Powell-Class Battleship
Designed around a scaled-up version of the hull of the
successful Armstrong-class cruiser, although the Colin Powell is the first
battleship design, it is often seen as a sort of Armstrong descendent. The two
ships are very similar in everything but size, and officers, crew and
especially engineers and technicians have been able to make the transition from
one ship to another quite easily. In fact, the command crews of most of the
Powell-Class almost exclusively have spent time serving on an Armstrong. Every
commanding officer of the battleships in the fleet had an Armstrong as their
last command.
The Powell’s serve as one of the anchors of most fleets,
with the other anchor usually being a Liberty-Class carrier. They are the
command ship of the large fleets, and in fact, the T.S.S. Colin Powell is the
flagship of the entire Terran Protectorate fleet.
The Powells were developed almost entirely for one purpose:
Destroying Arkhon Motherships. In the first Protectorate-Arkhon War, the only
Arkhon Mothership humanity was able to destroy was
the Arki-Volo, flagship of the Arkhon incursion fleet. The destruction of the
ship killed Overlord Vanno, leader of the Arkhon civilization. His successors
sued for the peace that ended the war...primarily in order to consolidate their
own power. The problem is that the Arki-Volo was destroyed in dry dock and
powered down, along with the Arkhon Sector Command base. At no point in human
history has anyone been able to destroy an Arkhon Mothership
in ship-to-ship combat, nor have they ever heard of any other race doing so. In
fact, of the dozen or so sentient species in the Orion’s Arm sector of the
galaxy, no one was even able to achieve what the Protectorate did, which
catapulted the burgeoning human galactic community to prominence.
What’s more, the destruction of the Arki-Volo, even though it was not in battle, or even battle-capable
at the time, was a huge moral blow to the Arkhon Empire’s population. Human
strategists and flag officers knew that if another war ever broke out between
the Protectorate and the Empire, destroying a Mothership was at the top of
their military goals. Thus began Operation Peacemaker, a 10 year development
program involving some of the greatest minds of the Protectorate. Operation
Peacemaker resulted in two new ship designs. The first was the Armstrong-Class
cruiser, which was used to throw off Arkhon intelligence operatives as to the
true objective: A Mothership Killer. After a deadly game of cloak and dagger between
Arkhon and Terran spies, the Powell was successfully designed and built at a
secret facility in the Oort cloud of the Terra Star System. Even five years later, the Arkhon are unsure
about the exact capabilities of the Powell-Class Battleships, and Arkhon
command officers fear the Powell probably a bit more than is necessary. This
will make most Arkhon commanders skittish about facing the dreaded Mothership
Killer in battle. The only thing that will change this is if a Mothership, or
smaller vessel, takes down a Powell in space combat.
While powerful, the Protectorate High Command is under no
illusion that the Powell can single-handedly destroy a Mothership. That wasn’t
the actual goal. Motherships never travel alone; they are a part of a fleet.
The Powell’s role as Mothership Killer should, theoretically, come from not
only its immense firepower, but its ability to coordinate a Protectorate fleet
and lead it to victory over the fleet accompanying a Mothership, and the
Mothership itself. To achieve this goal, the Powell has the most devastating
weapons systems ever developed by the Protectorate, but it also has the most
advanced command and control center of any starship humanity has ever
constructed.
Like the Armstrong, the primary weapon of the Powell is a
powerful Mass Driver. This weapon, a massive gauss cannon, fires a four-ton
slug of depleted uranium at enemy ships. Accelerated to incredible speed by
electromagnetic propulsion, the slug is devastating to the ceresteel
construction of the Arkhon starships. Upon penetrating the
ballistics-vulnerable armor, a magnetic bottle inside the slug fails, allowing
an ounce of anti-matter to interact with the interior of the slug. The
projectile explodes with horrific force, doing tremendous damage to enemy vessels.
The Powell carries six STS-5 Hopper shuttles and two Captain’s Launches, and has room for one shuttle or small
transport. The Powell battleships have two universal docking collars for larger
craft, and which can be used to link with its escorting
Model: BB Colin Powell-Class Battleship
Crew: 85 officers, 1.520 crewmen, 14 flight officers and 100
colonial marines, including two platoons (20) of marines in Duelist Power
Armor. Can carry an additional 300 passengers.
M.D.C. by Location
Dual light rail gun turrets (12) – 250 each
Long-range missile launchers (2) – 2,000 each
Dual anti-ship pulse laser cannons (2) – 4,000 each
Particle beam cannons (2) – 6,000 each
Heavy Auto Cannons (6) – 1,000 each
Sensor Booms (2) – 5,000 each
Mass Driver – 10,000
Communications tower – 1,500
**Bridge – 10,500
***Main thruster – 20,000
***Secondary thrusters (4) – 5,000 each
Outer Hull Section (40ft/12.2 m area) – 125
Inner Hull Section (40ft/12.2 m area) – 100
****Main Body – 120,000
*These guns cannot be targeted until they are deployed for
combat. Even then it requires a called shot at -2.
**Destroying the Bridge will destroy the primary controls
and kill the bridge crew. However, the ship can be operated from the
***Destroying the main thruster will reduce the ship’s speed
by 50% and destroy the FTL system. Depleting the M.D.C. of the secondary
thrusters will reduce the ship’s speed by 10% each. Destroying them all will
essentially immobilize the vessel.
****Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body means that the
ship is in tatters, with life support, artificial gravity and power disabled,
along with multiple hull breaches. The escape pods are unlocked and the crew
should be attempting to abandon ship. If the ship is reduced to -40,000 M.D.C.
it explodes, doing 1D6X10,000 M.D. to anything in a half mile (.8 km) radius.
Speed
Maximum Sublight Speed: 0.2C (20% of the speed of light)
Max Acceleration/Deceleration Rate: 6G’s per melee round.
FTL Speeds: Cx365 (roughly a light-year per day)
Top Atmospheric Speed: Not possible (safely)
Statistical Data
Height: 400 ft
Length 1,400 ft.
Width: 368 ft
Cargo: 60,000 tons
Power plant: Two Anti-Matter Reactors
FTL system:
Range: 730 light years
Cost: Absolutely not for sale.
Weapon Systems
1.
Mass Driver: A massive
gauss cannon accelerates a four-ton slug of depleted uranium through a series
of magnetic rings to incredible speed. The slug contains an anti-matter core in
a magnetic bottle that ruptures upon impact with the target, shattering the
slug and causing tremendous damage. The weapon system is only hindered by its
slow rate of fire and limited payload.
Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: Each slug does 4D6x1,000 M.D. to a 200-foot
area.
Range: 5,000 miles (actually has a range of 15,000 miles
before the magnetic field dies, but it is much easier to dodge or shoot the
projectile down)
Rate of fire: 2 shots per melee round
Payload: 500 rounds
2.
Particle Beam Cannons (4): These bow-mounted PBCs fire essentially the
equivalent of a two-megaton thermonuclear bomb channeled into two streams of
charged particles. Non-military ships struck by the blasts (those that survive)
will discover that an electromagnetic pulse traveling along the beam has
disabled most of their electronics. Military vessels are hardened against such
effects. Non-military vessels without hardened circuits (all military ships
have hardened circuits) are -10% to all ship control rolls (such as piloting
and sensor rolls) for the next 1D4 minutes and are -2 to initiative and dodge rolls
after being hit with this weapon. The effects are not cumulative and there is
no saving throw.
Purpose: Anti-ship
Mega-Damage: 1D4X1,000 each. A dual blast from these cannons
does 2D4X1,000. A quad-blast (all four barrels) does
4D4x1000. Quad blasts are only possible against ships at least
frigate-sized or larger.
Range: 5,000 miles
Rate of fire: Each cannon can fire two shots per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited
3.
Long-Range Missile Launchers (2): One of these launchers is located under the bow. One is
located in the stern, concealed below the engines. They are often fired in
large spreads against multiple targets, used to shoot down enemy missiles and
are also used to perform planetary bombardments of hardened installations. The
Powells carry a wide variety of warheads that can be fitted to its missiles in
seconds.
Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: Varies with missile type.
Range: Varies with missile type, generally about 5,000
miles.
Rate of fire: Can fire individually or in volleys of 2, 4,
12 or 24.
Payload: Each launcher has a magazine of 480 missiles.
1.
Dual Anti-ship Pulse Lasers (2): These two waist guns are massive pulse lasers able to
inflict heavy damage to high-speed capital ships like destroyers and frigates
which might outflank the battleship. They are capable of 360 degrees of
rotation and can fire at a 90 degree angle away from the battleship. When
paired with the heavy auto cannons, they give the battleship an effective
broadside attack, useful in a “brawl” situation, where two enemy fleets
intermix for extremely close-range combat. Human ships have an advantage in
these situations, as this tactic seems suicidal to the Arkhon.
Purpose: Anti-ship
Mega-Damage: 3D4x100 M.D. per three-shot burst. The weapons
only fire in pulse bursts, which are so fast that they seem to be one beam.
Range: 500 miles
Rate of fire: Each turret can fire four times per melee.
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
2.
Double-Barreled Heavy Auto Cannons (6): These heavy auto cannons add to the battleship’s
anti-starfighter defense net, and are specifically geared toward heavy strike
craft, bombers, and for massed broadsides on enemy ships at close range. These
cannons are operated by a firing team of four.
Purpose: Anti-star fighter
Mega-Damage: 1D4x100 M.D. per dual blast.
Range: 100 miles
Rate of fire: Six times per melee round.
Payload: Each cannon has a 10,000 round magazine, allowing
5,000 shots.
3.
Dual light rail gun turrets (12): Defensive rail gun turrets are spread out across the ship
to give it full anti-star fighter and anti-missile protection. They can be
controlled by individual gunners or set by the chief weapons officer to fire in
pre-set defensive patterns, filling space around the battleship in a deadly
cloud (make a strike roll at +4, all enemy ships must beat this roll on a dodge
while within a mile of the battleship or take standard damage). These weapons
can also be used to fire massed broadsides against enemy ships at point-blank
range.
Purpose: Defense
Mega-Damage: 2D6x10 M.D. for a 20-shot burst. Only fires in
bursts
Range: 5 miles
Rate of fire: Equal to hand-to-hand attacks of the gunners
(usually 4). When set to auto-fire, the guns fire four bursts per melee
Payload: Each gun has a belt feed of 10,000 rounds. There is
enough ammunition in stores to reload each gun five times.
Sensors: The Powell’s sensor package is identical to the package on
the Armstrong cruisers. In addition, the Powell’s advanced command center is
capable of coordinating the synchronizing fire with every cruiser in the fleet,
giving the commander of the Powell fire control over possibly dozens of ships.
The other ships’ weapon systems, as long as communications are possible, are
able to lock in and fire on the same target, all hitting an area about 200-feet
in diameter. The mass drivers, particle beam cannons, and long-range missile
launchers can all be linked to this firing system. It’s this feature that fleet
command believes will lead to the downfall of an Arkhon Mothership.
