"Hellhound" Pirate Cruiser (Modified Dwarven Iron Ship):

The merchant ship "Lucky Fortune" was old but sound. Unlike many other such vessels, the owners had actually invested in keeping their vessel in good condition. The ship even was fairly well armed. In the fringes of the Three Galaxies, this could be very useful where no major powers kept the pirates in check. At least it carried enough weaponry to dissuade the lighter pirate vessels into leaving them be. There had been a few incidents and the merchant ship carried a number of scars as a result.

Like a wraith, a huge ship suddenly appeared. It was strange, like nothing which the crew had even seen. The size of a heavy cruiser, it was not in the ship recognition files carried by the merchant ship. Just moments later, too fast for point defense to be ready, a pair of capital missiles traced there way towards the merchant ship. The inner defense array was just powering up when the two missiles exploded just a few hundred kilometers away from the old vessel in nuclear fire.

A cold voice came up from the other ship. "Surrender or Die." There was a stark choice. The Lucky Fortune could surrender or it could be destroyed in more nuclear fire. There was no way that the merchant ship could fight off something this large and powerful. The captain quickly transmitted his surrender.

The pirate vessel closed the remaining distance slowly while the merchant ship held its course. Details became clear as it approached close to the Lucky Fortune. It seemed to have started like as a Dwarven Iron Ship and the vague shape was still visible. The hull though was a malevolent black instead of grey iron plates. The hull seemed to be grown instead of riveted and from the hull seemed to grow huge horns or thorns.

The captain had heard of this ship. It was called the "Hellhound." He could not help but shiver in fear.

The vast majority of pirate vessels are converted merchant designs. Most others are relatively small, mostly frigates and destroyers. Of course the larger and more powerful are often the best known. One of these is a converted Dwarven Ion Ship known as the "Hellhound." It has a horrible reputation with prisoners of the pirate ship often being horribly treated including being tortured. Few crews captured by the Hellhound ever survive the ordeal.

Most pirates will not go after warships. Simply put, pirates are in it for the profit and tangling with a warship and having your ship pounded into scrap interferes with that. The Hellhound is an exception. It will go after warships, often using its ability to become invisible to achieve complete surprise. It seems to avoid space patrolled by the United Worlds Warlock because their ships are far more likely to detect the pirate ship while invisible.

The Hellhound started out its like in service of the United Worlds Warlock Navy. It was in a shipyard at the same time as a prison ship. The prisoners managed to somehow capture the prison ship and then board the Dwarven Iron Ship. They murdered the entire crew of the cruiser. The man who rose to be captain of the Hellhound had been a Warlock Navy captain who was known for his brutality. He had been convicted of murdering an elven minister and had been sentenced to death. His brutality has allowed him to stay captain of the ship since taking command. He has put down quite a number of rebellions among his crew where the death at the end is a mercy.

As one might expect, the Hellhound is one of the most wanted ships in Warlock space and the captain has a massive price of his head. Early on, the pirate ship tangled with a small force of Warlock Navy destroyers. His ship was badly damaged in the engagement. As such, he decided that it would be best to find safer places to pillage, places where the magic to detect invisible vessels was far less common. On the ship went to less settled regions of the Three Galaxies.

Somewhere along the lines, the pirate ship made a connection with a race which combines the more convention technology of the Three Galaxies with bio-technology. Still badly damaged, he had the armor plates of the cruiser stripped and the hull was replaced by a bio-armor. In addition to being tougher, it has many advantages over the original material including the fact that the hull can regenerate itself and can adapt to attacks. This bio-armor is a dull black instead of grey like the original armor plates. As well, it appears to have grown on the ship including that there are huge spikes and thorns appearing to grow from the hull. While this does not reduce the space speed of the vessel, it does restrict its abilities in the water to some extent.

The ship has also been modified as far as weaponry. "Bottled Demon" missiles are virtually impossible to get for anybody outside of the United Worlds Warlock military. As a result, the launchers are replaced with conventional mini-missile launchers. Converting conventional mini-missiles to the launchers is a cumbersome process. In addition, the ship mounts a pair of capital missile batteries. These are mounted to either side in what appear to be pods. These launchers are similar to those carried on older Trans-Galactic Empire vessels. Each one can launch a volley of ten missiles at a time. When used as close range surprise attack, both launchers combined can overcome almost any ship’s defensive systems. The launchers carry a total of forty reloads per launcher.

Embarked fighters and power armor is a mix of different designs. A number of Warlock designs are still embarked but numbers of them have been lost. Replacements include knock off designs of the Silver Hawk power armor and others. Fighter compliment is a similar situation. A squadron and a half of Shadow Bolt fighters remain and a handful of Broadsword fighters also remain. Otherwise, older fighters are more commonly carried with Human Alliance and Wolfen designs dominating. A small number of newer fighters are usually carried as well, Katana and Scorpion classes mostly.

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: Modified UW-C15
Class: Space Cruiser (techno-wizard / bio-technology)
Crew: 245, including a magic team of 16 techno-wizards (levels 2-6).
Troop Capacity: 60 Marines (Typically 30 stay on board for ship defense), 50 fighter pilots, 20 Power Armor pilots, and can carry up to 20 passengers in addition.

Vehicles: Load out varies over time. This is a typical compliment aboard the vessel.
Power Armors & Robots:

	4	Consortium CAF-PA-10 “Ground Pounder” Power Armors
	4	Human Alliance HAFA-PA-06 “Steel Grunt” Power Armors
	4	Kittani K-Universal Power Armors
	4	“Knock Off” Consortium Silver Hawk Power Armors
	4	U.W.W. W-1 Warlock Combat Armors
	4	U.W.W. W-F1 Flying Warlock Combat Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	4	Bushido Industries BIF-67 Katana Star fighters
	6	Consortium SF-69 Scorpion Star Interceptor
	2	Human Alliance SF-6 Osprey Starfighters
	6	Human Alliance SF-9 Vixen Light Stafighters
	4	Naruni NE-SF10 Broadsword Fighters
	18	U.W.W. WF-F15 Shadow Bolt Strike Ship
	2	Wolfen PBI-22 Gladius Medium Starfighters (Old Model)
	6	Wolfen PBI-25 Falx Supina Light Starfighters (Old Model)

M.D.C. by Location:

	Rift Projector Cannon (One, in front):	1,500
	Flame Cannons (2, one on each side)	900 each
	Medium Laser Cannon Turrets (4):	800 each
	Particle Beam Cannon Turrets (8):	100 each
	Cruise Missile Batteries (2, sides):	800 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (4):	100 each
	[1] Main Bridge:	14,500
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	14,500
	[2] Main Body:	43,500
	Hangar Bay:	2,800
	[3] Magical “Armor of Ithan” Force Field:	10,000

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] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will destroy the Cruiser, putting it out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck. The hull armor (and systems protected by the hull including the ship’s bridges and the hangers - weapon systems are not protected) has the ability to repair itself. The ship’s hull and ship’s systems regenerate damage at the rate of 1D4x100 M.D.C. per minute. The ship can only repair up to half the total M.D.C. of the main body without needing additional resources.
[3] This is not a variable force field, but a magical shield that must be completely depleted. Once the shield has been knocked down, it will cost 1000 P.P.E. and require one minute ( 4 melees) of spell casting to restore the force field.

Speed:
Driving on the ground: Not Possible.
Water Surface: 30 knots (55.6 kph/34.5 mph)
Underwater: 25 knots (46.3 kph/28.8 mph)
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 0.8 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 200 mph (321.9 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight
Star Drive: Rift Jump Drive; maximum safe jump distance of 20 light years every four hours (Jump costs 4,000 P.P.E. per activation.)
Range: Life support will keep crew alive for up to ten years, as long as the P.P.E. generators are kept in working order.

Statistical Data:
Height: 85 feet (25.9 meters) main body; 165 feet (50.3 meters) from the bottom of the main body to the top of the bridge. Spikes / thorns add an additional 30 feet (9.1 meters) to the height of the ship
Width: 85 feet (25.9 meters) for hull and 105 feet (32.0 meters) including cruise missile launchers. Spikes / thorns add an additional 30 feet (9.1 meters) to the width of the ship
Length: 810 feet (246.9 meters) for hull. Spikes / thorns add an additional 30 feet (9.1 meters) to the length of the ship
Weight / Mass: 135,000 tons (122,470 metric tons)
Power System: Combination Fusion & Techno-wizardry with 20 year life span. The Cruiser also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 6,000 P.P.E. per hour / 25 P.P.E. per melee round (Activating the Rifts Jump Drive costs 4,000 P.P.E.) and can hold up to 20,000 P.P.E. in storage. This P.P.E. can be used to power the Rifts Jump Drive or can be used to power spells cast by the Cruiser crew.
Cargo: Cargo holds can hold up to 2,500 tons (2,268 metric tons) of additional material. If all the ships ammo for was taken out, amount of cargo the ship is able to carry would increase greatly. 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 ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: A standard Dwarven Iron Ship costs 22 billion credits to construct originally. These ships are no longer in production or for sale. Refitting the ship likely would cost an addition 2 billion credits (not including the new bio-armor material)

Weapon Systems:

One (1) Rifts Projector Cannon: In the nose of the ship is large opening which is the main barrel of the cannon. The cannon creates a huge rift in front of the cannon that has a variable effect. This weapon can become a danger to the ship if it fails. The cannon has a 0.5% cumulative chance of failure (i.e., becomes 1% after two shots, 2% after four, and so on). This cannon has penalties to strike small targets. For more information on the Rifts Projector Cannon, refer to page 155 of Dimension Book 2: Phase World (Except ranges are 1,000 times range in book in space.)
Maximum Effective Range: 50,000 miles (80,000 km) in space and 50 miles (80 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: Roll on table in Dimension Book 2: Phase World on page 156.
Rate of Fire: Can fire once per minute (4 melee rounds/ 60 seconds).
Payload: Requires 1,000 P.P.E. each time fired.
Two (2) 16 Inch Flame Cannons: The heavy battery of cannons gives the ship a very powerful punch. Each mount can rotate 60 degrees up or down and has a 30 degree arc of fire to the sides of the ship that the weapon is mounted on. Firing giant fireballs, these cannons have enormous range in space. With regards to fire control, these cannons are not designed to lock onto any targets smaller than frigates. While these cannons are able to be used to bombard planets as well as well, they have comparatively limited range in an atmosphere.
Maximum Effective Range: 20,000 miles (32,200 km) in space and 20 miles (32.2 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 1D4x1000 M.D.C. each cannon
Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee per cannon (A total of 4 blasts).
Payload: Needs 1000 P.P.E. per day to function.
Four (4) 5 inch Laser Cannons: These weapons are in their own turrets on the top, sides, and bottom of the ship. These are a modern weapon system that are powered by the ships reactor. Each mount can rotate 180 degrees and have a 80 degree arc of fire up and a 45 degree arc of fire down. The cannons are not quite as powerful as the cannons on the CAF classes but have a higher rate of fire. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for large starship weaponry. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 16,000 miles (25,000 km) in space and 16 miles (25 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 1D6x100 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.
Eight (8) Particle Beam Cannon Turrets: Scattered around the ship, these light particle beam cannons are primarily anti-missile defense systems, but can also be used against fighters and robots. Turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.
Maximum Effective Range: 2 miles (3.2 km) through atmosphere and 200 miles (320 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: 1D6x10 per blast.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined number of hand to hand attacks of the gunner.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Cruise Missile Batteries: Mounted on either side of the hull, these launchers are basically similar to older Kreeghor cruise missile launchers and have a reduced payload compared to newer Empire launchers. 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 unpowered, 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 ten (10) per launcher, per melee round, for a total of twenty (20) missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
Payload: 80 total, 40 cruise missiles per launcher.
Four (4) Mini-Missile Launchers: Launchers replace the "Bottle Demon" 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 mini-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 2048 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.
Techno-Wizard Modifications: The "Hellhound" has the following Techno-Wizard Modifications built into the ship. These require P.P.E. or I.S.P. from the ships crew or P.P.E. battery.
Special Features:

Special Equipment:

Adaptive Hull: The Cruiser has the ability to adapt to any non magical attacks on it. Once a specific attack has been used against the ship, it will adapt to that attack and any attack of that type that is encountered afterwards will only be at half effect in the next engagement. Magical attacks will continue to inflict full damage. Variable frequency weapons such as variable frequency lasers can be reset to do full damage once this is discovered. The adaption takes about five days to be completed.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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