The Rebel Faction

Project Colonialstar Gestalitica

Classification: Commonwealth
Designation: Battlecruiser (CCB-000)
Patent Registry: Colonial Technologies
Patron: Gestalt Colonies
Deployment: Gestalt Defense Fleet, Kashan Defense Fleet

Dimensions- (meters)
Keel: 1,100
Mast: 220
Draw: 550

Crew Compliment-
Enlisted: 3,530
Commissioned: 220
Colonial Commandos: 220
Fighter Pilots: 130
Flight Technicians: 335

Embarked Craft-
6 Centaur Troopships
36 HyperFighters (3 Squadrons)

Weapons Manifest-
40 Heavy Turbo Laser Canons
40 Turbo Laser Canons
20 Ion Canons
10 Tractor Beams

The Commonwealth-class Battlecruiser is the ultimate Colonial warship. It was designed and constructed by Colonial Technologies for the Colonial Defense Fleet. Admiral Mar-Veil commissioned the class as part of a campaign to enlarge the scale of the CDF.

The Commonwealth-class battlecruiser is a true combat ship, perhaps the first full-scale competitor constructed by Colonial Technologies. It is a heavily armed starship that carries considerable armor, engines and a moderate compliment of starfighters. This is a true combat starship not suited to planetary attack but rather optimized for fleet actions. Some operational flexibility is sacrificed in favor combat potential; more powerful defenses and offenses for ship-to-ship combat.

The Commonwealth Battlecruiser has an impressive compliment of offensive weaponry, most of which is optimized for capital-scale combat but can be rotated to ‘flack fire status’. Forty heavy turbo laser cannons are dispersed across the wedge-shaped hull of the vessel; these are positioned to maximize the vessels forward firing arcs while maintaining a minimal combat profile. Smaller standard turbo laser cannons are twined with the larger guns comprising a further forty emplacements. Half as many ION cannons are dispersed along the forward surfaces of the vessel. Colonial cannons are optimized for range over damage, and rate of fire in favor of accuracy. By using high spun gasses the gunners are able to produce more rounds per minute from their cannons while sending their shots further. This is achieved through means derived from neighbor governments.

Heavily defended, the Commonwealth-class equips exceptionally heavy armor for its size and shields that verge on the upper limits of its classification. Particle/Ray shielding is provided by a sizable primary generator core which is backed up by a redundant secondary generator. It is capable of enduring protracted combat with powerful warships and designed to do just that. Like all Colonial starships the Commonwealth carries Ablative Armor and has a Reactive Hull. These are two technologies that have been innovated by Colonial Technologies and applied to their capital scale starships. Electronic countermeasures can be deployed from blisters on the aft dorsal section. The destroyer further utilizes its ten tractor beam projectors in a defensive capacity to deflect solid projectiles, starfighters or in advanced ship-to-ship tactics.

Ablative Armor: The armor undergoes a state change upon impact (when struck by laser-based weapons) and vaporizes through endothermic processes which absorb and disperse the heat energies across a wider surface area thus lowering the total effective damage of the weapon.

Reactive Hull: When the hull is struck with an explosive (non-laser) based assault sufficient to surpass the Ablative Armor packets of concussion absorbing material detonate and disperse the force of the explosion away from the hull of the ship. This is achieved through a honey-comb like molding process applied to the hull plating prior to construction.

The ships superstructure is reinforced with Ferrocarbon and key areas, such as the hyperdrive, have further protection in the form of Ultrachrome plating. Ultrachrome has also been used to protect the engines of the battlecruiser; areas that were previously exposed due to the fact that Colonial engineers had not yet developed means to apply reactive or ablative defenses to the ships aft section.

Commonwealth-class Battlecruisers have a single flight deck which is located on the ventral surface of the ship much like similar destroyers, however; this deck opens horizontally to maximize structural integrity. Thirty-six starfighters and six Centaur troopships are stationed aboard each Battlecruiser.

Like all large Colonial Defense Fleet vessels the Commonwealth has two ‘bridge’ areas. The first is actually the Observation Bridge and has the distinction of actually being called a bridge. The second is the Combat Information Center. The former is located near the high point of the ships mast. This area is equipped with all the necessary controls to steer the ship while the CIC, which is located deeper in the ship and out of harms way, is equipped with all the same and more as it is designed to coordinate the actions of the entire vessel and additional escorts. And to affect repairs while underway the Commonwealth has an extensive machine shop which is capable of expansive repair efforts and mandated by the Colonial Fleet Manifest.

To accommodate its role in the fleet the Commonwealth carries an advanced, hypersensitive sensor package which incorporates a fairly extensive dedicated energy receptor (DER), a hyperspace transceiver and extended range communication network. Routed through the CIC, the commander of the battleship can properly coordinate the functions of the ship. A full array of electronics has been incorporated into the structure of the Commonwealth.

A compliment of Colonial Commandos is stationed aboard each battlecruiser. They serve in the role of peacekeeper among those serving aboard the ship and handle the coordination of all direct combat melee actions. It is their task to deal with hostile forces beyond the Fleet level and lead the collective forces in their engagements. The Troopships are also primarily assigned to the Commandos and they are always piloted by Commandos.

Unfortunately the Commonwealth battlecruiser is not a notably nimble ship for its size. Despite its classification as a cruiser the vessel is not capable of the spectacular maneuvers lighter ships are capable of. It has considerable bulk to it which has proven difficult to manipulate in any direction save forwards, which as it happens, the battlecruiser is exceptionally good at. It is the forward speed of the Commonwealth that has seen it classified as a cruiser for it is able to put on great turns of forward momentum thanks to its massive quadruple bank sublight engines. Once in motion, however; the Commonwealth has demonstrated a lack of maneuverability compared to similar ships. Repulsors and azimuth thrusters are largely responsible for moving the ship about and this is a suit they are not well suited to. Still, the battlecruiser boasts considerable forward sublight speed.

The Colonial starships do not waste space. Lower starfighter compliments and crew requirements are indicative of Gestalt starships, but none of this volume is lost in the process. Limited flight decks are compensated for with incredibly thick armor and construction. Ultra-heavy construction ideologies are common in all similar capital scale starships. This is done for various reasons; the Colonies have a limited population base and so treasure and prize each life with considerable protection, additionally the Colonies are asset rich which enables the designers to dedicate more time and energy to assuring the durability of their capital-scale craft. Furthermore, all additionally ‘freed up’ areas have been repurposed to accommodate advanced systems protocols such as enlarged power cores, redundant primary procedures and more.

The Commonwealth battlecruiser was developed by Colonial Technologies and overseen by Vice Commodore Shipwright which denotes a certain attention to detail which the CDF has come to depend upon. These ships will see the previous Commonwealth-class frigates scrapped in favor of this, the new and larger starship, however; a handful of the previous batch will be held over in long refit.