Techno-Wizard Oakenheart class Light Cruiser (T.W. / U.W.W.):

The Planet of Lothrain is best known for giant trees known as the Great Banner Oaks. The tallest of these trees are incredibly tall, over six hundred feet tall. They are actually over fifty percent taller than the tallest redwood trees on old Earth. The trees also grow incredibly fast, much faster than any of the larger trees of old Earth. As such, there is almost an endless supply of wood available.

The wood of the Great Banner Oak is so incredibly strong that it can be used for projects which one could otherwise only use steel or high strength composites / alloys to build. Still, few believed that the wood was actually strong enough that it could be used to build starships. The residents of the planet of Lothrain however proved them wrong when they began constructing starships in just than manner, the Oakenheart class light cruiser being the first of those designs. It should be noted though that they had already began experimenting with wooden fighter designs before this.

Currently the largest vessel in Lothrain’s system navy service, these vessels act as flagships with a number of smaller wooden vessels also being operated by the system defense forces. In addition, a number have been sold to other minor navies within United Worlds Warlock space and even a handful of techno-wizard mercenary companies. So far, the United Worlds Warlock Navy itself has not shown much interest in these vessels and most consider it unlikely that they will.

With regard to appearance, these ships appear to be something of a cross between an old sailing vessel and an early iron warships. One can see the individual planks which these ships are made from. Most have highly decorative sterns with the ships themselves being works of art. No two ships are exactly alike in appearance. Otherwise, the Oakenheart class is quite a bit smaller than a Dwarven Iron Ship at just under six hundred feet in length.

Even though the wood of the Great Banner Oaks is incredible strong, the wood these ships are made from is enchanted by the spell “Ironwood” to make them even stronger. It would be far harder to actually construct a wooden starship without the use of the spell. Enchanted in such a manner however, the hull is actually stronger than the enchanted iron plates which the Dwarven Iron Ships are made from while being much lighter weight, easier to enchant, and being easier to fit and replace. The wooden hull is only very slightly thicker than the enchanted iron plates used on the Dwarven Iron Ship.

Many systems are similar to those of other starships within the United Worlds Warlock with a mixture of conventional and mystical systems. Most of the conventional systems are much newer than those used in the Dwarven Iron Ship and the ship requires a much smaller crew than might otherwise be required as a result. When possible, the systems are civilian in design in order to reduce costs and often are far easier to maintain. Many of the weapon systems are from retired or refitted warships in order to reduce costs as well. In order to keep the crew down further, the ship does not have a secondary bridge.

Power is provided by a fusion reactor instead of the anti-matter reactors used on most Consortium and Trans-Galactic Empire warships. These ships have a techno-wizard battery which is used to power various enchantments onboard the cruiser as well. Normal space propulsion is conventional contra-grav. In fact, due to the relatively low mass of the ships, their acceleration is surprisingly good. For travel between solar systems, these ships mount a pretty much standard Rifts Jump Drive with a maximum jump distance of twenty light years between jumps.

The main anti-ship weapon battery is also a mixture between conventional and mystical systems. It will comes as little surprise that these ships are not outfitted with a Rifts Projector Cannon. Otherwise, the main battery is a pair of 28 cm particle beams. These have largely come from older vessels that have either been retired or their main batteries have been replaced by more powerful energy weaponry. For additional anti-ship weaponry, the ship has six turret mounted “Annihilate” cannons. These are believed to have been provided by Thoth Industries. While not as effective as true point defense weaponry, they are actually fairly effective at engaging smaller targets.

These ships have relatively heavy missile batteries with four forward firing capital missile launchers. These are mostly stripped from retired or upgraded Wolfen warships. Special software has been developed so that the missiles delay in activation of their drives in order for a greater number of missiles to come in as a single volley. Missile payload is much greater than upgraded Dwarven Iron Ships designed from the beginning to have considerable magazine space. Of course these ships do not carry any of the capital scale bottle demon missiles and anti-matter warheads are also extremely rare as well with fusion warheads the most commonly carried missiles. For defensive battery, the ship mounts six medium range missile batteries. These are standard missile batteries from merchant vessels although have much greater magazine space than most merchant ships.

Finally, the close range point defense weapon battery is a mixture between conventional and techno-wizardry in a similar manner to the main battery. The ship mounts six 36 mm heavy lasers identical to those carried on the Arcane class patrol ship. They are considered powerful enough to be effective in the light anti-ship role. Backing these up are four quad telekinetic machine gun mounts. They are considered effective against targets that are impervious to energy while not actually needing ammunition. Instead they need to be recharged by a series of spells once every couple of months.

Even though the hull of the ship is incredibly tough, the ship has an “Armor of Ithan” force field to provide additional protection. There is some discussion being given towards upgrading it to an “Invincible Armor” force field on later vessels. The ship also has mystical life support that allows the crew to survive for almost a decade. Interestingly, the sensors are actually slightly better than those on most United Worlds Warlock vessels, even those that are new or have been recently upgraded.

Standard fighter compliment is two squadrons of medium fighters although three squadrons of light fighters can be carried in their place. The planet of Lothrain produces its own fighter known as the Boomerang which uses a large amount of wood in its construction but the Lothrain military operates large numbers of Thoth Industries Crystal Shard fighters as well.

Troop compliment is a total of a dozen in space powers with forty more usually in mystic power armors. While different models are carried, the Thoth Industries “Dawnstar” is common in Lothrain military service. In addition, the ship carries a dozen space power armors. Again, different models may be carried although usually models able to accelerate equal to the wooden starship itself are embarked. Some of the more common ones are various “knock-offs” of the Consortium Silver Hawk along with the Ironmonger Forges “Warhawk” Space Combat Exoskeleton.

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: “Oakenheart” class Light Cruiser.

Vehicle Type: Space Cruiser (Conventional / Techno-Wizard).

Crew: 146, usually including a magic team of 15 techno-wizards (levels 2-6).

Troop Capacity: 40 Marines (Typically 20 stay on board for ship defense) - equipped with mystic power armors, 36 fighter pilots, 12 space power armor pilots, and can carry up to 10 passengers in addition to standard compliment.

Vehicles:

Fighter compliment can vary with 18 Light Starfighters replacing 12 Medium Starfighters.

Power Armors & Robots:

	12	Space Power Armors (Various - With Techno-Wizard modifications.)
	40	United World Modified Warlock Mystic Power Armors (TI DS-MPA-2W Dawnstar common.)

Fighter Compliment:

Medium Fighters (QF-1 Boomerang or TI CF-02-B Crystal Shard Starfighters common.)

M.D.C. by Location:

	Main 28 cm Particle Beam Batteries (2):	1,200 each
	Turret Mounted “Annihilate” Cannons (6):	800 each.
	36 mm Heavy Point Defense Lasers (6):	300 each.
	Quad Telekinetic Machine Gun Mounts (4):	225 each.
	Cruise Missile Launchers (4, Sides):	1,000 each.
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (6):	300 each.
	[1] Main Bridge:	10,000.
	[2] Main Body:	35,000.
	Hangar Bay:	2,000.
	[3] Magical “Armor of Ithan” Force Field:	10,000.

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 does not have an auxiliary bridge. Even if the cruiser’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.

[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the 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.

[3] 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 1,000 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 (83.3 km/51.8 mph).

Underwater: Cannot operate underwater.

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 0.95 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 120 mph (193.1 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 4,000 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: 76.4 feet (23.29 meters) main body; 142.2 feet (43.34 meters) from the bottom of the main body to the top of the superstructure.

Width: 84 feet (25.60 meters).

Length: 580 feet (176.78 meters).

Weight / Mass: 75,000 tons (68,040 metric tons).

Power System: Conventional Advanced Fusion 20 year life span. The cruiser also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 4,000 P.P.E. per hour / 16.6 P.P.E. per melee (Activating the Rifts Jump Drive costs 4,000 P.P.E.) and can hold up to 16,000 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 cruiser’s crew.

Cargo: Cargo holds can hold up to 2,500 tons (2,268.0 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 cruiser costs approximately 3.2 billion credits to construct. When available, these ships sell for 4.5 to 6.0 billion credits. Cost does not include embarked craft / power armors.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Two (2) Main 28 cm Particle Beam Batteries: In the front of the ship are two 28 cm particle beam cannons. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for large starship weaponry. These can be fired forward and can be angled up to 120 degrees aft (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: 1D4x1000 M.D.C. each (Both can be linked for 2D4x1000 M.D.C. for both)

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Six (6) “Annihilate” Cannons: Mounted in turrets on the light cruiser, these cannons are extremely powerful and act as the secondary guns of the light cruiser. The cannon fires a black sphere which is magically contained anti-matter. It inflicts incredible damage to the target although range is limited compared to heavy lasers. Weapons system, when used hit fighters and small targets, has half the normal penalties to hit due to sophisticated fire control. The barrels can be fired either forward or behind and can be rotated 60 degrees horizontally or vertically.

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

Mega Damage: 2D4x100 M.D.C. each.

Rate of Fire: four (4) times per melee per cannon.

Payload: Needs 300 P.P.E. per day to function.
Six (6) Heavy 36 mm Point Defense Lasers: Mounted on the sides of the cruiser, these lasers are considered relatively powerful for point defense weaponry and are even effective to a limited extent against larger vessels. They are however comparatively short ranged. Unlike the other parts of the secondary weaponry, these lasers are purely conventional in design and draw weapon from the vessel’s fusion plant. Mounted in turrets which have 360 degree rotation and can angle up to 85 degrees.

Maximum Effective Range: 500 miles (804.6 km) in space and 5 miles (8 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega-Damage: 4D6x10 each.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Four (4) Telekinetic Heavy Machine Guns in Quad Mounts: These cannons are identical to those mounted in the Shadow Bolt Starfighter but are in quad mounts. Mounted on the sides of the ship in quad 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 gun mounts 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 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: 2D6x10+20 per burst (6D6 per heavy machine gun.)

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

Payload: Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the cannons have been used or not.
Four (4) Cruise Missile Launchers: From scrapped or upgraded Wolfen warships and mounted to either side of the hull of the vessel. 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.

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 missiles per melee attack (special software allows 4 to 8 cruise missiles to be launched as one volley depending on gunner’s hand to hand attacks) per launcher. This allows total volleys of 16 to 32 cruise missiles to be launched in one melee round.

Payload: 80 cruise missiles each for 320 total.
Six (6) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Launcher magazines are increased from standard capacity of 32 missiles per battery. 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: 128 per battery for a total of 768 medium range missiles.
Techno-Wizard Modifications: The “Oakeheart” 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 (5th Level)

80 P.P.E. or 160 I.S.P.

Invisibility-Superior (5th Level)

80 P.P.E. or 160 I.S.P.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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Special Features:	Impervious to Energy (5th Level)	80 P.P.E. or 160 I.S.P.
	Invisibility-Superior (5th Level)	80 P.P.E. or 160 I.S.P.