War Witch Fast Escort Carrier (Converted Star Witch Clipper):

Escort carriers are generally converted from merchant hulls, mostly cargo ships. Most merchant designs are relatively slow compared to purpose built warships. Not all merchant hulls are quite so slow and there is a class of ships generally known as “Clippers” which are much faster than most merchant hulls. These ships are also popular in military service because they can arrive rapidly with critical military cargos. Military versions of the clippers have heavier weaponry, military class variable shields, and better electronics suites. Pure civilian class clipper hulls are more expensive to operate than standard merchant hulls and military versions cost even more.

The War Witch started her life as a Star Witch class medium clipper modified for military service. She was sold as surplus after only a few years of service. Some military clippers are stripped before being sold but this ship was not stripped before being sold. As such, it was a perfect ship to convert into a carrier. The biggest part of the conversion was modifying the cargo areas into hanger bays. The only other major modification is the addition of light defense batteries and vastly increased payload for medium range missile magazines.

The “War Witch” is much faster than most escort carriers. In many ways, the ship compared much better to a light carrier than an escort carrier. Still, the term “Fast Escort Carrier” is eventually what was stuck on her. It still emphasizes her merchant basis while showing that she is far faster than most merchant conversions. The ship was far cheaper to purchase and modify than to purchase a new light carrier. Older light carriers also tend to be slow and underarmed. If sold outside the Human Alliance, a new Dragonfly class light carrier is expected to sell for ten billion credits and this ship costs only about a third of that. Because of that, several groups have shown an interest in the design including both small defense forces, militaries outside of the major powers, and mercenary companies. The

Free Worlds Council has even built a small number of similar vessels.

Fighter compliment of the War Witch is eight squadrons for a total of ninety-six fighters. This is broken down into five squadrons of light fighters and three squadrons of medium fighters. An excellent deal was made with Bushido Industries and the Katana was chosen for the medium fighter and the Tanto was chosen as the light fighter. As well, enough contra grav faster than light drives for one squadron of Katana fighters were acquired. Fighter compliments could be completely different for any new fast escort carriers built. No provision was made for heavy fighters even though they could be extremely useful. Forty Silver Hawk power armors are also part of the ship’s embarked forces.

There has been some consideration on how one might modify a medium clipper similar to the War Witch to operate as an assault carrier for planetary assault roles. Such a design would likely cut fighter squadrons by half (likely all fighters embarked would be light fighters) but add four assault shuttles. Troop compliment including vastly increased power armor compliment and the addition of ground vehicles, such as hover tanks and armed personnel carriers will also be part of any assault carrier modification to the basic idea of a clipper carrier conversion.

Like most warships, the crew of the War Witch is greatly increased beyond that of a standard Star Witch class sutter. Part of this is due to the need to handle fighter operations although that is still heavily automated. Part of this is also because military ships like to have a level of redundancy lacking in most civilian design. The ship could likely be operate by half the crew embarked although crew would have far more tasks. The amount of berthing space had to be radically increased as well as life support for the additional crew (as well as embarked troops / pilots.)

Even though the ship can fill a similar role to a light carrier, the War Witch is lightly armored compared to one. The ship retains the cruiser class shields of a standard military clipper which does allow the ship to withstand additional damage. A second weakness compared to most light carriers is that the carrier lacks a secondary bridge which makes the ship more at risk for a disabling hit on the bridge. Like most ships, it can be controlled from engineering in an emergency.

The ship has military class particle and radiation shielding so that it can reach higher speeds in normal space than most non military merchant vessels. It is fairly fast, almost as fast as a Warshield class cruiser and sixty percent faster than most standard merchant ships of around the same mass. Most escort carriers have a maximum faster than light speed of only around three light years per hour with the War Witch being fifty percent faster than that. Most new construction light carriers are a bit faster although not by much. The Dragonfly class is much faster at six and a half light years per hour but it is one of the fastest designs built. The ship does not have an anti-matter power plant but instead has a fusion power plant.

The War Witch’s batteries are designed to protect the ship against fighters and incoming missiles. Weaponry is not designed to fight other ships even destroyers or frigates. Most of the weaponry of a standard military clipper is retained with two long range missile batteries and six medium range missile batteries. The payload for the long range missile batteries, 256 missiles per battery, is unchanged; However, payload for medium missile batteries is vastly increased from 32 per battery to 128 missiles per battery. Standard light defensive battery for a Star Witch class cutter is six light lasers. These are replaced by six variable focus particle beams and six GR-1000 gravity rail gun mounts.

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: Escort Carrier SSM-2000 Star Witch class Medium Clipper.

Vehicle Type: Fast Escort Carrier (Modified Medium Fast Freighter.)

Crew: 325 (20 Officers and 305 Enlisted Crew.)

Troops: 144 Fighter Pilots, 40 Silverhawk Pilots, and 60 Marines.

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Power Armors:

SH-CCW100 Silverhawk Attack ExoSkeleton

Fighter Compliment:

	60	Bushido Industries BIF-75 Tanto Light Fighters
	36	Bushido Industries BIF-67 Katana Medium Fighters (12 with FTL Boosters)

M.D.C. By Location:

	GR-1000 Gravity Rail Gun Turrets (6):	250 each
	Variable Focus Point Defense Particle Beam Cannons (6):	150 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (6):	300 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (2):	500 each
	Outer Hull (40 x 40 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	100
	Inner Hull (40 x 20 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	75
	[1] Bridge:	4,000
	Hanger Bays (4):	3,000 each
	[2] Main Engines (2):	5,200 each
	[3] Main Body:	26,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	4,000 side (24,000 total)

Notes:

[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s hull. 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.

[2] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.

[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the carrier 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% (1,200 M.D.C.) per melee round.

Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Sublight: Has military class shielding and can reach 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.80 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 400 mph (643.7 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 4.5 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about two years worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:

Length: 980 feet (298.70 meters).

Height: 300 feet (91.44 meters).

Width: 320 feet (97.54 meters).

Mass/Weight: 380,000 tons (344,730 metric tons).

Power System: Advanced Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting.

Cargo: Can carry up to 15,000 tons (13,610 metric tons) of cargo in addition to crew’s supplies. 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, fighter compliment, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: 3.8 Billion credits to build and convert (Does not include standard fighter and power armor compliment.)

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Six (6) GR-1000 Heavy Point Defense Rail Guns: Gravity rail guns are in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. The GR-1000 Rail Guns both are more powerful and have more range than the conventional rail guns and is the same rail gun which is carried in the C.A.F. Scorpion Starfighter. Considered extremely effective even compared to other gravity rail guns. Even so, the mounts are not really for use against capital ships but can devastate a fighter quickly. They are also extremely effective against targets which are imperious to energy. Rail gun rounds are fired out of rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Gravity rail gun fires a 30 mm projectile. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 1,600 miles (2,575 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Rail gun inflicts 4D6x10 M.D.C. for a 40 round burst.

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

Payload: 10,000 Rounds (250 bursts) each cannon.
Six (6) Variable Focus Particle Beam Mounts: These particle beams are copied from those carried on the CAF Assault Shuttle and will fire a very powerful narrow beam and can fire a scatter effect that is less powerful but is capable of striking multiple targets. The weapon system is quite useful against missiles although the cone is not as wide as Tachyon cannon sprays are (Gives +2 bonus vs fast moving targets such as missiles.) Weapons are mounted in turrets that can rotate 360 and have a 180 arc of fire. Each mount can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee).

Maximum Effective Range: 300 miles (480 km) in space and 3 miles (4.8 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: Single Target: 4D6x10 per blast. Wide Beam: 5D6 to all targets within a 5,000 foot (1,524 meter) diameter area. When fired as a wide beam, the cannon cannot be used on targets closer than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) away.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has 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, battery, 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.

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 long range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or thirty (32) long range missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 512 total, 256 long range missiles per battery.
Six (6) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Launcher magazines are increased from standard capacity of 32 missiles per battery. Medium range missile have 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 (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 missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 128 per battery for a total of 768 medium range missiles.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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