Bloody Fist Pirate Cruiser (Converted Merchant Vessel):

In the days of sailing ships, pirates were a huge fear. During the days of steam, pirates disappeared from the world for the most part. When interstellar space travel become a reality, the pirate reappeared. Although privateers might be a different reality, pirates were drawn from the dregs of society. Some are be failed naval crew members, some are spacers than want quicker profits, some may be simply street scum, but wherever they are from they are the scourge of the space lanes. Pirates will rarely attack military ships or well defended merchant ships because the loss for how much profit is gained is not worth it. They must perceive that they can beat the other ship with very low loss. Although pirates may fight desperately if cornered, they will often surrender if given the choice trusting to the mercy of the courts, who often have let them go in the past, then to trust in the mercy of a starship captain's laser cannons. Because profit motivates them and not a cause, they will also almost never self destruct.

While some pirates use military ships that they have either captured or ones they have purchased with their ill gotten gains, many rely on converted merchant ships. The was a converted merchant ship and is fairly typical of Pirate Cruisers. Unlike military Q-Ships, weapon systems are not concealed and it is clear that this weapon is armed. While this one is typical, there are a great variety of different designs. The ships weapon systems come from a variety of different sources, some civilian, some Kreeghor, and some from old human alliance. While fire control systems have been upgraded, these new weapon systems make the fire control systems a nightmare. The Bloody Fist has two cruise missile launchers stripped from an old Kreeghor Berserker class light attack ship. For defense, the ship has four medium range missile launchers and four mini-missile launchers. The main firepower of the ship is not in missiles but energy weapons though. For heavy anti-ship weaponry, the ship is armed with four 18 cm particle and four 12 cm laser cannons. These weapons are from scrapped HAFN ships. The ship is also armed with eight laser batteries for additional missile defenses. While the ships carries fairly decent shields, the hull is weak for its size. Unlike warships of its size, the ship does not have an auxiliary bridge and requires a larger crew than most military ships due to system problems although are often operated by skeleton crews. There is additional armor added to the bridge. Betraying its merchant origins, the ship is slow when compared to most cruisers for both FTL Travel and sublight acceleration. The ship has provisions for a good number of troops for boarding purposes, some with power armors, and has twelve starfighters. As might be expected, the ship has a large cargo hold to carry booty in. The ship has some space to carry prisoners because slaves can be sold for good profits.

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: CA-EZ-435 Cruiser (Refitted)
Vehicle Type: Space, Pirate Cruiser (Converted Medium Cargo Ship)
Crew: 355 (ship can be run by 110 crew)
Troops: 400 Assault Troops, 18 fighter pilots, and carry up to 100 passengers/prisoners

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors: This is the listing for the Bloody Fist, other pirate cruisers can have completely different fighter or power armor compliments.
Power Armors:

	20	Naruni PA E-1000 Enforcers
	15	Knock Off Silver Hawk Power Armors
	15	Kreeghor Warlord Mark 2 Combat Suits

Fighter Compliment:

	6	Naruni NE-SF20 Kinjal Light Starfighters
	3	Naruni NE-SF10 Broadsword Fighters
	3	Naruni FB-49 Fire Eater Fighters

Assault Shuttles:

Light Assault Shuttles (Modified Civilian Passenger Shuttles)

M.D.C. By Location:

	18 cm Particle Beam Cannons (4):	1,100 each
	12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (4):	700 each
	Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (8):	150 each
	Cruise Missile Batteries (2):	700 each
	Medium Range Missile Launchers (4):	400 each
	Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	125
	Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	75
	[1] Bridge:	8,000
	Hanger Bay:	5,000
	[2] Main Engines (2):	6,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	25,000
	[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 cruiser 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 one year 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: 210,000 Tons (190,500 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 40,000 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 2.1 billion credits.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Four (4) Main Particle Beam Batteries: These 18 cm particle beams are mounted in the forward area and sides 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 (6D6x100 M.D.C. for two)
Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee per particle beam.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Four (4) 12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons: Laser cannons are used against frigates and as against heavily reinforced targets. Two are located on either side of ship. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets. The barrels can be can be rotated 180 degrees in all directions. Only two cannons can be fired as one volley. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
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 or 4D6x100 for two.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee each laser cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Eight (8) 2.5 cm Point Defense Lasers in Triple Mounts: 8 on Top, Bottom, port, and bottom side. All can fire forward and aft. Each 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 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: 3D6x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Cruise Missile Batteries: These are older Kreeghor launchers could launch as large a volley as the newer launchers but were larger which reduced payload in standard Berserkers. The ship has larger magazines which reduces this problem. The ship carries batteries with ten cruise missile launchers each to launch cruise missile. 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) in space. 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 other starships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead is at -25% to be detected.) Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Each battery can be used to launch against multiple targets but is rarely used that way.
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: Volleys of 10 per launcher, per melee round, for a total of 20 missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
Payload: 160 total, 80 cruise missiles per launcher
Four (4) Medium Range Missile Batteries: The only original weapon system from the ships merchant origin although payload is increased. 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: 160 per battery for a total of 640 medium range missiles
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 1,024 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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