Velok the Younger
When I Was A Young Warthog
Image Credit: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Rabisu-Sniper-Frigate-333746098
Intent: To provide Fringe with a viable response to large interdiction fields and related tactics, as well as a very long range sniper function, in a highly specialized ship
Development Thread: No
Manufacturer: Iron Crown Productions/Sienar Fleet Systems
Model: Hood-class Fire Support Cruiser
Affiliation: Fringe Confederation
Modularity: No
Production: Minor
Material: Durasteel hull, transparisteel viewports
Description:
The Hood-class is a minor-production specialized cruiser designed to provide fire support in a limited range of circumstances. Its primary armament is a Hellbore, a linked battery of energy torpedoes, which are unguided and have a very long recharge time along with an unimpressive payload, but which travel very far very quickly. Specifically, an energy torpedo travels at 20% of lightspeed, and has an effective range of 3.6 million kilometres, sufficient to counter interdiction fields that extend for hundreds of planetary radii. Its targeting systems are superb, and its navicomputer is excellent.
Its main limitation is that it cannot effectively engage any target at close range. Its main gun (as well as the secondary energy torpedo projector set) has a twenty-degree firing arc, limiting the Hood's tolerance for enemy maneuvers to ten degrees off-axis, before the Hood itself must maneuver. While this is more than sufficient for distance engagements, it becomes a serious liability at close range, especially considering that the cruiser's already unimpressive sublight speed and maneuverability are further reduced by the main gun's power drain; most interdictors can keep up with it easily. Its shields and hull are likewise unimpressive, making it vulnerable to sustained counterfire. This ship is thus somewhat poorly suited to integration into Fringe's standard wall of battle tactics; it is for specialized use.
Instead of gunships, dropships, and heavy dropships, the Hood carries only Hammer-B Light Assault Craft, based on the spaceframe of the Hammer dropship. The Hammer-B is a HELIX long-range warhead deployment platform. Though the LACs and their warheads cannot match the speed of the main gun, a careful long-range deployment of HELIX warheads can provide cover for the Hood's escape, amplify its striking potential, or assist the Hood in providing fire support for a fleet using massed LACs.
Inside, the vessel is Spartan and even cramped. Most of the ship is taken up by the well-shielded main reactor, the main gun, and the minimalist docking slots for tightly stacked, bricklike Hammer-B LACs. The Hood does not have on-board repair facilities for the LACs, unlike most ships with a carrier function.
Classification: Cruiser (Assault)
Role: Fire support, anti-interdiction
Height: 130m
Width: 450m
Length: 600m
Power Core Generator/Reactor: Hypermatter reactor
Hyperdrive Rating: 2, backup 10
Minimum Crew: 200
Optimal Crew: 700
Armaments:
- 1 Hellbore energy torpedo array, bow (120 capital gun equivalent = 90 cap guns + 15 warhead launcher tradeoff at 2/1 (15 out of 40))
- 3 heavy energy torpedo projectors, bow
- 4 quad mass driver flak cannons, wings (16 defense gun equivalent)
Non-Combative Attachments:
- Communications Array
- Encryption Network
- Escape Pods
- Holonet Transceiver
- Standard Deflector Shield Generator
- Standard Detention Cells
- Standard Life Support Systems
- Advanced Navigational Systems
- Standard Sensor Array
- Advanced Targeting Systems
- Tractor Beams
Cargo Capacity: 1200 tons
Consumables: 4 months
Sublight Speed and Maneuverability: 7 (7.5 while firing main gun)
