Jedi Hotelier
The prototype with six X-Wings as a fighter screen
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide a 5.0-compliant atmospheric carrier
- Image Source: Imgur
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source: Mobile Air Command
- Manufacturer: Ringovinda StarYards
- Affiliation: Open-Market
- Model: Cerrabore-class mobile VTOL carrier
- Modularity: Yes
Production: Minor
- Material: Durasteel frame, Hexheim ERA hull plating
- Classification: Aircraft carrier
- Role: Long-range support
- Size: Extreme
- Length: 450m
- Width: 100m
- Heigth: 60m
- Weight: Extreme (200,000 tons)
- Minimum Crew: 530
- Optimal Crew: 2000
- Propulsion: Repulsorlift
- Speed: Slow (90 kph in the air, 50 kph in the water)
- Maneuverability: Low
- Armaments: High
- 25 heavy laser cannons
- 35 MSt-50 mass driver cannons
- 20 flex-tube VLS
- 50 Anoat electromagnetic plasma cannons
- Defenses: High
- Squadron Count: None: 1
- Hangar count: 6 squadrons
- Passenger Capacity: 5000
- Cargo Capacity: Very Large
Integrated rangefinder
Long-range communications array
Sensor array
Environmental control equipment (temperature control, air purifier, containment field)
Electronic warfare package (sensor-jamming ECM, ECCM)
Inertial compensator
Tensor field generator
Refrigerator unit
Shield generator
Ship-wide neural net
Castameer tactical display
- Watchtower collision avoidance system
Griet-II self-sealing hypermatter tanks
- Kirishima cap drains
- Ship-wide neural net
- 5 Sabrina waste heat recovery devices
Tier 2 Hexheim explosive reactive armor
- Carrier: Cerrabore carriers boast a flight deck and internal hangar bay capable of storing six squadrons of vehicles, such as airspeeders, starfighters or aquatic vehicles (surface or submarine). The atmospheric carrier is capable of projecting fighter support over particularly hostile battlefields, as well as serving as a miniature forward air base, but also carry other aquatic vehicles. However, each aquatic vehicle carried onboard means that there are less aerial vehicles that can be carried, since they are carried under the flight deck.
- Mobile Command Center: Cerrabore carriers also boast state of the art command and logistics systems, enabling it to operate as any other space based capital ship would in terms of fire support and obtaining air superiority. From these ships, a faction is capable of providing a rapid defense response over large swathes of planets without constructing dozens of surface outposts.
- Heavy armament: with large numbers of heavy laser cannons and other heavy emplacements such as the MSt-50 mass driver cannons, with the latter individually having firepower equivalent to a capital-grade proton torpedo, as well as vertical launch systems (VLS) it can deal a lot of damage in any direction
- Heavy defenses: it can even jam sensors in an attempt to defend against missile attacks
- Huge and Slow: Due to the sheer size and weight of the Cerrabore, the available propulsive power per unit of mass is very limited on the Cerrabore. As a result, it is hard to miss even when using unguided weapons due to it being sluggish on the water and in the air
- Exposed command tower: if the command tower is destroyed, the navigational abilities of the carrier are severely compromised
- Spaceworthiness: While most units are constructed in space, Cerrabore carriers are not vacuum rated, and the only pressurized compartments with reserve life support is the command tower and the CIC, allowing just a little more breathable air time in the event of an emergency at sea.
- Transportation: Atmospheric carriers are capable of covering vast swathes of territory over a variety of planet types, but transporting them offworld is an entirely different matter requiring large scale logistical coordination. Once all personnel and cargo are evacuated, a specially designed sublight unit is affixed to the carrier's rear, allowing it to achieve escape velocity. From low orbit, the carrier is tugged by cargo barge haulers from point to point in space. Upon arrival at its destination, the unit is released and aims for an unassisted, controlled water landing. In the event there are no bodies of water large enough to accommodate it, an additional single use sublight unit is required for the carrier to reduce descent velocity upon reentry.
- Lead time for deployment: Since it would not ordinarily have a crew upon orbital entry, beyond perhaps the very basic in the command tower and CIC, deployment on hostile worlds takes time (about 10-20 minutes minimum) for the crew to properly man their stations
- Surface Hazard: If damaged in battle or through sabotage to the point where enough of the repulsorlift engines begin to fail, a Cerrabore can be taken out of an engagement quickly and with the potential for significant collateral damage. Surface impacts of atmospheric carriers are capable of causing devastation to a planet's surface, and ERA only makes the resulting explosion worse, given that the hull is lined with literally thousands of tons of explosives, and so they are deployed judiciously, mostly for long range support operations.
- Flight deck: The flight deck is vulnerable to projectile attacks, not being lined up with ERA as is the case with the rest of the carrier
With the rumors of the Sith Empire building atmospheric carriers, and the Mobile Air Command schematics being compromised, with all MAC units presumed missing or killed in action, the remaining light-sided factions had to build another different class of atmospheric carrier, and make up for the deficiencies of its predecessor, namely its inability to carry anything other than air vehicles. Also, additional automation, made possible with the ship-wide neural net saving space, allowed to cut down on the crew requirements by nearly two-thirds. It also allowed to insert an underside bay to allow for deployment of aquatic vehicles, located aft. Realizing that it was not enough to catch up the gap in armament, it was also necessary to re-evaluate the defenses. Since it was acknowledged at the onset that destroying a vehicle that size in atmosphere would likely cause massive collateral damage, it was readily accepted that the carrier would sport explosive-reactive armor except on the flight deck, with the consequence that thousands of tons of explosives line up the hull: while useful to protect against projectile weapons, it also renders the flight deck vulnerable to projectile weapons. The command tower is a weakness since it is exposed, and it is called as such because it houses the navigational controls of the carrier.
It also houses a CIC buried deep into the superstructure, similar to those of starships its size. However, ferrying a Cerrabore from a planet to another can cause quite a bit of a logistical headache, requiring a special sublight unit to ferry it from and to low orbit, attached aft, to escape a planet's orbit, which is then tugged for point-to-point transportation. Sometimes a Cerrabore also has such a special sublight unit attached to it for atmospheric entry, especially when deployed on planets devoid of water bodies. Plans exist to deploy at least one Cerrabore on planets with a sizeable body of water, and potentially more on planets with significant strategic importance.
