The Valdemarians were a race who inhabited the Corkscrew galaxy in the neighbor of sixty-five thousand years before the present time. It is believed that the Prometheans are from the same time frame but the Prometheans claim no knowledge of the Valdemarians. From remains, they appear to have been a race quite closely related to the elves of the Mega-Verse. The Valdemarians were quite geographically limited in cosmic terms, inhabiting a sphere on only a few dozen light years in diameter. A cosmic event seemed to have destroyed the race. Perhaps it was a Super Nova or perhaps it was something more exotic. Whatever happened, even faster than light travel did not seem to be able to save them.

Their technology was quite advanced and it is only now that the dominant cultures of the Three Galaxies seem to be approaching their technological level. They were masters of the gamma radiation laser (which is ironic because it appears that their culture was destroyed by intense gamma radiation), gravity based weaponry and propulsion, automation in advance of anything presently in the Three Galaxies, and self aware artificial intelligence. While their technology appears to have been more advanced that the technology of the Consortium and Trans-Galactic Empire, it does not appear to be hugely superior to either of them. Very little of their technology remains with only bits and pieces having been found. The former life supporting planets of the Valdemarian systems have little more than the twisted and melted hulls of ships and stations orbiting them.

One item which most of their warships designs have in common is that their ships are quite large for their class. Their heavy cruisers are the size of the Protector class battleship and the destroyer is not exception to this. At around a quarter of a million metric tons, the Valdemarian destroyer is quite a bit larger than a Consortium Warshield class cruiser and can be compared to the largest cruiser classes in the Three Galaxies.

It is believed that at one time they had between four hundred and five hundred of these destroyers in their fleets. Only extensive automated orbital factories seem to have made this possible. The Consortium of Civilized Worlds would have to mobilize a large percentage of their forces to deal with the Valdemarians if they still existed even though the Consortium does have a significant edge in numbers. Of course, this is scattered between three separate Galaxies. While some researchers have tried to describe the destroyers role more like that of a heavy cruiser, it seems that they were used more like destroyers, acting as fleet defense for larger units and lightning scouting as one might expect. While parts and twisted hull of Valdemarian destroyers have been found, a completely intact ship has never been found.

As with all Valdemarians designs, the ship was not powered by anti-matter but instead is powered by a high density fusion reactor. This was likely much safer than anti-matter in most respects, was easier to refuel, and produced a similar power output as the anti-matter reactors in the ships of the younger races such as Humans, Wolfen, Kreeghor, and others. Anti-Matter appears to have been used in some of their weapon systems especially capital scale missiles.

The drive of the ship is a Gravitronic Slip Stream Drive and the ship was twice as fast as most warships operated by the major powers in faster than light travel. Maximum speed was likely around sixteen light years per hour. This is extremely interesting due to how small an area of space that the Valdemarians appeared to have controlled. Acceleration in normal space was slightly faster than most heavy cruisers and destroyers operated in modern times in the Three Galaxies.

Crew was quite small for a ship of its size, normal crew is around two hundred. This is only a little larger crew size than a destroyer of a much smaller mass. This is able to be done due to a high level of automation and the ship had an almost, although not quite, self aware artificial intelligence. As with larger ships, the artificial intelligence could control and fight the ship on its own. Still, it appeared to operate more efficiently when fully manned. It did also have weaknesses compared to the larger Artificial Intelligence of such ships as the Battle sphere of being unable to control fighters efficiently. Sensor systems were as advanced as the most advanced prototype systems mounted on a heavy cruiser presently in the Three Galaxies.

The ship could carry a quite good sized marine compliment with a marine compliment of two hundred with troops normally outfitted with power armors. The ship also seems to have embarked about twenty fighters. No heavy bombers or heavy ground armor appear to have been embarked. Troops are considered mostly to have been used for ship protection, boarding actions, and possibly uncontested support roles. Ground support roles seem to have been intended for the Battle Sphere and the Heavy Cruiser classes.

The golden composite and alloy armor of the warship was as tough as any heavy cruiser armor currently in service in the Three Galaxies. It could take incredible abuse before being destroyed. There was a self repair system fitted to the ship. While the The ship was protected by variable shield as tough as any ship of the same size class. The brand new Champion class cruiser operated by the Consortium of Civilized Worlds has shields of approximately the same power level. Some older battleship classes have shields of similar power level to the Valdemarian destroyer.

The Valdemarian Destroyer's main battery was of Grazers or Gamma Radiation Lasers. Instead of being a mixed heavy and light battery, the main battery were four heavy mounts of 30 cm class. Grazers are more about twenty-five percent more powerful than similar sized lasers and have approximately one quarter better range as well. There were two mounts to either side of the main hull and all four were able to be concentrate into a forward firing arc. This is backed up by a pair of gravity slicer beams. Even though individually slightly larger at 40 cm each, the weapons are slightly less powerful and have slightly less range. They have an advantage over pure energy weapons against magical "Impervious to Energy" enchantments. They also are able to often penetrate extremely deeply into their target. Point defense is a fairly standard battery with twelve point defense gravity beams and twelve variable focus Tachyon Dispersion Beams. These weapons seemed to be the last ditch defense battery of all Valdemarian ship designs.

Missile throw weight for capital missiles was around the same as a Valdemarian Heavy Cruiser but the ship has much smaller magazines. The long range defense missile batteries are half the launch capacity of the larger vessel's missile payload. This are backed up by medium range defense missiles with a total of four launchers compared to eight for the Valdemarian Heavy Cruiser. The ship's missile capacity is larger than either the Consortium Warshield or Kreeghor Smasher class cruiser. The New Coventry Warspite class cruiser is optimized for heavy missile throw weight over increased energy weapon batteries and is one of the few modern vessels of a similar size class which actually has a heavier capital missile battery than the Valdemarian Destroyer. Missiles were not exactly the same as modern missiles but had extremely similar characteristics. All missile types which are in use presently in the Three Galaxies seem to have an analog missile type in the Valdemarian missiles. This includes decoy missiles, heavy anti-matter, singularity, and X-Ray laser warheads.

Ship design uses modified starship speeds and weapon ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model Type: Valdemarian Destroyer
Vehicle Type: Heavy Cruiser
Crew: 200 (Can be run by only the ship's A.I.)
Troops: 200 Marines and 60 fighter pilots.

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:

200

Valdemarian Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

20

Valdemarian Fighters

M.D.C. By Location:

	30 cm Main Grazer Batteries (4):	4,000 each
	40 cm Gravity Slicer Beams Cannons (2):	2,500 each
	Cruise Missile Batteries (2):	5,000 each
	Long-Range Missile Batteries (2):	3,000 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (4):	1,000 each
	Point Defense Tachyon Dispersion Beams (12):	500 each
	Point Defense Gravity Mounts (12):	450 each
	[1] Bridge:	20,000
	Hanger Bay (2):	20,000 each
	[2] Main Engines (2, sides of rear of ship):	25,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	80,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	8,000 a side (48,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] 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.
[2] Destroying the main engines means that ship F.T.L. propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the destroyer 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% (2,400 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. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 1.0 percent of light per melee. (If the Slip stream generators are damage, reduce acceleration to 0.8 percent of light per melee.)
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 300 mph (480 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for extended atmospheric use.
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: Carries enough life support and supplies for two years of uninterrupted travel for the entire crew and troop complement. This could be stretched to three years in an emergency. As well, range is greatly extended without troops embarked.

Statistical Data:
Length: 918.64 feet (280 meters)
Height: 262.47 feet (80.0 meters)
Width: 311.68 feet (95.0 meters)
Mass/Weight: 276,000 Tons (250,000 metric tons)
Power System: Advanced High Density Fusion, Duration without refueling of 40 years. Unlike the Valdemarian Battle Sphere, the ship cannot refuel itself.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 16,000 tons (14,500 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 ships spaces are take 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 20 billion 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:

1. Four (4) 30 cm Heavy Graser Cannons: Graser cannons use focused gamma radiation and are very powerful. The weapon mounts have about a 25% increase in both range and damage over standard laser cannons of the same size. The weapon mounts are one sides of the vessel but can be fired fully forward but can be angled as close as 6. The mounts can spin to be able to bring both batteries to bear) and can fire at a 30 degree angle up or down. These cannons are capable of destroying frigates in one hit and are capable of badly damaging larger ships as well. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for a large starship weaponry. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities.
   Maximum Effective Range: 150,000 miles (241,000 km) in space and 150 miles (241 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 2D6x1,000 MDC each, two on a side can be combined for a total of 4D6x1,000, and all four can be combined for damage of 8D6x1,000.
   Rate of fire: Maximum of Two (2) times per melee per cannon.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Gravity Slicer Beam Cannons (2): 40 cm mounts which have a 180 degree arc of fire with one on each side. The weapon uses controlled opposing gravimetric waves to create an energy beam weapon that shreds the target. Due to the deep penetration of the weapon, it has a much better chance to do critical damage to the target and ships dread the slicer beam hitting their fusion reactors. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Each Gravity Slicer Beam Cannon fires individually and has a 60-degree arc of fire. Since gravity propagates itself at FTL speeds, this weapon can actually be used against vehicles that are traveling at faster than the speed of light. The weapons do full damage to targets in magic rich universes with the spell impervious to energy.
   Maximum Effective Range: 100,000 miles (160,000 km) in space and 100 miles (160 km) in atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 1D6x1,000 per Slicer beam strike (optional rule is that cannon gets a critical on a natural 18, 19, or 20 due to its high penetration)
   Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire up to two times per melee round (Destroyer has 2 cannons so ship can fire a total of 4 single shots from the battery.)
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
3. Point Defense Tachyon Dispersion Beams (12): Mounted on top, bottom, and sides of the starship. The main purpose of this system is as an anti-missile point defense. Mount has greater range than the weapon mounts on New Coventry and other military vessels. Like other Tachyon point defense mounts, the stream lasts for significant fraction of a second and missiles tend to run into the stream. This can detonate a whole volley of missiles before they strike the ship (Roll once against a volley and unless the missiles roll to dodge greater than strike roll, they are all destroyed.) This system has an interesting property that the system can actually be used at FTL speeds because Tachyons travel faster than the speed of light.. Each Point Defense Tachyon Dispersion Beam is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.
   Maximum Effective Range: 99.4 miles (160 km) with a width of 12.4 miles (20 km), range and width is one sixteenth in atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 2D6x10 each.
   Rate of fire: Maximum of four (4) times per melee each (+4 to strike when controlled by the ship's computer)
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
4. Point Defense Gravity Mounts (12): These weapons are basically lighter versions of the gravity slicer beams. The weapon uses controlled opposing gravimetric waves to create an energy beam weapon that shreds the target. Unlike the heavier weapons, these gravity weapons do not have the penetration to inflict deep criticals. These are designed to be useful against fighters, missiles, and other small targets. Since gravity propagates itself at FTL speeds, this weapon can actually be used against vehicles that are traveling at faster than the speed of light. The weapons do full damage to targets in magic rich universes with the spell impervious to energy.
   Maximum Effective Range: 6 miles (9.65 km) through atmosphere and 600 miles (965 km) in space.
   Mega Damage: 3D6x10
   Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5) - Controlled by Ship's Computer has 6 attacks per melee (+4 to strike when controlled by the ship's computer)
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
5. Two (2) Cruise Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) See Modified starship rules for more details, Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
   Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC).
   Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 12, 25, or 50 per launcher, per melee round, for a maximum of 128 missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
   Payload: 100 total, 50 cruise missiles per launcher. Ship has 10 reload of missiles (1,000 cruise missile reloads total).
6. Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Long range missiles do not have minuses to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
   Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,89700 km/9.7 light seconds) in space. At game masters option, missile range can be increased by 25% due to more advanced technology.
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 12, 25, or 50 per launcher, per melee attack.
   Payload: 100 total, 50 long range missiles per launcher. Ship has 10 reload of missiles (1,000 long range missile reloads total).
7. Four (4) Medium Range Missile Launchers: Like other Phase world systems, weapon system range and speed has been increased. Missile range is 1000 times normal in space and double normal range in an atmosphere. Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Normally used for anti-fighter and middle layer point defense.
   Maximum Effective Range: 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space. At game masters option, missile range can be increased by 25% due to more advanced technology.
   Mega-Damage: Varies with medium range missile type (See Phase World Missiles.)
   Rate of fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, 8, 12, or 25 missiles per launcher.
   Payload: 400 per launcher for a total of 1,600 medium range missiles.
8. Micro-Repair System: The starship has several hundred thousand tiny robots to do repairs. These robots can repair both system damage or hull damage. It repairs system damage by repairing and replacing component, wave guides, and wire runs. It repairs hull damage by first stabilizing he damage (repairs about half of damage), then by using on-board storage (carries 4,000 M.D.C. of materials), and finally by scavenging from objects around it. The ship can only scavenge from objects that it is touching or that it can travel on a surface to the object being a scavenged from. When stabilizing hull or using on board storage, M.D.C. is repaired at the rate of 2,000 M.D.C. per hour, but when micro-robots are scavenging, repair rate is limited to 500 M.D.C. per hour or less based on the availability of supplies. If the ship is wrecked, self repair system will stop functioning.

Other Systems:

• Sentient Computer: The Destroyer is controlled by an incredibly advanced computer system which is on the edge of being sentient. The ship's but weapon systems have +4 to strike, the ship has +4 for dodges, and +2 to initiatives. Piloting and electronics and sensor skill rolls are considered to be at 85%.
  The artificial intelligence is not as capable as the artificial intelligence of a Battle Sphere. As such, it cannot control fighters and other small craft as effectively as the larger ship. Bonuses for star fighters controlled by a Destroyer are not increased from the fighter's onboard systems.

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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2009, Kitsune. All rights reserved.