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faction:freespacers:don_quixote

Don Quixote

The Don Quixote armed freighter is based on the a converted C3F chassis. This vessel class defies standard classification, as use of modular configuration allows it to fulfill any role from battlecruiser to water transporter. However, their ability to camoflage as merchant vessels makes them particularly well-suited for ambushing attackers who may be expecting a convoy of such vessels to be easy prey.

About the Ship

β€œTo give the devil his due.” – Don Quixote, Part 1, Book 3

As a result of the genocide in YE 30 at the hands of Yamatai Star Empire, the Freespacers came to the hard-learned realization that they must either be prepared to fight for their right to exist, lest they let themselves be driven once again into the depths of unknown space. Since the majority of the Freespacers do not have a formal government, let alone military, the defense of many fleets falls to civilian volunteers. To this end a vessel capable of fulfilling both peacetime and wartime roles was designed: The Don Quixote. In times of peace this vessel can use its containers to transport freight, or replace the containers with housing units capable of supporting hundreds, or even thousand Freespacers.

The Don Quixote is also capable of using the containers to house and operate additional shield generators, weapon systems, and the accompanying reactors and cooling systems necessary to run them. What makes this vessel truly revolutionary is the integration of superconducting connections into the normal cargo container links, allowing a single weapon system's different components to be spread across several containers without compromising energy and heat transfer. This effectively allows the Don Quixote to make use of heavy armaments that would otherwise be far too large to fit on a vessel of this class. These additional systems can be kept hidden from enemy vessels without arousing suspicion by using the same scan-resistant container alloys used by smugglers and couriers, which means these ships can easily camouflage as a mere traders unless directly boarded or its weapon systems open fire. Certain fleets may also cover these vessels in warpaint to overtly identify themselves as warships, for crews who prefer more honourable confrontations with the enemy.

Like its predecessor, the Don Quixote may operate autonomously without crew. As in many other Freespacer designs, the ship typically remains depressurized and without artificial gravity, with the sole exception of living quarters. As a result crews are required to wear space suits during combat operations. This depressurized, freefloating state greatly increases ship survivability by reducing the effect of explosions, and allowing crew to continue using ship sections that have suffered hull breaches. The internal structure has also been heavily modified with various 'Spacer damage control systems, including a honeycomb bulkhead system which further dampens internal damage.

Key Features

  • External Storage space (360 Huge SSCC, 720 Large SSCC)
  • Internal Storage space (32 Huge SSCC, 96 Large SSCC
  • Automated Sorting and cargo tracking equipment
  • Numerous support craft for distribution of cargo
  • Modified cargo links allow for both weapons modules and standard freight

Mission Specialization

  • Cargo Transport
  • Convoy Escort
  • Militia Warship

Appearance

The Don Quixote typically appears identical to the C3F transport vessel, but some fleets may cover the vessel with warpaint and not bother to conceal weapons systems if they have no intention of camouflaging the vessel.

History and Background

A large number of C3F vessels were donated to the Freespacers for use by refugee populations following the genocide by the Yamataian Star Empire. With so many in use it was only a matter of time before someone started modifying these vessels, especially given the Freespacer love of modification and performance enhancements. Over time engineers traded their ideas using polysentience and eventually the best were consolidated into a few standardized designs to allow for mass production.

Statistics and Performance

General

Class: Na-C3F Type: Armed Freighter Designers: NAM-Free State Manufacturer: The Free State Production: Mass Fielded by: Freespacers, NGOs

Passengers

Crew: 3 (2 quartermasters, 1 captain), capable of autonomous operation Maximum Capacity: Default accommodations for 8 people. By replacing cargo modules with housing modules, potentially thousands.

Dimensions

Length: 341 meters Width: 64 meters Height: 62 meters

Propulsion and Range

Continuum Distortion Drive: 9,375c Hyperspace Fold Drive: .4 ly/min Sublight Engines:.3c Lifespan: 10 years Refit Cycle: 3 years

Damage Capacity

  • Hull: 30 (Medium Armor)
  • Shields: 15 (Threshold 1) (Note: Relies on ECM instead of shielding for active defense; shield system is just for deception)

Armor is a durandium skeleteon with a carbon-boron foam mix. Most of the internal cargo transport equipment has been replaced by a honeycomb bulkhead damage control system.

Critical Equipment

The Don Quixote retains all the standard vital systems of the C3F to aid its ability to camouflage as a trading vessel should any attempts be made to scan the vessel. However, many key systems are supplemented by secondary modular systems to give them the power needed to perform well in combat.

Weapons Systems

Standard combat model (may vary from ship to ship):

"Baby Nuke" EMP Torpedo

Location: Modular Containers Primary Purpose: Anti-starship Damage: Starship DR 3 Range: 0.5 AU Payload 12 per (Huge) container, 360 containers

A powerful multi-gigaton nuclear warhead originally designed for demolition purposes. These weapons are tampered for maximum ionizing effect so as to wreak the most havoc upon both smaller craft and larger ones through electronics disruption on top of the normal destructive effects of a nuclear device. Each torpedo is self-guided, possessing a Savant Tactical/Guidance Construct for navigation. These missiles are stacked in a 4x4x3 configuration length-wise within SSCC-Huge containers. These use modified CASS system.

When their sophisticated piloting AI is combined with the vessel's ECM capabilities, these weapons become incredibly difficult to contemporary systems to intercept.

Red Mercury Quad Cannon

Location: Modular Containers Primary Purpose: Multirole Damage: Starship DR 3 Range: 3 AU Rate of Fire: 120 rpm Payload 3 turrets per (XL) container, 240 containers

The Red Mercury blaster is actually a focusing assembly of multispectral radiation mirrors and a detonation chamber, reinforced by a structural integrity shield. A small fusion warhead is loaded into a blasting chamber, then injected with a canister of ballotechnic solution (chemicals that react readily when subjected to extreme pressures) called Red Mercury to act as a trigger catalyst. The device detonates, and both the thermal and electromagnetic energy is funneled and refracted out the barrel. This nuclear-pumped design results in a very intense burst of high frequency radiation, but at the unfortunate cost of being unable to maintain a steady beam like lower-powered systems.

In order to make this system competitive for larger ship warfare, it was placed in a four-barrel turret configuration to greatly increase rate of fire. The larger platform also allows for superior cooling and cycling systems.

Positron Cannon Array

Location: Modular Containers (concentrated on the top, bottom, left, right sides) Primary Purpose: Anti-starship Damage: Starship DR 5 Range: 0.2 LY Rate of Fire: 6 rpm Payload 4 arrays

These weapons appear to be of SMX origin, most likely salvaged from one of the countless vessels lost during the Mishhuvurthyar Wars. The weapon system has been broken down and has its individual components spread throughout numerous containers each, with the turret only protruding at the containers furthest from the ship center. These cannons appear to have degraded in performance, both in rate of fire and accuracy, compared to their originals. However, since these were originally mounted on much smaller vessels the Don Quixote can carry several of them. These are concentrated on the axis of the ship and use a unified tracking SI to concentrate the shots at a single location at a time, increasing their penetration power significantly and allowing this ship to unleash a deadly broadside.

These cannon arrays are extremely bulky and take up space in several dozen containers each once one includes the corresponding cooling and generator systems. For this reason they're never used on variants that have to carry any significant amount of cargo

Special Equipment

Inside the Ship

The ship has a large cargo area, a small transfer corridor, a I3106 manufacturing module and a I3107 manufacturing extension module.

Cargo Area: In combat variants, the cargo area has been all but filled with not only ship equipment, but a complex honeycomb bulkhead structure that significantly reduces internal damage from attacks that breach the hull. Maintenance must then be done by teleoperated drones, or Junkers.

Transfer Corridor: Designed for use by the robots and attached ships. The Transfer Corridor is two zero G tubes, a larger one connecting the Cargo Area with the Manufacturing Module (large enough to send a huge SSCC through) and a smaller one the size of a hallway for crew members to use to go between attached starships or cargo areas.

Manufacturing Module: Automanufactory Module

Vehicle Complement

Robotic Arm x2

Phantasm Gunship x10

Transport x2

Junkers x100

ooc

STL: 6 CDD: 2 HYP: 4 Shields:3 Utility: 15


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faction/freespacers/don_quixote.txt Β· Last modified: 2023/12/21 00:58 by 127.0.0.1