Besalisk Brigadier
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Image Credit: AdamKop
Intent: To create a very punchy gunboat-esque patrol ship for the MPTC.
Canon Link: N/A
Restricted Missions: N/A
Primary Source: N/A
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Sanctuary Systems Liberation Army
Model: Cyclone-class Gunship
Affiliation: Sanctuary Systems Liberation Armyhttp://starwarsrp.net/groups/1314-sanctuary-systems-liberation-army/http://starwarsrp.net/groups/1314-sanctuary-systems-liberation-army/http://starwarsrp.net/groups/1314-sanctuary-systems-liberation-army/
Modularity: See Below
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Durasteel Hull, Alusteel Armor Plating, Glassteel and Transparisteel command deck.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Gunship
Role: Patrol/Attack Ship
Length: 48m
Width: 19m
Height: 4.8m
Power Core Generator/Reactor: LP4b-2(V) Solar Ionization Reactor
Hyperdrive Rating: Class 5
Minimum Crew: 1 (just flying) 4 (operations)
Optimum Crew: 15
Passenger Capacity: A security/boarding team of 8 soldiers with kit can be carried. Otherwise you can fit maybe 20-30 passengers in very cramped conditions.
Consumables: Approximately 5 weeks.
Sublight Speed: Average
Maneuverability: Average
ARMAMENT
Armament Rating: Very High
1 x XM27 Twin Precision Medium Turbolaser Cannon
1 x Twin Ion Cannon Turret
1 x Quad-Missile Launcher (four additional reloads, 20 warheads total)
Squadron Count: 4
NON-COMBAT ATTACHMENTS
- Standard Combat Ray Shielding
- Standard Combat Particle Shielding
Advanced Sensor Package
Standard Encrypted Communications Package
Advanced TAT and BAC Combat System Package
Ionic Shielding Package
Ion Shields
Cap Drains
Duraplast Plating
Energy Sinks
[*]
Standard Electronics Warfare/Countermeasure Package
220-SIG Tactical Sensor Jamming Device
Full-spectrum Distortion Projector
Active Decoy System (Chaff)
SPECIAL FEATURES
- ANq-321 (V) Passive/Active Sensor Array Computer - The Rectenna on the starboard side. Gives fantastic system-scale active and passive sensors. Not high-resolution enough for fire control, but you'll know people are out there.
- Active Decoy System - As opposed to more conventional chaff, the Active Decoy System launches a self-propelled, droid brain-controlled, disposable unit designed to mimic a much larger target and seduce incoming projectiles or temporarily 'blind' targeting sensors. It is ineffective against stealthed opponents or weapons, but it can be fired 'blind' (i.e. if no attacker is detected, just incoming missiles). Only six rounds are carried, but if properly employed they will make a missile volley miss or scramble a conventional fire control solution for several seconds.
Strengths:
- Hits Hard: The Cyclone-class Gunship is designed specifically to hit really hard for its size class. Raiders beware.
- Good Sensor Package: As expected on any patrol ship. While long-ranged and accurate, this is not fire control quality data, that's left to a conventional (but robust) TAT and BAC system.
- Robust Countermeasure Package: If you know you can't take a hit, avoid getting shot. The Active Decoy System is particularly effective, but has limited shots.
- Not designed for a hanger: The Cyclone-class are Patrol Gunships, designed to operate independently or in small groups. They're not designed to be carried in a hanger, and cannot be carried as a squadron in anything smaller than a large (800m+) Cruiser.
- Squishy: Designed to tackle small groups of strike craft or pirate freighters, the Cyclone-class is built around rapid, devastating attacks. It doesn't last long in a drawn out fight, especially once it's decoys are exhausted.
- Vulnerable to Strike Craft: Despite being a freighter-sized vessel, the Cyclone-class sports turbolasers as its main battery. While these make similarly-sized ships undeniably nervous and are mounted on top-of-the-line gimballed hardpoints, they can struggle to hit nimble starfighters. In other words the Cyclone relies heavily on its missiles to keep fighters at a distance, and its decoys to stay alive. Once those are gone, well it's not going to win any dogfights.
- Patrol, not Pursuit: The Cyclone-class is fairly slow in hyperspace, and while it can operate in fleet engagements it's really a deterrent and escort vessel.
DESCRIPTION
The most effective way to combat piracy by far is the convoy system. Armed ships operating in groups of makes for a harder target than most would be privateers are used to chasing, and deterrence is the essence of anti-piracy operations. Unfortunately there are a lot more merchants than there are military vessels, a simple fact true for any government, even juggernauts like the First Order and Galactic Alliance, but especially true for a comparatively small formation like the MPTC. Even before the formal declaration that created the Council, plans were in the works on Centares to develop a line of small, easily produced, low-maintenance police or military vessels. The Cyclone-class is the end result of those plans.
The class of vessel needed to be fairly small, able to confront one of the most common types of pirate ship; the up-armored and up-gunned light freighter. It needed to be fairly easy to crew, as the large requirements demanded even by corvettes outstripped the numbers of trained personnel available on Centares. It needed to be heavily armed enough that the average pirate freighter, designed to engage Light Freighters and small transports, would want nothing to do with the business end. Of course it needed to be hyperdrive capable, able to operate independently or alongside groups of snubfighters or larger escorts.
The Cyclone-class succeeds in every one of these areas.
Built around an oversized power generator, the Cyclone-class focuses on firepower, speed, and durability in that order. A twin-linked high-precision medium turbolaser cannon is the primary weapon, fixed forward on gimballed mounts, it is rated at capital ship levels of power (though it does have a substandard rate of fire). Potentially capable of blowing apart a civilian freighter in a single volley, it is not a weapon to be fired constantly, being temperamental and prone to overheating. Cyclone commanders are trained to take their time and line up precise shots on enemy targets.
A secondary battery of mid-sized Ion Cannons are mounted on a dorsal turret, to both give the Cyclone utility as a police vessel and provide a somewhat more versatile armament against high-speed high-maneuvering targets. After all, one need not disable a ship entirely to make it slow down enough to be vulnerable to a turbolaser barrage. The armament is rounded off with a ventral quad-missile launcher to give the Cyclone a tracking weapon to be used against strike craft, or just a fire-and-forget shot. Four sets of reloads are typically carried, and must be manually 'chambered' by a missile tech.
Crew consists of a Commander, Ops crew of four, engineering crew of three, two gunners, two missile techs, and up to three extra spacers. A single (very active) person could fly the ship but would have no access to weapons and would struggle in any crisis situation. A security/boarding team is considered 'standard' but is not always deployed. They do not normally participate in the watch rotation, though some are trained as gunners, but they absolutely defend the vessel in the event a boarding goes wrong (typically a very quick and bloody event, given the small size of the craft).
The ship is made up of two decks, which collapse just before the bridge. The bottom deck is largely the engineering section, while the top deck consists of the spartan and cramped crew facilities. Only the gunship commander gets their own bed, the rest must share a bunk room with 6 racks. Supply storage is towards the back, along with the extra compartment for the boarding team, an workspace (consisting of a few desks and computers, along with the ships armory) and small kitchen/lounge area sits in-between. All three weapon emplacements feature a small sub-compartment that house their key equipment and operational gear.
Most of the engineering section is taken up with the oversized reactor and propulsion plant, and the various accesses and auxiliary machines necessary to keep a starship afloat, operational, and full of air. The bridge consists of five control consoles set in a tiered theater-like setup, with three in front and two raised slightly behind them.
On patrols the ships typically operate in three watch teams, with all other personnel on standby should it become necessary to man weapons. A typical mission will run about two weeks, after which the ships return to their port or base for a week-long maintenance period, swap crews, and return underway. When squadrons of the ships are deployed they operate in three sections of two, (with three crews for two vessels, and between 2-4 boarding teams for the whole unit) with two sections on patrol and one in port. The non-deploying crew members take care of maintenance, making the squadrons fairly self-sufficient. Patrols of longer duration are entirely possible for the platform, but begin to get increasingly unpleasant for the crew.
Other special equipment of note includes the ANq-321 (V) Passive/Active Sensor Array Computer, a an advanced but low-resolution deep scan system that provides tremendous situational awareness for such a small ship. Typically operated in passive mode, the ANq-321 (V) is often effective at extreme ranges, well beyond normal detection ranges in a system. In active mode it even has a limited hyperspace detection capability, though that is not a required capability for the Cyclone-class.
The Active Decoy System is concession to the Cyclone's limited anti-fighter armament. An evolution of the more common chaff, it has proven extremely effective in tests, but the individual rounds are fairly slow to produce and only four are carried in a launcher mounted just aft of the quad-missile system.
Wildly used by the Sanctuary Systems Liberation Army to strike pirates, outlaws, and authoritarians, the Cyclone-class is probably the most immediately tangible sign of the nascent uprising.
