Construction

Interstellar Alliance Victory-class Destroyer:

When the Interstellar Alliance was formed, then president Sheridan recognized that the new Alliance would need more ships in its military inventory than just the Whitestar fleet. The idea was that the alliance needed a larger warship, capable of forming the nexus for strikegroups made up out of Whitestars. His idea was to have the ship build and designed by both the Humans and the Minbari, using the best technology available to them, much as had been the case with the designing of the Whitestars, which was done by the Minbari and the Vorlons. As it turned out, although humans had a large say in the design of the ship, most of the technology used was still of Vorlon and Minbari origin. The main production of the craft would be done by the Humans, because of their immense industrial base.

Although the ships are named as being Destroyers, this should be taken as a indication of their power rather than their true designation, as their size and strength qualifies them as Super Dreadnoughts.

This conglomeration of Minbari and Humans is in some ways very useful, as it puts different ideas together in a way not thought about before, for example, the Minbari had not put their ships weaponry in turrets in ages, yet this Human addition to the design solved all blind spots in its field of fire, without adding undue mass to the design. The main contractor for the ships is Edgars Industries of Mars, working together in a joint venture with Minbari of all three Casts.

The Victory and the Excaliber were the first two prototypes of these ships, and their manufacture was marred by difficulties, encountered by the human engineers who had to reverse-engineer not only Minbari, but also Vorlon technology in order to make it work well with much less advanced human tech. Unfortunately the Victory was destroyed in a battle against a Drahk controlled Shadow Planet Killer. While the Drahk were retreating, they destroyed the facilities constructing the new destroyers which means that the Excaliber will be the only ship of this class until new facilities can be constructed. This may actually take several years, and the new ships will likely include several design changes inspired by experience gained with the (currently) single ship of the class, the Excalibur.

The main power supply is a Minbari/Vorlon type quantum singularity reactor, similar, but rather larger than the reactors aboard the Whitestar class ships. The main propulsion is Gravity based and has three nodes that look similar to wings that are the generators of the thrust. This class can perform higher accelerations than any previous Earth-build ships, and the inertial dampening system allows the crew to survive high accelerations. The ships FTL drive is a standard Jumpgate generator, and the speed the ship can make in hyperspace is quite impressive, certainly when compared to Human designed ships.

In raw firepower this ship actually has greater firepower than two Minbari Sharlin Warcruisers, and is thought to be better or equal to any other ship currently found in the galaxy . The main weapon of the ship is a Quantum Gravitic Discharge Cannon that fires from the three gravity drives and is concentrated near the front of the ship. The weapon is a copy of the Vorlon Quantum Gravitic Discharge Cannon but lacks that weapons ability to overcharge. The other problem with the weapon is that it drains all systems and the ship only has life support, gravity, and some sensors after firing it main weapons. For secondary weapons, the ship has eight standard Quantum Gravitic Discharge Cannons, four forward and four aft, based upon the weapons of the whitestar ships. The tertiary weapons array consists of eleven fusion cannons, also with four forward, four aft, and three in turrets. The ship also has 6 neutron/particle beam cannons, also located in the turrets.

Point Defense is taken care of by fifteen Gatling Pulse Cannons. These cannons are mounted in groups of three in windows on the wings of the destroyer. These windows are located in the small bulges on the leading edge of the wings. This means that the upper wing holds three windows of each three cannons, and the other two wings each hold one window. When not in use the cannons are retracted beneath a blast shield.

Lastly the ship has two long range missile launchers of Minbari design. The Ship has relatively little point defense, but this is not considered a drawback, as its armor and shields (certainly that of the later versions) are almost totally impervious to fighter based weapons anyway.

The ships armor is the latest in Minbari armor: a Plasteel/Poly-Crystalline armor mesh. This new armor is physically not as strong as the old crystalline armor, but it has the ability to reflect almost 80 percent of all energy directed at it, and can therefore be much lighter than the old kind of armor, while providing similar protection against directed energy weapons. The only problem might be that kinetic energy weapons and explosions do not suffer any penalties against this armor.

Originally this would not have been a problem either, because a Vorlon armor would have been grown over the Minbari armor, adding greatly to the physical protection of the hull, and providing learning capabilities to the ships hull, the ability to repair the hull, and a powerful Vorlon forcefield. As it is, the ship is not fitted with the Vorlon adaptive hull, nor the Vorlon shields, because the ships were pressed into service before the Vorlon armor could be grown over the ships hull. The only remaining ship in the class will not carry the armor in the forseeable future either, as it has been pressed into service as a research and exploration ship. Adding the armor would take too long, but the ships first combat performance showed that even without the Vorlon armor and shields, she is a force to be reckoned with.

Currently the ship carries a Minbari style forcefield, and the same Minbari ECM systems that made the Minbari ships almost impossible to target during the Earth vs Minbari war. Future ships of this class WILL mount the Vorlon armor and shields, and will likely feature several improvements over the first two vessels. Unfortunately this is still several years in the future.

Unlike any previous Earth-build ships, the Victory class has true artificial gravity systems. This allows the ships crew to operate on the ship indefinitely. When these ships actually enter full scale production, the ships will probably be preferred by ship crews over any previous class. The ship is fitted with spacious berthing and have more recreation facilities than most other ships. The ship's bridge is arranged differently than most ships and is arranged similarly to military submarines that were operated prior to long range space travel.

The ship has the ability to carry a good number of fighters but all Earthforce fighters designs are far to slow to keep up with the ship. It is believed that the ship will more likely carry Minbari fighter designs untill a faster Earthforce fighter with inertial compensators is designed. The ship can carry a reasonably large amount of assault troops for assault mission and normally carries 2000 marines for shipboard defense.

This writeup of the Victory class Destroyer uses modified Phase World starship rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model: Victory Destroyer
Class: Super Dreadnaught
Crew: 600 (40 Officers and 560 Enlisted)
Troops: Standard; 2000, Maximum; 10,000

Vehicle Compliment:

M.D.C. by Location:

Notes:
[SPECIAL] The ships armor deflect 80% of all incoming energy away, not counting purely kinetic energy weapons. Subtract 80% of all damage done to the ships hit locations by energy weapons! Kinetic energy weapons and explosions do full damage.
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship also has an auxiliary bridge. Even if both bridges are destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Destroyer out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[3] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[4] The Gravitic generators are the three wings near the rear of the ship. Destruction of a Gravitic Generator will reduce the ships top acceleration by one third per generator destroyed. The destruction of a generator will also destroy one section the main gun of the ship rendering it unable to fire. The destruction of all three generators will reduce the ships the ship's maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to one percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[5] Shield positions are variable and can be combined into one shield. The shields regenerate at a rate of 5% (3,600 MDC) per melee round.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has special sublight engines that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 1 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The Victory class Destroyer can operate within the outer limits of a atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere deeper than the stratosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: Uses a hyperdrive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 75 light-years per hour. This means that the Victory class Destroyer can cover the Galaxy in about 8 weeks. The ship enters hyper-space by means of a jumpgate. This ship can use an already made jumpgate or can form its own jump-gate.
The Victory has enough power to open a jumpgate every seven minutes (28 rounds). The gate then takes one round to open, two rounds to traverse, and another to close
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system. Carries about four years worth of supplies on board and the Quantum Singularity ZPF reactor gives effectively unlimited energy.

Statistical Data:
Height: 2,567 feet (770 meters)
Length: 8,020 feet (2,406 meters)
Width: 2,847 feet (854 meters)
Weight: 8.76 million tons (7.93 million metric tons)
Power System: Minbari/Vorlon Quantum singularity ZPF reactor.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 70,000 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition
Cost: 190 billion credits to construct. Any race in the three galaxies would pay many times that amount for a fully functional Victory class Destroyer due to the Minbari and Vorlon technology that is incorporated into it.

Weapon Systems

1. Heavy Quantum Gravitic Discharge Cannon (1): This cannon is a weaker copy of the cannon carried on the Vorlon Dreadnought but is larger and more energy intensive. The beam is fired from the rear booms of the ship and concentrated in the front of the ship. At the point of convergence the power of the secondary Quantum Gravitic Cannons is added, and the main beam is fired. The weapon is focused and aimed through the manipulation of gravitic fields between the booms, but Earth and Even Minbari technology lacks the power to give the gun a large field of fire. This still gives the cannon a reasonable field of fire (a cone of 60 degrees in front of the ship) and makes it possible to swing the beam through the entire field of fire in a single melee turn.This weapon system functions by firing a beam of coherent gravity waves at a target, which disrupts the very molecules of the target at a quantum level. Any target area hit by the beam is literally torn apart at the subatomic level, reducing the affected area to a very hot cloud of quarks and mesons. Unlike the weapon mounted on Vorlon ships, the weapon cannot be overcharged and because of the huge power requirements actually shuts the ship down except for life support, internal gravity, and some sensors (all read sensory rolls are at -20%). It is hoped that more powerful reactors can be designed that will compensate for the energy loss. This weapon has standard penalties to hit small targets such as fighters.
   Due to the weapons nature, it does full damage to any target protected by the spell "Invulnerable to energy". Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 3 million km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks
   Range: 187 miles (300 km) in an atmosphere and 187,000 miles (300,000 km) in space.
   Mega-Damage: 2D4x10,000 M.D. (Triple damage if fired at one Target)
   Rate of Fire: Special, Beam can only fired once per 4 melees, beam lasts one melee. Can be directed at up to three different targets. If the cannon is directed at one target at the entire melee, damage is tripled. All ship systems except life support will shut down for 60 seconds (4 melees) after the main gun is fired.
   Payload : Effectively Unlimited.
2. Quantum Gravitic Discharge Cannons (8): The ship mounts eight Quantum gravitic discharge cannons, with four in the forward array and four in the aft array for a immensly powerful secondary battery. These weapons are based on the weapon mounted in the Whitestar class gunship, but are individually slightly less powerful, and lack the overcharge setting. This is compensated for by the larger number of weapons, and the combining of the smaller cannons with the Vorlon type quantum gravitic discharge cannon, resulting in a more flexible weapons array. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Each cannon fires individually and has a 90 degree arc of fire.
   Due to the weapons nature, it does full damage to any target protected by the spell "Invulnerable to energy". Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 1,000,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks
   Mega Damage: 4D6x1000 per gravitic beam blast (Forward / Aft array at one target inflicts 16D6x1000)
   Range: 120 miles (192 km) in an atmosphere and miles 120.000 miles (192,000 km) in space
   Rate of fire: once per melee round per cannon.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
3. Fusion Cannons (11): The ship mounts four forward, four aft, and three on turrets. The turrets are mounted on the top (one in front of the bridge, one on the front hull) and bottom of the ship (one below the front hull). Similar to Minbari mounts, they are slightly more powerful than those mounted on the Minbari Sharlin. The cannons are less powerful than those mounted on the Advanced Omega but the rate of fire easily compensates for that. The guns take low mass particles, compress them until fusion is induced, and the resulting blast of plasma and energy is then fired at the target. In effect this is a directed thermonuclear explosion. The weapons have standard penalties to hit fighters and other small targets. Each fusion beam cannon fires individually and the hull mounted cannons have a 120 degree arc of fire, the turret mounted beams have a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire. Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the revised weapons range as 1,000,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks
   Mega Damage: 1D6x1000 per fusion gun blast (Forward and aft array at one target inflicts 4D6x1000 each)
   Range: 60 miles (96 km) in an atmosphere and miles 60,000 miles (96,000 km) in space
   Rate of fire: Three Times per melee round per cannon.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
4. Neutron / Particle Beam cannons (6): These weapons are the same as the Neutron cannons mounted on the White Star and the weapons primary purpose is point defense against medium sized ships. These guns fire bursts of atomic particles at close to the speed of light but unlike Earth Particle Beams, most of the beam consists of Anti-Neutrons. They are very effective against fighters but are not as effective against larger ships. The weapon does more damage to organic targets because of the nature of the beam. The weapons are mounted in pairs, together with a single fusion beam in three turrets, one in front of the bridge, one on top of the front hull, and another under the front hull. Each mount has a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire. Weapon has a bonus of +4 to strike.
   Mega Damage: 3D6x100 per cannon, double blast does 6D6x100. Weapon does double damage to organic targets.
   Range: 28 miles (45 km) in an atmosphere and 28.000 miles (45,000 km) in space
   Rate of fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
5. Gatling Pulse Cannons (15) : These cannons are the destroyers main Point Defense weapons for missile and starfighter defense. Basically these are the same Gatling Pulse cannons that are also mounted on the Thunderbolt Star Fury. This cannon holds six rotating barrels, and is capable of firing bursts of up to six pulses at a time, but it has a range nearly twice that of the fighter mounted cannon. This cannon fires rapid bursts of super charged Plasma and is similar in function to the pulse cannons on the larger Earthforce warships. However, due to it firing bursts, it has a better overall chance to hit. Each weapon is controlled by a gunner, and the cannons are mounted in "Windows" in groups of three (independently moving). Author Note: The source on this weapon system lists the weapons range as 160,000 km. It has been reduces to fit more with Palladium frameworks.
   The cannon is +2 to strike, and each cannon has a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire.
   Mega Damage: 1D6x10 for a single pulse, can fire up to six pulses per burst for 6D6x10. Each burst counts as one attack.
   Range: 20 miles (32.1 km) in an atmosphere and 1400 miles (3,210 km) in space.
   Rate of fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
6. Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Long range missiles do not have minuses to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each.
   Range: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,89700 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, 24, or 48 per battery, per melee attack.
   Payload: 1440 long range missiles, 720 per launcher.

Special Equipment:

• Advanced Sensors: The Victory class destroyer has sensors that are a mixture of Earth, Vorlon and Minbari Technology. They are capable of detecting and targeting both Shadow and Vorlon ships without any penalties. The sensors can also detect any ship using any non magical cloaking or ECM without penalties. This included the most advanced Earth or Centauri ECM. It includes all ECM systems used in the Three Galaxies, Rifts Earth, and other alternate universes.
• ECM: The Victory class destroyer is fitted with a copy of Minbari style ECM. This ECM prevented targeting systems from Earth Alliance ships from being able to lock on during the Minbari war against the Humans. This ECM prevents targeting systems from ships of the younger races with the exception of the Centauri, Minbari, and Vree from being able to lock on. An attacker would be at -10 to strike the ship and only if within visual range (approximately 500 miles). Missiles would have a 90% chance of being unable to achieve a lock on target as well. Rifts Earth and Mutants in Orbit would be treated to be at the level of technology of most of the younger races. While not as advanced as the Minbari, the Centauri are more advance than other younger races. The Victory class would have a very small signature but could be detected on sensors. The Centauri would have penalties of -4 to strike beyond visual range. Missiles would also be more effective, at first engagement missiles would have a 60% chance of being unable to achieve a lock, the jamming could be fully adjusted for and the missile could achieve lock normally. Phase World, Macross 2, and Robotech sensors would be treated to be at the level of technology of the Minbari and Centauri. Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars would also be treated to be at this level of technology. The sensors of the races of the First Ones would not suffer any penalties and would be able to strike normally. This included the Drauk Raider as well.
• Sentient Computer: The Victory Class Destroyer has a artificial intelligence computer controlling it. This computer should be considered to be a moderate artificial intelligence in terms of Rifts. This computer can pilot the ship at 80%, can fire all weapons with half normal attacks, and has +2 to strike and +1 to initiative (these include all bonuses). If a full crew is onboard it will be able to fire all weapons at will and will have +5 to strike, +2 to dodge and +3 to initiative.

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[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]
[ Babylon 5 is copyright © Warner Brothers Television. ]

Technical Information partially based on information from from Babylon 5 Technical Manual!

By Mischa (mischa.campen@tip.nl) and by Kitsune (kitsune@addr.com ).

Rifts Conversion Copyright © 1999, Mischa & Kitsune. All rights reserved.