The Vaktoth heavy assault fighter was developed as a replacement for the Gothri, Jalkehi, and Jalthi heavy fighters. All three older fighters were reaching the end of their useful service and a new fighter was needed in their roles. The new heavy fighter was introduced soon after the Battle of Earth and was found to be far superior to the old Sabre heavy fighter.

Not quite as maneuverable as Gothri, the Vaktoth is more maneuverable than the Jalkehi and is a far better fighter for dogfighting. The new Kilrathi heavy fighter is a close match for the Confederation Thunderbolt VII heavy fighter. It has slight less acceleration and the Confederation is slightly more maneuverable as well. Against lighter fighters, this becomes an even more noticeable weakness. Unlike the Confederation Thunderbolt VII, the Vaktoth mounts a jump drive which enables it to operate outside of the system it was launched from. As such, the heavy fighter is an extremely useful long range scout. Because of this, the heavy fighter has an endurance more like one might expect from a bomber.

With the Vaktoth heavy fighter's forward array of five guns, the design harkens back to the concept of the Jalthi heavy fighter of "The defense is an overwhelming offence." The Vaktoth carries a single tachyon cannon, a pair of ion cannons, and a pair of plasma cannons. These weapons can inflict devastating damage to any Confederation ship unlucky to come into the heavy fighter's targeting systems. So that another fighter cannot take advantage of the heavy fighter's comparatively poor maneuverability, the Vaktoth mounts a rear turret with a pair of mason cannons mounted in it. In addition, the Kilrathi heavy fighter has hard points for up to eight long range missiles or a mixture of smaller ordnance. For anti-missile defense, the Vaktoth carries eight missile decoys.

Even though the ship is mostly designed around heavy offense, the fighter carries heavy shields and is well armored. The shields are almost as powerful as those carried on the Confederation Thunderbolt IV and the Kilrathi heavy fighter carries a similar amount of armor to the heavy Confederation fighter as well.

There is a special variant of the Vaktoth heavy fighter which replaces much of the weaponry of the fighter with special electronics and jamming systems. This fighter is known as the Zartoth-class Electronic Warfare Fighter. It only carries the single tachyon cannons and does not have the tail gun of the standard Vaktoth heavy fighter. As well, the Zartoth only carries a pair of long range missiles compared to eight on the standard Vaktoth heavy fighter. Still, the electronic warfare fighter retains the heavy shield and armor of the standard fighter. As The Zartoth has two basic missions. One is to use its advanced sensors to detect the systems on other ships. The other is to jam communications and sensors of other craft, including capital ships. The ship fills a similar role to Confederation electronic warfare corvettes although systems have a reduced range compared to those on a corvette. Still the fighter is far faster than any corvette. Confederation Intelligence determined that a group of Zartoth fighters played a major part in the ambush of the TCS Valiant, jamming her distress communications while a Kilrathi fighter strike destroyed the entire battle group.

Notes of game conversion:

Because of the nature of the Video Game series "Wing Commander" and the needs to put the fighter into game mechanics, the fighter has several modification compared to the Video Game. The most important change it to change top speed to acceleration. Like fighters in Star Wars and original Battlestar Galactica, the fighters appear to act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. This is incorrect. The Television series Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactic are good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles would probably maneuver although still not a perfect perspective. The fighter has been modified to uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor fighters. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model Type:	Vaktoth
	Zartoth
Vehicle Type:	Vaktoth	Heavy Assault Fighter
	Zartoth	Electronic Warfare Fighter
Crew:	Vaktoth	Two (Pilot and Tail Gunner)
	Zartoth	Three (Pilot and two Sensor Officers)

M.D.C. By Location:

Vaktoth:

Zartoth:

	Tachyon Cannon:	75	75
	Plasma Cannons (2):	60 each	None
	Ion Cannons (2):	50 each	None
	Missile Hard Points	10 each	10 each
	Tail Mounted Mason Cannon (2, in turret)	60 each	None
	Rear Ball Turret (1)	100	None
	Electronics Warfare Suite:	None	250
	[1] Engines (2):	180 each	180 each
	Landing Struts (3):	10 each	10 each
	[2] Main Body:	650	650
	Reinforced Pilots Cockpit:	200	200
	[3] Variable Force Field:	200 per side (1200 total)	200 per side (1200 total)

Notes:
[1] Loss of an engine will reduce performance of fighter by one half and loss of two engines will prevent fighter from performing beyond 5% of normal (This is using maneuvering thrusters and gravitic propulsion). Due to gravitic propulsion systems, fighter will not crash in an atmosphere even if both engines are destroyed.
[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the fighter out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck. In an atmosphere, the fighter will crash.
[3] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (60 M.D.C.) per melee.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 40 percent of the speed of light. Fighter can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of .78 percent of light per melee maximum. Fighter has auxiliary thrusters which can be used a maximum of 15 minutes before fuel is exhausted. On auxiliary thrusters, the fighter has a maximum acceleration of 1.35 percent of light per melee maximum.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The fighter is fairly aerodynamic and is quite capable in an atmosphere. As a result, the fighter can achieve escape velocity (Mach 32.6 / 25,053 mph / 40,320 kph) but normally operates at Mach 6.54 (4,846.7 mph / 7,800 kph) or less. The fighter also has Gravitic propulsion systems enabling it to leave an atmosphere even at low velocities.
Stardrive: The heavy fighter mounts a jump drive which is capable of jumping instantly from a fixed point in a system to another fixed point in a system. These points are weaknesses in the fabric of space and have been mapped in most cases. The jump drive has enough fuel for two jumps which is removed from auxiliary thruster fuel (costs six minutes of thruster fuel per jump) leaving three minutes of auxiliary thruster fuel with two jumps. Fuel is hydrogen and fighters can also carry buddy tanks.
Maximum Range: Effectively unlimited by internal fuel (10 year duration) although auxiliary thruster range is limited to approximately 15 minutes. Fighter uses a very small fusion cell system for power systems. The fighter carries three weeks of consumables for fighter's crew.

Statistical Data:
Length: 118.11 feet (36.0 meters)
Height: 50.52 feet (15.4 meters)
Width: 178.48 feet (54.4 meters)
Weight: 20.94 tons (19 metric tons) unloaded
Power System: Fusion power supply with a 10 year duration.
Cargo: Small Storage Space, 2.5 ft x 2.5 ft x 3 ft. Used for emergency equipment and weapons.
Market Cost: Vaktoth: 85.14 million credits. Zartoth: 100.50 million credits

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. One Tachyon Cannon (Vaktoth and Zartoth): This weapon is the most powerful fighter mounted weapon carried by Confederation and Kilrathi fighters. The weapon inflict heavy damage compared to most energy weapons carried on most C.A.F. Starfighters and have a much longer range than most fighter weapons in the Three Galaxies. Tachyon cannons can be combined with other guns for greater damage on the Vaktoth.
   Maximum Effective Range: 1,990 miles (3,200 km) in space and 9.9 miles (16 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 4D6x10+10 for single cannon. (Combined with other weapons for 15D6x10+50 on Vaktoth only)
   Rate of fire: Equal to pilots hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Twin Plasma Cannons (Vaktoth only): These cannons are mounted on the sides of the starfighter. Weapon system is incredibly powerful but are comparatively short ranged. The weapon inflict heavy damage compared to most energy weapons carried on most C.A.F. Starfighters and have a much longer range than most fighter weapons in the Three Galaxies. Plasma cannons can be combined with other guns for greater damage.
   Maximum Effective Range: 1,864.1 miles (3,000 km) in space and 9.3 miles (15 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 4D6x10+10 per cannon and 8D6x10+20 for both cannons. (Combined with other weapons for 15D6x10+50 on Vaktoth only)
   Rate of fire: Equal to pilots hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
3. Twin Ion Cannons (Vaktoth only): These cannons are mounted on the sides of the starfighter. Less powerful that particle beams but have slightly longer range and are still quite powerful. The weapon inflict about equal damage to most energy weapons carried on most C.A.F. Starfighters and have a much longer range than most fighter weapons in the Three Galaxies.
   Maximum Effective Range: 2,796.2 miles (4,500 km) in space and 14.0 miles (22.5 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 2D4x10+10 per cannon and 4D4x10+20 for both cannons (Combined with other weapons for 15D6x10+50 on Vaktoth only)
   Rate of fire: Equal to pilots hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
4. Missile Pylons (8 or 2): The Vaktoth has eight hard points to carry missiles and the Zartoth only has two hard points. Individual pylons must carry all the same type ordnance but each pylon may carry different types of ordnance. Long Range Missiles 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). Medium Range Missiles has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Since starships 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 starships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Missiles can be launched on multiple targets simultaneously and all missiles are normally considered smart missiles.
   Maximum Effective Range: Long Range Missiles range is 3,400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,89700 km/9.7 light seconds) in space, and Medium Range Missiles range is 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds).
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Revised Phase World Missile tables (Long Range Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of two, three, or four missiles.
   Payload: One Long Range Missile or two Medium Range Missile each hard point (Eight hard points on the Vaktoth and two hard points on the Zartoth)
5. Anti-Missile Decoy Dispenser: Located at the very tail of the fighter are two decoy dispensers. When a missile if fired at the fighter, a decoy can be released to confuse or detonate the enemy's attack. Decoy system works against Phase World missiles although has a -10% penalty against Brilliant missiles.
   Effect:
   01-50 Enemy missile or missile volley detonates on decoy - Missiles are all destroyed.
   51-75 Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target).
   76-00 No effect, missile is still on target.
   Payload: Eight (8)

Special Systems (Zartoth Only):
The standard Vaktoth carries all the standard equipment of a Phase World heavy starfighter including long range sensors and communications (No gravity sensors / communications). The Zartoth electronic warfare fighter carries additional jamming and sensor systems.

• Jamming System: The system creates a powerful jamming field with a 60 mile (96.6 km) radius in an atmosphere and 60,000 miles (96,600 km) in space effecting all directions around the fighter. The system jams all radars, radios, and all equipment that uses RF waves. In most cases, the system will also jam the equipment in friendly forces and all equipment in fighter that is using it. E.C.M. pod gives an additional +4 to dodge missiles due to spoofing although some missiles can be set to home on jamming signals.
• Sensor System: The fighter can carry a powerful sensor system. This system increases the sensor range of the Vaktoth to that of a Corvette. Also gives a +20% bonus to read sensory equipment rolls.

COMBAT BONUSES: The Vaktoth Starfighter is very maneuverable and very accurate. Use the Phase World Starfighter combat (Elite or Basic) skill.

+1 to strike

[ 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.]
[ Wing Commander copyright © Origin Productions]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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