Grand Admiral, First Order Central Command
Affiliation: The One Sith
Manufacturer: Titan Industries/The One Sith
Model: Warhammer-class Battlecruiser
Modularity: N/A
Production: Limited
Material: Durasteel Hull, Impervium Coated Trimantium Armor, Turadium Internal Structure.
Classification: Command/Assault Battlecrusier
Length: 2500 meters
Width: 1625 meters
Height: 960 meters
Armament:
- 10 x Twin Heavy HVC Turrets
- 30 x Long Range Heavy Turbolaser Turrets
- 30 x Long Range Heavy Ion Cannon Turrets
- 35 x Heavy Quad Turbolaser Turrets
- 40 x Heavy Quad Ion Cannon Turrets
- 40 x Fast Mount Turbolasers*
- 40 x Advanced Mass Drivers
- 30 x Interceptor Missile Launchers*
- 50 x Quad Laser Cannon Turrets*
- 30 x Flak Cannons*
- 30 x Antimissile Octets*
- 20 x Point Defense Cannons*
Hangar: 48 Strike Craft, plus a standard assortment of shuttles, landers, and the like. Because of the limited size of the hanger, typically these are elite fighters with veteran pilots, and are dedicated almost entirely to escort duties in battle.
Special Features:
Advanced Mass Drivers
Advanced Fighter/Missile Defense System
Maneuverability Tail
Speed Rating: 17
Hyperdrive Class: Class 1 w/ Class 10 Backup
Strengths:
Depth of and amount of Firepower - Starting with the main battery of 10 massive HVC turrets, to the large array of long range weaponry, dual heavy turrets, and extensive point defense suite, the Warhammer is true battlecruiser in every sense of the word and is likely one of the most heavily armed ships in the galaxy.
Quick and Maneuverable... for a Battlecruiser - The innovative tail section gives the ship unprecedented speed for its size, and it maneuvers as well as a vessel half as large. Concentrating that many vernier thrusters in one spot has its weaknesses, of course.
Very effective defense system - The Advanced Figther/Missile Defense System is every inch a modern combat system that gives the ship incredible versatility against strike craft and projectile weapons.
Impressive Survivability - Whatever the issues with the ship, it is designed to be able to walk away from a fight, albeit that might not be very quickly or with any weapons operational. The frame of the ship is tough and designed to last, even if the systems contained within might not be up to par. Big ships are expensive, and it's easier to repair even a badly damaged one than churn out a new one.
Limited endurance in long engagements. Also maintenance intensive, but I don't figure that counts for much - A heavy reliance on projectile based weapons and other cost-saving measures means that compared to most Destroyers, the Warhammer-class simply cannot stay in the fight for very long. This has further implications indicated below.
Fragile compared to other similarly-sized ships. - The use of distributed shield generators, Impervium-coated armor, and other similar cost-and-mass saving measures mean that while the Warhammer-class enters a fight with no significant disadvantage over a similar-sized opponent, that can quickly change as hits are taken. Damage that is capable of penetrating the Impervium coating will almost certainly inflict structural damage (as opposed to still having to fight through layers of armor) and rapidly diminish the ability of the ship to fight at full capacity. This is further true with the complex nature of the rail system for the HVC turrets, as the distributed shields are taken offline, etc.
Small hanger for its size. - You take what you can get when you're making the first true Battlecruiser in the galaxy. Four squadrons is downright paltry, but what're you gonna do?
The ship had an unusually long and painful development process. Every aspect of the vessel required innovation presented new problems. Technology trials were plagued with issues and even shock testing encountered a few hiccups in the manner of an unexpected pirate raid. But in the end, the ship is a creation worthy Titan Industries, the One Sith, and represents a new age in naval warfare.
The first major change is a step away from focusing long-range weaponry and instead having equivalent firepower at all ranges. While the ship does have a large battery of long-range turrets, it features more and more guns the closer in one gets. Anything going at the Warhammer-class suffers under a steadily increasing hail of fire that includes Turbolasers, Ion Cannons, HVC's, and more. Further these weapons are almost all turret mounted in the traditional style, giving the ship relatively balanced arcs of fire. Like all the wedge-shaped Star Destroyers it is still vulnerable to attacks from the rear, but the forward arc is nothing short of devastating and it possess respectable broadsides.
Somewhat uniquely, the HVC's on the ship are mounted in turrets. The designers pulled from Admiral Cyrus Tregessar's experience with the Atrisian Isard-II's. A network of rails directs the projectiles back and forth inside the ship to reach a high enough velocity. The rail network is somewhat vulnerable to damage, as it needs only to be disrupted slightly to throw off the path and prevent the gun from firing. Additionally, the turret guns have a longer cycle time than conventional HVC's. However, the have a vastly improved firing arcs were seen as necessary. All the usual weaknesses of HVC's (having the lower the Particle Shield to fire) are present as well. The ten large turrets are arranged in pairs along the centerline of the ship. While this gives them the best field of view, it does make them somewhat prominent targets (it also limites the best possible broadside to only five turrets, and they have no rear fire arc). In all other respects, the turrets are classic HVC's with all the usual strengths and weaknesses.
Another feature of the ship is Advanced Mass Drivers. Taking inspiration from both the technology behind HVC's and the similar weapon on the old Pellaeon Mk II, these tubes are capable of firing Assault Concussion Missiles, Heavy Energy Torpedoes, large projectiles, small rocks and asteroids, or basically anything that can fit at high velocities. Typically used as launchers, they add extra range and punch to the already devastating Assault Concussion Missiles, with the added utility of being exceptional siege weapons.
The ship is not particularly fast by any account, but features an unusually large suite of vernier thrusters and maneuvering drives. A significant amount of these are built on or around the 'tail' section, which tends to give the ship the appearance of having a rear wheel drive as it rotates around that axis. Effectively, the ship is as maneuverable over a short distance as a Light Star Destroyer, or even some heavier Assault Cruisers. The tail is however somewhat more vulnerable to fire, and if disabled makes the ship very unwieldy (in practical terms, speed drops to 20 and maneuverability to 19/20).
All these innovative features meant something had to give, and in the case of the Warhammer that was armor and shielding. Every effort was made to cut weight, this manifested in a controversial "all-or-nothing" armor scheme. The central core of the ship, especially including the reactor, command and control facilities, HVC rails and magazines, power distribution, and so on utilize heavy Turadium Internal structure, with thick Trimantium coated by Impervium. The wings and nose (consisting of quarters, magazines, supply storage, offices, barracks, etc, roughly 40% of the ship) by contrast have much lighter durasteel structure and very thin Trimantium armor (still coated with Impervium). Coating in Impervium is an old technique which gives the armor plating good resistance for the first few shots, after which the lack of thickness will tell. The armor is also more heavily sloped than normal, something which will have little effect on turbolasers or energy torpedoes but could potentially help against kinetic weapons.
Shielding is provided by a suite of generators distributed across the ship in the Mon Calamari style. This allows for rerouting of power to heavily effected areas, though the overall integrity of the shield is perhaps inferior to the more conventional Star Destroyer style. A pair of backup generators are mounted in the usual method (atop the command bridge), but these have nowhere near the power capacity of a full system, and are typically kept offline and used as necessary. Additionally, a set of four small, directional interdiction field generators, similar to the ones present in the Shadow-class Corvette, are mounted to give the vessel both some limited utility as an interdictor and provide a backup missile defense system (the primary system is detailed below).
The end result is that the core systems of the ship are extremely well protected, but the peripheral portions of the vessel are decidedly not (comparable perhaps to a Light Star Destroyer). Further, while every effort was made to keep critical systems in the well-protected core a significant number of smaller turrets and most of the defensive weaponry is mounted on the lightly armored section. While this has little effect on the opening stages of a battle, it was assessed that in extended engagements the Warhammer-class will lose combat effectiveness at a much faster rate than other Star Destroyers, by at least 60% and possibly more. When this problem was presented to Admiral Tregessar, he reportedly replied "then win quickly.'
Internally the ship uses similar methods to those used on the Darkblades to provide a massively reinforces internal structure. While this helps ensure that the battlecruiser won't collapse under a barrage, it doesn't really help protect vital systems. In other words, it helps survivability, but adds little to protecting the ability to fight at full capacity. The density of this material, however, means that space is at a premium, and the hanger sizes are much smaller than could be expected for a battlecruiser. The backup shield system is likewise designed primarily for the survivability of the vessel, and is not rated to stand up to a turbolaser barrage.
Far and away the most innovative system on the ship, however, is the Advanced Fighter/Missile Defense system. Building off the traditional combat system present aboard every warship and the more advanced Target Acquisition and Tracking Sensor, the AFMD features an unusually advanced and powerful sensor array (including DER's, HSI's, EPR's, FST's, etc.) and utilizes a network of computers and algorithms to assign strike craft targets (tracked on the sensor suite) to the best available weapon, with seamless hand off as the target closes range. At long ranges, this is fast-mount Turbolasers and interceptor missiles, which hands over to laser turrets, flak guns, and finally antimissile octets at 'point blank' ranges. Compared to traditional manual targeting, this system is devastatingly effective. A proposal was pitched to include Crystal Gravfield Traps, but the cost would have proven prohibitively high. Thus despite all its advantages, the AFMD provides no better stealth detection than any conventional system.
Backing up the combat system is a more or less standard suite of Command and Control equipment, as is the norm on any Star Destroyer, and more advanced equipment dedicated to fleet coordination and reporting, as is present on basically every command-type vessel in the galaxy.
The most serious flaw identified during the development process however, was the limited endurance of the ship. Several aspects, including the Impervium coated armor, reliance on missiles and HVC's for long range firepower, and necessity of munition-based defense systems, are unreplenishable in combat or otherwise limited. While the ship is a formidable force on the battlefield, it simply lacks the staying power of most Star Destroyers. Simply put, this is a ship designed to fight and win battles quickly, not outlast the enemy in a siege or extended engagement.
Development Thread:
Intent: To take advantage of the fact that ships up to 3000m are okay now, and to make something that resembles a historical battlecruiser, with innovative features from ships that already exist (and some real-world junk)..
Who Can Use This: Designated One Sith personnel. Typically Sith Lords or Admirals. This is in every respect an 'Elite' ship and should be restricted as such.
Primary Source:
Isard-II for the turreted HVC'shttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/18792-isard-ii-refit-class-star-destroyer/
Pellaeon Mk II for the Advanced Mass Drivershttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/3235-pellaeon-class-mk-ii-star-destroyer/
Impervium Coating
TAThttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Target_Acquisition_and_Tracking
Side Note: Ships of the class are typically named after some manner of polearm. Examples include Warhammer, Glaive, Ransuer, Partisan, Corseque, Fauchard, Naginata, Brandistock, Battleaxe, Guisarme, Voulge, Bardiche, Halberd, etc. Users of the ship are encouraged to use vessels that have been mentioned before, to emphasize the survivability of the ships.
It's still a work in progress, but go ahead and hit me with what you got. Name is subject to change as well, btw.
