Q-Ships can be called "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing." They are basically ships designed to look like standard merchant ships while being heavily armed warships. Groups such as the Consortium of Civilized Worlds use the ships for anti-piracy operations. Some less reputable groups use the ships as privateers. The ships are also great for the first wave of an attack since they look like merchant ships unless very carefully scanned and even then it is hard to tell that they are Q-Ships in most cases. Some Q-Ships are built from the hull out as Q-Ships while others are refitted merchant vessels. Most Q-Ships are built around the destroyer size class although there is a small number of cruiser class Q-Ships built. There are no battleship or dreadnought class Q-Ships. They are considered to simply be too expensive to construct.
The Trans-Galactic Empire uses more Q-Ships than most of the militaries within the Three Galaxies although most are of destroyer class. Still, there is a fair number of cruiser class Q-Ships in service with the Trans-Galactic Empire. Intelligence indicates that there is anywhere from a dozen to almost a hundred cruiser class Q-Ship operated by the Trans-Galactic Empire. Most accounts give around thirty to fifty of these larger Q-ships. It is also believed that there are a small number of Independent ships which were sold by the Empire. Empire Security is believed to have a surprisingly large number of Q-Sips, around twenty percent as many as the Empire's navy has. As might be expected, the Empire claims to operate no Q-Ships but that is an open lie. One story they tell is that the ships are really operated by the Free Worlds League. Often Imperial Security is answerable to nobody. Of course, the Empire claims that they are not with the Empire but are in fact pirates.
Because there is a distrust of Imperial vessels, most of the Empire's Q-Ships are converted from non-Kreeghor designs. One of the more common ships used is the Cargo Master because it has a large amount of space available to it and it is a fairly common vessel. Unlike with Consortium vessels, there are no Cargo Master style Q-Ships which are new built instead of being converted. Some smaller Q-Ships are custom built by the Empire but even most of them are converted from already existing merchant vessels as well.
When converted to the Q-Ship role, these ships are given additional armor although the ships are not as tough as if they were purpose built. Still they can take damage which would shred an unconverted Cargo Master. As with the smaller Q-Ships, some crews prefer the cruiser sized Q-Ship over their more standard Kreeghor cruiser designs, especially the Smasher. The Q-ship carries a larger payload of missiles, has a greater ability to absorb damage, and has better anti-missile defenses. Many Imperial Fleet Officers consider the Smasher to be more of a light carrier than really a cruiser.
To reduce time and costs involved in converting the vessels, the standard merchant drive systems are retained. This means that the ships can be rather slow both in faster than light travel and in normal space. As well, while the regular shields are replaced by variable force fields, the power is rather low compared to those on other ships such as the Consortium Warshield class cruiser. The ship does have full military radiation shielding to allow for greater sublight speeds. Due to power requirements of the new systems, the Q-Ships mounts an additional pair of fusion reactors. Sensors are upgraded to military standard and life support is supplemented to support the additional crew.
Generally merchant ships are at risk of attack from pirates and are armed with some light weaponry to hopefully be able to deal with such an event. Common weaponry includes six light laser mounts and six medium range missile batteries. The medium range missile launchers give the ship a form of medium range anti-missile defense which most Kreeghor vessels lack. Some military leaders would like something similar to be added to standard military vessels. These standard mounts are retained but are supplemented by additional weapon. All of the additional weaponry is carried in concealed mounts. The Trans-Galactic Empire has experimented with both powered hatches and blow away panels and both can be found on their Q-Ships. Most important weapon mounts that the Q-Ship carries is four cruise missile batteries with eighty cruise missiles per launcher. This gives the ship far more staying power in a long range ship to ship duel. Backing this up are a pair of thirty centimeter lasers similar to the main laser carried on the Smasher. As well, eight medium laser mounts are carried. For point defense, the ship carries twenty mounts beyond the visible laser mounts. Each of the retractable mounts has a mini-missile batter built in and twelve of the mounts carry lasers while the other eight carry gravity rail guns.
Fighter compliment is sixty fighters. The five squadrons are all Flying Fang fighters. There was consideration given to embarking Sharktooth light starfighters to increase fighter compliment but they are extremely rare outside of Imperial service while a fair number of Flying Fangs have been captured as well as sold to other parties. In addition to fighters, the heavy Kreeghor Q-Ship embarks a large number of troops. The ship carries almost five hundred marines with around three hundred and sixty with power armors. These troops are usually used in boarding parties but might form the spearhead of a surprise assault as well. The ship has a large crew compliment than the Consortium Q-Ship design of around the same class. This is due to the ship having a lack of automation and that the Trans-Galactic Empire puts less of a value on its personnel. As a result of the large crew and troop compliment, the ship is actually fairly cramped.
Starship design uses modified starship speeds and weapon ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Model Type: KRA-1200-Q
Vehicle Type: Q-Ship (Converted Medium Freighter design)
Crew: 445 (65 Officers and 380 enlisted)
Troops: 480 Marines, 96 fighter pilots
Vehicles:
Power Armors:
| 240 | Warlord Mark I | |
| 120 | Warlord Mark II |
| 60 | FF-100 Standard Flying Fangs or FFB-120 Flying Fang Bombers (Carries 4 Cruise missiles) |
M.D.C. By Location:
| Concealed 30 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (2): | 1,000 each | |
| Concealed 12 cm Secondary Heavy Laser Cannons (8): | 600 each | |
| Point Defense Laser Cannon Turrets (6): | 500 each | |
| Concealed Point Defense Lasers / Missile Batteries (12): | 250 each | |
| Concealed Point Defense GR Cannons/Missile Batteries (8): | 300 each | |
| Concealed Cruise Missile Batteries (4, Front & Sides): | 800 each | |
| Medium Range Missile Batteries (6): | 300 each | |
| Concealed Fighter Hanger Doors (2): | 2,500 each | |
| Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area): | 120 | |
| Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area): | 100 | |
| [1] Contra-Grav Engines (2): | 8,000 each | |
| [2] Bridge: | 10,000 | |
| [3] Main Body: | 55,000 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field: | 3,000 a side (18,000 Total) |
Notes:
[1] Destroying the main engines means that ship FTL systems are destroyed
and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon
to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship does not have an auxiliary
bridge. Even if the bridges is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted
from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be
at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the
ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Q-Ship out of
commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (900 M.D.C.) per melee round.
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship
to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light maximum due to civilian
shields. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.5 percent
of light per melee. Ship has had the merchant radiation and particle shields
replaced with military ones.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 250 mph (402 kph),
can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric
flight
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship
to reach a maximum of 2.5 lightyears per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
Carries about two years worth of supplies on board for the ship's crew.
Statistical Data:
Length: 950 feet (289.6 meters)
Height: 330 feet (100.6 meters)
Width: 320 feet (97.5 meters)
Weight: 330,000 Tons (300,000 metric tons)
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. Carries three
reactors onboard. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling
and refitting.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 40,000 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment
of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker
for personal items and uniforms. Ships officers have more space for personal
items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor,
troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: 4.2 billion credits for a rebuilt ship.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
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