The Conquistador-class explorer is one of the largest armed non-naval ships in the history of human spacefaring. Designed in 2383 to suit the needs of the League Pathfinder Society in the leadup to the Terran Stellar League's actual entry into the Human-Skaald War, the design has remained in use in the service of the Republican Pathfinders. The Conquistador remains in service partly due to the Pathfinders' thriftiness and lack of access to militarized hulls since the split from the Core Systems Scout Service, partly because of the Conquistador's proud and distinguished heritage, and partly because any vessel smaller than a cruiser which tangles with a Conquistador is liable to come off a very distant - and radioactive - second-best.
In 2481 a Core Systems Republic Navy Valiance-class destroyer, the Absalom, was nearly destroyed in a battle with a Conquistador over its perceived offense of fouling a Pathfinder survey area with repair debris, cast-off rubbish and other such unsalvageable flotsam. The Absalom's skipper, Captain Hewlett, described the Conquistador's attack pattern as a surprisingly graceful, slow starboard roll (in layman's terms, a counter-clockwise spin around the long axis of the ship) as the Pathfinders rippled off waves and waves of nuclear missiles. Based on Conquistador provisioning requests filed prior to the Pathfinders' ejection from the Republic armed forces, one of these ships can carry over fourteen hundred missile bodies, and anywhere from half to all of those are mounted with League Navy-spec W282 nuclear warheads, each rated at a 1.5 megaton yield. The Absalom's records, among other (less acrimonious) encounters, indicate that a Conquistador's three massive missile bays can ripple off twelve missiles a minute, and can sustain this firing rate for almost two hours.
The profile below represents a 'best case' scenario for a captain facing down a hostile Conquistador; even so, the 'best case' loadout sees it being able to launch nuclear weapons downrange for an hour straight.
Conquistador-class grand explorer | d-Tons | Cost (MCr) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Hull | 7,500 tons | 750 | ||
TL12 Cylinder | Hull 75 | |||
2 sections each | Structure 75 | |||
Armor | Ceramol | Protection 8 | 750 | 300 |
Jump Drive (TL13) | Jump 4 | 375 | 750 | |
Maneuver Drive (TL13) | Thrust 6 | 183 | 183 | |
Power Plant | 375 | 937.5 | ||
Bridge | 1/section | 75 | 75 | |
Computer | Core/3/fib | Rating 40 | 12 | |
Electronics | Countermeasures | ESP and Distributed Arrays | 27 | 37 |
Survey Sensors | 10 | 10 | ||
Weapons | ||||
Bays | 3-Large Missile Bay-Long-24 (TL9) * | Easy to Repair, Very High Yield | 303 | 144 |
Turrets | 100-Triple Sandcaster-Close-1/4 (TL10) | 60 | 350 | |
100-Triple-Pulse-Short-2 (TL10) | 60 | 500 | ||
Fuel | 4500 tons | One Jump-4 and 12 weeks | 4500 | |
Cargo | 117 tons | 117 | ||
Ammunition | 720 W282 Nuclear Missiles | 60 | 1.8 | |
720 Conventional High-Explosive Missiles | 60 | 0.9 | ||
1,800 Sandcaster Drums | 90 | 0.9 | ||
85 Staterooms | 170 personnel (max) | 340 | 42.5 | |
80 Low Berths | 80 personnel (max) | 40 | 2 | |
Extras | Fuel Scoops | 1 | ||
Fuel Processors | Refines 4,500 tons in 3 days | 75 | 3.75 | |
Software | Maneuver/0 | |||
Library | ||||
Intellect | 1 | |||
Evade/3 | 3 | |||
Jump Control/4 | - | |||
Fire Control/5 | 10 | |||
Total | 7,500 | 4,115,350,000 Cr |
Department | Crew | Crew Damage Track |
---|---|---|
Command | 10 | Dead (-) |
Engineering | 10 | Survivors (-4) |
Gunnery | 20 | Skeleton (-2) |
Troops | 100 | Half (-1) |
Flight | 0 | Weakened |
Service | 20 | Full |
Frozen Watch | 80 | Battle |
Total | 240 | Overstrength |
Passengers | Massively Overstrength |
Engineering | Forward | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Hull | 75 | 75 | ||
Structure | 75 | 75 | ||
Roll | External | Internal | External | Internal |
2 | Hull | Crew | Hull | Crew |
3 | 25 Sandcasters | J-Drive | 25 Sandcasters | Command |
4 | M-Drive | P-Plant | Survey Sensors | Structure |
5 | 25 Pulse Lasers | Large Missile Bay | 25 Pulse Lasers | Large Missile Bay |
6 | Hull | Structure | Hull | Structure |
7 | Armor | Hold | Armor | Hold |
8 | Hull | Structure | Hull | Structure |
9 | 25 Pulse Lasers | Fuel | 25 Pulse Lasers | Large Missile Bay |
10 | M-Drive | J-Drive | Countermeasures | Computer |
11 | 25 Sandcasters | P-Plant | 25 Sandcasters | Structure |
12 | Hull | Critical | Hull | Critical |