Age of Solar Sail
05-10-2006, 16:19
The prevailing philosophy in military starship design has generally been 'huge and wasteful', with intimidating size often the most important criterion for a design contract. The Hanoverian Empire has often been cash-strapped due to border disputes and widespread piracy, and so has been forced to adopt a philosophy of making everything as cheaply as possible, and packing as much of it as possible into as small a space as can be managed. Even the chosen drive systems (solar sails and ion engines) were selected to be as cheap as possible to make and as easy as possible to repair out in deep space. Because of the choice of solar sails, and partially as a tip of the hat to the Hanoverian Empire's maritime history, generally ships of the Royal Navy resemble the masted ocean-going ships of the far past.
Dauntless Class Patrol Cutter
The Dauntless class patrol cutter is usually seen in groups of two or three patrolling outlying systems for pirates and smugglers, and as a are somewhat limited in armaments. With a little difficulty and a loss in speed and targeting computer efficiency, an extra frag cannon can be mounted, although this would require an extra five crewmen for reloading and maintenance.
Length: 90m
Crew compliment: 2 officers, 30 enlisted, 5 marines.
Armament: 4 medium frag-cannons.
Shielding: Light
Independent FTL? No
Supplies: 3 months
Sans-Pareil Class Gunboat
The Sans-Pareil is the standard ship-of-the-line, well armed and fast. It relies on speed and small size rather than shielding, and carries a rather small marine compliment. The vast majority of its crew compliment is made up of gunnery teams, who in the event of a boarding action are expected to 'hold the fort'. It is however equipped with a costly FTL drive and a goodly amount of supplies.
Length: 180m
Crew compliment: 15 officers, 130 enlisted, 30 marines
Armament: 20 anti-capital frag cannons, 30 AI-controlled PD gattling guns
Shielding: Light regenerative shielding
Independent FTL? Yes
Supplies: 18 months
Invincible Class Gun Platform
The Invincible is a class built to slug it out on even terms with far larger ships. The gunnery deck runs through all the decks of the ship and are much more heavily shielded than on older ships of the Royal Navy. Due to much higher ammunition requirements, the amount of supplies an Invincible can carry is limited.
Length: 210m
Crew compliment: 10 officers, 180 enlisted, 20 marines
Armament: 20 anti-capital frag cannons, 10 particle stream cannons, 2 torpedo tubes
Shielding: Medium capital shielding
Independent FTL? Yes
Supplies: 8 months
Dauntless Class Patrol Cutter
The Dauntless class patrol cutter is usually seen in groups of two or three patrolling outlying systems for pirates and smugglers, and as a are somewhat limited in armaments. With a little difficulty and a loss in speed and targeting computer efficiency, an extra frag cannon can be mounted, although this would require an extra five crewmen for reloading and maintenance.
Length: 90m
Crew compliment: 2 officers, 30 enlisted, 5 marines.
Armament: 4 medium frag-cannons.
Shielding: Light
Independent FTL? No
Supplies: 3 months
Sans-Pareil Class Gunboat
The Sans-Pareil is the standard ship-of-the-line, well armed and fast. It relies on speed and small size rather than shielding, and carries a rather small marine compliment. The vast majority of its crew compliment is made up of gunnery teams, who in the event of a boarding action are expected to 'hold the fort'. It is however equipped with a costly FTL drive and a goodly amount of supplies.
Length: 180m
Crew compliment: 15 officers, 130 enlisted, 30 marines
Armament: 20 anti-capital frag cannons, 30 AI-controlled PD gattling guns
Shielding: Light regenerative shielding
Independent FTL? Yes
Supplies: 18 months
Invincible Class Gun Platform
The Invincible is a class built to slug it out on even terms with far larger ships. The gunnery deck runs through all the decks of the ship and are much more heavily shielded than on older ships of the Royal Navy. Due to much higher ammunition requirements, the amount of supplies an Invincible can carry is limited.
Length: 210m
Crew compliment: 10 officers, 180 enlisted, 20 marines
Armament: 20 anti-capital frag cannons, 10 particle stream cannons, 2 torpedo tubes
Shielding: Medium capital shielding
Independent FTL? Yes
Supplies: 8 months