Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Intent: A personal flagship for the Empress or her successor. An upgrade of the Invictus-class to make it competitive with other models of Star Destroyer of comparable size. This vessel will, of course, only be used in threads which take place after the submission is approved.
Development Thread: Fall Into the Sky, among others
Manufacturer: Kuat Drive Yards; modified by Sienar Fleet Systems (old) Iron Crown Enterprises Lwhekk Shipyards (modified new)
Model: Invictus-class Star Destroyer (Heavily Modified)
Affiliation: Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps (ONLY available for non-combat/testbed use until Tier 5)
Modularity: No
Production: Unique
Material: Durasteel
Description:
The Chimaera began life as an obsolete Kuat Drive Yards Invictus-class Star Destroyer, thoroughly reworked by Sienar Fleet Systems to create the flagship of the Sith Empire. Outwardly, apart from its weapons counts, the Chimaera is identical to a stock Invictus-class, and can generally pass unnoticed in regions where leftover ships of that class are common. It has been named in honor of the legendary flagship of Grand Admiral Thrawn, with reference to a mythological creature known for implausibility and the integration of disparate components. The relatively narrow spaceframe has required certain sacrifices. For example, the stock Invictus carries a prefabricated base, which the Chimaera does not. Its consumable stocks are also considerably smaller, and its passenger capacity has been nearly halved. The integration of Sienar components and design philosophy into a KDY spaceframe has caused both difficulties and successes. The difficulties doubled the expense and the construction time of the Chimaera; its refitting was begun not long after the conquest of Mon Calamari, but the ship was made operational only shortly before the Battle of Roche.
In Roche's aftermath, the ship vanished with its Empress, Ashin Varanin. Through a convoluted series of events involving Varanin, Warren Valik, Aleidis Ijet, Boolon Murr and the spirit of Ashin's grandfather Shule/Je'gan Olra'en, the ship was eventually reclaimed and refitted by the Fringe, and served as Varanin's command ship since the start of her tenure as Grand Admiral. It was fitted with a cloaking device on the orders of Sargon Vynea, and its hangar was reconfigured to hold LACs. Its substantial alchemy laboratory was removed, along with most of its cargo and passenger capacity, to make room for the Roche reactor that once formed the heart of the Starfall. The reactor, along with the Chimaera's lack of fashionable hypervelocity guns and long-range turbolasers, serves to stabilize the ship's power state immensely. There is no question of capacitors running dry, shield recharge rate faltering, or energy weapons losing effectiveness or firing rate. The Chimaera may not be the most powerful ship around, but its systems are reliable in the extreme, giving it a reflection of its owner's endurance and durability.
After the dissolution of the Lords of the Fringe, the Chimaera was one of the many vessels uprooted by private interests and reassigned to colonies near Primeval space. It was then mothballed and utterly forgotten by everyone except Ashin Varanin, later Ajira Cardei. Ajira, on the recommendation of a Theed Hangar shareholder with intimate knowledge of the vessel, dispatched an aide to locate and recover the vessel. The Chimaera was brought to the Naboo system, where it became a research site and testbed. Containing high-end if somewhat dated construction techniques and components from KDY, SFS, and ICE, the Chimaera proved educational for Theed Hangar's shipwrights and engineers. Though the Chimaera was ageing, Theed Hangar began bringing the vessel up to combat readiness, an extensive and laborious process, but one that familiarized Naboo personnel with a wide range of foreign arms technologies.
Strengths:
(+) Due to two event reactors, the Chimaera has an immensely stable power state and heavy redundant shields to match.
(+) The Chimaera is capable of carrying a loadout of LACs, allowing a one-shot force multiplier effect through HELIX warhead saturation.
Weaknesses:
(-) Unlike pretty much all modern command ships, the Chimaera has no long-range turbolasers or hypervelocity guns. Its light energy torpedo launchers, each shot comparable to an interceptor's concussion missiles, are its only weapons capable of engagement at very long range.
(-) The Chimaera carries zero starfighters, and its defensive guns are heavily biased toward anti-projectile use. In many circumstances, it requires dedicated carrier and anti-fighter support.
(-) Though the Chimaera's armor is fairly thick and its spaceframe is solid, it has been in many battles and is the result of several refits by widely variegated manufacturers. It must rely on shields for the bulk of its durability.
(-) When using a standard gunship/dropship/heavy dropship loadout, the Chimaera can support fewer craft than other ships of its class.
Old description
By thoroughly reworking the spaceframe of the Invictus-class Star Destroyer, easily the least competitive and prepossessing ship of the line in the Sith Empire, full modernization has been achieved. The result is a ship that is competitive with its peers, allowing the Empress to pass unnoticed among Sith Empire fleets while go toe-to-toe with vessels of comparable size. Kuat Drive Yards' design has been thoroughly reworked for a unique vessel.
Outwardly, apart from its weapons counts, the Chimaera is identical to a stock Invictus-class. It has been named in honor of the legendary flagship of Grand Admiral Thrawn, with reference to a mythological creature known for implausibility and the integration of disparate components.
Ultimately, it is entirely possible that the Empress's preference for the Invictus-class is nothing more than an appreciation for its classical design aesthetic and mission flexibility. If so, the Chimaera is a rare whim from a ruler known for fiscal discipline. Considering the rumored Invictus II-class is apparently based on an entirely different hull design, the Chimaera is a test case, an evolutionary option that was too expensive for mass production.
The weapons and hangar capacity have been updated to near equivalency with a stock Mark II Imperial Star Destroyer. The relatively narrow spaceframe has required certain sacrifices. For example, the stock Invictus carries a prefabricated base, which the Chimaera does not. Its consumable stocks are also considerably smaller, and its passenger capacity has been nearly halved.
The integration of Sienar components and design philosophy into a KDY spaceframe has caused both difficulties and successes. The difficulties have easily doubled the expense and the construction time of the Chimaera; its refitting was begun not long after the conquest of Mon Calamari. The successes have focused on Sienar's specialty, small starfighters. By shifting away from the TIE Nexus and the TIE Havoc toward the Taral-class and other, more modern vessels, the hangar space has been able to attain greater flexibility. The original '174,000' design flaws of the ISD have been, at least partially, addressed.
Outwardly, apart from its weapons counts, the Chimaera is identical to a stock Invictus-class. It has been named in honor of the legendary flagship of Grand Admiral Thrawn, with reference to a mythological creature known for implausibility and the integration of disparate components.
Ultimately, it is entirely possible that the Empress's preference for the Invictus-class is nothing more than an appreciation for its classical design aesthetic and mission flexibility. If so, the Chimaera is a rare whim from a ruler known for fiscal discipline. Considering the rumored Invictus II-class is apparently based on an entirely different hull design, the Chimaera is a test case, an evolutionary option that was too expensive for mass production.
The weapons and hangar capacity have been updated to near equivalency with a stock Mark II Imperial Star Destroyer. The relatively narrow spaceframe has required certain sacrifices. For example, the stock Invictus carries a prefabricated base, which the Chimaera does not. Its consumable stocks are also considerably smaller, and its passenger capacity has been nearly halved.
The integration of Sienar components and design philosophy into a KDY spaceframe has caused both difficulties and successes. The difficulties have easily doubled the expense and the construction time of the Chimaera; its refitting was begun not long after the conquest of Mon Calamari. The successes have focused on Sienar's specialty, small starfighters. By shifting away from the TIE Nexus and the TIE Havoc toward the Taral-class and other, more modern vessels, the hangar space has been able to attain greater flexibility. The original '174,000' design flaws of the ISD have been, at least partially, addressed.
Classification: Unique Light Star Destroyer
Role: Command Ship
Height: 550m
Width: 600m
Length: 1,500m
Power Core Generator/Reactor:
- Unique Black Hex Antimatter Reactor (Dead Space reward)
- Unique Verpine reactor (Roche reward)
Minimum Crew: 4,500
Optimal Crew: 35,400
Defense Rating: 16
Armaments Rating: 16
8 Heavy Octuple Barbette Turbolasers
8 Heavy Octuple Ion Cannons
50 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
50 Turbolaser Batteries
44 Raptor ACES Heavy Shieldcutters
10 Heavy Energy Torpedo Launcher Turrets
40 Dual Light Energy Torpedo Launcher Turrets
10 Quad Mass Driver Flak Cannon Turrets
40 Antimissile Octets
15 Collision-Avoidance Pressor Beams (Effective against heavy dropships and smaller targets)
20 Detryte-class Heavy Bombers or 18 Hammer B-class LACs
30 Malos-class Gunships or 13 Hammer B-class LACs
14 Hammer-class Dropships or 14 Hammer B-class LACs
- 12 Pyrrhus-class Heavy Dropships or 12 Defensor-class Anti-Missile Vessels
- Long-range Scanners
- Encrypt/Decrypt Capacity
- Crystal Gravfield Trap
- HoloNet connection
- Tractor beams
- Stygium cloaking device
- Gravitic modulator
- Thrust trace dampers
- Heavy deflector shield (armored generators)
- Heavy backup deflector shield (armored generators)
Passenger Capacity: 1400, plus 300 GT-F0 anti-boarding droids
Cargo Capacity: 10,000 tons
Consumables: 2.2 years
Sublight Speed and Maneuverability: Class 7.5
Approved