WNS Firedrake Battle Cruiser (U.W.W.):

Ship Information:

While various captains have modified their warships to make them more effective, The United Worlds Warlock navy has started a program to improve many of their older warships with plans to replace others. Common criticisms with regard to the Black Swan battlecruiser class has been both that it has to depend on escorts to protect it from long range massed missile strikes and that it lacks any real long range missile firepower itself.

It was decided that three battlecruisers would be modified as an experiment with more to follow if the upgrades work out well. Other than the Firedrake, the battlecruisers Fenris and Woton were chosen to be upgraded. Most in the fleet consider the upgrade highly successful with more ships to likely follow.

To address the lack of long range firepower, the ships have eight capital missile launchers mounted in the bow of the vessels. Looking at the launchers, they are reminiscent of torpedo tubes mounted on World War Two submarines and are positioned on either side of the Rifts Projector Cannon. The bow had to be modified with a missile feed system and under the skin of the vessel’s bow are a lot of additional modification to fit the weapon system.

In actual design, the launchers are basically copies of those carried on the Wolfen Hunter class destroyer as well as a number of other Wolfen ship designs. The same weapon system is carried on a number of other upgraded and new United Worlds Warlock warships. While the United Worlds Warlock could have developed their own missile software, it was expedient to simply purchase existing fire control software for the firing of missile volleys. With a good missile crew, these ships can actually now engage with a volley of missiles equal or greater than a Kreeghor Doombringer dreadnought.

While it is expected that conventional capital missiles will usually be fired, the United Worlds Warlock navy is also developing a larger “Capital Scale” version of the bottle demon missile. Currently, it is considered experimental but up to five missiles per launcher of these missiles are carried aboard. They are more likely to go out of control than the smaller demon missiles and there have been incidents of the missiles going after the ship launching them. In general ship’s crews are already nervous about being around bottle demon missiles and they are even more so with these. Many missile crews have reported strange noises coming from these missiles.

In order to partially address the lack of effective missile defense, four smaller versions of the “Death Cloud” cannon are mounted with two on each side of the Battlecruiser’s superstructure. These spray out water which immediately turns to ice in space. Used effectively, these cannons can also be extremely effective against fighters and even capital ships.

In theory, bottle demon missiles can be fired at other missiles but they are hard to make and are extremely expensive as a result. Usually United Worlds Warlock vessels only carry a limited of the demon missiles as a result. As bottle demon missiles are slightly larger than mini-missiles, a simple solution to adapt the launchers for mini-missiles was to fit the mini-missiles with a special mounting sleeve. At the same time, the magazine space were increased in order for the ship to carry a far greater number of mini-missiles. As with most military forces in the Three Galaxies, smart guided missiles are usually carried and are quite effective in the role of close range defense.

Not available yet to smaller warship designs, the final defensive system is an experimental mystical shockwave system. It creates a spherical energy wave in all directions which usually destroys missiles as they are about to strike. The system is limited to being activated four times in a minute so staggered missile waves can often get through. Even so, it can be extremely effective.

There is an attempt being made to standardize the secondary enchantments on United Worlds Warlock naval ships to “Shadow Meld”, “Invisibility: Superior”, and “Impervious to Energy.” Many captains and crew already have added these enchantments to their vessels. There is talk about replacing the “Armor of Ithan” force field in the future with a more powerful “Invincible Armor” force field. At issue though is that the force field generator is build into the ship and extremely hard to replace.

As discussed with other vessels, most crews do not particularly like the Naruni fighter designs, considering them to be obsolete. In fact many crews would prefer even something like the old Human Alliance Osprey class fighter. While the Shadow Gryphon is considered an excellent design, it is too large and would require massive modifications to be embarked. As a result, the Bushido Industries Katana class medium fighter was selected. In general it has been very well received although they are considered expensive. In most cases the faster than light boosters developed for the fighter are also carried with the Katanas. There is discussion of a much closer working relationship between Bushido Industries and the United Worlds Warlock navy.

With regard to the Firedrake herself, the captain is an Asgardian High Elf, one of the most senior captains in the fleet, and has managed to get a crew almost ninety percent from the New Midgard system. A huge percentage of the crew are either Asgardian High Elves or Asgardian Dwarves. While at nowhere near the percentages as the Firedrake, for unknown reasons, the other two upgraded battlecruisers also have a large percentage of crew members from New Midgard.

Class information:

While the United Worlds Warlock navy does not use battleships, they do use what they considered to be battlecruisers. Some think it might be better to consider them to be light battleship. While the Black Swan class only exist in small numbers, they are considered by some to be the backbone of the U.W.W. fleets. They are respect by enemy captains as both powerful and dangerous opponents. Often the captains of these warships are also the best that the United Worlds Warlock navy has to offer.

he appearance of the Black Swan Battle Cruisers are very unusual and no two ships of the class look completely identical. The appearance of the ships are much like contemporary battleships and are reminiscent of starships in Japanese animation. Some ships look like First World War Dreadnoughts in their superstructure and gun designs while others look like the much like the more sleek Fast Battleships of the Second World War. In comparison to Dwarven Iron Ships, these vessels are far more artistic and stylistic.

The ships propulsion is a combination of magic and technology. The ship uses a relatively conventional contragrav drives to propel it in normal space but uses a Rifts Jump Drive to travel from system to system. In terms of acceleration, these ships do live up to being battlecruisers in that they have greater acceleration than the Dwarven Iron Ship. Although it can jump the ship twenty light years each time it is activated, the rifts jump drive requires a large amount of magical energy and can only be operated once every four hours. As with the propulsion system, the ship’s power plant is a combination of conventional fusion and techno-wizardry.

While the ships look like ancient battleships, they are quite well armed and capable of taking on all comers. They are armed for relatively close combat with a heavy energy weapon battery. Similar to other large United World Warlock warships, the nose of each starship houses a Rift Projector Cannon. It is a powerful but potentially dangerous weapon system. Even so, it is considered worth the risks involved.

Otherwise, the ship’s more conventional main battery consists of four multi-barrel large turrets. In each turret is a triple barrel mounting of sixteen inch magical flame cannons. On the upper part of the battlecruiser are three turrets with two forward of the main superstructure and the final aft of the superstructure. In addition, the ship has a single turret in the center bottom of the ship. A common tactic when the battlecruiser engages a target is to swing to one side to bring its entire broadside to bear on an enemy vessel.

Unlike the main battery, the secondary battery are medium lasers, not magical weaponry. The five inch lasers are mounted in casemate style mountings on the ships with an older First World War look and in light turrets with those designed to look more like World War II fast battleship. In either case there are four mountings with twin laser mounted in each. In design, the lasers are identical to those mounted on the Dwarven Iron Ship. While lighter than the secondary battery of Consortium warships, they have a greater rate of fire.

For close range defense, the battlecruiser mounts sixteen sub particle accelerator cannons and the same number of twin heavy telekinetic machine guns. Many consider this battery to be too light to deal with massed missile volleys however and the battlecruiser often have to rely on escorts and fighters to deal with massed missile volleys. Over the years, some captains have mounted additional point defense on their warships.

The missile batteries of the battlecruiser are not conventional but are instead bottle demon launchers. A total of eight of these launchers are mounted. There are many issues surrounding the weapon system with many crews and officers not particularly liking the system. However, the missiles are greatly feared due to how relentless they are and the missiles have in effect infinite range. Only if the target disappears will the missiles stop. Otherwise, the missiles have to be destroyed in order to stop chasing the target.

Being built slightly later than Dwarven Iron Ships, these battlecruisers are made from modern composites and alloys. This reduces the cost of construction while the ships are still extremely tough. Using more modern materials also makes the warships easier to repair than they might otherwise be. In addition these ships have a powerful enchanted “Armor of Ithan” force field. Depending on the captain, many of these warship also have additional techno-wizard enchantments with “Shadow Meld”, “Impervious to Energy,” and “Invisibility” being common. These are among the largest which can mount they kind of enchantments.

With regards to the fighter compliment, these battlecruisers carry twice the fighter compliment of the Dwarven Iron Ship. In addition, a full squadron of the fighters are the Black Widow II heavy starfighter, similar in size to the Consortium Proctor class heavy fighter and also fitted with faster than light engines. Otherwise, many captains and crews have issues with the Naruni fighters often issues. Unlike the Dwarven Iron Ship, the Black Swan class are fitted for ground assault roles as well. As such they carry eight hundred troops with half of them in power armor. In addition the warship carries a number of assault shuttles and tanks.

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: UW-BC24 (FRAM1).

Class: Fleet Battle Cruiser.

Crew: 645 (65 officers and 580 enlisted).

Troop Capacity: 400 Marines (Typically 200 stay on board for ship defense), 150 fighter pilots, 400 Warlock Combat Armor pilots, and can carry up to 120 passengers in addition to troops and crew (generally flag personnel.)

Vehicles:

Power Armors & Robots:

	250	U.W.W. W-1 Warlock Combat Armors.
	150	U.W.W. W-F1 Flying Warlock Combat Armors.

Fighter Compliment:

	24	Consortium / Bushido BIF-67 Katana Fighter Ship (With F.T.L. boosters.)
	60	U.W.W. WF-F15 Shadow Bolt Strike Ship.
	12	U.W.W. WF-P60S Black Widow II Heavy Starfighters.

Assault Shuttles:

U.W.W. Assault Shuttles.

Tanks & Other Vehicles:

U.W.W. WIFV-99 Greataxe IFV Tanks.

M.D.C. by Location:

	Rifts Projector Cannon (One, nose of ship):	5,000.
	16 inch Flame Cannon Barrels (12, in turrets):	900 each.
	Flame Cannon Turrets (4, 2 forward, 1 aft, 1 under hull):	2,000 each.
	5 inch Medium Laser Cannons (16):	800 each.
	Magical “Mini-Death Cloud” Cannons (4):	200 each.
	Cruise Missile Launchers (8, front):	1,000 each.
	Bottled Demon Missile Batteries (8):	600 each.
	Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons (16):	100 each.
	Twin Telekinetic Machine Gun Turrets (16):	140 each.
	[1] Main Bridge:	30,000.
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	30,000.
	[1] Flag Bridge:	30,000.
	[2] Main Body:	165,000.
	Hangar Bay:	20,000.
	[3] Main Engines (2, rear of ship):	40,000 each.
	[4] Magical “Armor of Ithan” Force Field:	30,000.

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 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] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the battlecruiser 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] Destroying the main engines reduces maximum sublight speed by half.

[4] 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 3,000 P.P.E. require one minute (4 melee rounds) of spell casting to restore the force field. Magic, fire, lightning, and cold all inflict one-half damage.

Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Water Surface: 60 knots (111.3 km/69.6 mph).

Underwater: 40 knots (73.6 km/46 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 0.85 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 12,000 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: 622 feet (189.6 meters).

Width: 390 feet (118.9 meters).

Length: 2,496 feet (760.8 meters).

Mass/Weight: 7.5 million tons fully loaded, plus up to 150,000 tons (136,100 metric tons) of additional cargo.

Power System: Combination Fusion & Techno-wizardry with 20 year life span. The battlecruiser also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 12,000 P.P.E. per hour / 50 P.P.E. per melee round (Activating the Rifts Jump Drive costs 12,000 P.P.E.) and can hold up to 48,000 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 battlecruiser crew.

Cargo: Cargo holds can hold up to 150,000 tons (136,100 metric 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 taken up by extra ammo, armor, troops, and weapons.

Market Cost: The battlecruiser would likely cost 38 about billion credits to construct as upgraded with the original Black Swan class costing approximately 35 billion. Upgrades to the original design are believed to be approximately 5 billion credits. The ship is not for sale outside the U.W.W. armed forces (The ship will not even be sold to U.W.W. member worlds.) Cost does not include embarked craft.

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) if fired multiple times within a twenty four hour period. 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 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.
Four (4) Triple Barrel Turrets with 16 inch Flame Cannons (12 Cannons Total): While the cannons are virtually identical to those on the Dwarven Iron Ship, the heavy battery of flame cannons are mounted in triple turrets which can all engage a single target. Each top turret can rotate 270 degrees and has a 60 degree arc of fire upwards and 15 degree arc of fire downwards. The bottom turret can rotate 360 degrees and has a 15 degree arc of fire upwards and 60 degree arc of fire downwards. All the cannons in a turret can be fires as one or each barrel can be fired separately. The ship can fire three turrets forward, two turret aft of the ship, and can fire four turrets to the side of the ship. The ship will often engage attacking with the sides to increase the ships firepower. 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 and all three cannons in a turret can be combined for a total of 3D4x1000.

Rate of Fire: Maximum of two (2) times per melee round per cannon (A total of 24 individual blasts or 8 triple blasts).

Payload: Needs 1,000 P.P.E. per day to function.
Eight (8) 5 inch Double Mount Laser Cannons (16 Cannons Total): On the older appearing versions (Look like dreadnoughts before fast battleships) of the ship class, the guns are in double mounts in Casemates. Weapons in casemate mounts have a 150 degree rotation and a 60 degree arc of fire. The newer appearing vessels (Look like fast battleships) of the class have the lasers in three turrets on each side of the deck and two turrets on the bottom, however. These deck mounts can rotate 360 degrees and have an 80 degree arc of fire. In any case, these are a modern weapon system that are powered by the ship’s fusion reactor. The cannons are not quite as powerful as the cannons on most Consortium warship classes but have a higher rate of fire. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for large starship weaponry. These weapon systems 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 or both cannons in a turret can be combined for a total of 2D6x100.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Four (4) Magical “Mini Death Cloud” Cannons: These cannons are mounted with two on each side of the ships superstructure. This weapon is very similar to that mounted on the Arcane patrol ship. The weapon release a massive amount of water that quickly freezes. While the ice is not a solid barrier, the particle density of the ice is great enough to eliminate missiles and inflict large amounts of damage to larger targets. Each weapon releases about 1/4 of the ice that the weapon mounted on the Arcane patrol ship does. The weapon can also be used to block heavy plasma weapons and can be used to hide a ship on sensors systems. The “wall” of ice has a virtually indefinite duration in space but does drift at the heading and speed of the ship launching the “wall” of ice. If used in an atmosphere, the weapon has only a momentary duration and reduced effects. The weapon system is useless underwater. The cloud of ice is -6 to dodge normally with the penalties for large ships used as well.

Maximum Effective Range: Can be accurately targeted up to 1,000 miles (1,600 km) with a diameter of 25,000 feet (15,200 meters) when used in space and 10 miles (16 km) with a diameter of 250 feet (152 meters) when used in an atmosphere.

Mega-Damage: A ship or missile 1D6 x speed of target in percentage of light. For example, a ship traveling at 10% of the speed of light would have 1D6x10 inflicted on them. Larger ships will have greater damage inflicted on them. Destroyer sized ships (greater than 1,000 tons but less than 40,000 tons) have damage multiplied by 5, light cruiser sized ships (greater than 40,000 tons but less than 100,000 tons) have damage multiplied by 10, heavy cruiser sized ships (Greater than 100,000 but less 1 million tons) have damage multiplied by 20, and the truly huge ships like heavy cargo ships and battleships (1 million tons and greater) have damage multiplied by 100. Most missiles are automatically destroyed by the cloud of ice. If used in an atmosphere, the weapon will automatically knock missiles off course and anyone flying through the cloud of water will need to make a piloting roll at -6 / -30%. Optional: The speed of the ship launching the cloud may also be calculated but it is math intensive due to the fact that direction of travel and vectors will also effect the damage of the weapon.

Rate of Fire: Twice (2) per melee per mini-death cloud cannon.

Payload: Each weapon may be activated 20 times per twenty four hour period. Further activations require 100 P.P.E. from either onboard magicians or drawing on the ship’s P.P.E. generator.
Sixteen (16) Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons in Single Mounts: Mounted on top of the ship along the sides of the ship’s hull in individual mounts. Cannons mounts can fire at up to a 90 degree angle up or 55 degree angle down and can rotate up to 360 degrees side to side. The gun does not have penalties to strike small targets. Uses the spell of the same name from page 143 of World Book 16: Federation of Magic (although has far greater range.) The spells must be renewed every two months (costs 400 P.P.E. and 20,000 credits per cannon) but during that period the weapon can fire unlimited blasts.

Maximum Effective Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: 1D6x10+10 per cannon.

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

Payload: Effective Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the cannons have been used or not.
Sixteen (16) Twin Heavy Telekinetic Machine Guns Turrets: These heavy machine-guns are identical to those mounted in the Shadow Bolt Starfighter but are in twin mounts. Mounted on the sides of the platform in twin mounts. Heavy machine gun mounts can fire at up to a 90 degree angle up or down and can rotate up to 180 degrees side to side. The machine guns do not have penalties to strike small targets. Because the machine guns inflict damage by impact, they inflict full damage to targets that are using are using the spell “Impervious to Energy.” The spells must be renewed every two months (costs 400 P.P.E. and 20,000 credits per machine gun) but during the period the weapon can fire unlimited blasts.

Maximum Effective Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: 12D6 per burst for both machine guns a turret (6D6 per heavy machine gun.)

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

Payload: Effective Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the machine guns have been used or not.
Eight (8) Cruise Missile Launchers: The ship has been refitted with four missile tubes on either side of the ships rift cannon. This is to give the ship the ability to fire cruise missiles. The launchers are copied from those carried on a Hunter class destroyer. 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 are almost always smart missiles. While missiles are only launched at the rate of one at a time, the ship’s computer has special software that allows all the missiles to hit a target at the same time for the purpose of making the point defense of a target more easily overwhelmed. This is done by slowing down the initial acceleration of missiles and by setting some for delayed activation although the target must be at least 30 seconds away (2 melee rounds) with regard to flight time. Missiles are then considered to only have an acceleration of 5% of light for the first turn. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time although rarely are.

The launcher can also fire a special larger version of bottled demon missiles, although for safety purposes, only a few are normally carried on board. It has been said by many people that an escaped demon is worse than a matter/anti-matter explosion. They can be launched at the same rate as conventional cruise missiles, can use the same programming, and, although slightly smaller than a standard cruise missile, they are fitted into a collar that allows them to be used in the standard launchers. The missiles accelerate at the same rate as conventional cruise missiles. Missiles are considered super smart and have +4 to strike and +5 to dodge. Unlike normal missiles, the bottled demon missile does not explode and keeps striking at its target over and over. If the target is destroyed or vanishes, the missile disappears. The missiles are literally powerful demons summoned and bottled into a missile and are an aggressive and intelligent guidance system. The evil demons will continue to chase its target until destroyed (120 M.D.C. to the missile.) Optional: Because the super bottle demon missiles use a more powerful demon and the missiles are still experimental, there is a 5% chance that the missile will turn on the ship launching it.

Maximum Effective Range: Conventional Cruise Missiles: 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. Bottled Demon Missiles: Effectively Unlimited! Once fired, the demon controlled and powered missile will fly and pursue the designated target until its target or the missile is destroyed (or the target vanished from sight, jumps away, or gets away by another means.)

Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Anti-Matter multi-warheads inflict 5D6x100 M.D.C. each.) Bottled Demon Missiles: 6D6x100 of magical energy every time the missile strikes (3% chance of releasing the demon every time it hits.)

Rate of Fire: One cruise missile per melee attack (special software allows 4 to 8 cruise missile to be launched as one volley depending on gunner’s hand to hand attacks) per launcher. This allows total volleys of thirty-two (32) to sixty-four (64) cruise missiles to be launched in one melee round.

Payload: Conventional Cruise Missiles: 50 cruise missiles per launcher for a total of 400 cruise missiles. Bottled Demon Missiles: 5 demon missiles per launcher for a total of 40 demon missiles.
Eight (8) Bottled Demon Missile Batteries: On each side of the hull, the battlecruiser has four bottle demon missile batteries. The missiles are literally demons summoned and bottled into a missile and are an aggressive and intelligent guidance system. The evil demons will continue to chase its target until destroyed (50 M.D.C. to the missile.) Bottled demons are slightly larger than mini-missiles and require special launchers. Missiles have a top speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere 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. Missiles are considered super smart and have +4 to strike and +5 to dodge. Unlike normal missiles, the bottled demon missile does not explode and keeps striking at its target over and over. If the target is destroyed or vanishes, the missile disappears.

The launchers have been modified so they can also fire standard mini-missiles even though the missiles are slightly smaller. This is done mainly by fitting the mini-missiles with a special sleeve that allows them to be fired from the launcher. This allows the launchers to be used for point defense and targets not worth a bottled demon. Mini-Missiles in the Phase World / Three Galaxies setting are normally smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

Maximum Effective Range: Bottled Demon Missiles: Effectively Unlimited! Once fired, the demon controlled and powered missile will fly and pursue the designated target until its target or the missile is destroyed (or the target vanished from sight, jumps away, or gets away by another means.) Conventional Mini-Missiles: Missile range is 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere and 100 miles (161 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Bottled Demon Missiles: 3D4x10 M.D. of magical energy every time the missile strikes (3% chance of releasing the demon every time it hits.) Conventional Mini-Missiles: 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 two (2), three (3), four (4), or eight (8) missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: Bottled Demon Missiles: 32 per battery for a total of 256 bottled demon missiles. Conventional Mini-Missiles: 128 per battery for a total of 1,024 mini-missiles. Additional mini-missiles may be carried in the ship’s cargo holds.
Magical “Shockwave” Defense System: When it is activated, a spherical energy wave is emanated from the ship in all directions which can devastate missile volleys. The blast is semi-spherical and the affects travel upwards and downwards as well. The blast does not effect targets underwater. It is a far longer ranged version of the eight level spell “Shockwave.” Unfortunately, the spell can only be activated once per melee and requires magical energy every time it is activated. The system does not affect people and equipment on the deck of the ship.

Maximum Effective Range: 40 miles (64.4 km) in space and 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) in an atmosphere in all directions.

Mega Damage: 2D4x10 to all targets within radius of effect (S.D.C. objects will be completely destroyed). While the weapon system does not have the range to be generally effective against larger vessels because they will rarely get within the blast radius, larger ships will have greater damage inflicted on them. Destroyer sized ships (greater than 1,000 tons but less than 40,000 tons) have damage multiplied by 5, light cruiser sized ships (greater than 40,000 tons but less than 100,000 tons) have damage multiplied by 10, heavy cruiser sized ships (Greater than 100,000 but less 1 million tons) have damage multiplied by 20, and the truly huge ships like heavy cargo ships and battleships (1 million tons and greater) have damage multiplied by 100. The system also inflicts knock back as per the spell “Shockwave” on page 144 of World Book 16: Federation of Magic. In space, missiles hit by the shockwave will have a -6 to strike if not outright destroyed and small craft pilots have to make a piloting roll at -30%.

Rate of Fire: Once per melee round.

Payload: One, requires 35 P.P.E. to be activated again.

Techno-Wizard Modifications: The Firedrake 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:	Impervious to Energy (15th Level)	320 P.P.E. or 640 I.S.P.
	Invisibility-Superior (15th Level)	320 P.P.E. or 640 I.S.P.
	Shadow Meld (15th Level)	160 P.P.E. or 320 I.S.P.

[ 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. ]

Image drawn and copyrighted by Curtis Marquart (outrider1@home.com) .

He has no home Page at present.

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Return