Approved Starship Telepath-III heavy strategic bomber

[Cathul Thuku]

The strategic bomber on its maiden flight, with its S-foils extended

Two Telepath-IIIs with their S-foils retracted

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To provide a more weaponized version of the original Telepath
• Image Source: Task and Purpose (S-foils extended) The Aviation Geek Club (S-foils retracted)
• Canon Link: N/A
• Restricted Missions: N/A
• Primary Source: Telepath stealth blockade runner

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Ringovinda StarYards
• Model: Telepath-III strategic bomber
• Affiliation: Open-market
• Production: Minor
• Material: Quadranium frame, Hexheim ERA hull

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Strategic bomber
• Length: 44.5 meters
• Width: 24.0 meters (S-foils retracted) 42.0 meters (S-foils extended)
• Height: 10.4 meters
• Armament: Extreme
  6 Anoat repeater electromagnetic cannons (2 nose-mounted, 2 topside retractable turrets, 2 underside retractable turrets)
• 1 Sko heavy bomblet generator
• 2 rotary internal bomb bays, each fitting up to 17 tons of ordnance
• 6 external ordnance pylons (typically used for missile-based weapons or mines, but can also fit more bombs)

[*]Defenses: High
[*]Squadron Count: Very low: 4
[*]Maneuverability Rating: Low (Very low with SLAM activated)
[*]Speed Rating: Very Low (Low with SLAM activated)
[*]Hyperdrive Class: Average: 1
STANDARD FEATURES

• Defenses
  Tensor field generator
• Inertial compensator
• 
  Anti-Concussion field generator
  

[*]EWAR

• ECM/ECCM Suite (Sensor jamming)
• Tractor Beam Shrouds

[*]Powerplant/Propulsion

• Solar ionization reactor
• 7 Sabrina waste heat recovery devices
• 4 ion engines
• SLAM

[*]
Avionics

• 
  Navigation
  
  Long Range Sensor Suite
  
• 
  Electro-Optic Distributed Aperature System (High Resolution Digital Cameras)
  
• Watchtower collision avoidance system

[*]
Communications

• 
  Long Range Comm Suite
  
• 
  Comm Desrcambler
  
• 
  Biocomm
  
• 
  Hydra Mesh Network System (See Above)
  
• 
  Signal Interceptor
  
• 
  ​Socketguards
  

ADVANCED SYSTEMS

• Quantum Radar
• Griet-II self-sealing hypermatter tank
• Kirishima cap drains
• Tier 1 Hexheim ERA
• S-foils

Strengths:

• Ability to resist conner nets and EMPs
• Slim flank profile
• Heavy armament
• Heavy defenses
• High ordnance capacity

Weaknesses:

• Exposed cockpit
• Exposed vertical stabilizer: if the vertical stabilizer is destroyed, the sensors and EWAR suite are gone as well
• Maneuverability is reduced when the SLAM is active
• SLAM cannot be activated when the S-foils are extended
• S-foils must be retracted for docking
• S-foils must be extended to use the external hardpoints
• Low mobility
• Large blast radius upon destruction - if someone or something manages to kill a Telepath-III in combat, all the explosive tiles that are then remaining will detonate; for this reason it is recommended not to maintain tight formations of Telepath-IIIs
• Each bomb bay can only fit one type of ordnance at a time
• ERA reduces survivability of crew in crash

Description: When it became clear that the Chiloon series of craft, used for fast bombing runs, suffered because of its low ordnance capacity, the decision was made to redesign and repurpose the Telepath series to increase the ordnance capacity, whle keeping in mind that light-sided starfighter procurement doctrine typically favored long-range independent capability. As with the older versions of the Telepath, the Telepath-III's tailfin is used to house sensors and EWAR equipment. When entanglements force a strategic bomber to fight, two nose-mounted heavy repeating electromagnetic plasma cannons, as well as four more turreted heavy repeating laser cannons, two topside-mounted and two underside-mounted, and two rotary ordnance bays, each of which can be outfitted with one type of ordnance at a time, for a maximum of 17 tons each, allow it to fight, alongside a heavy bomblet generator and six external hardpoints, allowing it to outfit a wide variety of ordnance to counter an equally wide variety of threats. The Telepath-III pays the price in another area: hyperdrive. Lowered from its original 0.3 hyperdrive, the Class-1 hyperdrive makes it closer to standard.

However, the addition of weapons and ERA lining its hull made its mobility suffer considerably, making it more like a flying castle that moves mostly the same as a Y-Wing, perhaps a little slower. When sublight speed is essential but maneuverability isn't, a SLAM device allows it to give a boost of speed at the expense of maneuverability. However, it cannot be activated when the S-foils are extended; the S-foils are designed to help land the craft in atmosphere, but are a liability when docking in an orbital hangar. Finally, the ERA in place lining the hull, while useful to shrug off projectile weapons, cause it to force them to be deployed in loose formations, especially since the destruction of one of those bombers can likely cause is remaining explosive tiles to detonate as well.

Consumables: 3 months
Crew: 6
Skeleton crew: 1

 

[Gir Quee]

Under Review.

 

[Gir Quee]

[member="Cathul Thuku"], this is about two ratings too high. As always, you can balance this out by lowering production, reducing ratings, or adding significant weaknesses.

HIMS

HIMS isn't something that typically is found on small craft because of its size. If this was a smaller bomber, I'd probably ask for the reduction of one rating. However, as this is nearly the size of our capital ships, I think that this could be balanced with the addition of a minor weakness.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

[member="Gir Quee"] Done...

 

[Gir Quee]

Hyperdrive Class: Low: 3

For a low class, this needs to be x5 or slower.

EWAR ECM/ECCM Suite (Subspace, Realspace, Sub-Hyperspace, Hyperspace)

As with the other sub that we saw recently, can you tell me more about the specifics of the EWAR suites? What devices does this include? What systems function in sub-hyperspace, subspace, and hyperspace?

HIMS must not be used for more than one minute at a time, and it also carries a one-minute cooldown after use

HIMS is likely going to be a single use device at this scale unless there's a large number of coils. These devices would take up a fair amount of volume, which in turn would mean that something else would have to give.


What was the weakness that you added to compensate for the HIMS?

 

[Cathul Thuku]

[member="Gir Quee"] Removed HIMS, and also lowered defenses to put back the x1 hyperdrive... while also removing the non-realspace EWAR systems, and restricting the realspace ones to sensor jamming.

 

[Gir Quee]

Looks good from a balance perspective.

Ability to penetrate interdiction fields

If you'll remove this to match it no longer having a HIMS.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

[member="Gir Quee"] Done...

 

[Gir Quee]

Approved.