Suffren-class Cruiser
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Introduction:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~Charles Darwin
Change.
The face of the galaxy has changed.
No longer do fleets of the Black Dragon Empire and the Galactic Coalition clash in mass battle. No longer does Simon Kaine lead the nearly unstoppable Imperial war machine. No longer is the Empire at rest, with Rebellions cropping up across its space. No longer is the Confederation an infant subfaction of the Coalition gearing up for war with BDE. But rather, it is a reasonably sized independent government barely singed by galactic war. It has become a fortified haven of peace and freedom.
With the Confederation’s transformation into a more peaceful state, so does that of the nature of the Confederate Military. Funds are increasingly being allocated for potent and cheaper ground defences rather than the expensive, high-tech warships which KDI designed to liberate the Tion Sector. Compounding the problem, there is a wide diversification of warship designs among local defence fleets. Making maintenance and supply a nightmare for large fleet expeditions, as well as making it difficult to train, rotate and promote service personnel across a multitude of ship types. Thus, while a diverse fleet of high-tech warships may look exceptionally effective on paper, it is prohibitively costly for most governments to pursue in addition to its logistical problems. Inspired by the New Republic’s successful response to a similar situation with its New Class modernization program, the Confederation has started its Unity Project.
As ships from the Unity Project are introduced, older vessels will be gradually replaced and their crews put onto their newer, cheaper, and less maintenance-intensive ships (though many service people are retiring as the chance of conflict lessens). Local governments do have the option of overriding this project, but they then must individually pay for extra planetary defences which are becoming standard across Confederation space. Thus far, only Kashan and New Oceanus have rejected the bill, mostly because of their defence resting in concealment as well partially because of the local influence of KDI.
General Ship Overview:
“These ships may well be economic and logistical triumphs, but I would much prefer to face our enemies in the newest wave of KDI’s technological terrors.”
~ Rear Admiral Corise Lucerne, SCO, Confederate Armed Forces
Unity Project ships in general have below average costs, good mobility, a peacetime dual purpose, and excellent armor coverage but lack heavy firepower. Various laborsaving devices and automation reduce crew sizes to cut costs in paying crewmembers and consumables. In addition, Unity ships are designed to accommodate a wide variety of parts to make logistics, upgrading, and repair easier at the cost of battle efficiency. Unity Project ships are built utilizing heavily standardized components for improved logistics, ease of training, and cheaper costs; thus, default components like powercells, engines, weapons, etc are often identical on a smaller ship and a significantly larger ship, though they do vary by amount. Most designs are intentionally simple and designed for mass-production, meaning that if the Confederation was attacked, large numbers of them could be quickly produced and green crews could easily adapt to them for mass fielding. Nearly all Unity ships are based on existing designs and technologies. One technology found on all ships is the Multi-Core Power System and an Anti-concussion Field Generator.
Name/Type: Suffren-class Cruiser
Designer/Manufacturer: Confederation Defence Industries
Designation: Long Range Attack Cruiser / Scout Vessel
Crew: 1,972 + 140 Gunners + 200 LE Repair Droids
Length: 600 Meters
Speed: 20 MGLT, 950 Kph
Hyperdrive: x0.8
Shield Rating: 1830 SBD + 1830 SBD Back-up
Hull Rating: 1075 RU
Weapons: 10 KDI IV-7 Tachyon Cannons, 10 KDI III-7 Railguns, 24 CCA I-7 Defence Clusters, 18 Starflare Missile Launchers, 32 MG-7 Turrets.
Fighter Complement: None.
Troops: 60 Paladin II Assault Droids, 270 Marines.
Support Craft: 4 Medium Transports (type varies according to mission), 24 RS-20 Condor Drones or other probes.
General Description:
The Suffren-class Cruiser is a long-range attack ship meant to eliminate and damage enemies at range before they have a chance to fire their weapons on the Confederate Fleet. To do this, it uses powerful long range weaponry taken off the recently decommissioned Cavalier and Juaire Mk I starships and combines it with powerful sensors and targeting drones. However, this comes at the cost of durability and flexibility. A Suffren is not well suited to surviving in the midst of the battlefield with its weaker shields and hull and with fixed heavy weaponry. In addition, it is almost completely bereft of a typical complement, making it less than useful for many missions. In times of peace, the ship’s powerful sensors and drones are used to chart new hyperlane routes for improved trade between Confederation planets and their trading partners, for secret military routes, and general surveying and exploration.
Technical Descriptions:
Relative Cost: Moderate Low
Cost: Being based on an older hull and with civilian-grade systems and weapons off of decommissioned warships would make the ship fairly cheap. However, this is partially balanced out by the costs of ammunition for the railguns and missile launchers. Thus, the ship has a slightly below average price tag for its size.
Speed: Moderately High
Engines: The Suffren has slightly faster than normal engines than a ship for its size; the engineer’s idea being that it can barely outrun most ships near its size, strike its opponent briefly, and keep on running. This also requires a high amount of maneuverability because of the fixed position of the long-range guns. In order to achieve this maneuverability, the Suffren has no less than four etheric rudders, visible as flat panels on either side of the bridge superstructure with two more directly below it. As with other Unity ships, the Suffren has dedicated maintenance and repair crews composed of LE Repair Droids supervised by human mechanics to repair damages and tune the engines for optimal speed.
Shield Rating: Moderately Low
Shields: Engineers did not put shielding on the priority list when they designed the Suffren, as it was envisioned as striking from the rear of the fleet, and thus would never have to worry about protecting itself except for the odd attack that managed to pass through the front lines of the fleet. Thus, the shields on the Suffren are a little lower than those of most ships for its size, with the excess power being used on weapons. The ship does, however, follow Confederation tradition of maintaining redundant, identical back-up shields in case of catastrophic shield failure.
Armor: Moderately Low
Armor: For the same reason that shielding is lower than normal, so it is with the hull armor. Like the other Unity ships and many Confederation ships before it, the Suffren comes equipped with Electric Reactive armor nearly identical to that of the Juaire Mk II; made up of a cheap and common metals. This allows the ship to soak more physical damage than a ship for its size is normally capable of taking.
Weapons: Moderately High
Weapons: This is the one area where the Suffren really shines, with long-range heavy weapons in the Tachyon Cannons, Railguns, and Starflare Missile Tubes. The forward fixed Tachyon Cannons and the Railguns are usually taken off recently decommissioned Juaire Mk I and Cavalier Destroyers. Combined with the improved sensors of the Suffren, there is little that they cannot destroy, given enough time. The other type of armament it includes is close-range point defence weapons useful against starfighters and missiles. Caltrop 5 Flechette launchers mounted in diminutive turrets are spread out across the ship to deal with missile barrages and strafing enemy starfighters. The other close-range weapon are the MG-7 launcher turrets, which each house two starfighter-grade MG-7 Proton Torpedo launchers to quickly destroy enemy starfighters at longer ranges or to destroy enemy warheads. These launchers are identical to the ones used on X-wings, and occasionally loaded with other munitions besides proton torpedoes.
CCA I-7 Defence Cluster: The Defence Cluster is a combination of Caltrop 5 Launchers and rapid-fire autoblaster designed to destroy enemy warheads and starfighters. There are four Caltrop 5 Launchers and autoblasters per blister. The cluster allows these point-defence weapons excellent tracking and protection at the cost of smaller firing vectors and centralization. Each cluster appears as a slightly raised blister or bump from the ship’s hull.
Complements: Very low
Complements: This is one of the ship’s greatest weaknesses. A complement barely large enough to defend the ship it’s own. The Suffren carries no starfighters, and only a few units of troopers with which to defend the ship. There are, however, four light transports used to ferry personnel and supplies between vessels, as well as Condor drones to help scout for the vessel and gather long-range targeting info. On scouting missions, the transports are often nonstandard models, such as Flatfish, MXR-BR Pacifiers, and other high tech scout ships.
Sensors: Having long-range weaponry is of little use if they cannot fire with any reasonable amount of accuracy. Thus, the Suffren sports exceptionally powerful sensors which are little more than enlarged versions of the sensors carried by the Pacifiers. This allows the Suffren to gather very accurate and precise data at ranges with which to target its enemies. Because of their power, they can also burn through enemy sensor jamming faster. In times of peace, these sensors (along with the Condor Drones) are put to good use for surveying work and charting new hyperlane routes for faster and improved commerce, along with several secret military hyperlanes.
Thread: Unity Project: Among the Stars
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~Charles Darwin
Change.
The face of the galaxy has changed.
No longer do fleets of the Black Dragon Empire and the Galactic Coalition clash in mass battle. No longer does Simon Kaine lead the nearly unstoppable Imperial war machine. No longer is the Empire at rest, with Rebellions cropping up across its space. No longer is the Confederation an infant subfaction of the Coalition gearing up for war with BDE. But rather, it is a reasonably sized independent government barely singed by galactic war. It has become a fortified haven of peace and freedom.
With the Confederation’s transformation into a more peaceful state, so does that of the nature of the Confederate Military. Funds are increasingly being allocated for potent and cheaper ground defences rather than the expensive, high-tech warships which KDI designed to liberate the Tion Sector. Compounding the problem, there is a wide diversification of warship designs among local defence fleets. Making maintenance and supply a nightmare for large fleet expeditions, as well as making it difficult to train, rotate and promote service personnel across a multitude of ship types. Thus, while a diverse fleet of high-tech warships may look exceptionally effective on paper, it is prohibitively costly for most governments to pursue in addition to its logistical problems. Inspired by the New Republic’s successful response to a similar situation with its New Class modernization program, the Confederation has started its Unity Project.
As ships from the Unity Project are introduced, older vessels will be gradually replaced and their crews put onto their newer, cheaper, and less maintenance-intensive ships (though many service people are retiring as the chance of conflict lessens). Local governments do have the option of overriding this project, but they then must individually pay for extra planetary defences which are becoming standard across Confederation space. Thus far, only Kashan and New Oceanus have rejected the bill, mostly because of their defence resting in concealment as well partially because of the local influence of KDI.
General Ship Overview:
“These ships may well be economic and logistical triumphs, but I would much prefer to face our enemies in the newest wave of KDI’s technological terrors.”
~ Rear Admiral Corise Lucerne, SCO, Confederate Armed Forces
Unity Project ships in general have below average costs, good mobility, a peacetime dual purpose, and excellent armor coverage but lack heavy firepower. Various laborsaving devices and automation reduce crew sizes to cut costs in paying crewmembers and consumables. In addition, Unity ships are designed to accommodate a wide variety of parts to make logistics, upgrading, and repair easier at the cost of battle efficiency. Unity Project ships are built utilizing heavily standardized components for improved logistics, ease of training, and cheaper costs; thus, default components like powercells, engines, weapons, etc are often identical on a smaller ship and a significantly larger ship, though they do vary by amount. Most designs are intentionally simple and designed for mass-production, meaning that if the Confederation was attacked, large numbers of them could be quickly produced and green crews could easily adapt to them for mass fielding. Nearly all Unity ships are based on existing designs and technologies. One technology found on all ships is the Multi-Core Power System and an Anti-concussion Field Generator.
Name/Type: Suffren-class Cruiser
Designer/Manufacturer: Confederation Defence Industries
Designation: Long Range Attack Cruiser / Scout Vessel
Crew: 1,972 + 140 Gunners + 200 LE Repair Droids
Length: 600 Meters
Speed: 20 MGLT, 950 Kph
Hyperdrive: x0.8
Shield Rating: 1830 SBD + 1830 SBD Back-up
Hull Rating: 1075 RU
Weapons: 10 KDI IV-7 Tachyon Cannons, 10 KDI III-7 Railguns, 24 CCA I-7 Defence Clusters, 18 Starflare Missile Launchers, 32 MG-7 Turrets.
Fighter Complement: None.
Troops: 60 Paladin II Assault Droids, 270 Marines.
Support Craft: 4 Medium Transports (type varies according to mission), 24 RS-20 Condor Drones or other probes.
General Description:
The Suffren-class Cruiser is a long-range attack ship meant to eliminate and damage enemies at range before they have a chance to fire their weapons on the Confederate Fleet. To do this, it uses powerful long range weaponry taken off the recently decommissioned Cavalier and Juaire Mk I starships and combines it with powerful sensors and targeting drones. However, this comes at the cost of durability and flexibility. A Suffren is not well suited to surviving in the midst of the battlefield with its weaker shields and hull and with fixed heavy weaponry. In addition, it is almost completely bereft of a typical complement, making it less than useful for many missions. In times of peace, the ship’s powerful sensors and drones are used to chart new hyperlane routes for improved trade between Confederation planets and their trading partners, for secret military routes, and general surveying and exploration.
Technical Descriptions:
Relative Cost: Moderate Low
Cost: Being based on an older hull and with civilian-grade systems and weapons off of decommissioned warships would make the ship fairly cheap. However, this is partially balanced out by the costs of ammunition for the railguns and missile launchers. Thus, the ship has a slightly below average price tag for its size.
Speed: Moderately High
Engines: The Suffren has slightly faster than normal engines than a ship for its size; the engineer’s idea being that it can barely outrun most ships near its size, strike its opponent briefly, and keep on running. This also requires a high amount of maneuverability because of the fixed position of the long-range guns. In order to achieve this maneuverability, the Suffren has no less than four etheric rudders, visible as flat panels on either side of the bridge superstructure with two more directly below it. As with other Unity ships, the Suffren has dedicated maintenance and repair crews composed of LE Repair Droids supervised by human mechanics to repair damages and tune the engines for optimal speed.
Shield Rating: Moderately Low
Shields: Engineers did not put shielding on the priority list when they designed the Suffren, as it was envisioned as striking from the rear of the fleet, and thus would never have to worry about protecting itself except for the odd attack that managed to pass through the front lines of the fleet. Thus, the shields on the Suffren are a little lower than those of most ships for its size, with the excess power being used on weapons. The ship does, however, follow Confederation tradition of maintaining redundant, identical back-up shields in case of catastrophic shield failure.
Armor: Moderately Low
Armor: For the same reason that shielding is lower than normal, so it is with the hull armor. Like the other Unity ships and many Confederation ships before it, the Suffren comes equipped with Electric Reactive armor nearly identical to that of the Juaire Mk II; made up of a cheap and common metals. This allows the ship to soak more physical damage than a ship for its size is normally capable of taking.
Weapons: Moderately High
Weapons: This is the one area where the Suffren really shines, with long-range heavy weapons in the Tachyon Cannons, Railguns, and Starflare Missile Tubes. The forward fixed Tachyon Cannons and the Railguns are usually taken off recently decommissioned Juaire Mk I and Cavalier Destroyers. Combined with the improved sensors of the Suffren, there is little that they cannot destroy, given enough time. The other type of armament it includes is close-range point defence weapons useful against starfighters and missiles. Caltrop 5 Flechette launchers mounted in diminutive turrets are spread out across the ship to deal with missile barrages and strafing enemy starfighters. The other close-range weapon are the MG-7 launcher turrets, which each house two starfighter-grade MG-7 Proton Torpedo launchers to quickly destroy enemy starfighters at longer ranges or to destroy enemy warheads. These launchers are identical to the ones used on X-wings, and occasionally loaded with other munitions besides proton torpedoes.
CCA I-7 Defence Cluster: The Defence Cluster is a combination of Caltrop 5 Launchers and rapid-fire autoblaster designed to destroy enemy warheads and starfighters. There are four Caltrop 5 Launchers and autoblasters per blister. The cluster allows these point-defence weapons excellent tracking and protection at the cost of smaller firing vectors and centralization. Each cluster appears as a slightly raised blister or bump from the ship’s hull.
Complements: Very low
Complements: This is one of the ship’s greatest weaknesses. A complement barely large enough to defend the ship it’s own. The Suffren carries no starfighters, and only a few units of troopers with which to defend the ship. There are, however, four light transports used to ferry personnel and supplies between vessels, as well as Condor drones to help scout for the vessel and gather long-range targeting info. On scouting missions, the transports are often nonstandard models, such as Flatfish, MXR-BR Pacifiers, and other high tech scout ships.
Sensors: Having long-range weaponry is of little use if they cannot fire with any reasonable amount of accuracy. Thus, the Suffren sports exceptionally powerful sensors which are little more than enlarged versions of the sensors carried by the Pacifiers. This allows the Suffren to gather very accurate and precise data at ranges with which to target its enemies. Because of their power, they can also burn through enemy sensor jamming faster. In times of peace, these sensors (along with the Condor Drones) are put to good use for surveying work and charting new hyperlane routes for faster and improved commerce, along with several secret military hyperlanes.
Thread: Unity Project: Among the Stars