Disciple-class Heavy Corvette

[Bryce Bantam]

Spoiler

Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/seekerofshadowl/babylon-5/
Affiliation: The Qektoth Confederation (NPC enemies of the Underground/Kathol Outback)
Manufacturer: The Qektoth Confederation
Model: Disciple-class Heavy Corvette
Modularity: Can be modified with conventional weapons in place of Qektoth technology.
Production: Minor
Material: Durasteel hull, transparisteel viewports
Classification: Heavy corvette
Length: 200m
Width: 120m
Height: 30

Armament: Rating 16

• 15 Qektoth plasma cannons
• 15 Qektoth bio-energy arrays
• 6 Qektoth bio-plasmatic gel torpedo launchers
• 10 Quad lasers
• 1 Tractor beam emplacement (ventral, bow)

Defenses: Rating 14

• Reinforced armor
• Military-grade shield generator

Hangar: The disciple maintains a small bay for personal/command shuttle or for bringing aboard captured vessels. At most it can hold one shuttle or small transport.

Special Features:

• Qektoth plasma cannons - These particular guns, otherwise comparable to turbolasers, ignore and bypass all currently extant shielding, except for molecular shields. However, they drain the ship's power reserves significantly when fired. Additionally, though they are capital-scale weapons, they only work at short range, comparable to the 1-2km range of small craft weaponry.
• Qektoth bio-energy arrays - These particular guns, otherwise comparable to ion cannons, ignore and bypass all currently extant shielding, except for molecular shields. However, they drain the ship's power reserves significantly when fired. Additionally, they do no structural damage -- a major liability for the only modern Qektoth weapons that function at standard engagement ranges.
• Qektoth bio-plasmatic gel torpedo launchers - These particular emplacements, otherwise comparable to standard heavy warhead launchers, deploy an energized bio-plasmatic gel which latches onto shields or hulls until charge and internal heat are dissipated. Specific shield modulation tricks can force the gel to detach early.
• Internal biotech/cybernetics research facility - The Qektoth tend to actively process their enemies and random encounters for experimental purposes. This facility can prove a powerful lure for borders -- but also a deadly obstacle in capturing an Disciple-class vessel. You never quite know what's in there.

Maneuverability Rating: 11
Speed Rating: 7
Hyperdrive Class: 3

Strengths:

• A bit quicker than normal for a heavy corvette (rated at 7 rather than 9).
• Main armament ignores and bypasses all forms of currently extant shielding, except molecular shields.* **
• Made to be an escort and exploration vessel and excels at both

*This property in no way prevents RPers from developing shield variants which block Qektoth weaponry, after encountering it in the field.

**This property, derived from canon sources, was codified for Chaos in the following three submissions based on Qektoth weaponry: Conqueror ion cannon,Retribution plasma cannon, and Kathol junker cannon.

Weaknesses:

• Half the vessel's main guns only function at extremely short ranges.
• The other half do no physical damage.
• Specialized knowledge and experience on the part of the enemy can greatly reduce the bio-plasmatic gel torpedoes' effectiveness.
• The main guns require massive amounts of power. The ship can only fire a handful of main guns at a time, or risk shield destabilization. This tradeoff scales more or less in a linear way: if the ship fires all its weapons at once, for example, its shields will completely fall and need to recharge at a standard rate.
• The ship is quite slow to turn (rated at 11 rather than 9).
• The ship has a class-3 hyperdrive, three times slower than a military-grade hyperdrive.

Description: The Qektoth Confederation is intensely isolated, located months of travel beyond the already-remote Kathol Sector. In recent years, the Qektoth have increased their overt and covert presence significantly. Qektoth operatives have been captured as far away as Terminus, and Qektoth biological research facilities have spawned various eldritch xenomorphic horrors in the Kathol Outback. The Underground considers the Qektoth to be a galactic-scale threat and is dedicated to keeping them bottled up at the edge of the Kathol Rift.

As they push out more and more protols have been detected and the main ship noted in these exploration patrols is the Dicsple-Class Heavy Corvette.

No matter if found on solo patrols or in "wolf" packs these ships are becoming a menace to the kathol sector and its' limited hyperspace ways. A direct successor to the ancient Qektoth attack cruiser, it is equally able to strike fear into the hearts of Katholexplorers. The modern vessel boasts weapons which, despite their numerous shortcomings and inefficiencies, can ignore and bypass all currently known forms of shielding, except molecular shielding. Built for long runs through hyperspace and even longer patrols it is capable of operating in the field for over a year without refit or replenishment. With a good number of small gun emplacements for it's size it is also used by the Qektoth as and escort for the much bigger Ascendant-Class vessels and other capital ships.

Development Thread: None.
Intent: Lest one worry that TKO is making Qektoth enemies just so we can play with their weird guns, we already did that, put huge amounts of dev into making our own derivatives, etc. We don't need their tech at all. This sub is solely meant as a point of reference for a standard, somewhat frightening enemy ship. Many of TKO's ships are captured/stolen/salvaged/modified, and I think it'd be cool to capture and modify some of these on a case-by-case basis. Obviously any modifications, other than a straight gun swap for conventional weapons, would require their own submissions.
Who Can Use This: NPC Qektoth enemies of the Underground/TKO. Others, if captured through RP.
Primary Source: Main reference for this sub is noted here, and this is used with [member="Jorus Merrill"] 's permission. alll sources linked above as appropriate. The stats are adapted from the 'Heavy corvette' example ship in the Starship Templates thread.