
Valdemarian Battle Sphere:
The Valdemarians was a race which predated by many millenniums any of the known races of the Three Galaxies. Archaeological evidence indicates that they are relatives of elves. It is possible that the Prometheans may have been around during their heyday but no one else. There also was enough distance that neither culture might have actually had any contact. Unlike the Consortium of Civilized Worlds and Trans-Galactic Empire, the civilization was not widely spread out but instead were only in about a dozen systems and were within a sphere of only around forty light-years of each other. Some disaster destroyed the civilization with some evidence being a gamma radiation blast from a neutron star. Some Consortium scientists theorize that a gravity wave from the event also causes a disruption which prevented escape using faster than light drives.
The race was extremely advanced, equal to the most advanced technology in development in the Consortium and Trans-Galactic Empire militaries although cannot be considered super-tech. Several archeological and military research missions have been sent to what had once been Valdemarian space although little has been able to be recovered. Virtually all of their equipment was destroyed. By most evidence, the Valdemarian culture appears to be relatively peaceful but followed the old adage that for peace you needed to be prepared for war.
One of the most advanced areas of technology for the Valdemarian culture was their construction facilities which where almost completely automated. As a result, their production was incredible for a race which spanned as few a systems as they did. It is believed that a full dozen Battle Spheres (actually thirteen were built), each the size of a small moon, were built. They are among the largest vessels believed to have ever been built in the Three Galaxies. In fact, the only ship which approximately equals the size of a Battle Sphere is the Kreeghor Armageddon Super Dreadnought. Valdemarian Battle Spheres are not quite spherical, being around 3,000 meters wide and tall and 3,500 meters long.
There are no known surviving Battle Spheres and their size has been derived from the wreckage of a vessel. As such, most consider that the Kreeghor ship is the largest warship in the Three Galaxies. Still, there is a rumor that a Battle Sphere is still operational perhaps controlled by the advanced artificial intelligence known to be at the heart of these ships. While there is data records of encounters with this ship, usually to have the ship to fade out within moments, many experts consider the records to be faked.
These ships appear to have taken a couple of decade to build each although only two yards were capable of building them. As a result, these ships were built over the course of centuries. These ships are designed to be able to operate completely independently and for a virtually unlimited period. The ship has full facilities to make repairs to the hull, weapons, and various systems. In these ships were also the facilities to built new missiles, fighters, and even bombers as long as there is a supply of raw materials.
Power is provided by fusion reactors not anti-matter but the reactors use extremely high powered gravity fields and are incredibly efficient. Drives are a modified version of contra-grav drives called a slip-stream drive and has a maximum faster than light travel of sixteen light years per hour. Acceleration in normal speed is also incredible for a ship of its size.
Designed to be operated by a crew of around ten thousand, these multiple purpose vessels have space to carry up to one hundred thousand passengers and could be used as colony ships. There is some speculation that several surviving ships might have been used to transport the remains of the Valdemarian to a new galaxy cluster far away from the Three Galaxies. These ships can carry around half that number of marines with power armor. Factory facilities allow up to one hundred power armor per hour to be manufactured. As well, the ship can carry up to twenty-five hundred fighters and heavy bombers. Manufacturing facilities allows up to twenty fighters or five bombers to be built per hour.
It should be noted that command and control facilities on these ships is likely on as large a scale as the ships themselves are built on. The artificial intelligence can actually control the ships and the ship could fight without any crew. It actually extends to the point where fighters and other small craft could be operated independently. The computer system is only approached in capability by the Consortium Neural Prime computer and even that is less capable. Many believe that the computer on the Battle Sphere was an impression of a sentient mind.
These ships are immensely armored and protected by massive force fields. It is believed that the shields are around six times more powerful than those carried on a Consortium Protector class battleship. These ships are capable of taking damage which might destroy an entire fleet or battleships. There is the suggestion that none of these ships were ever destroyed in actual combat although it is extremely difficult to tell for sure.
The main energy battery are grazer type weapons which the Consortium has just introduced into their vessels. It is ironic that it appears that a cosmic gamma radiation weapon may be what too out the Valdemarian culture. The main weapon batteries could take out a battleship or dreadnought in a very few number of shots. A number of lighter grazer weapons are also mounted. These are fully as large as those carried on the Protector class battleship as the main battery. The grazer weapons are backed up with gravity weapons which are effective against targets which are impervious to energy. It appears likely that they had to fight enemy with magically protected ships which were unable to be damaged by normal energy weaponry.
For long range combat, these ships are armed with huge number of missile launchers. The ship have massive bay launchers, eight with each having the capacity for firing volleys of fifty missiles. While not identical to cruise missiles carried on Three Galaxies vessels, they are extremely similar. The ship carries ten thousand of these missiles and can manufacture these missiles at the rate of one hundred per hour. Most types of missiles can be built by the ship including X-Ray laser and heavy missiles equivalent to the specialty warheads produced by the Consortium and Trans-Galactic Empire. The ship also carries the equivalent of long range and medium range missile bays. These can also be manufactured onboard the ship. These are used for long range defense of the ship.
Point defense weaponry includes both Tachyon weaponry similar to those carried on New Coventry ships although longer ranged as well as more gravity weaponry although these mounts are much lighter than the main battery. The ship is believed to mount approximately two hundred point defense batteries including both types. The Tachyon weaponry is extremely effective against missile volleys which slip through the long range and medium range defense missiles.
The ship has a special Gravity Wave generator similar to the system carried on the Trans-Galactic Empire Death Trap FTL Interdictor. It creates a randomly variable gravity field which will pull ships out of faster than light mode. It works on ships using Contra-Grav and Phase Drives. Due to damage to safety systems, it usually takes around ten minutes for a FTL propulsion system to be reactivated once a ship has been pulled from FTL travel.
Ship design uses modified starship speeds and weapon ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Model Type: Valdemarian Battle Sphere
Vehicle Type: Combination Super Battleship / Super Carrier
Crew: 10,000 (Can be run by only the ship's A.I.)
Troops: 52,000 Marines and 10,000 fighter / shuttle pilots.
Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:
| 50,000 | Valdemarian Power Armors |
| 2,000 | Valdemarian Fighters | |
| 500 | Valdemarian Heavy Bombers |
| 20 | Valdemarian Assault Shuttles |
| 100 | Valdemarian Hover Tanks |
M.D.C. By Location:
| 500 cm Main Grazer Batteries (2): | 25,000 each | |
| 100 cm Secondary Grazer Batteries (16): | 6,000 each | |
| 80 cm Gravity Slicer Beams Cannons (12): | 4,000 each | |
| [1] Gravity Wave Generators (4): | 5,000 each | |
| Cruise Missile Batteries (8): | 5,000 each | |
| Long-Range Missile Batteries (12): | 3,000 each | |
| Medium Range Missile Batteries (24): | 1,000 each | |
| Point Defense Tachyon Dispersion Beams (128): | 500 each | |
| Point Defense Gravity Mounts (128): | 450 each | |
| [1] Bridge: | 400,000 | |
| [1] Auxiliary Bridge: | 400,000 | |
| Hanger Bay (4): | 100,000 each | |
| [2] Main Engines (2, sides of rear of ship): | 300,000 each | |
| [3] Main Body: | 1,500,000 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field: | 60,000 a side (360,000 Total) |
Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done to get a weapon
through the armor on a called shot to hit the bridge. This ship also has
an auxiliary bridge. The ship can still be piloted from engineering even
if both bridges are destroyed but the ship is -3 to dodge. All weapon systems
will be at locally control at the weapon mounts. Weapon hits near the bridge
can injure crew members near the bridge. The main computer core is located
in the main bridge with a full backup in the secondary bridge.
[2] Destroying the main engines eliminates F.T.L. systems and reduces
maximum sublight speed by half.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Battle Sphere
out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life
support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable
floating wreck. If the ship is wrecked, self repair system will stop functioning.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (18,000 M.D.C.) per 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. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate
at the rate of 0.8 percent of light per melee. (If the Slip stream generators
are damage, reduce acceleration to 0.6 percent of light per melee)
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 100 mph (161 kph),
can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric
flight and cannot land on a planet.
Stardrive: Standard CG-Drive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive
system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 8 light years per hour.
Gravitronic Slip Stream Drive: Doubles normal faster than light
speed to a maximum of 16 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
Has full facilities to support the ship for an indefinite period including
a huge hydroponic section.
Statistical Data:
Length: 13,123.4 feet (4,000 meters)
Height: 9,186.4 feet (2,800 meters)
Width: 9,186.4 feet (2,800 meters)
Weight: 826.7 million tons (750 million metric tons)
Power System: Advanced High Density Fusion, Duration without
refueling of 40 years. Has the ability to refuel reactor on its own for
has virtually unlimited duration.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 110 million tons (100 million metric 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 ship's spaces are taken
up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: No ships of this design have ever been put on sale
on the market (or probably ever will be). Estimated cost of the vessel
is 1 trillion or more credits. Most governments would bankrupt themselves
to get possession of one of these ships or to prevent others from acquiring
one.
Weapon Systems:
Other Systems:
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