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| Siege Perilous Class | |
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| Aliases: | Deep Standoff Attack Ship II Prototype: DSX Attack Cruiser |
| Manufacturer: | Systems Commonwealth |
| Type: | Deep Standoff Attack Ship |
| Role: | Starship Killer |
| Length: | 666m |
| Beam: | 471m |
| Draft: | 211m |
| Mass: | 18,045,521 kg |
| Crew Complement: | 212 |
| Auxiliary Craft: | 32 ES-14 Janus light sensor/attack drones |
| Drive/Computer Systems | |
| Power Plant: | Antiproton Fusion Reactors |
| Main Computer Systems: | Artificial Intelligence Command and Control Entity |
| Sensor Systems: | PAS-37Q System Search Sensor (Phased Array) HS-114D Hyper-Spectral Scanner (EO) AIS-117M Advanced Imaging Sensor (Synthetic Aperture/Moving Target Indicator) AIS-117I Advanced Imaging Sensor (Inverse Synthetic Aperture) ES/A-9R Electronic Support and Attack Measure Suite |
| Combat Systems: | 180 Electromagnetic Launch System missile tubes 24 Point Defense Laser 35Mw turrets 4 Antiproton Cannons 6 Radiating countermeasure generators Fullerene-composite and reactive armor plating Cold plasma shielding |
| Standard Armaments: | OM-5 standard offensive kinetic kill missiles DM-5 standard defensive kinetic kill missiles PM-6 Star Arrow smart anti-ship missiles PM-6L Strategic Star Arrow smart anti-ship missiles (extended-range) PM-6LII Strategic Star Arrow MIKV Nova bomb |
| Chronological and General Info | |
| Era(s): | Systems Commonwealth New Systems Commonwealth |
| Faction: | Systems Commonwealth High Guard |
Overview[]
The Siege Perilous class Deep Stand-off Attack Ship II was designed as a next generation successor to the versatile and venerable Righteous Fist of Heaven Class, and at the time of the fall of the Systems Commonwealth, this was the newest and most advanced ship class in the High Guard fleet. The design of the ship incorporated new structural features due to many hard-learned lessons from the recently concluded Magog hostilities at the time, and included the latest in Commonwealth technology. The Siege Perilous class was the most lethal starship-killer ever built by the Commonwealth. It was designed to operate with a minimum of crew and without any fleet support from behind enemy lines for extended periods of time. It also forgoes such standard shipboard features as small craft, a Lancer Corps contingent, and research capabilities in favor of one of the most massive missile loadouts ever seen. The Siege Perilous was one of the most heavily armed starships launched by the Commonwealth, and her arsenal includes the latest in extreme-range kill vehicles as well as the usual suite of offensive and defensive missiles, Antiproton Cannons, and Point Defense Lasers. Additionally, the new Deep Stand-off Attack Ship's distinctive knife-like profile gives it a tiny sensor cross-section, making the vessels nearly impossible for hostile forces to detect. Any enemy who does manage to engage the Deep Stand-off Attack Ship is confronted with reactive shielding and cold plasma armor that makes the Siege Perilous class exceptionally resilient and damage-resistant. This class is also notable for the lack of entry points, as access to the ship is through a single, heavily fortified airlock which leaves the ship nearly invulnerable to boarding party raids.
Name[]
The name for the class comes from a Commonwealth ship named the "Siege Perilous". It was apparently the first ship to respond to the Magog attack on Brandenburg Tor, and although the ship and its crew fought bravely they were completely overwhelmed by the Magog. The DSX, which was an experimental replacement for the Righteous Fist of Heaven Class, was designed to be a Magog-killer in honor of the original Siege Perilous. The prototype was named "Siege Perilous" in honor of the ship and crew who first took up arms against the Magog.
In storytelling terms, this was the name for the prophesied position at the Round Table of King Arthur which would prove fatal to any who sat there and was not worthy. It was reserved for the greatest, purest knight ever, the one who would complete the quest for the Holy Grail, and was eventually occupied by Sir Galahad. Given its chivalric roots, it is presumably a corruption of 'siege sans pareil', which would more literally be the 'peerless seat', somewhat undermining the inherent equality of the Round Table.
History[]
Apparently, only 4 DSX ships (which would later become known as Siege Perilous class) were built before the outbreak of the Nietzschean Revolt and one of them was destroyed in port. The other 2 would be named the Wrath of Achilles and the Balance of Judgment, and a third would be built during the revolt.
One of the last Siege Perilous warships built, constructed near the end of the Commonwealth civil war, was the Wrath of Achilles.
The Achilles was thought to have been destroyed in port during the war, but what actually occurred was that the Wrath of Achilles's Nietzschean captain murdered his own crew and attempted to bring over the ship to the Nietzschean Alliance, but was thwarted and eventually killed by the ship's Artificial Intelligence avatar Achilles.
The Treaty of Antares, and the subsequent armistice with the Magog that it brought slowed down the construction schedule, because as of the fall of the Commonwealth, only 3 were completed.
Altered Design[]
- The Siege Perilous class DSX's were designed to do one thing; emerge from Slipstream, unload a massive amount of ordnance from extreme range, and disappear. The advantages of exchanging fighter squadrons for more Electromagnetic Launch System tubes are many.
- Maintenance: The more complicated the design of a weapon, the easier it is for something to go wrong. A large quantity of homogenous, relatively simple systems such as Electromagnetic Launch System's are much easier to maintain and more reliable than the Glorious Heritage Class alternative, which have an average amount of Electromagnetic Launch System tubes and a large amount of fighters.
- The elimination of crew: fighters require large support crews, and when fighters are eliminated from a ship the number of incidental crewmembers needed is also reduced.
- The massing of effects: When the vast majority of the offensive payload is single-source weapon that has several different types of highly accurate and deadly missiles, if many can be fired at once then they can simply overwhelm a target.
- A Deep Stand-off Attack Ship II is vulnerable if enemies are allowed to get close to it, but the whole point of the platform is lost if the ship's captain allows it to happen. Indeed the class sacrifices defensive systems for offensive capability allowing the ships to be easily overwhelmed by other mid to large destroyer/cruisers.
Trivia[]
- The design is similiar to the arsenal ship. It is a missile platform that has limited defense weaponary.
- The name "Siege Perilous" refers to the fact that the ship places the enemy in "peril" under a "seige" of warheads.
- Siege Perilous in King Arthurian legend referred to "The Seat Perilous", the seat at the Round Table reserved for the knight who would return the Holy Grail.
Gallery[]
Siege Perilous Class
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· Balance of Judgment · Resolution of Hector · Wrath of Achilles · |  |