undefined
The Alpha-class star destroyer was a concept cruiser. It was one of many ideas that lead to the Super-class star destroyer. This idea went far enough for a prototype to be built. Some half way through production it was clear though that the guys running the super-class project had won, so production of the Alpha-class was halted. Hoping not to have their half built darling cut up and used as spare parts, the lead designers worked hard to alter the design and change the concept. After some convincing, two Moffs and a few private investors agreed to fund the project, and production continued.
The new concept was a cruiser built for cruiser-to-cruiser combat. This vessel was to engage the enemy fleets large battle cruisers, while other ships handled the smaller targets. Since this ship was bigger than the Imperial-class star destroyer which was immensely expensive as it was, gaining funders interest was very difficult. So a natural side concept was ”cheap”... It had to be easily built and repaired, and the crew requirements must be kept low. To accomplish this the designers started with only standard parts from all the Empires most common cruisers. The price was still ”considerable”, so a new approach was tried; who was the grand master of squeezing technology out of no money? The rebels. This proved to be a smart strategy. After having thoroughly studied their enemies countless technical solutions and adopted some of them, the Alpha-class star destroyer started to take form.
When it finally left dry dock, it proved to be one of few large imperial ship designs that did not break the budget, and the only one that was actually a notable bit under the estimated costs. Presenting these figures could have had better timing, since at this point the Empire had just come to the conclusion that the rebels did not muster fleets of large cruisers (this was before the battle of Endor). Although this cruiser is more than 50% larger than the Imperial-class star destroyer, maintenance cost is 15% lower. 98% of the entire design is made out of standard parts, which also enable comparatively quick repairs. The only part of the design that kept the price up was the advanced automation systems keeping the crew requirements (and the salary costs) even lower than the Imperial-class. With these figures and the fact that one ship was built, it was decided that that ship was to be kept and tested, but currently no more would be produced.
There where loads of ideas of advanced and heavy weaponry, but with the concepts ”cheap” and ”easy to repair”, the choice was quite easy. Torpedoes and missiles have expensive ammo and might end up with empty magazines. Ion cannons where suggested, for ”turning off” enemy shielding, but with enough fire power enemy shielding was not considered a problem. The designers even considered dropping the tractor beam projectors, but that decision was over ruled and a few projectors where added. The main weaponry landed on good old laser. To keep it easy, it was decided that only one model of cannons was to be used, and it must be a powerful model that see extensive production. The main turbolaser batteries of the Imperial 2 star destroyer met these requirements.
The size of the ship and the fact that it was not supposed to carry large fleets of Tie fighters, troops, bases or walkers, huge amounts of space was left empty. These areas where mainly used for backup systems, making the ship very durable. Lots of spare space was also used for extra cooling for the turbolasers, eliminating the need for the expensive ultra effective tibanna gas and increasing the fire rate. What space was left was filled with spare parts. The hangar houses 10 Lambda shuttles and 12 Tie-fighters, for escort duty.
Since the Alpha-class was unique and not a part of standard Imperial strategy, it was kept away from the central parts of the galaxy, running patrol missions in the outer rim. This did not help proving it's worth, since the confrontations around the backwater areas seldom presented the Empire with the need of a heavy ”cruiser-killer”. One year after the maiden voyage, the opportunity finally came; One of many uprisings that never reached intergalactic publicity, was the Firronian-Zincha confederation. When the Imperial star destroyer Firestarter went to the Zincha system to investigate the rumored stirrings, it was unexpectedly met by a fleet concisting of no less than 18 cruisers of various models. Due to the complete surprise, Firestarter only managed to damage two of the enemy cruisers before it was so badly damaged that it had to retreat and jump to lightspeed. One of the closest Imperial forces to pick up the alarm was the Alpha-class, now named ”the Alpha”. Within a day they arrived at the scene, and it seemed that the confederate forces had decided to stand their ground. Three Victory-class star destroyers had arrived and engaged the now 22 cruisers strong confederate forces, but they where badly out gunned and the Alpha-class arrived just as one of the Victory star destroyers dissolved in a series of explosions. Admiral Herlin ordered the Alpha ”full throttle towards the center of the battle”. The decrypted enemy communications was quite expected: ”All cruisers engage the big one!”. Big mistake. Not a minute later the area was cleared of confederate cruisers, and the Alpha was nearly unscratched. Now however some problems became clear. The remaining Victory star destroyers where badly damaged, and could offer little help as the, now deepspace stranded, Z-95s swooped down on the Alpha, raining it with all their tiny might. Three minutes later the Alphas combat capacity was below 50% and only two out of 16 fighters had been hit by the sluggish turbolasers. Herlin was forced to order retreat, and three days later the Alpha was docked for repairs alongside the Firestarter. Two weeks after that, when the Firestarters replacement parts arrived, the Alpha lumbered off, fully restored. Because of this battle however, the Alpha had a few of its heavy turbolasers replaced by small cannons, calibrated for starfighters.
Some of those who knew about the Alphas design used to mock it, calling it ”the scrapheap” or ”the rebel wannabe”, but those who saw it during repairs quickly stopped doing this. Admiral Herlin made an image out of the simpleness of running and repairing the ship, and required all crew members -even the soldiers- to learn basic cruiser maintenance, pushing the Alphas running costs even further down. It's ultra effective maintenance enabled complete repairs in situations where any other star destroyer would have been considered stranded. This is the most obvious reason why the Empire never brought it out of service, even though they never really needed it.
Because of the availability of components the Alpha rarely had the need to dock at the Empires military space stations, and since it, for reasons unknown, was strictly ordered to stay away from the central parts of the galaxy, it roamed the outer rim, wild space and even the unknown regions. Sometimes no Imperial stations or ships reported contact with the Alpha for more than six months. This level of independence combined with the rebel inspired design history, gave birth to many conspiracy theories and for some time the Alpha project was subject to ISB investigation.
It is unknown where the Alpha was during the battle of Endor, or what happened to it after that. No records indicate that Zsinj or Thrawn used it... One rumor say that it went to close to a black hole, another that it crashed on a moon in wild space, and a third that the entire crew was infested by a hive virus similar to that of the Katana fleet, and that it now floats dead in space somewhere.
GAMETERMS
Craft: Empire/KDY Alpha-class star destroyer
Type: War cruiser
Scale: Capital
Length: 2400 m.
Skill: Capital ship piloting: Alpha-class
Crew: 24.000, gunners 205, Skeleton: 3.500/+20
Crew skill: Capital ship piloting 5D, Capital ship gunnery 5D, Capital ship shields 4D+1, Astrogation 5D, Capital ship repair 4D, Capital ship gunnery repair 4D+1, Capital ship shields repair 4D
Cargo capacity: 10.000 tons.
Passengers: 1500 troops and 500 technicians.
Consumables: 5 years
Cost: Not available for sale.
Hyperdrive multiplier: x1
Hyperdrive backup: x9
Hyperdrive backup 2: x18
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D+1
Space: 5
Atmosphere: -
Hull: 9D
Shields: 3D
Sensors:
Passive: 50/1D
Scan: 100/2D
Search: 200/3D
Focus: 6/4D
Weapons:
180 heavy turbolaser batteries
Fire arc: 40 front, 60 left, 60 right, 20 back
Crew: 1 (each)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire control: 0D
Space range: 3-15/35/75
Damage: 10D
20 lasercannons
Fire arc: 5 front, 5 left, 5 right, 5 back
Scale: Starfighter
Crew: 1 (each)
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire control: 2D
Space range: 1-3/12/25
Damage: 4D
5 tractor beam projectors
Fire arc: 1 front, 2 left, 2 right
Crew: 1 (each)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire control: 2D
Space range: 1-5/15/30
Damage: 6D
