“Jackal” Werewolf Destroyer - Electronic Warfare (T.W./U.W.W.):

In many myths and legends, the jackal is a trickster in a similar fashion to the fox and coyote. They are often depicted as powerful sorcerers. As such, the name “Jackal” fits perfectly the modifications made to the destroyer.

So far only a handful of Werewolf destroyer have been given the “Jackal” upgrade. The designers hope to market the ship mostly to independent operators although they have also been attempting to pitch the upgraded destroyer to the United Worlds Warlock Navy. There has been some interest already in the design although only time will tell how popular it might be.

In most ways the “Jackal” is simply an upgraded Werewolf class destroyer. These destroyers have been in service since almost the same time as the Dwarven Iron Ship and have many similarities in construction. Although quite a number have been sold, large numbers remain in service with the United Worlds Warlock Navy and likely will for the foreseeable future.

What makes the “Jackal” special is that it has a mystical jamming system in saddle tank style pods on either side of the hull. It has far greater range than the spell “Frequency Jamming” normally would have. While it does not have the range of the conventional jamming system on a number of vessels, it does have a number of advantages. The enchantment does require a huge amount of mystical energy but does last thirty minutes once activated. Dues to the higher requirements, a more powerful mystical energy battery is fitted than is carried on the standard Werewolf class destroyer.

Chief among these is that the jamming system does not have a localization. Missiles cannot be programmed to home on the source of the jamming in order to target it. Otherwise, it works on virtually all targeting systems, including electromagnetic, gravity sensors, and even electronic optical systems. The only sensors which really work are normal visuals and that has a number of limitations. In addition, the enchantment of “Shadow Meld” makes the ship almost impossible to detect through visual targeting.

Tactically, this jamming system would likely not be mounted in every ship in a strike force. Instead, likely one in four might mount this system in order to provide electronic interference for the other ships. The “Jackal” might operate with Werewolf class destroyers or even alongside larger vessels. The ships can launch missiles so that when they leave the mystical jamming sphere, they can target enemy vessels using their own integral sensors. Otherwise, the sensor systems of the “Jackal,” any ships or fighters within the jamming field, including the electronic warfare craft itself, and missiles fired will also be blinded by the jamming. Communication is also effected so all tactics need to be planned out ahead of time.

Most of the other upgrades to the Jackal are similar to other upgraded Werewolf class destroyers. This includes reinforcing the hull in various places so that it can withstand a bit more damage than it could originally. Damaged enchanted plates are often replaced with conventional materials whenever possible.

Of course weaponry is important. Greatly increasing the firepower of the original Werewolf class destroyer, a pair of capital missile launchers are mounted in the bow. These launchers are basically identical to those of the Wolfen Hunter class destroyer. They have a slightly lower payload than the standard Werewolf upgrade with a total of twenty missiles per launcher instead of twenty-five. These ships are unlikely in independent service to carry “capital scale” bottle demon missiles for these launchers. They do have the software which allows for firing larger volleys of missiles by delaying activation of the missile’s drives.

It was decided to mount “Mini Death Cloud” cannon. Even though not as powerful as the full scale weapon mounted on the Arcane class patrol ship, it is still extremely effective. This weapon opens a rift to the elemental plane of water. The water freezes almost immediately in space and creates a thick cloud of ice. When used effectively, it will destroy missile volleys fired at the destroyer. Even against fighters and warships, it can inflict huge amounts of damage.

Because few independent operators of these vessels have access to bottle demon missiles, it was decided to replace the launchers with four medium range missile batteries. These are more or less civilian type launchers often mounted on merchant vessels as their main weaponry. Of course the destroyer does have a much greater payload with sixty-four medium range missiles per battery.

Retained from the original Werewolf is a pair of five inch anti-ship laser mounts, four point defense sub-particle acceleration cannon mounts, and four point defense telekinetic machine guns. The lasers are conventional while the other weaponry are of techno-wizard design. The “Armor of Ithan” force field gives the destroyer additional protection beyond what the jamming system provides. Propulsion and power generation are unchanged from the original destroyer design as well.

Due to space required for the upgrades, fighter compliment is reduced to only two fighters. Originally the Shadow Bolt were embarked although it is expected that a variety of light fighters will be carried aboard in independent service. In addition to the reduction in fighters, the marine compliment is reduced from twelve to eight total. For independent operators of the ship, the warlock Combat Armor is generally not available so various models are substituted. Crew is however increased from twenty-six to twenty-eight in order to operate the enchanted jamming system.

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-DD-24.

Vehicle Type: Light Electronic Warfare Destroyer (Techno-Wizard).

Crew: 28, requires at lest two techno-wizard with four preferred (levels 2-6.)

Troop Capacity: 8 marines and 2 fighter pilots.

Vehicles:

Power Armors & Robots:

Space Power Armors (W-F1 Flying Warlock Combat Armors and / or Silver Hawk knock-offs).

Fighter Compliment:

Light Fighters (WF-F15 Shadow Bolt Strike Ship or other designs.)

M.D.C. by Location:

	5 inch Medium Laser Cannon Turrets (2):	600 each.
	Magical “Mini-Death Cloud” Cannon:	200.
	Cruise Missile Launchers (2, bow):	1,000 each.
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (4):	300 each.
	Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons (4):	100 each.
	Twin Telekinetic Machine Gun Turrets (4):	140 each.
	Quad Telekinetic Machine Gun Mounts (4):	225 each.
	[1] Magical “Frequency Jamming” Electronic Warfare Arrays (2, sides):	500 each.
	[2] Main Bridge:	800.
	[3] Main Body:	3,000.
	Hangar Bay Doors (2, sides):	500 each.
	[4] Magical “Armor of Ithan” Force Field:	1,500.

Notes:

[1] The destruction of an electronic warfare array reduces ranges 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 destroyer’s 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 destroyer 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] 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 150 P.P.E. and 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: 45 knots (83.4 kph/51.8 mph).

Underwater: 35 knots (64.9 kph/40.3 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. Original magical engines had a top acceleration of about 20 gravities.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 200 mph (321.9 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave on contra-grav propulsion 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 2,000 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: 46 feet (14.0 meters) main body; 62 feet (18.9 meters) from the bottom of the main body to the top of the superstructure.

Width: 54 feet (16.5 meters).

Length: 420 feet (128 meters).

Weight / Mass: 6,800 tons (6,170 metric tons) fully loaded.

Power System: Combination Fusion & Techno-wizardry with 10 year life span. The destroyer also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 500 P.P.E. per hour / 2 P.P.E. per melee round (Activating the Rifts Jump Drive costs 2,000 P.P.E.) and can hold up to 3,000 P.P.E. in storage. This P.P.E. can be used to power the Rifts Jump Drive, activate the jamming field, or can be used to power spells cast by the destroyer’s crew.

Cargo: Cargo holds can hold up to 20 tons (18.1 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 ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: The Werewolf class destroy is no longer under construction but often costs around 600 million credits. Upgrade / Modification costs approximately 300 million credits. If sold, upgraded version will likely cost around one billion credits if available. Cost does not include embarked craft.

Weapon Systems:

Two (2) 5 inch Laser Cannons: These weapons are in their own turrets on the top of the ship where deck guns might be positioned on a submarine. Each mount can rotate 270 degrees and have a 80 degree arc of fire up and a 45 degree arc of fire down. 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.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
One (1) Magical “Mini Death Cloud” Cannons: This cannon is mounted on the ship’s sail like superstructure towards the rear. This weapon is very similar to the cannon that is 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. 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: 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.
Four (4) Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons in Single Mounts: Mounted on top of the ship along the sides of the ship’s hull in turrets. Cannons turrets 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.
Four (4) 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 ship in turrets. 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.
Two (2) Cruise Missile Launchers: The ship has two cruise missile tubes in the bow. 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 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.

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: One cruise missile per melee attack (special software allows 4 to 8 missile to be launched as one volley depending on gunners hand to hand attacks) per launcher. This allows total volleys of eight (8) to sixteen (16) cruise missiles to be launched in one melee round.

Payload: 20 cruise missiles per launcher for a total of 40 cruise missiles.
Four (4) Medium Range Missile Batteries: These are standard merchant type batteries modified for greater magazine space. Battery are mounted on the port and starboard sides of the ship. Weapon system is used for hitting enemy robots, fighters, and missiles (both cruise and long range missiles.) Missiles have a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and have an acceleration of 6% of light per turn in space. Weapon system can be used on multiple targets simultaneously.

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 (Multi-warhead heavy warheads inflict 5D6x10 M.D.C. each - See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire medium range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) medium range missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 64 medium range missiles per battery for 256 total.
Magical “Screamer” Jamming Sphere: Mounted on either side of the destroyer’s hull is a powerful mystic jammer. The system is designed to greatly boost the normal area of effect of the spell. Uses the spell of “Jamming Sphere,” a more powerful version of the spell “Frequency Jamming” with the spell creating a sphere of jamming instead of jamming a single target, effecting all communication and sensor systems within the sphere. The enchantment effects all radio communication, radar systems, sonar systems, motion detectors, heat sensors, laser communication, laser targeting, optical cameras, and other similar systems (including gravity based systems). It effects the systems of the Jackal when using the enchantment as well as enemies and allies. It does not effect flight systems or control systems but only allows for visual piloting. Such system as gyro-compasses will continue working but magnetic compasses will be jammed. Missile systems can generally only be dead fired at targets within the jamming sphere due to no missile guidance systems working within the jamming field and guided missiles will automatically lose lock, almost always missing their target. Missile launched will be able to use their own sensor system, if any, after they clear the jamming field. Since the jamming is not localized and magical in nature, the jamming itself cannot be targeted.

In addition to disabling all sensor and communication systems, the jamming field creates a screeching or screaming sound. This causes all which hear the sound to have to save against magic or have -3 to initiative and -1 to strike, parry, and dodge. This effects anyone who listens to the jamming on communication systems or through sonar (or similar system) as well as those without hearing protection within the radius of the enchantment.

Maximum Effective Range: In an atmosphere, 18.9 miles (30.5 km) globe around destroyer. In space, 18,900 miles (30,500 km) globe around destroyer.

Duration: 30 minutes per activation.

Payload: One, requires 800 P.P.E. to be activated again.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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