Alliance Space Vehicles - The Valiant-Pattern Multi-Role Fighter

ST/HP: 130

Hand/SR: +2/4†

HT: 12

Move: 9/530*† (+14)

LWt.: 14.75

Load: 2.2

SM: +5

Occ.: 1SV+1xr

DR: 15‡

Range: 21,000*

Cost: $28M

Loc.: g3rR2Wi

Stall: 65/30†

Total Chase Roll: +16 (+17 w afterburner in high speed or Agile configuration)

*The Valiant is equipped with an afterburner which improves the Move to 13/650 (+14) and handling to +3 and consumes four times as much fuel (reducing range to 5,025 miles, if used continuously). It also has a hyperdrive with a rating of 2 and sufficient fuel for 2 jumps.

†The Valiant has variable geometry wings. “Speed Geometry” use the above stats; “Agility Geometry” halves its top speed (275 (+12) or 325 (+13) with afterburner), gives it a +1 to handling and reduces the Stall speed to 30. While using both afterburner and Agility geometry, it has a total handling of +4 and a top speed of 300 (+13) for a chase roll of +17.

‡The Valiant 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

Alliance Fighter 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.
  
  
• Medium Holographic Radio: 1,000 mile range (orbital); “palm sized” holographic console.
  
  
• Security and Safety: Simple Locks; Ejection Seat.
  
  
• Life-Support: 5 days
  
  
• Hyperdrive: Rating 2, with sufficient fuel for 2 jumps.
  
  
• Hyperium Reactor: 24 hours endurance at full speed (6 hours with afterburners).
  
  
• Cargo: Compartment with up to 50 lbs of supplies/gear.
  
  

The Valiant has a single pilot seat with computerized controls. It also has a slot for a robot equipped with 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. 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 Valiant has an underslung four-barrel gatling blaster, and a 160mm MSML with 8 missiles mounted in an internal bay; this missile bay can be removed and replaced with a torpedo bay mounted with a single isomeric torpedo.

Weapon	Dmg	Acc	Range	Ewt	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
Gatling Blaster	6dx5(5) burn	9	9mi/27mi	1600	3	200/F	M	-10	2
160 mm Plasma Burst Missile	6dx15 burn ex	4	1000/30mi	200	1	8	M	-15	1
160 mm Plasma Lance Missile	6dx30(10) burn ex	4	1000/30mi	200	1	8	M	-15	1
Isomeric Torpedo	6d×500 cr ex	3	300/ 10 mi	2500	1	1	150M	-15	1

Look and Feel

The Valiant 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.

Valiant missions vary in length. The cockpit has a compartment for supplies, and so some missions take literally days, especially if the pilot has access to fuel stops or carefully husbands his fuel. At 1000 miles per hour, an intercept mission generally takes 3 hours of flight, but a Valiant 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. They have just enough fuel to jump away quickly as well.

When engaged in battle, a Valiant 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 Valiant tend to perform better than lone, maverick Valiant, as they can mutually support one another against the quick and light enemy.

The Valiant represents an interesting departure from normal Alliance approaches to combat. When High Admiral Lowellin Cole conceived of his alternatives to Grand Admiral Leto Daijin’s approach to defeating the Scourge, he approached Startrodder for help with a new fighter design. The Valiant resulted from that, a merging of Maradonian excellence with Startrodder practicality. It remains one of the most popular fighters of the Alliance to this day!