Confederation Eagle class Light Carrier (Wing Commander):
Original the Eagle class carrier was meant as a replacement for the aging Ranger class light carriers, battle losses have prevented the retirement of the old design. Still, the Eagle class light carrier is the most modern light carrier in the Confederation Fleet and is far prefer by her crews over the Ranger and Wake Island class of carriers, having many advances over those classes. Unlike the escort carriers, the Eagle class is built from the keel up as carriers and are far better laid as carriers. Still, it is built more to civilian standards than warship standards to reduce building costs. It looks far more like a traditional carrier design and is is equipped with the latest in phase shielding, armor, weaponry, and the storage space to carry even the largest Confed heavy fighters and torpedo bombers.
Given their large size for light carriers, they are often mistaken by Kilrathi for fleet carriers and the Confederation has been forced to operate these light carriers in this role from time to time. These carriers incorporate a large amount of advanced technology including a large amount of automation. The Eagle class light carrier requires only around one thousand crew compared to around two thousand for the Ranger class. It is also faster than the Ranger class and has the ability to accelerate faster than most other capital ship classes. The light carriers weaponry, not including fighters, consists of ten heavy point defense lasers, six cruise missile launchers, and two defense missile launchers. The carrier is designed to be able to operate independently due to the lack of escorts which there have been high losses in.
Of course, like all carriers, fighters are the Eagle's main weaponry. The light carrier has a fighter wing of sixty fighters and bombers with is over half that of much larger fleet carriers. Still, the light carrier only a fraction of that of fleet carriers which gives the Eagle a lot of "bang for the buck" It has an advantage over both the Wake Island class and Ranger class due to having a pair of flight bays. This allows the loss of one while retaining flight operations. At present, the majority of these advanced light carriers have been assigned to the Nineteenth Battle Fleet.
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: CVL-52
Vehicle Type: Light Carrier
Crew: 1,000 (30 Officers, 40 Chief Petty Officers, and 930 Enlisted)
Troops / Passengers: 100 fighter pilots. Can embark up to 200
marines for assault missions although the carrier is extremely overcrowded.
Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:
| 24 | Light Starfighters (Normally F-96B Arrow Light Fighter) | |
| 16 | Medium Starfighters (Normally F-86C Hellcat V Medium Fighter) | |
| 12 | Heavy Starfighters (Normally F-66A Thunderbolt VII Heavy Fighter) | |
| 8 | Heavy Fighter / Bombers (Normally F/A-76A Longbow Fighter / Bombers) |
| 10 | General Purpose Shuttles |
M.D.C. By Location:
| Heavy Laser Cannon Turrets (10): | 300 each | |
| Cruise Missile Launchers (6): | 500 each | |
| Long Range Missile Launcher (2): | 500 each | |
| Hanger Bays (2): | 3,000 each | |
| [1] Bridge: | 4,000 | |
| [2] Engineering section: | 8,000 | |
| Main Engines (2): | 3,600 each | |
| [3] Main Body: | 21,000 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field | 6,000 per side (36,000 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 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 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% (1,800 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 0.4 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The light carrier cannot operate within
an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: The light 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 light 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: 2,296.6 feet (700 meters)
Height: 436.6 feet (133.1 meters)
Width: 452.8 feet (138 meter)
Weight: 41,890 Tons (36,000 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 3,500 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 Eagle class light carrier costs around 15 billion
credits to manufacture not including fighter compliment. Fighter compliment
cost approximately 3.2 billion credits.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
- Ten (10) Heavy Point Defense Lasers in Dual Mounts: Ten 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 - Six (6) 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: 48 cruise missiles total (8 each launcher) - 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). 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.) Long range
missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles
and are all considered smart missiles. Battery can launch on multiple targets
each at the same time.
Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 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: One at a time or in volleys of 2 or 4 per launcher, per melee attack.
Payload: 120 total, 60 long range missiles per battery
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CGI / Artwork of starship created by Lars Laufer and Michael Lechner.
Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).
Rifts Conversion Copyright © 2007 & 2013, Kitsune. All rights reserved.