Alliance Space Vehicle - the Ronin-Pattern Battle-Yacht

ST/HP: 150

Hand/SR: +2/4

HT: 12

Move: 5/300 (+13)

LWt.: 27.5

Load: 5.2

SM: +7

Occ.: 4ASV

DR: 200*

Range: 5 jumps

Cost: $55M

Loc.: g3rR

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +15

*The Ronin has 200 diamondoid DR on all sides; halve DR against crushing damage. It also has a force screen with 500 ablative, hardened DR.

Notes

Heavy Alliance Battle-Yacht Electronics:

• Medium Tactical Ultra-Scanner: 30-mile scan, 3-mile imaging/bioscan; 360°;
  
  
• Targeting Computer: +5 to hit target with a scan-lock.
  
  
• Night Vision Sensors: +9 nightvision, ×8 magnification (up to +3 to aimed attacks, if the vehicle aims for three turns).
  
  
• Distortion Jammer: -4 ECM penalty for missiles; +2 to jam missiles.
  
  
• Tactical ESM: +1 to dodge missiles.
  
  
• Large FTL Communication Array: 30-parsec range.
  
  
• Large Holographic Radio: 10,000 mile range (orbital); “palm sized” holographic console.
  
  
• Security and Safety: Complex Biometric Locks. Crashweb
  
  
• Hyperium Reactor: 30 days endurance.
  
  

Light Alliance Battle-Yacht Accommodation and Facilities:

• Full Life-Support: up to 6 people
  
  
• Accommodations: 1 Cabin, 2 bunks. Sufficient storage for up to 5 months of food (though usually far less). The Ronin has artificial gravity.
  
  
• Cargo: a single “arsenal” capable of carrying up to 100 lbs of equipment; a second cargo compartment large enough for two people or 1000 lbs of gear that is hidden (requires a Search roll to find), Shielded (-6 to scans) and climate-controlled.
  
  
• Vehicle Bay: Contains a single Charger-Pattern hovercycle.
  
  

The Ronin has room for a pilot and a co-pilot, as well as a space in the cockpit for a single robot to act as a hyperspatial navigator. All controls are computerized, and thus any crewman can take over any position; in practice, a single pilot flies and controls the craft at all times, but often a co-pilot, if present, handles communications and hyperdrive navigation

Heavily armed, the Ronin has 4 fixed, forward mounted fighter cannons (total ROF of 12) and a fixed, forward mounted missile bay with four 160mm missiles (these can be either Plasma Burst or Plasma Lance)

Weapon	Dmg	Acc	Range	Ewt	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
Fighter Cannon	6d×5(5) burn	9	2700/ 8000	1000	3	200/Fp	75M	-10	2
160 mm Plasma Burst Missile	6dx15 burn ex	4	1000/30mi	200	1	4i	M	-15	1
160 mm Plasma Lance Missile	6dx30 (10) burn ex	4	1000/30mi	200	1	4i	M	-15	1

Look and Feel

The Ronin-Pattern Battle-Yach looks like a gleaming, sculputed, diamondoid-sheathed arrowhead 30 feet long, 20 feet at its widest point and tall enough that one can walk its fuselage without trouble. The central fuselage is the tallest point, with the edges of the craft tapering to thin, winglike structures. When idle, the vehicle rests on three skids and the vehicle can be entered or exited via a ramp. Though snug, the insides of the vehicle allow the character to move fairly freely. The rear of the fuselage has the hyperdrive, engine components, hyperium reactor and fuel tanks, and these spaces can get quite tight, requiring careful maneuvering and benefits from repair and maintenance in a hangar bar, rather than in flight. Ahead of this are the accommodations, which amount to a single cabin technically large enough for two but, unless they’re a couple, typically houses one person, with a kitchenette, and a hallway that has access to some closet/bunks, an “arsenal” cargo closet where weaponry can be stored, and, in some vehicles, a carefully hidden, shielded and climate controlled set of cargo hideaways large enough for one ton of gear, or two stowaways. From here, the character can climb down a ladder to the vehicle bay, which will launch the Charger-pattern hovercycle from the bottom/forward portion of the Ronin, or to the control room. The controls of the vehicle are spacious, easily accessible cockpits, with the secondary controls behind and slightly above the main pilot controls. Both look out through a bubble canopy that has projected control metrics. Its contragravity lift system allows it to lift straight up, turn on a dime, and fly directly, powered by the blue glow of its ion drives.

The Ronin-Pattern Battle-Yacht is a military vehicle only in a technical sense and is the sort of vehicle that only Alliance culture could create. For the typical Alliance aristocrat, the ability to travel space is fundamental to his role as a member of the pan-galactic elite, but few have the wealth necessary to purchase major warships, and a dedicated fighting craft, like a Valiant or a Raptor, do not appeal to a would-be adventurer. The result if the strange hybrid corvette-fighter like the Ronin. It has sufficient agility and firepower to keep up with fighters, while having far more armor. It can also double as a tramp freighter or a smuggling ship in a pinch, and quite a poor nobles with a Ronin use it as a merchant escort. The Ronin is not the most common ship in the galaxy, but one can often find it in some remote starport far from the Glorian Rim, which signals the presence of some minor nobility or, perhaps, a questing space knight. They also see use in wartime, often as the result of “call to arms,” where an aristocrat will call to him all the nobles he knows, and they will show up in their trusty, though slightly unwieldy, Ronin battle-yachts to help out.

The Ronin is one of several “battle-yacht” designs which resemble one another, including the Gallant- and the Errant- patterns. Only the Ronin carries she shielded cargo spaces.