Force Summary
Battleships: 35
Heavy Cruisers: 90
Escort Cruisers: 160
Light Cruisers: 300
Frigates: 1000
Torpedo Boats: 3000
10,000 smaller vessels (planet defense ships, fighters, bombers)
Orginization
The 2 major fleets are comprised of
6 battleship
20 Heavy Cruisers
40 Escort Cruisers
75 light cruisers
200 frigates
300 torpedo vessels
These are normaly broken up into smaller units.
All the other ships are assigned to trade route protection.
Ranks (from highest to lowest)
Admirals
Commander of the Navy
Admiral of the Fleet (one for each fleet)
Admiral
Vice-Admiral
Rear-Admiral
Staff Officiers
Commodor
Captain 1st class
Captain 2nd class
Captain 3rd class
High Officiers
Lieutenant 1st class
Lieutenant 2nd class
Midshipman 1st class
Midshipman 2nd class
Low Officiers
Skipper
Head of the Watch
Gun commander
Shipman
Subskipper
Quatermaster
Crewmen
Terminology:
Void Shields:
Void shields are essentially the standard kinetic shields of ground infantry on steroids. The powers involved more or less create a solid 'wall' between the ship and everything else. Anything caught at the boundary when the shield is turned on will most likely be sliced in half. The shield itself operates by converting kinetic energy and the various energies employed in weapons into visible light. Impacts generate a bright flash, but little else. Organic matter which touches the shield is generally violently disassembled. When active, the shields create a wavering effect around whatever they enclose, much like heat waves on a hot day.
Void shields do not 'wear down', but rather simply short out when overwhelmed. For this reason, most capital ships carry at least two generators. When one shorts out, the other is activated, allowing time for the first to be brought back online.
'Boiler' engines:
Nicknamed 'boilers' because of their appearance, these are technically a form of reactionless drive (OOC: Read: It's a physics-rape machine). The engines employ a substance known as 'claudia' which, when mixed with water reacts to produce an extremely potent fuel. Claudia in its solid form is non-reactive, but very dense. A single Claudia pellet is enough to produce several gallons of fuel. Liquid Claudia is generally stable, only reacting under specific conditions. Solid Claudia is almost totally non-reactive, although it will gradually deteriorate if left exposed to oxygen for long periods.
Claudia occurs naturally on many planets, but is especially common on rocky outer worlds and is believed to be produced by some reaction between elements at very cold temperatures. Claudia deposits on worlds further in are typically thought to be the result of impacts by bodies from further out.
Boilers of large ships must be constantly 'fed' a steady supply of water and claudia pellets.
Triple Expansion Engines:
A modified version of the standard boiler, the expansion-type engines are essentially three smaller boilers in one, each of a different size. The lowest, and smallest, engine is kept on all the time, while the other two may be activated if the need arises. This reduces waste and gives the ship more speed. Should more power be required, the second and third engines are opened up, allowing the Claudia reaction to spread to them. They are, however, much more expensive than regular boilers.
Turbine Engines:
The next evolution in engine design, turbine engines are faster and even less fuel efficient than boilers at high speed. They consume far less fuel at low and mid speeds, though. These work by compressing the liquid claudia to the maximum safe level, and injecting it into a more traditional boiler. This allows a ship to move very, very, quickly at the cost of efficiency.
Warp Drive:
The Warp Drive functions by sending the ship that activated it into a parallel universe were travel is neigh instantaneous. This only allows a small hop that drops the ship off at its destination. This drive is experimental and only Dreadnoughts and Battleships are equipped with it. The drive can be very temperamental and its been known to explode along with the ships its equipped in when shot multiple times. This is not a recommended way of killing the ship because when the drive explodes it creates a ship sized hole in the fabric of space. Any nearby ships are sucked in and destroyed. For this reason the Warp Drive system is covered by 2 extra void shields.
Torpedo:
A torpedo is a large, anti-ship warhead, which might be otherwise referred to as a missile. While somewhat slow (a somewhat ironic term, given the speeds involved) in comparison to shells, they pack in far more explosive power, being larger. Although slower, torpedo's are typically guided, whether by wire or remote, or a combination of both. Given the wide variety of hulls and materials used in space vessels, the traditional magnetic fuse was removed in favor of a standard proximity type, geared to detonate specifically in the presence of large vessels.
Like shells, torpedo's come in several varieties, mostly conforming to the same standards as shells.
Given their large size, a torpedo impact is a serious threat to even the largest of ships. While comparatively easy to dodge, they are frequently delivered in volleys which make it difficult for slower ships to get out of the way in time. With their larger sizes (generally in the 21" x 16' range for heavy, anti-capital ship weapons) they deliver far more power than even a battleship's heavy guns.
Guns:
'Guns' are typically, unless otherwise noted, breech loading linear weapons firing large slugs of several types. Please note that while a mere 1 foot diameter caliber main gun may seem quite small, the projectiles fired are typically taller than a man and being accelerated to a speed where the extra mass is really just there for show. 'Automatic' cannons are typically smaller guns featuring either an auto-loading device or a clip to fire from.
The primary shell types in use are:
ASP(L) - Armor/Shield Piercing (Long Range)
The ASP(L) shell is for use at, as one might guess, longer ranges. It is a heavy projectile chiefly relying on mass to do its damage while maintaining its speed over longer distances. Each ASP has, at its tip, a small energy warhead designed with the intent of creating temporary holes in shields for the shell to pass through. Naturally the detonation slows the shell down a bit, but this is seen as worthwhile if it means the shot gets through.
Comes in a shortened, short-range variant for special use.
SRES - Short Range Explosive Shell
SRES' are used in shorter range combat where ASP shells can't perform to their full potential or would be wasted. SRES shells are more reliant on explosive power, and have far less mass than ASP's. Their creamy explosive filling does, however, give them a good 'punch' and makes them more effective against shielded vessels.
PTM - Proximity Time Manual
PTM shells are anti-fighter and small craft weapons. Each shell is fitted with one of three fuse types, proximity, which detonates at a set distance from any body, time, which explodes after a set time, and manual, which allows the shell to be triggered by the guns commanding officer. PTM shells are typically high explosive shrapnel types with good spread, but not much 'punch' against capital ships.
PBM - Planetary Bombardment Munitions
PBM's are equipped with atmospheric shielding to safeguard their descent. They are mostly high explosive types, although PBM(S) are solid weapons, which use sheer mass to smash things. PBM(HE) are high-explosive varients, for use against large, soft, targets.
AEPOS - Atmospheric gEological Penetrator Ortillery Shell
Orbital bunker-busters fired from capital ships or orbiting platforms, AEPOS shells are rightly feared for their destructive capability. Designed with the destruction of facilities built into geological formations, such as mountains, or constructed within bedrock, they are capable of penetrating large amounts of rock prior to exploding. This is accomplished by sheathing the shell in a disruptive force field which breaks up solid matter that the shell contacts.
Sandbag
A close-range 'canister' type shot. Sandbag rounds are fired at point-blank ranges. On emerging from the barrel the canister bursts open and scatters a number of high-explosive rounds over a wide area. These have two purposes. Firstly, on unshielded ships, or ships with their shields disabled, they can generally wreak havoc over a large are of hull, destroying protruding sensors, weapons, and similar. Second, certain types of shields are unable to handle the load caused by thousands of relatively small impacts. It's tertiary function is to act as a large-scale anti-fighter weapon, although it is rare that a large enough swarm of fighters, grouped tightly enough, would present itself to a weapon capable of firing the sandbag round. Generally flak cannons are more effective.
Flak shells
Flak shells are anti-fighter weapons. Each shell contains several hundred micromissiles. A small explosive charge causes them to spread out and arm, at which point they target any vessel within a predetermined radius, seek it out and detonate. The charges are not powerful enough to cause serious concern for most capital ships, but even a single missile can cause serious trouble for a fighter. Flak shells are mostly fired by small-caliber weapons (typically 6" and under).
Communications
There are three primary communications devices used by Imperial Russian vessels. The first, and most basic, is a simple laser morse-code device for optical communication. Obviously this is for use at fairly close range, although various focusing technologies allow it to be used beyond traditional 'visual' range. The device is chiefly used for emergency communications and contacting vessels with no other known communications devices, since flashing light patterns is a fairly universal means of saying that you're sentient.
The second is a Vox-Transmitter a fairly traditional radio-like device for use in general intership and in-system communications. This form of communication uses the same technology as the Warp Drive. This is a much safer use as thier is no danger of deadly warpholes forming when a radio is destroyed. The only issue is that communication has a tendency to be lost in transit. Due to its nature it is safe from jamming. (unless the other sid uses the same technology)
Warp Jump Drive
The Warp Jump Drive is a much smaller version of the Warp Drive. They can only transport ships smaller than battlecruisers but they don't risk the deadly warp hole that the Warp Drive is capable of.
