Directorate Officer
Image Credit: background by me, ship model is modified Spartan Games Marshall-class Battle Cruiser
Development Thread: To set the cause above the Renown
Intent: To provide the Republic with a long-range attack ship
Manufacturer: Galactic Republic
Model: Steadfast-class Star Cruiser
Affiliation: Galactic Republic
Modularity: No
Production: Mass
Material: Mirrsteel frame, Alusteel plates reinforced with titanium, transparisteel viewports, solar ionization reactors, other typical starship components
Classification: Assault Light Star destroyer
Role: Long-range Attack Ship
Height: 500 Meters
Width: 650 Meters
Length: 1100 Meters
Power Core Generator/Reactor: Solar Ionization Reactors (6)
Hyperdrive Rating: Class 1.5
Backup Hyperdrive Rating: Class 10
Minimum Crew: 975 + 62 gunners
Optimal Crew: 5236 + 244 gunners
Armaments:
20 Long-range Turbolaser Batteries
20 Rhongomyniad-class Mass-driver batteries
40 Light Energy Torpedo Launchers
20 Carwennan-class Missiles Launchers
24 Flak Cannons
12 Quad Laser Cannons
12 Anti-missile Octets
Hanger:
12 Starfighters
24 gunships
12 dropships
4 heavy dropships
Special Features:
Aegis Anti-concussion Field Generator
Dedicated Energy Receptors
Standard Communications Array
Encryption Network
Escape Pods
Holonet Transceiver
Imperial-style Internal Security structure
ST2X targeting computers
Standard Deflector Shield Generators
Standard Back-up Deflector Shield Generators
Standard Detention Cells
Standard Life Support Systems
Standard Navigational Systems
Standard Sensor Array
Standard Targeting Systems
Tractor Beam Projectors (10)
Speed Rating: 15
Maneuverability Rating: 15
Strengths:
-Heavy firepower for its size
-heavy armor and active defenses
-Gun placement allows focused firepower to the front
Weaknesses:
-Slower than typical light star destroyer
-Lack of starfighters and defense guns for its size makes it vulnerable to starfighter attacks
-Gun placement means that fewer weapons can fire in a vertical plane compared to many contemporary designs
Passenger Capacity: 2040 marines
Cargo Capacity: 9,000 metric tons
Consumables: 12 Months
Who Can Use This: Galactic Republic
Description: The Steadfast-class Star Cruiser is a government-produced long-range attack ship entering service just after the events of the Netherworld and based on the hull of the experimental but not produced Renown-class Star Destroyer. Originally, the Steadfast-class was designed as a specialist warship dedicated to retake Coruscant as a siege vessel, where its long-range weapons and heavy defenses were expected to allow it pummel any defenses into dust that the One Sith might have been establish on that world. But recent events have seen the Steadfast design adapted for more regular use on the front line.
But the siege ship design traits are still highly apparent to casual observation, the most obvious being the ship's front “blade”, a concept borrowed from the old Scythe-class Battle Cruiser . Like the one on its predecessor, this massive hammerhead like structure contains a lot of firepower for its size, almost fifty percent of the Steadfast's firepower. Long-range turbolaser batteries are primarily mounted on the blade's side, allowing them to fire both forward, and to an extent, behind the ship. This arrangement unfortunately means that firepower is lacking in the vertical axis, as the guns would have to shoot through other batteries to get a clear shot up or down the “blade”. While these long-range turbolaser batteries can be and are often fired individually, they were originally programmed to be fired together in a converging attack to penetrate through heavy planetary defenses. To this end, this converging attack is guided by the sensor info taken from a several Dedicated Energy Receptors and their technicians which are used to scan for weak points in enemy shields like a Torpedo Sphere. Once this weak point has been found, the long-range turbolasers and energy torpedo launchers on the blade cease firing while they lock into position guided by ST2X targeting computers, charge up, and then fire in unison (This charging and tracking progress takes about one round, during which all guns in the blade cannot fire at anything else). The resulting attack then attempts to overwhelm and then penetrate the local shielding in that area to attack the hull. This effect is not unlike that of many so-called spinal weapons like a hypervelocity gun or proton beams. Like those weapons, this method of attack is only effective against relatively large or slow moving targets (typically heavy cruisers and above). Unlike those weapons, this converging attack can be easily weakened by the use of screening vessels, dovin basals, terrain, or other objects to intercept the individual beams or torpedoes before they can converge at a single point. No more than 8 long-range turbolaser batteries or energy torpedo launchers can be linked to fire in this way at a single point. But the blade's long-range turbolasers are not the ship's only weapons. The rest of the ship's weapons are located across the rest of the ship's hull. These are mostly long-range weapons, though the mass driver cannons and warheads can be used fairly easily at close range. The ship also sports a modest amount of point defense weapons, but generally relies on escorting warships and starfighters to defend against waves of enemy starfighters.
The ship's other defenses are fairly standard for an assault ship. It sports a mirrsteel frame layered with the same armor as the original Imperator-class Star Destroyer, heavy alusteel plates reinforced with titanium. Like many assault ships, the Steadfast sports a back-up shield generator, but also carries an Aegis-class Anti-concussion field generator. Unlike the Noblesse-class Destroyer, the Steadfast does not have a dedicated power source for that generator, and generally either the ray shields, weapons, or engines have to be powered down to activate it. Like the Arendal before it, the interior of the Steadfast uses many traditionally Imperial security aspects, such as the use of control access points with ray-shielded blastdoors with laser traps, especially around areas near the bridge and back-up bridge. Access throughout the ship is controlled by the use of code cylinders. But the primary defense against boarders remains the ship's marine complement. Originally intended for littoral operations against orbital defenses, the marines and their support craft are now more typically deployed in small groups for ground operations. These support craft have two hangars, one in each half of the blade, with the hangar exits facing towards the bridge. The top hangar also houses the ship's sole fighter squadron, which is typically deployed to screen the star cruiser to shore up its weak point defenses. When the hangars are not actively recovering or launching starships, it is secured hut by a pair of heavily armored blast doors.
The Steadfast-class Star Cruiser is almost never deployed by just itself because of its slow speed and lack of starfighters and point defenses. Because of these drawbacks, it almost always found escorted by other ships which can partially offset its handicaps. It typically is at home within a battle fleet where it can slug it out with other large, heavily armed and armored warships. While not solely focused as a siege weapon, its crews still frequently engage in exercises for those operations, or in countering them. Because of this tendency, most of the marines assigned to a Steadfast-class become highly trained in littoral operations, such as seizing orbital platforms, small starships, or making groundfall raids.
