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Description
Concept of a heavy cruiser for Fading Suns RPG universe.

Should anyone look at a House Decados "City" class cruiser, one question inevitably comes into mind: is this a friggin' battering ram in her prow? Who the heck needs a battering ram in 50th century?

The answer is simple - yes, this IS a battering ram. And, what is even more surprising when ships are shelling each other from a couple thousand klicks, it was once used with success.

The Tsaritsyn class heavy cruisers, also dubbed the "city" class, were a group of six vessels built by Severian shipyards and named after the planet's main cities. Nobody knows who came with and who accepted the idea of a heavily reinforced prow, which weighed roughly 6 000 tonnes and gave the ships a unique appearance. Apart from that, however, the design was not revolutionary.
With their size, the main battery of ten heavy plasma guns would seem weak, however these were located in five twin turrets and could all be brought abeam. Sixteen medium plasma guns and twenty-eight light laser cannons contributed to her broadside battery. The "city" class also had four heavy grasers in chase position (and could also fire three of her turrets ahead) and six torpedo tubes.
What was quite uncommon in starships, the antennae located in large fins and the superstructure could sometimes penetrate the engines' emmisions and allow the two aft turrets to fire backwards, however with poor accuracy.

Of the ships, the least is known of the Jakovgrad, which (not too surprisingly) was transferred to special ops and apparently fitted with some 2nd Rep equipment. Some rumors say she took part in a secret expedition outside the Known Worlds - but it's only a rumor. Actually, it's not sure if the ship still exists.

The Tsarytsin and the New Capetown remained in Severus system fleet during the Emperor Wars. They clashed with Al-Malik forces striking from Aylon on several occasions, the New Capetown being seriously damaged by torpedoes in 4991 and put out of service until 4994. Duriong the repairs, she was used as an orbital battery.

The remaining three were within the 1st Strike Fleet in Cadavus and took part in a failed invasion on Criticorum. That's where their battering rams actually have proven their worth. First, the Chobor-Zemsky and the New Krakow engaged an Al-Malik Harmattan class battleship and her destroyer pickets. With both sides surprised and with poor chances for the Decados to survive a broadside-to-broadside fight, both cruisers faced the threat head-on. During a seemingly suicide charge their armored prows withstood blows from light mesons and heavy plasmas of the Al-Malik ship, which was itself pounded by combined twenty heavy Dedados' guns. They not only escaped, although with substantial damage, but also managed to wreck two of the accompanying destroyers.

Sixteen days later, the Domovoy put herself in history books. She and her squadron of four destroyers encountered two Hawkwood heavy cruisers, the Reliant and the Vengeful. The Reliant was damaged by torpedoes but also Domovoy took several critical hits and had her reactor scrammed. Seeing the target immobilized and powered down, the Vengeful closed in for boarding. She stayed some hundred klicks from the Decados ship and launched the boarding party. However, the Domovoy's chief engineer attempted a "hot restart" of the main drive, at a cost of her own lethal irradiation, and seconds later the ship fired an EMP torpedo at point-blank. Caught off guard, the Vengeful was unable to steer away from her doom. She was rammed in mid section, her hull torn in half. Roughly 20% of the crew perished, including the captain who commited suicide.
The Domevoy was also out of commision - the hot restart caused a major radiation leak and she was prepared for evacuation. So, all was left were four Decados destroyers and a damaged Hawkwood heavy cruiser - and hundreds of survivors to rescue. Not the first and not the last time in this war, the captains agreed on a temporary armistice - they picked up their survivors and departed without firing a shot. The Domevoy was evacuated and only two people remained voluntarily on board, lethally irradiated chief enginneer Irina Semenov Decados and her lover, ship's first officer Costa Zenova Decados. They set course for the Criticorum sun, thus ending the ship's valiant history.

After the Criticorum campaign, both the Chobor-Zemsky and the New Krakow jumped to Byzantium Secundus system and joined the 2nd Strike Fleet, which was fighting alongside the Hazat. The Chobor-Zemsky was lost with all hands when the Hazat-Decados alliance lost the control of B2 jumpgate - in a fierce battle that occured she was destroyed by salvos form Hawkwood battleship Resolution and the battlecruiser Furious. The New Krakow escaped to Aragon and took part in several raids to Hawkwood-controlled space since. Only after Alexius's crowning and the armistice was she able to return to Decados systems. Currently she is part of 1st Strike Fleet, based on Cadiz.

Drawn with pencil some 5 years ago, scanned & then edited in MS Paint.

Description
Concept of a heavy cruiser for Fading Suns RPG universe.

Should anyone look at a House Decados "City" class cruiser, one question inevitably comes into mind: is this a friggin' battering ram in her prow? Who the heck needs a battering ram in 50th century?

The answer is simple - yes, this IS a battering ram. And, what is even more surprising when ships are shelling each other from a couple thousand klicks, it was once used with success.

The Tsaritsyn class heavy cruisers, also dubbed the "city" class, were a group of six vessels built by Severian shipyards and named after the planet's main cities. Nobody knows who came with and who accepted the idea of a heavily reinforced prow, which weighed roughly 6 000 tonnes and gave the ships a unique appearance. Apart from that, however, the design was not revolutionary.
With their size, the main battery of ten heavy plasma guns would seem weak, however these were located in five twin turrets and could all be brought abeam. Sixteen medium plasma guns and twenty-eight light laser cannons contributed to her broadside battery. The "city" class also had four heavy grasers in chase position (and could also fire three of her turrets ahead) and six torpedo tubes.
What was quite uncommon in starships, the antennae located in large fins and the superstructure could sometimes penetrate the engines' emmisions and allow the two aft turrets to fire backwards, however with poor accuracy.

Of the ships, the least is known of the Jakovgrad, which (not too surprisingly) was transferred to special ops and apparently fitted with some 2nd Rep equipment. Some rumors say she took part in a secret expedition outside the Known Worlds - but it's only a rumor. Actually, it's not sure if the ship still exists.

The Tsarytsin and the New Capetown remained in Severus system fleet during the Emperor Wars. They clashed with Al-Malik forces striking from Aylon on several occasions, the New Capetown being seriously damaged by torpedoes in 4991 and put out of service until 4994. Duriong the repairs, she was used as an orbital battery.

The remaining three were within the 1st Strike Fleet in Cadavus and took part in a failed invasion on Criticorum. That's where their battering rams actually have proven their worth. First, the Chobor-Zemsky and the New Krakow engaged an Al-Malik Harmattan class battleship and her destroyer pickets. With both sides surprised and with poor chances for the Decados to survive a broadside-to-broadside fight, both cruisers faced the threat head-on. During a seemingly suicide charge their armored prows withstood blows from light mesons and heavy plasmas of the Al-Malik ship, which was itself pounded by combined twenty heavy Dedados' guns. They not only escaped, although with substantial damage, but also managed to wreck two of the accompanying destroyers.

Sixteen days later, the Domovoy put herself in history books. She and her squadron of four destroyers encountered two Hawkwood heavy cruisers, the Reliant and the Vengeful. The Reliant was damaged by torpedoes but also Domovoy took several critical hits and had her reactor scrammed. Seeing the target immobilized and powered down, the Vengeful closed in for boarding. She stayed some hundred klicks from the Decados ship and launched the boarding party. However, the Domovoy's chief engineer attempted a "hot restart" of the main drive, at a cost of her own lethal irradiation, and seconds later the ship fired an EMP torpedo at point-blank. Caught off guard, the Vengeful was unable to steer away from her doom. She was rammed in mid section, her hull torn in half. Roughly 20% of the crew perished, including the captain who commited suicide.
The Domevoy was also out of commision - the hot restart caused a major radiation leak and she was prepared for evacuation. So, all was left were four Decados destroyers and a damaged Hawkwood heavy cruiser - and hundreds of survivors to rescue. Not the first and not the last time in this war, the captains agreed on a temporary armistice - they picked up their survivors and departed without firing a shot. The Domevoy was evacuated and only two people remained voluntarily on board, lethally irradiated chief enginneer Irina Semenov Decados and her lover, ship's first officer Costa Zenova Decados. They set course for the Criticorum sun, thus ending the ship's valiant history.

After the Criticorum campaign, both the Chobor-Zemsky and the New Krakow jumped to Byzantium Secundus system and joined the 2nd Strike Fleet, which was fighting alongside the Hazat. The Chobor-Zemsky was lost with all hands when the Hazat-Decados alliance lost the control of B2 jumpgate - in a fierce battle that occured she was destroyed by salvos form Hawkwood battleship Resolution and the battlecruiser Furious. The New Krakow escaped to Aragon and took part in several raids to Hawkwood-controlled space since. Only after Alexius's crowning and the armistice was she able to return to Decados systems. Currently she is part of 1st Strike Fleet, based on Cadiz.

Drawn with pencil some 5 years ago, scanned & then edited in MS Paint.