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Icaria Triton class Battlecruiser:

Icaria is a system which is a rarity, one which has been repeatedly offered Human Alliance and later Consortium membership but has always refused. There have been several referendums, believed to be covertly supported by the Human Alliance and Consortium, and each has been soundly defeated. The Icaria system is an extremely wealthy, located where several important trade routes cross and combine. The system itself is also rich material and has two life supporting worlds.

Even though fiercely independent, the system still has strong ties with the Human Alliance. Much of their technology comes from the Human Alliance and Consortium. Many of the top scientists were recruited from the Human Alliance and Consortium as well. Because so much of Human Alliance trade goes through the area where the system is located, the Human Alliance has defense treaties where they will come to the aid of the system if attacked. The big concern is with the Trans-Galactic Empire. Kreeghor held territories are not too far from Icaria system and there has long been concerns. If the Human Alliance was drawn into a conflict, would the Consortium also be drawn into war.

Even with powerful allies, having your own powerful navy is always an advantage. Historically, the Icaria has had problems where local systems which they have had defense treaties with who refused to carry through on their obligations when called in. There are some concerns that this could be the case with the Human Alliance as well. A second concern is that reinforcement might take some time to reach the system and without powerful forces, the system might have fallen before this occurs.

For these reasons, the Icaria has always had a powerful space navy. The system’s navy is actually larger than quite a number of multi-system space forces. Many single system space forces are in system craft incapable of faster than light operations but Icaria prefers more mobile forces. This allows them to deal with threats outside of their own home system. The Icaria fleet personnel are quite well trained, equal to some of the best training within the Consortium. A significant minority of the personnel are also recruited from Consortium and Human Alliance space navies with Icaria paying quite well.

The system has large shipyards and is one of the few minor powers which can build large capital ships such as battleships and battlecruisers. In comparison, most systems are limited to destroyer sized vessels and only a relative few have yards to built even cruiser sized vessels. Historically, Icaria has operated four active fleets with a battlecruiser acting as flagship for each force. As such, these ships have extensive flag facilities. Five battlecruisers are operated with one usually considered to be on a maintenance stand down level. The five Triton class battlecruisers were Triton, Nereid, Meliae, Talos, and Scylla. Each fleet also had a carrier as well as multiple destroyers and cruisers.

Generally similar in design, the Hermione class battlecruiser has replaced the Triton class in service with the Icaria space navy with the older battlecruisers sold to partially fund the construction of the new battlecruisers. As a result, these are one of the rare capital ship class which one might find outside of one of the major governments. They are considered powerful additions to any fleet.

As far as technology, the Triton class is contemporary with the Human Alliance Natasha Kurganov class missile cruisers and other similar classes. At the time of development, Icaria followed the Human Alliances lead as far as technology. Now with the development of the Hermione class and others, weapon development by Icaria has been diverging. Interestingly, it looked like at one time the Human Alliance might be considering the development of their own Battlecruiser class which was believed to have been heavily influenced by the Triton class. would have been a modernized design and have been faster than the Triton as well as generally updated with new weapon systems. While the idea appears to have been shelved, a number of Human Alliance fleet officers are still pushing for a fast battlecruiser class although likely based off the newer Hermione class.

Warships built by Icaria have generally been quite fast, both in normal space speeds and in faster than light travel. The Triton was one of the fastest ships of her size when first commissioned, with an acceleration almost the equal of the Kurganov class missile cruisers and able to reach up to four light years per hour. Even now, it is the equal of the Trans-Galactic Empire Smasher class cruiser in both acceleration and faster than light speed. Before beginning to built their own warships, Icaria operated a number of older Human Alliance designs with fusion plants. In the Triton, the primary power system is an anti-matter plant with fusion systems meant primarily as backup systems.

Part of the reason why these ships are so fast is that they are not designed to go toe to toe with battleships which can mass twice what the Triton does. Even a straight up fight with an old Agamemnon class battleship would likely go badly. Still, even though generally unable to withstand the damage of even an older battleship, the Triton class is still quite tough and far tougher than any heavy cruiser. In addition to being well armored, the Triton is also protected by variable shields. These shields have an output approximately two thirds that of the contemporary Yamato class battleship. Even though badly damaged in a number of encounters, none of the Triton class battlecruisers were lost while in Icaria naval service.

As far as combat power, these battlecruisers are considered a well balanced design combining a heavy energy weapon array, a powerful missile battery, and a relatively large fighter compliment. The fighter compliment needs to be considered when discussing the ship’s actual weaponry. The basic layout first carried on the Triton was repeated in the later Hermione class although the weapon systems are more powerful generally. Even though the sensors and electronic warfare systems of these ships were heavily upgraded throughout their service lives, weapon system remained unchanged.

Main energy weapon battery are four 40 centimeter heavy particle beams and four 18 centimeter particle beams. These ships lack a medium range laser battery as is common on most Human Alliance capital ships of the period. Still, the battlecruiser has seventy percent of the firepower of the contemporary Yamato class battleship and actually slightly greater firepower than the Agamemnon class battleship.

These ships carry four capital missile batteries and four long range missile batteries. Each battery can fire up to twenty-four missiles per volley. While the Natasha Kurganov class missile cruisers carry the same missile battery, the battlecruiser carries a far greater payload of missiles. The battlecruiser’s massive magazines carry approximately twelve hundred capital missiles and almost two thousand long range missiles for reloads.

Even though the actual launchers were not replaced, newer missiles made these launchers far more dangerous. When introduced, these ships usually carried fusion warheads during peacetime operations and were replaced by anti-matter warheads when in a state of war. Later, Icaria was able to develop an X-Ray laser warhead and these were generally carried. Brilliant missiles also replaced smart missiles generally. With these ships having been sold, they once against mostly carry fusion warheads because few minor powers have access to either X-Ray laser warheads or anti-matter warheads.

For point defense, these ships carried twelve point defense laser mounts, twelve electromagnetic point defense mounts, and twelve mini-missile batteries. These weapons are similar to those carried on most Human Alliance designs of the period. Even though older weapon systems, with sensor and electronics upgrades, these point defense mounts are still quite effective. A total of almost five thousand mini-missiles are carried including reloads. There was some consideration given towards replacing the mini-missile batteries with medium range missile batteries but this was shelved with the decision to replace them with the Hermione class battlecruiser.

Fighter compliment includes two squadrons of light fighters and one squadron of medium fighters. Generally the Icaria space forces operate the Human Alliance Osprey and Vixen fighters although they have their own indigenous fighter design known as the Kopis. The Osprey and Vixen have been upgrade to keep them current although the Icaria military is looking to replace the Human Alliance designs. On strong possibility in the light fighter category is the Bearcat although the similar ICE Hyena design is being considered as well. Those who operate these ships now use a wide variety of different fighter designs.

Crew of the battlecruiser is just under a thousand total and has the ability to carry up to around one hundred and fifty additional flag personnel. Unlike the Human Alliance Yamato class battleship, these battlecruisers only carry a small marine compliment. A bit under two hundred troops are carried including a small compliment of light power armors.

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

Model: INF-BC-08.

Class: Battlecruiser.

Crew: 960 (80 Officers, 880 enlisted).

Troops: 140 marines (80 typically stay on board for ship defense), 48 fighter pilots, and 32 power armor pilots.

Can carry up to 150 passengers in addition to troops and crew (generally flag personnel).

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Power Armors:

Fighter Compliment:

M.D.C. By Location:

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 and flag bridge. Even if all three 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 battlecruiser 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% (2,400 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 0.90 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 350 mph (563 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 4 light-years per hour.

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

Statistical Data:

Length:                2,706.7 feet (825 meters).

Height:                419.9 feet (128 meters).

Width:                 734.9 feet (224 meters).

Mass/Weight:      6.17 million tons (5.6 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 27,560 tons (25,000 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 16 billion credits to manufacture in present time in the Three Galaxies not including missiles and fighter compliment. Ships are no longer being produced. When available, these ships can sell for 50+ billion credits because of the rarity of battlecruisers.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Four (4) 40 cm Main Particle Beam Mounts (2 Batteries): Mounted along the sides of the hull are two mounts with two 40 cm particle beams on each mount. While these weapons are not quite as powerful as the 40 inch laser batteries on the Protector class Battleship, they are quite powerful and capable of taking out huge targets. Each battery can fire at up to two different targets or can be combined on one target. These cannons are capable of firing forward to aft and anywhere along the side of the ship. The cannons are also capable of 45 degrees up or down. When these weapons are massed, they are capable of taking out cruisers in two blasts. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

   Maximum Effective Range: 70,000 miles (112,650 km)in space and 70 miles (112.7 km) in an atmosphere

   Mega Damage: 1D6x1000 M.D.C. each Particle Beam. Both weapons in a battery can be combined to inflict 2D6x1000 M.D.C.

   Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee per particle beam. (Battlecruiser has 4 cannons so ship can fire a total of 12 single shots from the main battery per melee round.)

   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

2. Six (6) 18 cm Secondary Particle Beam Batteries: These 18 cm particle beams are mounted in the top and bottom of the ship. Batteries can be fired up to 120 degrees toward the rear on either side (can only fire one cannon at a target at that angle but can spin to be able to bring both batteries to bear) and can fire at a 30 degree angle up or down. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

   Maximum Effective Range: 70,000 miles (112,650 km)in space and 70 miles (112.7 km) in an atmosphere.

   Mega Damage: 3D6x100 M.D.C. each.

   Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee per particle beam.

   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

3. Twelve (12) 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 When used in space, 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.C.

   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.

4. Twelve (12) Point Defense 2 cm Lasers in Double Mounts: Used as 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.C.

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

   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

5. Four (4) Cruise Missile Batteries: Missiles have 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.) 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 unpowered, 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) per launcher, per melee round, for a maximum of 96 missiles per melee round. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee round and can be fired again on the next.

   Payload: 96 total, 24 cruise missiles per launcher. Ship has 12 reload of missiles (1,152 cruise missiles reloads total).

6. Four (4) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missiles have 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) per launcher, per melee attack.

   Payload: 1,920 total, 480 long range missiles per battery.

7. Twelve (12) 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 1,536 mini-missiles. Cargo hold has an additional 3,072 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2014, Kitsune. All rights reserved.

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