Entomolian Ship Design

Entomolian Empire Navy

After five thousand years of starfaring entomolians have reached a plateau in space technology. Few advances have been made in recent times. Since going to war with two different alien races they have refined some of their weapons systems. However, their ship designs have not changed in decades, possibly centuries. The Empress has stifled most original thought in the shipyards. She wants to see the same ships she has grown to rely on. It does not matter if the ships themselves prove inadequate. Even if nearly half of the Imperial Fleet is destroyed it is no great loss to the Empress. There are always more under construction in the yards, and more eggs to hatch into ships' crews.

Entomolian expertise in genetics plays an important role in ship construction. They have developed means to grow parts of their ships, and construct the rest with inorganic materials. The ships are not truly alive, however. The biological constructs die after the ship is completed. What you see flying are the shells, skeletons, and other remains of a once-living organism, with standard machinery and metallic structure as well.

However, the end result is quite amazing. With a comparable mass to that of a Terran ship their structure is protected by dense layers of armor and carapace (bio-armor), and a very sturdy internal structure, giving more critical hits. This is very important, since Entomolians have no energy shields and no ECM.

As a result, most Entomolian ships can take much more damage, but also get hit more often. This is especially true for capital ships like dreadnoughts. They can survive heavy damage for a while, and don't even get many systems destroyed. But eventually the armor and carapace are cooked off and the remaining systems get destroyed very quickly. Fortunately for the Entomolians, their larger ships have more critical hit points than Terran and Avarian ships of the same size. 

Many Entomolian ships crippled in battle survive, and unlike the TTF Navy, the Imperial Entomolian Fleet rarely has to scrap its ships. It's relatively simple to produce organisms that can regrow damaged parts, and there's no shortage of yard crew to cut and weld the inorganic elements. In fact, some of the ships in the Entomolian Navy are centuries old and have survived dozens of battles.

Entomolian Ship Systems

The carapace is an Entomolian ship's primary defense. It works the exact same as armor, but ships size five and larger can mount three or more layers of carapace.

Entomolian Missiles: after a few battles against the ECM-carrying ships, the Empress ordered her war queens to design Stinger missiles, which carry hundreds of small homing devices which temporarily increase the target's profile. The Terrans and Avarians have discovered tactics to eliminate these devices but it takes time.

The most deadly technology in the Entomolian arsenal is grav weaponry. Each ship mounts only one of each, which is mostly grown into the ship from the beginning. These weapons recreate the gravitational forces of very massive neutron stars, though limited in range and duration. The result is a weapon completely immune to all energy shields. Any time a grav weapon fires on a shielded ship, any hit bypasses shields. Grav weapons are the ideal weapon against Terran and Avarian ships, epecially super galactic dreadnoughts which depend on powerful shields for their primary defense. The grav weapons available are listed below.

All grav guns and blasters are placed on the upper row of systems boxes. The nature of the forces around the weapon when fired would tear the carrying ship apart if they weren't mounted more or less externally.

Entomolian Fighters

Entomolians use fighter hangar launchers for fighter operations, just like Avarians do. This allows the Entomolians to launch all their fighters at once, if they choose to do so. Entomolian Heavy fighters provide the point defense and intercept capability for the fleet, not the light fighters. Each heavy fighter is armed with a grav blaster, which is very effective against enemy ships. They also have needle guns for added firepower against fighters and missiles.  Mother queens sire certain specialized males to pilot light fighters, which they deliberately crash into ships like Kamikaze pilots of World War II. Each of these light fighters can cause a lot of damage from an attack, nearly equal to a railgun.

Source: Entomolian Fleet Book

Ship Types

Star Bomber

The lightest type of interstellar warship available. The star bomber was originally designed for bombing runs on planetary surfaces. It still does this, but can also make deadly attacks on other warships. The primary weapon is the highly volatile plasma torpedo salvo. In ground attacks the torpedo salvos can be switched out for ground attack ordnance. Star bombers can also use their plasma torpedoes against ground targets with devastating results. The star bomber has little armor and few systems boxes or critical hit points, making them very easy to destroy. They often work in pairs or larger groups to better the chance that at least one star bomber makes its run.

Armored Pursuit Ship

Commonly a little larger than star bombers, the armored pursuit ship is a light-weight ship. It's designed to fight enemy fighters, and generally has a fair number of L.P.B.s for its size. APSs often mount M.P.B.s to fight against larger targets. Armored pursuit ships mount more armor than star bombers, but otherwise are fragile.

Destroyer

Designed in response to star bombers and other light ships. The destroyer usually has several M.P.B.s to fight star bombers and other light ships at medium range, before they can launch torpedoes. It is the smallest ship type capable of mounting sensors. Some destroyers mount plasma torpedo salvos, greatly increasing their firepower.

Destroyer Leader

Larger and more powerful than ordinary destroyers.  The T.T.F Navy tacticians, disappointed in the mediocre ability of destroyers to eliminate star bombers, developed the destroyer leader ship type. It can mount a heavy particle beam battery, and many other batteries, as well as missiles and sensors. Some navies classify this ship type as a light cruiser.

Cruiser

A medium-sized ship used for a variety of different task forces. In larger fleets cruisers escort the capital ships, while in small fleets they are the flagships. Cruisers are the smallest human ships capable of mounting double-layered shielding, and usually the smallest ones to carry missiles. Several heavy particle beam batteries can be mounted on a cruiser in addition to smaller batteries.

Battlecruiser

Essentially a larger and tougher cruiser. Smaller navies generally consider battlecruiser to be capital ships, While the Terran Navy considers them escorts. Battlecruisers are the smallest ships that can carry fighters. BCs can have more H.P.B.s than smaller classes, as well as missiles and other beam batteries. Some battecruisers act as escort carriers, reducing beam weaponry to make room for more fighters. Human battlecruisers usually mount E.C.M.s to lower their profile.

Transport

Dreadnought

A full battleship capable of immense firepower and defense systems. Dreadnoughts do not usually carry fighters but they are capable of doing so.  Their weaponary is made up of the same systems as battlecruisers, yet they can mount many more H.P.B.s and usually more missile systems.

Attack Carrier

The only ship type specifically dedicated to transporting fighters into battle. Most have very limited beam weaponry.  Carriers can transport up to 48 fighters.

Galactic Dreadnought

 A much larger version of the Dreadnought.  Galactic Dreadnoughts are capable of mounting plasma laser beam batteries, the most powerful beam weapons in the human arsenal. They can also carry more fighters, more missiles, than ordinary dreadnoughts. The galactic designation signifies a ship that can sustain 40 or more star jumps before overhaul.

Super Galactic Dreadnought

The king of the battlefield. SGDNs are more like mobile space stations than ships. They can carry vast numbers of fighters, missiles, and heavy beam weapons. They are the only ships that can use triple-layered shields.

source:  Terran & Avarian Fleet Book

Camivoran Ship Designs

The Carnivorans are relatively new to space travel, having only left their home system some five hundred years ago. During this short period of time, Carnivoran technology and ship designs have developed rapidly.  What they lack in super-heavy weaponry the Carnivorans make up for with new weapons specifically designed to level the playing field and courage beyond that of any other known space faring race.

Each prides' first task upon becoming independent is to start building shipyard space stations as soon as possible. These yards are often capable of building ships only as large as cruisers, but as the pride becomes more and more powerful their yards continue to grow.

It is said that the shipyard around the Carnivoran home world stretches almost halfway around the circumference of the planet and has as many as 30 ships under constructions at any one time. Since most Carnivoran shipyards are capable of producing only smaller hulls, they have developed new techniques for mounting weapons on them. The number of medium and light weapons that the Camivorans can mount on a single hull exceeds any other races capability.

Love of weapons and almost complete lack of shield technology serves to exaggerate the Carnivorans need to close quick and do a lot of damage before they come under continued fire of the larger ships of the enemies forces.

The Carnivoran fleet has found amazing ways of mounting weapons on their ships. The only disadvantage they have is a shortage of heavier weapons, but this shortage they make up in the areas of light and medium plasma beams.

This does not mean the Carnivorans are without large sized ships: what it does mean is that these ships are rarely seen outside of a Pridewar and even then only in limited numbers. Some older dreadnoughts and some carriers are spread throughout all of the prides, but their numbers are usually very limited

Carnivoran Bobcat class light fighters are new to the forces they encounter, more like programmed drones, and light fighters are launched with a specific task and will continue this task until destroyed or their power runs down. Their heavy fighters are among the largest known to exist. They are multi-crew craft armed with a single light weapon and carrying a single plasma torpedo.

Used in attacks on larger ships, they are known to be very dangerous when encountered in large numbesr. Luckily for the other races, most of the Leopard heavy fighters are used in defense of systems, and only a few are usually carried by carriers. Carnivoran fighter strategy consists of using their Bobcat fighters to neutralize enemy fighters and missiles while their larger ships close and grapple in close proximity with their enemy.

Source: Carnivorian Fleet Book

Carnivoran Republic

Carnivoran Republic

The Carnivorans are formed into a loose republic where each group of Carnivorans (called a pride) has a say in the overall running of the government. Each pride has a number of votes equal to their standing within the republic. This is often based upon the number of holdings the pride has and their prowess of combat. 

Since the power in the republic stands upon the holdings and power of the pride, there are often quick and vicious fights between prides to take over territory or to show fighting prowess. No one pride will be allowed to get to powerful: If one pride starts growing too large a group of smaller prides will work together to take back small pieces and thus restore the balance. There is only one exception to this rule: outside threats.

If the Carnivoran Republic decides that an outside threat is bigger than a pride or small group of prides can possibly handle, the Republic can vote for a Pridewar. The length of a Pridewar is decided before the forces actually leave for combat, usually between six months to two years. This often results in vicious and fast moving forces that will take all they can and destroy everything else so the enemy cannot use it (or competing prides do not get it.) Pridewars are rare, and although the Terrans and Nova Liberians fear one, the prides are currently more worried about internal events than either of these standing forces. This could easily change if a large force of either outside navy moves to the Carnivoran border.

Camivoran Biology

Carnivorans are huge compared to the other races. The average male is known to stand at an average of almost seven feet and weight in the area of 350 to 400 pounds. The average female is smaller, with an average height of about six feet and a sleeker trim, fine haired body, weighting on average 140-160 pounds. The Carnivorans resemble the African lion in coloration and facial features, with males sporting large thick manes and females having sleek coats of fine fur. 

Female Carnivorans out number males three to one, due to the male tendency of fighting among themselves over prospective mates and to show their fighting ability to further the male's position within the pride. The females are not beyond fighting themselves: almost 50% of the Carnivoran fleet officers are female, including several pride leaders and at least one fleet admiral.

To meet a Carnivoran in hand to hand combat is a frightening prospect, even without formal weapons.  All Carnivorans have a polished and sharpened set of claws that can tear open flesh as easily as any knife.  Males have such a love of close combat that they often forgo the easy short shot for an attack with personal weapons. All Carnivoran males carry some sort of personal hand to hand weapons, most often swords or axes. This love of close combat has carried over into their ship to ship combat.

Camivoran Pride Matters

If Darwin had been alive when the Carnivorans were encountered he could have used them as proof of survival of the fittest. The entire pride structure is based upon the strongest leads and the weaker follow. This often leads to splits where two members of one pride rise to equal power and strength. These splits are often vicious and quick leading to two smaller but tougher prides that can begin to build their strength on their own.

As Carnivoran leaders get older and their physical strength begins to wane they often groom a new leader from  their ranks. These new leaders often keep the older, smarter and wiser ex-leader as an advisor. In this way Carnivorans continue their knowledge and civilization from generation to generation.

This survival of the fittest does have one beneficial side effect that can only be understood by people outside of the Carnivoran Republic. The Republic does not suffer from the intrigue and political bantering common in other governments. If a Carnivoran leader suspects someone is starting to move against them, they will simply call them out and either lose power to them immediately or destroy the threat before it begins to undermine the strength of the Republic.

Rogue Camivorans

Although rare, these factions do exist on the fringes of Camivoran territory. These are fallen leaders who have had a strong enough following or showed enough strength to maintain a following. These "Rogue" leaders were not powerful enough to stake a claim to existing territory, instead they moved to the fringes of Camivoran space often colonizing small systems and eking out a living raiding both Camivoran and other species. 

Sometimes these "Rogues" get strong enough to rejoin the republic as a new pride re-gaining some of their lost power, but most often they are hunted and destroyed by existing Camivoran prides to show the prides fighting prowess. In even rarely occurrences rogues are recruited into other forces as mercenaries, although no Terran forces has been lucky enough to encounter one of the mercenary rogues forces, the Nova Librarians are known to have at least two small forces in their navy.

Source: Carnivorian Fleet Book

First Encounter

Commander Doane stood on the bridge of the TTFN destroyer Triumphant and watched the IFF mark the four incoming ships. He felt confident that Captain Singh on the destroyer leader Ipswich had everything under control.  Cmdr Doane had served in the battlegroup for two years now and felt confident that the combination of two Swiftsure class destroyers and one Samurai class destroyer leader could handle (or at least out run) any opposition they met.

"Commander Doane, is your IFF having any luck with these new contacts? " Captain Singh 's voice barked out of the intercom, bringing him back to the situation.

"Sorry Captain, Our computers cannot make heads or tails out of them. Either they are a new Nova Liberian class of ship or we have a new contact situation on our hands. Do you suppose these might be the new race that the Novas have been skirmishing with on their border for almost a year?" Commander Doane did not like bringing up the possibility. The Nova Liberian fleet reportedly had their hands full with a new race discovered on their border.  The new comers had been labeled ''Carnivorans " due to their cat like appearance and tendency to hunt in packs.

"We'll see Commander. For now let 's go to battlestations and get all systems up and running." Singh replied. Doane knew this meant readying the jump drive as much as the weapons and shields. Singh was no fool; the captain knew that getting out of this situation with new information was more important than fighting to the last man over an outlying system. Any information they could return to Burroughs with would give them considerable tactical knowledge of the aliens and increase their chances of defending the Terrans furthest reaching colony.

"Sir, they are not slowing down. They're coming in at thrust six or seven. I think they mean to fly right past us. "Easy ensign," Doane turned to his combat officer, "Shields to full power. I want a weapons lock on that lead ship. "

Turning back to the ensign, "1 also want our jumpdrive powered up; we might need to withdraw quickly"

Commander Doane and his crew listened as Captain Singh transmitted the standard Terran greeting and offer for peaceful interactions with a new race. They then stood opened mouth as the new ships increased speed, closing the distance in an almost unimaginably short time. Before he could give the order to fire, the two unknown ships in the lead launched missiles at the Ipswich and the Salem. As the missile struck, his instruments went haywire bright flashes erupted from the shields around both ships, leaving momentary blind spots on the screens. When the flash cleared neither ship was harmed but instruments showed that both ships' screens were down.

Before any evasive maneuvers could be made the Carnivorans were among them. Concentrating on the lead ships, medium sized guns mounted all over each alien ship tore huge wholes in both Terran vessels ..

''Fire, Damn it! FIRE! Fire all weapons at that lead ship!" Doane shouted, coming to his feet.

The Triumpant's crack crew leapt into action, all of the destroyer's guns blazing. The lead Carnivoran ship reeled from the barrage, many of its weapons now burnt and mangled. But the damage had already been done: the Ipswich was spinning free in space, no longer under her own power, and the Salem was venting huge gouts of flame from her engines. Before any orders could be given the Salem exploded in a huge white hot blast of anti-matter.

"Get us out of here, Ensign. We have to get back to Burroughs and report this to the admiralty. These Carnivorans attack like wild animals." Seeing a number of escape pods ejecting from the Ipswich, Commander Doane hoped that his friend Singh was among the survivors. Together, they would avenge this attack. 

Turning his attention back to the situation, "Give them a full barrage of missiles, Lieutenant. Ensign, as soon as the missiles are away, engage the jumpdrives. "

Thus ended the first encounter between the Terran Transolar Federation Navy and the prides of the Carnivoran Republic.

The loss of two ships was nothing new; the Entomolian Invasion had caught the Terrans by surprise much more than the Carnivorans. For almost a year prior to the incident near Burroughs the TTFN had heard rumors of the new aliens and how they were giving the Nova's all they could handle. Now it appeared that the Carnivorans were moving around the edge of Nova space and right into the Terran's lap.

Over the next few months the number of Carnivoran raids increased along the Terran frontier, rarely appearing in great numbers or with large ships. This was a pleasant surprise for the members of Parliament; with war still raging with the Entomolians and the relationship with the Avarians being cold at best, the Terrans did not need another serious threat on their border. 

After the first few raid the Nova Liberian Government released all of their data on the new race to the Terran Navy in the hope that the information would lead to assistance with the Carnivoran situation. From this information the Terran's have compiled a strong knowledge base concerning the Carnivoran Republic.

Located beyond the edges of Nova Librarian Space the Carnivoran worlds consist of over 20 known systems. These systems are divided into a number of "prides". Each pride is a family unit that rules from one to five systems. Each pride has a representative on the Republic Council and has a vote equal to the power their systems hold. The prides operate as independent forces and are often at war with each other over holdings and strength on the council. For this reason, Carnivoran attacks have been limited to small raids for new technology, ships, and recognition of the prides fighting prowess.

It is understood by the Nova's and the Terrans that although the Carnivorans have not shown their hand with their larger ships, these ships do exist but are kept within Carnivoran space to protect home worlds from rival prides. The Carnivorans are a fighting people, but if their home worlds are threatened it is believed that the prides will unite to defeat a common enemy before returning to their own internal struggles.

For this reason, the Terran Navy has issued a standing order that no Terran ship should enter Carnivoran space without direct permission of the Terran High Command. Including chasing enemy ships away from a battle. It is believed that by not provoking the Carnivorans they will continue to fight among themselves for the most part, allowing the Terrans to concentrate on their current alien problems.

It is unknown at this time, whether or not the Avarians or the Entomolians have any standing relationship with the Carnivoran Republic. With Avarian space bordering the Carnivoran Republic it is believed that Avarian worlds suffer the same raids that have begun to plague Terran space.

With this in mind, the Terran parliament has formally requested a diplomatic conference with the leader of the Avarian United Worlds in the hope that a Terran, Nova, and Avarian alliance can be struck to deal with the Carnivoran threat.

Many Terrans think this is insane due to the Avarians lack of interest in directly assisting the Terrans against the Entomolian threat. Currently the Avarians have not responded to the request, but it is still hoped that in the future the Avarians and Terrans can create a formal alliance against their shared enemies.

Source: Carnivorian Fleet Book