assault missions. The other point most Admirals pointed out is that the heavy weapon systems are not strong enough to fight a true capital ship and yet they take up huge amounts of space that could be better used for either more fighters or better point defense.

Today, many admirals including a few Wolfen admirals continue to lobby for a new fleet carrier class. The result has been the Independence class battle carrier although due to high costs, it is unknown how many might be produced. Because of this, some of the admirals would like the development of a more austere fleet carrier.

Even though the bureaucrats prevented these ships from entering Consortium fleet. service when the Consortium of Civilized Worlds was formed, there are still almost as many Intrepid fleet carriers sitting in the C.A.F. mothball fleet as there have been since the actual forming of the Consortium. A few Intrepid class carriers were activated and modernized during the war against the Kreeghor and participated in many battles and served as well, if not better, than the Packmasters did.

Because of the large number discarded during the formation of the Consortium, the Intrepid class design is the most common large fleet carrier type design in the hands of mercenary groups with the exception of carriers that rebuilt merchant hulls. Intrepid Carriers can also be found in the fleets of many Human Independent Defense Forces and a fairly large number are still serving in the remnants of the Human Alliance Forces Navy.

In appearance, these ships are much more rounded and less blocky than the Packmaster class carrier and all the fighter bays are along the sides of the hull. The ships defense weaponry is mounted on the top and bottom of the ship. The carrier is built to military, not civilian standards. The carrier is also protected by variable shields although they are relatively light, only about half as able to withstand punishment as the shields mounted on a Yamato class battleship. Even so, the Intrepid class fleet carrier is actually tougher than the Packmaster class multi-role carrier.

The Intrepid class fleet carrier mounts not heavy anti-ship energy weaponry or capital missile launchers. The main weaponry of the ship are four long range missile batteries. While mainly designed for defense against fighters and missiles, these batteries are quite capable of inflicting considerable damage to warships, especially ships smaller than cruisers. A total payload of around a thousand long range missiles are carried. The long range missile batteries have less actual individual launchers than more modern systems because launchers designed and built when the ship’s were commissioned were slightly more cumbersome. For short range point defense, the Human Alliance design carries sixteen electromagnetic rail gun mounts, sixteen double laser cannons, and sixteen mini-missile launchers. Even though older weapon systems, the Intrepid has forty-eight point defense mounts compared to only thirty-two for the Packmaster. Between the long range missile batteries and the more numerous point defense batteries, the Intrepid is far better at stopping massed fighter and missile attacks than a Packmaster class carrier.

One of the few areas where the Intrepid is inferior to the Packmaster is in terms of speed. The Intrepid is capable of a maximum faster than light speed of three and a half light years per hour. As well, the Human Alliance fleet carrier has only about eighty-five percent of the acceleration in normal space as the Wolfen design.

Original fighter compliment was one hundred and twenty light fighters, two hundred and forty medium fighters, and about twenty-five heavy fighters. Many in the mothball fleets of both the Consortium and Human Alliance have been stripped of fighters but those that retain their squadrons usually carry the Vixen light fighter, Osprey medium fighter, and Puma class heavy fighter. Interesting is that the Saratoga is being evaluated for upgrade by the Human Alliance and old Tiger IV class fighters were found in her hangers, a fighter which never operated off of her decks, or any other Intrepid class carrier for that matter, except for in training squadrons. The assumption is that the fighters were dumped in her hangers as they were discarded. Those carriers in active service in Human Alliance fleets tend to operate newer fighter types including the Scorpion light fighter, Black Eagle medim fighter, Storm Eagle medium fighter, Katana Medium fighter, and Proctor heavy fighter. Some still operate older fighters or a mixture of old and new fighter types. In addition, the carriers embark ten Battleram Robots although plans are presently to discard these. Ships in mercenary forces or in independent The fleet carrier does embark a small compliment of marines but the are for shipboard protection.

The Human Alliance Navy named these ships after famous carriers from historic records, both from wet navy and space navy times. Examples of names include Intrepid, Wasp, Lexington, Kaga, Jeanne D'Arc, and Implacable. The Consortium retained the original names with the ships that they retain in their mothball fleets.

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: CVA-55
Vehicle Type: Fleet Carrier
Crew: 1,200 (140 Officers, 1,060 enlisted)
Troops: 800 marines (200 in power armor on modern ships) and 800 fighter pilots / crews

Vehicles: Ship not in the C.A.F. or H.F.N. fleets may have totally different types of vehicles as ships compliment but numbers will be about the same for the various classes of vehicles. Compliments can also be a mix between old and new compliments.
Old Compliment:
Fighter Compliment:

	120	SF-9 Vixen Light Starfighters
	120	SF-6A Osprey Medium Starfighters (Attack)
	120	SF-6I Osprey Medium Starfighters (Interceptor)
	25	SF-12 Puma Heavy Starfighters

New / Modern Compliment:
Power Armors & Robots:

	200	SH-CCW100 Silverhawk Attack ExoSkeleton
	10	BR-CCW2000 Battleram Robots

Fighter Compliment:

	120	SF-69 CAF Scorpion Star Interceptor
	120	BIF-67 Katana Star fighters
	120	SF-101 Black Eagle Star fighters
	15	LRF-25 Proctor Long Range Star Fighters

M.D.C. By Location:

	Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (16):	150 each
	Double Barrel Point Defense Laser Turrets (16):	150 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (4):	500 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (16):	100 each
	Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	150
	Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	100
	[1] Bridge:	25,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	25,000
	Hanger Bays (2):	25,000 each
	[2] Main Engines (4):	10,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	100,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	6,000 a side (36,000 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 also has an auxiliary bridge. Even if both bridges are taken out, 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] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[3] 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.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1,800 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 0.6 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 300 mph (482 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight
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 four years worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 4,200 feet (1,280 meters)
Height: 620 feet (190 meters)
Width: 800 feet (245 meters)
Mass/Weight: 30 million tons (27.2 million metric tons)
Power System: Anti-Matter with a 25 year life span. The ship normally only goes 7 years between refueling and refitting.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 2 million tons (1.8 million 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: Ship would cost about 15 billion credits to manufacture in present time in the Three Galaxies. Ships are no longer being produced. When available, these ships can sell as high as 40 to 50 billion credits. Cost does not include embarked craft.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Sixteen (16) 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.
Sixteen (16) Point Defense 2 cm Lasers in Double Mounts: 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
Four (4) 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 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: 960 total, 240 long range missiles per launcher.
Sixteen (16) 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) mini-missiles.
Payload: 128 per launcher for a total of 2,048 mini-missiles. Cargo hold has an additional 4,608 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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