 Andromeda Ascendant
Craft: Systems Commonwealth High Guard Glorious Heritage Class XMC-10-204 "Andromeda Ascendant"
Type: Heavy Cruiser
Scale: Capital
Dimensions:
-Length: 1301m
-Beam: 976m
-Height: 325m
Skill: Capital Starship Piloting: Glorious Heritage Heavy Cruiser
Crew: 4,132, skeleton: 5/+15
Crew Skill: Astrogation 7D; Capital Ship Piloting 6D; Capital Ship Gunnery 5D; Capital Ship Shields (Defenses) 3D; Communications 4D; Sensors 5D; Starship Gunnery 4D; Command 7D; Capital Ship Repair 6D; Capital Ship Weapon Repair 5D; Space Transport Repair 7D; Starfighter Repair 4D; Starship Weapon Repair 5D; Walker Repair 3D (reflecting skill levels of Andromeda's key crew personnel)
Passengers: 500
Cargo Capacity: 2,500 metric tons
Consumables: 4 years
Cost: N/A
Slipstream: x1 (see below for rules)
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 4D
Space: 8
Hull: 6D
Defenses: (see below for rules)
High Tension Armor: +5
Ablative Armor: 1D
Reactive Armor: 2D
Battle Blades: 3D
Sensors:
Passive: 50/2D
Scan: 100/3D
Search: 200/4D
Focus: 6/4D+2
EXTRA COMBAT CRAFT:
-36 RF-42 Centaur Tactical Fighters
-76 RA-26 Shrike Strike Fighters
-12 AF/A-29 Phoenix Atmospheric Attack Craft
-16 ES-115 Oracle Heavy Sensor/Attack Drones
-8 ES-14 Janus Light Sensor/Attack Drones
WEAPONS
40 ELS Missile Tubes
Location: Scattered across the hull.
Fire Arc: "turret"
Crew: 1 (bridge crew)
Skill: Missile Weapons
Scale: (Varies by warhead type)
-Offensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: Capital
-Defensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: Starfighter
-Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: Capital
-Strategic Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: Capital
-Strategic MIKV: Starfighter
-Surface Attack: Walker
-Nova Bombs: Death Star
-"Rosanne" Nova Bomb: Death Star
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range:
-Offensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: 1/3/7
-Defensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: 1/2/3
-Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: 1/3/7
-Strategic Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: 1/4/9
-Strategic MIKV: 1/3/7
-Surface Attack: 1/3/7
-Nova Bombs: 1/3/7
-"Rosanne" Nova Bomb: 1/2/3
Atmosphere Range:
-Offensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: 50-100/300/700m
-Defensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: 30-100/200/300m
-Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: 50-100/300/700m
-Strategic Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: 50-200/400/800m
-Strategic MIKV: 50-100/300/700m
-Surface Attack: 50-100/300/700m
-Nova Bombs: 50-100/300/700m
-"Rosanne" Nova Bomb: 50-109/200/300m
Damage:
-Offensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: 11D
-Defensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: 11D
-Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: 9D
-Strategic Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: 9D
-Strategic MIKV: 7D (Cluster Bomb Effect, does 1D+2 seperate damage rolls)
-Surface Attack: 10D
-Nova Bombs: 10D
-"Rosanne" Nova Bomb: 20D
Ammo:
-Nova Bombs: 40 total
-"Rosanne": 1 (unique)
-All Other Missiles: 10 per launcher, 100 in storage
Rate of Fire: 1 missile per attack per launcher.
24 Kinetic Projectile Weapons (Smart Bullets)
Location: Scattered about the hull
Fire Arc: All partial turrets; 6 right/front/left; 6 rear/right/front; 6 rear/left/front; 6 right/rear/left
Crew: 1 (gunner or bridge crew)
Skill: Starship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 5D
Space Range: 1-3/12/24
Atmosphere Range: 30-300/1.2/2.4km
Damage: 5D
Ammo: 100 (smart bullets, bursts per gun turret)
Rate of Fire: 1 (burst per attack)
12 PDL 50Mw Turrets
Location: Scattered about the hull.
Fire Arc: All Partial Turrets; 3 right, front, left; 3 front, left, rear; 3 front, right, rear; 3 right, rear, left.
Crew: 1 (gunner or bridge crew)
Skill: Starship Gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 3D
Space Range: 1-3/12/24
Atmosphere Range: 50-300/1.2/2.4km
Damage: 6D
Ammo: Effectively Unlimited
Rate of Fire: 1 beam burst per attack
12 AP Cannons
Location: Scattered about the hull.
Fire Arc: 4 front; 4 right; 4 left; 4 rear.
Crew: 1 (gunner or bridge crew)
Skill: Capital Ship Gunnery
Scale: Capital
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 3-15/36/75
Atmosphere Range: 6-30/72/150km
Damage: 8D
Ammo: Effectively Unlimited
Rate of Fire: 1 Anti-Proton burst per attack.
DESCRIPTION:
"The long night has come. The Systems Commonwealth, the greatest civilization in history, has fallen. Now, one ship, one crew have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilization. On the starship Andromeda hope lives again." -Intro to Season One.
"He is the last guardian of a fallen civilization, a hero from another time. Faced with a universe in chaos, Dylan Hunt recruits an unlikely crew and sets out to reunite the galaxies. On the starship Andromeda hope lives again." -Intro to Season Two.
"The Universe is a dangerous place. But in our future my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, and these are our adventures." -Intro to Seasons Three, four and Five.
The Andromeda Ascendant is a Glorious Heritage class capital starship of the Old Systems Commonwealth, and the key starship in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda television series.
Andromeda's story starts as the fall of the Old Commonwealth begins. The Nietzcheans, feeling betrayed by the Commonwealth's diplomatic actions with the aggressive Magog, rebel against them in a unified force, Pride with Pride. Captain Dylan Hunt and his crew happen to stumble upon the force prepared by the Nietzcheans and are subsequently attacked. As Dylan gives the order to evade and finally to abandon ship, his Second in Command, Gaheris Rhade, betrays him (he is also a Nietzchean), and a battle ensues on the bridge in the middle of a desperate maneuver to sling the Andromeda Ascendant around a black hole to get to the nearest slipstream point. Because the Andromeda's pilot, Refractions of Dawn, was killed by Rhade, the vessel is pulled into the black hole's event horizon and becomes relatively frozen in time for over three centuries.
After that time passes, the crew of the Eureka Maru (Becka Valentine, veteran pilot and the Maru's captain; Seamus Harper, eccentric technical genius; Rev Bem, a Magog turned holy man; and Trance Gemini, mysterious alien cat-girl of unknown origins and predisposition), hired by mercenaries, come along and pull the Andromeda out of the black hole's edge and board her. After an ensuing battle with the mercenaries who hired the Maru and her crew, Dylan Hunt discovers the truth about how much time has passed, and the dark state the universe is in after the Nietzchean Uprising. He speaks to the Maru's crew about a quest to revive the Systems Commonwealth, for the good and betterment of everyone in the Three Known Galaxies, and rekindle the light of civilization. The Eureka Maru's crew, along with Tyr Ansazi (A Nietzchean and last surviving member of Kodiak Pride) of the mercenaries, all agree to sign on as the Andromeda's new crew and follow Dylan's quest, though many of them have their own reasons and goals for doing so.
Over the coarse of the Andromeda's adventures, many secrets would be uncovered about the past involving the characters and the Commonwealth, many adversaries and allies would be discovered, such as the Magog World Ship and the godly Spirit of the Abyss that leads them, along with the eventual revitalization of the Systems Commonwealth. But the adventure did not stop there. The New Systems Commonwealth would eventually call Dylan Hunt into question, and what the Andromeda's crew had fought so hard for would come close to shattering like fragile glass. Tyr Anasazi would leave the ship and crew, sowing dissent and rebellion among the Nietzcheans yet again, all as the Magog World Ship eventually entered the galaxy and began battle with a Commonwealth on the verge of bringing its own self to its knees. All of this being somehow related to the manipulations of the Spirit of the Abyss. Yet Dylan and his crew did not give up. After discovering more about Trance Gemini, crippling the Magog World Ship, and eventually killing the Spirit of the Abyss in the Route of Ages, and even discovering that Dylan Hunt himself was a Paradine, the crew and ship would find themselves triumphant, even rediscovering the lost Vedran system (rechristened 'Seefra') and rejoining it with the rest of the Galaxies to have a fully restored Systems Commonwealth.
But how many more adventures await this ship and her brave crew?
-HISTORY-
The Andromeda Ascendant XMC-10-284 is a Glorious Heritage class vessel. She is well known by the new Commonwealth. She began her life in the Newport News Orbital Shipyards above Earth, where her keel was laid in CY 9768. Construction preceded without a hitch right through the delivery and installation of the Headwaters of Invention Mark VIII Slipstream engines in CY 9772. The Andromeda is the tenth Glorious Heritage heavy cruiser, High Guard ship of the line, from the days of the old Systems Commonwealth.
-FIRST MISSION-
Under the command of Perseid Captain Perrim, the Andromeda was sent on a top secret mission to ascertain the source of the Magog invasions. Her crew soon discovered the Magog World Ship. The Magog overwhelmed the crew and killed them, just as Andromeda barely made it to slipstream. But as AIs cannot navigate slipstream on their own, Andromeda wandered in the tangled webs until she emerged on the edges of Triangulum, having gone mad and almost attack a Than ship. When she got to the nearest outpost, the Vedrans wiped her memory of the mission.
-NEW COMMAND-
Andromeda was later brought into the service of Dylan Hunt. Andromeda was later assigned to a fleet of High Guard ships and was present at the Battle of Hephaistos, when the Nietzschean betrayed the Commonwealth. Hunt made a decision to have his crew abandon ship while he and his pilot, Refractions of Dawn use the nearby black hole to slingshot to the nearest slip point. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by his first officer, best friend and best man, Gaheris Rhade, who killed Refractions of Dawn. In self-defense, Dylan killed Gaheris as Andromeda was too close to the black hole to make the jump. On its event horizon, the ship became trapped in its time dilation field, as three hundred years past. She was later salvaged by the Eureka Maru and its crew decided to help Dylan restore the Commonwealth. After the battle of Arkology, Andromeda and her crew were stranded in a pocket universe known as the Seefra system. Andromeda was nearly drained of power and her AI became erratic. But thanks to several power crystals, notably a cube that could turn matter to water, found on Seefra, Andromeda was restored to full power.
--GAME NOTES--
*Slipstream: In the setting of 'Gene Rodenberry's Adromeda', instead of using hyperdrives for FTL travel, all vessels use what is referred to as Slipstream. Where hyperdrives allow ships to enter another dimension to cross vast distances in short order within a relatively smaller dimension of space (usually), slipstream instead allows ships to enter slip points and traverse matter streams that exist between all stellar bodies with enough mass to generate slipstreams and connect with other stellar masses.
Intergalactic travel is a very real thing, and the setting often refers to the 'Known Galaxies', speaking of how society spans three galaxies that include the Milky Way, Triangulum and Andromeda galaxies. Apparently, only living beings can properly navigate slipstream (99+% accuracy), while artificial intelligences cannot (roughly 50% accuracy), and 'luck' seems to play a roll in how quickly people can navigate the streams and how quickly they can arrive at their destination. In game terms, use the exact rules for hyperdrives, but reduce all travel times by one category of time (I.e., years become months, months become weeks, weeks to days, days to hours, hours to minutes, and even minutes to seconds), and this also means that ships could reach other galaxies relatively quickly and in legitimate time for travel and business.
If a pilot navigating slipstream rolls Astrogation (Slipstream Navigation?) for a certain Difficulty Level and achieves a higher level than they needed, reduce the travel time by another category for every Difficulty Level they achieve. When traveling between galaxies, the travel time should take months or weeks, but players will probably roll high enough to do so in days or hours. This should reflect the abilities of slipstream, slipstream engines and their ability of crossing intergalactic distances.
-DEFENCES-
Glorious Heritage class vessels may not have energy shields in the traditional Star Wars sense, but they do come equipped with many defensive systems that make them hard to kill, perhaps more so than an Imperial Star Destroyer.
-High Tension Armor: Enemy shots need to beat this ship's damage resistance roll by +5 more pips than listed on the Starship Damage Chart to deal different categories of damage.
-Ablative Armor: The hull is designed to deflect incoming weapons fire away from it when it connects with the outer surface. Enemy shots lose 1D of Fire Control to land a hit on this ship's hull.
-Reactive Armor: The hull is designed to 'react' to incoming hits when they connect, blowing specially designed panels of itself off to keep damage from scoring deep into the ship. When a damaging hit is scored against this ship, instead of taking what is rolled on the Starship Damage Chart, it can instead reduce it's Hull Dice by one 'pip' per category of damage rolled on the chart (1 for Light Damage; 2 for Heavily damaged; 1D for Severly Damaged; 1D+1 for Destroyed; +1 pip for every 5 rolled past Destroyed result). It can do this for a maximum of 2D, then takes damage as normal.
-Battle Blades: These are a last defensive measure to block oncoming attacks from reaching the ship's inner hull and fold into place when activated from the curved recesses of the Andromeda's hull. They act as shields from the Star Wars RPG rules, but instead of being rechargeable, any decrease in 'shields' means that part of the blades have been blown away and must be repaired or replaced later (if done during battle, the Difficulty should be way up there!). Battle Blades do not count towards the ship's Reactive Armor. They have 3D effectiveness for the Andromeda.
If a 'Shields Blown/Controls Ionized' result is rolled against the Andromeda, then the Battle Blades have been blown away by the damage. Note that this is actually easier than outright destroying the ship, and that they cannot be repaired like failing shields, instead having to be repaired and reinstalled at the correct facilities.
If using Battle Blades in a setting like Star Wars that also has energy shields, the two effects could easily be combined to create a truly fearsome ship that would be much tougher than this write up!
--TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS--
-PROPULSION-
The Andromeda Ascendant, like every other ship in the galaxies, runs on Hydrogen and Anti-Protons. A matter-antimatter reaction is created when these two substances are combined in controlled reactors. This reaction creates the power that runs the ship. An AP Solenoid Valve is critical in regulating the flow of Anti-Protons to the fusion reactors. The power created by the matter-antimatter reaction is used mainly for two purposes. The first is to keep the Gravity Field Generator running. Because the GFG reduces the effective mass of the Andromeda to just less than one kilogram, it is a critical part of the ship's mobility system. The second main power draw on the Andromeda is the process of accelerating more hydrogen into a Magneto-Plasma Dynamic Drive.
The MPDD uses the accelerated hydrogen to create charged hydrogen plasma. This plasma is then accelerated to near-light-speed and ejected into space. This ejection creates thrust for the ship with maximum efficiency. The fuel efficiency of the MPDD is in direct proportion to the velocity at which the plasma is ejected. Generally, most ships buy the Hydrogen and Anti-Protons they need to operate their GFGs and MPDDs from drifts that produce it (much like gas stations).
All warships (including the Andromeda) have a Ramscoop that can be used to gather Hydrogen from the upper atmosphere of any gas giant planet. Aboard the ship, the Hydrogen is then purified and used to create Anti-Protons with the assistance of solar power from a nearby sun. Though on-board fuel processing is convenient, it takes a long time. Starting with full tanks, in battlefield conditions the Andromeda can operate for about 60 days without refuelling. Decreased activity will prolong the period in which the Andromeda can operate without refuelling, and increased activity will reduce it. If time is taken to process fuel aboard the ship, the Andromeda's operating time is unlimited.
-WEAPONS-
The Andromeda is loaded to the gills with weapons. These weapon systems include the following:
COMBAT SYSTEMS
-40 ELS missile tubes
-12 PDL 50Mw turrets
-12 AP cannons
-24 Kinetic projectile Weapons (Smart Bullets)
-36 RF-42 Centaur tactical fighters
-76 RA-26 Shrike strike fighters
-12 AF/A-29 Phoenix atmospheric attack craft
-16 ES-115 Oracle heavy sensor/attack drones
-8 ES-14 Janus light sensor/attack drones
-6 Radiating Counter Measure generators
-1 AI command and control entity
-WEAPON ARMAMENTS-
-Kinetic Projectile Weapons and Smart Bullets: Smart bullets are tiny bullets armed with sensors to home in on targets. They are a solid projectile weapon to supplement the energy weapons used by teh Andromeda, giving it other options. Their damage is somewhat weaker than the Point Defence Lasers, but their solid form allows for sensors and controls that make the 'bullets' home in on a target, able to curve towards it to better connect and cause damage.
-OM-5 Standard Offensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: Offensive Missiles are the main offensive weapon in ship to ship combat. This device is about the size of an adult Human's fist and weighs about 1 kilogram. They move at 85 to 95 PSL and do 20 megatons of damage when they hit, due to the kinetic energy of impact. Most have a range of 1 to 1.5 light minutes.
-DM-5 Standard Defensive Kinetic Kill Missiles: Defensive Missiles are the main defensive weapon against incoming offensive missiles in ship to ship combat and can also be used against enemy fighters. Defensive missiles are smaller missiles (about 1/3 of a kilogram), which move slower than offensive missiles (60 to 70 PSL), but with twice the acceleration. They have a range of only 5 to 10 light seconds. Kinetic warheads do not carry an explosive payload, but rather rely on the fact that force equals mass times acceleration. ie... .33Kg x 70percent of 300,000 kilometers per second. That means when they impact with a ship, they cause incredible damage, with many kilotons of force.
-PM-6 Star Arrow Smart Anti-Ship Missiles: These missiles are 'smart', having a skill of 5D to dodge attacks against them and to reaquire a target if they miss.
-PM-6L Strategic Star Arrow Smart Anti-Ship Missiles (extended range variant): These missiles are the same as above with a skill of 5D, but have longer range to engage enemy ships (see above).
-PM-6LII Strategic Star Arrow Multiple Independant Kill Vehicle (MIKV) Variant: MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT KILL VEHICLE is a special warhead that contains several independently targetable vehicles. They have a cluster bomb effect, scattering when they impact upon a target, dealing 1D+2 seperate damage rolls to their Hull Dice.
-SAPM-6III Strike Arrow Surface Attack Variant: These are meant for planetary bombardment. They cause less damage than other missiles (Walker scale), so that a planet's surface may remain somewhat intact after enemies on the surface have been defeated, but still strong enough to take out reinforced structures such as large city buildings and bunkers.
-Nova Bombs: A Nova Bomb is a very powerful weapon that makes a sun go supernova, and in the resulting nova the sun and any planets orbiting it are destroyed. The weapon itself is about the size of a 55 gallon drum, and is mounted on a missile in place of a traditional explosive payload. They are almost never actually in missile tubes until right before they are launched, in case of any technical malfunction that would cause the nova bombs to arm or launch. The average Glorious Heritage class High Guard ship carried a compliment of 40 nova bombs, and they have never been fired as part of a conflict, and were not even used in combat prior to the Nietzchean Uprising.
-"Rosanne": After the Andromeda Ascendant launched all of its payload of nova bombs in the first episode and later used its single other nova bomb against the Magog World Ship, Dylan Hunt had Harper create another nova bomb, feeling there would be a need for it in the future. Harper outdid himself and created a more power nova bomb, far surpassing the destructive capabilities of the standard model (which by themselves could destroy solar systems and disrupt black holes!!!), and he affectionately named it "Rosanne". It was later used to close a dimensional rift that a new enemy was using to invade their universe.
-DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS-
-High Tension Armor
-Ablative Armor
-Reactive Armor
-Battle Blades: Battle Blades are slightly curved, retractable blades made out of an extremely tough polymer/metal that are used as part of a final defensive barrier against missile attacks. They are a signature technology of Systems Commonwealth capital ships. Battle Blades can be deployed independantly to cover different sections and most Commonwealth ships usually have Battle Blades that cover the Fore and Aft sections of the ship. Battle blades help improve the AG defection for objects (like missiles and asteroids) coming in from directions other than straight ahead. Their primary help is to reduce damage effects.There is a fine web of bucky wire between Battle Blades that are made of single monofilaments that are almost too small to see. When a missile hits a battle blade (or bucky wire strung between battle blades) it vaporizes. Then the plasma vapor can be deflected by the AG field so that it either misses the hull, or strikes a glancing blow off of the sides, missing critical system spaces and hitting less critical systems such as crew quarters. Unfortunately the speed of the plasma and the short distance make much deflection difficult, and if the momentum of the missile was carrying it directly towards the center of the ship then the missile will hit the central hull and very possibly do more damage than just a glancing blow. Also, although the Blades might catch and destroy a missile, the missiles are still moving at at 80-90% PSL and because of that the debris would be moving toward the ship extremely fast and the momentum might be enough to blow through the AG fields. But after the missile hits the blades the AG field is strong enough to divert the plasma stream from the vaporized missile so that it doesn't hit the ship. It isn't strong enough to stop it or overcome the missile?s momentum, but it can deflect fragments of the destroyed missile that are a certain size and the AG field does help to cushion the blow, as the AG deflection field gets stronger the closer you are to the ship.
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