Torpedo Saucer
The Torpedo Saucer was the direct predecessor to the Empire's Torpedo Spheres.
First implemented by the Old Republic on an experimental scale, the handful of
Torpedo Saucers (five) soon filled a very specific and important role within
the Republic Navy: the disabling of planetary defense shields.
Physically, a Torpedo Saucer resembled a giant flying disc. Circular in form
with the massive ion drives protruding from the rear, oversized quad laser
turrets, numerous concussion missile lanuchers and thousands of various sensor
receptors gave the Torpedo Saucers an ominous appearance.
A dedicated planetary siege platform, the Torpedo Saucer was designed only to
take down planetary shields (and conduct surface bombardment if needed), not
for ship-to-ship combat. Torpedo Saucers required escort while in combat zones,
but were armed with twenty quad laser cannon turrets to fend off enemy fighters.
All other weapon systems were dedicated to the ship's main task.
The Torpedo Saucer's main weapons system was its sixty forward-firing concussion
missile launchers, designed specifically for use against planetary shields and
for planetary bombardment. Mounted just beneath these launchers is a pair of
heavy turbolaser batteries which were mainly used to pinpoint surface targets
(shield generators and surface-to-space weapons). The quad laser cannons were
evenly spaced out and placed along the outskirts of the vessel, providing little
space for starfighters to slip into blind spots.
The entire vessel was covered with thousands of small dedicated energy receptors
(DERs), designed to detect and analyze all shield emissions. Planetary shields
are not perfect. They experience power anomalies and energy fluctuations just
like other devices. The Torpedo Saucer (generally grouped in pairs for full
scale actions) would sit in orbit above the target world with its DERs focusing
on the planet's defense shield, searching for a weak point.
The destruction of a planetary shield system was a relatively simple concept. Once
a weak spot was found with the ship's DERs, the Torpedo Saucer would fire multiple
vollies from its concussion missile banks. This salvo of concussion missiles
would knock a hole in the shields just long enough for the turbolasers to fire
on the shield generators. Once this was accomplished, the planet was left open
for bombardment or invasion.
However, the process was not as all that simple. It often took several hours
(sometimes more than a day) to locate a weak spot in the shields. Then once
the spot was found, the ship had to reposition itself in such a way as to be
able to have a direct line-of-sight through the momentary gap in the shields
to the generators themselves - turbolaser blasts travel in a straight line and
cannot alter trajectory like missiles. This is also assuming the location of the
shield generators was known and a weak spot occurred in a convient location.
Often times, a gap would close before a line-of-fire could be achieved - gaps
in the shields caused by the Torpedo Saucers lasted only a few seconds on the
average.
Standard operational procedure called for heavy reconnaissance on the target
world before a Torpedo Saucer would be moved into the system. This was to
gather adequate information on surface-to-space weaponry as well as the exact
location of shield generators. Attempting to take down the shields without
knowing the location of the generators (as generators could easily be hidden
within mountains, forests, major cities, etc.) would make any attempt at taking
down the shields futile. Although, in one instance during the height of the Clone
Wars, a Torpedo Saucer repeatedly punched holes the defensive shields of a forest
moon which allowed troop transports and assault fighters to slip in to assault
enemy encampments.
The concussion missile launchers were designed for continuous and relentless
bombardment of the target world. With this in mind, designers developed a missile
feeding system in which missiles are transported via specialized tracks and
automatically fed into empty launch tubes. Each bank is fed by its own track
makinga total of six tracks for all six banks (each of which located on its own
deck at the front of the vessel). The tracks originate from a pair of missile
storage and loading rooms (one on either side of the launchers) which can store
up to 350 concussion missiles each, providing a constant ammunition feed for the
launchers. For extended sieges, the Torpedo Saucers could carry up to several
thousand more reserve concussion missiles within its cavernous cargo holds to
constantly refill the missile storage rooms.
The five Torpedo Saucers saw various fates. Two were destroyed during the Clone
Wars, another damaged beyond repair. The final two ended up serving within the
Imperial Navy until the introduction of the superior Torpedo Spheres. The fate
of these two vessels after this is unknown.
Introduced: 130 years prior to the Battle of Yavin
Craft: Lornonar Corporation's Torpedo Saucer
Type: Dedicated siege platform
Scale: Capital
Length: 1,720 meters (diameter); 240 meters (height)
Skill: Capital ship piloting: Torpedo Saucer
Crew: 24,643; gunners: 204; skeleton: 2,515/+15
Crew Skill: Astrogation 4D, capital ship gunnery 5D, capital ship piloting 4D
capital ship shields 4D, sensors 4D
Passengers: 120 (troops)
Cargo Capacity: 100,000 metric tons
Consumables: 3 years
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x3.5
Hyperdrive Backup: x26
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 0D
Space: 2
Hull: 7D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 50/1D
Scan: 75/3D
Search: 150/3D+1
Focus: 4/4D
Weapons:
2 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 2
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 3-15/35/75
Atmosphere Range: 6-30/70/150 km
Damage: 5D
20 Quad Laser Cannons
Fire Arc: 10 dorsal turret, 10 ventral turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-5/10/19
Atmosphere Range: 100-500/1/1.9 km
Damage: 5D
60 Concussion Missile Launchers (linked in 6 banks of 10)
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 18 (per bank)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D (single), 0D (fired in banks)
Space Range: 3-10/15/35
Atmosphere Range: 6-20/30/70 km
Damage: 7D (single), 15D (linked in a bank)
Game Notes: Designed specifically for use against planetary shields and
other planetary targets. When used against other starships,
the missiles cannot be fired in banks.
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