 WHITE STAR DESTROYER
Craft: Interstellar Alliance Destroyer Class White Star
Type: Advanced destroyer
Scale: Capital
Dimensions:
-Length: 2,012m
Skill: Capital ship piloting: White Star Destroyer
Crew: 300+
-Gunners: 75
-Troops: 200
-Skeleton: 10/+10
-Emergency Evac: 8,000+/3 months
Crew Skill:
-Normal Crew: Astrogation 4D, Capital ship gunnery 5D, Capital ship piloting 5D+2, Sensors 4D+2
-Excalibur: Astrogation 4D+2, Capital ship gunnery 5D+2, Capital ship piloting 6D, Sensors 5D
-Autopilot*: 3D all skills
Passengers: 2,000+ (luxury)
Cargo Capacity: 30,000 metric tons
Consumables: 4 years
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperspace Jump Engines: Yes
Nav Computer: Yes (+2D Astrogation)
Maneuverability: 1D+**
Speed:
-Space: 2+**
-Atmosphere: 225; 650kmh**
Hull: 9D
Defense:
-Vorlon Bio-Armor***:
?-Energy Dispersion: +3D
?-Damage Adaptation: -3D
?-Healing: +3D
-Minbari Stealth Device: (see below)****
-Shields: N/A
Sensors*****:
-Passive: 65/1D+2
-Scan: 130/3D
-Search: 260/4D
-Focus: 7/5D
AUXILIARY CRAFT CAPACITY:
-Work Pods
-Kestrel Shuttles
-24+ Starfuries
-24+ Thunderbolts
WEAPONS:
?? Quantum Discharge Cannon******
????? Location: Engines/forward hull
????? Fire Arc: Front
????? Crew: 1 (bridge crew)
????? Skill: Capital ship gunnery
????? Scale: Capital
????? Fire Control: 0D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 5-25/50/100
????? -Atmosphere: 10-50/100/200km
????? Damage: 20D (8D VS Death Star scale!)
????? Rate Of Fire: 1/10
????? Special: Recharge
?? 2 Heavy Fusion Beam Batteries (4 weapons per battery)
????? Location: Forward/rear hull
????? Fire Arc: 1 front, 1 back
????? Crew: 2 (2) (bridge crew)
????? Skill: Capital ship gunnery
????? Scale: Capital
????? Fire Control: 4D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 5-20/40/80
????? -Atmosphere: 10-40/80/160km
????? Damage: 11D+2 (10D separate)
????? Rate Of Fire:
????? -Fire Linked: 1 (continuous beam)
????? -Salvo: 4
????? Special: Beam Weapon*******
?? 2 Heavy Defense Turrets********
????? Location: 1 in forward hull, 1 in rear hull
????? Fire Arc: Turrets
????? Crew: 1 (2) (bridge crew)
????? Skill: Capital ship gunnery
????? Scale: Capital
????? Fire Control: 3D
????? Range:
????? -Heavy Fusion Cannon
????? -Space: 5-20/40/80
????? -Atmosphere: 10-40/80/160km
????? -Heavy Neutron Cannon
????? -Space: 1-10/20/40
????? -Atmosphere: 2-20/40/80km
????? Damage:
????? -Heavy Fusion Cannon: 10D
????? -Heavy Neutron Cannons: 6D (7D fire-linked)
????? Rate Of Fire:
????? -Heavy Fusion Cannon: 1 (continuous beam)
????? -Heavy Neutron Cannon: 2 (1 fire-linked)
????? Special:
????? -Heavy Fusion Cannon: Beam Weapon******
????? -Heavy Neutron Cannons: Fire-link optional
?? 10 Light Fusion Beam Cannons
????? Location: Mounted along hull
????? Fire Arc: 5 right, 5 left
????? Crew: 1 (10)
????? Skill: Capital ship gunnery
????? Scale: Capital
????? Fire Control: 3D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 3-15/30/60
????? -Atmosphere: 6-30/60/120km
????? Damage: 7D
????? Rate Of Fire: 1 (continuous beam)
????? Special: Beam Weapon******
?? 20 Anti-Starfighter Missile Launchers
????? Location: Mounted along hull
????? Fire Arc: "turret" (indirect fire)
????? Crew: 1 (20)
????? Skill: Starship gunnery
????? Scale: Starfighter
????? Fire Control: 3D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 1/4/8
????? -Atmosphere: 50-100/400/800
????? Damage: 7D
????? Ammo: 20 per launcher
????? Rate Of Fire: 1-5 (salvo-fire)
?? 25 Rapid Engagement Plasma Pulse Cannons
????? Location: Mounted in engine wings
????? Fire Arc: Turret
????? Crew: 1 (25)
????? Skill: Starship gunnery
????? Scale: Starfighter
????? Fire Control: 3D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 1-7/15/30
????? -Atmosphere: 50-700/1.5/3km
????? Damage: 5D
????? Rate Of Fire: 10
?? 6 DG Anti-Capital Interceptors
????? Location: Mounted along hull
????? Fire Arc: 1 front, 2 right, 2 left, 1 back
????? Crew: 1 (6)
????? Skill: Capital ship gunnery
????? Scale: Capital
????? Fire Control: 5D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 2-8/32/64
????? -Atmosphere: 4-16/64/128km
????? Damage: 2D
????? Ammo: 16 each (4 per pod/4 pods)
????? Rate Of Fire: 4
?? 6 DG Interceptors
????? Location: Mounted along hull
????? Fire Arc: 1 front, 2 right, 2 left, 1 back
????? Crew: 1 (6)
????? Skill: Starship gunnery
????? Scale: Starfighter
????? Fire Control: 5D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 1-4/16/35
????? -Atmosphere: 100-400/1.6/3.5km
????? Damage: 2D
????? Ammo: 16 each (4 per pod/4 pods)
????? Rate Of Fire: 4
?? Minbari Stealth Device****
????? Location: Sensor array
????? Fire Arc: All
????? Crew: 1 (bridge crew)
????? Skill: Sensors
????? Scale: Capital
????? Fire Control: 0D
????? Range:
????? -Space: 1-6/15/30
????? -Atmosphere: 100-600/1.5/3km
????? Damage: -2D from Fire Control
????? Rate Of Fire: N/A (Continuous)
GAME NOTES:
*AUTOPILOT: A single crew member can fly the ship with only voice commands, even through Hyperspace, and the ship can even fire weapons in this manner.? The single crew must use the Command skill to decide how many actions the ship can perform, much like commanding troops or NPCs.
**GRAVIMETRIC DRIVE: This form of propulsion differs from normal thrust propulsion in that it starts slow, but the ship builds up both speed and maneuverability as it propels itself.? In time, as it increases in speed, a ship with a gravimetric drive can achieve greater speeds and maneuverability than it would using normal propulsion.? In the case of the White Star destroyers, they start at Space Speed 2/Maneuverability 1D, and increase at +1 to both every round the ship flies to build up speed.? The Safety Limit is Space Speed 6/Maneuverability +2D+1 (+4/+4 pips).? Normally, other heavy capital ships with such drives take longer to build up speed/maneuverability (+1 per minute/10 rounds), but the White Star ship types were built somewhat like a mix of Earth, Minbari and Vorlon technologies that puts them a step above the rest.? As with most ships with gravimetric drives, the ship CAN increase its Speed/Maneuverability past the Safety Limits.? Any increase to Speed/Maneuverability beyond the Safety Limits will incur Dex checks from the crew, starting at Moderate Difficulty at Space Speed 7/Maneuverability +2D+2 (failure results in 4D damage).? For every Speed/Maneuverability increase of +1 past the Safety Limit, the Difficulty will increase by 1 level (+5), starting at Moderate, up to Heroic Difficulty at Space Speed 10/Maneuverability 3D+2, with the damage increasing by +1D at each Difficulty increase (8D at Space Speed 12!).? Also, if the Speed entries above list Atmosphere, then the gravimetric drive can work in such an environment, though GMs may wish to incur penalties for operating a ship with this kind of drive within the gravity well of a planet.? If the ship simply flies straight for speed and does not perform any fancy maneuvers, it can increase its speed beyond the Safety Limit without need of rolling Dex checks and incurring damage rolls to the crew.? The Destroyer White Stars were said to be able to achieve speeds of .75c (3/4 speed of light), so these ships could reach Space Speed 15!
***VORLON BIO-ARMOR: The hull can disperse the energy of ranged energy weapons to an extent, adapt to weapons it is struck by, and heal itself from incurred damage.
-Energy Dispersion: The hull counts as having energy shields on all firing arcs at the listed Dice code (3D).
-Damage Adaptation: Every time the hull is used in a battle against a specific kind of weapon and survives, it will reduce the damage of that weapon by -1 pip in the next engagement, for a maximum reduction of up to the listed Dice code (-3D).? It still takes time for the hull to adapt, at least a day before the next battle against the specific weapon or weapon type.
-Healing: The ship counts as a character and heals as a character would, taking the same amounts of time to heal injuries depending on their severity.? This can be affected by crew for enhanced effects or sped up, much like medical care, using skills like Repair Skills and Bioengineering (an advanced skill), and other similar skills.
-Notes: Energy Dispersion and Damage Adaptation both mention working acording to a dice code.? It is easy for these two abilities to work on the same dice code, but they CAN have different dice codes listed.? Healing does not list a dice code, but if GMs wish, the dice code can be a bonus for the ship's crew when using their skills to affect healing for the ship.? Also, when making modifications to these abilities and their dice codes, it is left to GM discretion on wether the dice codes can all be enhanced together as a single ship system, or as three separate systems (hence why these abilities can have different dice codes).? A good rule of thumb would be to have a standard Difficulty Level for enhancing the Bio-Armor dice code as a whole for all three abilities, and then reduce the Difficulty Level if only modifying one specific ability of the Bio-Armor.
****MINBARI STEALTH DEVICE: The Minbari employ a powerful stealth device that jams enemy targeting systems, making it difficult to get a target lock on their ships.? This device reduces enemy Fire Control dice by the die code listed for the stealth device.? In essence, it works exactly like the "Enemy Targeting Jammer" from a Star Wars A-Wing, using the Sensors skill for use, is part of the Sensor systems, but works at capital scale.? This means starfighters will be affected by the 6D scale difference, and may effectively have 0D Fire Control on their weapons (the penalties to Fire Control will not go past a reduction of 0D).
*****SENSORS: Much like the White Star's sensors, the destroyer is a mix of Minbari and Vorlon technologies.? As such they are? able to detect many things that other ships of the younger races would never be able to detect.? For example, they can detect disturbances in Hyperspace created by Vorlon and Shadow technology that are artificially created to hide entire fleets with a method of Hyperspace stealth.? Any other kind of ship created by the younger races, including Minbari vessels, would normally not be able to detect such anomalies.? Also, as per the movie "In The Beginning" Minbari sensors are known to disable the ability of Earth Alliance/Earthforce ships to use Hyperspace Jump Engines to create jumpgates.? Earthforce may have fixed this problem after the Earth-Minbari War (unknown) and it is also unknown if any other species starships were affected this way.
******QUANTUM DISCHARGE CANNON: This is the destroyer White Star's "Level Two Weapons Array", a weapon that surpasses the rest of its already impressive arsenal by far.? This weapon has great range and deals damage on an almost unthinkable level for a ship its size (it could even potentially take out a super star destroyer, and possibly challenge an actual Death Star!).? This power, however, comes at a cost.? When fired, all other weapons cease firing and the lights throughout the ship go dim.? After firing, the ship needs one full minute (10 combat rounds) in order to recharge its power reserves.? After this minute, it regains power.? During this time, the ship CANNOT use weapons, maneuver, use jump engines, or pretty much anything beyond use emergency power and maintain life support.? During this time, the ship is a sitting duck.? Its size and hull are impressive and can aid the ship in surviving a lot, but with enough focused firepower, the ship could be vulnerable to destruction.? A weapon of last resort or to only be used during a near-perfect tactical execution.
*******BEAM WEAPONS: Beam weapons can fire a constant beam at a target and maintain the beam on a target after intitial firing.? As long as the gunner makes an appropriate gunnery skill roll every round against the range difficulties for the weapon (usually Easy at close range, Moderate at medium range, and Difficult at long range), the beam stays on the target and automatically deals damage every round against the target.? Using beam weapons in this way does not take into account movement of the target ships, such as the attacking ship flying towards a target and potentially flying past it, or other maneuvers.? Also, if the target can maneuver out of the fire arc of the attacker's beam weapon without the attacker's fire arc being adjusted (if it can be), then the "beam weapon" effect is negated and the attacker would have to readjust to target and attack again.? Beam weapons can also be used against a group of ships flying close together, like a squadron of starfighters or two close capital ships.? If the attacker makes an attack roll at +1 Range Difficulty Level for the beam weapon, they can wave the beam across several ships as a single attack.? Easy rule of thumb is that the targets must be in the same fire arc (GM discretion).? For every Difficulty Level the attacker rolls above that needed to fire the weapon on a single target, increase damage per extra Difficulty Level, as the beam is being kept on the same target long enough to bore into it for maximum damage.
********HEAVY DEFENSE TURRETS: These turrets combine a Heavy Fusion Cannon with two Heavy Neutron Cannons.? The two plasma cannons are mounted to either side of the fusion cannon.? Stats for the turret designate which weapon does what.? These weapons are very large and easily noticeable, whereas most other weapons are much smaller and easily unseen on the hull, much like other capital scale weapons on ships from other scifi settings.
-ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY: The White Star is a mix of Minbari and Vorlon technology.? Minbari technology is already far more advanced than the other younger races, with perhaps the Drakh being the closest in relative technology level.? This alone would require a Technology skill roll to understand the technology involved, starting at Moderate or Difficult level.? Vorlon technology, that of a First One race, is much more advanced beyond that of the Minbari and Drakh, equaled only by the Shadows and other First Ones.? This would make any technology rolls for understanding the Tech no less than Very Difficult, and then only under the utmost best circumstances.? Otherwise, these technology skill rolls will always be of Heroic Difficulty, perhaps even with a higher target number in mind.? Also of note, due to the White Star having Vorlon technology included in its design, certain features that function like other spaceships may have a more expanded ability to perform their functions.? For example, see "Sensors" above.
-MANEUVERABILITY: The White Star was designed with fighting both capital ships and starfighters in mind.? The destroyer class is much larger than the original White Star cruisers and therefor much less maneuverable.? However, the destroyer's weapons are capable of targeting starfighter scale spacecraft and other such scaled objects without any difference in scale dice, and weapon damage stays capital scale, just like the White Star cruisers.
-POWER TRANSFER:? The crew can pull pips from any numbered stat that uses power (Space Speed, Maneuverability, Energy Shields, etc), and add these pips to the desired weapon's damage dice.? These pips can be taken as much or as little as desired.? After every power transfer and weapon attack, roll 1D: on a roll of 1, the ship loses power for 1 round per pip of power transferred.? For every 3 pips transferred, roll +1D, and any roll of 1 on these extra dice has the same result.? Power is replenished after this time has passed and the ship can then fly, maneuver and attack with weapons, as well as any other functions that require power to use.? until then, the ship is dead in space and unable to move or fight.? Power Transfer can be done with any ranged energy weapon, though of course it usually makes more sense to use the weapon with the most damage and/or range.
-Example: In one episode of Babylon 5 to attempt using telepaths against the Shadows, a White Star was used to destroy a Shadow vessel while it was telepathically stunned and immobile.? The White Star had to transfer power from other systems to boost the damage of the Fusion Beam to kill the Shadow ship.
-HYPERSPACE JUMP ENGINES: unlike other less advanced ships, this ship can use its hyperspace jump engines without the penalties of the power drain incurred by other ships.? It can open a jump-point at any time, once per round, still use its weapons, and open another jump-point immediately afterwards in the next round.
DESCRIPTION:
?? The ISA Excalibur is a starship in the fictional Babylon 5 / Crusade universe. First seen in the Babylon 5 movie A Call to Arms, the ship is a Victory class destroyer. The ship combines human, Minbari, and Vorlon technology.
?? The Excalibur is one of two prototype ships built by Edgar Industries for the Interstellar Alliance. The other ship was the Victory. The two ships were intended to be the first in a fleet of Victory class heavy destroyer vessels. Despite being built for the Interstellar Alliance the ship is crewed by Earth Force personnel and not rangers during a Call to Arms & Crusade.
Excalibur Variant
?? During the Crusade to save Earth from the Drakh plague, the Excalibur, only survivor of the two prototype White Star destroyers, was refitted to serve as a science and medical explorer ship, in order to search for a cure.? This version of the destroyer would of had its passenger space filled with scientific and medical staff of all kinds, as well as having its cargo capacity taken up by various equipment and vehicles to help these people in performing their duties.? Despite this, the destroyer still maintained its crew of ship's personnel and troops and still functioned a a fully capable combat vessel.? The Excalibur battled the Drakh and other threats on many occassions, often fighting against many times its number of enemy ships...and winning.
?? The skills of the Excalibur crew, hand selected for the mission to save Earth, are listed above as being somewhat better than a regular crew for a White Star destroyer.? GMs may increase these skills if they wish, as succh an important mission would only have the best crew selected for better chances of success.
Technical Specifications
?? The Excalibur was enormous in size, [a mile and a quarter long (6,600 feet), 2012 meters (stated in the 1st episode of Crusade)] in length and was one of the first ships built by humans to use artificial gravity technology provided by the Minbari. The gravity field provides workable gravity just under that found on Earth. A human would weigh slightly less on the ship than they would on Earth.
?? Excalibur features energy and particle beam weapons. The main guns operate at two main power levels. Level One provides beams with little more firepower than a White Star. Level Two is a much more powerful weapon, reverse engineered from Vorlon lightning cannon technology. The discharge is a pulse which originates from three emitters mounted on large "fin" structures at the ship's stern; the beams converge just forward of the bow into a single ravening blast that can destroy nearly anything in its path. The weapon is capable of destroying ground installations through the atmosphere of a planet. Firing this titanic weapon drains all the ship's power and the "Excalibur" is unable to maneuver, fire weapons or use long-range scanners for approximately one minute afterward.
Facilities
?? The Destroyer Class White Stars use advanced technologies for a high degree of automation that allows for minimal crew for a ship of its great size (especially when compared to Star Wars D6 ships that have massive numbers of crew).? This allows for much more space for everything from hangar space for fighters and shuttlecraft, to luxurious level quarters for the crew, as well as many recreational facilities like gyms, a huge basketball court, other exercise and entertainment centers, and even common rooms where crew and passengers can sit, relax, and enjoy refreshments.
?? The abundance of space also allows the ship to carry just about any kind of equipment it needs for any given mission.? While the White Star destroyer was built as a ship of war, it has proven quite adaptable to any number of mission roles as needed.? Even a strict research vessel like the Excalibur can carry equipment and facilities for large scale medical and scientific operations for long durations far away from home, and yet still bring to bear the awesome firepower it was built for in any combat situation.? The better to defend its precious mission and cargo when suc is sensitive.
History
?? The first commander of the Excalibur was President John Sheridan. Along with Captain Leonard Anderson, who commanded the Victory, the two ships were instrumental in discovering Drakh plans to destroy Earth with the Shadow Planet Killer left behind by the Shadows when they left the galaxy. Captain Elizabeth Lochley of Babylon 5 was able to convince Earth's government to mobilize a large fleet to protect Earth, Excalibur and Victory were able to join this fleet. Sheridan and Anderson were able to destroy the planet killer, however Victory was destroyed in the process. Destroying the planet killer distracted the fleet, and the Drakh were able to get close enough to seed Earth's atmosphere with a plague. On their withdrawal, the Drakh destroyed the construction dock - which prevented any further Victory type ships from being built in the near future.
?? The Interstellar Alliance turned the Excalibur into a research ship, loaning it to Earthforce in the process. Captain Matthew Gideon took command of the ship, and with his crew set out to find a cure to the plague before the plague activated five years later. The beginning of this quest to discover a cure was shown on the Crusade television series.
?? It is known from other Babylon 5 episodes set further along the time-line than Crusade, that Excalibur succeeds after around 18 months (half-way through what would have been the second season) in finding a cure to the plague. This discovery, however, would lead to the grand revelation of a deeper story line in classic Babylon 5 style: the attack on earth is just a single battle in a larger war. The ship's future has not been documented. It remains to be seen if the ship will make any future television or movie appearances.
?? However, only 13 episodes were shown - creative differences between the series creator and TNT led to the show being canceled. The Sci Fi Channel had expressed interest in continuing the show, but did not have the budget to do so.
OTHER INFO:
Class: Victory class destroyer
Fighters: Starfurys
Armaments:
-Quantum discharge cannons
-Heavy neutron cannons
-Fusion beam cannons
-Anti-Fighter pulse cannons
-Missiles
Defenses:
-Reinforced hull
-Minbari stealth device
Propulsion: Hyperspace
Power: Quantum Gravimetric reactor
|
