T.G.E. Berserker Light Attack Vessel (Old Version):

The older version of the Berserker class was the mainstay of the Kreeghor fleet but had grown obsolete and production had switched over to a more advanced version. It was easier to modify the design than to develop an all new vessel. Still, it would have not been cost effective to actually refit the old ships. A large number of these ships were lost in combat and really only a relatively small number were put in the inactive reserve fleet, otherwise known as mothballs. A few also were given out to allies of the Trans-Galactic Empire.

Still, present events causes the Trans-Galactic Empire to bring most of those still remaining back into service. The Kreeghor have recently lost a large number of warships in battles with the REF units under command of Captain Scarlet Moor. As well, there had been a steady lose of warships with the fighting with the Free Worlds Council. These loses are so severe that it will take several years to make up these losses with new construction.

An attempt was made to make up these losses from the mothball fleets. Unlike the Consortium of Civilized Worlds and the Human Alliance, the Trans-Galactic empire never had a large number of mothball fleets. Even worse is that a large number of these ships simply “disappeared.”

According to official records, the Kreeghor Navy have ten battle fleets of ships in mothball fleets total but when the leadership ordered the inspection and restoration of the mothball fleets, only seven of the fleets actually remained with only a handful of ships, often those in the worst condition remaining in the three “stripped” fleets. As well, numbers of ships from the some of the other fleets have also disappeared.

Investigations, often including torture, has gotten confessions among several administrators / caretakers that these ships have been sold to both the Free World Council and independent parties. Judgements were swift and heads rolled. In the case of the Kreeghor Empire, this means literally in many cases. Death is a blessing for most subject to Trans-Galactic Empire justice and often only given after long periods of torture.

Of course, none of these really solves the problem for the Kreeghor Empire. Of course, virtually all available inactive reserve ships, if in a condition to be brought back into service, have been reactivated or are in the process of being reactivated. Still, the fleet is far under strength from what the Empire considers necessary. As a result, military operations are kept as low level as possible. Even attacks against the Free World Council systems are down. There is fear that any major additional losses of military forces may inspire further rebellion.

The vast majority of these ships are in Kreeghor service but a surprising number serve either in the Free World Council fleet, independent fleets (Including a handful in Consortium space in Independent Defense Forces although these vessels are unpopular generally), and in the hands of mercenaries and pirates. As well, there are a number of modified versions of the old Berserker in service as well. Originally, there was a minesweeper version of the older version of the Berserker designed for minesweeping but all are believed to have been scrapped.

The external appearance of the modern Berserker is incredibly similar to the older model of the attack ship. There are some changes which one might consider more stylistic in appearance than anything else although the main energy weapon array is four weapons instead of two more powerful mounting. There are enough changes in the vessel including energy signature though that it is relatively easy to tell the difference.

Even though considered obsolete compared to the modern Berserker, the older model is still considered fairly capable with most naval experts considering it to have about seventy percent of the combat ability of the standard Berserker. Some weaknesses of the older attack vessel are that it has weaker shields and the armor is not quite as heavy. Drive systems are not quite as powerful although not considered as much of a weakness in most situations. Crew requirements are a bit greater as well. A modern Berserker is more cramped than most Consortium designs of similar mass and the older Berserk is even worse.

Firepower compares reasonably favorable to the modernize Berserker and there has been no real effort has been made to upgrade the actual weapon mounts on the old Berserkers brought back into service. Identical to the newer version of the Berserker, the attack vessel’s main battery consists twenty ready to fire capital / cruise missiles mounted between two batteries. Launchers are more massive and total payload is reduced compared to the newer design although it still carried a total of eighty capital missiles.

The missiles the launchers originally fired are obsolete but modern missiles can be fired from the batteries without any modifications. These include X-Ray laser and heavy gravity warheads. In addition, modern capital missile guidance is usually of the “brilliant” system.

Instead of the twin 12 cm laser cannons mounted on the more modern Berserker as the main energy battery, the older ships mounts four plasma cannons. If within range, the plasma cannons actually inflict greater damage to the target although the plasma weaponry only has a fraction of the range of the laser cannons. Since the attack vessels more often fight at capital missile ranges, this is not considered a serious weakness.

Point defense are six combination mounts with conventional electromagnetic rail guns instead of gravity rail guns. Each mount also has a mini-missile battery. In comparison, the more modern Berserker mounts a total of eight combination mounts. With regard to firepower, the electromagnetic rail guns are also a little less powerful individually than the newer gravity rail gun mounts although are still quite capable of killing missiles. In addition, the payload of mini-missiles carried ready to fire is less than the newer mounts.

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: TIV-AL.

Vehicle Type: Light Attack vessel/Missile ship.

Crew: 112.

Troops: None.

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors: None.

M.D.C. By Location:

	Horn Plasma Cannons (4, Underside):	350 each.
	Cruise Missile Batteries (2, front):	800 each.
	Electromagnetic Rail Cannons/Missile Batteries (6):	250 each.
	[1] Bridge:	1,200.
	[2] Main Body:	2,800.
	[3] Variable Force Field:	800 a side (4,800 total).

Notes:

[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge. This ship does not have an auxiliary bridge. The ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge. All weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge can injure crew members near the bridge.

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

[3] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (240 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. The ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.75 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 500 mph (804.7 km), 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 3.0 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. carries about one year worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:

Length: 300 feet (91.5 meters).

Height: 98 feet (29.9 meters) from the horn cannons to the top of the ship or 80 feet (24.4 m) main body only.

Width: 65 feet (19.8 meters).

Weight/Mass: 7,200 tons (6,600 metric tons) fully loaded.

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: Small cargo hold that can carry up to 100 tons (90.7 metric tons) of cargo not including a standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. Hold is 20 x 20 x 20 feet in dimensions (6.1 x 6.1 x 6.1 meters). If ammunition was taken out, amount of cargo 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 taken up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: Ship would cost about 200 million credits to manufacture in present time in the Three Galaxies. Ships are no longer being produced. These ships normally sell for 200 to 400 million credits when available on the black market.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Four (4) Heavy Plasma Cannons: The ship has four plasma cannons. They are powerful but are very short ranged, most useful in close in strafing runs against much larger ships and stations. Weapon system can engage up to four different targets or can be combined to strike one target. 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. The plasma quickly breaks down when the weapon is used in an atmosphere which gives it an extremely short atmospheric range.

Maximum Effective Range 1,250 miles (2,012 km) in space and 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) in an atmosphere.

Mega-Damage: 1D4x100 M.D. each (all four may be combined for 4D4x100).

Rate of Fire: Two per cannon per melee round.

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Cruise Missile Batteries: The older Kreeghor launchers could launch as large a volley as the newer launchers but were larger which reduced payload. The ship carries batteries with ten cruise missile launchers each to launch cruise missile. 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 (Anti-Matter multi-warheads inflict 5D6x100 M.D.C. each and Fusion multi-warheads inflict 3D6x100 M.D.C. each.)

Rate of Fire: Fires volleys of ten (10) cruise missiles per launcher, per melee round, for a total of twenty (20) cruise missiles per melee round. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.

Payload: Eighty (80) total, forty (40) cruise missiles per launcher.
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. These mounts are larger than the gravity rail guns mounts carried on the modern Trans-Galactic Empire Berserkers class attack vessels and less rail guns can be carried. 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. 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. Mini-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. Mini-Missile launchers 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. 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 6,000 rounds/ 200 Bursts each, Mini-Missile launcher has twenty-four (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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