Blood Claw Pirate Escort Carrier (Converted Merchant Vessel):

The Blood Claw is one of the ships of the pirate called “The Widow” Other ships in her fleet include a heavy cruiser, a pair of light cruisers, and a number of lighter vessels. As well, “The Widow” has a repair ship in her forces as well as a number of unconverted cargo vessels. While many pirates operate a number of fighters from their warships, few operate what could be considered true carrier types.

Why the Blood Claw was converted to an escort carrier while the others were retained as cargo vessels is unknown. There is some speculation that the conversion saw dual purpose so that she would have a vessel to make planetary assaults as well as for fleet actions. In many ways, fighters are better suited for raids against planetary defenses than a large ship.

The Blood Claw is built off of a medium sized cargo vessel known as the “EZ” class based on the prefix of the vessel's designation. Tens of thousands of these cargo ships have been built with several yards being involved in the building of these ships. As far as number produced, the EZ-400 and EZ-500 were produced in the largest quantity. Continued to be build to the present time, the current model is the EZ-800 model.

The hull of the “EZ” class is a bit smaller than the Cargo Master class but the ship is also a bit cheaper and slightly faster in faster than light travel. Even though smaller, the later models of the “EZ” design are stronger constructed than the Cargo Master. Later models of the “EZ” design also feature longer life span fusion reactors.

The standard “EZ” design is armed with four medium range missile launchers and four light laser mounts. The light laser mounts are lighter than those on the Cargo Master and are quite short ranged. Some owners have these ships built with additional weaponry when being operated in dangerous areas and a small number are produced with no weaponry.

Because most of these ships are slightly faster and smaller than the Cargo Master, there have been a number of pirates converting these ships over to privateer and pirate ships. Like most converted merchant vessels, these vessels are not anywhere near as tough as true warships would be. There is additional armor around the bridge to give it at least a little bit of additional protection. In some ways, the best vessel to convert these cargo ships to are escort carriers but few pirates do this.

In many ways, the Blood Claw should be considered a "minimal" conversion compared to pirate cruiser designs. Much of the additional systems are from the Trans-Galactic Empire. The faster than light drives of the “EZ” design are retained on the Blood Claw, giving it a top speed of three light years per hour. One area where the ship was upgraded was in the radiation and particle shielding and can reach a higher percentage of the speed of light in normal space than the standard model. Military defensive shields are added to the ship, these of a Kreeghor design. Sensor systems are a mixture of Trans-Galactic Empire systems and civilian equipment.

Why the four light lasers were removed is unknown. It is possible that they were stripped off before the pirates decided to convert the ship. These are replaced by twelve combination point defense mounts which combine a light laser mount or light electromagnetic rail gun with a mini-missile launcher. Of an older Kreeghor design, six of each are mounted on the escort carrier. The four original medium range missile batteries were augmented with four additional batteries of the same basic design. Payload for the medium range batteries is vastly increased compared to most civilian vessels.

The cargo holds are stripped out and are rebuilt as fighter bays. Most of the fighters carried are light fighter types with a total of sixty fighters divided into six squadrons. These are a “knock off” design of the Bobcat light fighter. In addition, the carrier has two squadrons of medium fighters. In this case, the ship carries twenty-four Flying Fang fighters modified to have four missile hard points. The ship also carries a total of eight assault shuttles which are a modified version of civilian passenger shuttles. A total of about eight hundred troops are embarked. Six hundred of them are equipped with the K-Universal armor while around sixty use a "knock off" of the Silverhawk power armor.

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: CVE-EZ-522 Escort Carrier (Refitted)
Vehicle Type: Space, Pirate Carrier - Escort (Converted Medium Cargo Ship)
Crew: 285 (ship can be run by 100 crew if needed)
Troops: 800 Assault Troops (660 in power armor), 100 fighter pilots, 24 shuttle crew, and carry up to 100 passengers/prisoners

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:

	600	K-Universal Power Armors
	60	“Knock Off” Silverhawk Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	24	FF-100 Standard Flying Fangs (Modified with 4 missile hard points)
	60	“Knock Off” Bobcat Light Fighters

Assault Shuttles:

Light Assault Shuttles (Modified Civilian Passenger Shuttles)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Medium Range Missile Launchers (8):	300 each
	Point Defense Lasers / Missile Batteries (6):	200 each
	Rail Cannons / Missile Batteries (6):	250 each
	Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	125
	Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	75
	[1] Bridge:	8,000
	Hanger Bays (4):	5,000
	[2] Main Engines (2):	6,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	26,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	3,000 a side (18,000 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] 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% (900 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 0.7 percent of light per melee. Ship has had the merchant radiation and particle shields replaced with military shields.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 300 mph (483 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 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about two years worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 735 feet (224 meters)
Height: 205 feet (62.5 meters)
Width: 225 feet (68.6 meter)
Weight: 245,000 Tons (222,260 metric tons)
Power System: Advanced Fusion with a 25 year life span. Under normal conditions, the ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting although maintenance is not generally regular with pirates.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 60,000 tons (54,430 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 ammo, armor, troops, and weapons
Market Cost: Including both the original cost of the cargo ship and modifications, the ship costs about 1.6 billion credits.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Eight (8) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Originally as a merchant vessel the ship mounted four of these batteries but when rebuilt as a carrier, four more batteries were. In addition, payload is vastly increased from when vessel was a merchant ship. Each battery is on the port and starboard side of the ship. 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 (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) missiles per melee attack.
Payload: 128 per battery for a total of 1,024 medium range missiles.
Six (6) Point Defense Lasers/Mini Missile Batteries: Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Weapons are mounted around the ship for point defense. Weapons are mounted around the ship for point defense. 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) in space. Missile 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. Lasers have a range of 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere and 100 miles (161 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: Laser cannon inflicts 2D4x10 M.D. Mini-Missiles vary by missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5). Mini-Missiles are fired one at a time or in volleys of two (2) or four (4) mini-missiles.
Payload: Laser has effectively unlimited payload. Has 24 mini-missiles at each launcher (144 total, can carry potentially several times more in storage holds).
Six (6) 20 mm Electromagnetic Rail Gun/Mini Missile Batteries: Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World / Three Galaxies starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Weapons are mounted around the ship for point defense. 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. 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). Missile launchers 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. Rail guns have a range of 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere and 100 miles (161 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: Rail Cannon inflicts 2D6x10 M.D. for a 30 round burst. Mini-Missiles vary by mini-missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5). Mini-Missiles are fired one at a time or in volleys of two (2) or four (4) mini-missiles.
Payload: Rail Cannon has 6000 rounds/ 200 Bursts each, has 24 mini-missiles at each launcher (144 total, can carry potentially several times more in storage holds).

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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