Starhawk 2.1 - The Vehicle

The Stats

ST/HP: 135

Hand/SR: +2/4†

HT: 11

Move: 9/500*† (+14)

LWt.: 19

Load: 2

SM: +5

Occ.: 1SV

DR: 15‡

Range: 20,000*

Cost: $51M

Loc.: g3rR2Wi

Stall: 65

*The Starhawk is equipped with an afterburner which improves the Move to 12/600 (+14) and handling to +3 and consumes four times as much fuel (reducing range to 6,000 miles, if used continuously).

†The Starhawk has variable geometry wings. “Speed Geometry” use the above stats; “Agility Geometry” halves its top speed (250 (+12) or 300 (+13) with afterburner), gives it a +1 to handling and reduces the Stall speed to 32. While using both afterburner and Agility geometry, it has a total handling of +4 and a top speed of 300 (+13).

‡The Starhawk has a force screen with DR 200. This may be angled to create 400 DR in a particular direction, but 100 DR in another directions.

Equipment

The Starhawk has a Distortion Jammer giving it an ECM -4 penalty. It comes with 360 degree ultra-scanner with forward tactical scanning with a 30 mile range (3 mile for imaging), and it has a 1000 mile radio comm. It has a targeting computer which grants a +2 to hit with its blasters, in addition to the bonus from the tactical ultra-scanner lock of +3. And it comes with a tactical ESM which warns the pilot of any locks, and grants a +1 to dodge any attacks made using an ultra-scanner (missiles). Finally, it has a decoy launcher, for disrupting missile locks at the last moment.

The Starhawk has 5-days of life-support for a single person, and an ejection system that includes and encompasses the life-support system, acting as a small, mobile pod containing just the pilot, his control station and his cargo. Pilots do not need vacuum suits but may wear them anyway. The cockpit also contains sufficient cargo space for up to 250 lbs of equipment. This is generally loaded with survival supplies in case the pilot is forced down somewhere.

The Starhawk comes equipped with a highly compact hyperdrive. This hyperdrive travels at 10 parsecs per hour, or “Hyperspace rating 1.” It is shunted via its internal energy bank, which provides enough power for two jumps, but most will only make a single jump at a time with the power of the energy bank. The Starhawk has no on-board computer capable of hyperspatial navigation and will need to include a robot to perform the calculations, or perform them by hand.

The Starhawk has two energy systems: a hyperium reactor and three F-cells. Hyperium reactor only provides enough energy to sustain the starhawk through a hyperjump (but not to shunt into hyperspace itself), or to power its blaster cannon or its force screen. The f-cells provide enough power to make 2 shunts into hyperspace, or to power its force screen for 5 minutes or to power its gatling blaster for 600 shots. Most of the time, pilots will only consume half this much energy, leaving the rest for a hyperjump. It takes 4 hours to fully recharge the F-cells with the hyperium reactor, or 2 to recharge it after a single jump.

The Starhawk also comes equipped with controls designed for a robot, including a datajack to grant the robot access to all ship-board systems. This control station is exposed and has no life-support or armoring shell, and is designed to fit precisely one robot exactly to speck, granting it very little room for mobility (which is generally unnecessary). The robot has access to the internal hyperium reactor and other power-systems, as well as the sensor and ECM systems and the hyperdrive, allowing the fighter to navigate hyperspace, to make repairs on the fly, and to allow the pilot to focus on flying and attacking while the robot monitors communication and sensors.

The Starhawk has an underslung four-barrel gatling blaster, and a 160mm MSML with 4 missiles mounted in an internal bay. This can carry plasma burst missiles, plasma lance missiles, or isomeric torpedos.

Weapon	Dmg	Acc	Range	Ewt	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl	Cost
Gatling Blaster	6dx5(5) burn	9	9mi/27mi	1600	3	200/F	M	-10	2	$640,000
160 mm Plasma Burst Missile	6dx15 burn ex	4	1000/30mi	200	1	-	M	-15	1	$20,000
160 mm Plasma Lance Missile	6dx30(10) burn ex	4	1000/30mi	200	1	-	M	-15	1	$25,000
160 mm Isomeric Torpedo	6dx120 cr ex		300/30mi	200	1	-	M	-15	1	$250,000

Look and Feel

The Starhawk is dominated by its long and elegantly sculpted fuselage. It is about as large as two cars end to end, with a high-seated cockpit which provides a full view of sides, forward and above, perched above a pointed nose. If sitting in a carrier or on the ground, its long, thin wings either hug its body, or sweep forward and low, like an inverted V. The carbide body has generally been colored and marked with Alliance sigils, denoting the house for whom the pilot flies.

Upon entering the craft, the cockpit will seal itself shut with a hiss, followed by cool air pumping from the vents as the local life support takes over. The pressure here is lower, similar to an airplane in flight, with a cool, slightly plastic scent. A complex array of controls lay before the pilot, with the stick controlling the vehicle’s movements and weapons, with a throttle control and afterburner to one side, and the control of the wings to another. A screen shows the output of the installed tech-bot, and another display reveals the output of the ultrascanner. The ECM, communication and sensor controls are marked with a different set of colors, indicating that they’re handled primarily by the installed tech-bot, but the pilot can override them in case of an emergency.

To launch, the craft first initiates the repulsorlift and then retracts the skids with a metallic thump. The force screen crackles to life with hair-raising sense of static. The wings then deploy, moving away from the body into the forward swept position of maximum agility, ideal for take-off. The shifting of the wings and their locking into position has a satisfyingly tactile vibration throughout the craft. Then, the pilot accelerates and launches, with about as much pressure as a quick car or a fighter jet. Once space-born, the pilot will shift the wings to a fully swept-back position, for maximum speed, and watch his speed output as the fighter achieves cruising speed. If the pilot wishes to shunt to hyperspace space, he usually does so now.

Starhawk missions vary in length. The cockpit has room for supplies, and so some missions take literally days, especially if the pilot has access to fuel stops. At 1000 miles per hour, an intercept mission generally takes 3 hours of flight, but a Starhawk will often act as an escort on a strike mission, especially if equipped with his own heavy missiles or torpedos. With their hyperdrive, they can also act as “first strike” vehicles, joining capital ships for lightning raids against the enemy without needing to “scramble” first.

When engaged in battle, a Starhawk pilot tends to begin the battle aggressively, angling the force screen forward, and looking for a lock to launch a missile, especially if engaging fighters and using plasma burst missiles. Once fully enaged in a dogfight, he returns the screen to its standard, bubble configuration and shifts his wings to high agility and makes use of his afterburners, which push him with nearly 2Gs of force, to bring his gatling blaster cannon against his enemies, relying on superior maneuverability rather than speed, and on his superior durability. Against imperial forces, pairs of starhawks tend to perform better than lone, maverick Starhawks, as they can mutually support one another against the quick and light enemy.