A5 Adar-class Assault Starfighter
Name/Type: A5 Adar-class Assault Starfighter
Designer/Manufacturer: Contegorian Confederation
Combat Role: Heavy Assault / Bomber
Crew: 1 + 1 astromech droid
Length: 8.2 Meters
Width: 12 meters
Speed: 95 MGLT, 1000 Kph
Acceleration: 17 MGLT/s
Maneuverability: 70 DPF
Hyperdrive: x1
Shield Rating: 50 SBD
Hull Rating: 55 RU
Weapons: 1 Dar-2 Medium Ion cannon, 3 dorsal Turreted Modular Weapons Compartments, 1 Dual Concussion Missile Launcher (13 concussion missiles), 1 Dual Proton Torpedo Launcher (10 proton torpedoes), 1 Bomb Launcher (4 Proton Bombs, 4 Discord Missiles, 3 Orbital Mines, 32 Thermal Detonators, 2 Space Bombs or 4 Heavy Rockets)
Other: Modular Shields
Countermeasures: 2 partial-turreted Caltrop-5 Chaff Launchers
Description: The A5 Adar is designed as an adaptable heavy weapons platform whom which to assault and bomb capital ships and other large, slow moving targets. While it is vulnerable to dedicated interceptors, experienced Adar pilots can often use its active defenses and thick hull to soak damage while biding their time for their opponent to make a mistake that places them in front of the starship's punishing array of weaponry. Adars frequently hunt smaller capital ships in squadrons, where the sheer number of missiles launched almost ensures that most targets will take some damage. In the atmosphere, Adars hunt enemy armor with warheads and precision dive-bomb enemy targets with a variety of other ordinance. The main fault of the Adar is its lack of maneuverability and weak shielding for an assault fighter of its size.
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Technical Explanations:
Cost: Average
Cost: The Adar as a spacecraft has unimpressive flight performance and a lack of powerful shielding,which substantially cuts down on its cost. These relative cost-savings are offset by the modular shielding systems and its rather heavy armament.
Speed: Moderately Low
Engines: The Adar has four ion engines, with the main twin ion drives located in bulky engine pods at the tips of the wings with a pair of secondary drives located at each end of its twin tail. While these engines push the craft at fairly respectable speeds for a ship its size, it still much slower than most modern fighter craft, but still significantly faster than most capital ships.
Maneuverability: Low
Flight Systems: The Adar has the maneuverability of a larger shuttle, which is to say that the vast majority of starfighters can fly circles around it. That being said, it is generally slightly more maneuverable than most dedicated bombers, which allows the Adar to take on a fighter-destroyer role against heavy assault craft like Skipray Blastboats or DX-9 Transports.
Hull: Average
Hull: The A5 uses a ferrcarbon frame covered with plates of Quadanium Carbide, a refractory hard ceramic. It is more lightweight than traditional metal armor, which helps with the fuel economy and speed, but the armor isn't as effective against projectile weapons as typical metallic armors. The twin canopies of the fighter house identical cockpits with redundant controls for both piloting the starship and operating its extensive suite of weapons. In the middle of the starship sits a concealed astromech droid slot, which helps manage the ship's systems as well as the Caltrop-5 Chaff guns.
Shields: Moderately Low
Shield Generators: The Adar's shields are fairly low for its size and role, in part because its multitude of weapons drain more power than that of comparable craft. Nonetheless, its base shielding makes it comparable to the smaller but older X-wing, which provides it a reasonable amount of durability combined with its use of modular secondary shields
Modular Secondary Shields: Like many recent Confederation vehicles, the Adar adapts Irollan shield technology to better protect their soldiers and craft. This device provides the space and power supply for a second, specialized shield generator to run simultaneously as the ship’s main shields. These shields are significantly weaker than the main generator, but provide focused defense against certain types of energy. The ship’s secondary shields can be focused, dispersed, and otherwise manipulated by the gunner or astromech droid as needed.
Photon Scattering Field: This module produces photons and hi-jacks naturally occurring particles of this nature to form and hold them in a field surrounding the ship, just overlaying the ship’s standard shielding. When this shield is hit by ion and EMP weaponry hit the field, the photon particles interfere and collide with the energized particles, ions, and other radiation, thereby reducing or annulling the effects of those weapons on the ship itself.
Explosive Dampening Field: This module is designed to contain and resist explosions via use of strong magnetic and gravity forces. It lies just below the standard shielding so that the standard shielding detonates the explosive weapon, and the secondary layer beneath it can soak up and contain the said force before it reaches the hull of the ship.
Ballistic Deflection Field: This module uses magnetics and repulsive tractor beam forces to produce a force which shields against kinetic attacks. Depending on the angle and the size of the projectile, the BDF can either deflect the attack and send it flying elsewhere, or significantly impede its motion forward into the craft, and thereby the damage that a kinetic weapon can do to the ship. This field surrounds and permeates the immediate area around the ship; Ships using this module typically have problems flying in close formation because they inadvertently push away any nearby object not moving away from the deflection field, including their wingmen or those they are dogfighting against.
Heat Dissipation Field: This module creates a complex maze of particles that interlock with the ship’s shields, but also jut in and out of them. When a thermal attack collides with the ship’s shields, this maze of particles acts like a superconductive radiator which uniformly disperses the heat or cold evenly all across the surface area of the ship’s shields; thereby reducing the effects of such weapons. It is commonly used to protect against laser cannons and other like weaponry, or to provide the craft with additional protection during hot atmospheric reentries or other environmental temperature effects.
Weapons: High
Weapons: The main source of pride of the Adar is its extensive array of weaponry. The right-hand hull contains a capital-scale Dar-2 Medium Ion cannon like one of its predecessors, the Skipray Blastboat. This is usually used to soften up enemy capital ship defenses before warhead runs, but is also occasionally used to outright disable other craft for later capture. It also sports a dual concussion missile launcher and dual proton torpedo launcher both based of those of the Tie Bomber in the right and left fuselages respectively. The warheads in each one vary on the mission, so its not unusual to see an Adar equipped with many advanced concussion missiles one day to attack enemy starfighters from range and then see it equipped with only several assault concussion missiles to attack capital ships the next week, and so forth. The middle connection spar between the twin fuselages holds the Adar's bomb launcher, also based on that of the Tie Bomber. It has a highly variable payload which is dependent on the Adar's mission, such as thermal detonators for bombing smaller ground targets, Discord Missiles for disabling enemy ships, space bombs for attacking space stations, etc. Lastly, the ship has three partially turreted Modular weapons compartments based on those used by the Irollan Dhothil and the Janus CAV. One is located in the chin of each fuselage where a third hands down from the middle stabilizer at the rear of the craft. These are typically the Adar's main anti-starfighter weapons, but are again dependent on the mission. Some of the weapons that can be fitted into these turreted mounts are listed below.
Siege Beam Cannon: This heavy weapon fires bursts of energy at the target to burn through heavy armor and shielding. Using a complex system of four coordinated anodes, it converts electricity into thermal energy which is then transferred to a beam produced by a miniature particle cannon. The resulting superheated particle beam is quite effective at penetrating thick defences at above average ranges. However, it’s low firing rate (due to energy requirements and cooling) along with poor tracking mainly regulate the weapon to destroying stationary and relatively slow-moving targets, or for opportunistic shots in close quarters dogfighting.
Wyren Mk VII Autocannon: The Wyren autocannon is the latest in Irollan Kingdom weapons technology. The projectile equivalent to the rest of the galaxy’s autoblaster in terms of role, power, and size, the Wyren inaccurately spews out a large volume of minute, solid slugs, via magnetic accelerators, towards it targets at a very short range. The Mk VII version now incorporates locus coordinators into its mounts which provide improved autotracking for the weapon as well as the ability to load hollow slugs (which can be filled with different payloads as per mission/personal preferences). Common fillers include thermite, to create incendiary effects (even in space), and shrapnel, to destroy incoming projectiles or strafe lightly-armored ground targets.
Firefly Missile Launcher (5 warheads): The Firefly is a variation of a warhead which is analogous to the common concussion missile in nearly every way. However, the firefly is unique in that its energy sheath is constantly fluctuating, which allows to occasionally block high-powered defense shots or succumb to above average cronau radiation. A side effect of this process is that the missile appears to blink in and out of existence, which in turn makes it difficult to target visually and electromagnetically (especially with a low heat output from its capacitor-powered engines). This targeting issue is typically compounded by Firely missiles being programmed to randomly alternate speeds during flight, and even occasionally to fly in odd paths with High-G maneuvers to their target.
Fireshard Cannon: This heavy weapon uses minute electrothermal charges to vaporize gas to push out its solid-tipped slugs at high speeds. When the slug hits the target, it armor-piercing head penetrates the target, and consequently ignites and releases the thermite flechettes stored within the core of the bullet. Penetration by such an attack results in nearby area being turned into a small, powerful, and slow-burning conflagration. The Fireshard is known for having a shorter range than typical laser cannons, but having high rate of fire coupled with very little energy use (a plus for ships relying capacitors for power). It typically is more terrifying to its opponents than it actually is effective, though the terror it can inspire is an effective weapon in and of itself.
Kothil Ion Cannon: A popular weapon among Irollan civilians and security, the Kothil, like any other ion cannon, uses ion energy to overload and fuse circuitry. However, unlike galactic standard ion cannons, the Kothil automatically adjust itself according to range sensor data from the ship for improved performance. For example, a Kothil will automatically tightbeam an ion bolt fired at a distant target for improved range at the cost of damage, or completely bypass the most of the focusing process for a shorter range, but a greatly improved rate of fire if the target is at near point-blank range. If the Kothil does not have any sensor data, it fires like a normal starfighter-grade ion cannon.
Tylyn Laser Cannon: The Tylyn is the result of Irollan scientists trying to replicate and adapt the basic laser cannon introduced to them by the Confederation to their own technology. Unsurprisingly (given Irollan capacitor technology), the Tylyn is designed to be capable of quickly charging and sustained rapid fire that would internally melt other laser cannons. This is accomplished by extensive, passive cyro cooling systems built around the barrel, and through heavy use of Tungsten carbide casing and internal systems. The only other difference with the Tylyn is its prismatic crystal, (since the Irollans don’t have access to typical ones), which modulates the beams more into the ultraviolet spectrum, which results in slightly less range for the weapons, but with more radiation(thermal) damage than normal per bolt.
Jenth General Purpose Launcher (4 missiles or 3 torpedoes or 2 heavy rockets or 1 space bomb each): The Jenth is very similar to the Imperial General Warhead Launcher used by the later Tie starfighter models. What separates the two is the Jenth’s size, which is larger than the compact version used by the Empire. The Jenth does not carry any more missiles than the Imperial version, but is larger because it incorporates an odd two-stage bay thruster which not only boosts the rocket into the launcher, but also provides additional thrust for the warhead as it leaves the launcher. This results in improved rate of fire as well as faster warheads.
Countermeasures: The Adar is the first Confederate starfighter to make use of Caltrop-5 flechette/chaff guns, which are already used on some Confederate capital-scale warships. Each one is set in a partial turret on the outside rear of each twin fuselage, where they can protect the sides and rear of the starship from enemy missiles or other small objects. Their flechette cartridges can typically destroy many of the projectiles fired at the starfighter, but they can also be used to distort the sensor readings of the Adar itself if deployed properly.