Spaceship blog 9
Raid ship
The old pirate clans of the Fringe were the first who started building such vessels. Raid ships are much smaller than Corvettes; 100m long and 40m wide. These vessels are designed solely for one purpose - pirating. A spacious cargo hold, multiple grappling arms, and fast, supercharged engines. Although the craft has few weapons, Clanners use them only in self-defense or to help disable their target in preparation for boarding. After all, who'd want their prize riddled with holes, and loot blasted to pieces in its cargo hold? For pirate clans, the very act of boarding starships is considered a religious act. It is a prayer - a very violent, deadly prayer.
To perform a successful boarding operation, the pirates employ stealth tactics. Raid ships are built using composite, stealth alloys. Those would rarely reflect sensor rays, and some of the high-quality materials even "eat" them, denying their pray the ability to detect their approach. To further mask their presence, Raid ship engines are fitted with special "mufflers". Those sweep the ionized plasma trail that the engines leave and disperse some of the heat. Raid ships always carry well-equipped boarding teams of star warriors. The vessel can deploy its warriors via assault pods too. Unfortunately for the Clanners, Terran colonists, and especially those who serve in the CN, highly value those ships.
After CN star troopers capture one of these ships, the vessel is given a complete makeover. Terrans remove its useless (to them) massive breaching pod launcher, multiple grappling arms and redesign its internal systems to allow more weapon mounts. The design's stealth features are then augmented by installing additional composite armor-plating, which further decreases the craft's already low sensor profile. After the re-design, CN units called Raid Wings are formed exclusively by these ships. Terran raid ships carry four automatic, rapid firing torpedo launchers and their two main gun turrets are equipped with twin 40 to 50mm railguns. The craft has poor point defense capabilities - only four pulse laser cannons. CN often uses their Raid Wings in tandem with modified escorts, who complement their lack of point defense armaments. In battle, CN raid ships act in a manner reminiscent of how submarines did during Earth's world wars. They make use of their advantage in stealth to covertly approach a target, lock their torpedoes and then fire from outside their enemies' range. Often their crews employ a tactic called cold or dead torpedo drop. Torpedoes can be programmed and left in on "prowling mode" engaging any enemy target that enters in their detection range. While CN battlegroups are attacking the enemy relentlessly, time and time again - Raid Wings slowly surround and pick off the damaged first. Some launch decoy drones to fool enemy sensor operators, flooding their screens with ghost targets while the rest of their wing executes another torpedo run. Slowly but surely, their enemy crumbles before them - one after another.
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Scout Fighters Starfighters Strike Craft Interceptors Space Shuttle Escape Pod Modular Ships Escort ships Corvettes
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