Battleship

“U.N.S. Stalwart has already engaged and destroyed 3 enemy cruisers Admiral” - Communications Officer Elizabeth Archer, 2065, reporting on the progress of the Battle of Sol to Admiral Percival J. Washington.

  Battleships are the heavy weapons platform of a fleet. They carry the biggest guns with the longest range and most powerful payloads. Battleships are the only ship class capable of carrying full sized Spinal Mounts; extremely powerful fixed weapon emplacements built along the structure of a Battleship capable of taking out Cruiser sized vessels in a single blast or shot. Other weapons on Battleships offer close and long range turreted firepower, including torpedo bays and anti-ship weapon batteries. In some cases, Battleships will be armed with flak batteries if they are being deployed into a smaller Battlegroup where they are more vulnerable to strike craft assault. Some larger Battleships even carry MRWS (Medium Range Weapon System) Point Defence. These offer dedicated defence against torpedos and gunship and bomber payloads.   Battleships fill two roles in a fleet, Tank and Artillery. Although their weapons are designed for long range, in close quarter engagements they’re effectiveness does not wane. Their sheer size alone allows them to take massive amounts of damage before critical subsystems start to fail. Many pirate fleets have been known to retreat at the very sight of a Battleship, making them a psychological weapon of war as well as a physical one.   The one drawback of Battleships is their speed. They are quite literally the immovable centre piece of a battlegroup. This makes them extremely vulnerable to Bomber, Gunship, Torpedo and Destroyer fire. This can usually be mitigated by pairing Battleships with a nearby Carrier, with the carrier providing the Fighter point defence screen and the Battleship shielding the Carrier from enemy fire.   There are two sub classifications for Battleships, Broadside and Artillery. Broadside Battleships carry large anti-ship weapon emplacements, and no spinal mounts. They focus on overwhelming firepower rather than precise strikes in their tactics, as well as acting as bulwarks against enemy fire to protect smaller vessels. Artillery Battleships do the job of a destroyer, but with far more firepower and range. They typically carry 2-5 full sized Spinal Mounts, with several medium ship-to-ship batteries and CIWS arrays for self defence. They are perfectly capable of filling the place of Broadside Battleships should the need arise to attract fire away from smaller vessels, however they lose their weapon’s effectiveness vs enemy Battlecruisers and Battleships in close range engagements.