The Avalon Class Exploration Ship/Medium Cruiser was first designed in 2034, but the plans were shelved for awhile while the REF focused on other matters. In 2038 after the Jupiter Fleet was thrashed, the plans were pulled out, upgraded a bit from the original designs with updated technology, and construction of the Avalon class began. Unlike other ship designs, however, there are TWO versions of this ship, a Long Range Exploration Ship, and a Medium Attack Cruiser!.
The ships themselves are about the size of the Miranda or Valiant, giving up much of the luxuries of bigger ships up for a more compact design. The engines are on a seperate section from the hull and are capable of high speeds, similar to the Miranda. However, the Avalon (both designs) itself is slightly more armored then the Miranda, but with only a light deflector and much less armor then a Valiant. It is equipped with several new systems, including a special shield diversion system, capable of drawing power from other ships shields or forcefields to use for it's own light deflector. It's also noted for carrying several other unqiue and special weapons.
Considering it's role as a LRE Ship and NOT a standard warship, the LRES variation is armed rather light, equipped with 5 "Smart" Laser banks that fire highly accurate laser blasts, and 2 LRM launchers, 1 mounted forward, 1 aft, and the shield diversion system. With the Attack Cruiser variation, the armarments are much heavier, with 8 "Smart" Laser banks, and 3 LRM launchers, as well as Forward and Aft Destabilizer turrets, and the shield inversion system.
The LRES version also carries a scaled down Hyperspace Fold Drive, for FULL Hyperspace capabilities. Unlike the Fold Drives used in larger ships, this Fold Drive can only transport the ship, and just the ship, long distances. However, the exspense of these things means only the LRE Ships can carry these, not the warships. On top of that, LRE Ships only make up 35% of all current Avalons in service, many of them in use as Scout ships.
STATS: Type: Long Range Exploration Ship/Medium Attack/Escort Cruiser.
Crew: LRES: 30: 7 Bridge, 8 Enginners, 7 Weapon Operators, 8 for various other ship duties.
Warship: 44: 9 Bridge, 10 Enginners, 13 Weapon Operators, 12 for various other ship duties.
Notable Ships:
LRES-01 "RESS AVALON": Commisioned 2039 as the first LRES in the fleet. Critically damaged by surviving Zentraedi starships while on an exploration mission in 2040. Repaired and upgraded to a warship, while keeping all of the equipment from before, making it the only Avalon in the fleet with both LRES equipment and Warship equipment. Destroyed in 2044 during an assault on an Invid Hive, when it exploded in a suicide crash with the Hive, destroying itself and the hive.
MACS-07 "RSS HORIZON": Commisioned 2041. Sent to Explore the Center of the Galaxy 3 months later and disappeared. Considered MIA as of September, 2043, fate unknown.
*Main Body: 2300.
**Engine Sections (2, connected to the rear and left/right of the Main Body) 550 each.
Long Range Missile Launchers(2/3): 400 each.
Destabilizer Turrets (0/2): 200 each.
Docking Bay Door: 250.
***Bridge: 800.
Smart Lasers (5/8): 250 each.
Guidance Thrusters(10): 250 each.
Light Deflector Shield: 1000.
*Depleting the M.D.C. of the Main Body will turn it into a torn up wreck. Life Support in that entire section will be shut down, the Deflector shield will be inoperable, and all weapon systems in that area will be useless. However the bridge can be sealed off from the rest of the ship and will retain life support. THe Bridge is equipped with an Emergency Generator that powers the bridge for 2 months.
**Destroying the Engine on one side will cause the engine to disconnect from the rest of the ship. Sublight will be impossible and speed will be reduced by 50%, with a 50% chance of the Fold Drive not working. Destroying both engines renders engines offline, as well as Hyperspace and Sublight, the only propulsion remaining being the guidance thrusters.
***Depleting the M.D.C. of the Bridge will instantly kill the Bridge Officers and everyone else on the bridge. Life Support and power will be shut down. However, there is a second command in the lower decks of the saucer section.
Length: 430ft from the end of the engines to the front of the main body.
Width: 230ft at the sides of both Reflex Engines.
Height: 106ft at the top of the Main Body.
Weight: 17,200 tons.
POWER SOURCE: Modified Advanced Reflex Furnace.
MAIN ENGINE: 2 Modified Reflex Heat Pile Systems.
SECONDARY THRUSTERS: 12 Guidance Thrusters.
1: SMART LASER BANKS (5/8) Rather then using the traditional Dual or Tri Laser Turrets, the Avalon uses a newer, state of the art Smart Laser System. Rather then being fired from a turret, these weapons are fired from a small multi directional port, allowing for quicker aim and better accuracy. Smart Lasers however, while very accurate, do not have the power of other lasers. However, these lasers are accurate enough to follow a moving ship, allowing for the Smart Laser to fire bursts of fire of up to 15 seconds at a target, usally burning straight through the hull. They can also aim at specific areas of a medium sized, and even small ship easily. Focusing 2 or 3 Smart Lasers on an area tends to make even the thickest armor have the durability of paper.
Primary Purpose: Pin-Point Assault.
Secondary Purpose: Anti Aircraft/Mecha.
Range: 10,000ft. 5,000ft. in the atmosphere.
Damage: Single Shot Bursts do only 1D4X10 MDC. Holding the Beam for 3 seconds (Short Burst) does 2D6X10 MDC, with a 10% chance of burning a 1D6 by 1D6 ft hole in the hull. Holding the Beam for 6-8 Seconds (Long Burst) does 5D6X10 with a 40% chance of a 2D6 by 2D6ft hole melting all the way through the hull. Full melee bursts do a whooping 1D6X100 MDC with a 75% chance of burning a 3D6 by 3D6ft. hole in the hull. When having multiple lasers focusing on one point, multiply the damage by the number of lasers being used.
Rate of Fire: 4 Single Blasts, 4 Short Bursts, 2 Long Bursts, or 1 Full Melee Burst per round. Up to 2 Lasers can be trained on a target at any given time on a LRES. On a Warship, 4 lasers can be trained on a target.
Payload: Unlimited.
Note: Each laser is +4 to strike.
2: LONG RANGE MISSILE LAUNCHERS: (2/3) Need I really say more?
Primary Purpose: Assault.
Secondary Purpose: Anti Ship.
Range: Varies with Missile Type.
Damage: Varies with Missile Type.
Rate of Fire: From 1 to 24 missiles.
Payload: 24 Missiles.
3: DESTABILIZER TURRETS: (0/2) Mounted Fore and Aft on the Warship version of the Avalon. These are used to make holes in Forcefields/shields of enemy ships, allowing Smart Lasers to get through and start melting things. These are modified from earlier versions to make larger holes in shields.
Primary Purpose: Anti Shield.
Secondary Purpose: Assault.
Range: 6000ft. 4,000ft. in Atmosphere.
Damage: 1D6X10 MDC. Capable of blowing a 1D4X10ft. hole in a forcefield/shield.
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee.
Payload: Unlimited.
4. DEFLECTOR SHIELD DEFENSE SYSTEM: The Deflector Shield is a new design of energy barrier, it is currently in the prototype stages, the only known systems is aboard the "Miranda". It was designed to counteract the awkwardness a Pin Point Barrier would have on the ship, and to help protect the "Miranda's" light armour. It provides 1000 M.D.C. of protection, and regenerates 1000 M.D.C. every 5 seconds (equal to three melee attacks). However, every time the Deflector is taken offline by enemy fire, there is a 7% accul. chance that the Deflector will go fully offline, requiring 4D6 melees to return online. If nessecary, extra power can be diverted to the shield, providing up to 1750 M.D.C. protection. HOWEVER, if the shield M.D.C. is raiser over 1350, 1/4 of the weapons cannot fire because 1) The Extra Power on that side of the shield stops objects on BOTH sides of it and 2) There's too much energy drain to fire every weapon on the ship. Under 1350 M.D.C. weapons can fire. The shield allows energy weapons and missiles OUT of the shield but not inside.
SPECIAL SYSTEMS: These weapons are only SOMETIMES mounted on Avalon class ships, thus not every ship will have these.
1: SHIELD INVERSION BEAM: This weapon comes in handy against Invid. A specially rigged port will fire out an orange beam into a shield, then draws the energy of the shield through the beam to reinforce it's own deflector shield. It draws 1D4X100 MDC from an enemy shield per 3 seconds (1 attack) of use and adds the same amount to the Avalons Deflector. However, the shield the energy was drawn from will NOT be able to regenerate that much energy for 1D6 minutes, thus reducing the max MDC of the shield. The Shield Inversion Beam can only be used for up to 15 seconds (drawing 1D4X100X5 total), but then requires 1D6 melees to recharge.
2: STARSHIP MINES: Launched from specially made Launchers mounted on the Avalon, the ship is capable of launching up to 6 mines at once from a launcher. Each mine is about 4ft.X4ft. long, and is eqiupped with short range radar and sensors (1 mile). When the mines detect something in range, it scans the target. If the target matches any programmed targets in it's database, the mine will home in on it's target using thrusters (Capable of speeds up to 300MPH), and crashes into it's target, doing 4D6X10 MDC. Each mine has a +1 to dodge, +2 to strike. Avalons usally launch many of these mines at a time, creating a large, outer space mine field.
STANDARD EQUIPMENT:Long Range Radar, Long Range Laser and Sattelite Relay, Hyperspace communications, Anti-Gravity control system, Targeting Computer, Combat Computer, Sublight drives. Scaled down Fold Drive. LRESs also carry other more advanced scanning equipment.
MECHA COMPLEMENT: Up to 5 fighters of any type. Typically ALL Veritechs.
