ALPHA FRIGATE

Craft: Grobyc Migration Fleet Alpha Class Frigate
Type: Advanced frigate
Scale: Capital
Dimensions:
-Length: 250m
-Mass: 1,200 metric tons
Skill: Capital ship piloting
Crew: 420
-Gunners: 24
-Troops: 40
-Skeleton: 180/+10
-Emergency Evac: 1,500/2 days
Crew Skill: Astrogation 4D, Capital ship gunnery, Capital ship piloting 4D+1, Capital ship shields 4D, Sensors 3D+1, Starship gunnery, 5D
Passengers: 60
Cargo Capacity: 250 metric tons
Consumables: 1 week
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperdrive: x2 (Backup: x12)
Nav Computer: Yes (+1D Astrogation)
Maneuverability: 2D*
Speed:
-Space: 4+*
-Atmosphere: 280; 800kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
-Passive: 40/1D
-Scan: 70/1D+2
-Search: 120/2D
-Focus: 4/2D+2

AUXILIARY CRAFT CAPACITY:

WEAPONS:
   2 Heavy Particle Cannons** (fire-link optional)
      Location: Mounted on sides of hull
      Fire Arc: 2 front
      Crew: 2 (2)
      Skill: Capital ship gunnery
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Control: 1D
      Range:
      -Space: 5-20/50/100
      -Atmosphere: 10-40/100/200km
      Damage: 9D(10D fire-linked)
      Rate Of Fire: 1/2

   2 Particle Cannons** (fire-link optional)
      Location: Mounted on sides of hull
      Fire Arc: 4 front
      Crew: 1 (2)
      Skill: Capital ship gunnery
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Control: 2D
      Range:
      -Space: 5-15/40/80
      -Atmosphere: 10-30/80/160km
      Damage: 6D (7D fire-linked)
      Rate Of Fire: 1/2

   12 Point-Defense Focal Beam Projectors***
      Location: Mounted along the hull
      Fire Arc: 2 front, 4 right, 4 left, 2 back
      Crew: 1 (12)
      Skill: Starship gunnery
      Scale: Starfighter
      Fire Control: 4D
      Range:
      -Space: 1-5/25/50
      -Atmosphere: 100-500/2.5/5km
      Damage: 6D
      Rate Of Fire: 1

   4 Light Missile Batteries****
      Location: Mounted in sides of hull
      Fire Arc: Turrets (Indirect Fire)
      Crew: 1 (4)
      Skill: Starship gunnery
      Scale: Starfighter
      Fire Control: 3D
      Range:
      -Space: 1/3/7
      -Atmosphere: 50-100/300/700m
      Speed:
      -Space: 7
      -Atmosphere: 700m
      Damage: 8D
      Ammo: 20 per battery
      Rate Of Fire: 1-5

   2 Gravitic Force Beam Projectors*****
      Location: Mounted along hull
      Fire Arc: 1 right, 1 left
      Crew: 1 (2)
      Skill: Capital ship gunnery
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Control: 5D
      Range:
      -Space: 1-10/30/60
      -Atmosphere: 2-20/60/120km
      Damage: 7D
      Rate Of Fire: 1

GAME NOTES:

*GRAVIMETRIC DRIVE: The gravimetric drive system of the Grobyc's frigates uses a similar system as that of the Migration Fleet's city ships.  It increases propulsion Speeds (Space/Atmosphere) and Maneuverability.  However, it is not as powerful as those of the much larger vessels and cannot extend a crusher field.  This version, however, became the dominant type used in starships produced by the Grobyc after leaving their homeworld.
 -Drive System: While moving, increase Speed (Space/Atmosphere) and Maneuverability by +1 for every minute of constant movement.  After exceeding Space 8/Atmosphere 365/1,050kmh, all maneuvers require rolls from the crew (Str/Stamina) and ship (Hull dice) to resist extreme G-forces from such extreme motion, starting at Moderate Difficulty, increasing by 1 Difficulty (+5) every speed increase after.  Also, the Alpha frigate uses a combination of gravimetric drive and traditonal ion drive propulsion.  It starts at Space 4 and gains bonuses from there.  Otherwise, capital ships start at Space 2.

**PARTICLE BEAM WEAPONS: These are, simply put, what would be possible if turbolaser technology were pushed further, with a more powerful particle energy beam that deals more damage and has greater range.  In general, a Particle Beam Cannon and Heavy Particle Beam Cannon have +2D damage over their Turbolaser counterparts, and 1/4 more range.

***POINT-DEFENSE FOCAL BEAM PROJECTORS: Much like galactic standard laser weapons used to combat starfighter scale craft, these energy beams utilize advanced focal technologies to maintain beam cohesion, which greatly extends the range.  Combined with advanced cooling techniques, the beams can be projected continuously instead of in bursts like other laser weaponry, which deals more damage to a target as the constant beam maintains contact with its surface.  Using this weapon at full damge requires a full-round action for the attack as the beam is held on the target for best results.  Otherwise, the beam can be used to attack multiple times per round at less damage (-2D).

****LIGHT MISSILE BATTERY: These batteries use missiles similar to concussion missiles.  They are able to fire a single missile, or up to 5 missiles at a time.  These can be fired all t once (fire-linked battery damage) or in rapid succession (from 1 to 5 missiles).  The launcher system also has advanced targeting systems linked to the ships sensors that allow indirect fire, where the launchers act as "turret" weapons, able to fire at targets in any fire arc.  Unlike the other forms of Grobyc starship missile weapons, these take no penalty to fire control when using indirect fire.

*****Gravimetric Force Beam Projectors: Where Tractor Beams have a very specialized and focused purpose and may be remotely linked to such technologies as repulsorlift or artificial gravity, gravimetric beam technology is a more advanced form of technology that can be adapted to serve the same purpose, but had a wide variety of other uses as well.  For the purposes of this weapon, it serves the same function of Tractor Beams, using its Damage/Strength to grab other ships and slow their Speed or stop them all together.  Gravimetric Beam technology is a byproduct of the Gravimetric Drive that propels the entire City Ship through space and allows it to land on a planetary surface, in essence replacing repulsorlift and artificial gravity generators with a single, much more advanced and versatile system.  While Gravimetric Beams are stronger than Tractor Beams, they also grant a greater degree of control over the target they are used upon.


DESCRIPTION:

   The Alpha class frigate is perhaps the most common military ship among the Migration Fleet.  While the Grobyc do possess other military ships, they are somewhat rare, especislly when comparisons are made with space fleets from other civilizations.  This is because a frigte type ship is more in demand among the Grobyc than other, larger capital ships.  While the larger ship types certainly have domitable firepower, the Grobyc perfer mobility and speed as their primary need when it comes to ship building.  This is due to the Migration Fleet's constant moving through space, staying "on the go" as it were.  Therefor, the Alpha frigate becomes the dominant vessel in the Grobyc Defense Fleet, followed by their Beta class destroyers, which work well in tandum for capital starship tactics for the Grobyc.

   None of this is to sy that the Alpha lacks in firepower.  Far from it.  The Alpa frigate, though somewhat lighter in size and mass compared to frigates from other military organizations in the galaxy, also uses the more advanced weapons systems of Grobyc technology, including Particle Beams, Focal Beam Projectors, an advanced rapid fire missile battery system, and Gravitic Force Beam Projectors.  The Particle Beam weapons could be considered the next step in advncement to turbolaser technologies alone, giving this ship a potential punch that matches other vessel that are two, even three, times its size and mass, or even bigger.  Focal Beam Projectors are similar in advances to anti-starfighter laser weapons, yet also more powerful by comparison.  The Light Missile Batteries, another weapon that could be built by other races, again is not used as widely as by the Grobyc.  And then the Gravitic Force Projectors give a Grobyc ship a tool that can also double as a weapon in a pinch.

   All this tactical firepower could be considered enough, perhaps more than enough, to call this ship a destroyer, yet the designation of frigate is because it has so few of these weapons, built for speed and mobility, and is actually armed lightly in standards of military vessels.  The destroyers would have a bit more firepower, perhaps less speed.  It should also be noted that the Alpha frigate has enough power output to use these weapons.  This is possible due to severl other details, such as advanced technologies that allow better distribution of that power, less loss of energy in power transfer processes, better capacitors for storing and using extra/excess energies, actual increased power production for its size, and, best of all, Grobyc technologies allow for great power amplification when energy is produced.  This grants the Alpha class frigate an overall collective power output roughly equal to Imperial capital ships just under that of an Imperial II Star Destroyer (some would argue its an even match, if not better, but surely this is just a Grobyc engineer's pride speaking).

   The Alpha class frigate also uses more extensive automation than more common vessels.  This allows it to operate with a less standard crew, roughly half that needed for an Imperial Lancer class frigate.  It also opens up more cargo space for the ship, despite having some more powerful weapons than a Lancer.

   The onboard facilities include the norm that could be expected, such as bridge, engineering, crew quarters, gunnery stations for weapons crew, medical station, etc.  However, these areas also have a bit more room due to automation, are less cramped but more spacious, and even allow the Grobyc's technological standards become visually apparent in the architecture and decor of the ship's cooridors.

   The Alpha frigate has a small hangar bay located in the aft of the hull between its two light ion drives.  When the rear of the ship is viewed, the hull reaches back in three extensions.  The extensions on the port and stardoarb hull are a cross of engine nacelles for the ion drives and larger maneuvering thrusters in the rear, and weapons emplacements for a single particle cannon and heavy particle cannon, each, in the front, facing forwards.  The hangar bay is the third, longer extended portion of the hull.  Unlike many other capital ships, it does not keep its hangar doors open constantly with atmospheric pressure fields, but keeps them closed up with a heavy section of the hull plating until use for launches or landings.  This is to keep the hangar concealed as many ships this size usually do not have space for smaller ships, and to protect the frigate from boarding actions and sustaining damage in a fight.  The hangar and weapons emplacements are often converted into raw cargo space when using Alpha frigate hulls for other variants such as personnel/civilain transports or cargo freighters.

   The hangar can carry a squadron of up to twelve small, compact starfighters, or a flight of rough three to six larger starfighters, such as bombers.  Alternatively, it could carry up to six small space transports or four medium sized, or three to two large space transports, all starfighter scale (small=2 small starfighters, medium=3, large=4+).  Some missions could call on the frigate to carry a mix of these craft, or even none at all.  While many friagtes do not have hangars and often rely on docking with other ships, starports, space stations, or landing on the ground for resupply and exchange of crew and passengers, the Grpbyc are constantly on the move and therefor prefer that many of their ships can resupply on the go.

   The Alpha frigate has a combination of gravimetric drive and ion drive propulsion systems.  This is because at the time the Grobyc's engineers were still learning how the gravimetric drive technology worked.  With this combination in propulsion systems, the frigate can start at a higher speed than if it only had the gravimetirc drive, making it the fastest capital ship design the Grobyc have ever made, and possibly the fastest mass-produced capital ship in the galaxy when the gravimetric drive excels the ship past in conjunction with its ion drives.

VARIANTS

   While the Alpha frigate is the mainstay of the Grobyc Defense Fleet, it is also the basis for many other capital ships in the city ship Migration Fleet, both civilian and military.  It's design led to modified variants used throughout the Grobyc Migration Fleet and Defense Fleet, including: the Alpha Prime class transport, a variant of the Alpa frigate hull with all weapons removed and the design modified to allow maximum capacity for carrying space in transporting anything from people, freight, other resources and cargos, and anything else the Prime's cargo space is modified to handle; the Beta class destroyer, which has less speed and maneuverability and more firepower; and Delta class cruiser, a larger, expanded version of the hull design that serves the general purpose of a "cruiser" in a military fleet.

HISTORY

   When the Grobyc left to the stars fleeing their homeworld, it was immediately apparent to their more objective leaders tht the Migration FLeet's city ships may not be enough to defend their species from the hazards of space travel.  The fleet, while mobile and using advanced technologies to defend and hide itself, was still a very large target.  Even staying on or beyond the fringe of galactic society, it would not take much for outsiders to catch a glimpse of the fleet, even on the far edge of long range scanners.  Someone would come looking for them eventually.  And with the Grobyc's past experiences with outsiders dating back to the Sith Wars, many feared these future encounters would not go well.  The fleet needed vessels that could scout for the fleet, gather information on possible flight paths through space, while also becoming potential barriers between the fleet and discovery.  These vessels would also be required to fight on their own if the need ever arose.  While different classes of ship would find need among the fleet depending on the circumstances, resources were still limited on the scale of building more ships while on the move.  The Grobyc needed a ship that could fullfill the basic duties required of the Migration Fleet, be powerful enough to handle its own, yet not be too large or expensive to build, something they could begin producing quickly and, in time, field in large numbers, perhaps even become the workhorse vessel of the fleet.

   Enter the Grobyc Migration Fleet's Alpha Class Frigate.  Large enough to utilize the discoveries found in their new gravimetric drive systems on the capital scale, yet small enough to be maneuverable, quick, quiet, and still pack within its hull the Grobyc's more advanced capital ship weaponry.  While the Grobyc were still in the process of fabricating and installing weaponry and defenses for their city ships on the scale of the entire Migration Fleet, the earliest designs for the Alpha Frigate were hastiliy drawn up and put through development and production. The term "Alpha" seemed fitting as it was the type of capital ship the Grobyc needed first.  Other such terms as "Beta", "Delta", etc, would be used for future classes of ship as they came along, bt the Alpha was the first.

   Building these ships did take time.  As they were the first design of mass-production capital ship the Grobyc began to develop for the fleet, "Alpha" seemed fitting for the name of the ship class.  The design team of Grobyc engineers were assembled, designs worked on, reworked, modified, simulated over and over in advanced computer systems, and finally they were ready to move ahead with building the prototype.

   Building a prototype was necessary before moving on to mass production.  When the Grobyc left their homeworld, the city ships were rapidly constructed (some might say shaped and molded as they came from the monolithic structures native to their homeworld) for the purpose of carrying the Grobyc population, their cities, and even massive portions of their world's natural habit flora and fauna.  It would take time before certain city ships would be designated to fullfill specific purposes for the fleet, such as other ship construction.  These purposes would fullfill the roles of jobs in Grobyc society.  From tending and maintaining their cities and the geological masses they took with them, to providing services such as food, water, education, and all the other functions that would be needed for the logistics and cultural change and development the Grobyc would need in this new way of life.

   A small area on the edge of one city ship was sectioned off and given over to the purpose of developing the prototype Alpha Frigate.  As this ship was built, it would form the basis needed to make a shipyard for mass-producing a fleet's worth of these ships.  Once the prototype was finished, the next stage was to finalize the shipyard for making more.

   As these changes were happening and began to take form, the need arose to have a designated place to build ships, both small and large, for use among and between the city ships.  They had some vessels, simple light shuttles and transports left over from their homeworld used for ferrying people and light amounts of vargo (much like any other light freighter), but they would need more of these in time, and probably better versions of them as well.  This did not cover the future need of combat ships that would serve in tactical defense of the fleet.  To make these ships, other city ships would have to begin preparing their facilities to construct and produce capital ships.  In time, the first devoted construction yard city ship took form.  Much of its population had to reloacate as this city ship became devoted to producing smaller capital ships that would form the backbone of the Grobyc's Defense Fleet.  Over the years, as the Migration Fleet had produced enough of these Defense Fleet vessels, these devoted city ships would be repurposed for other endeavors, or simply alter their function to produce other needed ships and related technologies and services, as well as providing services for maintenance.  Many other city ships would be altered in a similar fashion over time, some devoted to their populations and being centers of living and culture as true cities (many of these even taking on a more "unique" appearance over time), while other city ships would become more devoted to such subjects as education, various forms of construction, various forms of work and labor in general, and even the training and sheltering of devoted military personnel and their resources.  While some did desire to construct new ships on the scale of the city ships themselves for devoted purposes, and this did occur rarely over time, it was difficult for the Migration Fleet to do.

   The Alpha frigate's development led to its class having a combination of gravimetric drive and ion drive propulsion systems.  This is because at the time the Grobyc's engineers were still learning how the gravimetric drive technology worked.  They were beginning to look into building more ships for use in their fleet, but were also worried about mobility and defense.  Though they had access to the data held within their homeworld's ancient monolithic structures to explain the gravimetric technology, undertanding of this information took time and patience.  When developing the Alpha class, the gravimetric drive at the time could only be built at a certain size, unable to miniaturize it further (no starfighter scale), and unable to produce enough power to make one for larger ships.  With their at-the-time current levels of technological and scientific understanding, they would be able to make power generation for the drive system to fit a light capital starship.  While the gravimetric drive does require a lot of power, the ship also needed power for other weapon systems that were staples of Grobyc technology.  This detail, above all else, is why the Grobyc's first wide-spread use capital ship was so small and yet so powerful.  They could not make one bigger at first, but the one they COULD make had the best that they could put into it.  For what the Grobyc's needs were, it would have to have this.  These reasons are why the Alpha frigate would become such a dominant presence in the Grobyc fleet.

   The inclusion of ion drives in the class was a no-brainer to the designers.  The gravimetric drive had its advantages, but also had its limitations.  It could make a ship of any kind very fast and maneuverable, but it took time to build up that speed.  Thankfully, with all the Grobyc's technological achievements in their history, they had learned how to make more refined variants of common galactic technologies some time ago.  This meant they could easily work ion drives into the Alpha frigate's design, and they would take up little relative space and be very efficient when it came to power and fuel consumption.  Much less of a worry than using the gravimetric drive itself.  And, if the gravimetric systems ever failed, it would a backup propulsion system, much like all ships usually have a backup hyperdrive.

   The gravimetric propulsion used by the city ships is different and much more highly advanced.  As the city ships are crafted from the same ancient monolithic structures from their homeworld, their exact operation details to this day still baffles the Grobyc's best and brightest.  As such, despite these ancient structures also producing the nanites that modified and evolved the Grobyc for greater intelligence and technology intuity over time, they were ble to glean enough understanding to reproduce the technology on a lower standard for their own personal use, and expand from there.

   Between the Grobyc's advanced technologies in space flight, their limitations in gravitic tech at the time, and the fact that they already knew how to produce more refined variants on standard galactic technologies, it seemed

   The Alpha Frigate would always be a constant among the Migration Fleet after this point.  Much of this development would happen through a portion of the Rise of the Empire era ad the Migration Fleet moved across a quarter of the galactic Outer Rim and various areass of Wild Space between the galactic arms (perfect hiding places for such a large fleet!).

   Once the first battle group of Alpha Frigates were produced and entered service, other city ships had been altered for starship production and began producing their own Alpha frigates, including variants of the class.  As the Alpha was looked at from the beginning as something to provide the Migration FLeet with what it most needed in a new ship, the design was made from the earliest to be easily alterable during construction.  This allowed the Alpha to easily transfer into other types of need ship, such as dedecated military personnel and civilian transportation, moving large amounts of cargo and resources, and even transferring over easily as a more heavily armed destroyer type.  The design was so successful for the Grobyc that a large version was developed as the Delta Class Cruiser which would be just as easily modified as the original Alpha class.

   Other classes and types of Grobyc starship would be devloped and produced on into the eras of the Rebellion, the Galactic Civil War, the coming of the New Republic, its fall and change into the Galactic Alliance, the later Legacy era, and beyond.  Each of these would serve the Grobyc well in the Migration Fleet and Defense Fleet and be a sign of Grobyc technology and military power.  But even then, more than likely, and outsider's first encounter with the Grobyc people will more than likely be with a vessel that ha more than a passing similarity with the original Alpha class frigate.