“Freight King” class Heavy Freighter:

The Freight King is one of the ultra-large cargo ship classes that operate in the Three Galaxies and is pretty typical for a large freighter. Compared to the medium size transports, there are fewer different manufactures and fewer lines that these ships travel on.

There is still easily thousands of heavy freighters operating in various regions of the Three Galaxies. The Freight King is about the same size as a Consortium Packmaster Class carrier and are not used for system hopping but are used for huge cargo runs. These ships cannot enter an atmosphere and instead rely on large shuttles at their destination and special giant dockyards for unloading truly huge loads.

These ships are not constructed anywhere near military standards and are neither as strongly constructed, as heavily armed, or has as heavy shields as military ships. In some cases, the weaponry will be increased and the ships will have two long range missile batteries and two heavy laser mounts. These ships are not usually allowed to operate within peaceful sectors and only operate in the more dangerous regions of space.

Militaries do operate these ships in limited numbers but they will rarely operate with battlegroups and are used for large cargo which then gets loaded into smaller ships which actually come closer to the combat zone. Because these ships are usually only operated by large companies and militaries which means generally they are maintained better as well.

A few of these ships have been modified into military ships but the only role that these ships have been successfully modified into is carriers. In this case, they can carry about as many fighters as a Packmaster class carrier. These ships are very slow and under armed and equipped for this role though and there are many carriers better suited for this role.

The ship are designed at the shipyard for a specific kind of cargo but can be modified in extensive refits. Those designed for bulk cargo only have giant void spaces which the cargo is placed in. The cargo can be construction materials, ores for processing, and even such interesting cargos as millions of tons of water.

The ships that are designed for carrying special containers will have long stacks of bars to anchor the containers. These containers are sealed and can be used to carry cargo in special environments. In this case, the container has special equipment to maintain the environment. Vehicle carrying versions of the Freight King do also exist and they will generally offload their vehicles into smaller ships for distribution.

Crew quarters are still small to not cut into the space for the cargo but are comfortable. These ships can sometimes operate on very long runs and comfort is important. The ship actually does have a small hydroponic garden to allow for some fresh food.

These ships are only lightly armed and the weapons are geared mostly towards point defense. A standard versions carries twelve laser batteries and eight medium range missile launchers. Heavy armed versions are heavier armed with two heavy laser mounts, two long range missile launchers, sixteen laser batteries, and twelve medium laser cannons. The ships have no armor and can only take a small amount of damage. The ships do have some shields but they are not designed for heavy combat. The ships are not very fast in either sublight or faster than light but are instead designed to maximize cargo carrying capability.

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: CRG-1700.

Vehicle Type: Heavy Freighter.

Crew: 108 (12 Officers and 98 Ordinary Crew).

Vehicles:

Light Shuttles (for crew emergencies but can be used for light cargo).

M.D.C. By Location:

	[1] 12 cm Laser Cannons (2, top and bottom - Optional):	800 each.
	[1] Point Defense Laser Cannon Turrets (12 or 16):	250 each.
	[1] Long Range Missile Batteries (2 - Optional):	500 each.
	[1] Medium Range Missile Batteries (8 or 12):	300 each.
	Outer Hull (40 x 40 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	100.
	Inner Hull (40 x 20 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	75.
	[2] Bridge:	10,000.
	[3] Main Engines (2):	12,000 each.
	[4] Main Body:	55,000.
	[5] Force Field (Regular):	12,000.

Notes:

[1] Lightly armed versions mount twelve point defense lasers and eight medium range batteries. Heavily armed versions mount two heavy laser cannons, sixteen point defense lasers, twelve medium range missile batteries, and two long range missile batteries. Vessel can also be purchased unarmed.

[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s hull. 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.

[3] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.

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

[5] Shields are not variable. 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 20 percent of the speed of light maximum due to civilian shields. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.30 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 100 mph (161 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight. The ship would likely come apart in an atmosphere and are only operated in space.

Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 2.0 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about two years worth of supplies on board and a small hydroponic section for the small crew but normally does not operate for that long without resupply.

Statistical Data:

Length: 6,000 feet (1,828.8 meters).

Height: 1,200 feet (365.8 meters).

Width: 1,200 feet (365.8 meters).

Weight/Mass: 25 million tons (22.7 million metric tons).

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

Cargo: Can carry up to 40 million tons (36.28 million metric tons) of cargo in addition to crew’s supplies. Each ordinary crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ship’s officers have more space for personal items.

Market Cost: 12 billion credits (heavily armed versions cost approximately 14 billion and unarmed versions approximately 10 billion credits.)

WEAPON SYSTEMS (Optional):

Two (2) 12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons: Optional weapon system. These cannons are only mounted on the heavily armed version of the ship and in these cases, this is the ships main battery. The cannons are capable of destroying frigates and destroyers. They are also capable of damaging larger ships. All the 12 cm laser cannons on a side may be combined as one attack or used separately. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets. The barrels can be can be rotated 180 degrees in all directions. Up to two may be fired as one volley.

Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (25.8 km) through atmosphere and 16,000 miles (25,800 km) in space.

Mega Damage: 2D6x100 M.D.C. each. Two laser cannons can be combined for 4D6x100 Mega Damage.

Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee each.

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Twelve (12) or Sixteen (16) Laser Batteries: Lightly armed versions carry twelve and heavily armed versions carry sixteen of these weapons. Weapon system is used as an anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter. Weapons system has no penalties to hit fighters and small targets and can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee). The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 200 miles (322 km) in space and 4 miles (6.4 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: 3D6x10 M.D.C. each.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Optional weapon system. These are only carried on the heavily armed versions of the ship. 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, battery, 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 dead 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.

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 thirty-two (32) per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 320 total, 160 long range missiles per battery.
Eight (8) or Twelve (12) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Lightly armed versions of the ship carry eight of these batteries and heavily armed versions carry twelve of these mounts. A slightly higher capacity version of the medium range missile batteries carried on a normal Merchantman. Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Normally used for anti-fighter and point defense. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

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) missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 32 per battery for a total of 256 or 384 medium range missiles depending on configuration.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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