Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide an advanced general purpose starfighter for the Directorate
- Image Source: Star Citizen's Buccaneer
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Closed-Market
- Model: Gregale-class Heavy Starfighter
- Production: Limited
- Material: Trimantium frame, Argentum series Matrix Armor plating, Ceraglass canopy, standard starship components
- Classification: Heavy Starfighter
- Length: 17 meters
- Width: 13 meters
- Height: 5 meters
- Armament: High
- 2 Swiveling Reaper Mag Cannons
- 2 Swiveling Stormflash Ion Encumbrance Systems
- 2 Wingtip Spitfire Rapid-Fire Laser Cannons
- 2 LLT-7 General Purpose Warhead Launchers
- Defenses: High (Average when SLAM engaged)
- Squadron Count: Low: 8
- Maneuverability Rating: Average (Low when SLAM engaged)
- Speed Rating: High (Extreme when SLAM engaged)
- Hyperdrive: Yes
- Hyperdrive Class:Average: x1
- Astromech Slot
- Standard Communications Array
- Standard Ion Engines
- Standard Life Support Systems
- Standard Navigational Systems
- Standard Repulsorlift Engines
- Standard Sensor Array
- Can Enter Atmosphere and Land
- SubLight Acceleration Motor
- Burner Deflector Shield
- Modular Auxiliary Systems Turret (x2)
- St2x targeting computer with twin laser sighting systems
- Impressive Speed: The Gregale is reasonably fast for a starfighter at baseline speeds thanks to its oversized ion engines. This speed becomes even more impressive when the ship's shields energy is partially drained and transferred into a SLAM system, making it one of the quickest vessels around at sublight speeds.
- Heavy Firepower: The Gregale sports more firepower than the average starfighter, largely as the result of its extensive gun armament. Perhaps just as importantly, this firepower is directed by an advanced targeting system which uses targeting lasers to counteract many common forms of EW.
- Solid Defense: The Gregale has relatively average shielding, but relatively thick Argentum-series Matrix Armor on a reinforced airframe which provides it with somewhat better protection than the average.
- Low Squadron Count: The Gregale takes up more hangar space than the average due to its larger size, which means that it can only be carried and deployed in smaller numbers than the typical starfighter.
- Exposed Cockpit: The Gregale’s expansive canopy provides an excellent view of space around the fighter, and while somewhat resilient due to its ceraglass construction, is still more vulnerable to damage than the rest of the ship or the canopies of other starfighters.
- Big Target: The Gregale is a fairly large starfighter, making it easier to hit for most fighter-grade and point defense weapons.
The Gregale is a large, relatively advanced starfighter that has slowly been increasing in numbers across the Directorate’s fleets. Originally conceived as a simple weapon’s platform to test different starfighter guns with derivatives of the Virago’s experimental targeting systems, gradual evolution of the craft and the maturing of Lucerne Lab’s technologies have turned it into a high-performance combat craft. It has a reasonably fast cruising speed which can be augmented dramatically through the use of a SLAM system. The combination of its advanced targeting systems, heavy firepower, and exceptional speed have made it an exceptional rapid response, superiority starfighter. Most Gregales commonly jet towards their immediate engagement zones using the SLAM system before settling back into cruising speed and using the Gregale’s swiveling guns and advanced targeting system to rapidly dispatch their foes.
Technical Explanations
Flight Control Systems: The Gregale uses fairly conventional flight control systems which like those of most Lucerne Labs craft, are modeled on legacy Incom airspeeder and starfighter designs, making them fairly easy to pilot by people with experience in those craft. The expansive cockpit canopy provides an usually expansive view of space around it, and by using thick ceraglass panes, provides reasonable protection as well. Several meters behind the cockpit is an internal astromech slot not unsimilar to that of the E-wing’s. An astromech droid acts as the ship’s navigation computer, and is also key to keeping the ship’s complicated systems finely tuned and in working order.
Sublight Engines: The Gregale uses a pair of large fusial thrust ion engines along with a handful of auxiliary thrusters to provide the starship with reasonably good speed for a starfighter, especially one for its large size. Perhaps more importantly, the Gregale's engines are equipped with a SLAM system linked to a Burner Deflector Shield generator. By rapidly transferring energy from the ship's shields and into its oversized engines, the Gregale can rapidly accelerate and sustain high speeds at the cost of shield strength, shield regeneration, and maneuverability. This exceptionally high speed allows Gregales to quickly transverse across the battlefield to various hot points, making it an ideal for rapid response situations.
Hyperdrive: The Gregale uses a typical hyperdrive for a ship its size, allowing to conduct long-range operations from a base or carrier starship. A Gregale can typically travel across several sectors before needing to refuel.
Hull: The Gregale has a fairly aerodynamic hull design to allow for good atmospheric performance. It’s relatively large size also allows it to carry a larger than normal ammunition load for its guns and more power generators for its systems. Its trimantium frame is specially designed to absorb the high stresses from engaging the ship's SLAM drive. A somewhat thicker than normal layer of Argentum-series Matrix Armor makes it fairly durable against most threats.
Shields: The Gregale is equipped with a Burner Deflector Shield generator, which provides the ship with average shield strength for the ship's size. Its greatest asset is its ability to rapidly transfer power to the ship's engines.
Weapons: The Gregale sports a wide variety of weapon damage types for a starfighter through its gun systems, most of which use swivel mounts. Its primary weapons are a pair of swivel mounted Reaper Mag Cannons mounted midway on the fuselage, which provides decent kinetic punch that has some inherent magnetic homing properties as well. Mounted halfway on each wing is an ion tag system, which can strip away a target’s shielding or act as a light laser cannon. Near the end of each wing is a spitfire laser cannon, which provides fast-tracking and rapid firepower which is exceptionally useful against small targets like swarm fighters and warheads. Lastly, it has a pair of general purpose warhead launchers which support a wide variety of ordnance types. However, these are most often fitted with eight Starcore-class Concussion Missiles or twenty four Starbolt-class Missiles to fulfill the ship’s typical superiority role. Perhaps just as important as the Gregale’s weapons systems is its unusual fire control systems. The Gregale uses a St2x targeting computer which is supplied with information from the ship’s main sensor suite, but also with supplementary targeting information from wing-mounted targeting lasers as well as from ion tags that can get embedded onto enemy ships. This makes the Gregale wield its firepower with exceptional accuracy even in electronic warfare dominated battlefields.
Countermeasures: The Gregale has a pair of Modular Auxiliary Systems Turrets, with one mounted underneath each wing, providing it excellent fire arcs. In common use, both turrets utilize the same module, allowing them to be fire-linked for easy use and increased cumulative effect. The sensor jammer module is probably the most commonly used module, as while it can greatly disrupt most sensor systems around it, the Gregale’s own targeting systems are not nearly as effected due to the peculiarities of its supplemental sensor feed. Tractor beam modules are frequently used when pilots plan on chasing down exceptionally fast prey or when the object is to capture a small vessel. The projected particle shield is often used when engaging ground defenses. While the pilot can manually control the MAST, in actual practice, it is most frequently controlled by the onboard astromech as the pilot is often too busy handling other tasks, and the droid can more effectively employ or modulate many of the turret’s devices, especially if the package in each turret is different.
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