Firebolt Mk I-class Assault Frigate
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Name/Type: Firebolt Mk I-class Assault Frigate
Designer/Manufacturer: Maxwell & Son / Inferno Fleet
Designation: Long-range Attack Craft
Crew: 220 + 50 Gunners
Length: 800 Meters
Speed: 12 MGLT, 350 Kph
Hyperdrive: x1.5
Shield Rating: 2050 SBD
Hull Rating: 1415 RU
Weapons: 15 Chain Ion Cannon Batteries, 20 MG-3 Escort Quad Laser Cannons, 12 Phylon Q7 Tractor Beam Projectors.
Fighter Complement: 3 squadrons (36 Medium Starfighters or equivalent).
Troops: 800 Inferno Marines.
Support Craft: 4 Light Transports / Shuttles.
Succinct Description: The Firebolt Mk I-class Assault Frigate is the intended workhorse of the Inferno Fleet. Their fifteen Chain Ion Cannon Batteries allow powerful, long-range strikes on enemy targets while its Escort Quad Laser Cannons deter enemy fighter attacks. While deadly at range, it is otherwise a weak ship against most modern capital ships at normal engagement ranges, because of its low defense and speed ratings. Additionally, since the Chain Ion rounds are slow moving, most smaller and maneuverable capital ships can dodge the attacks. However, against its intended prey: heavy warships and slow moving freighters, the Chain Ion Cannons are to be feared. Because of their frailty, Firebolts are placed in the rear of Inferno formations and tend to retreat when pursued.
Technological Description: The Firebolt, like the Torch, is another freighter converted into a warship (in this case a PCL 27). This makes it significantly cheaper to purchase, maintain, and train crews for, but makes it the lesser warship in terms of combat performance.
Much of the ship’s basic systems are left unchanged, such as shields and sublight drives, except for the hyperdrive, which has been modified from x3 to a x1.5 class to keep up pace with newer vessels. During one of the first changes of their upgrade, Firebolts are plated with heavy Tydirium, which provides adequate, general protection against most types of common weapons, such as turbolasers and warheads. To increase its durability and crew survival rate when under assault, heavy Tydirium bulkheads were also installed throughout the ship. Both particle and ray shields remain as the same civilian models used by the PCL 27, making them relatively weak even compared too much older warships such as Rendili’s Dreadnaughts.
The ship’s long-range weapon’s batteries are what make it a valued asset within Inferno Fleet. The Chain Ion Cannons are nearly identical to those used on the Kalrechi-class Heavy Fighter, but on a larger scale. It is an electromagnetic gun which utilizes civilian superconducting wire to generate magnetic to launch Ferromagnetic projectiles. An Ion Flux generator is located near the end of the barrel to generate an ionic sheath around the projectile, which allows the slug to pass through enemy particle shields unimpeded.
The resulting weapon fires a rapid stream of slow-moving projectiles (which can be made out of anything from plastics to stone to the usual scrap metal). Energy consumption is minimal and damage is significant because of the combined kinetic and magnetic energy, but it is hard to hit fast moving targets because the relatively slow speed of the bolts. This makes the Firebolt ideal for taking on heavily armored warships and plodding freighters, but less than ideal for targetting fast-moving warships or starfighters. With time, skilled gunners can learn to use the CIC to effectively set out a spread of projectiles to hit these smaller targets, but it is all but impossible to hit a starfighter except by shear luck or the stupidity of the enemy pilot.
Intended Role and Deployment: An exclusive ship to Inferno Fleet, the Firebolt as designed should serve at the rear of the Fleet’s formations to provide artillery support. Though admittedly fragile in close-quarters combat, the Firebolt in theory can be a deadly weapon to any capital ship at long ranges. Besides combat functions, the ship’s CIC batteries are occasionally used to break up large asteroids into smaller chunks which can be easily moved for refinement at Inferno Base.
RP Thread: Fanning the Coals