 THE VALKYRIE
Craft: Battlestar Valkyrie (BSG-41)
Type: Colonial Athens class carrier/battleship
Scale: Capital
Dimensions:
-Length: 1,206m
Skill: Capital ship piloting: Athens battlestar
Crew: 1,800
-gunners: 320
-troops: 300
-skeleton: 120/+10
-skeleton (with Autopilot): 1+/+15
-autopilot: 0/+0
Crew Skill: Astrogation 5D+1, capital ship piloting 5D, capital ship gunnery 4D+1, sensors 4D, starship gunnery 5D
-Autopilot: 4D (in all above skills)
Passengers: 50 (can carry hundreds more in emergencies)
Cargo Capacity: 1,600 metric tons
Consumables: 2 years
Cost: N/A
FTL Capable: Yes
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Speed:
-Space: 6
-Atmosphere: 330; 950kmh
Hull: 7D
Defenses:
-Ablative Armor: 1D+2
-Reactive Armor: 1D+2
-Shields: N/A
Sensors:
Passive: 50/1D
Scan: 100/2D
Search: 200/3D
Focus: 5/4D
SHIPS:
-Vipers: 80
-Raptors: 20
-Shuttles: 4
WEAPONS:
16 Light Dual Cannons
Location: Scattered along the hull
Fire Arc:
-4 right/front/left
-5 front/right/rear
-5 front/left/rear
-2 right/rear/left
Crew: 2 (or Autopilot)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Scale: Capital
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 3-10/20/40
Atmosphere Range: 50-1/2/4km
Damage: 4D
Ammo: 100 rounds per gun (reloadable magazines)
Rate of Fire: Up to 4
36 Heavy Dual Cannons
Location: Scattered along the hull and flight pods
Fire Arc:
-8 turrets
-2 right/front/left
-2 front/right
-2 front/left
-7 right
-7 left
-4 front/right/rear
-4 front/left/rear
Crew: 2 (or Autopilot)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Scale:
-Standard Rounds: Capital
-Missiles: Starfighter
Fire Control: 3D
Space Range:
-Standard Rounds: 3-12/25/50
-Missiles: 1/3/7
Atmosphere Range:
-Standard Rounds: 50-1.2/2.5/5km
-Missiles: 50-100/300/700m
Damage:
-Standard Rounds: 6D
-Anti-Starfighter Missiles: 8D
Ammo:
-Standard Rounds: 100 rounds (reloadable magazines)
-Missiles: 10 per gun
Rate of Fire: Up to 2
224 Point-Defense Guns
Location: Scattered about the hull
Fire Arc:
-40 right/front/left
-80 front/right/rear
-80 front/left/rear
-24 right/rear/left
Crew: 1 (or Autopilot)
Skill: Starship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 3D
Space Range: 1-4/15/30
Atmosphere Range: 50-400/1.5/3km
Damage:
-Flak Rounds: 5D (Blast Radius: 0D/-1D)
-High-Explosive Rounds: 6D+2
Ammo: 1,000 rounds (reloadable magazines)
Rate of Fire: Up to 3
6 Ship-to-Ship Missile Launchers
Location: Mounted about the hull
Fire Arc: "turret"
Crew: 1 (bridge crew or Autopilot)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Scale: Capital
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 1/3/7
Atmosphere Range: 100/300/700m
Damage: Varies by warhead type
-Conventional: 9D
-Nuclear: 10D (Blast Radius: 10D/9D/8D/7D)
Ammo:
-Conventional: 10 per tube, x2 in storage (180 total)
Rate of Fire: 1 (takes 1 round to reload each tube)
DESCRIPTION:
Valkyrie was a Colonial battlestar, belonging to Battlestar Group 41, under the command of William Adama before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The ship's class is not known.
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-GAME NOTES-
ARMOR:
-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+2 of Fire Control to land a hit on this ship's hull. If the Reactive Armor (below) loses pips or dice to damage inflicted upon the ship, then the Ablative Armor loses the same amount, as these are both built together into the 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 1D+2, then takes damage as normal. If the Reactive Armor loses pips or dice to damage inflicted upon the ship, then the Ablative Armor (above) loses the same amount, as these are both built together into the ship's hull.
SHIP'S GUNS: While the Athens class of battlestar does not possess the larger kinetic energy weapons used on the heavier Mercury class (Pegasus) and Cylon War-era battlestars (Galactica), its guns nevertheless pack a decent punch for its size, as is more fitting for the workhorse class battlestar of the Colonial Military having a lighter frame. However, while these cannons do not have the shear damage capacity as larger KEWs, they are more versatile, able to launch many light missiles against smaller craft
AUTOPILOT: Most modern military ships in Battlestar galactica made use of extensive automation. This allowed them to use less crew to man the ship, and also gave it an autopilot option that could be used when the ship did not have enough crew. This autopilot is very complex and powerful, as it was seen with the Pegasus using all of its gun batteries in its final battle before crashing into a Cylon basestar and destroying two other basestars in the ensuing explosion and scattered debris.
The autopilot can be used to pilot the ship, but only on a preprogrammed course set by the crew before letting it do so. This requires a Piloting or Astrogation skill roll of the same Difficulty that would have been needed if the crew were flying the ship, along with a Computer Programming roll of Difficult Difficulty. If navigational data is not available, certain maneuvers may not be doable by the ship, such as FTL jumping into an uncharted area of space or navigating through a thick and constantly shifting asteroid field. In the case of the asteroid field, the autopilot simply uses its normal skill of 4D (with the Maneuverability dice) to fly through such an obstacle. The ship must also be given a destination to reach. In the case of ramming, this can be done easily at Moderate Difficulty to Piloting and Computer Programming skill rolls.
The autopilot is also capable of using ALL of the ship's weapons systems, especially all of its gun batteries (missiles were never shown to be used, but it is assumed they can be). The autopilot uses its skill of 4D along with the weapons' Fire Control and can either engage targets nondicriminantly (anything that moves), based on IFF (Identify Friend from Foe, since all allied ships would have an IFF tag that is picked up by sensors/DRADIS), or selective targets can be given before hand by choosing familiar target sillouettes from the ship's database or by highlighting a target registered by the DRADIS sensors.
CNP BACKDOOR: The Cylons infiltrated the Twelve Colonies and modified the military's new Command Navigational Program (CNP) with a "backdoor" that allowed the Cylons forces to wreak havoc on Colonial military electronic systems, and in many cases outright shut them down entirely. This left the Colonial military defenseless in the face of the Cylon attack and the Twelve Colonies were all but annihilated.
If the CNP comes into play, the the Valkyrie (and pretty much any other Colonial military ship using this software) is automatically affected like an ECM attack that cannot be negated by using its own ECM abilities. This is only triggered when the Cylons are within sensor or communications range, as they trigger this effect through the CNP's backdoor program. The ship will then fully shut down within 1D+2 rounds and have nothing but emergency power and all systems are dead, effectively dead in space.
If the CNP program is discovered as the reason this is happening and if it is uninstalled or otherwise removed or shut down, the ship can then be fully restored with a Computer Programming roll of Very Difficult. If this is not done before the ship shuts down, it will take 1D hours to power the ship back up with the appropriate repair skill rolls.
If the CNP is removed from the ship, it gains the IMMUNITY TO ELECTRONIC ATTACK ability as shown on the Pegasus. However, if this is done, its Sensors will be -2D use until replacement program software can be installed.
ELECTRONIC COUNTERMEASURES (ECM): The Valkyrie presumably has ECM capabilities, able to jam incoming missiles and other weapons and targeting systems, from successfully connecting with the ship. The ECM package allows it to perform electronic warfare in combat that can hinder the enemy and, at the same time, give it and its allies the advantage in the theater of battle. This is part of the sensor systems carried installed in the ship, and if the sensors are rendered inoperable, then the ECM will also be out of commission.
The ECM grants a +2D for ECM actions. When performing an ECM action, the ECO (Electric Countermeasure Officer) chooses a fire-arc to affect, and the +2D is added to the sensor dice based on the sensor range the targets are in (ECO's skill dice +2D, +4D at Search, or +4D+2 at Focus ranges). It can be used against one target or several, affecting them all (though the GM must figure out how to work out the different dice and ranges). Multiple fire arcs can be affected, at -1D per extra arc, for a maximum of -3D if affecting all four fire arcs. ECM can only be used in Search and Focus sensor ranges.
The ECO must make a Sensors skill roll when using the ECM. It can effectively jam sensors and communications (by wireless or relay such as laser line-of-site, etc), and can also jam guided weapons systems, and can even clear enemy jamming signals to keep allies free from being affected in the same manner; each of these takes a separate roll with the Sensors skill.
ECM actions to jam enemy sensors and communications simply have to roll higher than the target's skill rolls in these.
When using ECM against guided weapons, it depends on the kind of weapon: if the weapon is manually used by a person but has some kind of fire control, then the ECM negates fire control dice equal to the range the target is at in the Raptor's sensors (-4D at Search and -4D+2 at Focus), and the manual operator still gets their skill dice for the attack, with a penalty to their fire control. The ECO simply has to roll against Difficult Difficulty to cause this effect.
If the weapon is automated and NOT manually operated, or is of capital scale (most are 'usually' not manually operated), then the ECO simply has to make a roll against the target's skill roll and beat it to make the weapon unable to target anything.
To clear enemy jamming, the Raptor must roll against the enemy's jamming or ECM roll and beat the roll. In effect, if two opposing ECM systems are being used in a battle, the tide could shift repeatedly as they both continuously fight for electronic dominance in combat, and allies and enemies would be blessed or cursed each round as one or the other gained control. For this reason, group tactics with Vipers and Raptors usually plan ahead to take out enemy ECM craft to gain this advantage for themselves in any fight they find themselves in.
SPECIAL RULES: Several weapons on the Valkyrie are made to use special rules from the D6 FIREARMS and D6 MISSILES articles in the Supplements section of the site, but this is not necessary to use this write-up. The missile weapons use the Range/Speed rule. The flak rounds in the KEWs and the nuclear missiles both use the Blast Radius rules, with the area of effect listed here in the write-up.
STAR WARS CONVERSION: Using this ship in normal Star Wars RPG rules is fairly easy. If GMS/players do not prefer the 'ARMOR' rules above, simply use the ship with a +1D Hull Dice above that of a Mon Calamari MC80 Starcruiser (They are the same length, but the Valkyrie relies on a heavily armored hull and no shields).
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HISTORY
Approximately six years before the Cylon attack, Valkyrie had been ordered by Admiral Peter Corman to deploy a stealth recon ship over the Armistice Line to test Cylon resolve and gather intelligence on Cylon activities. During the mission, an unidentified DRADIS contact (presumed to have been a spacecraft) entered the area of the stealth ship piloted by Lieutenant Daniel Noyacek and damaged the Stealthstar's engines before jumping away.
Two further (presumed Cylon) contacts were detected on an intercept course with the stealth ship. Rather than attempt a rescue of the disabled craft, Commander Adama ordered the stealth ship to be destroyed to prevent its discovery and capture.
In the days and years following the incident at the Armistice Line, and in particular after the Cylon attack on the Colonies, Adama came to believe that his actions had provoked the Cylon assault, having "proved" to them that humanity was aggressive and not to be trusted (Hero).
During the Cylon assault on the Twelve Colonies, Valkyrie is one of several battlestars of the same class that attempt to engage the Cylons over Caprica, only to be disabled by the CNP's backdoors (Command Navigational Program, software developed by Gaius Baltar for the Colonial military and all of its ships, but also examined and altered by Cylon spy, a Model Six who seduced Baltar and posed as his lover). She is destroyed shortly after (The Plan).
At least two unnamed battlestars matching Valkyrie's design are docked at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards when it is destroyed (Razor).
SPECS
The Valkyrie and other ships of the same class have shown that their Viper launch tubes are placed forward of the flight pods, with three launch tubes under the open ports of both pods.
NOTES
-The ship's hull number can't be seen. It is thus not known if it is identical to her Battlestar Group.
-The Valkyrie CIC insignia adorned David Eick's production office wall in the Vancouver Film Studios where Battlestar Galactica was produced.
-In mythology, a Valkyrie is a minor female deity who chose the most heroic fallen warriors to ascend to Valhalla where they would await Ragnarok. Valkyrie is the third (second onscreen) instance of Norse mythology being used, the first being Ragnar Station, which is a reference to Ragnarok, the Norse "twilight of the gods" (Miniseries).
--Interestingly, the story of Ragnarok parallels with the career of William Adama, the former commander of Valkyrie. Adama, considered a fallen hero by the admiralty, is transferred from the advanced Valkyrie to command the aging Galactica about a year before the Cylon attack. Later, with the fall of the Colonies, he finds himself in the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, the last battle within Colonial space.
-The Valkyrie type battlestar, being of more modern design than Gactica's class, bears a closer resemblence to the Mercury class and thus the battlestars from the original series.
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