Dreadnought

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 fleets. A fully-crewed Dreadnought can crush most opponents with ease.

Navigation

The Dreadnought is not a fast or nimble ship. It doesn't have to be. One of these ships — never mind a full fleet of them — can lumber along and expect to defeat almost any opponent. The strength of the Dreadnought lies in its enormous firepower and considerable crew size.

Armament

Primary

The Dreadnought's fusion cannon 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 negligable 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; it is rumored however that a fully charged Melnorme Trader Energy Bolt will win in a head-on collision.

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 targetting weapons (such as the Earthling Cruiser) but a sufficient swarm of them can team up to puncture an enemy hull in seconds.

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.