The following material is an original work based off of designs from MACROSS 7, 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.

DREADNOUGHT-CLASS STEALTH BATTLESHIP

By Boo

BACKGROUND

The Dreadnought is a result of UN Spacy modernization programs in place between 2025 and 2040; it is a credit to the class that many are still in service as late as sixty years later. 

With the development of low radar cross section composites in the 2020s, naval designs began to place an increased emphasis on electronic warfare, culminating in the aborted "Shadow" project, which attempted to create a total-stealth package, a goal not realized until Project Super Nova of 2039-2040. However, the ships of the Fleet XL program (Dreadnought, Imperator, Aurata, and their cousins) all boasted increased survivability over prior designs both through armor improvement and electronic warfare systems.

The core of the Dreadnought was its incredible forward battery - six "dial-a-yield" three-gigawatt lasers and one axial low-yield reaction beam. This resulted in some compromises. Unlike the relatively well-balanced Battle-class super dimensional battleships, the Dreadnought carried a relatively small flight group, only 55 fighters. This is more than sufficient for most engagements, however, as targets that will be engaged by a Dreadnought are almost always large enough that the ship can target them with its own overwhelming firepower.

The first Dreadnought (BBS-01 Dreadnought) was commissioned in 2030, and they were produced at a rate of two a year for the next sixteen years, with the option of continued production at a reduced rate past this point.

One interesting side note to the Dreadnought production - initially, at least one engineer, a science-fiction buff, wanted to name the series "Imperator." This was rejected, but the ships are still occasionally called "Star Destroyers."

The Dreadnought was launched in 2030, and vessels of the class continued to be produced until well into the next decade. In 2046, the UN Spacy ship list included 33 ships of the class. None of them had become combat losses by 2050, a testament to the ship's endurance.

The Dreadnought features excellent armor protection capable of resisting energy weapons of up to 300 MJ of armor penetration, sufficient to provide resistance to most warship weapons. This renders it immune to small arms and mecha weapons in most locations, but not to heavy cruiser, battleship, or reaction weapons.

RPG STATS

Government: New Unity Government (Earth)
Ship Type: Stealth Battleship
Class: Dreadnought Class
Manufacturer: ORTEC Company/UN Spacy
Crew: 115 officers, 965 crew

Notable Ships of Class:

MDC BY LOCATION:

Per 10 square meters of outer hull - 4500
Per 10 square meters of interior wall - 600
Man-sized Airlock (interior and exterior) - 300
Interior Door - 100
Exterior Door - 200
Mecha Launch Ports -
Shuttle Bay Doors - 3000 each
Engine/Weapon Nacelles (2) - 15000 each
Bow Laser Turret (1) - 2000
Fighter Defense Turrets (12) - 500 each
Aft Countermeasure/Missile Racks (2) - 300 each
Reaction Beam Port - 1500
Command Tower - 20000
Pinpoint Barriers (6) - Effectively infinite.

Notes:

  1.  At least one pinpoint barrier shield is fixed in place over the command tower at all times; this means that targeting the bridge specifically requires either a weapon that will bypass or overload the pinpoint barrier, or that the ship be without power.
  2. Each pinpoint barrier may protect only one side of the hull at a time; a barrier protecting the left side may not rotate to the right side in the same turn.
  3. Pinpoint barriers will not stop mass-related attacks; they will, however, absorb energy blasts.
  4. Destruction of a section of hull will decompress the adjacent compartment.

SPEEDS:

Overland Movement: Dreadnought-class ships are incapable of overland movement. Any atmospheric movement must be performed by taking off and flying.
Atmospheric Flight: The Dreadnought can fly at any altitude and any speed, though for safety reasons its book speed in an atmosphere is Mach 3. Rarely do these vessels operate at supersonic speeds in atmosphere, however, due to the environmental damage that this can cause.
Outer Space Performance: The ship's primary engines are capable of providing 3G of sustained thrust, with a .5G economy mode and a 12G flank rating. However, due to stresses placed on the ship's inertial compensators and relativity problems that develop at high sublight speeds, the ship is regulated to a maximum speed of .2C.
The secondary engine systems can provide .5G of sustained thrust and 4G of combat burn; however, this maximum thrust cannot be sustained for more than 90 minutes.

STATISTICAL DATA:

Length: 440 meters
Beam: 100 meters
Height: 36 metetrs
Weight: 500,000 tons dry, 620,000 tons operating mass
Power System:
2 Three Star Mark XVI Overtechnology Reaction Furnace, the power supply is designed for overhaul and refueling once every fifteen years, but operational conditions have not tested this design standard yet.
Fold System:
OTEC Mark IIA Fold Cluster
Sublight Drive:
2x Three Star Mark V Traction Drives
Gravity Control System:
2x Three Star Mark V Traction Drives
Auxiliary Engine:
4x OTEC Mark XXIV Plasma Reaction Drives
 
Sensor System: Standard & Subspace Mass Detector

 

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

  1. Fixed Low-Yield Reaction Beam Cannon: The heaviest weapon carried by the Dreadnought is a low-yield reaction cannon similar to that found on Monitor-class vessels. Since the Dreadnought is designed for ship-to-ship engagements, maximum yield from the weapon is approximately the same as a Monitor's low-end setting. This is more than sufficient to destroy most targets without the dangerous energy wash found on a Monitor beam.
  1. Forward Heavy Anti-Ship Lasers (6): The primary battery on any Dreadnought-class ship is the array of heavy laser cannons it carries. Each laser cannon generates three gigawatts (3GW) of energy on its own, allowing it to fire either a devastating one-second continuous beam or a number of smaller pulses for dealing with smaller warships.

  2. Space-to-Surface Heavy Laser Turret: For use in planetary bombardments, the Dreadnought carries a bow-mounted heavy laser turret. This turret is normally kept retracted into the ship, to be extended for planetary bombardment or, in an emergency, in ship-to-ship combat. It is the only heavy energy weapon capable of protecting the ship's aft arc.
  3. Fighter Defense Missile Turrets (12): The Dreadnought carries a dozen fighter-defense turrets scattered across its hull. Four of these are located topside and forward, four on its forward underside, and four around the edge of its aft arc. This gives a fairly even protection against fighter attack from any angle.
  4. Rear-Defense Countermeasure/Missile Racks (2): Designed to discourage warship pursuit, the rear-defense missile racks also double as countermeasure release systems in case the warship must begin evasive maneuvers.
     
  5. 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, including the Dreadnought battleships. The system generates three 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 2,500 MD in damage, which then regenerates within four seconds (1 melee round). The barriers can also be layered on top of each other to generate a field which provides 10,000 MDC and can even deflect heavy particle beams (sometimes).

    The three barriers are controlled by operators in the command tower of the cruiser. These operators are instructed to defend (1) the command tower, bridge, and sensor array, (2) main engines, (3) hangar bays, and (4) weapon systems, in that order. The operators primarily concentrate on defending the ship against larger spacecraft and leave defense against mecha attacking the cruiser to the VF pilots. 

SYSTEMS OF NOTE:

MECHA COMPLEMENT (STANDARD):

Perhaps the weakest link in the Dreadnought's impressive defenses is its flight group, which is less than twice that of a stealth frigate from the same period. This is because the Dreadnought is not meant to be a carrier, but a battleship, and as such, does not require the same huge flight group. Nevertheless, its carried craft are still capable of packing quite a punch.
Up to twice the listed figure can be carried, but for each seven additional craft onboard, increase times required to perform all kinds of maintenance, including pre-launch and post-retrieval checks, by 25%, and all piloting checks for launch and retrieval take a -10% cumulative penalty under the same circumstances.

Mecha Complement - 2030

Mecha Complement - 2040

Mecha Complement - 2050

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