Mass Effect Starships: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:02, 9 February 2017

Starships are spacecraft capable of traveling between star systems using thrusters and FTL drives.

Large Military Vessels

Larger warships are classified in one of four weights:

Frigates

Frigates are light escort and scouting vessels. They often have extensive GARDIAN systems to provide anti-fighter screening for capital ships, and carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty. Unlike larger vessels, frigates are able to land on planets.

The most important role filled by frigates is reconnaissance. Sensors, unlike ships and communications employing the mass effect, are limited to the speed of light. Subsequently, a stationary observer can only detect a vessel one light-year away when its light arrives at the observer's location, one year after leaving said vessel.

Because faster-than-light attackers always arrive before defenders can detect them with luminal sensors, attackers can always surprise defenders. For defense, fleets surround themselves with spheres of scouting frigates scanning for enemy ships and transmitting warnings to the main body.

Frigates achieve high FTL cruise speeds because of their high-performance drives. They also have proportionally larger thrusters and lighter design mass, allowing them greater maneuverability. In combat, speed and maneuverability make frigates immune to long-range fire of larger vessels.

In fleet combat, frigates are organized into "wolf pack" flotillas of four to six. Wolf packs speed through enemy formations, hunting enemy vessels whose kinetic barriers have been taken down by fighter-launched disruptor torpedoes. The wolf pack circle-strafes vulnerable targets, using their superior speed and maneuverability to evade return fire.

Cruisers

Cruisers are middle-weight combatants, faster than dreadnoughts, and more heavily-armed than frigates. Cruisers are the standard patrol unit, and often lead frigate flotillas. Cruisers cannot land on medium or high-gravity worlds, but do possess the ability to land on low-gravity planets.

Cruiser-weight starships are the standard combat unit encountered away from large naval bases, the "poor bloody infantry" of most fleets. Nimble scouting frigates have neither the punch nor the stamina to stand up to serious combat, and the mighty dreadnoughts are a strategic resource, carefully hoarded and committed to the most critical battles.

Cruisers perform routine independent "show the flag" patrols in settled systems and lead flotillas of frigates in small engagements, such as pirate suppression campaigns. In major fleet engagements, cruiser squadrons support the dreadnought battle line by screening their flanks against enemies attempting to maneuver for a main gun "bow shot" from their vulnerable broadsides.

Carriers

Carriers are dreadnought-sized vessels that carry a large number of fighters. All races provide their fleets with organic fighter support. Cruisers fit a handful in the space between the interior pressure hulls and exterior armor. Dreadnoughts have a hangar deck within the hull. Humans – who had only recently "graduated" from surface to space combat – were the first to build ships wielding fighters as the main armament.

In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong.

It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier.

Dreadnoughts

Dreadnoughts are kilometer-long capital ships mounting heavy, long-range firepower. They are only deployed for the most vital missions. A dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun. Dreadnoughts range from 800 meters to one kilometer long, with a main gun of commensurate length. An 800-meter mass accelerator is capable of accelerating one twenty-kilogram slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s (1.3% the speed of light) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of about 38 kilotons of TNT, about two and a half times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.

The Treaty of Farixen stipulates the amount of dreadnoughts a navy may own, with the turian peacekeeping fleet being allowed the most. As of 2183, the turians had 37 dreadnoughts, the asari had 21, the salarians had 16, and the Alliance had 6 with another under construction. As of 2185, the dreadnought count was 39 turian, 20 asari, 16 salarian, and 8 human. By 2186, humans construct a ninth dreadnought, and the volus have built a single dreadnought of their own. The geth, unbound by the treaty, possess almost as many dreadnoughts as the turians. In preparation for the retaking of their homeworld, the quarians fitted their Liveships with dreadnought cannons, effectively making them dreadnought-class vessels though with much weaker armor. The batarians are stated to possess dreadnoughts, but the exact number is unknown.

Dreadnoughts are so large that it is impossible to safely land them on a planet, and must discharge their drive cores into the magnetic field of a planet while in orbit. The decks of large vessels are arranged perpendicular to the ship's axis of thrust, so that the "top" decks are towards the front of the ship and the "bottom" decks are towards the rear of the ship.

Small Military Vessels

Combat Support Craft

Smaller vessels are exclusively used in a support role to the warships during combat:

Fighters are one-man craft used to perform close-range attacks on enemy ships.
Interceptors are one-man craft optimized for destroying opposing fighters.

Shuttles

Shuttles facilitate personnel transfer between large ships without the need to dock, or between a starship and the ground. Some models like the UT-47 Kodiak series are capable of independent FTL travel, and the UT-47A is equipped with both mass accelerator cannons and prototype stealth systems.

Corvettes

Corvettes are small, ten-man craft used to perform combat and survey missions.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-=='''Your Starship...'''==
+Starships are spacecraft capable of traveling between star systems using thrusters and FTL drives.
-..is more than just a collection of bolts, wires and nuts, its a home away from home, a protector in a ship to ship fight and even a business. If you're passing a dead moon and get jumped by a swarm of pirates, your starship becomes the most important thing you have.
+=='''Large Military Vessels'''==
-Like any other piece of hardware, the better you treat the ship, the better it will function. The ships in this section aren't all that's out there, not by far, but its a good sample of the sort that fill the spaceways.... and, if you're lucky, maybe you'll be flying one soon.
+Larger warships are classified in one of four weights:
-==='''Element Zero'''===
+==='''Frigates'''===
-When subjected to an electrical current, the rare material dubbed element zero, or 'eezo', emits a dark energy field that raises or lowers the mass of all objects within it. This 'mass effect' is used in countless ways, from generating artificial gravity to manufacturing high-strength construction materials. It is most prominently used to enable faster-than-light space travel.
+Frigates are light escort and scouting vessels. They often have extensive GARDIAN systems to provide anti-fighter screening for capital ships, and carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty. Unlike larger vessels, frigates are able to land on planets.
-Eezo is generated when solid matter, such as a planet, is affect by the energy of a star going supernova. The material is common in the asteroid that orbits neutron stars and pulsars. These are dangerous places to mine, requiring extensive use of robotics, telepresence and shielding to survive the incredible radiation from the dead star. Only a few major corporations can afford the set-up costs required to work these primary sources.
+The most important role filled by frigates is reconnaissance. Sensors, unlike ships and communications employing the mass effect, are limited to the speed of light. Subsequently, a stationary observer can only detect a vessel one light-year away when its light arrives at the observer's location, one year after leaving said vessel.
-Humanity discovered refined element zero at the Prothean research station on Mars, allowing them to create mass effect fields and develop FTL Travel.
+Because faster-than-light attackers always arrive before defenders can detect them with luminal sensors, attackers can always surprise defenders. For defense, fleets surround themselves with spheres of scouting frigates scanning for enemy ships and transmitting warnings to the main body.
-==='''Mass Effect Fields'''===
+Frigates achieve high FTL cruise speeds because of their high-performance drives. They also have proportionally larger thrusters and lighter design mass, allowing them greater maneuverability. In combat, speed and maneuverability make frigates immune to long-range fire of larger vessels.
-Element zero can increase or decrease the mass of a volume of space-time when subjected to an electrical current. With a positive current, the mass is increased. With a negative current, mass is decreased. The stronger the current, the greater the magnitude of the dark energy mass effect.
+In fleet combat, frigates are organized into "wolf pack" flotillas of four to six. Wolf packs speed through enemy formations, hunting enemy vessels whose kinetic barriers have been taken down by fighter-launched disruptor torpedoes. The wolf pack circle-strafes vulnerable targets, using their superior speed and maneuverability to evade return fire.
-In space, low-mass fields allow FTL travel and inexpensive surface-to-orbit transit. High-mass fields create artificial gravity and push space debris away from vessels.
+==='''Cruisers'''===
-The military makes extensive use of mobility enhancing technologies, with mass effect utilizing fighting vehicles standard front-line issue in most military forces. Mass effect fields are also essential in the creation of kinetic barriers or shields to protect against enemy fire.
+Cruisers are middle-weight combatants, faster than dreadnoughts, and more heavily-armed than frigates. Cruisers are the standard patrol unit, and often lead frigate flotillas. Cruisers cannot land on medium or high-gravity worlds, but do possess the ability to land on low-gravity planets.
-==='''FTL Drives'''===
+Cruiser-weight starships are the standard combat unit encountered away from large naval bases, the "poor bloody infantry" of most fleets. Nimble scouting frigates have neither the punch nor the stamina to stand up to serious combat, and the mighty dreadnoughts are a strategic resource, carefully hoarded and committed to the most critical battles.
-Faster-than-light drives use element zero cores to reduce the mass of the ship, allowing higher rates of acceleration. This effectively raises the speed of light within the mass effect field, allowing high speed travel with negligible relativistic time dilation effects.
+Cruisers perform routine independent "show the flag" patrols in settled systems and lead flotillas of frigates in small engagements, such as pirate suppression campaigns. In major fleet engagements, cruiser squadrons support the dreadnought battle line by screening their flanks against enemies attempting to maneuver for a main gun "bow shot" from their vulnerable broadsides.
-Starships still require conventional thrusters (chemical rockets, commercial fusion torch, economy ion engine, or military anti-proton drive) in addition to the FTL drive core. With only a core, a ship has no motive power.
+==='''Carriers'''===
-The amount of eezo and power required for a drive increases exponentially to the mass being moved and the degree it is being lightened. Very massive ships or very high speed are prohibitively expensive.
+Carriers are dreadnought-sized vessels that carry a large number of fighters. All races provide their fleets with organic fighter support. Cruisers fit a handful in the space between the interior pressure hulls and exterior armor. Dreadnoughts have a hangar deck within the hull. Humans – who had only recently "graduated" from surface to space combat – were the first to build ships wielding fighters as the main armament.
-If the field collapses while the ship is moving at faster-than-light speed, the effects are catastrophic. The ship is snapped back to sublight velocity, the enormous excess energy shed in the form of lethal Cerenkov radiation.
+In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong.
-==='''Drive Charge'''===
+It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier.
-As positive or negative electric current is passed through an FTL drive core, it acquires a static electrical charge. Drives can be operated an average of 50 hours before they reach charge saturation. This changes proportional to the magnitude of mass reduction; a heavier or faster ship reaches saturation more quickly.
+==='''Dreadnoughts'''===
-If the charge is allowed to build, the core will discharge into the hull of a ship. All ungrounded crew members are fried to a crisp, all electronic systems are burned out, and metal bulkheads may be melted and fused together.
+Dreadnoughts are kilometer-long capital ships mounting heavy, long-range firepower. They are only deployed for the most vital missions. A dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun. Dreadnoughts range from 800 meters to one kilometer long, with a main gun of commensurate length. An 800-meter mass accelerator is capable of accelerating one twenty-kilogram slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s (1.3% the speed of light) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of about 38 kilotons of TNT, about two and a half times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.
-==='''Discharging'''===
+The Treaty of Farixen stipulates the amount of dreadnoughts a navy may own, with the turian peacekeeping fleet being allowed the most. As of 2183, the turians had 37 dreadnoughts, the asari had 21, the salarians had 16, and the Alliance had 6 with another under construction. As of 2185, the dreadnought count was 39 turian, 20 asari, 16 salarian, and 8 human. By 2186, humans construct a ninth dreadnought, and the volus have built a single dreadnought of their own. The geth, unbound by the treaty, possess almost as many dreadnoughts as the turians. In preparation for the retaking of their homeworld, the quarians fitted their Liveships with dreadnought cannons, effectively making them dreadnought-class vessels though with much weaker armor. The batarians are stated to possess dreadnoughts, but the exact number is unknown.
-The safest way to discharge a core is to land on a planet and establish a connection to the ground, like a lightning rod. Larger vessels like dreadnoughts cannot land and must discharge into a planetary magnet field. The ship passes the charge from the drive core to the exterior armored hull, then dives into the magnetic field.
+Dreadnoughts are so large that it is impossible to safely land them on a planet, and must discharge their drive cores into the magnetic field of a planet while in orbit. The decks of large vessels are arranged perpendicular to the ship's axis of thrust, so that the "top" decks are towards the front of the ship and the "bottom" decks are towards the rear of the ship.
-As the hull discharges, sheet of lightning jump away into the field, creating auroral displays on the planet. The ship must retract its sensors and weapons while dumping charge to prevent damage, leaving it blind and helpless. Discharging at a moon with a weak magnetic field can take days. Discharging into the powerful field of a gas giant may require less than an hour. Deep space facilities such as the CItadel often have special discharge facilities for visiting ships.
+=='''Small Military Vessels'''==
-==='''Starship Statistics'''===
+==='''Combat Support Craft'''===
-For a full list of what each stat is see the Star Wars D6 RPG pgs 246-247. Below are Mass Effect specific stats that you will see for each ship.
+Smaller vessels are exclusively used in a support role to the warships during combat:
-'''Kinetic Barriers''': replace Shields from Star Wars with Kinetic Barriers. As explained earlier, add this number to your ships Hull when it suffers damage, each time losing 1D in effectiveness. Remember, unmodified starship shields regen at 1D per round not taking damage.
+*Fighters are one-man craft used to perform close-range attacks on enemy ships.
+*Interceptors are one-man craft optimized for destroying opposing fighters.
-'''FTL Speed''': replace hyperdrive multiplier with FTL speed. This number is represented in tens of thousands (10,000s) of kilometers per second.
+==='''Shuttles'''===
-'''Discharge Time''': this is how long it takes the ship to fully discharge the core. Represented in hours or days.
+Shuttles facilitate personnel transfer between large ships without the need to dock, or between a starship and the ground. Some models like the UT-47 Kodiak series are capable of independent FTL travel, and the UT-47A is equipped with both mass accelerator cannons and prototype stealth systems.
-==='''Starship Types'''===
+==='''Corvettes'''===
-Each type of starship is designed for different purposes, from civilian transports to military defensive craft and warships.
+Corvettes are small, ten-man craft used to perform combat and survey missions.
-'''Transports''': This is the typical kind of ship owned by private individuals. It is basically a space freighter, used to haul cargo around the galaxy. This category also covers ships designed to carry passengers, like luxury liners.
-'''Fighters''': One-man craft used to perform close-range attacks on enemy ships.
-'''Interceptors''': One-man craft optimized for destroying opposing fighters.
-'''Frigates''': Small, fast ships used for patrolling and for screening larger vessels. On their own, frigates do not pack much of a punch, but when operating in "wolf-pack flotillas", they can often overwhelm larger vessels.
-'''Cruisers''': Middle-weight combatants, faster than dreadnoughts, and more heavily-armed then frigates. Cruisers are the standard patrol unit, and often lead frigate flotillas.
-'''Dreadnoughts''': Kilometer-long capital ships mounting heavy, long-range firepower. They are only deployed for the most vital missions. Treaties stipulate the amount of dreadnoughts a navy may own, with the turian peacekeeping fleet being allowed the most. (For every five turian dreadnoughts, the other Council races are allowed three. For every three Council dreadnoughts, associate races are allowed one. Hence, if the turians have five dreadnoughts, the asari may have three and the humans may have one.)
-=='''Starships'''==
-*[[Mass Effect KcV 1100 Light Courier|KcV 1100 Light Courier]]
-*[[Mass Effect Heavy Freighter|Heavy Freighter]]
-*[[Mass Effect Spacehawk Defense Interceptor|Spacehawk Defense Interceptor]]
-*[[Mass Effect FK-15 "Frigate Killer"|FK-15 "Frigate Killer"]]
-*[[Mass Effect Systems Support Frigate|Systems Support Frigate]]
-*[[Mass Effect Obliterator Class Cruiser|Obliterator Class Cruiser]]
-*[[Mass Effect Typical Dreadnought|Typical Dreadnought]]