Before Humans, Wolven, Kreeghors, and any of the other major races of the Three Galaxies rose to power, there was a race known as Valdemarians. From archaeological digs on the remnants of their home planets, they appear to have been related to elves although unlike elves they don't seem to have relied on magic but instead on technology. None of the races of elves profess any knowledge about the race although their are some radical scholars that think that the elves of the Three Galaxies might have descended from them.

Something happened to them over sixty-five thousand years ago, some type of calamity which all of their planets were stripped of their atmosphere. At first it was thought that some kind of war caused it but now the leading theory is that some kind of natural catastrophe was the cause. The leading theory is a gamma ray burst from a neutron star struck directly at their civilization. Unlike the dominate races in the Three Galaxies, they were not all that spread out and there were only about a dozen system controlled by them within only about a four dozen light year diameter area. Of course this does not explain why they did not simply escape using their faster than light. Perhaps the even caused some kind of disturbance in gravity waves which prevented their faster than light drives from functioning.

They were masters of it and it is only now that the cultures of the Three Galaxies are beginning to approach their level. This is amply clear from the remnants of their ships and facilities orbiting planets which once sustained life. Most manufacturing seemed to have been orbit and extremely automated. Very little actual technology has even been recovered from their ships. Whatever hit their systems, it showed just how fragile even the toughest starship is. Hulls are mangled and internally very little is recognizable. Here and there, the golden alloy there ships were made from can still be seen reflecting the light from the stars they have orbited for millenniums. From bits and pieces, some of what their technology was can be determined although the various missions over the centuries to their system has been able to recover anything actually working. Computer reconstructions of what their ships once looked like are striking.

The Valdemarians seemed to live by the belief that the only way that they could live in peace was to be ready for war. At their peak, the Valdemarian military forces, even though centered around just a small number of systems, could likely have fought the Consortium of Civilized Worlds and the Trans-Galactic Empire to a standstill. The core of their main battle fleet seemed to be a dozen, maybe more, Valdemarian Battle Spheres. No starship known in the Three Galaxies is larger than them and only the Kreeghor Armageddon Super Dreadnought even comes close. The wreckage of these huge warships has been found in multiple systems once controlled by the Valdemarians. It is believed that these warships required decades to built even with the extensive automation of the orbital facilities and required huge resources.

As a result, the Valdemarians build other classed of warships as well although all classes tended to be far larger than their present counterparts with the exception of fighters. There was a class considered to be a heavy cruiser which presently would be considered a battleship or a battle cruiser. There was also a class of ship considered to be classed as a destroyer which is about the same size as a Consortium Warshield class cruiser. All of these were built in much larger numbers, likely over a hundred of the battleship sized vessels in total were built with about four times as many cruiser sized vessels. There is some hope that one or two might have been on patrol outside of immediate Valdemarian space and survive the apocalypse of their civilization. As well, some researchers believe that the Free Worlds Council vessel "Victory" is a refitted Valdemarian Heavy Cruiser. It was found far outside of space once controlled by the Valdemarians, thousands of light years. When they found the ship, it was stripped down to virtually its structure. If it is a Valdemarian ship, there is the strong possibility that the ship might have been stripped to form a colony which was then later abandoned for some reason. From the wreckage of these vessels found in Valdemarian systems, the shapes are extremely similar.

The Valdemarian do not seem to have used ani-matter for their ships but instead use fusion reactors using a gravity system to be incredibly efficient, about as efficient as the anti-matter systems used by most of the major powers of the Three Galaxies with far less logistics required. They did appear to use anti-matter on some of their warheads. The main drive system is similar to Contra-Grav systems used in the Three Galaxies at the present although they used a technology known as slip-streaming which doubled their faster than light speed. The Consortium of Civilized Worlds is working towards a breakthrough on this technology. These vessel's acceleration were pretty incredible as well for a ship of its size.

The Valdemarians heavy cruiser seems to have been crewed of around six hundred personnel, fairly small when compared to recent ships of around the same size such as the Protector class battleship. This was done using an impressive amount of automation. Unlike the Valdemarian Battle Sphere, these ships did not have full manufacturing facilities although they had extensive fabrication facilities. The heavy cruiser is not designed to be fully self sufficient. They do need to go back to facilities to pick up new fighters, missiles, supplies, and some repair parts cannot be fabricated aboard these ships. In addition to the crew, these ships also could carry up to four thousand troops for actions which required them although it is unknown how often they actually carried troops. Unlike the Battle Spheres, the Heavy Cruisers had a fairly limited fighter compliment. There were around forty starfighters normally carried and an additional ten heavy bombers.

The golden alloy these hulls were constructed from made the ships quite tough although obviously not tough enough to survive what the universe threw at them. While the ships are slightly less massive, they can withstand greater damage than a Consortium Protector class battleship. As well, the heavy cruiser has a micro-repair system similar to a Battle Sphere. The Valdemarian heavy cruisers also carried heavy shields, even more powerful than those carried on the Protector and Doombringer classes. While the shields don't outclass the shields on those vessels by any huge margin, the do clearly show technological superiority as with most other systems especially since the shield generators are actually smaller than those mounted in either the Consortium or Kreeghor vessels considered the closest to the Valdemarian Heavy Cruiser in capability.

Weapons are similar, if lighter, than the Valdemarian Battle Spheres. Main Battery was six heavy grazer beams with a 100 cm diameter. This is backed up with four gravity slicer beams of 80 cm diameter. The Valdemarians did not seem to believe in an intermediate battery although the ship did mount point defense batteries. A total of forty-eight point defense mounts are carried, evenly split between gravity and tachyon weapon mounts. These ships lack the gravity wave generator of the battle sphere. It does carry missiles though. While their missiles were not exactly the same as what is carried on most recent Three Galaxies vessels, they are mostly analogous to cruise missiles, long range missiles, and medium range missiles. The Valdemarians had all the same basic warhead types and most of the specialized types as well. These included decoy missiles, heavy anti-matter, singularity, and X-Ray laser warheads. They may have even had types unknown to present military forces. The ships did not have quite the missile throw weight of a Protector although there were also a bit smaller. Unfortunately, the lack of missile manufacturing facilities onboard these smaller vessels means that if any of these ships survived, it is likely that their missiles were expended long ago.

Sensor systems are equal to the best available in the Three Galaxies, much of the technology spurred on by Machine People, with the ship having an extremely advanced artificial intelligence. It is not quite the equal of the system on the Battle Sphere although is capable of controlling the ship. Strategic and tactical planning is lacking and it cannot really be considered "Self Aware" in the same sense.

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

Model Type: Valdemarian Heavy Cruiser
Vehicle Type: Battleship / Battlecruiser
Crew: 600 (Can be run by only the ship's A.I.)
Troops: 4,200 Marines and 250 fighter / shuttle pilots.

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:
Power Armors:

4,000

Valdemarian Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	40	Valdemarian Fighters
	10	Valdemarian Heavy Bombers

Transports:

2

Valdemarian Assault Shuttles

Tanks & Other Vehicles:

8

Valdemarian Hover Tanks

M.D.C. By Location:

	100 cm Main Grazer Batteries (6):	6,000 each
	80 cm Gravity Slicer Beams Cannons (4):	4,000 each
	Cruise Missile Batteries (2):	5,000 each
	Long-Range Missile Batteries (4):	3,000 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (8):	1,000 each
	Point Defense Tachyon Dispersion Beams (24):	500 each
	Point Defense Gravity Mounts (24):	450 each
	[1] Bridge:	75,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	75,000
	Hanger Bay (4):	50,000 each
	[2] Main Engines (2, sides of rear of ship):	80,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	325,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	16,000 a side (96,000 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% (4,800 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 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: Carries enough life support and supplies for four years of uninterrupted travel for the entire crew and troop complement. This could be stretched to six years in an emergency. As well, range is greatly extended without troops embarked.

Statistical Data:
Length: 3,034.78 feet (925 meters)
Height: 1,066.27 feet (325 meters)
Width: 1,394.36 feet (475 meters)
Weight: 9.37 million tons (8.5 million 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 600,000 tons (544,000 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 200 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. Main Grazer Batteries (6): Six 100 cm grazer cannons are mounted in turrets with three to a side. By firing combined blasts, they can core a planetoid with a few shots. 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 mounted in the forward area of the ship and can be angled up to 120 degrees aft (can only fire one cannon at a target at that angle but can spin to be able to bring both batteries to bear) and can fire at a 30 degree angle up or down. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at FTL velocities. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for a large gun.
   Maximum Effective Range: 150,000 miles (241,000 km) in space and 150 miles (241 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega-Damage: 3D6x1,000 for a single blast (Cannot be combined together)
   Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire up to two times per melee round (Heavy Cruiser has 6 cannons so ship can fire a total of 12 single shots from the secondary battery.)
   Payload: Effectively unlimited.
2. Gravity Slicer Beam Cannons (4): 80 cm mounts which have a 180 degree arc of fire with two 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: 2D6x1,000 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 (Heavy Cruiser has 4 cannons so ship can fire a total of 8 single shots from the battery.)
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
3. Point Defense Tachyon Dispersion Beams (24): 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 (24): 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 20 reload of missiles (2,000 cruise missile reloads total)..
6. Four (4) 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: 200 total, 50 long range missiles per launcher. Ship has 20 reload of missiles (4,000 long range missile reloads total).
7. Eight (8) 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 3,200 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 10,000 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:

• Battlelink Main Control System: The Main Battlelink computer provides the Heavy Cruiser with the ability to share targeting data with other capital ships in the area, which provides all ships participating in the link with improved targeting solutions and hit chances, both for their point defense, as well as their capital weapon. systems. Due to the advanced nature of the system, it can actually battle link with almost any ship with the same type system. For more information regarding the Battlelink, go to Phase World Battle Link.
• Sentient Computer: The heavy Cruiser is controlled by an incredibly advanced computer system which is on the edge of being sentient. The ship is too large to dodge enemy fire but weapon systems have +4 to strike, the ship has +4 for partial dodges, and +2 to initiatives. Piloting and electronics and sensor skill rolls are considered to be at 92%.
  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 heavy cruiser are not increased from the fighter's onboard systems.

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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2009, Kitsune. All rights reserved.