SLCM-Space Ships
SLCM-Space
The ships of SLCM-Space can broadly be divided into two categories: the legacy designs inherited from a joint Communist Protectorate space fleet built in the "first wave" of Web spacefleet construction. This ships had a disastrous performance in the Leviathan War, getting totally destroyed by SRAN, prompting the Scandians to have a serious rethink when they implemented new designs for their own national fleet, SLCM-Space.
Legacy Designs
- Predator Fighters
- Predator I
"The ball", Meant to be the backbone of fighter swarms, the Predator is a “no frills” design, essentially a sphere with an antipode and a supervolt. It was so stripped down the pilot had to wear a pressure suit. Dead after one hit. Good maneuverability, but not as good as (say) the GSF Dactyl.
- Predator II Fighter
Two Predator spheres stuck together. The left maintains its antipode and supervolt; the right mounts a missile bay and holds the necessary missiles. A dramatic improvement over the Predator -- the improved firepower alone gives it a chance at a kill-- but sub-par. Still handicapped by short range and fragility. Still widely used for defensive purposes. Performance suffers greatly in an atmosphere, and the Predator II is incapable of atmospheric entry and takeoff on its own power.
- Serpent-Class Carrier
A medium-sized warship meant to carry fighters. It could cram almost two hundred tiny Predator Is into its bays -- in fact, giant racks of fighters-- and had antipode cannon for anti-fighter work. When the fighter swarms were overwhelmed, the Serpent was left defenseless and many were destroyed when confronting SRAN. Although comparable in size to a GSF Blackbird, the Serpent quickly proved to be far inferior. The Serpent had many problems with internal compartmentalization and was incredibly fragile. Serpents still in service are used as auxiliary or support ships, as it still has a fairly impressive fighter carrying capacity (about 100
- Warhammer-class Dreadnaught
The largest of the legacy designs, armed with antipode batteries, disabling Thor torpedoes, and large batteries of electromag cannon. The Warhammer was an attempt to strike a balance between speed, firepower, and protection. It ended up inferior to its principle counterparts in almost all of these areas. It only advantage was that Thor torpedos would often disable enemy ships, but the Warhammer lacked the firepower to make a kill before the enemy ship recovered. The Warhammer’s nuclear core was also notoriously problematic, and a petrol engine for a ship of this size was deemed grossly impractical. Only a handful of Warhammers are still in service; they are judged adequate to fight smaller craft, but are vastly outclassed by the likes of a Manabeast or a Tyrano. Despite all their problems, the Scandian League keeps them around, because mile-long spaces battleships are still mile-long space battleships, and you're just not a Great Power without them.
Project "Crashcart"
As tensions with Guardia heated up in the forties, SLCM-Space's inadequacies were increasingly revealed. The Scandians began a crash program of technology development and construction. Significantly, they decided to focus more on technologies where they had strong expertise (stealth, supervolt, electromag weapons) rather than blindly chase the big magitek cannon, missile swarms, and superlative fighters favored by other powers. Also, with the assistance of S/31, they stole as much stuff from everybody else as they could. This led to a number of improved designs.
- Predator III "Apex" Predator
The design directive was for the Apex Predator was simple: "build an Epoch killer." Highly maneuverable, and although it retains a core sphere, it adds three radial mounted wings, maintaining an evenly distributed center of mass. Two-way engines are mounted at the end of each of the wings; by moving the engines away from the center of mass, they gain greater leverage, allowing the fighter to quickly flip and roll in space. It is well armed with a supervolt coil, a electromag gatling ("Ripper"), and a missile launcher, though it remains highly fragile. (And it remains incapable of atmospheric flight, though the fact it completely eschews aerodynamic characteristics is key to its space performance.) Of course, SLCM-Space pilots lag well behind their Guardian counterparts in training and experience, but on paper, the Apex Predator makes it a more even fight.
- Cossack Class Raider
The Scandians observed that their supervolt tech was highly prized among Unbound pirates for the ability to disable an enemy ship, and realized that they could, in effect, purpose build a military-spec pirate ship. Likened to a "space submarine," the Cossack was built as a stealth ship, with sensor-absorbent materials, thermal masking, ECM decoys, and other tricks to avoid detection. The armament was built around three large supervolt coils backed up by some electromag Rippers, various mines, and a new armament for Scande: the NovaX torpedo, the highest-yield missile in Scandian inventory. The NovaX has somewhat short range, but it worked well as a "backstab" weapon against unprepared opponents, and it did allow Cossacks to occasionally claim kills against legitimate warships if they could launch undetected.
- Faris Class Cruier
Named for the Tycoonese Admiral who was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disastrous space experience in the Leviathan War, the Faris-class is a midsize vessel focused on ship-to-ship combat. Reflecting a shift in Scandian thinking to ballistic weaponry, the Faris bristles with electromag guns of various caliber, including Rippers for smaller craft, larger Demolisher batteries (the same weapon used on Zog-type Dracoforms), and two spinal-mounted mass drivers mounted on either side of the central craft. These "Gaussers" finally gave SLCM-Space capital ship weapons comparable to the Gigamertons and other powerful energy weapons used by the other powers. The Scandians opted to develop this weapon rather than "up-scale" their existing Luminaire Projector Cannon because the League is still magilyte-poor, and deploying magitek weapons on the scale of capital ships was deemed too costly. (Leading SLCM-Space to grouse that the Ahzam Dracoforms of SLCM-Ground get all the LPCs they want.) This is a thoroughly pragmatic design, heavily armored and every square inch packed with guns. The ship's focus on ballistic weapons has earned it the nickname "dakka cruiser." (TOTALLY not similar to the RAF Jema, a medium-sized ship specializing in ship-to-ship combat!)
- Lenna Class Light Carrier
Named for the ruler of Tycoon-in-exile, and Faris's sister, the Lenna class light carrier is easily identified by its twin externally mounted flight pods, allowing it to quickly deploy its full complement of up to 50 fighters. This gives the two ships a similar look, and indeed the central hull has a lot of commonality but the external mounts are different (Gaussers vs. fighter pods.) The Lenna's supplementary armament is mostly intended to counter enemy fighters, and it included Ripper cannon, flak guns, as well as supervolt coils and torpedoes. The Faris and Lenna are intended to work as a team, forming a patrol unit together, with each covering the other's weaknesses. The Lenna is actually a legitimately good design, and shows how far the Scandians came in a relatively short time. However, the trouble with any carrier is that it relies on its fighters, and the Scandian inventory is still somewhat limited; although the Apex Predator is a good defender, the Scandians desperately need other types of fighter craft. If a Lenna Carrier somehow magically found itself in the service of a space fleet with a deeper fighter roster, it could potentially be an outstanding design; ironically it would probably work quite well with Epochs and Dactyls. The Scandians are somewhat aware of this problem, but it took over a decade of getting their ass kicked to come up with one decent space fighter, so developing another one will take time. Some Scandian captains have even taken to procuring Kuat Rapiers and Scimitars on the black market (despite warming relations, the Tasnica Republic is still not willing to sell Scande weapons, because they're not stupid.) (TOTALLY not similar to the GSF Blackbird Light Cruiser, a medium-sized carrier!)
- Revolution Class Battleship
The Scandians attempt to simultaneously match the mile-long spaceships of the other Great Powers, and apply everything they've learned about shipbuilding on a grand scale. The Scandians do have a major advantage in that craft like the Tyrano Warship were built in the "first generation" of space warships, and the Scandians have the advantage of the lessons learned about space combat in prior decades.
Mecha?
SLCM-Space really wants Dracoforms, but inter-service rivalry has plagued the development of the proposed Teridex Space Combat Dracoform, as SLCM-Ground insists on having a monopoly of these devices.. “The unloved Dracoform”, the Teridex more or less disowned by the SLCM Dracoforms Service; SLCM-Space Dracoform pilots are not allowed to wear the distinctive cloak. The Teridex has a Thor torpedo in each foot, and launches them look a swooping bird. The left arm is a Demolisher, and the right arm is a Luminaire Projection Cannon (LPC) similar to that used on the Ahzam. Only a small handful of Teridexes were ever made.
