UNSC DESTROYER

Craft: UNSC Destroyer
Type: Fleet escort/assault craft
Scale: Capital
Dimensions:
-Length: 485m
Skill: Capital ship piloting: UNSC Destroyer
Crew: 378
-gunners: 116
-skeleton: 50/+5 (1/+5 if AI-assisted)
Crew Skill: Aircraft gunnery 6D+1, capital ship piloting 5D, capital ship gunnery 6D, sensors 3D+2
Passengers: 200
-Marines: 100 (2 platoons/8 squads/16 teams)
-ODSTs: 24 (2 squads/4 teams)
-Other: 76
Cargo Capacity: 6,000 metric tons
Consumables: 6 months
Cost: Not available for sale
Slipspace Drive: x10
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 2D
Speed:
-Space: 6
-Atmosphere: 330; 950kmh
Hull: 6D+2
Sensors:
   Passive: 30/0D
   Scan: 50/1D
   Search: 100/2D
   Focus: 4/3D

VEHICLE COMPLEMENT:
8 Single-Ship Hangars (4 per side; 8 Albatross, Longswords, OR Pelicans)
Main Hangar (Carries up to 12 slots)
   Albatross Dropships (6 slots)
      -Internal: Carries up to 4 slots internal
   Pelican Dropships (4 slots)
      -External: Carries up to 2 slots
      -Internal: Carries 10 troops (+ 2 1/2 slots OR +5 troops)
12 HEV Bays (2 HEVs/bay; 24 total)

WEAPONS:
   2 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons/MAC Guns
      Location: Built within forward hull
      Fire Arc: Front
      Crew: 6(2)
      Skill: Capital ship gunnery
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Control: 3D
      Space Range: 5-20/40/60
      Atmosphere Range: 100-4/8/12km
      Damage:
      -Single: 10D
      -Fire-Linked: 11D
      Ammo: 60 (30 each, solid slugs)
      Rate of Fire: 1/3
      Special: Fire-linking

   2 Capital Missile Launcher
      Location: Mounted in forward hull
      Fire Arc: Front
      Crew: 4 (2)
      Skill: Capital ship gunnery
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Control: 3D
      Space Range:
      -Shiva: 2-10/20/40
      -Harpoon: 2-10/20/40
      Atmosphere Range:
      -Shiva: 4-20/40/80km
      -Harpoon: 4-20/40/80km
      Missile Speed:
      -Shiva: 80km/round
      -Harpoon: 80km/round
      Damage:
      -Shiva: 10D/9D/8D/7D
      -Harpoon: 8D/7D/6D
      Blast Radius:
      -Shiva: 0-2/3/4/5
      -Harpoon: 0/1/2
      Ammo:
      -Shiva: 3
      -Harpoon: 24 (12 missiles each)
      Rate of Fire: 1/2

   26 Over-sized Archer Missile Pods
      Location: Mounted along the hull
      Fire Arc: Indirect
      Crew: 3 (26)
      Skill: Aircraft gunnery
      Scale: Starfighter
      Fire Control: 2D
      Space Range: 2/4/8
      Atmosphere Range: 50-200/400/800m
      Damage:
      -Single Missile: 8D (2D Capital)
      -Volley-Fire: Up to 10D (4D Capital)
      Ammo: 60 missiles/pod (2,400 total)
      Rate of Fire: 1-5
      Special: Volley-fire (see below)

   8 50mm Dual-Barreled Point Defense Autocannons
      Location: Mounted along the hull
      Fire Arc: 3 right, 3 left, 2 turrets
      Crew: 2 (6), 3 (2)
      Skill: Aircraft gunnery
      Scale: Starfighter
      Fire Control: 3D
      Space Range: 1-3/12/24
      Atmosphere Range: 50-300/1.2/2.4km
      Damage: 4D
      Ammo: 1,000 (50mm high-explosive projectiles)
      Rate of Fire: 4

DESCRIPTION:

   Destroyer is a warship classification in the UNSC Navy, as well as the now-defunct Colonial Military Administration. Its hull classification symbol is DD. Fast, maneuverable, and designed for long-term endurance, destroyers were intended to escort larger vessels, such as the Marathon- and Halcyon-class cruisers.

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-GAME NOTES-

SLIPSTREAM DRIVE: Count the Slipstream Drive as a Hyperdrive from WEG Star Wars D6 RPG rules.  As humans and the UNSC have less advanced technology than the Covenant, their Slipspace technology as also not as fast or accurate as the Covenant's or the Forerunners.

VEHICLE COMPLEMENT: Above is listed the Destroyer's compliment of smaller craft, be it ships, aircraft or ground vehicles.  While the single-ship hangars are self-explanatory (one type of ship per hangar), the main hangar uses a slot system.  Other vehicles count as a number of slots (or half slots) and take up slot space in the rear hangar.

MAC GUN: The destroyer's Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, or MAC Guns, is its main offensive weapon against enemy ships.  It has considerable power and damage, but requires time to build up a charge to fire a solid projectile at near-lightspeed.  To offset its powerful Damage, it has a Rate of Fire of one shot every three rounds (which also fits the canon material of the HALO setting).

CAPITAL MISSILE LAUNCHERS: These weapons listed above have two paylod types, Shiva and Harpoon.  Both are types of nuclear warhead missiles, the Shiva being for maximum widespread damage, and the harpoon being more of a lower-powered tactical nuclear weapon.  Shivas are always issued in limited numbers (3 for frigates), with Harpoons not much better.

ARCHER MISSILE PODS: These are simply starfighter scale missile launcher weapons.  They are listed with a Rate of Fire of 1-5, meaning they can launch between 1 to 5 missiles per attack, and potentially make 5 Damage rolls in a single attack.  They also list the Special rule Volley-fire (see below).

VOLLEY-FIRE: The Archer Missile Pods can fire missiles in concentrated volleys, fire-linking up to 5 missiles in a single attack to do more Damage in a single Damage roll (instead of multiple lesser Damage rolls as stated above).

AUTOMATIC WEAPONS: The destroyer's Twin Point Defense Guns are listed with a Rate of Fire of 4.  If GMs wish, they can, they can allow these weapons to be Automatic.  To increase the Rate of Fire, the gunner adds +1 level of range Difficulty for every +1 Rate of Fire.  If they only hit with the normal Range Difficulty, then one shot hits (roll Damage) and the other misses, with no other shots being fired (as the gunner would stop shooting to line up the next attack).

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SPECIFICATIONS

   Although some vessels of this classification are only seven meters longer than a UNSC frigate, they have almost double the mass. Unlike most ships in the fleet, destroyers carry no single-ship fighters; rather, their large mass comes from the one and a half to two meters of Titanium-A battle plate that covers the ship. Cortana once stated that destroyers are essentially the same as frigates except for this additional armor. Destroyers are also described as having arrowhead-shaped noses.

   The destroyer's armament comes in the form of two Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, twenty-six oversized Archer missile pods, and three Shiva-class nuclear missiles. For defense against starfighters, the Destroyer carries eight point-defense autocannons.

CLASS HISTORY

   In 2497, the Gorgon-class, a heavy destroyer with a single MAC, was introduced into service.[8] Later ships classes would include two MACs as they became standard armament on UNSC warships. These warships were used to put down the Eridanus rebels during Operation: TREBUCHET, with the loss of several vessels. The CMA destroyer Heracles was the command ship of Battlegroup 4 during the disastrous first contact with the Covenant.

   During the Human-Covenant War, destroyers were looked down upon by many in the Navy. The destroyer class was initially considered too ineffective against the superior Covenant ships, but in reality, it could receive and dish out a considerable amount of damage for its size, and in groups could prove a match for the Covenant's larger CCS-class Battlecruisers. Senior naval officers estimated that, on average, seven UNSC Destroyers were generally a match for four Covenant Frigates. As a result, many were destroyed in the war.

   Commander Jacob Keyes commanded a destroyer, the UNSC Iroquois during a short skirmish over Sigma Octanus IV. During this engagement, he devised the Keyes Loop as an act of desperation. The Iroquois managed to single-handedly destroy two Covenant Frigates and a Covenant Destroyer.

TRIVIA

-In the first pages of Halo Wars: Genesis, a picture of a UNSC Destroyer leaving Slipspace is shown, this being the first canon appearance of a UNSC Destroyer. It had previously only been described in the novels. After this, different incarnations of the UNSC destroyer have appeared in The Babysitter and the animated version of Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian. This could depict different classes of destroyers or show that some have been specially refit.

SPECULATION

   The UNSC destroyer made its first visual appearance in Halo Wars: Genesis. After this, different incarnations of the UNSC destroyer have appeared in The Babysitter and the motion comic adaptation of Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian. Since the release of Halo Wars: Genesis, the first and third variations have been depicted in Halo: Fall of Reach. These varying illustrations could depict different classes of destroyers or indicate that some have been specially refit.

   It is known that the armament and overall design of UNSC destroyers underwent drastic redesigning following humanity's first space battles with the Covenant; as such, the image of the Heracles, at least, may represent one of the earlier types of destroyer, as it had been built prior to the Harvest attack.

OTHER INFO:
Production Information:
-Manufacturer: UNSC
-Class: Destroyer
-Role: Fleet escort, assault
Technical Specifications:
-Length: c.485m/1,590ft (varies between classes)
-Engine: Deuterium nuclear fusion reactor
-Slipspace drive: Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine
-Hull: 1.5 - 2 meters Titanium-A battleplate
-Armaments: Magnetic Accelerator Cannons (2); Shiva-class nuclear missiles (3); Over-sized Archer missile pods (26); 8x 50mm point-defense autocannons (dual-barreled)
-Complement: HEVs; Pelicans
Chronological and affiliation:
-Era: Insurrection; Human-Covenant War
-Affiliation: UNSC Navy; Colonial Military Administration