TORPEDO SPHERE

TORPEDO SPHERE
Craft: Loronar's Torpedo Sphere
Type: Dedicated siege platform
Scale: Capital
Length: 1,900 meters
Skill: Capital ship piloting: Torpedo Sphere
Crew: 61,245, gunners: 2,030, skeleton: 20.415/+15
Crew Skill: Astrogation 3D+2, capital ship gunnery 4D+2,
capital ship piloting 3D+2, capital ship shields 4D, sensors
4D+1
Passengers: 8,540 (troops)
Cargo Capacity: 3.8 million metric tons
Consumables: 4 years
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperdrive Multiplier. x3
Hyperdrive Backup: xl8
Nav Computer Yes
Speed: 2
Hull: 9D+2
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive.50/1D
Scan: 75/3D
Search: 150/4D
Focus. 5/4D+2
Weapons:
10 Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 3
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 0D
SpaceRange: 3-15/35/75
Atmosphere Range: 6-30/70/150 km
Damage: 9D
500 Proton Torpedo Tubes
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 4
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 2-12/30/60
Atmosphere Range: 4-24/60/120 km
Damage: 9D (Specially calibrated to affect planetary
shields; do only 4D damage to other vessels)Capsul:  The Torpedo Sphere, a dedicated siege platform, is designed to accomplish one mission  to

knockout a planet's shields. Planetary shields, whether full or partial, protect a world from orbital

bombardment. It takes a lot of troops to assault a planet. It is easier and far less expensive to

simply pound a planet into submissionwith the weapons of a Star Destroyer. But planetary shields prevent this. The Torpedo Sphere is a

miniature Death Star, covered with thousands of dedicated energy receptors (DERs) designed to analyze

shield emissions. Planetary shields are never uniformly even. They experience power anomalies and

energy fluctuations just like other mechanical devices. The Torpedo Sphere parks in orbit around a

planet and trains its DERs upon the world to search for weak points in the shielding.  These weak

points rarely exceed more than a 20 percent power drop, but this is enough for the Torpedo Sphere to

bring down the shields.The Sphere contains 500 proton torpedo tubes arranged in an inverted conical formation. Surrounding

these tubes are 10 heavy turbolaser batteries. The actual destruction of a planet's shields is simple.

The Torpedo Sphere arrives and analyzes the shields. It finds both the weak points and the location of

the planet-bound shield generators. The Sphere then fires a salvo of torpedoes that knock a hole in the

shield (at a weak point), followed by blasts from the turbolasers to destroy the generators. Then the

bombardment of the planet can begin.That is the quick version. In reality, it takes almost a hundred heavy weapons technicians to

coordinate the tube launches. The target area rarely exceeds a six meter square. The hole this produces

is actually a power surge that only lasts a few microseconds. If the turbolasers have not made their

shots in this time, the process must start all over again.The most difficult part of the entire process is determining exactly where the shield generators lie.

Sensors cannot penetrate full planetary shields, so the crew of the Sphere must study the power waves

within the shield to determine where the initial power is coming from.There are only six Torpedo Spheres currently in service. They perform only one function, but it is an

important one in these times of open rebellion.