A fast, streamlined raiding ship built for quick in and out strikes and raids on lightly protected installations. Able to jump into a system, attack, and then jump out again without refuelling, they are masters of the lighting strike. Usually travelling in packs, these are the ships on which the piracy legends are based.
A jump capable ship of this size is most vulnerable to SDBs and must make design compromises if it is to stand any chance of surviving an encounter with one. The ship must be able to run faster than a typical SDB or once encountered the SDB will stay at long range and laser it down to nothing. Consequently this ship can pull over 3Gs with its reserve tank empty (i.e. after it has jumped into the target system).
To achieve this acceleration it has to sacrifice armor and accommodation. The Armor is about half the ideal, and even allowing for the sandcaster it will take damage on every long range heavy laser hit. Also there are not enough beds for the entire crew, so they must hot bunk during raiding missions. To minimise crew stress up to twelve of the crew spend jump time in the low berths. This "jump-berthing" is a favorite of both the adrenalin junkies and the work shy. Additionally these ships are usually a couple of crew short with their roles filled by doubling up duties .
Crew: 24 Total. 10 Command and Control, 1 Jump Drive, 10 Maneuver Drive, 1 Medical, 4 Turret Gunners.
Hull: 400-ton VGSL, Extra Heavy Frame, Very Cheap Materials, Durasteel (Expensive) Armored Hull (DR 300), Total Compartmentalization, Radical Stealth(-10, AMod -1), Radical Emission Cloaking(-10, PMod -1 [-5, PMod 4 in space]).
Control Areas: Command Bridge(37/41/31, 1k/200/-, Complexity 7).
Engineering: Engineering, 8 Jump Drive, 181 Maneuver Drive(2.95 / 3.09 Gs, 5,430 stons thrust), 80 Cryonic Internal Tank(Fire 0, Loaded with 80 stons), Fuel Processor(22.9 hours to refine ), Utility, 83.2 Man-Hours/day Maintenance.
Accommodations: 6 Stateroom, Sickbay(2 Patients), 3 Low Berth(12 Cryoberths).
Misc: Additional Life support (12 crew).
Armaments: 1 Turret Battery of 1 (DR100, 303 Mj Hv Laser), 1 Turret Battery of 1 (DR100, 2x101 Mj Std Laser[RoF Bonus +1], Lt Missile Rack [79]), 1 Turret Battery of 1 (DR100, 303 Mj Hv Laser), 1 Turret Battery of 1 (DR100, Sand Caster [200], 2x101 Mj Std Laser[RoF Bonus +1]).
| Weapon | Qty | Type | Accuracy | SS | Damage | RoF | 1/2 Range | Max Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 303 Mj Hv Laser | 2 | Imp | 33 | 30 | 5dx55 | 1/60 (+7) | 25000/3 | 75000/8 |
| 101 Mj Std Laser | 4 | Imp | 31 | 30 | 8dx20 | 1/60 (+7) | 14400/1 | 43200/4 |
| Lt Missile Rack [79] | 1 | (+0) | 2,000,000/200 | |||||
| Sand Caster [200] | 1 | (+0) |
Stores: 1 Hold.
Statistics: EMass 1,757.85 stons, LMass 1,842.85 stons, Cost MCr300.79, HP 150,000, Damage Threshold 3,750, Size Mod 9, HT 12, CP 33.
Performance: Jump-1, Acc 2.95 / 3.09 Gs, Airspeed 4,037 mph, Skimming Airspeed 11,416 mph, Aerostatic Lift 5,430 stons.
Sample Times : Orbit 0.08 Hrs, Escape Velocity 0.11 Hrs, 100D 3.72 Hrs, Earth-Mars 63.87 Hrs.
Options: All times are Earth Std, Full Load.
100D and Earth-Mars assume mid-point turnover.
Copyright © 2000 by John B Stone