Kilrathi Bhantkara class Heavy Carrier (Wing Commander):

These carriers were only seen after the Kilrathi attack on Earth and it is believed by some in Confederation Intelligence that these ships were developed as a less costly alternative to the Hakaga class Supercarrier which featured prominently in that attack. The supercarriers are believed to have strained even the Kilrathi building yards and simply take too long to build.

Even though smaller than the Kilrathi supercarrier, the Bhantkara class is still almost twice as large as the Snakier II class fleet carrier which is replaced in front line service. The Bhantkara class heavy carrier is considerably more advanced than the carrier which it replaced. The ship is contemporary with Dubav class of light carriers. It also is almost twice the tonnage of the vessel it replaced and is considerably better armored.

Compared to previous carrier classes, it is far more of a pure carrier design with no anti-capital ship weaponry and no missile launchers. Unlike the Confederation Lexington class, the heavy carrier does not mount any defensive missile launchers. Some in Confederation Intelligence believe this is to reduce construction costs and required building time. In most ways, the Kilrathi carrier appears to be inferior to the latest Confederation designs but the Kilrathi appear to outnumber the Confederation around two to one in fleet carriers. This often forces the Confederation to operate light carriers in roles mean for fleet carriers.

Confederation Intelligence has reported that these new carriers can carry over one-hundred and twenty fighters, bombers, and support craft. Kilrathi generally organize their fighters into eight fighter squadrons compared to twelve for the Confederation. The fighter compliment of the new Kilrathi carrier is is slightly greater than the Confederation Concordia class carriers and about equal to the Confederation Lexington class carriers. Often a squadron of Vaktoth Heavy Starfighter, which it normally embarks three squadrons, is replaced by a variant, the Zartoth Electronic Warfare Fighter. These electronic warfare fighters can be extremely dangerous. As well, sometimes stealth fighters are embarked onboard the carrier.

In support of the fighters embarked, the Bhantkara class carries more support equipment and can make more major repairs than could be done on older carrier classes. Still, the facilities do not appear to be complete as those onboard Confederation carriers. These ships are designed with full flag facilities and often act as flagships for battle groups. The common escort squadron for these carriers are a pair of cruisers and four to six destroyers.

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: Bhantkara class Heavy Carrier
Vehicle Type: Heavy / Fleet Carrier
Crew: 3,200 (180 Officers and 3,120 Enlisted)
Troops / Passengers: 200 fighter pilots. Has flag facilities for up to 80 additional personnel Can embark up to 200 marines for assault missions

Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:

	40	Light Starfighters (Normally Darket Light Starfighters)
	32	Medium Starfighters (Normally Dralthi IV Medium Starfighters)
	24	Heavy Starfighters (Normally Vaktoth Heavy Starfighter)
	16	Heavy Fighter / Bombers (Normally Paktahn Torpedo Bombers)

Other vehicles:

General Purpose Shuttles

M.D.C. By Location:

	Heavy Laser Cannon Turrets (8):	300 each
	Light Point Defense Laser Cannon mounts (12):	100 each
	Hanger Bays (2):	7,500 each
	[1] Main Bridge:	8,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	8,000
	[2] Engineering section:	22,000
	Main Engines (2):	10,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	45,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	4,000 per 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 armor. This ship does have an auxiliary bridge. Even if the 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% (1,200 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 0.30 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The heavy carrier cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: The heavy 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 heavy carrier scoops from space to fuel the jump engine.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. The carrier has about four years worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 3018.4 feet (920 meters)
Height: 613.8 feet (187.1 meters) for hull
Width: 964.6 feet (294.0 meter)
Weight: 110,230 Tons (100,000 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 15,000 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 Bhantkara class Heavy Carrier costs around 32 billion credits to manufacture not including fighter compliment. Fighter compliment cost approximately 5.5 billion credits.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Eight (8) 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.
Twelve (12) Light Point Defense mass Driver in Single Mounts: Twelve 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. Weapon is equal to standard fighter mass driver mounts except has a higher payload. Compared to most point defense weaponry carried on most starships within the Three Galaxies, the weapon mounts have a longer range.
Maximum Effective Range: 1,242.7 miles (2000 km) in space and 6.21 miles (10 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 2D6x10 per 20 round burst.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: 20,000 Rounds (1000 Bursts) per cannon

[ Brodkil TM, Bushido Industries TM, CAF TM, Catyr TM, CCW TM, Consortium of Civilized Worlds TM, Coyles TM, Free Worlds Council TM, Gene Splicers TM, K-Hex TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kreeghor TM, Machine People TM, M.D.C. TM, Mega-Damage TM, Metzla TM, M’Kri Hardware TM, Monro TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Noro TM, Paradise Federation TM, Phase World TM, Psylite TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Seljuks TM, Splugorth TM, Sunaj TM, Trans-Galactic Empire TM, Tri-Galactic Military Service TM, United Worlds Warlock TM, U.W.W. TM, Wolfen TM, and Zembahk TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Douglas Aerospace TM, Kilrah TM, Kilrathi TM, Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall TM, and McAuliffe Ambush TM are trademarks of Origin Productions. ]

CGI / Artwork of starship created by Wing Commander Saga Team. Picture taken from Wing Commander CIC.

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Return