Colonial Battlestar "Galactica" Type:

(Battlestar Galactica - Re-Imagined)

The Battlestar "Galactica" was one of the original twelve Battlestars built by the Colonial fleet. Each of the original Battlestars were built to represent one of the Twelve Colonies with the Galactica herself representing the planet of Caprica. These Battlestars were laid down near the beginning of the Cylon War and acted as both battleships and carriers. These ships were the work horses of the Colonial Fleet for many years. The Galactica herself fought in several major battles during the Cylon War. By the time of the renewed Cylon attacks on the Twelve Colonies, the Galactica and her sisters had been supplemented by large numbers of newer Battlestars including the Mercury class. The Mercury class are the newest and most advanced Battlestars. The Galactica herself was due to be decommissioned and become a mobile museum / classroom. Her last fighter squadron had been transferred off for reassignment and the vessel had almost no ammunition remaining onboard.

Due to the menace of the Cylons being able to hack into virtually any Colonial network, the computer systems on the Galactica were designed to work individually and the systems on the Battlestar were designed around security against computer access. There was also little in automatic and many of the systems were manual in nature. The other Battlestars of the Galactica class were later upgraded with networked computers but the Galactica herself remained without networked systems. This may have allowed the Galactica to survive when virtually all of the other Battlestars were destroyed. Newer Battlestars also carry far more in the way of automation to reduce crew requirements.

These leviathans are extremely tough with the Galactica herself taking a close hit from a nuclear weapon during the renewed Cylon attacks. The damage was able to restored quickly and crew casualties were light for such a massive weapon. The ships are also designed with massive storage of water and other consumable for long duration deployments. The ships are designed so they can replenish other ships with both fuel and water and can almost act like a supply ship. Crews of these 1.4 kilometer long ships run into the thousands and are virtually space borne cities in their own right. There are extensive medical facilities to support the crew including virtually a complete hospital onboard. In addition to fleet crew, the Battlestar carries a number of marines used for both ship security and boarding actions.

A Battlestar can be divided into three basic sections. This is the main hull and the twin flight pods. The forward section of the main hull contains water storage and there is an observation deck near the bow. The bridge is also buried deep inside this section. The middle section has equipment for withdrawing the flight pods close to the hull of the Battlestar as well as transfer facilities to bring equipment and ordnance between the two pods. Finally, the rear section contains the ship’s main thrusters and the faster than light drive. The hull of the vessel is reinforced with external ribs.

The ship has two faster than light drives and six sublight engines. Due to artificial gravity, the ship can accelerate at several Gees of acceleration without any effect on the crew. This allows the ship to traverse in system distances quite rapidly. For their size, a Battlestar is extremely maneuverable. The ship has a pair of faster than light drivers which allows the ship to jump multiple light years at a time, reappearing instantly in the new location. These engines are often called "Jump Engines" and the calculations to perform Jumps are both time consuming and extremely difficult. Even though the engines can be used for relatively short range jumps, this is often avoid due to various difficulties. As well, ships usually avoid jumping too close to planets or other ships for the same reasons.

The ship has two flight pods which can retract into the main hull. Each one is huge in its own right, being over six hundred meters in length and over a hundred meters in width. The hanger bay is large enough for fairly large ships to dock including transport ships. The flight pods are primarily designed to operate Vipers from and all marks, including the newest mark VII can be operated from them. A Battlestar can operate up to eight squadrons of Vipers with twenty fighters per squadron and there are electromagnetic launch systems which launch the fighters from the side. In addition, the ship has extensive repair facilities for the fighters. Launch tubes are mounted in pairs and there are forty launch tubes per side. Normally the fighters make low speed landings although high speed combat landings can be made in emergencies. The Battlestar also carries six to eight Raptor class craft used for scouting, to support the embarked fighters, and general purpose roles. These and other large craft must be launched from the forward part of the hanger pod. The main landing bay portion of the flight pods is open on both front and back to vacuum. The Galactica only has her starboard hanger bay operational and has a greatly reduced fighter compliment due to her fighter squadrons mostly consisting of Viper Mark II fighters which were part of her museum exhibits and a handful of Viper Mark VII fighters.

A Battlestar is well armed for both defensive and anti-ship roles. In close combat, a Battlestar can decimate a single Cylon Basestar although the Cylon capital ship has a much large fighter compliment. As well, the Colonials prefer Kinetic Energy Weapons while the Cylons often prefer missiles. On the Battlestar there are twenty-four large anti-ship mounts mounted in twin turrets. These weapons are powerful kinetic energy weapons which fire projectiles at incredible velocities. The ship has eight turrets mounted on the central part of the hull and the same number below the hull in similar positions. In addition, the ship carries four turrets under the bow of the ship. For point defense, the ships carry a large number of mounts similar to those carried on fighters. There is a total of two hundred and fifty-two mounts with two kinetic energy weapons each. These are mounted on both the flight pods and the main hull of the Battlestar. A huge amount of fire can be directed at attacking fighters or missiles from these mounts. The ship also carries missiles and other ordnance including nuclear weapons. These are normally launched from fighters and Raptors and not from the Battlestar itself.

Sensors on the Galactica type Battlestar consist of Dradis, which is virtually identical to Radar operated by Twenty First Century militaries. The ship mounts numerous small arrays around the hull and work similar to phased array systems and can perform the roles of tracking and fire control. The ship is also equipped with extremely sensitive radiological which enable it to detect nuclear weapons. The ship can also take advantage of remote sensor platforms. The Battlestars, because they are expected to act as command ships, have extensive communication arrays. These ships are designed with extensive E.M.P. protection to protect them from nuclear weapons.

This starship follows theoretical information about starships operating non chemical propulsion in space. This has meant much greater speeds and accelerations. Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the vessel's velocity.

Model: Colonial Battlestar "Galactica" Type
Class: Battleship / Fleet Carrier
Crew: 4,290 (140 Officers and 4,150 Enlisted) - Galactica has approximately 2650 before "New Caprica"
Troops: 210 marines (10 Officers and 200 Enlisted) and 220 Viper / Raptor pilots

Vehicle Compliment:

	160	Viper Starfighters (8 Squadrons of 20)
	6 to 8	Raptor Craft

M.D.C. by Location:

	Heavy Kinetic Energy Weapon Turrets (24)	1,200 each
	Heavy Kinetic Energy Weapons (48, 2 each turret)	500 each
	Point Defense Kinetic Energy Mounts (252)	200 each
	[1] Point Defense Kinetic Energy Weapons (504, 2 each mount):	35 each
	Hanger Bays / Flight Pods (2):	35,000 each
	[2] Viper Launch Tubes (80, 40 per Flight Pod):	1,000 each
	[2] Main Hanger Decks (2):	15,000 each
	[3] Bridge / CIC:	20,000
	[4] Engineering Section:	45,000
	[5] Ion Fusion Engines (6):	8,000 each
	[1] [Maneuvering Thrusters (40, 10 Clusters of 4):	50 each
	[6] Main Body	115,000
	Hull Per 40 ft Area :	300

Notes:
[1] These are small and difficult targets to strike, requiring the attacker to make a “called shot;” but even then the attacker is -4 to strike.
[2] Destruction of a launch tube will reduce the number of fighters which can be launched by one per tube destroyed. The destruction of a hanger deck will prevent craft from landing in the hanger deck and large craft from being launched.
[3] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ships armor. The bridge is buried deep inside the ship. 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.
[4] 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).
[5] The destruction of one engine reduces the ships acceleration by one sixth (0.5 G). This is reduced by one sixth (0.5 G) per engine destroyed. Destroying all six Ion Engines means that the maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[6] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Battlestar out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Space Propulsion: The starship does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Battlestar can reach a top acceleration of 3 G but due to high fuel consumption and extra strain on the engines, the ship will normally travel at 0.5 G for any extended trips. Top acceleration is only meant for emergencies and combat maneuvers.
Because the Battlestar is mostly unshielded from the effects of radiation and hypervelocity atomic particles (It is not completely unshielded), the vessel is not operated at speeds exceeding 20% of the speed of light.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The Battlestar cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash. If the ship "Jumps" into a planetary atmosphere, it will drop like a rock although could theoretically jump out of the atmosphere before it hits the planet.
Stardrive: A "Galactica" type Battlestar has a Jump Drive which enable the vessel to disappear in one location and appear at another location, potentially many light years distant, instantly. This drive requires extensive calculations and consumes fuel each time the ship "Jumps." The system can also make short range jumps.
Maximum Range: Conditionally unlimited, while the fusion rector gives power for a decade of service, the ship’s propulsion is limited by the ship’s reaction mass (The ship uses Tylium which is likely some hydrogen or helium isotope which has to be mined)
The vessel carries six months of reaction mass for travel at 0.5 G of acceleration. Double the consumption of fuel for 1.0 G of acceleration and double the consumption again for every 1.0 G of acceleration beyond 1 G. This means the ship will burn the fuel 8 times faster than at 0.5 G of acceleration at maximum acceleration (3 G). The ship will often accelerate for a period of time and then shut down the engine and travel using the ships velocity. If the ships uses more than half of its reaction mass when accelerating, the ship will be unable to decelerate fully and the ship will normally only use a third or less of its fuel on accelerating so it does not run into a problem.. If the ship runs out of fuel then it must be refueled by another vehicle traveling faster or be lost.
If the ship has a large amount of flight operations, the ship is limited to about three months endurance at cruising speed from the fighters using the ships reaction mass.

Statistical Data:
Length: 4,640 feet (1,414 meters) for main hull / 2,018 feet (615 meters) for flight pods
Height: 581 feet (177 meters) for main hull / 210 feet (64 meters) for flight pods
Width: 1821 feet (555 meters) with flight pods extended / 361 feet (110 meters) for flight pods
Weight: 27.55 million tons (25 million metric tons)
Power System: The Ship is powered by fusion reactors that will theoretically operate for 25 years and can provide effectively unlimited electrical power. However, it was recommended that the drive and power system have routine maintenance every 5 years. Also, the ship only carries about a six month supply of reaction mass / fuel for Jump drives.
Cargo: 220,500 tons (200,0000 metric tons) of cargo. As well, 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 ammo, armor, troops, weapons, engine, reaction mass, equipment,
Market Cost: 20 billion to construct.

Weapon Systems:

Twenty Four (24) Heavy Kinetic Energy Weapon Turrets: Main batteries of the Battlestar. Each turret has two barrels which normally fire together. There are eight turrets on the upper surface of the Battlestar near the middle of the ship, eight turrets on the lower part of the Battlestar also near the middle, and the are four turrets mounted under the bow of the Battlestar. Each mount can rotate 360 degrees and has a 90 degree arc of fire. Each mount fires rounds at extremely high velocity and inflict heavy damage upon their target. Cannons have half standard penalties for heavy starship weaponry when used against small targets.
Maximum Effective Range: 320 miles (515 km) in space and 16 miles (25.6 km) if fired into an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 2D6x100 for a ten round burst from both cannons in a turret. If one cannon is destroyed, damage is reduced to 1D6x100.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: 1,600 rounds (160 bursts) per weapon mount. Additional ammunition carried in the ship’s main magazines (Takes 2D6 minutes to reload)
Point Defense Kinetic Energy Mounts (252): These act as the Battlestar's main point defense weaponry and are in twin mounts. They are similar to the mounts carried on Vipers and are used against both fighters and missiles. The Battlestar has these mounts on the main hull and flight pods. Each mount can rotate 360 degrees and has a 90 degree arc of fire. These electromagnetic weapons fire high density projectiles at incredible velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) in an atmosphere and 32,000 feet (9,600 meters) in space.
Mega Damage: 4D4x10 for a ten round burst from both cannons. If one cannon is destroyed, damage is reduced to 2D4x10.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: 6,400 rounds (640 bursts) per weapon mount. Additional ammunition carried in the ship’s main magazines (Takes 1D4 minutes to reload)

Other Systems:
The Battlestar has all systems standard on a Rifts Earth (Not Phase World / Three Galaxies) robot vehicle plus the following special features:

Hardened Circuitry and Electromagnetic Shielding: All electronics and computers on the star ship are constructed with hardened circuitry and the ship itself is built with shielding to prevent EMP and jamming from damaging circuitry. The effect is that jamming and EMP will not damage any system while it can blind the ships radar and radio communication system. Laser systems will not be affected by jamming.
Jamming System: This system scrambles all electronic signals for a range of 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in space and will penetrate an atmosphere for a distance of 80 miles (128.8 km). The system can also confuse missiles. It has a 45% chance of confusing missiles but some missiles can home on jamming signals.
Integral Phase Array Radar System (Called DRADIS ): This system is in many ways to the Aegis system that was used on many naval vessels. The radar system can cut through Rifts Earth and Mutants in Orbit jamming systems at one quarter of the systems normal range allowing the system to work well against targets that are jamming. The system has a range of 100,000 miles (161,000 km) in space and can penetrate the atmosphere up to 1,000 miles (1,610 km). The system can track and identify 4096 targets at on time. Can also target each individual missile to a separate target at up to 1024 targets.
E.S.M.: Radar Detector, Passively detects other radars being operated.
Neutrino Sensor: All fusion and fission reactors output neutrinos (So do stars and anti-matter systems as well). The system can also detect nuclear weapons. The ship uses a specialized magnetic field to capture and focus neutrinos into a sensor designed to detect neutrinos. The system also eliminates neutrinos from the sun although it is impossible to detect a target if the target is between the sensor system and the sun due to the overloading the ability of the system to detect neutrinos. The Neutrino sensor has a range of 100 miles (160 km) penetration of an atmosphere and has a range of 10,000 miles (16,100 km) in space. The sensor has a 65% chance of being able to be able to detect nuclear weapons as well as differentiate between fusion and fission reactors.

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Image is from Battlestar Galactica Wiki.

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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