ASSASSIN STARFIGHTER Craft: Atran Ardur CS-12 "Doomsting" Type: Assassin Starfighter Scale: Starfighter Length: 5 meters Skill: Starfighter Piloting; Doomsting Cost: Not Available Crew: 2 Passengers: 3 Cargo Capacity: 200 kg Consumables: 3 Months Hyperdrive Multiplier: x.8 Hyper Backup: None Nav Computer: Yes Maneuverability: 2D+1 Space: 8 Atmosphere: 350; 1000 (see below) Hull: 2D Shields: None Sensors: Passive: 25/1D+1 Scan: 80/2D+2 Search: 150/4D Focus: 10/5D Weapons: 2 S-5 Sniper Blaster Cannons Scale: Character Fire Arc: Front Crew: Pilot Skill: Blaster; Sniper Cannon Fire Control: 5D Space Range: 1-7/25/50 Atmosphere Range:40m-700m/2.5km/5km Damage: 12D Double Turreted Blaster Cannon Scale: Starfighter Fire Arc: All Crew: 1 Skill: Starship Gunnery Fire Control: 2D Space Range: 1-3/12/25 Atmosphere Range: 100-300/1.2km/2.5km Damage: 5D Multipurpose Missile Hardpoint Scale: Starfighter Fire Arc: All Crew: 1 Skill: Starship Gunnery Fire Control: Varies Space Range: Varies Atmosphere Range: Varies Damage: Varies Short Range Cutting Laser: Scale: Starfighter Fire Arc: Front Crew: Pilot Skill: Starship Gunnery Fire Control: 4D Space Range: 1/na/na Atmosphere Range: 1/5/10 Damage: 14D When Admiral Rochar first rose as a power in his sector, many of his opponents within the Imperial hierarchy were sheltered in nearly impenetrable fortresses. Rochar needed to make examples of several of them, but a failed attempt would mean his instant death. Rochar put together a group of engineers, and using the near infinite funds of his Atran created the Doomsting. Capable of penetrating even the most secure of positions with relative ease, the Doomsting was just the weapon that Rochar was looking for. Within three weeks of the final testing, Moffs Lorai, El-Ikarn, and Jiroon were dead, and the other powers of Egemont and neighboring Sectors were no longer standing in Rochar's way. The Doomsting is an elaborate and massively expensive ship, with all materials of incredibly high quality. The value of these ships, and the nature of the missions that they fly on insure that they are very well maintained, and crewed by the finest and most loyal pilots that Admiral Rochar can command. In order to avoid detection en route to their targets, the matte black Doomstings are equipped with an all purpose sensor mask that renders it all but invisible to standard sensor mechanisms (+5D to difficulty for all sensor checks), and as the Doomsting can usually see enemy ships before coming in range of their sensors, this cloak is not usually tested until it is very near it's goal. In the atmosphere, the Doomsting usually uses it's noiseless repulsorlift drives (listed stats). These provide much better land maneuverability than the Ion drives, and allow the craft to fly within a meter of the ground, ducking below enemy forcefields and sensor nets. These drives are of very high quality, capable of free and easy motion at any speed in it's range, and on several missions, Doomstings have been known to use their laser to cut a path into a Star Destroyer, and then use their repulsorlift drives to glide through it's hallways in search of their target. (Note: Anti-Gravity can be used to keep things floating in artificial gravity. Or at least that's the way I play) The weapons of the Doomsting are it's major strength. The Sniper Cannons provide the almost the full force of starfighter level weaponry, but the weapon and targeting systems are designed to strike at personnel, with exceptional accuracy. Despite the fact that these cannons are accurate to extremely long range, shots are seldom taken from further than a kilometer or so out. Were it not for the fact that a single missed shot could spell the end of the mission and the Atran Ardur, shots at the very edge of the cannon's range would be taken far more often. The Missile hardpoint is designed to be extremely adaptable, capable of carrying virtually any payload. It's contents vary with the nature of the target. If space combat is expected, concussion missiles or proton torpedoes are usually loaded. If elimination of ground troops is possible, FAM missiles are installed. Some other missiles that have been used are fighter craft decoy missiles, gas or biological payloads, and in the case of one particularly impregnable target, a low yield nuclear missile. As mentioned earlier, the laser of the Doomsting is a cutting tool, designed to allow the craft easy access to the interior of various target sites. The high yield of the Laser allows it to chop through blast doors in the matter of seconds, but it is virtually useless as a combat weapon due to it's limited range. The final weapon system, the turreted blaster, is designed to allow the Doomsting to fend off enemy fighters long enough to escape, if it is discovered. It's low power renders it of limited use, but there is no room on the craft for a more powerful weapon. The Doomsting can eliminate most targets without any problems. But, there are missions that challenge even the formidable talents of this ship. For these missions, the Doomsting can carry up to five Atran Ardur assassins, and up to 200kg of equipment, which it will usually drop inside the target's first line of defenses. If the ship is destroyed, the men can usually finish the job. This craft is indeed a formidable opponent, but it is of limited use to player groups. For one thing, the delicate nature of many of the systems causes them to require near constant maintenance to function within it's upper tolerances. Secondly, the Doomsting is designed to get in and eliminate targets, but it is not really designed to get out once spotted. In fact, the Doomsting is equipped with an auto-destruct mechanism that is extremely sensitive, designed to go off as soon as it's internal sensors reveal serious damage of any sort. Admiral Rochar can afford to lose a pilot or two, but most player groups can't really do that. The Doomsting, as with other special purpose Atran Ardur starfighters, is to be replaced with atmospheric versions as soon as the Atran Ardur can develop either a combat carrier craft inexpensive enough to justify the conversion, or well defended bases on worlds other than the moons of Jermalar.