Mercatus-class Space Station
Name/Type: Mercatus-class Space Station
Designer/Manufacturer: Kashan Defence Industries
Designation: Modular Space Station
Crew: 162 + 32 Gunners
Length: 750 Meters
Hyperdrive: x10
Shield Rating: 3200 SBD + 3200 SBD Back-up
Hull Rating: 1500 RU
Weapons: 3 CCA IV-7 Autoguns , 12 KDI XIV-7 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries, 24 Quad Laser cannons, 3 Heavy Tractor Beam Projectors.
Fighter Complement: 24 Medium Starfighters or other equivalent
Troops: 80 Security Personnel.
Support Craft: 20 Light Transports
Cargo Space: 750,000 Metric Tons (base model)
Passengers: ~2000
Special: Anti-concussion Field Generator, Electric Reactive Armor
Description: The Mercatus-class Space Station is KDI's attempt at making a modular civilian station. The core structure is always the same: a spindly tower which swells up to incorporate massive holds and hangars on which sits a saucer containing the main living and control stations of the station. Unlike many other stations, the Mercatus is designed to be expanded, with three massive A-frames made out of ferrocarbon and mirrsteel set at equal distances around the station's equator to support extensions, which can range from rows landing pads and bulk storage vessels to tactical battle platforms and shipyards. Unlike most space stations, KDI took a que from several shipyard designs, including a (relatively) small hyperdrive to allow the station to be moved without the need for a tug. KDI is currently marketing the Mercatus to allied governments as a better protected and larger competitor to ubiquitous XQ platforms found across galaxy.
Technical Descriptions:
Relative Cost: Moderately Low
Cost: With the exception of its limited weaponry and defenses, the base model of the Mercatus is composed primarily of empty space and the most basic of necessities. There is little to make the station cost much money.
Shield Rating: Moderately High
Shields: The station's shields are noticeably higher than those of an average warship this size,w hich can be attributed to the station using a reactor core the same size that warship, but without that warship's engines or massive amount of weapons to draw power away from it. Like most Confederate warships, the station contains an identical set of backup shield generators.
Armor: Average
Armor: The hull of the station is built with a ferrocarbon frame, but uses typical metals such as durasteel to sandwich layers of Quadranium Carbide to form electric reactive armor. Like Confederate warships, the station has an anti-concussion field generator to protect it against harsher physical damage, whether it is a meteor shower or a slug hurled from a railgun. This makes the station very structurally durable, but otherwise unremarkable.
Weapons: Low
Weapons: While the base Mercatus-class is not designed for combat, the station is capable of resisting most light pirate attacks and raids, though it is unlikely to beat a warship of similar size. Between each Ferrocarbon A-frame is a spontoon mounted CCA IV-7 Autogun, each fed by a sizeable internal magazine, which allows the station to fend off most attackers before they can strike the station. KDI long-range XIV-7 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries round out the rest of the station's anti-ship armament to fill out blind spots not covered by the autoguns. The station carries several batteries of quad laser cannons arranged in rings around the station's perimeter to deter starfighter and missile attacks. Lastly, around entrance to each A-frame sits a turret-mounted heavy tractor beam, which are typically used to help dock larger vessels to the station or transfer over cargo containers. They can, of course, also be used to hold enemy vessels in place.
CCA IV-7 Autogun: A multi-barrel autocannon whose design uses railguns arrayed in a gatling gun arrangement. With each individual barrel being the size of a light turbolaser and the use of maglev turrets, the CCA IV-7 has excellent tracking ability. It has an excellent rate of fire and armor piercing abilities, but lacks accuracy at long ranges and a relatively small amount of damage per shell. It is primarily designed to destroy subsystems on enemy capital ships, and would be a terribly inefficient way to destroy any enemy vessel. The IV-7 fires two types of shells: Pilum and Falarica. The Pilum shell is an attempt to combine the penetration of a solid shot with the versatility of a flechette round. It consists of a Mirrsteel Sabot shell with a payload of explosive-tipped Ferrocarbon Flechettes. When the shell hits, the kinetic energy of the shell and the solid sabot pierce through the armor and release the flechettes into the hull itself to destroy a small area directly beneath the armor. The Falarica is a fairly standard shell with a high yield thermal nuclear warhead shell. Typically used as basically a proton torpedo.
KDI XIV-7 Heavy Turbolaser: Yet another specifically developed weapon, the XIV-7 design is actually based on the rare SW-APE rifle manufactured decades ago. Like that weapon, it has the Stysor blaster chamber's prismatic crystal housing and galvern pattern, that boosted the static pulse output from the weapon's actuating module for a higher range. When this is combined with the ion sheathing and particle accelerator technology currently employed on the Seraph-class, the weapon has 150% of the range as a standard heavy turbolaser. This weapon has the option for flak bursts for use against enemy starfighters and warheads.
Complements: Low
Complements: The base model only carries a minimum of security troops and starfighters to provide protection, albeit it does provide a fair amount of support craft to take care of day to day operations. Instead, most of the station's internal space is dedicated to cavernous cargo holds, a small shopping mall and food court, and cabins for guests and space station employees.
Anti-Concussion Field Generators: An Anticoncussion field was a highly advanced type of force field used at the Stars' End prison facility. To create the field, numerous anticoncussion projectors honeycombed the interior of the vehicle or building it was designed to protect. When activated, the field dramatically improved the integrity of floors, walls, ceilings and other internal surfaces. The projector's umbrella-shaped magnetic fields created a single cohesive anticoncussion field that absorbed and dispersed kinetic energy and was powerful enough to render blasts, collisions, and other impacts inert. The system used at Stars' End consumed as much energy as did a Star Destroyer's ion engines (Wookiepedia).
Test Post: http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=50044#500264