Confederation "Confederation" class Dreadnought/Fleet Carrier
(Wing Commander):


Built around a huge "Phase Cannon", the Confederation class dreadnought is a hybrid starship design which combines the sheer firepower of a battleship with the fighter launching capability of a fleet carrier. Development of the new class was started in 2655 after the examination of the wreckage of the Sivar class dreadnought which destroyed the Goddard colony with its super weapon. The Confederation wished to have a dreadnought which could counter the Sivar and more. Plans were developed for a new type of heavy warship that emphasized on brute strength and firepower instead of speed and mobility. It was to be a battleship that had happened to carry a fighter wing, rather then a carrier that happened to have the weaponry of a battleship.


The Confederation completed the first Confederation class dreadnought in 2660 after five years of development and construction. Five more dreadnoughts of the Confederation class were constructed at the rate of one ship per year. Each dreadnought can carry more fighters then a Concordia-class carrier (120 against 90) and more then triple the offensive firepower of the newest Kilrathi heavy cruisers. Fighter compliment is normally four squadrons of light fighters, three squadrons of medium fighters, two squadrons of heavy fighters, and one squadron of heavy bombers. This all comes at a price as far as support equipment and a lower acceleration than most fleet carrier classes. Compared to the Concordia class fleet carrier, the Confederation class has less ability to repair fighters and less equipment for fighter handling. Besides the Phase Transit Cannon, the dreadnoughts are armed with eight anti-matter turrets for use against other capital ships although it lacks in missile launchers. The Confederation class Dreadnoughts were originally designated "BAH" as "Battleship Armored Heavy" to reflect their primary role as dreadnoughts, but the fact that they were being used as a carrier a lot more led to their re-designation to "CVS" for Strike Carrier. As might be expected, these carriers have full flag facilities to be able to act as flagship which they often perform as. Still, their heavy firepower means that they can operate independently when needed.


The leaders of the Confederation Navy thought that these dreadnoughts would finally give Confederation Fleet the edge it needed to finally win victory over the Kilrathi but the results were not as predicted. The keel-mounted Phase Transit Cannon proved to be very dangerous and unreliable. It seemed to work fine in the initial test but testing was insufficient. This is best seen in 2664, when the name ship, TCS Confederation, was lost when a reactor-overload that resulted when its main gun was fired to destroy a Snakier II-class carrier. Various attempts were made to correct the flaw but all attempts to correct the flaw has proven to be futile. Due to flaws in the design, Confederation Bureau of Ships ceased all further production in 2665. In spite of these weaknesses, the Confederation-class vessel TCS Concordia would rise up to become the Confederation Navy's pride and joy and serve as Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn's flagship until its destruction. It has fought in multiple engagements including Battle of Vukar Tag and the Battle of Earth.


Four of the six Confederation-class ships which had been built were lost in action between the era of 2664 and 2667. With the recent morale-guttering destruction of the TCS Concordia in mid-2669, the TCS Armageddon is the only warship left in the class to carry on the Concordia's proud tradition. Her Phase-Transit Cannon has been rendered dis-functional (It cannot be replaced due to being part of the keel of the ship), and she has since been refitted with a new reactor, upgraded defensive weaponry, strengthened phase shielding, and improved armor. Fighter compliment has also been replaced by the newer and powerful fighters entering servive.


Notes of game conversion:


Because of the nature of the Video Game / Novel series “Wing Commander” and the needs to put the starship into game mechanics, the starship has several modification compared to the Video Game and Novels. The most important change it to change top speed to acceleration. Like fighters in Star Wars and original Battlestar Galactica, the fighters appear to act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. This is incorrect. The Television series Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactic are good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles would probably maneuver although still not a perfect perspective. The starship has been modified to uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor starships. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.


Model Type: CVS-14 Confederation class Dreadnought / Carrier
Vehicle Type: Dreadnought / Fleet (Strike) Carrier
Crew: 3,000 (140 Officers, 150 Chief Petty Officers, and 2,700 Enlisted)
Troops / Passengers: 240 fighter pilots. Has flag facilities for up to 120 additional personnel


Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:

48Light Starfighters (F-54 Epee Light Fighters / P-64 Ferret Patrol Fighters)
36Medium Starfighters (F-44 Rapier Medium Fighters)
24Heavy Starfighters (F-57 Sabre Heavy Fighters)
12Heavy Bombers (A-17 Broadsword Heavy Bombers)
Other vehicles:
20General Purpose Shuttles


M.D.C. By Location:

Phase Transit Cannon (1):8,000
Anti-Matter Guns (8):2,000 each
Heavy Laser Cannon Turrets (11):300 each
Cruise Missile Launchers (2):500 each
Hanger Bays (2):2,000 each
[1] Main Bridge:7,500
[1] Auxiliary Bridge:7,500
[2] Engineering section:17,000
Main Engines (2):8,500 each
[3] Main Body:35,000
[4] Variable Force Field:8,000 per side (48,000 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] 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).
[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% (2,400 M.D.C.) per melee.


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 0.3 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The dreadnought / fleet carrier cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: The fleet carrier mounts a jump drive which is capable of jumping instantly from a fixed point in a system to another fixed point in a system. These points are weaknesses in the fabric of space and have been mapped in most cases. Fuel is hydrogen which the escort carrier scoops from space to fuel the jump engine.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. The carrier has about two years worth of supplies on board.


Statistical Data:
Length: 3,225.1 feet (983 meters)
Height: 1,001.7 feet (305.3 meters) for hull and 1,181.18 feet (360.0 meters) including antenna
Width: 1246.7 feet (380 meters)
Weight: 80,500 Tons (73,000 metric tons) fully loaded
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 8,000 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. Ships officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: The Confederation class dreadnought costs around 52 billion credits to manufacture not including fighter compliment. Fighter compliment cost approximately 5.3 billion credits.


Weapon Systems

  1. Phase Transit Cannon (1): The Confederation class Dreadnought is armed with an incredibly powerful "Phase Transit Cannon" developed from the Proton Accelerator Cannon on the Kilrathi Sivar class dreadnought. The weapon has the weakness that it can overload the fusion reactor on the ship and cripple and destroy the ship while firing.
    Maximum Effective Range: 32,000 miles (50,000 km) in space and 32 miles (50 km) in an atmosphere.
    Mega-Damage: Normally destroys all targets within beam. Weapon does 2D6x100,000 M.D.C. to huge target that are unable to be destroyed by one shot and will create a crater a planet that is 1D6x100 feet deep and eight times as wide.
    Rate of Fire: Once every minute or four melees.
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
    Notes: Has a 5% chance per shot of failing (20% if the cannon is damaged), 50% chance of the cannon firing then failing and 50% chance of the cannon failing before firing. If the weapon fails, the ship will take 2D4x1,000 M.D.C. and the cannon will be inoperative until repaired (takes 2D4 weeks to repair)
    The cannon has a 40% of failing catastrophically. If the weapon fails catastrophically, the cannon will inflict 6D6x1,000+10,000 to the ship firing and the weapon will be completely destroyed. If the weapon inflicts less than half the hulls M.D.C., the ship will be badly damage but will be fully operational. If the weapon inflicts over half damage but less than seventy-five percent damage, the ship will be virtually crippled and will be unable to travel over half speed and half of the anti-matter cannons will be unable to be fired. Greater than three quarters damage will mean the ship is limited to ten percent of top speed, unable to make jumps, and none of the anti-matter cannons will be able to be fired. The ship will be also be severely leaking atmosphere. Damage greater than hull's M.D.C. will mean the ship is destroyed.
  2. Eight (8) Anti-Matter Cannon Mounts: Weapons are mounted on the sides of the ship and is the main anti-ship weaponry of the carrier besides fighters. Weapons can angle up to forty degrees to the sides and above and bellow the ship. The anti-matter cannons are extremely powerful and inflict heavy damage to other capital ships. The weapon is not designed to target fighters and has standard penalties against fighters and other small targets.
    Maximum Effective Range: 8699.2 miles (14,000 km) in space and 43.5 miles (70 km) in an atmosphere.
    Mega-Damage: 2D6x100 M.D.
    Rate of Fire: Four per melee
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited
  3. Eleven (11) Heavy Point Defense Lasers in Dual Mounts: Eight total on top, bottom, port, and starboard side. All can fire forward and aft. Each Turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Individually more powerful than the lasers mounted on fighters and have a longer range. Compared to point defense weaponry carried on most starships within the Three Galaxies, the weapon mounts have a longer range.
    Maximum Effective Range: 4,971 miles (8,000 km) in space and 24.85 miles (40 km) in an atmosphere.
    Mega-Damage: 4D6x10 M.D.
    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited
  4. Two (2) Cruise Missile Launchers: Missile has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, 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.) Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles.
    Maximum Effective Range: 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 does 4D6x100 M.D.C.).
    Rate of Fire: One per launcher per melee attack
    Payload: 24 cruise missiles total



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CGI / Artwork of starship created by Klav / Adam Burch. Picture taken from Wing Commander CIC.


Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Rifts Conversion Copyright © 2004, 2006, & 2013, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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