The Core Admiral Course

[The Core]

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SHIPS

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General

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A starship, starcraft or interstellar spacecraft is a spacecraft designed for traveling between planetary systems. To travel between stars in a reasonable time using rocket-like technology requires very high effective exhaust velocity jet, and enormous energy to power this, such as might be provided by fusion power or antimatter. To the humans of the 3rd millennium, owning a spaceship is like owning a car was to their 21st century-ancestors. Small shuttles like the Stargazer are available to even the lesser-off citizens of the colonies and are often used for inter-city or in-system travel; giant freighters and transports piloted by corporate employees cloud the sky; Freelancer showcase their newest Spatial, Waran and - if they are really wealthy - a Raven's Talon; Gunboats accompany majestic Cruisers, Carriers and Battleships commissioned by the most distinguished military officers.

1.1 Fighters

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A fighter is a (para)military spaceship primarily designed for attacking other small vessels. Fighters are comparatively small, fast, and maneuverable. They are one of the most commonly used class of ships in the Colonies. The Fighter class is split into 4 subclasses:

• Light Fighters are the most nimble craft among the Fighter class. They are extremely agile, but this comes at the price of heavy armor and firepower. Light Fighters are used for racing, scout missions, intercepting heavier Fighter and Bomber vessels and civilian transport.
  
• Heavy Fighters are a hybrid class between Light Fighters and Very Heavy Fighters. They are more agile than the latter, and pack more armor and gun slots than the former. They are sometimes used in interceptor roles, though often overlooked in favor of their bigger brothers.
  
• Very Heavy Fighters are the tools of trade of military pilots and elite security personnel. They are fairly well armored and can rain down blazing death upon their enemies; especially Bombers will quickly fall victim to their guns, and others come close to ultralight Gunboat-Bomber hybrids.
  
• Super Heavy Fighters are rather unique ships; some of them, like the Spatial, are deep space reconnaissance craft. The only things they all have in common are their low Bomber-like agility, a huge powerplant and the thickness of their hull plates.

1.2 Bombers

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Bombers are military vessels built to take on heavier ships like Transports and Capital Ships. They are often recognised by having Bomber Torpedoes which deal massive damage in a single hit. Bombers can be equipped with Bomber guns which, while being rather ineffective against fighters and other Bombers, can seriously hurt larger ships, which in turn often employ Fighter and Gunboat wings to fend off approaching bombers.

1.3 Gunships and Gunboats

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Gunboat is the designation for the smallest and most agile of capital ships. While none are produced explicitly for civilian use, Kishiro Technologies freely markets the Ahoudori and as a result it is very popular with pirates and other independent pilots.
Gunboats are typically used to kill Fighters and other small craft either solo or in groups, but sometimes as escorts for Capital Ships.
All Gunboats have hard-points for Countermeasures and Cruise Disruptors. None of them have Mine Droppers. Some Gunboats have a Forward Gun hard-point that can mount a ship-specific cannon or torpedo. Gunboats can only use Gunboat Shields, which are only offered in a single class and grade. Light gunboats are called Gunships.

1.4 Destroyers

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Capital ships are the largest ships usable by commanders. Their size ranges from elegant cruisers to gigantic warships. Capital ships - due to their size - are hard to maneuver. While going through an asteroid or a minefield, they easily collide with obstacles, which makes the trips longer. Battleships have a tendency to get stuck in asteroid fields. Docking with jumpgates and trade lane ring requires much more attention than with a small vessel as you need to get into position or else you get stuck or (in luckier cases) take a long go-around. In the case with Trade Lanes, it is a common occurrence when the capital ship bumps into and disrupts the lane. Note that relatively flat capital ships may be able to get through certain parts of asteroid fields by rolling and/or backing up and taking a different route, when they may otherwise get stuck. You may freely purchase and operate a capital ship, however be aware that many of the ships factions have registration requirements. Buying a capital ship without the appropriate approval and registration may and usually does incur the unwanted attention of the ship faction. Often they will put unregistered ships on a hunt and destroy list, because of the suspects that you have stolen some of their technology.

Destroyers are lightly-powered cruiser-class vessels with two or less Heavy cruiser Turrets. These ships have no choice but to squeeze the maximum benefit from their agility and Turrets to take down enemy ships. Destroyers are particularly suited to eliminating Gunboats, since they have similar speed but much more firepower and significantly more hull strength. Against other ships in the cruiser class, Destroyers must take advantage of their agility to exploit weaknesses in the enemy's weapon coverage. Destroyers can also perform anti-cap functions by utilizing long-range artillery, but are likely to be obliterated if they get in range of the opponent.

1.5 Cruisers

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Cruisers are the middle-weight ships in the cruiser class, being stronger than Destroyers in overall power and armaments, but with more speed and agility than any of the Battlecruisers. Some of the smaller ships in this sub-class can be quite agile, or have a shape that makes them hard to hit. Meanwhile, some of the larger Heavy Cruisers are on par with Battlecruisers in terms of overall damage output potential. Also note that cruisers are unique among the heavy ship classes in their ability to mount heavy cruiser turrets on standard cruiser hard-points. This provides the option of using energy-efficient Cruiser Primary Turrets instead of the Cruiser Heavy Turrets that cannot be fired often due to their massive power draw.

1.6 Battlecruisers

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Battlecruisers are the heaviest ships in the Cruiser class, combining Battleship-level firepower with Cruiser performance. These ships are often used as Battleship-killers, since they can sit at range and return fire, while also avoiding damage themselves, and using thrusters to speed away if things turn sour. However, most battlecruisers have slower thrusting speed than other ships in the cruiser class, which exposes them to increased risk from Bombers and other cruisers, especially as their size limits them to repairs at shipyards, with modern nanobots unable to cope with the sheer mass of vessel to repair mid-combat.

1.7 Battleships

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Battleships and Dreadnaughts are the strongest, most powerful ships available to the space market. However, these ships do not have Thrusters, and therefore cannot pursue ships from other classes. Generally speaking, these ships are best used in fleet warfare scenarios, where the enemy has brought multiple cruisers or battleships, and they must be matched with greatly superior firepower. They are also good for bases.

1.8 Carriers and Supercarriers

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Carriers and Heavy Carriers typically have more Docking Modules than Battleships, and sometimes have fewer Turrets. They are intended to be used for moving wings of fighters and bombers and providing emergency repair facilities to those ships, rather than acting as front-line assault craft in their own right.

1.9 Non-Combat ships

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As their name indicates, cargo ships are used to move cargo through space. They are divided into three classes:

• Freighters are more agile, but much smaller than Transports. They are mostly used by small-time entrepreneurs and independent traders who cannot afford a larger "cashcow" (a fairly common slang term for Transport).
  
• Transports are big, heavy beasts of burden. They are about as agile as a brick, and their turrets pose nearly no threat to marauding pirates, but they can carry gargantuan amounts of cargo. Because of their high profit generation capabilities, they are prime targets for pirates, and thus, corporations often employ fighter wings as "bodyguards", but with little success.
  
• Liners are large, slightly more defended ships specifically designed to transport people- although they are capable of filling their holds with other commodities as well. For other purposes, a liner is exactly like a transport, just with more armor and firepower.

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VIVERE MILITARE EST
(To live is to fight)

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