Gargoyle Battle Rider

BARD PAPER: SARA0046

Gargoyle Battle Rider

The Gargoyle BR was originally designed to be the companion piece for the Third Imperiums controversial Gishikimega class Light Cruiser. Unlike most battle rider and tender combinations, the 30,000 dton Gishikimega was intended to be a main battle unit, with its five Gargoyle riders escorting and screening it into the heat of battle. The idea of using the tender as more than a largely helpless support unit ran against the strong tide of conventional thinking that always stifled the Imperial Navy, and only half of the intended class ever reached production due to bureaucratic stonewalling.

The combination recieved its baptism of fire during the Solomani Rim War, and acquited itself rather well against light Solomani fleet elements. Nevertheless the design was a political orphan, and went out of production in 1023. Most of the class was banished to outlying frontier areas, and a good number of them ended up in the Domain of Deneb. Several served in the Fourth and Fifth Frontier Wars with distinction, where the shortage of new line units forced the Domain naval command to deploy them in spite of their prejudice. Both ships were still in service by the time of the Civil War and the Collapse, and served with distinction against Virus.

The strategic value of small battle riders in the defensive role became clear after the Rape of Trin. The Regency Navy decided that employing large numbers of 1k to 10k ton riders in place of traditional SDBs in critical systems bordering the Wilds would would be more effective against large Vampire incursions. The Gargoyle was one of several BR classes rushed back into production, but the cheapness of producing the class meant that its construction would outstrip the supply of available Gishikimegas. With no other recourse the Navy modified a number of older frigate, escort and destroyer vessels to act as carriers, and who would supplement the BRs firepower with their own.

The vessel has an unusually large cargo hold, the result of a design specification for local customisation. The vessel is designed with a minimum level of embedded firepower, with local commanders filling out the balance of the vessel as they saw fit. This was not only intended to provide ships to order for local conditions, but also to inject a level of uncertainty by randomising each ship's combat abilities and making their actual equippage unpredicatble.

Gargoyle Battle Rider

General Data

Displacement: 1000 tons	Hull Armor: 280
Length: 60 meters	Volume: 14,000 m³
Price: 861.196 MCr	Target Size: M
Configuration: Cylinder SL	Tech Level: 14
Mass (Loaded/Unloaded): 12,869.14 tons / 11,352.43 tons

Engineering Data

Power Plant: 2970 MW TL-14 Fusion ( 297 m³ fuel )

Jump Performance: None

Jump Fuel: 0 m³

G-Rating: 5 (500 MW/G)

G-Turns: 78.4 (62.5 m³ /G-turn)

Maint: 536

Electronics

Computer: 3 TL-14 Fb (1 MW each)

Commo: 1000 AU Maser, 1000 AU Radio (20 MW)

Avionics: TL-10+

Sensors: AEMS 2 300,000 KM (Range: 10, 30 MW), PEMS 240,000 km folding array (Range: 6, 0.2 MW)

ECM/ECCM: EMM (14 MW)

Controls: 14 Bridge and 25 Normal

Armament

OffensiveTL-14 2500 MJ Meson Gun (69 MW, 4 Crew), 8 TL-14 RLB-360-0 (10 MW each).

Defensive: None

Master Fire Directors: 3 TL-14 300,000 km MFDs (Range: 10, -4 DMs, 0.12 MW each)

Name	Short	Medium	Long	Extreme
2500 MJ Meson	2:250	4: 150	8: 75	16: 31
360 MJ LB	10:1/15-48	20:1/15-48	40:1/9-29	80:1/5-15

Accommodations

Life Support: Extended (2.8 MW)

Grav Compensation: 5Gs (70 MW)

Crew: 45 (2 Manuever, 2 Electronics, 7 Gunnery, 25 Engineers, 3 Maintenance, 6 Command)

Crew Accommodations: 3 Small Staterooms (Single Occupancy), 21 Small Staterooms (Double Occupancy)

Passenger Accomadation: None

Other Facilities: Fuel Scoops (2 hrs for a full fuel load)

Cargo: 1496.22 m³ Large Cargo Hatches

Small Craft and Launch Facilities: None

Air Locks: 10

Damage Tables

Location     External     Internal

1            Ant          1-10: MG, 11-20: Elec
2-3          Ant          1-10: MG, 11-12: LB,
                          13-16:Qtrs, 17-20: Elec
4-5          AL           1-2: LB, 3-6: Qtrs,
                          7-10: Elec, 11-20: Hold
6-7          AL           1-15: MG, 16-20: Hold
8-9                       1-6: Qtrs, 7-20: Hold
10                        1-4: LB, 5-9: Elec,
                          11-20: Hold
11                        1-13: MG, 14-17: LB,
                          18-20: Hold
12-15                     Hold
16-17                     1-2: Eng
18-19                     1-10: Eng, 11-20: Hold
20                        Eng


Systems Damage:

PP:  10H    AG:   2H
MD:   3H    SR:   2h
CG:   3H    MG:  23H
LS:   2H    LB:   1H
ELS:  1H    MFD:  2h
All Others: 2h