The Death Swarm Battle Carrier is the closest ship to a full carrier in the 10th generation Aotrs navy. The expense and advancement of Aotrs fighters – and their primacy over their typical opposition – has meant the Aotrs navy has preferred to use their fighter strategically, rather in great numbers. The flexibility of 10th generation fighters due to their warhead launchers has meant that almost any fighter can be set to any role with the proper load-out. Combined with the superior range of Aotrs Gate-drives, the need for a dedicated heavy carrier has been reduced. Blackholes served in the escort carrier role for smaller operations. Furthermore, with Aotrs fighters being such high value targets, it was decided that rather than having too many eggs in one more fragile basket, that larger carrier vessels should be more heavily protected, and this lead to the Midnight A Dreadcarrier and the Death Swarm Battle Carrier, both dreadnought/carrier hybrids. The Death Swarm was conceived to be to the Terror what the Midnight A was to the Midnight.
To make room for the hangars half of the coldbeam turrets and the energy beam cannon turret were removed. This reduced the Death Swarm’s coldbeam output down to 2610TXq – but even this is still 50% greater than the Midnight’s.
The removal of the heavy weapons reduced the mass sufficiently what it actually improved the Death Swarm’s manoeuvrability, pushing it up to 9.2mc acceleration and 109 MEUs, exceeding the original Midnight’s 9mc and 100 MEUs and even closing on the performance of the upgraded Midnight Mk 1A paradigm.
The Death Swarm has three hangars, each that hold a single squadron of fighters (of half a squadron of Crater Fightercruisers). The hangars are located below the top of placed on the dorsal hull. Each has its own launch tube, measuring 40m high by 80m wide – large enough to comfortably fit many fightercruisers. The launch tube exit is at a 45° to the horizontal and is 70m long as its shortest point (i.e. the roof). This uses quite a lot more volume than a traditional open-deck hangar, but the advantage it that is much more difficult to for a stray shot (if the shields are down) to land in the hangar, and inside hit the roof of the launch tube. This is little protection against guided weapons, but energy weapons, railguns and even most semi-guided weapons like torpedoes or salvo rockets are travelling too fast to make the adjustment and affords extra protection for the pilot and ground crews. Such a development is typical of the Aotrs who ironically place their crew survivability as a higher priority than even some of the good aligned powers. But for the Aotrs, maintaining their skill and experience base one of the core tenants of the power’s philosophy.
The Death Swarm’s point-counter measures and point and interdiction defence coldbeams are unchanged from the Terror, providing another 2145TXq output at an engagement sphere of 17Ym³ and another 6075TXq output at an engagement sphere of 2.15Ym³.
Yet perhaps the Death Swarm’s most infamous weapon it its ten-tube Class 10 warhead launcher. It is this weapon system that gives the prow its distinctive split shape. While technically not as powerful overall as the Midnight/Terror’s Class 30s, the Death Swarm’s launcher seems more impressive, launching salvoes of fifty missiles – or a hundred when using Shredders or Vanguards – and has deeper magazines.
These magazines typically carry 100 202TXq-yield PF-2C Perforator missiles, 500 250TXq-yield RA-6E Ravager missiles, 400 SD-8D Shredder semi-guided rockets, 200 190TXq-yield VN-1 Vanguard point-defence missiles, 150 950TXq-yield SP-7G Spoliator torpedoes, 150 880TXq-yield HO-2B Hoberdidance torpedoes and 50 IN-2 Inhibitor warheads.
A Death Swarm usually carries either a squadron each of Foul Wings and Craters, or one squadron of Foul Wings, one of Rends and one or Apparitions, depending on role; if two are deployed, usually the latter fighters operate as top cover for the former squadrons.
Product Information:
Range: Army Of The Red Spear
Race / Species: Undead
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