Sword-Pattern Battleship

Stats

ST/HP Hand/SR HT Move Lwt. Load SM Occ DR fDR Range Cost Loc Stall Total Chase Rolls
7000 -4/6 13 3/90 360,000 23,000 +13 2000ASV 5000/2500* 10,000 5 shunts $110B gGs21t 0 +5

Notes

Sword as Signature Ship

A Sword costs 30 points to purchase a signature ship; the GM may rule this well beyond the availability of a player to access. In general, if a player has access to a Sword, it is through their Rank trait, and they don't own it so much as command it. Given the scale of the ship and the number of people that the owner of a Sword would need to control to properly operate one, controlling it via a command structure makes the most sense. The GM might require someone who has a Sword as a signature ship to take the Rank trait anyway (given the number of characters he commands); this should generally be at least Rank 5, and in such an instance, the GM should be more generous with the crew.

If taken as a signature ship, the Sword comes with a skeleton crew of skill-12 minions, and a few named hireling NPCs, and a couple of shuttles. Characters with high levels of Rank in addition to the Signature Ship should expect more complete crew and perhaps a complement of fighters as part of their rank.

*The Sword-Pattern Battleship has 5000 Carbide Composite DR on the front, and 2500 DR on all other sides (double DR vs plasma attacks and shaped charge missiles). It also has a force screen with 10,000 ablative, hardened DR.

Electronics:

  • Capital-Scale Tactical Ultra-Scanner: 4000-mile scan, 400-mile imaging/bioscan; 360°;
  • Targeting Macroframe: +5 to hit target with a scan-lock.
  • Night Vision Sensors: +9 nightvision, ×8 magnification (up to +3 to aimed attacks, if the vehicle aims for three turns).
  • Large Area Jammer: -4 to target with missiles for all allied ships within 25 miles.
  • Distortion Scrambler: May contest Electronics Ops (Comms) rolls with Electronics Ops (EW); 25 mile range.
  • Large Holographic Radio: 10,000 mile range; “conference” sized holographic projector. All communications encrypted.
  • Very Large FTL Communication Array: 300-parsec range.
  • Security And Safety: Simple Electronic Locks and security cameras at regular intervals; complex biometric locks for secured facilities meant for the aristocrat alone; Lifepods.
  • Life-Support: 5 days
  • Hyperdrive: Rating 2, with sufficient fuel for 5 jumps.
  • Fusion Reactor: 50-year lifespan.

Accommodation and Facilities:

  • Full Life-Support: up to 2000 people
  • Accommodations: 1 aristocratic luxury cabin, 200 cabins, 1800 bunks. 3 months of stored, refrigerated food.
  • Facilities: 10-person strategy ops (+1 Tactics and Strategy); 10-person Akashic Shrine (Sensory Deprivation Chambers; +1 to ESP rolls); 50-person gym; 50-bed sickbay; 1 operating theater;
  • Cargo: a secured arsenal capable of sufficient gear to arm 250 men; Additional cargo can carry 50 tons.

Onboard Craft Complement:

  • Shuttles: 5 Prestige-Class (or variant) Shuttles.

Armaments

  • 3 Super-heavy Turrets (Total RoF 9)
  • 10 Capital Turrets (Total RoF 20);
  • 8 mounted Plasma Flak Turrets (F/L/R/T);
Weapon Dmg Acc Range Ewt. RoF Shots ST Bulk Rcl
Super-heavy cannon 6d×120(5) burn 9 170 mi/500 mi 5000t 3 NA M -10 2
Capital-scale cannon 6d×75(5) burn 9 60 mi/180mi 500t 2 NA M -10 2
Plasma Flak 6d×10 burn ex NA 2000/6000 100t 20 NA M -10 1

Look and Feel

The Sword-Pattern Battleship comes from an ancient era of Maradonian warfare. They served with the Lancer-Class Assault Frigates, laying down the fire necessary to keep the enemy occupied while the lancers advanced and conquered the enemy ship. When the fleet won the battle, the Sword would turn its cannons on the planet they orbited, ready to rain fire down upon it if it did not surrender.

The Sword retains its traditional appearance. Like the Regal-Pattern heavy cruiser, the Sword is longer and taller than it is wide, though it has a far less pronounced “bridge” superstructure. The Sword bristles with firepower: a line of three, absolutely massive super-heavy turrets run along the top, and five capital-scale turrets line either side, interspersed with plasma flak cannons. Thick armor guard the vehicle, but especially the front which, like the Lancer, has a great and heavily armored prow that can, if necessary, double as a ram.

Compared to the Arcana and the Regal, the Sword’s interior more closely resembles the older Lancer. Metal walkways clang underfoot as technicians and soldiers march through quiet carbide cathedrals of machinery. Soldiers and technicians sleep in spartan bunks and attend meals in simple mess halls. The dim glow of floating lights in recessed alcoves provide all the illumination of the ship. The bridge begins to more closely resemble modern capital ships, its harsh metal surfaces taking on familiar, art-deco curves and elegance and hanging “chandeliers” become more common, but even here, where guests can expect to stay in simple, compact cabins rather than bunks, no observation decks or entertainment establishments can be found. Instead, guests find war room, strategic ops centers, and a great Akashic shrine, more reminiscent of the Imperial dreadnoughts, which patterned some of their design elements from the fearsome Sword-Pattern battleships.

The Sword served as the centerpiece of Maradonian fleets for centuries. Today, they struggle to compete with the Arcana carrier. They have considerable firepower, to be sure, but a squadron of raptors with isomeric torpedoes can do more damage than a single Sword and costs less. It can serve a diplomatic function, but here again, the Arcana does it better, and the Regal does it more cheaply. The Sword, then, tends to linger in the fleets of nostalgic Houses (especially house Grimshaw), but it does serve a purpose in protecting carriers from Imperial Dreadnoughts, as it’s one of the few ships can can go toe-to-toe with one, shrugging off their hits, and having sufficient speed and maneuverability to outflank them and fire a devastating barrage with its concentrated firepower.

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