Threat Vessel: Fireblossom
The following is a Raider which I have recently re-created with the Spacedock rules. The original concept of this design was for a race used in one of my game sessions, the Zarians.
‘FIREBLOSSOM’ RAIDER
Class and Type: Zarian Fast Attack Ship, UFP Threat Designation: Fireblossom
Commissioning Date: Unknown
HULL SYSTEMS
Size: 3
Length: 75 meters
Beam: 25 meters
Height: 15 meters
Decks: 3
Mass: 58000 metric tonnes
SUs Available: 1000
SUs Used: 973
Hull
Outer Hull <12>
Inner Hull <12>
Resistance
Outer Hull: 10 <12>
Inner Hull: 10 <12>
Structural Integrity Field
Main: Class 4 (Protection 70/110)
[7 Power/10 Protection/round] <24>
Backup: Class 1 (Protection 20)
[2 Power/10 Protection/round] <8>
Backup: Class 1 (Protection 20)
[2 Power/10 Protection/round] <8>
Specialized Hull
Atmospheric Capability <3>
Planetfall Capability <3>
Ramming Hull <3>
PERSONNEL SYSTEMS
Crew / Passengers / Evac: 20/15/60
Crew Quarters
Spartan: 20 <1>
Basic: 10 <1>
Expanded: 5 <1>
Environmental Systems
Basic Life Support [5 Power/round] <12>
Reserve Life Support [3 Power/round] <6>
Emergency Life Support [0 Power/round] <6>
Gravity [2 Power/round] <3>
Consumables: 1 year's worth <3>
No Replicator Systems
Medical Facilities: 4 (+1) [4 Power/round] <20>
No Recreation Facilities <0>
Personnel Transportation Systems:
Jefferies tubes [0 Power/round] <3>
Fire Suppression System
[1 Power/round when active] <3>
Cargo Holds: 18000 cubic meters <1>
Location: Single cargo bay accessed from mid-center ventral bay
Escape Pods <1>
Number: 10
Capacity: 4
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
Warp Drive
Nacelles: Type 4.9 <29>
Speed: 4.0/6.0/8.5 [1 Power/.2 warp speed]
PIS: Type J <20> (42 hours of Maximum warp)
Embedded <12>
Standard Warp Upgrading Package 1 <2>
Sustainable Warp Upgrading Package 1 <2>
Impulse Engines
Primary Type: Class 8 (0.75c/0.95c) <40>
[7/9 Power/round]
Location: Aft Central
Secondary Type: Class 2 (0.5c/0.5c) <10>
Location: Aft Dorsal
Tertiary Type: Class 2 (0.5c/0.5c) <10>
Location: Aft Ventral
Reaction Control System (.025c) <3>
[2 Power/round when in use]
Auxiliary Reaction Control System (.025c) <2>
[2 Power/round when in use]
POWER SYSTEMS
Warp Engine
Type: Class 3/E (generates 175 Power/round) <43>
Location: Amidships, Central Shaft
Primary Impulse Engine: 8 (generates 64 Power/round)
Secondary Impulse Engine: 2 (generates 16 Power/round)
Tertiary Impulse Engine: 2 (generates 16 Power/round)
“Auxiliary” Power: 35 reactors <105> (generates 175 Power/reactor/round)
Emergency Power: Type A (generates 25 Power/round) <25>
EPS: Standard Power Flow <35> +200 Power transfer/round
Standard Usable Power: 239 (without the Auxiliary power)
Max. Usable Power: 446 (with All Fusion Generators in full operation, the Zarians refer to this as ‘Combat Mode’)
471 (with Emergency Power)
OPERATIONS SYSTEMS
Bridge: Dorsal Nose <15>
Computers
Core 1: Central shaft Forward <6>
[5 Power/round]
ODN <9>
Navigational Deflector [5 Power/round] <12>
Range: 10/20,000/50,000/150,000
Accuracy: 5/6/8/11
Location: Forward Nose
Sensor Systems
Long-range Sensors [5 Power/round] <30>
Range Package: Type 5 (Accuracy 3 / 4 / 7 / 10)
High Resolution: .5/.6-1.0/1.1-3.7/3.8-5.0
Low Resolution: 1/1.1-4.0/4.1-12.0/12.1-15.0
Strength Package: Class 5 (Strength 5)
Gain Package: Class Standard (+0)
Lateral Sensors [5 Power/round] <10>
Strength Package: Class 5 (Strength 5)
Gain Package: Class Standard (+0)
Navigational Sensors [5 Power/round] <10>
Strength Package: Class 5 (Strength 5)
Gain Package: Class Standard (+0)
Probes: 20 <2>
Sensor Skills: 4
Flight Control Systems
Autopilot [1 Power/round in use] <9>
Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) 2
Coordination 3
Navigational Computer
Main: Downgrade (-1) [0 Power/round] -1
Backups: None
Inertial Damping Field
Main <24>
Strength: 8 [12 Power/round]
Number: 4
Backups <8>
Strength: 6 [8 Power/round]
Number: 4
Attitude Control [1 Power/round] <1>
Communications Systems
Type: Class 5 [2 Power/round] <10>
Strength: 5
Security: -2
Tractor Beams
Emitter: Class Gamma [3 Power/Strength used/round] <9>
Accuracy: 4/5/7/10
Location: Forward
Emitter: Class Alpha [3 Power/Strength used/round] <3>
Accuracy: 5/6/8/11
Location: Aft near Cargo bay doors
Transporter Systems
Type: Personnel [8 Power/use] <17>
Pads: 15
Emitter/Receiver Array: Personnel Type 4 (30000 km range)
Energizing/Transition Coils: Class E (Strength 5)
Number and Location: 1, Amid-ships, Central Shaft
Type: Cargo [10 Power/use] <26>
Pads: 1000
Emitter/Receiver Array: Cargo Type 3
(40000 km range)
Energizing/Transition Coils: Class E (Strength 5)
Number and Location: 2, Aft Central Shaft
Cloaking Device: Class 5 [200 Power/round] <21>
Security Systems
Rating: 2 <8>
Anti-Intruder System: Yes [1 Power/round] <3>
Internal Force Fields: No
Science Systems
Rating: 0 () [0 Power/round]
TACTICAL SYSTEMS
Beam Weapons
Forward Beam-Cutters <35>
Type: I/J
Damage: 180 [18 Power]
Number of Plasma Vent Barrel Assemblies: 4 (up to 4 shots per round)
Auto-Phaser Interlock: Accuracy 4/5/7/10
Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
ACB Jacketing: No
Location: Forward Nose
Firing Arc: 180 degrees Forward
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Top Turret Plasma Cutters <20>
Type: H
Damage: 160 [16 Power]
Number of Plasma Vent Barrel Assemblies: 2 (up to 2 shots per round)
Auto-Phaser Interlock: Accuracy 4/5/7/10
Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
ACB Jacketing: No
Location: Forward Dorsal Turret
Firing Arc: 360 degrees Dorsal
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Lower Turret Plasma Cutters <20>
Type: H
Damage: 160 [16 Power]
Number of Plasma Vent Barrel Assemblies: 2 (up to 2 shots per round)
Auto-Phaser Interlock: Accuracy 4/5/7/10
Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
ACB Jacketing: No
Location: Forward Ventral Turret
Firing Arc: 360 degrees Ventral
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Rear Dorsal Turret Plasma Cutters <18>
Type: G
Damage: 140 [14 Power]
Number of Plasma Vent Barrel Assemblies: 2 (up to 2 shots per round)
Auto-Phaser Interlock: Accuracy 4/5/7/10
Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
ACB Jacketing: No
Location: Aft Dorsal Turret
Firing Arc: 270 degrees Dorsal
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Rear Ventral Turret Plasma Cutters <18>
Type: G
Damage: 140 [14 Power]
Number of Plasma Vent Barrel Assemblies: 2 (up to 2 shots per round)
Auto-Phaser Interlock: Accuracy 4/5/7/10
Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
ACB Jacketing: No
Location: Aft Ventral
Firing Arc: 270 degrees Ventral
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Torpedo Weapons
Torpedos Carried: 60 <6>
Forward Torpedo Launcher (High-Yield) <22>
Standard Load: Plasma Torpedo
Spread: 1
Range: 15/350,000/1,500,000/4,050,000
Targeting System Accuracy: 3/4/6/9
Power: [20 + 5 per torpedo fired]
Location: Forward Nose
Firing Arc: Forward, but self guided
Aft Torpedo Launcher (High-Yield) <20>
Standard Load: Plasma Torpedo
Spread: 1
Range: 15/350,000/1,500,000/4,000,000
Targeting System Accuracy: 3/4/6/9
Power: [20 + 5 per torpedo fired]
Location: Aft
Firing Arc: Aft, but self guided
TA/T/TS: Class Alpha [0 Power/round] <6>
Strength: 7
Bonus: +0
Backup TA/T/TS: No
Weapons Skill: 4
Shields (Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard) <78 total>
Shield Generator: Class 3 (Protection [500+100] 600)
[200 Power/round]
Shield Grid: Type A (25% increase to 750 Protection)
Subspace Field Distortion Amplifiers: Class Beta (Threshhold 100)
Recharging System: Class 1 (45 seconds)
Backup Shield Generators: 4 (1 per shield) <3>
Auto-Destruct System <3>
Auxiliary Spacecraft Systems
Shuttlebay(s): Capacity for 2 Size worth of ships <4>
Standard Compliment: 2 Assault Boats
Location(s): Access from docking clamps, Boats situated mid-ships port and starboard of the Cargo Bay doors.
Captain's Yacht: No
DESCRIPTION AND NOTES:
The “Fireblossom” is a Zarian “Fast Attack Ship” which represents the state of the art in the Kassigan Federation zone where the Zarians are located. The “Fireblossom” vessels are commonly used in Zarian raiding efforts sporting Romulan Cloaking devices which the Zarian’s close allies, the Moque (MOK), have obtained for them from agents of the Tal Shiar.
The Plasma Cutters used by the Zarian vessels are frighteningly effective weapons, even if they lack the versatility and efficiency of Federation-style Phasers. It is from the firing action of the Plasma cutters where the ‘Fireblossom’ took its UFP-threat designation. Among the Zarians, the vessel is designated simply as a Type IIA Raider, but upon seeing them for the first time, a Centauran Attaché of the Federation Ambassador to the Kassigan Confederation, was amazed at the beauty of the Zarian vessel in full attack mode and referred to it in a communiqué as a ‘Fireblossom’.
The overall technological level of the Kassigan Confederation, as well as the Zarians themselves, generally trails behind that of the Federation and other major Quadrant powers by roughly 100-150 years. Of course in some areas, such as embedded nacelles, they appear to be more advanced, this is largely a result of their higher tolerance to radiation and their acceptance of the potential safety The hazards of these designs. Nevertheless, the Fireblossom is a much more technologically advanced design than standard Kassigan-space vessels. The one outstanding aspect of the vessel is the heavy reliance made upon Fusion reactors rather than Matter/Anti-Matter Reactors. While the vessel does sport a small Warp Core, it derives much more energy from the relatively small and efficient fussion reactor which run along the central shaft of the vessel.
VESSEL APPEARANCE:
From the outside, the ship is a flattened cylinder-shaped craft, with various fins near the aft edge (where the Impulse engines are located) and a heavily built-up (i.e. rounded) nose-section. There are no pylons or exterior nacelles for the vessel, and the various plasma turrets bristle across the skin of the ship on ball turrets. The nose of the vessel contains the small navigational deflector and the four-barreled main Plasma Cutters in fixed mounts along with the primary plasma torpedo tube which extends like a stubby proboscis from the vessel.
The assault boats, which are essentially heavily armored shuttlepods, are nestled on either side of the mid-ventral portion of the vessel near the Cargo Bay doors, there is no ‘shuttle bay’ as the boats attach and detach by way of docking clamps to the interior of the ship. After the boarding crews are loaded into the boats, the smaller ships drop out and away from the ‘Fireblossom’ leaving an assault boat shaped depression behind them.
DESIGN NOTES:
Befitting their generally lower technology level, the Zarian ship depicted here has few creature comforts and advanced tech: no replicators, very weak transporter coils, low-powered sensors and the like. Only in the a few areas, like combat technology (especially their shields), does the Zarian ship approximate the newer style Starfleet vessels. Some other things that were left out, like Science capabilities and Emergency Transporters, were done quite deliberately. The Zarians are a raiding culture, and thus do not employ scientific equipment on raiding vessels. Similarly, unlike many races, there is hardly any emphasis on the survival of the crew, Zarian design philosophy generally figures that if you are dumb enough to get caught in a ship that is in the process of turning into a fireball you deserve your fate; additionally the 15-pad transporter is designed to accommodate boarding actions, therefore they are used — if available — as emergency transporters when needed. If they are not available, see above comment on Zarian design philosophy.
In order to enhance that “something-other-than-Starfleet” feel, I decided to give the Zarians Plasma-based technology. Part of this was also to de-emphasize the Warp Care and instead use Fusion reactors to generate over half of the ship‘s power. The Ferengi use Plasma Arrays as weapons, but I thought that a more limited technology race like this (my original perspective was that they and their neighboring worlds were on the TOS-scale for a TNG set series) would still be using more clunky turret and fixed-emplacement design, so I came up with the Plasma Cutters. These weapons are not as efficient (power-wise) as disruptors, but takes up the same amount of space (SU) and rather than having a ROF of 2 like Disrupters, can only fire once per “Plasma Vent Barrel Assembly”, so multiple Barrel Assemblies are placed together in a turret in order to fire multiple shots. Of course when the ship is doing so, firing off salvos of coruscating plasma bolts and spinning about, it also helps the vessel to live up to the name ‘Fireblossom’. The following stats are what I used for the weapons…
Plasma Cutter Table (per Plasma Vent Barrel Assembly)
Type SU Dmg Power
A 2 20 2
B 4 40 4
C 8 60 6
D 16 80 8
E 20 100 10
F 24 120 12
G 28 140 14
H 32 160 16
I/J 36 180 18
K 40 200 20
L 44 220 22
M 48 240 24
John D. Lees
Mad Political Scientist
