Spaceships
From Acw
Revision as of 09:15, 28 June 2006
Spacegoing vessels of the 24th Century are a hugely varied type of vehicle, but they can be broadly categorised into four types:
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FTL Ships
Spacecraft can be split into several different categories according to use, but one definition exceeds this sort of categorisation. FTL ships are set apart by their massive expense and by the design constraints placed upon them by their main component: the Krasnikov generator. Broadly speaking there are two subdivisions of FTL ships.
Tunnelships or Coreships
Small FTL craft
Commercial Ships
'Ferries'
Private or Government Vessels
Military Ships
Military spacecraft operate almost exclusively in fleets, generaly based around a Coreship or (most often in the Red Fleets) Combat Dropship. In fact, the name 'Coreship' comes from the usual tactical fleet deployment, and the tunnelship's central position. Within the fleet there are many distinctions and sub-distinctions.
Spaceborne combat
Spaceborne combat is a terrifying affair, as the twin roles of protection from harm and protection from environmental duress are less happily-married in a spacesuit as it would first appear. The need for a spacesuit to remain flexible and not overly inhibit movement (especially in the modesl of suit worn during de-pressurised combat readiness) usually leaves a multitude of weak spots where a comparatively low-energy projectile coudl cause a fatal rupture.
What is true of the spacesuit is true of the spaceship. For most military crew, explosive decopression and a messy death is only moments away. Spacecraft usually sport little armour, and most weapons designed for use against other spaceships are pinpoint, low-energy penetrators.
Armour
Weapons
Fighting ships
There are many different designations of combat-ready spacecraft, but across all navies they roughly fall into the following categories, based on battle role, hull size and armament type.
Screenships
This category refers to all single-seat fleetships, regardless of their size. These operate in a number of distinct but complementary roles. The name of this class comes from the fact that these small scpae-fighters usually operate at the extreme edges of the fleet deployment, in a formation designed to maximise the use of Electronic Counter-Measures, break up the silhouettes of ships closer to the core of the formation, and provide a 'killing ground' within the formation for larger ships that punch through the screen.
Heavier screenships usually inhabit the inner edge of the screen, while the smallest and most nimble (but also least well-armed), which are usually called 'outriders', range as far out as twenty kilometers from the main fleet, as scouts. Outriders are usually equipped with long-range sensors, and occasionally carry a second crewman to operate them.
Screenship Armament: usually comprised of rapid-firing kinetic projectile weapons for close-range strafing. The thin armour of all but the largest Battlecruisers means that these weapons have a high chance to penetrate, though a low chance of damaging essential systems. Larger screenships are equipped with heavier weapons to cause more critical system damage, usually guided missiles.
Screenship Armour: low to non-existant. Screenships rely on their speed to evade heavier ships' fire, and keeping their distance to evade the relatively short-range weapons of other screenships.
Screenship Crew: one pilot, and in some outriders, a sensor operator.
