Minbari Sharlin class War Cruiser (Babylon Five):

The Minbari Sharlin class War Cruiser is the most powerful ship built by any of the younger races. The ship can beat two or three Centauri Primus class Battlecruisers in combat. The ship that come closest to this ships firepower is the Minbari Ranger White star which was built with Vorlon Technology. The White Star has slightly more actual firepower but the Sharlin has far more weapon mounts.

The mere mention of the Sharlin during the Earth vs Minbari war struck fear in the humans defender. Even relatively recently, a small fleet of Sharlins were able to dissuade a fleet of Earth Force ships attacking Babylon 5 without any of the Minbari ships firing a shot.

As far as the technological level of the all the younger races, the Minbari are the most advanced race. Their ships are the most advanced ships in the Galaxy with the exception of the First Ones. The Centauri are the closest other race to them in their technical achievements.

When this ship is compared to ships within the Three Galaxies, the ship is as heavily armed and armored as the heaviest ships and the Minbari would soon become respected by any of the races in the Three Galaxies. The shields of this ship are about as powerful as those on Phase World ships of the same size.

In physical configuration, the ship has a living look to it and looks like a cross between some type of fish and a Portuguese Man of War. The ship has a large fins like structures on the top and two large fin like structures on the bottom of the ship. The hull of the ship itself has a ribbed like structure.

Contrary to the ships appearance, the ships is not organic in construction like many of the First ones ships but is constructed out of high density crystalline material that provides better protection than the armor used by the Centauri. The ship also has powerful shield to protect the ship and are capable of stopping most weapons. These shields both use Gravimetric waves and radiation shielding to prevent energy weaponry together to achieve a more powerful shield.

The ship carries three slicer beams for its primary battery. These are capable of doing massive damage is their own right but the true effect of the weapon is to cut deep within their target and get critical strikes to vital components of the ship they are fighting. The ships also has a secondary battery. This Battery consists of twenty fusion beam cannons. These weapons are quite powerful and are themselves as powerful as some other navies main batteries. When both the main battery and the secondary battery are used on a target, there are few targets that can survive for very long. The Sharlin has ten lighter fusion guns that are used for both anti fighter defense and against larger targets when not engaging fighters or other small ships. The ship has 42 Neutron/Particle beam mounts for point defense. These are capable of severely destroying a starfighter in one hit. The ship also caries a missile launcher that fire the equivalent of Phase World long range missiles.

The ships propulsion is by a gravimetric propulsion system. This allows the ship to achieve accelerations much greater than ships of most of the younger races. The only widespread member of the younger races that can achieve even close to the level of performance of Minbari ships are the Centauri. The Minbari actually are more advanced than the Centauri but are not as far separated from the Centauri as they both are from most races.

The ship design has both true artificial gravity and inertial dampeners. The artificial gravity allows the ships crew to serve in comfort and greatly increases the crews efficiency. The inertial dampening allows this ship to complete maneuvers that no ships built by the younger races other than those built by the Centauri or the Minbari without killing the ships crew.

One of the items that is very special about the ship is the Command and Control Facilities. Unlike Earthforce Ship or even Centauri ships with their flat screen displays, the Commander has incredible holographic displays that give the feeling that she is standing outside of the ship and watching the battle as a titan watching the battle from outside.

The ship normally carries 30 fighters and operates as a carrier along with being a battleship. The ship carries 1200 marines and often operates in ground attack roles as well as its other functions. The ship only carries 200 Marines in normal operations.

Notes of game conversion:

For purposes of game balance, there are two different versions of the starship. One is designed with accelerations in terms of gravities (G) which can better interact better with other Babylon 5 ships such as Earth Force and the Narn military. The other is written to operate within the Three Galaxies and operated with Consortium and Kreeghor vessels.

Phase world version uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor fighters. This version is recommended if you with to put them into Phase World as among equals. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.

Moderate version uses Gs of acceleration but does not have reduced weapon ranges except for missiles. This version is useful for Mutants In Orbit, Phase World if used as a lower tech race, used with my Earth Force ships conversions for B-5, and as a possible crash on Rifts Earth. Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the fighters velocity and distance traveled.

Velocity = Acceleration x Time + Initial Velocity

Distance Traveled = Acceleration x ½ x Time ² + Initial Velocity x Time

1 G = 32 feet (9.8 m) per second ²

Model: Minbari Sharlin-class War Cruiser

Class: Battlecruiser (Combination Dreadnought/Carrier)

Crew: 1,000 (100 Officers and 900 Enlisted)

Troops: Standard; 200, Maximum; 1,200

Vehicle Compliment:

	30	Minbari Windstar Fighters
	8	Standard Minbari Shuttles

M.D.C. by Location:

	Slicer Beams (3):	3,500 each
	Fusion Beam Cannons (20):	1,500 each
	Fusion Guns (10):	600 each
	Neutron/Particle Beam Cannons (42):	400 each
	Long Range Missile Launcher (1):	1,200
	[1] Bridge:	60,000
	[1] Emergency Bridge:	60,000
	[2] Main Body:	255,000
	[3] Engineering Section:	75,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	12,000 a side (72,000 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 armor. This ship also has an auxiliary bridge. Even if both bridges are 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] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).

[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (3,600 M.D.C. total) per melee round

Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Sublight:

Phase World Version: Has special sublight engines 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 round.

Moderate Version: The War Cruiser does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The War Cruiser can reach a top acceleration of 8 G but standard is 4 G to reduce stress on engines.

Atmospheric Propulsion: The Minbari Sharlin War Cruiser cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.

Stardrive: Uses a hyperdrive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 75 light-year per hour. This means that the Sharlin War Cruiser can cover the Galaxy in about 8 weeks. The ship enters hyperspace by means of a jumpgate. This ship can use an already made jumpgate or can form its own jumpgate.

he Sharlin has enough power to open a jumpgate every five minutes (20 rounds). The gate then takes one round to open, two rounds to traverse, and another to close.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about four years worth of supplies on board and Quantum Singularity/Fusion power system gives power for 20 years before the ship needs refueling.

Statistical Data

Height: 5,187.7 feet (1,580 meters)

Length: 4,268.3 feet (1,300 meters)

Width: 1,428.3 feet (435 meters)

Weight / Mass: 22.1 million tons (20 million metric tons)

Power System: Quantum Singularity/Fusion power system (20 year duration)

Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 500,000 tons of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition

Cost: 48 billion credits to construct. Any culture in the Three Galaxies would pay hundreds of billions of credits for an undamaged working model of this ship.

Weapon Systems:

Three (3) Gravimetric Slicer Beam Cannons: This weapon is incredibly powerful and can decimate most ships very quickly. The weapon uses controlled opposing gravimetric waves to create an energy beam weapon that shreds the target. Due to the deep penetration of the weapon, it has a much better chance to do critical damage to the target and ships dread the slicer beam hitting their fusion reactors. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Each Gravimetric Slicer Beam Cannon fires individually and have a 60 degree arc of fire. The weapons do full damage to targets in magic rich universes with the spell impervious to energy. Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 3,000,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks.

Maximum Effective Range: 187 miles (300 km) in an atmosphere and 187,000 miles (300,000 km) in space.

Mega Damage: 3D6x1000 per Slicer beam strike (optional rule is that cannon gets a critical on a natural 18, 19, or 20 due to its high penetration)

Rate of Fire: Once per melee (beam last for full melee)

Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Twenty (20) Fusion Beam Cannons: The guns take high mass particles and compress them until they reach fusion. These particles are then fired in a beam. This cannon is far more powerful than a fusion gun is. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Each fusion beam cannon fires individually and have a 180 degree arc of fire. Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 1,000,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks

Maximum Effective Range: 62.2 miles (100 km) in an atmosphere and miles 62,200 miles (100,000 km) in space

Mega Damage: 5D6x100 per fusion gun blast.

Rate of Fire: Three Times per melee round per cannon.

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Ten (10) Fusion Guns: The guns take high mass particles and compress them until they reach fusion. These particles are then fired in a beam. The weapons do not have penalties to hit fighters and small targets. Each fusion gun fires individually and has a 180 degree arc of fire. Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 900,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks

Maximum Effective Range: 56 miles (90 km) in an atmosphere and miles 56,000 miles (90,000 km) in space.

Mega Damage: 2D4x100 per fusion gun blast.

Rate of Fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Forty-Two (42) Neutron Cannons / Particle Beams: These weapons are not as powerful as the Neutron cannons mounted on the White Star and the weapons primary purpose is point defense. These guns fire bursts of atomic particles at close to the speed of light but unlike Earth Particle Beams, most of the beam consists of Neutrons. They are very effective against fighters but are not as effective against larger ships. The weapon does more damage to organic targets because of the nature of the beam. Each mount has a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire. Weapon has a bonus of +4 to strike

Maximum Effective Range: 9.3 miles (15 km) in an atmosphere and 932.7 miles (1,500 km) in space.

Mega Damage: 4D6x10 + 20 per cannon. Weapon does double damage to organic targets.

Rate of Fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
One (1) Long Range Missile Batteries: These launchers are similar to Rifts / Three Galaxies long range missile launchers. Unlike cruise missiles, long range missile do not have penalties to strike small targets. They are considered smart missiles and long range batteries can launch on multiple targets each.

Phase World Version: 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.) When drive goes dead, the missile will continue to travel in a straight line unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and torpedoes when dead is at -25% to be detected.) See Modified starship rules for more details

Moderate Version: The description of these are close to that used for conventional cruise missiles Missile are assumed to accelerate at 2 times normal mach speed in Gs greater than the starships speed when used in space. Missiles can be launched at non moving targets beyond the powered range of the missiles to hit targets without the chance of the launching ship being hit by missiles itself but penalties exist when launching missiles beyond normal missile range.

Maximum Effective Range:
Mega-Damage & Properties: Both Versions: Varies with long range missile types (Use new missile/bomb tables - Fusion inflicts 2D4x100 M.D.C.).

Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, 24, or 48 long range missile per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 720 long range missiles.
Interceptors: The Minbari Sharlin can launch decoys in front of the ship to draw that fire away from the ship. This system is mostly used to decoy missile. These can be used in addition to the ships ECM to stop missiles from hitting the ship.

Range: In front of Starship

Mega Damage: None
Payload: 200 Total.

Special Equipment:

Command/Control Systems: The Sharlin Class Cruiser has some of the most advanced Command and Control facilities on any starship. These include highly detailed holographic displays that enable the commander to practically be inside of the battle and be able to see far more of what is going on. In game terms, this enables the commander to spot almost all situations and be able to plan for them before they occur.
ECM: The Minbari Sharlin War Cruiser, like all Minbari ships is fitted with advanced ECM. This ECM prevented targeting systems from Earth Alliance ships from being able to lock on during the Minbari war against the Humans. This ECM prevents targeting systems from ships of the younger races with the exception of the Minbari, Centauri, and Vree from being able to lock on. An attacker would be at -10 to strike the ship and only if within visual range (approximately 500 miles). Missiles would have a 90% chance of being unable to achieve a lock on target as well. Rifts Earth and Mutants in Orbit would be treated to be at the level of technology of most of the younger races. While not as advanced as the Minbari, the Centauri are more advance than other younger races. The Minbari Sharlin War Cruiser would have a very small signature but could be detected on sensors. The Centauri would have penalties of -4 to strike beyond visual range. Missiles would also be more effective, at first engagement missiles would have a 60% chance of being unable to achieve a lock, the jamming could be fully adjusted for and the missile could achieve lock normally. Phase World, Macross 2, and Robotech sensors would be treated to be at the level of technology of the Minbari and Centauri. Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars would also be treated to be at this level of technology. The sensors of the races of the First Ones would not suffer any penalties and would be able to strike normally. This included the Drahk Raider as well.
Sentient Computer: The Minbari Sharlin War Cruiser has a artificial intelligence computer controlling it. This computer should be considered to be a moderate artificial intelligence in terms of Rifts. This computer can pilot the ship at 85%, can fire all weapons with half normal attacks, and has +2 to strike and +1 to initiative (these include all bonuses). If a full crew is onboard it will be able to fire all weapons at will and will have +5 to strike, +2 to dodge and +3 to initiative.

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Technical information sourced partially from Babylon 5 Technical Manual!

CGI of Ship by Craig P. Condu . More of his CGI pictures of B-5 Ships at Epsilon Jumpgate.

Writeup by Mischa (E-Mail Mischa) and by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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