The following material is an adaptation of the starship design from MACROSS PLUS, a sequel to the original Japanese MACROSS TV series (which became Robotech here in the U.S.). Please feel free to use, copy, and distribute it as you see fit. All I ask is that you give proper credit to the author and do not claim that it is your own work. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

PROVIDER-CLASS REPLENISHMENT AND MANUFACTURING SHIP

RPG Stats by KAMIKAZI ([email protected])

BACKGROUND

The Megaroad 01 colony fleet launched in 2012 for the Galactic core. While the Megaroad was able to grow enough food in their hydroponics gardens to feed the colonists, the Megaroad did not have any manufacturing capabilities. Maintenance and repair is a major problem facing the UN Spacy long range colony missions. Carrying a large enough supply of spare parts for all mecha and starships in a colony mission was unfeasible, so the UN Spacy needed to come up with a way for fleets to manufacture and store their own parts and supplies while light years away from the nearest supply depot. 

The UN Spacy decided to use the hulls of several Quiltra Queleual transport it create a manufacturing ship capable of supporting a Megaroad Colony fleet. These ships, known as the Provider class, had their upper two decks converted into comfortable micron sized housing areas. Their middle decks were dedicated to stores and prefabricated parts, and their lower decks contained a complete manufacturing facility based on technology recovered from the Protoculture factory satellite captured by the UN Spacy in October 2011. The automated factory can manufacture almost any component, from miniaturized microchips to complete mecha. The factory can even manufacture from scratch small starships such as the Northampton-class stealth frigate. However this process usually takes several months. The Provider is of course capable of conducting routine repair and maintenance on starships as well to prolong their active lifespan. 

The Providers are also capable of developing new products and weapons. It is here aboard these giant vessels that the research and development needs of the Fleet are met. These hotbeds of invention, alteration and reverse engineering are where the Albert Einstein's and Stephen Hawking's of the 21st Century work. All manner of things that the Fleet might need are developed here, and in the event of the Fleet locating unknown mecha or Protoculture artifacts it is here that they would be brought for investigation. 

The crew complement of the ship includes a trained engineering staff of over 500 along with the most advanced CADAM (computer-aided design and manufacturing) systems available to the UN Spacy. In addition Providers usually maintain constant contact with other colony missions as well as UN Spacy headquarters via the Galaxy Network communications net, allowing new designs to be quickly disseminated across the UN Spacy fleet as they are developed. This permits even the most distant colony missions to keep their equipment and mecha up to date with the latest technology available.

The Provider-class retains the majority of the weapon systems of the Quiltra Queleual-class. In addition, she is assigned several squadrons of variable fighters and power armor units. The number of mecha is vastly reduced from the Quiltra Queleual, as most of the internal space is taken up with manufacturing factories. The ship usually remains close of  the center of the colonization fleet for protection.

Provider-class ships were launched until 2030 with the Three Star Mobile Manufacturing Platform replaced them. They continue to support those Megaroad colonization fleets that are still seeking planets to settle.

RPG STATS:

Government: New Unity Government (Earth)
Ship Type: Long Distance Replenishment and Manufacturing Ship
Class: Provider Class
Manufacturer: ORTEC Company/Three Star Heavy Industries/UN Spacy
Crew: 5300 total (2100 full-sized Zentran)
Ships Crew: 2750 (950 full-sized Zentran)
Engineers: 500 (75 full-sized Zentran)
Technicians: 1735 (850 full-sized Zentran)
VF Pilots: 120
Zentraedi Battle Pod and Power Armor Pilots: 225

Notable Ships of Class:

UNS Provider (launched 2012, disappeared near center of galaxy in 2016. Fate unknown.) 
UNS Extender (launched 2014, attached to Megaroad 02 Colony Fleet)
UNS Supplier (launched 2014, attached to Megaroad 03 Colony Fleet)
UNS Rainbow (launched 2017, attached to Megaroad 08 Colony Fleet)

MDC BY LOCATION: 

(1) Forward 1/3 of Ship (Command Center, Manufacturing Center)   68,600 
(2) Middle 1/3 of Ship (Crew Quarters, Storage Bays)             67,300 
(3) Rear 1/3 of Ship (Main Engines, Engineering)                 67,100 
    Sensor Array                                                  1,000 
(4) Main Thrusters (2)                                           13,500 
(4) Auxiliary Engine (2)                                          6,000 
    Retractable Laser Turrets (25)                                  150 each 
    Retractable Missile Turrets (80)                                100 each 
    Main Airlocks (4)                                               800
    Airlocks/Access Hatches (150)                                   200 each 
    Armored outer hull (per 40ft area)                              300  
    Interior walls (per 20ft area)                                   20

(5) Pin Point Barriers (4)                                        5,000 each

NOTES:

  1. Destroying the forward 1/3 of the ship will destroy 1/3 of all missile and laser turrets.  It will not impair the ships space flight, but atmospheric maneuvering becomes impossible.  The ship can still operate, but is at -1 on initiative, -1 to strike, and number of attacks per melee of the weapon systems are reduced by one fourth.
  2. Depleting the MDC of the Middle 1/3 of the ship will destroy the ship. All power systems, thrusters, weapon systems, and life support will fail, and (2d4x10)% of the crew will be killed instantly by explosions, debris, and loss of atmosphere. There is a 70% chance the ship will violently explode.  That's an explosion inflicting 1d4x2,000 MD to any object within 2 miles.  If the ship does not explode, then the ship will be a wreck (though the space wreck may still be valuable because of the technology contained within the remains).  Destroying the Command Center will likely kill the command staff (90% Chance) and will force the ship to use the Sensor Arrays for all forms of long range communications, radar and targeting. The ship can still operate, but is at -1 on initiative, -1 to strike, and number of attacks per melee of the weapon systems are reduced by one fourth. Destroying all the main sensory arrays on the ship will have the same effect, but the command staff will not be killed instantly. Destroying both will deprive the ship of all forms of long range communications, radar and targeting. The ship can still operate, but is at -3 on initiative, -3 to strike, and number of attacks per melee of the weapon systems are reduced by one half.
  3. Depleting the MDC of the Rear 1/3 of the ship will destroy the ship. All power systems, thrusters, weapon systems, and life support will fail, and (2d4x10)% of the crew will be killed instantly by explosions, debris, and loss of atmosphere. There is a 70% chance the ship will violently explode.  That's an explosion inflicting 1d4x2,000 MD to any object within 2 miles.  If the ship does not explode, then the ship will be a wreck (though the spacewreck may still be valuable because of the technology contained within the remains).
  4. Destruction of a Main Thruster will slow the ships speed by 1/2.  Totally depleting the MDC of the main thrusters will force the ship to rely on its secondary thrusters. Depleting the MDC of the main AND secondary thrusters will leave the ship adrift in space. In an atmosphere, the ship will still be able to land and achieve orbit using antigravity generators. The maneuvering thrusters will propel the ship at 100 kph in any direction.
  5. The Pinpoint Barriers regenerate at a rate of 1,250 MD per second (2,500 MD per melee round). If destroyed, a barrier will completely regenerate within four seconds (2 melee rounds). See the Pinpoint Barrier System entry for details.

SPEEDS:

Speed(sublight): 0.16 speed of light (25,600 miles per second)
Speed(Auxiliary Drives): Mach 3
Space Fold: Range Unlimited (1 light year every 6 minutes)
Planet bound:
Designed to land in a planetary ocean when necessary but not designed to maneuver in an atmosphere. The Provider-class vessels are NOT designed to land on the ground. If they do so the landing will inflict 3D6x1000 MD damage to the main body of the spacecraft.
Maximum Range: Unlimited (estimated 30 year life span)

STATISTICAL DATA:

Length: 9840 feet (3000 m)
Height: 660 m
Width: 680 m
Weight: 150,000,000 tons (standard)
Power System: Workl-Quatafilla Main reactor
Fold System: Workl-Quatafilla Advanced Fold Cluster
Sublight Drive: Workl-Quatafilla Macro Nozzle Cluster
Gravity Control System: Geteulmaqulla-Zollia Gravity Control System
Auxiliary Engine: Workl-Quatafilla Nuclear Pulse Rocket Motor Cluster
Sensor System: Spoltra-Shifd Standard Tracking Cluster

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

  1. RETRACTABLE LASER TURRETS (25): Also called Electro-Elementary Particle Beam Guns, these weapons are scattered along the front, sides, and rear of the ship.  They are hidden beneath a sliding hatch until needed for combat, when the hatch slides back and they rise up for combat.  They are capable of 360* rotation and 180 * arc of fire.
  2. RETRACTABLE MISSILE TURRETS (80): These are very similar to the Laser Turrets except that they fire missiles instead of laser beams. They can use several types of missiles according to the mission at hand. Each turret is capable of 360* rotation with a 180* arc.
  3. PINPOINT BARRIER DEFENSE SYSTEM: Originally developed by researchers onboard the SDF-01 Macross during Space War One, the Pinpoint Barrier System is a standard defense system on board all UN Spacy starships and colony vessels, including the Provider-class ships. The system generates four small disc-shaped force fields that can be positioned anywhere along the ship to deflect missiles, energy beams or projectiles. Each pinpoint barrier is about 200 ft (61 m) in length and can absorb up to 5,000 MD in damage, which then regenerates within four seconds (2 melee rounds). The barriers can also be layered on top of each other to generate a field which provides 20,000 MDC and can even deflect heavy particle beams (usually).

    The four barriers are controlled by operators in the command tower of the ship. These operators are instructed to defend (1) any breaks or weaknesses in the main hull, (2) the main and auxiliary engines, (3) the engineering section/stealth frigate docking section and (4) any starships under construction, in that order. The operators primarily concentrate on defending the ship against larger spacecraft and leave defense against attacking mecha to the VF pilots.

     

     

CONSTRUCTION CAPABILITIES:

As stated above, the main purpose of the Provider manufacturing platforms is to produce all parts, supplies, and materials the colony mission needs to operate. In general it can be assumed that Provider ships are constantly busy around the clock producing a wide range of standard products. However there are times when the GM will need to know approximately how long it takes a Provider facility to manufacture critical pieces of equipment (usually military in nature, such as mecha and starships).

The numbers below are intended to give the GM a rough estimate of how fast construction takes place aboard the Provider. For each entry two values are listed. The first is the amount of time it takes the automated factories aboard the vessel to produce the item from scratch, and the second lists how many can be produced in a given period of time. The factory aboard the Provider operates in an assembly line fashion so that multiple items can be constructed at the same time. This data assumes that the Provider has an ample supply of asteroids and space debris available to it for raw materials. These figures should be used for approximation only; GMs, feel free to change these values as you see fit.

ITEM MANUFACTURING TIME PRODUCTION RATE
Standard UN Spacy Combat Gear (Flight Suit plus Sidearm) 8 hours 2,500 per week
Standard Variable Fighter (e.g. VF-11 Thunderbolt) 7 days 5 per week
Custom Variable Fighter (e.g. VF-17T Kai Custom) 14 days 2 per week
Advanced Variable Fighter (e.g. VF-22 Sturmvogel) 1 month 10 per year
Small Starship (e.g. Northampton Stealth Frigate) 6 months 2 per year
Large Starship (e.g. Ark Royal Escort Carrier) 12 months 1 per year

 

SYSTEMS OF NOTE:

MECHA COMPLEMENT (STANDARD):

REFERENCES USED IN THIS DESIGN

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