Gluk, Stock, and Two Smoking Lasers
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: An update for the OPA Avatar-class. A multimission expeditionary elite Star Destroyer.
- Image Source: Adamant by Daniel Brown, found at https://www.artstation.com/artwork/v9k4A
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Avatar-class Cruiser
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
- Manufacturer: Royal Naboo Shipwrights, modified by the Outer Planets Alliance and the Wretched Hive
- Affiliation: Outer Planets Alliance
- Model: Pilgrim-class Heavy Cruiser
- Production: Semi-unique
- Material: Durasteel hull
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Classification: Elite Star Destroyer
- Length: 1100 meters
- Width: 970 meters
- Height: 290 meters
- Armament: Very High
- Eight banks of advanced composite beams.
- Supporting weapons include ion cannons, capital multirole warhead launchers, static torpedo bays, and defensive autoturrets.
- Weapons proportions are balanced for independent operation (i.e. no need for dedicated escorts).
- Defenses: High
- The Pilgrim’s respectable shields and armour allow it to weather the storm in all but the most desperate circumstances. Advanced astromech-based self-repair protocols and self-sealing honeycomb compartmentalization ensure that the Pilgrim can keep flying, even if just to limp away and lick its wounds.
- Hangar Space: Very Low (3)
- Hangar Allocations: 2 squadrons of Terminus-class starfighters, 1 squadron of assorted support craft
- Maneuverability Rating: Average
- Speed Rating: High
- Hyperdrive Class: Very Fast (0.5, backup Class 5, range 200,000ly)
STANDARD FEATURES
- All standard features
- Can enter atmosphere, but cannot land safely without specialized docking facilities
ADVANCED SYSTEMS
- Sensor equipment: A comprehensive active and passive sensor suite, appropriate to an elite Star Destroyer. A Crystal Gravfield Trap allows the Pilgrim to detect any stealth vessel which does not have a gravitic modulator, at a distance equivalent to the effective range of a long-range turbolaser. The Pilgrim’s sensors have a variety of scientific modes and customization options. Given enough time, the Pilgrim can deploy a towed array for improved resolution and range.
- Hyperspace navigation equipment: The Pilgrim has advanced interstellar navigation capabilities, including a Silkworm Hypertransit Package and an Olie AGS navicomputer. The Hive's designers also managed to fit in a Merrill Lighthouse, a specialized hyperspace beacon.
- Low-volatility chaff/fares: Several advanced chaff/flare dispensers offer moderate protection against warheads without risk of sympathetic detonation.
- Reconnaissance probes: The Pilgrim can deploy a wide variety of small survey craft and probe droids, including the SIARC, SUREC, INCIS, TRUL, and EXPARC probes. With enough preparation time, the Pilgrim can monitor a large region comprehensively, and delay enemy movements in certain circumstances.
- Resilience systems: The Pilgrim contains and compartmentalizes damage efficiently, and can repair its own systems within the context of an extended engagement.
- Science labs: Whether diagnosing plagues, refining RADOS fields, or performing comparative exogeology, the Pilgrim’s science labs offer a wide variety of mission-specific options. The modular labs derive from the much smaller Shambhala-class Science Vessel.
- Supply technologies: The Pilgrim carries five years of emergency consumables. Cold storage and analysis units allow the ship to take on supplies from random worlds. Solid fuel/ration converters turn waste biomatter into nutrient paste, cloth, or basic fuel cells in extreme circumstances.
STRENGTHS
- The Pilgrim’s advanced navigational and supply systems allow prolonged and time-efficient exploration of uncharted space.
- Advanced probes allow a variety of sensor and interdiction options.
- The Pilgrim’s shields and armour are nothing amazing, but its internal damage control and self-repair systems are second to none. Its countermeasures are safe and stable, and it resists system strain effectively. It’s a reliable and durable ship.
- Eight powerful composite beam projectors can punch and rip through smaller ships with ease.
- Variegated sensors, including a Crystal Gravfield Trap, give the Pilgrim a good idea of what surrounds it. In a combat context, the Pilgrim’s CGT can detect any stealth vessel that lacks a gravitic modulator.
WEAKNESSES
- Unlike the Avatar before it, the Pilgrim cannot land without specialized docking facilities.
- The Pilgrim has a very low hangar capacity.
- The Pilgrim is specced for exploration, diplomacy, humanitarian relief, and any number of other roles apart from combat. The Pilgrim’s design takes a balanced, multimission approach, and trades capital guns for defensive weapons to allow unescorted operation. In a face-to-face slugging match, it can’t balance many other elite Star Destroyers.
- Barrel consolidation has its downsides: take out one of the eight composite beam banks, and that’s quite a bit of the ship’s firepower incapacitated.
DESCRIPTION
The RNS Avatar-class expeditionary cruiser served the Kathol Outback and Outer Rim Coalition for years in a wide variety of roles. It saw distinguished services against the First Order, the Mandalorians, and many others. Eventually, however, two greater threats forced the Outer Planets Alliance to reevaluate: the Sharuka and the Sith Empire.
The OPA contracted the shipwrights and outlaw techs of the Wretched Hive to design a refit program for the Naboo-built Avatars. The Hive's people - Dingo Darr, Shenna'vala, Jerec Asyr, and others - found ways to increase the cruiser's firepower and even cram in two squadrons of old Terminus-class starfighters. They also increased its hyperdrive range for better extended operation. The primary sacrifice was the ability to land; in an expeditionary role, its contact with the surface of a given planet would be limited to shuttle traffic. The other major sacrifice was a speed reduction. The resulting ships were dubbed Pilgrim-class.
The Pilgrim-class is still a good multirole scientific, expeditionary, and strategic support ship with the capacity for sector-level real-time overwatch, like the Avatar before it. It just has better teeth.
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