Q-Ship (Trans-Galactic Empire Design / Cruiser Size Class):

Q-Ships can be called "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing." They are basically ships designed to look like standard merchant ships while being heavily armed warships. Groups such as the Consortium of Civilized Worlds use the ships for anti-piracy operations. Some less reputable groups use the ships as privateers. The ships are also great for the first wave of an attack since they look like merchant ships unless very carefully scanned and even then it is hard to tell that they are Q-Ships in most cases. Some Q-Ships are built from the hull out as Q-Ships while others are refitted merchant vessels. Most Q-Ships are built around the destroyer size class although there is a small number of cruiser class Q-Ships built. There are no battleship or dreadnought class Q-Ships. They are considered to simply be too expensive to construct.

The Trans-Galactic Empire uses more Q-Ships than most of the militaries within the Three Galaxies although most are of destroyer class. Still, there is a fair number of cruiser class Q-Ships in service with the Trans-Galactic Empire. Intelligence indicates that there is anywhere from a dozen to almost a hundred cruiser class Q-Ship operated by the Trans-Galactic Empire. Most accounts give around thirty to fifty of these larger Q-ships. It is also believed that there are a small number of Independent ships which were sold by the Empire. Empire Security is believed to have a surprisingly large number of Q-Sips, around twenty percent as many as the Empire's navy has. As might be expected, the Empire claims to operate no Q-Ships but that is an open lie. One story they tell is that the ships are really operated by the Free Worlds League. Often Imperial Security is answerable to nobody. Of course, the Empire claims that they are not with the Empire but are in fact pirates.

Because there is a distrust of Imperial vessels, most of the Empire's Q-Ships are converted from non-Kreeghor designs. One of the more common ships used is the Cargo Master because it has a large amount of space available to it and it is a fairly common vessel. Unlike with Consortium vessels, there are no Cargo Master style Q-Ships which are new built instead of being converted. Some smaller Q-Ships are custom built by the Empire but even most of them are converted from already existing merchant vessels as well.

When converted to the Q-Ship role, these ships are given additional armor although the ships are not as tough as if they were purpose built. Still they can take damage which would shred an unconverted Cargo Master. As with the smaller Q-Ships, some crews prefer the cruiser sized Q-Ship over their more standard Kreeghor cruiser designs, especially the Smasher. The Q-ship carries a larger payload of missiles, has a greater ability to absorb damage, and has better anti-missile defenses. Many Imperial Fleet Officers consider the Smasher to be more of a light carrier than really a cruiser.

To reduce time and costs involved in converting the vessels, the standard merchant drive systems are retained. This means that the ships can be rather slow both in faster than light travel and in normal space. As well, while the regular shields are replaced by variable force fields, the power is rather low compared to those on other ships such as the Consortium Warshield class cruiser. The ship does have full military radiation shielding to allow for greater sublight speeds. Due to power requirements of the new systems, the Q-Ships mounts an additional pair of fusion reactors. Sensors are upgraded to military standard and life support is supplemented to support the additional crew.

Generally merchant ships are at risk of attack from pirates and are armed with some light weaponry to hopefully be able to deal with such an event. Common weaponry includes six light laser mounts and six medium range missile batteries. The medium range missile launchers give the ship a form of medium range anti-missile defense which most Kreeghor vessels lack. Some military leaders would like something similar to be added to standard military vessels. These standard mounts are retained but are supplemented by additional weapon. All of the additional weaponry is carried in concealed mounts. The Trans-Galactic Empire has experimented with both powered hatches and blow away panels and both can be found on their Q-Ships. Most important weapon mounts that the Q-Ship carries is four cruise missile batteries with eighty cruise missiles per launcher. This gives the ship far more staying power in a long range ship to ship duel. Backing this up are a pair of thirty centimeter lasers similar to the main laser carried on the Smasher. As well, eight medium laser mounts are carried. For point defense, the ship carries twenty mounts beyond the visible laser mounts. Each of the retractable mounts has a mini-missile batter built in and twelve of the mounts carry lasers while the other eight carry gravity rail guns.

Fighter compliment is sixty fighters. The five squadrons are all Flying Fang fighters. There was consideration given to embarking Sharktooth light starfighters to increase fighter compliment but they are extremely rare outside of Imperial service while a fair number of Flying Fangs have been captured as well as sold to other parties. In addition to fighters, the heavy Kreeghor Q-Ship embarks a large number of troops. The ship carries almost five hundred marines with around three hundred and sixty with power armors. These troops are usually used in boarding parties but might form the spearhead of a surprise assault as well. The ship has a large crew compliment than the Consortium Q-Ship design of around the same class. This is due to the ship having a lack of automation and that the Trans-Galactic Empire puts less of a value on its personnel. As a result of the large crew and troop compliment, the ship is actually fairly cramped.

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: KRA-1200-Q
Vehicle Type: Q-Ship (Converted Medium Freighter design)
Crew: 445 (65 Officers and 380 enlisted)
Troops: 480 Marines, 96 fighter pilots

Vehicles:
Power Armors:

	240	Warlord Mark I
	120	Warlord Mark II

Fighter Compliment:

FF-100 Standard Flying Fangs or FFB-120 Flying Fang Bombers (Carries 4 Cruise missiles)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Concealed 30 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (2):	1,000 each
	Concealed 12 cm Secondary Heavy Laser Cannons (8):	600 each
	Point Defense Laser Cannon Turrets (6):	500 each
	Concealed Point Defense Lasers / Missile Batteries (12):	250 each
	Concealed Point Defense GR Cannons/Missile Batteries (8):	300 each
	Concealed Cruise Missile Batteries (4, Front & Sides):	800 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (6):	300 each
	Concealed Fighter Hanger Doors (2):	2,500 each
	Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	120
	Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	100
	[1] Contra-Grav Engines (2):	8,000 each
	[2] Bridge:	10,000
	[3] Main Body:	55,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	3,000 a side (18,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[2] 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.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Q-Ship 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 maximum due to civilian shields. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.5 percent of light per melee. Ship has had the merchant radiation and particle shields replaced with military ones.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 250 mph (402 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 2.5 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about two years worth of supplies on board for the ship’s crew.

Statistical Data:
Length: 950 feet (289.6 meters)
Height: 330 feet (100.6 meters)
Width: 320 feet (97.5 meters)
Weight: 330,000 Tons (300,000 metric tons)
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. Carries three reactors onboard. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting.
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 ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: 4.2 billion credits for a rebuilt ship.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Two (2) 30 cm Concealed Heavy Laser Cannon: Cannons are identical to the main cannon of the Smasher but the ship carries two cannons in place of the one on the Smasher and are in concealed mounts. The cannons mounts are located on the top front of the starship and are used as anti-capital ship weapons and can take out frigates in one shot and can do large amounts of damage to bases or larger starships. The Laser cannons can be combined together or each one used separately. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for a large weapon system. The barrels can be fired either forward and can be rotated 60 degrees horizontally or vertically.
Maximum Effective Range: 100,000 miles (161,000 km) in space. and 100 miles (161 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 1D6x1000 M.D.C. each and can be combined for a total of 2D6x1000.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of once per melee per cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Eight (8) 12 cm Concealed Heavy Laser Cannons: These weapons are scattered in concealed mounts around the ship and are the ship’s secondary energy weaponry. The weapon systems, like the primary laser cannons, are designed for anti-capital ship and anti-installation. They have the standard penalties for capital scale weaponry to strike small targets such as fighters and other such small targets. Each laser in mounted in a turret that has a 360 degree rotation and a 90 degree arc of fire. Up to two cannons may be combined as one volley or all weapons may be targeted individually. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 16,000 miles (25,750 km) in space and 16 miles (25 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: 1D6x100 + 100 M.D. each (2D6x100 + 200 for two cannons)
Rate of Fire: Two per cannon per melee or two double blasts
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Six (6) Laser Batteries: Original weapon system. Weapon system is used as an anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter. Weapons system has no penalties to hit fighters and small targets and can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee). The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 200 miles (322 km) in space and 4 miles (6.4 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 3D6x10 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.
Four (4) Concealed Cruise Missile Batteries: Uses engines to conceal the anti-matter or fusions warheads and all batteries fire forward. 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 Missiles. (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 40 missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
Payload: 320 total, 80 cruise missiles per launcher
Six (6) Medium Range Missile Batteries: A slightly modified version of the medium range missile batteries carried on a normal Merchantman with an increased payload. 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 Missiles..)
Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) missiles per battery
Payload: 64 per battery for a total of 368 medium range missiles.
Twelve (12) Point Defense Concealed Lasers/Mini Missile Batteries: Weapons are mounted around the ship in concealed mounts for point defense. Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. 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 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. 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 3D4x10 M.D. per blast. Mini-Missiles vary by mini-missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies Missiles..)
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 32 mini-missiles at each launcher (384 total, can carry potentially several times more in storage holds).
Eight (8) 22 mm Concealed GR Rail Gun/Mini Missile Batteries: Weapons are mounted around the ship in concealed mounts for point defense. Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Projectiles come out the 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. Gravity Rail guns have a range of 4 miles (6.4 km) in an atmosphere and 200 miles (362 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: GR-Cannon inflicts 3D6x10 M.D. for a 40 round burst. Mini-Missiles vary by mini-missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies Missiles..)
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: GR Cannon has 8000 rounds/ 200 Bursts each, has 32 mini-missiles at each launcher (256 total, can carry potentially several times more in storage holds.)

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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