The Rebel Faction

Fox Class Assault Cruiser

Picture
(I in no way claim ownership or to be the maker of this drawing, credit goes to the artists at AngelsFallFirst Homeworld 2 Mod)

Name/Type: Fox Class Assault Cruiser
Designer/Manufacturer: Kashan Defense Industries
Designation: Medium Attack Cruiser
Crew: 852 + 105 Gunners + Repair Droids
Length: 500 Meters
Speed: 18 MGLT, 850 Kph
Hyperdrive: x0.8
Shield Rating: 3445 SBD
Hull Rating: 2445 RU
Weapons:
-2 KDI Lance Cannon Arrays
-6 KDI Lance cannons, 18 Laser Cannons
-3 Starflare Missile Tubes
-4 Tractor Beam Projectors
Fighter Complement: None
Troops: 300 Troopers
Support Craft: None
Other: Integrated Kashan Battle Computer

Description:
The Fox Class Assault cruiser started out as a simple experiment into the effectiveness of the newly designed KDI Plasma Lance technology. It started out as simply a Seraph Mk. III retrofitted and redesigned to incorporate the system necessary to run the Lance cannons, and of course the new lance cannons themselves. Over the early testing periods the Lance Cannons proved themselves to be power costly and bulky, so much so that the early Test Ships could only a few of the cannons at once. However this power consumption and bulkiness where paid for in full, by the devastation the weapons were able to cause while going through tests. Brass eventually took notice once the test results were reviewed and the weapons were gradually made more power efficient and less bulky over time. It was eventually deemed effective enough into preliminary tests and trials that it deserved its own development program, seeing as it was impractical to retrofit Seraph, and the Fox Class Assault Cruiser resulted. Designed to mount a number of these powerful lance weapons she was built with heavy shields and armor for her size, but pays for it in speed.

Engines-
While the bulkiness and power consumption problems of the original Lance Weapons were resolved enough to fit a good number of them on the Fox Class Assault Cruiser it still suffers from a higher power consumption and greater size than that of a standard turbolaser or heavy turbolaser, this combined with the heavy shields and tough armor meant something had to be sacrificed on this ship, and it turned out to be speed.

While it still mounts a capable hyperdrive, its sublight speed is incredibly poor compared to its slightly larger Confederation Counter parts the Seraph and Resolve. The ship does however have some long range capabilities to make up for its poor speed, and still allow it to engage with accuracy while it approaches from long ranges.

Hull and Shielding-
Both the hull and shielding on the Fox are greater than on either the Seraph or the Resolve or any other ship of Comparable size, although it lacks a backup generator making up for it in a greater replenishment rate similar to that on the Juaire Class Gunship. It was made to take great punishment from the enemy, while getting close enough to use its main armament, the KDI Lance cannon to greatest use at medium to short range. It utilizes the same hull construction as the Seraph Mk III, although thicker than that of the Seraphs.

Weapons-

KDI Lance Cannon Mk. V- The whole reason that the Fox was produced was to mount the new KDI Mk. V Lance cannons. These new lance cannons are much less bulky than their predecessors, thanks to constant research by confederation scientists. It does still however have massive power requirements and a bulkiness which only allows 6 of them to be mounted on the Fox. This downside is more than made up for however by the damage the lance cannons can cause to an enemy ship or even a ground force.

The KDI Lance cannons is like no other weapon encountered by the Confederation as of yet. Unlike most turbo lasers which fire a small laser bolts, slug throwers which fire slugs of course the Lance cannon fire a continuous beam of Concentrated and focused Plasma. The Lance cannon uses a central chamber which superheats gas and creates plasma, this plasma is them focused and channeled using electromagnetic bottling and magnetic coils inside the gun. Both the bottling and magnetic coils prevent the plasma from bleeding off which would usually render this weapon effectively useless. Through the use of electromagnetic bottling the lance turrets are able to fire a continuous and coherent beam of deadly plasma toward a target. The continuous stream however is what makes this weapon so power hungry. The usual firing time for a Lance Cannon is around 6-10 seconds, and then around a 6 second refire time. However it does cause massive damage to a ships hull upon contact, the hot plasma melting and ionizing lays of metal and any other materials it touches. One problem with the beam is the fact that it does have a slightly harder time penetrating shields than other weapons used by the Confederation meaning it takes longer to breach a shield.

A common tactic developed in early tests and trials was to fire the beams all in once place to break down a shield more quickly than if it was to simply distribute its fire more indiscriminately throughout the target.

KDI Lance Cannon Array Mk. II- The Lance cannon array was an idea only thought up recently and added to the Fox during the final stages of the ships testing. It is basically an advancement of the KDI Lance cannon which can only fire for 6-10 minutes. This array instead can fire for up to 25 seconds or more although more than 25 is more than likely to melt the barrel and most of the gun.

The Lance cannon array is able to achieve a longer firing time because of a specially designed firing mechanism. It incorporates 6 smaller than average lance Cannons all combined into a single gun. When fired the gun only fires 3 of the 6 Lance guns. These 3 guns all fire into the sequencing chamber which focuses and combines the beams into one stronger than average Lance beam. This beam is then fired out the barrel as normal. After 4 seconds the beams switch off only for the other 3 beams to switch on instantaneously with only a slight overlap of the firing sequences. This process goes on for about 24 seconds until which time the beam shuts off and cools for around half a minute before it can fire again.

Other- Because of the space need for all the power supplies and the lance cannon themselves, the Fox Cruiser carries no fighter and barely any troopers. It is not designed for an invasion and therefore carries no landing craft at all, or the normal troop numbers that would be needed for such a purpose.