A Basestar which is also known as a "Baseship", is the main capital ship of the Cylon military forces. The Basestar is a more open design while the Colonial Battlestar is a more compact design. The Basestar's basic design appears to be two inverted "Y"s together. The Cylon capital ship generally appears to be more technically advanced with a much more advanced jump system and does not have a visible propulsion like Battlestars. While the ship is as fast as older Battlestars such as the Galactica, newer Battlestars have greater acceleration. Basestars are more of a pure carrier design than Battlestars with the ability to carry hundreds of fighters.

The interior of a Basestar is a maze of sleek but bland corridors and rooms, unlike Battlestars which are filled with various equipment in the ships passageways. Human type Cylons project an environment over the ship which might include a forest or a city landscape. The ships do not use keyboards but instead use a neural interface system which they simply put their hands in a basin with what looks like water. Under the water, there is a brightly lit surface.

A Basestar is incredibly automated. The systems onboard a Basestar are controlled by a partially humanoid Cylon which is incorporated into the vessel. They are know as a Hybrid and are in all respects of identity and control, the ship itself. The ship is an extension of the Hybrid's body and she is the Basestar's mind. While the Hybrid appears partially humanoid, she is not considered a fellow Cylon agent and lacks any voting power as the other agents have in Cylon affairs.

Command of a Basestar is by humanoid Cylons. Up to a total of all seven models of humanoid Cylon issue commands for the Basestar from the central command and control center. It is expected that consensus is reached by them and the process of deliberation and voting often causes the Basestar to react more than a Battlestar with the ship's Command and Control commanded ultimately by a single person.

While technically more advanced than Battlestars, Basestars rely more on fighters than a Battlestar and lack either point defense or heavy guns. The Basestar is instead are with a large number of missile launching turrets. The ships can launch both conventional and nuclear missiles. Normally nuclear weapons are not used when fighters are engaged in close combat and a Battlestar can also get into close combat with a Basestar to avoid the use of nuclear missiles against them.

The compliment of fighters include both normal Raiders and heavy Raiders. Four hundred of the smaller fighter are carried and around eighty of the heavy Raiders are carried. As well, some Cylon ships carry a handful of Colonial craft which were captured during the renewed Human and Cylon war. Normal Raiders do not have a pilot but instead have an organic control "computer" built into the fighter. The Raiders can be launched even faster than a Battlestar can launch Vipers. Two hundred Raiders can be launched at a time. The heavy Raiders are often used in conjunction with the large numbers of Centurions onboard as troop transports.

General tactics of the Basestar are to launch a huge number of missiles, including nuclear warheads, until the massive number of Raiders embarked on the Basestar close with the enemy. When the Cylons destroyed the bulk of they Colonial Fleet in the first waves of the destruction of the Colonies, they used the backdoor in the compromised CNP program to drop the defenses of the Colonial forces and used nuclear weapons to take out the ships themselves.

Unlike Colonial Battlestars, Basestars are not heavily armored and are quite vulnerable in close range combat against the Colonial vessels. The Basestars do have extensive electronics including jamming and countermeasures. These systems make it very difficult for Colonial missiles to lock onto a Basestar. Otherwise, the Basestar mostly depends on its fighters to protect it at close range. Sensors on the Basestar are superior to even the most modern Battlestars such as the Mercury class.

This starship follows theoretical information about starships operating non chemical propulsion in space. This has meant much greater speeds and accelerations. Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the vessel's velocity.

Velocity = Acceleration x Time + Initial Velocity
Distance Traveled = Acceleration x ½ x Time ² + Initial Velocity x Time
1 G = 32 feet (9.8 m) per second ²

Model Type: Cylon Basestar
Vehicle Type: Combination Battleship/Carrier
Crew: 85 (1 Hybrid, 84 Humanoid Cylons)
Troops / Passengers: 2,000 "Centurion" marines, 400 Cylon Raiders, and has the ability to carry 200 passengers.
Vehicles:

	400	"Normal" Cylon Raiders
	80	"Heavy" Cylon Raiders
	2 to 4	Captured Colonial Raptors (Possible)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Cruise Missile Launchers (12):	800 each
	Long Range Missile Launchers (24):	500 each
	Hanger / launcher Bays (8):	10,000 each
	[1] Bridge / Command and Control:	20,000
	[2] Main Body:	80,000
	Hull Per 40 ft Area :	200

Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ships armor. Due to the ship being controlled by the Hybrid, the destruction of the Command and Control of the ship will disable the Basestar.
[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Basestar out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Space Propulsion: The starship does not have an effective top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Basestar can reach a top acceleration of 3 G but due to high fuel consumption and extra strain on the engines, the ship will normally travel at 0.5 G for any extended trips. Top acceleration is only meant for emergencies and combat maneuvers.
Because the Basestar is mostly unshielded from the effects of radiation and hypervelocity atomic particles (It is not completely unshielded), the vessel is not operated at speeds exceeding 20% of the speed of light.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The Basestar cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash. If the ship "Jumps" into a planetary atmosphere, it will drop like a rock although could theoretically jump out of the atmosphere before it hits the planet, Cylon Basestars have far more accurate jump drives than Colonial vessels.
Stardrive: A Basestar has a Jump Drive which enable the vessel to disappear in one location and appear at another location, potentially many light years distant, instantly. While this drive requires extensive calculations and consumes fuel each time the ship "Jumps," the powerful computer allows for quick calculations for jumps. The system can also make short range jumps.
Maximum Range: Conditionally unlimited, while the fusion rector gives power for a decade of service, the ship's propulsion is limited by the ship's reaction mass (The ship uses Tylium which is likely some hydrogen or helium isotope which has to be mined)
The vessel carries eight months of reaction mass for travel at 0.5 G of acceleration. Double the consumption of fuel for 1.0 G of acceleration and double the consumption again for every 1.0 G of acceleration beyond 1 G. This means the ship will burn the fuel 8 times faster than at 0.5 G of acceleration at maximum acceleration (3 G). The ship will often accelerate for a period of time and then shut down the engine and travel using the ships velocity. If the ships uses more than half of its reaction mass when accelerating, the ship will be unable to decelerate fully and the ship will normally only use a third or less of its fuel on accelerating so it does not run into a problem.. If the ship runs out of fuel then it must be refueled by another vehicle traveling faster or be lost.
If the ship has a large amount of flight operations, the ship is limited to about four months endurance at cruising speed from the fighters using the ships reaction mass.

Statistical Data:
Length: 5,100 feet (1,555 meters)
Height: 1,035 feet (315.3 meters)
Width: 4,290 feet (1,308 meters)
Weight: 22.05 million tons (20 million metric tons)
Power System: The ship is powered by fusion reactors that will theoretically operate for 50 years and can provide effectively unlimited electrical power. However, it was recommended that the drive and power system have routine maintenance every 5 years. Also, the ship only carries about an eight month supply of reaction mass / fuel for Jump drives.
Cargo: 551,160 tons (500,000 metric tons) of cargo not including munitions and general equipment onboard the Basestar. Quarters for the humanoid members of the crew are quite spacious. Still, most of the ship's spaces are taken up by extra ammo, armor, troops, weapons, engine, reaction mass, equipment.
Market Cost: 35 billion to construct.

Weapon Systems:

1. Twelve (12) Cruise Missile batteries: Mounted around the ship and can fire in practically any direction. These missiles are primarily used against capital ships and many have nuclear warheads. Missiles have -5 penalties to strike small targets such as missiles and fighters. Missiles are assumed to accelerate at 2 times normal mach speed in Gs greater than the starship's speed when used in space. Missiles can be launched at non moving targets beyond the powered range of the missiles to hit targets without the chance of the launching ship being hit by missiles itself. Each of these launchers can be targeted and fired at multiple targets. Note: Cylon Smart Missiles have +20% bonus against Colonial countermeasures but are otherwise treated as normal Smart Missiles.
   Maximum Effective Range: varies with missile type, cruise missiles (Powered range is x 8 in space)
   Mega-Damage: varies with cruise missile type (Use new missile/bomb tables).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time, or volleys of 2 per launcher (24 max per volley with all launchers), Can fire one missile volley per melee.
   Payload: 384 total long range with 32 each launcher. The ship usually carries 48 nuclear warheads (4 for each launcher.) The ship has an additional 728 cruise missile in storage in the ship's main magazines (Takes 4D6 minutes to reload)
2. Twenty-Four (24) Long Range Missile batteries: Mounted around the ship and can fire in practically any direction. These launcher are both used to launch anti-ship strikes and to launch against starfighters. Missiles are assumed to accelerate at 2 times normal mach speed in Gs greater than the starship's speed when used in space. Missiles can be launched at non moving targets beyond the powered range of the missiles to hit targets without the chance of the launching ship being hit by missiles itself. Each of these launchers can be targeted and fired at multiple targets. Note: Cylon Smart Missiles have +20% bonus against Colonial countermeasures but are otherwise treated as normal Smart Missiles.
   Maximum Effective Range: varies with missile type, long range missiles (Powered range is x 8 in space)
   Mega-Damage: varies with long range missile type (Use new missile/bomb tables).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time, or volleys of 2 per launcher (48 max per volley with all launchers). Can fire up to two volleys per melee.
   Payload: 1,536 total long range with 64 each launcher. The ship has an additional 3,072 long range missile in storage in the ship's main magazines (Takes 2D6 minutes to reload)

Other Systems:
The Basestar has all systems standard on a Rifts Earth (Not Phase World / Three Galaxies) robot vehicle plus the following special features:

• Hardened Circuitry and Electromagnetic Shielding: All electronics and computers on the star ship are constructed with hardened circuitry and the ship itself is built with shielding to prevent EMP and jamming from damaging circuitry. The effect is that jamming and EMP will not damage any system while it can blind the ships radar and radio communication system. Laser systems will not be affected by jamming.
• Command and Control Facilities: The Basestar carries extra communications equipment and command facilities, to enable the ship to operate as the flagship for a flotilla. When operating in a flotilla, all ships get a +2 on sensor rolls, +1 to strike on all weapons, and +20% on communications.
• Jamming System: This system scrambles all electronic signals for a range of 16,000 miles (25,750 km) in space and will penetrate an atmosphere for a distance of 160 miles (257.5 km). The system can also confuse missiles. It has a 75% chance of confusing missiles but some missiles can home on jamming signals.
• Integral Phase Array Radar System (Called DRADIS): This system is in many ways to the Aegis system that was used on many naval vessels. The radar system can cut through Rifts Earth and Mutants in Orbit jamming systems at one quarter of the systems normal range allowing the system to work well against targets that are jamming. The system has a range of 200,000 miles (322,000 km) in space and can penetrate the atmosphere up to 2,000 miles (3,220 km). The system can track and identify 6,144 targets at on time. Can also target each individual missile to a separate target at up to 1,536 targets.
• E.S.M.: Radar Detector, Passively detects other radars being operated.
• Neutrino Sensor: All fusion and fission reactors output neutrinos (So do stars and anti-matter systems as well). The system can also detect nuclear weapons. The ship uses a specialized magnetic field to capture and focus neutrinos into a sensor designed to detect neutrinos. The system also eliminates neutrinos from the sun although it is impossible to detect a target if the target is between the sensor system and the sun due to the overloading the ability of the system to detect neutrinos. The Neutrino sensor has a range of 150 miles (241.4 km) penetration of an atmosphere and has a range of 15,000 miles (24,140 km) in space. The sensor has a 85% chance of being able to be able to detect nuclear weapons as well as differentiate between fusion and fission reactors.

[ Phase World TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]
[ Battlestar Galactica is copyright © Universal Pictures.]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Rifts Conversion Copyright © 2006, Kitsune. All rights reserved.