Difference between revisions of "Dreadnought"

Revision as of 05:26, 18 February 2009

Starship Databank Entry

Ur-Quan Topics
Species
Ur-Quan Kzer-Za • Kohr-Ah
History
Sentient Milieu Slave Revolt Slave War The Words Doctrinal Conflict Second Doctrinal War
Personalities
Kzer-Za • Kohr-Ah
Philosophies
Path of Now and Forever Ur-Quan Hierarchy • Battle Thrall • Fallow Slave • Oath of Fealty Eternal Doctrine Death March Doctrinal Conflict
Ships
Dreadnought • Marauder • Sa-Matra
Science
Excruciator • Slave Shield • Talking Pet

The Ur-Quan Kzer-Za Dreadnought is the mainstay of the Hierarchy fleet. A fully-crewed Dreadnought can crush most other spacecraft with ease. The Dreadnought also doubles as a planetary siege unit; the ship was designed specifically to punch through stationary fortifications and subdue alien worlds without support. Only the Kohr-Ah Marauder, Chmmr Avatar and The Flagship match the Dreadnought in sheer size. Should a Dreadnought be disabled, the ship will self-destruct to prevent other species from reverse-engineering Ur-Quan technology. Ur-Quan Dreadnoughts are rumored to have only one Ur-Quan on board because of their intense intraspecies territoriality. All other crew members are believed to be battle thralls forced to work on board the Dreadnought.

Navigation

The Dreadnought is not a fast or nimble ship. Its strength lies in its enormous firepower and considerable crew capacity.

Armament

Primary

The Dreadnought's fusion cannon is a devastating weapon. Its rate of sustainable fire is high, yet many adversaries can be wiped out with only one or two fusion projectiles. The energy consumption of this weapon is significant, yet manageable due to the Dreadnought's plentiful energy banks. This weapon is limited somewhat by the Dreadnought's slow turning rate. Fusion projectile velocity is relatively slow compared to other weapon systems, causing them to be somewhat inaccurate.

Secondary

An Ur-Quan captain can also send out pairs of small, one-man fighters armed with lasers to harass the enemy. A swarm of these can team up to puncture an enemy ship's hull in seconds. Each fighter has only a limited supply of life support and fuel and must return to the Dreadnought after its brief sortie.

Tactical Overview

"Finesse" is not a word that exists in a Dreadnought captain's vocabulary. Victory is nominally achieved through liberal application of superior firepower. The relatively high firing rate of the main cannon lends itself to this strategy quite nicely, but the Dreadnought's sub-optimal turning rate can complicate things. Fighters vary in effectiveness depending upon what they are deployed against and are usually ideal against slow targets. Be wary, for some ships are equipped with weapon systems which can easily shoot down any number of fighters.

3DO	Ur-Quan Dreadnought

Basic stats

Crew: 42	Value: 30 pts
Battery: 42	Batt. Regeneration: 0.14 units/frame

Armament

Primary: Fusion Cannon	Secondary: Launch Fighters
Refire delay: 6 frames	Refire delay: 9 frames
Energy use: 6 units	Energy use: 8 units

Propulsion

Max speed: 30 world units/frame	Turn rate: 0.2 facings/frame
Acceleration: 0.86 units/frame	Mass: 10

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 </table>
-The [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]] '''Dreadnought''' is the mainstay of the [[Hierarchy]] fleets.  A fully-crewed Dreadnought can crush most opponents with ease. While it is a powerful battleship in melee combat, the Dreadnought is also designed to be a Planetary Siege Unit, able to single-handedly subdue an entire planet. Even from orbit, its fusion weapons are more than capable of destroying large structures on and beneath a planet's surface. The massive girth of the vessel is reinforced with the special ''Eterna-tech'' metal unique to Ur-Quan technology. The only other ships as massive as the Dreadnought are the [[Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah|Kohr-Ah]] [[Marauder]] and [[The Flagship]]. In the unlikely chance that it is disabled, the vessel has been designed to self-destruct to prevent other species from reverse-engineering Ur-Quan technology.  Interestingly, a Dreadnought is known to have only one [[Ur-Quan]] on board, because of their intense territoriality.  The remaining 41 crew members are believed to be either robots or [[battle thralls]] forced to work on board the Dreadnought.
+The [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]] '''Dreadnought''' is the mainstay of the [[Hierarchy]] fleet. A fully-crewed Dreadnought can crush most other spacecraft with ease. The Dreadnought also doubles as a planetary siege unit; the ship was designed specifically to punch through stationary fortifications and subdue alien worlds without support. Only the [[Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah|Kohr-Ah]] [[Marauder]], [[Chmmr]] [[Avatar]] and [[The Flagship]] match the Dreadnought in sheer size. Should a Dreadnought be disabled, the ship will self-destruct to prevent other species from reverse-engineering Ur-Quan technology. Ur-Quan Dreadnoughts are rumored to have only one [[Ur-Quan]] on board because of their intense intraspecies territoriality. All other crew members are believed to be [[battle thralls]] forced to work on board the Dreadnought.
 ==Navigation==
-The Dreadnought is not a fast or nimble ship.  It doesn't have to be.  One of these ships &mdash; never mind an entire fleet of them &mdash; can lumber along and expect to defeat almost any opponent.  The strength of the Dreadnought lies in its enormous firepower and considerable crew size.
+The Dreadnought is not a fast or nimble ship. Its strength lies in its enormous firepower and considerable crew capacity.
 ==Armament==
 ===Primary===
-The Dreadnought's fusion cannon (also named "fusion blaster", similar to the [[Flagship]] [[Fusion Blaster (module)|module]]) can destroy small ships in one or two hits.  The only drawbacks to this weapon are the Dreadnought's never-quite-fast-enough turn rate and the significant amount of energy required to employ it.  The second factor is mostly negligible given the Dreadnought's high energy recharge rate.  So powerful is this attack that defensive systems like the [[Chmmr]] [[Avatar]]'s Zap-Sat array are useless against it, although a skilled pilot may make use of the [[Avatar]]'s tractor beam to pull it into a swift demise at the force of its heavy x-ray laser; also, a fully charged [[Melnorme]] [[Trader]] Energy Bolt will win in a head-on collision.
+The Dreadnought's fusion cannon is a devastating weapon. Its rate of sustainable fire is high, yet many adversaries can be wiped out with only one or two fusion projectiles. The energy consumption of this weapon is significant, yet manageable due to the Dreadnought's plentiful energy banks. This weapon is limited somewhat by the Dreadnought's slow turning rate. Fusion projectile velocity is relatively slow compared to other weapon systems, causing them to be somewhat inaccurate.
 ===Secondary===
-The Ur-Quan captain can also send out small, one-man fighter ships armed with lasers to harass the enemy.  Each fighter has only a limited supply of life support and fuel and must return to the Dreadnought after its brief sortie.  These fighters are of little use against ships equipped with auto targeting weapons (such as the [[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]) but a sufficient swarm of them can team up to puncture an enemy hull in seconds.
+An Ur-Quan captain can also send out pairs of small, one-man fighters armed with lasers to harass the enemy. A swarm of these can team up to puncture an enemy ship's hull in seconds. Each fighter has only a limited supply of life support and fuel and must return to the Dreadnought after its brief sortie.
 ==Tactical Overview==
-"Finesse" is not a word that exists in a Dreadnought captain's vocabulary.  Victory is nominally achieved through the application of superior firepower in large amounts.  The relatively high firing rate on the main cannon facilitates this strategy quite nicely, but the slower-than-optimal turning rate can complicate things.  Against slow ships, fighters can finish the fight before it starts, but against fast ships they're mostly useless. In fact, fighters can make a battle easier for the opponent by providing a way to sap crew members without getting too close to the main ship.
+"Finesse" is not a word that exists in a Dreadnought captain's vocabulary. Victory is nominally achieved through liberal application of superior firepower. The relatively high firing rate of the main cannon lends itself to this strategy quite nicely, but the Dreadnought's sub-optimal turning rate can complicate things. Fighters vary in effectiveness depending upon what they are deployed against and are usually ideal against slow targets. Be wary, for some ships are equipped with weapon systems which can easily shoot down any number of fighters.
-===Strong Against===
-[[Umgah]] [[Drone]]: The incredibly short range, slow speed and poor turning of the Drone leaves it a sitting duck for fusion blasts - which, incidentally, can pierce the antimatter cone.
-[[Arilou]] [[Skiff]]: The Skiff is capable, with enough skill on the part of the pilot, of dodging the Ur-Quan's Fusion shots and doing some damage but fighters can decimate Arilou, as the laser is always aiming towards the Dreadnought. This match-up will take a while, but the Dreadnought is the most likely victor.
-===Tenuous Against===
-[[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]: The Cruiser's point-defense lasers render the Dreadnought's fighters completely useless, and its guided missiles allow it to whittle away at the Dreadnought's crew with alarming speed. Up close, however, the Dreadnought can tear through an enemy Cruiser in seconds. The Dreadnought's best bet is to close in on the Cruiser before it can gain momentum. Barring gravity whips, the Dreadnought is strictly faster than the Cruiser, so closing in should not be a problem.
-[[Chmmr]] [[Avatar]]: The Dreadnought can theoretically circle around the Avatar and shoot it with its fusion bolt. However, once the Avatar pulls the Dreadnought into the scope of its laser, the match belongs to the Avatar.
-[[Chenjesu]] [[Broodhome]]: The Broodhome can launch DOGIs to distract the Ur-Quan and then defeat it with its crystal weapon. However, once the Dreadnought gets in range, or once enough fighters make it to the Broodhome, the Dreadnought ultimately becomes the victor.
-===Weak Against===
-[[Spathi]] [[Eluder]] As odd as it might sound, Dreadnoughts are sitting ducks, cannon fodder, and mere target practice for a good Eluder.  Eluders can out-run a Dreadnought, using their speed and agility to stay just out of range of a Dreadnought's cannon, while dancing around the small fighter ships which the Dreadnoughts send out.  Should the fighter ships get too close, an Eluder can simply reverse course and come at the Dreadnought from the other direction, and then spin off to the side, hammering the Dreadnought with its secondary B.U.T.T. missiles.  This ability to stay out of range of a Dreadnought while using backwards-firing missiles makes a Spathi Eluder nearly invincible against Dreadnoughts.
 {{ShipBox|image=Dreadnought_icon.png|link=dreadn|race=[[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za|Ur-Quan]]|crew=42|value=30|batt=42|regen=0.14|primary=Fusion Cannon|prim-rate=6|prim-cost=6|secondary=Launch Fighters|sec-rate=9|sec-cost=8|speed=30|turn=0.2|accel=0.86|mass=10}}
 [[Category:Kzer-Za]]