Vannes Onyx class Destroyer:

Originally settled from the Human Alliance, the Vannes system once had a quite large space navy. Being that it was a fair distance outside of any friendly major powers territory, the leader saw a powerful fleet as a necessity. The system space navy was absolutely huge compared to most single system entities.

The fleet included around two dozen cruisers as well as around a hundred destroyers. At one time, the development of a light battleship design was considered. In addition to the huge fleet, the system had a large number of ship building and refitting facilities.

Even though their designs are based of Human Alliance developments, the design criteria was quite different. The Human Alliance at that time did not produce what one might consider a true destroyer, instead relying on escort cruisers for anything larger than a corvette. The fleet wanted something more capable than a corvette but smaller than an escort cruisers. It was felt that escort cruisers would cut into cruiser numbers while corvettes simply were not flexible enough.

Originally far outside of Human Alliance territory, the Human Alliance slowly grew. Later the Human Alliance became part of the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. The Consortium continued to grow in a similar manner to the Human Alliance until the Vannes system was effectively engulfed.

There was much debate but the system eventually decided to join the Consortium. With the council unable to resolve the issue, it was decided by a systemwide vote with a fifty-eight percent majority voting in favor of joining the Consortium. The Consortium of Civilized Worlds had long been the system’s major trading partner and many already saw themselves as virtual members of the Consortium.

Under the protection of the Consortium, it was decided to downsize the fleet greatly and rely on the Consortium in large part for their defense. This did not mean that they completely disbanded their military and still has a reasonably capable space navy.

In addition, it was decided that Consortium designs would be adopted in most cases. With the downsizing, the fleet now included four Warshield class cruisers and just over a couple of dozen destroyers. They mostly use their own design of destroyers still although the plan is to eventually replace them with modified versions of the Scimitar class patrol ships converted to the Longbow configuration.

In addition to fleet reduction, the downsizing of the military also included the major ship building facilities. Some facilities were retired while others were converted completely over to building merchant designs. As far as military yards, the system mainly is restricted to repair and refit of their ships.

Along with the cruisers, the fleet scrapped many of its old destroyers as they were retired. Still, a number were sold to either weaker powers or mercenary companies. Some have been lost through hostile actions. Those that remained have largely been scrapped. Only a comparative few of these destroyers are believed to remain although the exact status of many have been lost, scattered all over the Three Galaxies. Some of the remaining ships have been extensively refitted to be able to survive in a modern combat environment.

Similar to the larger Human Alliance escort cruiser design developed just prior to it being developed, the Onyx class destroyer was armed with a pair of long range missile batteries. There was some consideration give to replacing the long range missile battery with a single capital missile battery but was decided against. The standard version of the Onyx carries six reloads for the batteries for a total of just under three hundred and forty long range missiles.

Unlike the Human Alliance Chevalier escort cruiser, the destroyer does not have any heavy energy weaponry. In fact, it mounts no direct energy weapons at all. Instead, it mounts four electromagnetic point defense rail guns and four mini-missile batteries. Mini-missile magazines are smaller than those on the cruiser design with sixty-four each battery. The rail guns each have a payload of sixteen thousand rounds which means it is rare that they will run out of ammunition .

These ships require a fair amount larger crew than newer ships with a crew of around one hundred and sixty compared with a crew of around one hundred for a Scimitar patrol vessel. As it is a fair amount smaller, as you might expect, the Onyx class is quite crowded. The vessel does not have an embarked fighter compliment but does have a small embarked marine compliment. Mainly used for boarding actions, standard troop compliment is forty troops with a small number of power armors. A small number of these destroyers were converted into a fast troop transports. Known as the Beryl class, the missile payload is reduced to two reloads per launcher with the ship being able to embark up to one hundred and twenty troops including potentially sixty power armors. These transports are even more crowded than the standard destroyers are. Unlike some troop transport designs, these converted destroyers do not carry assault shuttles.

The power plant is, like virtually all ships of its generation, a fusion system. Compared to modern fusion plants, the reactor is quite a bit larger and only produces a fraction of the power. The drives of the ship were powerful for their time, actually able to reach three light years per hour while the Sceptre class cruiser could reach a maximum of only two and a half light years per hour. The design is reasonably aerodynamic and can operate fairly well in an atmosphere.

While able to withstand a fair amount bit of damage, these ships simply are not as well armored as most modern ships or even those just a generation newer than the Onyx class. It can only withstand slightly more damage than the much smaller Ferret class corvette. While the protective force field is a variable shield, is also weaker than most new force fields. Some of the newest heavy bombers have shields that are close to as tough as the Vannes destroyer.

Some of the more common upgrades to the destroyer include replacing the fusion plant with much more powerful reactors although usually still a fusion plant. Drives in many cases are also replaced. It is a bit easier to replace the drives of a destroyer than it is for larger ships. The original sensors are only equal to those carried on many modern fighters and the system is often replaced by more modern systems. In many cases, the shields are extremely difficult to maintain and are often replaced by more powerful shields. Some owners have also reinforced the hull so that it can withstand greater damage. Weaponry is more often retained although in some cases they have been upgraded.

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:	VDD-02	Onyx class Destroyer
	VHST-03	Beryl class Fast Transport

Vehicle Type: Destroyer or Fast Transport

Crew:	VDD-02	163 (18 Officers and 145 Enlisted)
	VHST-03	155 (17 Officers and 138 Enlisted)
Troops:	VDD-02	40 Marines (10 in Power Armors)
	VHST-03	120 Marines (60 in Power Armors)

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Power Armors:

	VDD-02	VHST-03
	10	60	Light Power Armors

M.D.C. By Location:

	Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (4):	150 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (2):	400 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (4):	100 each
	[1] Bridge:	1,000
	[2] Main Engines (2):	1,200 each
	[3] Main Body:	2,500
	[4] Variable Force Field:	600 a side (3,600 Total)

Notes:

[1] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light propulsion 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 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] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (180 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. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.75 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach One (660 mph / 1193 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 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: 395 feet (120.4meters).

Height: 82 feet (25.0 meters).

Width: 116 feet (35.4 meters).

Weight/Mass: 8,500 tons (7,710 metric tons)

Power System: Fusion with a 10 year life span. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting.

Cargo:

Onyx class Destroyer: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 200 tons (181.4 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.

Beryl class Fast Transport: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 500 tons (453.6 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: An Onyx class Destroyer would cost about 180 million credits and Beryl class Fast Transport would cost about 150 millions to manufacture in present time in the Three Galaxies. Ships are no longer being produced. When available, these ships sell for 250 to 400 million credits. Cost does not include embarked craft or power armors.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Four (4) Point Defense 15 mm Electromagnetic Rail Guns: Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World / Three Galaxies starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. They are used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. Each rail gun is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. When used in space, projectiles are fired from rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Rail guns use 15 mm depleted uranium projectiles.

Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 800 miles (1,290 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Rail gun inflicts 3D6x10 M.D.C. for an 80 round burst.

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

Payload: 16,000 Rounds (200 Bursts) each cannon.
Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Long range missiles have a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space have an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship.) 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 star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile, when unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Long range missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets, unlike cruise missiles, and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF long range missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.

Maximum Effective Range: Long Range Missile range is 3,400 miles (5,470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.

Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Fusion warheads inflict 2D4x100 M.D.C. each.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or twenty-four (24) per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: Onyx class Destroyer: 336 total, 168 long range missiles per battery. Beryl class Fast Transport: 144 total, 72 long range missiles per battery.
Four (4) Mini-Missile Launchers: These are missile turrets used for point defense against enemy fighters and missiles. 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.) Batteries 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.

Mega-Damage: 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 four (4) or eight (8) mini-missiles.

Payload: 64 per launcher for a total of 256 mini-missiles.

[ 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. ]

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Return