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Observer-Class Hyperspace Reconnaissance Cruiser
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:41 pm    Post subject: Observer-Class Hyperspace Reconnaissance Cruiser Reply with quote

So, this is an idea I've been playing around with for a while, but I wanted to get the technobabble down just how I wanted it. It's more of a GM tool than an actual combat vessel, but this one ship could give your characters fits long before they ever become aware of its existence. Check it out:

Observer-Class Hyperspace Reconnaissance Cruiser

The Observer-Class is an evolution of the Immobilizer-Series Hyperspace Interdiction Cruiser, along with the Destructor-Class Hyperspace Blockade Cruiser. Unlike its sister classes, the Observer lacks any weaponry that directly affects craft in hyperspace; its primary purpose is the gathering of information. The Observer retains the Interdictor's unique profile, but replaces each gravity well projectors with a Fabritech V11 Hyperspace Flux-Net Transceiver array. The array projects a massive three-dimensional web of S-Threads that loop out light-years distant from the projector before looping back in again (In game terms, an Observer can detect ships in hyperspace up to 20 minutes away, as modified by the target vessel's hyperdrive modifier). Objects traveling in hyperspace disrupt the carrier signal in the S-Threads and cause fluctuations that can be detected by the sensitive processing systems onboard the Observer. In addition, Imperial scientists have discovered that the distortion created by a ship passing through the flux-net's S-Threads is unique to each vessel's engine, and is of sufficient detail that they can read a vessel's transponder code while it is still in hyperspace.

A joint project with the Imperial Navy and Imperial Intelligence, Observers are never seen in combat lines. Instead, they are deployed in deep space near hyperspace routes and junctions where Rebel activity is suspected. Observers are usually accompanied by a pair of Strike cruisers as escort, as well as a minimum of one Recon line. An Intel team stationed aboard the Observer analyzes the incoming ship traffic information in an attempt to identify suspicious patterns of travel, or looking for known Rebel ships. When they feel there is sufficient information to warrant closer inspection, they deploy ships from the Recon line to follow the suspicious vessels to their destination. The Recon ships have standing orders to avoid detection by any means necessary, and under no circumstances are they to engage in combat, as their primary mission is the gathering of information.

The Observer-Class was introduced into service on a limited scale just prior to the Battle of Endor, and the ensuing chaos in Imperial ranks kept production to a minimum. Less than a dozen Observers were introduced into service, yet they have produced outstanding results when they are put to use. The Imperial Navy has made it a high priority to keep these vessels a secret, and so far, they have succeeded. The Hyperspace Flux-Net Projection Array has proven so effective that the Navy and Imperial Intelligence are currently exploring a new component version of the program, with smaller arrays mounted on more numerous frigate or corvette scale vessels, who then forward their information to a central point for collation. Such a system could quickly develop a detailed map of ship traffic within a sector with no one outside of the Navy and Imperial Intelligence being aware of it, which could quickly spell doom for any long-term Rebel or Fringe operations in the area.

Craft: Sienar Fleet Systems' Observer-Class
Type: Hyperspace Reconnaissance & Observation Platform
Scale: Frigate (+10D)
Length: 600 meters
Skill: Capital Ship Piloting: Mobilizer-Series
Crew: 2,783 (1,500 @ +10) & 30 Gunners
Crew Skill:
Astrogation 5D
Gunnery 5D
Piloting 5D
Shields 4D
Passengers: 80 (troops)
Small Craft Complement:
--12 Starfighters (1 Squadron)
--2-4 Utility Craft
Cargo Capacity: 5,500 metric tons
Consumables: 1.2 years
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Hyperdrive Backup: x8
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 6 (3D)
Atmosphere: 330; 950 kph
Hull: 5D
Shields: 3D
Sensors:
Passive 30/1D
Scan 75/2D
Search 150/3D
Focus 5/4D
Hyperspace Sensors:
--Scan: 12/1D
--Search: 24/3D
--Note: Ranges are a measurement of Rounds Traveled by a ship with a x1 Hyperdrive.
Weapons:
10 Turbolaser Cannon
Fire Arc: 2 Front, 3 Left, 3 Right, 2 Rear
Crew: 2
Skill: Capital Ship Gunnery
Fire Control: 3D
Range:
--Space: 2-10/25/50
--Orbital: 4km-20km/50km/100km
--Atmosphere: 200m-1km/2.5km/5km
Rate of Fire: 1
Damage: 5D
10 Quad-Laser Cannon
Fire Arc: 2 Front, 3 Left, 3 Right, 2 Rear
Scale: Starship (+6D)
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship Gunnery
Fire Control: 3D
Range:
--Space: 1-3/12/25
--Orbital: 2km-6km/24km/50km
--Atmosphere: 100m-300m/1.2km/2.5km
Damage: 6D

In-Game Use:
The Observer-Class is more of a GM tool than anything else. I included rules for the Hyperspace Scanners should a GM actually wish to play out the sensor encounter, but the PCs should be completely unaware of it. If introduced into a game, the first the players will know of it is a sudden encounter with the Imperials where the Empire has far more information available than they should. Whether this takes the form of a sudden ambush that is focused directly on the character's ship (which just so happens to have a clean ID), or a surgical strike on a hidden Rebel base is up to the GM. In essence, the presence of an Observer in your campaign's sector is pretty much just a GM's excuse to make things harder on the PCs (especially if they seem to be having an easy run of it). It could even be the subject of a campaign itself, identifying the source of this new intel and deploying a strike force to deal with it.

House Rule Notes:
    COMMAND DIFFICULTY MODIFIER: +11
    SHIELD & SHIELD CONTROL: 3D @ 2D
    VELOCITY MODIFIER: 1D+2 Flight
    BATTERY DICE:
      Dual Turbolaser Cannon: 1D Front, 1D+2 Left, 1D+2 Right, 1D Rear
      Quad-Laser Cannon: 1D Front, 1D+2 Left, 1D+2 Right, 1D Rear

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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index


Last edited by CRMcNeill on Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:11 am; edited 11 times in total
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Lostboy
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Posts: 384

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am trained at Physics and i think you did a reasonable job. I like this ship.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lostboy wrote:
I am trained at Physics and i think you did a reasonable job. I like this ship.


Thanks. The stats themselves weren't a challenge (basically just took the Interdictor stats and removed any mention of gravity well projectors), but it's refreshing to know that at least some of the armchair astrophysics I've picked up over the years is accurate.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Bren
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really appreciated the "In-Game Use" and "Disclaimer." The former helped me cut through the fluff to see what the ship's purpose was and the latter was nice to tee up which sort of disagreements are which - i.e. don't like the idea vs. the physics fluff needs modifying. Very Happy

I'd like to see sections like that for all new equipment.

You might want to add to the fluff text with something like "replaces the four gravity well projectors with twin Hyperdyne H-20 Tachyon Flux Projecters a pair of matching Fabritech V11 Tachyon scanning detector arrays." Just something to indicate what is in the place of the gravity well projectors and also potentially to give any PCs sent after one of these, a named something(s) to target.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bren wrote:
I really appreciated the "In-Game Use" and "Disclaimer." The former helped me cut through the fluff to see what the ship's purpose was and the latter was nice to tee up which sort of disagreements are which - i.e. don't like the idea vs. the physics fluff needs modifying. :D

I'd like to see sections like that for all new equipment.


LOL. Yeah, I included those due to lessons learned from previous stat posts. It does tend to make things a bit cleaner and neater.

Quote:
You might want to add to the fluff text with something like "replaces the four gravity well projectors with twin Hyperdyne H-20 Tachyon Flux Projecters a pair of matching Fabritech V11 Tachyon scanning detector arrays." Just something to indicate what is in the place of the gravity well projectors and also potentially to give any PCs sent after one of these, a named something(s) to target.


Good point. My idea is that each gravity well projector is replaced with one Flux-Net Transceiver, which handles the emission and detection duties, with a central control module that handles all the data processing. I'm not feeling too original today, so I may just co-opt your tech-names for my fluff.

With regards to ranging in hyperspace, since we don't know the exact distance traveled, perhaps it would be easier to use the only known WEG measurement: travel times. Rather than saying it can detect ships in hyperspace up to 50 lightyears distant, it could detect ships up to 20 minutes away (as modified by the target vessel's hyperdrive modifier).
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Bren
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

crmcneill wrote:
My idea is that each gravity well projector is replaced with one Flux-Net Transceiver, which handles the emission and detection duties, with a central control module that handles all the data processing. I'm not feeling too original today, so I may just co-opt your tech-names for my fluff.
I thought the emitter and the receiver should be separate - though they could be like radios were the antenna is used (I think) to both send and receive. Then I just doubled each since there were originally 4 grav projectors.

Using travel times makes as much sense as anything. All the things that slow ships down or speed them up in hyperspace may similarly decrease or increase the hyper detection range.
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bren wrote:
I thought the emitter and the receiver should be separate - though they could be like radios were the antenna is used (I think) to both send and receive. Then I just doubled each since there were originally 4 grav projectors.


That's cool. I was thinking more along the lines of radar receivers, in that the transmitter and the receiver are all part of the same unit. When I visualize this system, I see something like watching metal fillings line up with magnetic field lines, with the positive and negative poles creating a partial loop, so with that visual, it makes more sense to have the emitter and receiver in the same unit. Plus, having it all tied up in one package is well aligned with my OCD tendencies that desire order in the universe. Wink


Quote:
Using travel times makes as much sense as anything. All the things that slow ships down or speed them up in hyperspace may similarly decrease or increase the hyper detection range.


Before I gave up on the idea of creating actual game rules for this, I had considered making each emitter capable of Scan, Search and Focus modes while tracking ships in hyperspace, but I ultimately decided against it.

I might consider coming up with rules for this if the system were more wide-spread, but since there are only 12 of these ships in the whole galaxy, it seemed easier to just say "It does this. GM's, YMMV."
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Bren
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

crmcneill wrote:
metal fillings line up with magnetic field lines
Nice visual. Smile
crmcneill wrote:
I might consider coming up with rules for this if the system were more wide-spread, but since there are only 12 of these ships in the whole galaxy, it seemed easier to just say "It does this. GM's, YMMV."
Then you must add "custom," "customized," "experimental," "prototype," or "modified" in the fluff description since with only twelve in an empire of thousands and thousands of systems it isn't really an off-the-shelf item.
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bren wrote:
Then you must add "custom," "customized," "experimental," "prototype," or "modified" in the fluff description since with only twelve in an empire of thousands and thousands of systems it isn't really an off-the-shelf item.


I think "limited production run" might be more appropriate, as they were introduced just before Endor, after which the Empire had more important things on its mind than continuing production of a ship which hadn't really proven its utility at that point anyway.
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Fallon Kell
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bren wrote:
crmcneill wrote:
metal fillings line up with magnetic field lines
Nice visual. Smile

Especially considering the difference between filings (shavings) and fillings (dental work) Laughing
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fallon Kell wrote:
Especially considering the difference between filings (shavings) and fillings (dental work) :lol:


D@mn spellcheck! Why can't you check for what I mean, not what I wrote?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hypothetically speaking (assuming this tech were in more common use), what would be some good rules for a sensor system that can detect ships in hyperspace? I think any ranges would have to be in hyperspace travel time values, since we have no hard facts on what hyperspace distances actually are, but what else?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

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Darth_Hilarious
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If the detection system is that sensitive it should also work to detect cloaked ships.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would probably house rule that, Because of the nature of the sensor system, it can only detect ships moving through Hyperspace. In that sense, yes, it would be able to detect a cloaked ship in hyperspace only, unless the target ship's cloaking device was specifically tuned to evade tachyons streams.

A few years back, I proposed an idea of cloaked ships as the SWU equivalent of submarines, with subspace detection and ranging in place of sonar, and CGT technology in place of magnetic anomaly detection equipment. It never got beyond general discussion of concepts, but if you are interested, I can dredge it up again.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First look on this ship... Strange


What is the :Era: this comes out in? Is there any way for a ship in hyperspace to tell it got 'pinged'?
My reasoning for asking, was if these ships are so good why were only 12 made?
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