Tasnican Capital Ships

Republic Aerospace Fleets Ships (RAF)

• Corvettes

When the RAF was the RMCAA, and did not expect to go head-to-head with another large space force, Corvettes formed the core of the force. However, as the need for more firepower has become evident, there is a trend to focus more on small capital ships (most importantly, the Jema). Nevertheless, corvettes form the foundation of the force, and provide important support for skirmishing, patrols, and point defense. The ships found here are used in all RAF fleets.

• Firelance Frigate

This ship with a crew of about a dozen is one of the most common RAF vessels. It’s fast, and for a ship of its size it is moderately well-armed with two lucent banks and three missile bays. A versatile and flexible vessel, used for escort duty, point defense, scouting, and pirate chasing. Tasnica used to believe that large numbers of Firelances could compensate for a lack of heavier vessels, but simulations found that they suffered unacceptable casualties when assaulting a cruiser or battleship unsupported. Still, the Firelance is small and nimble enough to engage most fighters with its lucent banks, assuming they get past its heat-seaking missiles.

• Ballista-F Torpedo Boat

The Ballista was a good basic design, however under the old scheme the two roles it was required to fulfill were pushing it in two different ways. The division of RMC and RAF has allowed each to refine their own variant of this excellent craft. The “F” (Fleets) variant of the Ballista focuses on its role as a torpedo bomber, and is substantially larger than its “C” cousin as it has little need of atmospheric flight. Larger engines make it just as fast and give it the ‘legs’ needed for independent space operations. It has a defensive turret of autocannon, but primary defense is still speed. Payload is a large number of powerful Nightmare torpedoes. Used throughout Fleets, but more common in Home (where it gives anti-capital ship capability “on the cheap”) and Strike (where it provides quick-hitting firepower).

• Capital Ships

Small capital ships with crews of a few hundred now form the backbone of the RAF’s firepower. RAF tacticians believe that this, given current technology, is an ideal size where a ship can still be very fast and have lots of firepower. It is believed that several of these vessels is much more effective than one large vessel, and also more conducive to RAF’s need to cover a large amount of territory.

• Jema Destroyer

This ship has gone through several redefinitions, before settling on “Destroyer”. With a crew of 206, the Jema is not a large ship, but with a spinal mounted manaforce cannon it is a threat to almost any ship. Ancillary weapons are lucent banks and autocannon point defense; strangely for a Tasnican ship, the Jema has no missile bays. This has not stopped it from becoming the mainstay of the RAF. A fast ship, especially for this size, but also rather fragile.

Comparison with the Illumina Picket Destroyer of SRAN is inevitable, although the Jema was an earlier design, the Illumina is more radical. The Illumina is a smaller craft (crew: 25), and has fewer backup weapons for its 16-inch merton main weapon. The manaforce is also considered more powerful than the Merton.

About half of the RAF’s Jemas are in the Strike Fleet, and about a quarter are in the Escort Fleet; the other twenty-five percent are divided between the Home Fleet and the Fleet of the Line.

• Jema Advanced Destroyer

The Jema was a major breakthrough when it was introduced in 37, and heralded a more serious Tasnican approach to space. Still, there was room for improvement. The Jema Advanced is only given to the Special Combat fleet, and it boasts a number of improvements. The SRAN-style gravitic engine gives the Jema Advanced even more speed than the Jema, and internal redesign allowed enough space for some of the missile bays the Tasnicans are so fond of. Perhaps most significant, however, is that the Jema Advanced’s manaforce cannon is mounted on a large turret on the bottom rather than on a spinal mount. This gives the ship much-needed targeting flexibility. The only area where no improvement was made was protection. Shielding remained the same, and armor plate is actually slightly less than the standard Jema.

Although a threat to enemy capital ships, to protect against fighters the Specials developed the Jethro anti-fighter missile. This torpedo-sized missile is launched and, either on command or at a pre-programmed range, splinters into twenty independent smaller heat-seeking munitions. The Jethro has proven effective at suppressing approaching fighter wings.

• Halberd-F Strike Cruiser

Kuat produces this cruiser with multiple missile bays, but with lucent banks for backup. The “F” variant strips the Lucent banks, converting it into a pure missile boat, for more speed. The Halberd-F still has a large number of nightmare torpedoes, but Fleets often deploys it with a large compliment of anti-fighter missiles to provide protection against these smaller craft. The Halberd-F is used by the Strike Fleet mainly, but also found in the Home Fleet and Fleet of the Line.

• Spartiate Jagdcruiser

The latest Tasnican ship design required the RAF to come up with a new designation, the Jagdcruiser or “hunting cruiser”. The Spartiate is about the size of most standard cruisers, but important innovations set it apart. First, there is the incorporation of the full vernian mode of multidirectional thrusters and engineers pioneered on the Iceni. This gives the Spartiate maneuverability typically unheard-of on a ship of this size. The Tasnicans elected to give the Spartiate missile bays instead of lucent banks for secondary weapons because of the massive power and heat demands of the Spartiate’s main weapon system. Two manaforce cannon are mounted on either side of the Spartiate; when the craft is firing, the whole assembly rotates around the ship. The two cannon alternate firing; when one finishes the other picks up. This allows for what amounts to a continuous stream of manaforce fire, which the Specials claim gives the Spartiate the most firepower of any Tasnican vessel. Certainly few ships can hold up to a manaforce beam torrent for very long.

Of course, all of this comes at a price: the Spartiate is lightly armored and shielded; a good torpedo hit or two will usually finish it. Theorists are divided over placing such firepower on a fast, rather than tough, frame is genius or insanity. The Specials contend that the vessels speed and their training allow them to evade any weapons which might be a threat. Nonetheless, the ship’s missile batteries are loaded with decoy signatures to confuse enemy sensors. A Spartiate regularly beats most large ships in simulated combat; opponents of the vessel claim RAF is rigging the simulations to justify funding.

• Manabeast Battlecruiser

Unlike many RAF vessels, the Manabeast is big, slow, and well-protected. Four manaforce cannon form the heart of the ship’s firepower, and it is backed up by missiles, torpedoes, lucent banks, and point defense autocannon. The Manabeast was built because Rhodes Palmerston insisted that to be a viable space power Tasnica needed large capital ships. In a force that’s trying to be risky and innovative, the Manabeast is viewed as depressingly conventional. So long as Mountbatten is Admiral Supreme, it seems unlikely that many more Manabeasts will be constructed. Proponents of such craft, notably Greater Admiral Helmut Nicias, point to the need for heavy staying power and the ability of the Manabeast to engage multiple craft successfully. Although the Spartiate or even the Jema will almost always win a one-on-one confrontation, Nicias points out that the RAF will not necessarily have the luxury of facing off against equal numbers. Mountbatten counters that killing one enemy really fast and moving on to the next one is just as good as taking longer to kill several enemies at once. Although somewhat maligned by the RAF establishment, the Manabeasts are powerful vessels, superior to the Communist Warhammer if perhaps not as awesome as a Hosluft or Tyrano. The Home Fleet retains several for defense of key points (such as Mana III), but the bulk of the Manabeasts are in the Fleet of the Line.

• Iceni

The flagship of the RAF. The Iceni is about the size of a standard cruiser. It has many advanced systems, and was a testbed for many of the equipment now being mounted on Specials craft, most notably the full vernian. The Iceni engaged and destroyed a Carrionese superdreadnought modeled on the Executor in the Carrion Conflict, leading some to wonder if it could possibly defeat the real Executor. It is not known what systems the Iceni is using now. Still, it has already earned a reputation as a ‘trick ship’ with unorthodox abilities. Under the personal command of Mountbatten, S/31 rates the vessel a threat comparable to a typical Tasnican Battle Squadron.

Republic Aerospace Marine Support (RAMS)

Ships here are operated under the aegis of the Republic Marine Corps.

• Nimbus-Class Dropship

This is one of the fastest and most nimble dropships around, in some ways acting as much like a large infantry-carrying helicopter as a dropship. It is smaller than some other dropships, capable of carrying only a company of infantry, but it excels on combat drops and extractions. It is the source of the Marines’ strategic mobility. Unarmed and fairly fragile, but crucial to RMC operations.

• Piledriver Orbital Assault Ship

The RMC found that even the Nimbus could not insert everywhere they wanted to go. In addition, the Marines needed more vehicles and logistical support in the field, and it would be inefficient to use precious Nimbuses needed for combat operations for supply operations. The Piledriver is one of the larger ships operated by the Rams, and has plenty of storage space for troops and equipment. It has two large cannon to shoot fire drop pods onto the surface of a planet. The drop pods have parachutes to break their fall, but are incapable of taking off once landed. Each pod can hold a platoon, or a couple of vehicles. This method is often used to resupply troops in the field. Since the pod falls on a semiballistic trajectory, it is extremely difficult to intercept. Troops can be rapidly inserted this way, but must be extracted by a Nimbus.

In addition, there is a whole class of drop pods known as “Instabases” to provide logistical support for Marines in the field. These consist of everything from prefabricated barracks to aerospace support complexes. These allow the Marines to set up camp in hostile territory quickly.