Starblade Heavy
Fighter
The Starblade (also known as the Mandible due to its front end) is widely considered to be the best mass produced star fighter in local space.
The main space superiority fighter used by the Mogg’Theran, the Starblade has been updated internally about every 20 years for the last 200 years, but it is always called a Starblade and it always externally appears virtually the same.
One of the first human mercenaries to ever tussle with a Starblade noted in a report that it appeared someone had “shoved an Atlas Rocket up a tank’s ass, and somehow got it to turn on a dime.”
Armor, Firepower, Speed and Maneuverability. That’s the building mantra of the Mogg'Theran in all their Starblade designs. The fighters don’t have much in the way of sensors, and are not big on bells and whistles of any kind. They are dogfighters meant to achieve space superiority. Period.
They don’t scout, don't carry any cargo and aren’t meant to attack ground targets. They simply kill other starships.
The chassis is heavily armored and covered in micro maneuvering thrusters. A massive portion of the ship is dedicated to the power plant, which doles that power out to two heavy, long-range particle beams and a medium plasma cannon, as well as to the ample engines.
But it’s not just the ship, it’s also the pilots. Mogg’Theran “warriors” as they are called (the term Pilot is an honorific reserved in their culture for someone who helms a capital ship) are raised to fly from birth. Their entire culture is military-based, since they took to space after the destruction of their home world.
Pilots own their fighters, and care for them like they would a child. Every Mogg’Theran warrior can rebuild his ship’s engine like a marine can put together his rifle: blindfolded and with a stopwatch ticking.
Because of their flying prowess, experience and skill, the Mogg’Theran feel comfortable putting the Starblade on the market for others to purchase, comfortable in the knowledge that it’s not only the machine, but the being flying it as well.
Model: Starblade Heavy Fighter
Class: Star Fighter
Crew: One
M.D.C. by Location
Particle beam cannons (2) – 80 each
Grappling Mandibles (2) – 50 each
Wings (6) – 150 each
Thrusters (2) – 100 each
Reinforced pilot’s compartment – 250
*Main body – 600
*Depleting the MDC of the main body will shut the vehicle down and cause the reinforced pilot’s compartment to eject as an escape pod. Starblades are designed not to explode when destroyed; instead they break up, in order to improve pilot survivability.
Speed
Maximum Sublight Speed: 250,000 miles per hour
Maximum Acceleration/Deceleration: 10Gs per melee round
FTL Speed: Not possible.
Top Atmospheric Maneuvering Speed: Mach 9 and can breach the atmosphere of an earth like planet with minimal loss of maneuverability.
Statistical Data
Height: 10.5 feet
Length: 38 feet
Width: 29 feet
Mass: Six tons fully loaded (12,000 lbs.)
Cargo: None, beyond a survival pack for the pilot
Power plant: Element
Range: Approximately 2 million miles
Cost: 9 million credits new, 6 million credits used. A Class 1 weapons permit is required to legally own one, meaning it’s essentially illegal to own in human space unless you are a governmental entity or recognized paramilitary force (like the GISS). Outlawed in Terran Protectorate space. Some pirates and mercenary groups utilize them as ships for top aces and squadron commanders. Use in the Empire of Many Suns is unrestricted (since there’s no governing interstellar law currently in place).
Weapon Systems
1. Anti-ship Particle Beam Cannons (2): These heavy weapons are primarily meant to assail large ships or orbital installations. They essentially replace heavy missiles in the Mogg’Theran arsenal and are often referred to by other races as energy torpedoes. These weapons are not very useful in engaging small targets, and lose all bonuses and suffer a -2 to strike against anything smaller than a frigate (300 feet or greater on longest measurement).
Primary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: 5D6x10 M.D. for each cannon, or 1D6x100 for a dual blast. Both count as one melee attack. Generally set to fire dual blasts.
Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire three times per melee round.
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
2. Plasma pulse cannon: This is the dog fighting weapon of the Starblade. It fires pulsed plasma energy packets that inflict heavy damage and has a high rate of fire.
Primary purpose: Anti-star fighter
Mega-Damage: 1D6x10 M.D. for a single blast, or 3D6x10 M.D. per 3-shot burst. Both count as one melee attack.
Rate of fire: Equal to the hand-to-hand attacks of the pilot.
Bonuses: +2 to strike in addition to all standard bonuses.
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
3. Magnetic shielding: While not an energy shield per se, the Starblade has a much more powerful magnetic shield around it than most space vessels. Almost all ships use magnetic fields to repel radiation and small particles, like micrometeorites, but the Starblade’s shielding is so powerful that it can deflect incoming missiles as well. Any incoming missile has 40% chance of going astray.
4. ECM pulse burst: The Starblade can drop a powerful decoy package that turns into a brilliant flare, emitting electromagnetic energy, heat, light, and even a gravity pulse to confuse enemy sensors. This device has a 65% chance of drawing in enemy missiles and destroying them. It also temporarily blinds EM detectors, gravity detectors, thermographic sensors and LADAR trying to acquire the fighter. The electromagnetic and gravity signature given off by the decoy are identical to the fighter, but three times more intense.
Primary Purpose: Defense
Mega-Damage: None. But anyone trying to keep the Starblade that dropped the flare acquired must make a read sensory equipment roll at -20% and use up one attack. A failed roll or deciding not to make the attempt means both fighters reroll their dog fighting rolls, with the Starblade receiving a +4 bonus (see star fighter combat rules in the Rifts Phase World Dimension Book).
Rate of fire: Once every two melee rounds.
Payload: 10
5. Optional Weapon -- Depleted Uranium autocannons (2): A variant of the Starblade known as the “Gunslinger” replaces the Plasma pulse cannon with a pair of electromagnetic autocannons firing depleted uranium slugs. They have increased power and are effective against the Arkhon and anyone else resistant to energy weapons, at the cost of a limited payload and slightly reduced range.
Primary purpose: Anti-star fighter
Mega-Damage: 2D6x10 M.D. for a burst of 40 rounds from each gun. Dual bursts do 4D6x10 M.D. and count as one attack.
Rate of Fire: Equal to hand-to-hand attacks of the pilot
Payload: 4,000 round each, for a total 100 bursts for each gun.
6. Optional Weapon – Missile Hardpoints (6): Any competent starship mechanic or weapon engineer can rig six hardpoints under the wings for short-range or medium-range missiles. The increased payload drops the speed of the fighter to 9Gs of acceleration, but does not affect top speed. The control panel is a configurable program, so you don’t even have to add any hardware to the cockpit, just run a link from the mounts to the weapons computer. Most mercenaries do this, though the Mogg’Theran usually do not, unless the ship is being used to assault heavy capital ships. This is the most common alteration made to this fighter by independent buyers.
Primary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: Varies with missile type.
Rate of Fire: Individually, or in volleys of 2, 3, 4 or 6.
Payload: Six short-range or medium-range missiles.
Avionics: The Starblade has a basic avionics sensor package geared toward close-in combat. It has mass detectors and electromagnetic field detectors with a range of 100,000 miles, and LADAR with a range of 20,000 miles capable of tracking up to 200 targets.
Also have all standard targeting sensors and bonuses.
Bonuses: +2 to dog fighting rolls. +10% to all star fighter piloting rolls
