Ship Designation: Solaris-class

Ship Class: Battleship

Model Number: Mark 3

Full Designation: Solaris 3-class Battleship

Armament: Three triple-barrel 180mm ‘Hypervelocity’ Railcannons, One Spinal Mount Jormungandr Mk.3 Plasma Cannon, Four dual Beam Spray Gun Turrets (Point Defense Variant), One Multiple (Guided) Missile Launch System, One Mega Particle Beam Cannon Turret.

Description: The Solaris-class of Battleships were designed to be massive, imposing and armed to the teeth with enough firepower to take on two or three ships of its own size and emerge the undisputed victor.  Its armor is top of the line, its shields are several layers thick and its movement actually can put other battleships from the UGN and its member states to shame. In exchange for this, it has one critical drawback, if you could call it that. Unlike most AGC warships, aside from the ships of similar size or larger, the Solaris-class suffers from having its hyperdrive needing a long wind-up and cooldown time. This is less an oversight and more of a necessity, as making sure the hyperdrive is fully powered and ready leaves the ship unable to raise its shields, unable to fire its guns and unable to move at more than a snail’s pace.

The only upside to having a hyperdrive that is that power hungry is that the ship can ‘slave’ others to its own hyperdrive, pulling them with it and allowing them to exit hyperspace completely ready to fight without first needing to reroute their power back to the other systems. This is a flaw/feature hybrid shared by the ships of the Carrier type as well as the Battle Carrier. However, the Battle Carrier can actually use some of its systems immediately after exiting hyperspace, usually pouring everything into its shields to avoid being damaged upon exiting the FTL channels.

Unlike most ships in the AGC and UGN, the Solaris 3 carries massive railguns for its kinetic weapons. Or rather, due to their size they are called ‘Railcannons’. These massive guns use magnetic acceleration to propel huge spikes of solid metal coated in ‘Shieldbreaker Blue’ at just under 50% the speed of light. They can also fire canister shot and have been rumored to be able to lob metal rods filled with high explosives, which would make even the largest conventional DEAP (Delayed Explosive, Armor Penetrating) shells look like a joke. Lord Arkhan actually coined the term ‘Hypervelocity Gun’ to describe the capabilities of these purpose-built Railcannons, and it fits to a ‘t’.

The weapon that makes its home inside the ship (and takes up a good chunk of it) is a Heavily modified version of the Jormungandr Plasma Gun. Called the ‘Jorg’ by its crewmen, this version is more compact, has a longer range and higher rate of fire. It was added to the Solaris 3 specifically to make sure no one tried to attack the ship head on, effectively making the gun a deterrent and forcing enemy ships to risk facing the Solaris 3’s broadside. The gun itself is powerful enough to potentially one-shot a ship of equal or smaller size if the massive plasma bolt connects, which is a big ‘if’. The weapon suffers from poor accuracy, but when it hits it often punches holes from one side to the other. The gun has extreme range, but if fired at that distance it has slim chances of hitting anything save for empty space, so instead it is used for long range engagements or, more often, to force foes to the sides of the ship so they can receive a full broadside.

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Mounted on each side of the ship are a pair of dual Beam Spray Gun Turrets that have been modified for point defense purposes. The guns are positioned on a circular panel on the side that can swivel, thus giving both turrets on each side a chance to focus fire on an incoming target. Due to all AGC warships being outfitted with both a standard shield generator and an I-Field generator, the beams will not hurt allied ships and instead will bounce off them at odd angles, adding another layer of danger and uncertainty to any attempts made by enemy strike craft to get in close. 

While the Railcannons occupy a primary position as the ship’s main weapons, the Solaris 3 is not without an energy-based weapon (aside from the Jormungandr). Mounted in a turret on the underside of the ship and near its rear near the ship’s rear is a Mega Particle Beam Cannon Turret. It easily surpasses any other ship-based beam weapon (aside from those on larger ships) in terms of power and damage output but has a long recharge time. The gun is a warning to any enemy trying to hit the ship in the rear, which not only forces them to head for the side but also means that even when they do get to the side, they still can be hit by the Beam Cannon.

The last weapon system is the one mounted in a similar manner to the missile launch system on the Rigel 3 Cruiser. Unlike the one on the Rigel 3, this one fires multiple missiles in short succession. This missile launch system is designed to be used both as an anti-ship weapon but also as an anti-transport system. The missiles can carry various payloads, but due to the nature of a battleship they all have smaller payload sizes to make room for more fuel. This doesn’t mean that they don’t pack a punch, as the missiles generally don’t carry weaker payloads and instead carry more compact yet more potent ones. A single full salvo from one of these devices can unleash more than a dozen atomic explosions amongst an enemy formation all at once or can reduce the interiors of ships into blistering infernos or corrosive hells.

All in all, the ship works well as a powerful heavy hitter. It excels in taking and dishing out damage while letting the smaller ships do their thing. It is far too expensive to keep more than a few of these things around, but with a nation the size of the AGC a ‘few’ equates to more than 500. While some would argue that ‘big ship diplomacy’ is a very good idea, only an absolute moron invests solely in capital ships when they know just how powerful strike craft can be. Believe it or not, smaller warships have their uses and can, at times, beat down giants while only incurring a relatively smaller cost.

An army of ants can devour an elephant, after all.