Aculia Voland
Protecting her children from the shadows.
Orel Class Stealth Torpedo
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create another logical stealth torpedo, this time smaller/more maneuverable to hit smaller ships like corvettes to light cruisers, encouraging interesting roleplay and tradeoffs for the captains of smaller ships to consider when fighting space submarines.
- Image Source: here you go
- Canon Link:
- Permissions: Permission, HPI Permission
- Primary Source:
- Manufacturer: Voland Military Enterprises, Mandal-Elysium Arms (now Darmanda Industries), HPI/Rocksolid Arms (Stealth Technology).
- Affiliation: Voland Military Enterprises, certain trusted individuals.
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Orel Class.
- Modularity: Not particularly modular.
- Production: Semi-Unique
- Material: Duraplast, durasteel, electrical components.
- Classification: Stealth Torpedo
- Size: Average
- Weight: Light.
- Explosive Type: Variable between Ion and High Explosive Iadrium.
- Delivery Method: Self-Propelled (Air at launch), Conventional (at activation).
- Effective Range: Average.
- Area Of Effect: Large.
- Damage Output: High.
STRENGTHS
- Stealthy, enabling ships launching it to have more time to adjust their hidden course, speed, and heading before they are activated and detectable.
- Difficult to stop once activated due to the Meiro System and anti-PD shielding.
- Offsets the weaknesses its Voron cousin through lighter weight and faster speed making it harder to completely counter by lighter capital ship PD in its dedicated targeting class, except against tight formations in larger numbers that negate the primary advantage of speed and size that lighter capital ships typically have, encouraging interesting tactical tradeoffs.
- High cost of production due to integrated HPI stealth technology.
- Past light cruiser size, becomes comparatively ineffective due to its smaller warhead size.
- Difficult to use as intended in atmosphere.
DESCRIPTION:
Developed in secret as "Project S-235", the Orel Stealth Torpedo was developed for the XIII Battlegroup and extremely trusted clients of Voland Military Enterprises to enable devastating alpha strikes from a new class of stealth "space submarines", utilizing recently acquired HPI stealth technology. It is the normal variant of stealth torpedo for this new class of ships, designed to deliver swift and crippling damage to ships from corvettes to light cruisers. Captains of such escorting ships will curse the day they run into these as they will have to make hard tactical choices in order to effectively counter them or risk taking potentially devastating damage.
The torpedo itself works in two stages, taking advantage of the unique capabilities of its HPI cloaking device to remain hidden until it is armed. It is initially launched silently cloaked with powerful air thrusters from its torpedo tube, traveling at a comparatively slow (but still a fair bit faster than its cousin the Voron) but steady speed due to the lack of air resistance in space. In this state it is virtually undetectable, but also unarmed and "dumb", unable to make aiming adjustments in order to keep it this way. Upon reaching a certain pre-designated range from its target, the missile's propulsion, guidance, and warhead are activated, the cloaking is dropped in favor of an anti-PD shield, and it is readily detectable due to the large thermal plume of its engines being activated as it travels at extremely high speed toward to slam into its comparatively large and vulnerable targets. Between this and its dedicated Meiro Integrated Anti-Deactivation Transmitter, it is extremely hard to stop if activated at relatively close ranges against screening vessels such as corvettes, frigates, and cruisers, especially if they show vulnerable angles with a lack of concentrated PD weaponry or are not closely grouped together.
Of course, nothing in the galaxy comes without drawbacks and Orel Class does have its weaknesses like its heavier hitting cousin. First, they are expensive, and limited in number to small wolfpacks of these space submarines due to their stealth technology and payload, you will not see these mass produced and fired from standard ships. Second, they require patience, planning, and good target and distance selection, being effective against corvettes, frigates, and light cruisers. Third, if something were to hit the missiles, say for example debris fields, etc before they can be activated, the missile will simply hit such and become inert due to not being activated in time. Fourth, it is not as effective in the atmosphere, as due to meeting air resistance, it cannot use its greatest strength of passive gliding towards its target and will simply start falling through the atmosphere after launch making stealthy horizontal firing impossible. Fifth, although it is designed to counter typical capital ship screening vessels, they can still be shot down in launched in smaller numbers, especially if such screening vessels keep in tight formation next to each other, at the cost of them losing their primary benefit of being maneuverable, forcing enemy captains of smaller ships to choose between dealing with the Orels more effectively or opening themselves up to potentially devastating long-range fire from larger ships.
Overall, despite having its drawbacks and being situational, the two stage launch and activation system of the Orel offers a great and potent weapon system for the new "space submarines" just like its cousin the Voron, enabling the smaller, stealthier, and swift ships to deal with typical capital ship screening vessels in all but the tightest formations, launch their devastating payloads from stealth, and then begin disengaging before the missiles are armed and activated giving them a larger chance of slipping away and making it harder for the enemy to pinpoint their exact location and heading due to the delay. This is especially true in the Orel's case because they will have to break their tight formation to pursue such a space submarine and risk dealing with even more Orels, or risk getting hit by the longer-range fire of other ships.
It is said Admiral Voland herself personally loves these torpedos in particular as it makes the life of anti-starfighter screening vessels that pose a danger to her XIII Battlegroup strikecraft much harder.
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