• Home
• Palladium
• Phase World Vehicles
• Splugorth / Kittani
• “Viceroy” class Command Carrier

Splugorth / Kittani “Viceroy” class Command Carrier:

Compared to the Consortium or Civilized Worlds and the Trans-Galactic Empire, the Splugorth Kingdoms are considered a relatively minor power. There are believed to be less than one hundred worlds under Splugorth control total divided between four kingdoms. Often the kingdoms do not cooperate with each other very well.

Even so, their fleets are considered a major threat in the Three Galaxies. For the number of worlds under Splugorth control, they operate a large number of warships. In addition, there have been a number of major incidents between them and the other powers of the Three Galaxies. There is an especially strong hatred between the Splugorth kingdoms and the Trans-Galactic Empire and there has been some especially bloody battles between the two powers.

These ships have only so far been encountered by warships of the Trans-Galactic Empire. Otherwise, the Consortium and other major powers only have second and third hand information on these huge warships. As a result, there is a lot of rumor and speculation with regard to these vessels and very little in the way of hard facts. Even the intelligence within the Trans-Galactic Empire is considered sketchy at the current time.

Few navies operate as large warships as the “Viceroy.” In the carrier role, most minor powers prefer to operate far smaller carriers. Being that the classes are of a similar size, most military scholars compare the “Viceroy” to those two class when discussing the huge warships. In combining heavy fighter assets as well as assault forces, this carrier might be considered something of a hybrid carrier in a similar manner to the Consortium “Packmaster” class carrier. The “Viceroy” however is heavier armed and armored in a similar manner to the Trans-Galactic Empire “Doombringer” class dreadnought.

The base of the technology of these warships is Kittani in origin. Their technology is generally considered excellent but not a major threat to the major powers such as the Consortium of Civilized Worlds and the Trans-Galactic Empire. In some areas of technology, Kittani systems are considered more advanced while in other areas are considered less advanced. With respect to the capabilities of the sensor systems, the sensor systems are considered more on par with those of the Trans-Galactic Empire than the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. In general however, the technology is considered broadly equivalent to the major powers in the Three Galaxies.

In addition to acting as carriers, these ships are designed to operate as command ships. These carriers have extensive command and control facilities as a result. When encountered by Trans-Galactic Empire forces, these command carriers appear to have been acting in the role of flagships of large fleets composed of several cruisers and large numbers of destroyers.

As with basically all carriers, unless you count the Trans-Galactic Empire “Doombringer” as a carrier, space fighters are considered the main strike arm of the “Viceroy” class carrier. The Splugorth carrier embarks a total of one hundred and sixty transformable Kittani robot-fighters as well as three hundred and twenty standard Kittani fighters. The most common tactic in fleet actions appears to be that the robot fighters are retained to defend the carrier while the standard fighters are expected to fill the strike role.

Unlike most warships of the Splugorth forces, including the Invidious mega-cruiser, the “Viceroy” class carrier is not designed for effective atmospheric performance. In fact, there is a very real risk of crashing if attempting to operate this carrier in an atmosphere. As a result, the carrier is dependent on its assault shuttles for planetary assaults. A total of twenty “Marauder” class assault shuttles are embarked aboard the carrier. Potentially a commander might use the assault shuttles with the strike fighter groups although it is likely the shuttles will attract the majority of fire with such strikes.

Approximately nine thousand troops are carried aboard, not including fighter pilots and shuttle crews. Embarked troops include two thousand Kittani and six thousand Kydian troops. Much of both the Kittani and Kydian troops aboard are equipped with power armors. These ships also carry eighty Slaver barges with both slavers and Altara warrior women. No Metzla are usually carried aboard but High Lords and Conservators share command of the embarked troops. In some cases, the troop compliment may include a few others including tattoo warriors and bio-wizard augmented troops of various types.

Interestingly, these carriers do not have the ability to carry large numbers of captives. It has been suggested that these carriers were designed to go against the Kreeghor specifically and they don’t expect to capture many captives in such engagements. However, there is still the ability to carry around four thousand captives in two hundred cells. This is actually less than the smaller “Invidious” class mega-cruiser. Instead it is expected that these carriers will operate with prisoner transport vessels.

While these carriers are heavier armed than the Consortium “Packmaster” class carrier, they are far lighter armed than the Trans-Galactic Empire “Doombringer” class dreadnought. Without its fighters, it is not heavy enough armed to be considered a major threat to a battleship but can be extremely dangerous against smaller vessels, especially destroyers. There are a lot of rumors about weapon that these warships carry although most appears to be wrong.

For direct fire anti-ship weaponry, these carriers mount four 22 cm particle beams and eight 16 cm fusion cannons. This is designed as a balance between the longer range of the particle beams and the tremendous firepower of the fusion beam. Compared to plasma weaponry, the fusion beams have greater range, rate of fire, and energy output.

In addition these ships mount two capital missile batteries and eight long range missile batteries. Per battery, these carriers have smaller capital missile magazines than the “Invidious” class mega-cruiser however they do carry the same multi-warhead gravity warheads. The magazines for the long range missiles are far larger with over a thousand missiles carried aboard.

With regard to self defense weaponry, these carriers have twelve point defense rail guns, twelve point defense ion cannons, and twelve mini-missile batteries. As with the rail guns mounted on smaller Splugorth warships, the mounts are standard electromagnetic designs instead of gravity based designs. The older electromagnetic designs are considered far easier to maintain while quite powerful point defense weaponry.

Probably even more important than the ability to inflict damage to other ships is the ability of these warships to withstand damage. These carriers are considered to be twice as well armored as the Consortium “Packmaster” class carrier. In addition, the “Viceroy” is protected by variable force fields the equal to those mounted on the “Protector” class battleship.

With regards to it faster than light drives, it is one of the fastest warships operated by the Splugorth fleets. The huge carried is able to reach six light years per hour, matching that of the Consortium “Protector” class battleship. In addition, its acceleration is also considered excellent, greater than either the Consortium “Packmaster” or Trans-Galactic Empire “Doombringer” classes. Its acceleration is however slightly inferior to the “Protector” class battleship.

Power is provided by powerful anti-matter systems and is backed up by advanced fusion reactors. Before entering the Three Galaxies, the Kittani did not experiment much with anti-matter but instead with fusion technology. As a result, the fusion reactors can be considered marginally more advanced than those operated on Consortium vessels.

As with the “Invidious” class mega-cruisers, these ships can be considered almost completely conventional in design. This is quite different than warships operated by the United Worlds Warlock. These command carriers do not have any protective enchantments. They do however have a number of enchanted sensor systems. These include the ability to sense magic, sense rifts, see invisible targets, and see auras.

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

Author Note: The author suggests using these writeups instead of those in “Rifts: Dimension Book 13 - Fleets of the Three Galaxies.” It is designed to work with previous created designs. However, a second option is to assume that these are the forces of a specific Splugorth kingdom.

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Power Armors & Robots:

Fighter Compliment:

Assault Shuttles:

Others:

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 ships armor. This ship also has both an auxiliary bridge and a 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 mega-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% (4,500 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 0.8 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 200 mph (322 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight. There is a real chance of crashing when operating within an atmosphere as well.

Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 6.0 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system. carries about twenty-four months worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:

Length:                6,820 feet (2,078.74 meters).

Height:                1,125 feet (342.90 meters).

Width:                 1,347 feet (410.57 meters).

Mass/Weight:      65 million tons (58.97 million metric tons).

Power System: Anti-Matter with a 30 year life span. The ship normally only goes 7 years between refueling and refitting. Backed up with emergency fusion plants.

Cargo: Vessel has a cargo hold which can carry up to 4.8 million tons (4.35 million metric tons) of cargo and also has the ability to carry up to 4,000 captives. Otherwise, the ship’s crew has small lockers for personal items and uniforms. Each high lord and officer has 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: Believed to cost around 40 billion to construct. None of these ships of this design have ever been put on sale on the market. The Black Market, Consortium, or the Trans-Galactic Empire would offer huge sums of money (100 Billion+ Credits) for an undamaged completely working ship. Construction cost does not include embarked craft.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Four (4) Main 22 cm Particle Beam Batteries: These 22 cm particle beams are mounted in the forward and side areas 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: 4D6x100 M.D.C. each (8D6x100 M.D.C. for two against a single target.)

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

   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

2. Eight (8) 16 cm Fusion Beam Cannons: Mounted on the sides of the ship are four fusion beam cannons. A more advanced development of plasma beams, they have greater output, range, and rate of fire than the plasma beams carried on older Kreeghor vessels. However, they do have shorter range than most more modern lasers and particle beams. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. In addition, the weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for a capital ship scale anti-ship weapon system.

   Maximum Effective Range: 10,000 miles (16,090 km) in space and 20 miles (32 km) in an atmosphere.

   Mega-Damage: 3D6xl00 M.D. per fusion beam cannon blast.

   Rate of Fire: Each cannon may fire up to four (4) times per melee round.

   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

3. Twelve (12) 25 mm Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Mounts: The Kittani engineers seem to prefer electromagnetic rail gun mounts over gravity rail guns due to being lower maintenance. Otherwise, the rail guns are relatively powerful and fire a fairly heavy projectile. They are used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. Each rail gun is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. When used in space, projectiles are fired from rail gun at a significant fraction of the speed of light. When used in an atmosphere, projectile velocities are slower to prevent them from burning up but still are at hypersonic speeds. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. These rail guns use 25 mm projectiles.

   Maximum Effective Range: 20 miles (32.2 km) through atmosphere and 1,000 miles (1,609 km) in space.

   Mega-Damage: Rail gun inflicts 3D6x10 M.D.C. for an 20 round burst.

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

   Payload: 4,000 rounds (200 bursts) each cannon.

4. Twelve (12) 20 mm Point Defense Ion Cannon Mounts: These cannons fire a stream of ions and are considered a reasonably powerful point defense weapon array. They are effective against both fighters and incoming missiles. Weapon mounts 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 miles (3.2 km) through atmosphere and 200 miles (320 km) in space.

   Mega-Damage: 3D6x10 M.D. per cannon blast.

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

   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

5. Two (2) Cruise Missile Batteries: The ship mounts four batteries on the sides of the hull able to fire forward. Each battery has the ability to fire missile volleys up to twelve at a time. Unlike the batteries on the Berserker, these batteries can fire smaller volleys of different sizes. Missiles have a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship) in space. Whether missiles can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missiles. When drive goes dead, missiles will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct or receives a destruct code, but have very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missiles, when unpowered, are at -25% to be detected.) Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but almost always 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 (Special gravity multi-warheads available which inflict 2D4x100 per warhead or 8D4x100 for all four warheads.)

   Rate of Fire: Can fire cruise missiles one at a time or in volleys of four (4), six (6), or twelve (12) cruise missiles per battery, per melee round, for a maximum of twenty-four (24) cruise missiles per melee round. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.

   Payload: One hundred and twenty (120) cruise missiles total, sixty (60) cruise missiles per launcher.

6. Eight (8) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missiles have a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship) in space. Whether missiles can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missiles. When drive goes dead, missiles 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 missiles, when unpowered, are at -25% to be detected.) Long range missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets, unlike cruise missiles, and are almost always 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), four (4), eight (8), or sixteen (16) long range missiles per launcher, per melee attack.

   Payload: 1,025 total, 128 long range missiles per battery.

7. Twelve (12) Mini-Missile Launchers: These are missile turrets used for point defense against enemy fighters and missiles. Missiles have a top speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 2% of light per turn in space. This is 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. Mini-Missiles in the Phase World / Three Galaxies setting are normally smart missiles.

   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), six (6), or twelve (12) mini-missiles per battery.

   Payload: 96 per launcher for a total of 1,152 mini-missiles. Cargo hold has an additional 3,456 mini-missile. Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.

---

[ Altara TM, Brodkil TM, Bushido Industries TM, CAF TM, Catyr TM, CCW TM, Consortium of Civilized Worlds TM, Coyles TM, Free Worlds Council TM, Gene Splicers TM, K-Hex TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kreeghor TM, Kydian TM, Machine People TM, M.D.C. TM, Mega-Damage TM, Metzla TM, M’Kri Hardware TM, Monro TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Noro TM, Paradise Federation TM, Phase World TM, Psylite TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Seljuks TM, Splugorth TM, Sunaj TM, Trans-Galactic Empire TM, Tri-Galactic Military Service TM, United Worlds Warlock TM, U.W.W. TM, Wolfen TM, and Zembahk TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2016, Kitsune. All rights reserved.

---