by Tom Stephens
Saurian Fighter
The Saurian fighter is a small single being craft, not designed for long stints in space. Like the UPF fighter, it has basic life support for 20 hours and lacks the astrogation equipment required for interstellar jumps. Unlike the UPF, whose standard fighter sports the quick, high-powered punch of three assault rockets, the Saurian fighter is built around the Laser Pod (Polyhedron, Issue 19). The choice of a laser weapon gives the Saurian fighter a bit longer reach and the ability to fire both offensively and defensively instead of just being an offensive weapon.
Knight Hawks Statistics
HS: 1 HP: 8 DCR: 30
Engines: 1 Class A Atomic (3 pellets loaded)
ADF: 5 MR: 5
Weapons: LP
Defenses: RH
Crew Size: 1
Maximum Crew Capacity: 1
Life Support Capacity: Primary – 1 being for 20 hours, Secondary – 1 being for 20 hours
Communications Equipment: Videocom Radio
Computer (level 3, 51 FP): Drive 4, Astrogation 1, Laser Pod 1, Skin Sensors 1, Life Support 1, Life Support 1, Damage Control 1, Computer Lockout 3, Alarm 1
Other Equipment: radar system, Skin Sensors, complete backup computer system.
Cargo/Storage Capacity: none
Cost: 434,350 cr.
Laser Pod (LP)
The full details of the Laser Pod were presented in Polyhedron Magazine, issue 19. A copy of the article can be found in the Downloads section of Port Loren Public Library project at http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/5640. It is basically a laser removed from a standard Laser Battery and mounted as a Forward Firing weapon on small craft. The full Knight Hawks statistics for the weapon are:
Restrictions: FF, RD
Range: 5
Damage: 1d10
Attack:
Damage Table Modifier: 0
Cost: 8,000 cr
Volume:
Computer Program: Laser Pod – level 1, 3 FP
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Battle Ray Patrol by I.L. Jackson – I.L. Jackson is a journalist and professional writer and artist in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres with work in the role-playing game, collectible card game and other industries. He is the author of “Robotech: The New Generation” and “Robotech: The Genesis Pits” Sourcebooks by Palladium Books. |
Saurian Battle Ray
This ship fills the same role in the Saurian space fleet as the Assault Scout plays for the UPF. It is a small, fast ship that packs a punch. Unlike the UPF Assault Scout, which is built around delivering Assault Rockets, the Saurian Battle Ray is built around the Saurian MAHEM weapons system (detailed on page 21).
Aerodynamically streamlined, the Battle Ray is capable of atmospheric flight if necessary. Built on a small size 4 or large size 3 hull, the Battle Ray's main body is relatively short although squat with wide wings. However, the long length of the MAHEM system gives the ship a long tail and presents the appearance of a manta ray, thus the ship's name. The tail section completely consists of equipment for the MAHEM system and small access tubes for repair and maintenance purposes.
With all the space taken up by the MAHEM system, the Battle Ray doesn't carry a full laser battery system like the Assault Scout but rather has a Pod Laser Turret system. It does the same damage as a laser battery but lacks the full range, only have a range of 40,000 km (4 hexes) instead of the 90,000 km range of the laser battery.
The Battle Ray is capable of interstellar travel. Like UPF ships, Saurian vessels carry life support for half a year of operations. However, as the Saurian year is only 280 GST days, instead of 400 GST days in the UPF calendar, the typical life support system on a saurian ship lasts for 140 days.
Knight Hawks Statistics
HS: 4 HP: 20 DCR: 50
Engines: 2 Class A Atomic (3 pellets loaded)
ADF: 4 MR: 4
Weapons: PLT MAHEM(x4)
Defenses: RH
Crew Size: 18
Maximum Crew Capacity: 20
Life Support Capacity: Primary – 20 beings for 140 days, Secondary – 20 beings for 140 days
Communications Equipment: Videocom Radio, 3 extra Videocom screens, Subspace Radio, 4 master intercom panels, 50 speaker/mike intercom panels
Computer (level 4, 108 FP): Drive 4, Astrogation 4, Laser Pod 1, Camera 1, Camera 1, MAHEM 3, Pod Laser Turret 1, Skin Sensors 1, Life Support 1, Life Support 1, Damage Control 2, Computer Lockout 4, Alarm 2, Robot Management 4
Other Equipment: radar system, energy sensor system, 2 full camera systems, Skin Sensors, complete backup computer system.
Cargo/Storage Capacity: 75 m3
Cost: 1,287,000 cr.
Pod Laser Turret (PLT)
The Pod Laser turret is a variation of the Laser Pod built on a turret to provide a full 360 degree firing arc. The pod laser sacrifices a bit of range compared to the Laser Pod only having a range of 40,000 km (4 hexes) instead of 50,000 km. The Pod Laser Turret was developed by Richard Rose as part of his many Star Frontiers campaigns. Links to one of his many write-ups can be found at http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/1443. (Note that we've changed some of the statistics compared to Richard's original version to be in line with the cost of the Laser Pod from Polyhedron that this weapon is based on.)
Restrictions: RD
Range: 4
Damage: 1d10
Attack:
Damage Table Modifier: 0
Cost: 10,000 cr
Volume:
Computer Program: Pod Laser Turret – level 1, 4 FP
Saurian Ark Ship
The Saurian Ark ship is probably the most well-known Saurian ship in the Frontier as these are the ship most commonly shown in holovid documentaries of the Saurian Exodus. These huge ships rival the UPF Battleship in size being based around a similar size 20 hull. Unlike the battleship, the Saurian Ark ship was not designed for war but rather to seek out and find new habitable worlds for the Saurians to colonize that were as far away from the Sathar as possible. Thus in design, they are a cross between a giant passenger liner and scientific research vessel. While not designed as a warship, the Saurians knew they were headed into unknown and potentially hostile territory and the Ark ship is not defenseless. It carries both ship armaments and fighters for local defense.
These ships were a massive undertaking by the Saruian species to construct and launch in an attempt to save their race from destruction by the sathar. Although, considering that the entire economy of their planet was poured into the project, the limiting factor was probably time and not resources. It is unknown exactly how many of the ships were built and launched. Eight of the ships arrived at Theseus. It is unknown how many were launched in other directions and the Saurians are very closed-lipped on the subject. One can fully expect that as the UPF continues its exploration, that other worlds already colonized by Saurians will be found.
Considering the size of the ship, the active crew is fairly small, only 150 beings. These beings are responsible for running and maintaining the ship as well as manning the defenses and fighters and performing the scientific studies necessary to find new worlds fit for colonization. The vast majority of the ship is taken up by the huge storage class passenger bays. Each Ark ship carries one hundred thousand storage class berths filled with members of the Saurian species waiting to be awakened on their new home world. There is also a large cargo area that contains buildings, materials, and supplies needed to start the new colony.
In addition to the passenger accommodations and colony supplies, the Ark ship contains a variety of scientific exploration equipment such as atmoprobes, remote probes, landing drones, and laboratories to study the systems and worlds that they pass through in their travels looking for new worlds to colonize. To assist in these studies, and also for use in ferrying colonists and materials to the surface when an new world is found, the Ark ship carries a number of shuttles capable of landing on the planets and retrieving samples and any landing drones deployed.
The life support systems on these ships are also a little more extensive than on most starships. The Saurians didn't know how long they would be searching for new worlds and increased the capacity for the active crew considerably. Instead of the typical half year of supplies carried on most UPF ships, these ships carry enough life support supplies for 5 Saurian years (1400 GST days) in both their primary and backup systems.
Finally, the Ark ships are armed for defense. As they discovered to their dismay, the galaxy is a hostile place and the Ark ships were not to be sent into the unknown undefended. Each ship is armed with a quartet of laser batteries. They also are coated with a reflective hull,
and carry 20 ICM salvos for missile defense. In addition, the ship carries a small squadron of 10 Saurian fighters. Between the ship's weapons and the fighters, the ship should be able to survive any casual foe and make its escape.
Packing all of these features into a single ship definitely comes with a price. And that is a loss of performance. All of this cargo and ship systems put a burden even on the eight atomic engines that the ship is equipped with limiting its ADF and MR to 1, instead of 2 as most HS 20 ships have.
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Author's Note: I took a little liberty with the canon KH ship design rules with the Ark Ship. While there is nothing that directly contradicts the standard ship design rules, the inclusion of fighters on this ship definitely goes against the spirit of the rules. However, these larger ships are simply huge and given reasonable assumptions about the volume and mass of the various ship design components, everything included in this ship would easily fit within the volume of a HS 15 ship. Thus by making it HS 20, I felt there was more than enough room to include all the specified equipment. |
Knight Hawks Statistics
HS: 20 HP: 100 DCR: 80
Engines: 8 Class C Atomic (10 pellets loaded each)
ADF: 1 MR: 1
Weapons: LB LB LB LB
Defenses: RH ICM(x20)
Crew Size: 150-160
Maximum Crew Capacity: 160
Life Support Capacity: Primary – 200 beings for 1400 days, Secondary – 200 beings for 1400 days
Communications Equipment: 2 Subspace Radios, 2 Videocom Radios, 5 extra videocom screens, 4 master intercom panels, 2000 intercom speaker/mike panels, 100 portholes
Computer (level 6, 940 FP): Drive 6, Astrogation 4, 4x Laser Battery 1, ICM 3, 2x Cameras 1, Skin Sensors 1, Cargo Arm 2, Life Support 1, Life Support 1, Damage Control 6, Computer Lockout 6, Alarm 6, Communications 6, Analysis 6, Information Storage 6, Language 6, Computer Security 6, Installation Security 6, Probe Guidance/Analysis 3, 10x Lab Analysis 3, Maintenance 6, Bureaucracy 6
Vehicles: 20 escape pods, 10 lifeboats, 2 small launches, 4 large launches, 10 workpods, 20 HS 1 shuttles, 10 Saurian Fighters
Other Equipment: Deluxe Astrogation suite, radar systems, energy sensor systems, 2x Cameras, Skin Sensors, 2 Cargo Arms, complete backup computer system, 20 Atmoprobes, 5 Landing Drones, 10 Laboratories, 5 Remote Probes
Cargo/Storage Capacity: 30,000 m3
Cost: 216,363,700 cr. (not counting the cost of the fighters or shuttles)
