Mandat de l'impératrice des Cieux - Imperial Princess Troubleshooter Space Opera Quest

[Whiskey Golf]

I'm actually pretty happy at how this is going, I was expecting this quest to be a deserted wasteland, lol.

Anyway, I'm just going to take the time to clarify the pros and cons of taking each of the PCs and how that fits into the quest.

Overall, the quest isn't just going to be about breaking fleets or blowing things up. You're the Empress' troubleshooter, that means you troubleshoot and solve problems. Discretion is valuable. Making a name for yourself as the Empress' troubleshooter can be counterproductive for the Empress, because then it looks like you're cleaning up all her messes and you're really the person getting shit done who's not to be fucked with.

Coups have been started with much less.

So an elaboration of the pros and cons of the PCs:

Count Alastor: The obvious choice for players who want to go the combat route, or potentially build up as a warlord in their own right. Alastor is legitimately the balanced option for doing either combat or political missions (especially if you take the Intel or Politics Adjutant), but he's not going to be as good a political operator as Yui, which means that while he's going to be great and beating down pirate kings or cowing faraway systems in line (Johorexit ho!), and he'll do fine with the Navy's internal politics, the high level political angles that the Great Houses are operating on... he's not necessarily going to be adept enough to see that, and because he's a military man he's going to default to viewing things from the perspective of a naval officer, and he won't grok the impact of certain political implications.

Yonatan: He's made of salt, snark, and thinks he's the only sane man in the Navy, surrounded by idiots and incompetents. (Did I mention he's pretty salty?) He's skilled fleet commander (in part because he knows how to find combat commanders and leverage them), but outside of the Navy, he's going to be utterly out of his depth navigating the politics of the imperial court - politically he's even more gimped than Alastor. (Well, this is the Hard Mode option. )

Princess Yui: She runs on the power of Money, Royal Blood, Political Connections, and TOUCH FLUFFY TAIL. Memes aside, taking Yui gives you a buffer against the high-level machinations of the other great houses - Hagoromo-no-Kaneo-no-Mikoto basically established her empire by ASSERTING DOMINANCE over her rivals and gave them the option of being loyal nobles or getting rekt hard. Old grudges get polished off form time to time. As the 2nd in line for the Throne, Yui also can call upon assistance from the Imperial Royal Guard: every mission she's sent on will be augmented by an appropriate IRG detachment for said mission: a factfinding mission would have an IRG intel team with shooters, arresting a rebellious duke would get you a full MAGTF... Yes, it's true that Yui's tactical acument boils down to "shoot them with my wall of battleships" but that's conventional thinking in the Navy anyhow, and if you take a Fleet Combat Adjutant, Yui is smart enough to listen to and leverage her adjutant.

Also I feel I should reiterate that, like their Adjutants, each Admiral is at least baseline competent in things outside their stated speciality.

With Alastor basically you're about using firepower to fix problems, with Yonatan you fix problems with salt, and with Yui, you're banking on being a full political operator to try and nip problems in the bud before they become problems (and counter the machinations of the Great Houses). This is also why you get a specialist adjutant to either make you reeaaaaalllly good in one speciality, or to cover a capability gap that you have. Either choices can be viable, because i'm not running a super mechanics quest, it's more of a narrative base.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Dramatis Personae

Princess Yui of Akasha

Art by @Slayers148 . Commissions available here.​

Her Imperial Highness Princess Yui of Akasha, alternately known as Vice Admiral Yui Akasha. An Imperial Princess of the blood, you are supportive and cunning; your father was the late Empress' younger brother. You were raised and trained to navigate the snakepit of the Imperial Court, before embarking on your naval career, for what is war but politics by other means? You have exploited these skills within your fleet: you may not be the greatest military mind of your era, but your fleet is loyal to you and their morale is unbreakable. You are a decade older than the Empress, and you were her childhood playmate and lady-in-waiting; even in public today, she respectfully addresses you as "Older Sister", and gazes at you with pure unadulterated adoration; she truly is the younger sister you never had.

Protagonist of Mandate of the Heavenly Empress, daughter of His Imperial Highness The Prince of Akasha. A diligent and serious naval officer, who takes her responsibilities and duties seriously. Yui is quite young for her rank, due to a mix of competence, nepotism and connections. She's highly skilled in the political arena, and a competent naval officer. As a commander, her leadership style is more consultative: she has no problem using good ideas from her subordinates, and she believes in getting her subordinates to buy-in to her aims and goals. One of the more standout things Yui has done in recent memory was arranging for 13th Fleet to undergo refit at shipyards in the Royal Family's holdings, and paying out of her family's finances for the cost of the refit. While this act among many helped secure the loyalty of her fleet to her, it has also raised eyebrows amongs other quarters.

Yui was summoned back to the capital world of Jinko-Sei to be appointed as Imperial Vicereine; recognising the unfavorable optics, she was able to persuade Empress Meigyoku to accept her resignation as Imperial Vicereine, and to withdraw the appointment of an Imperial Vicereine. She has now taken her oath as a member of the Regency Council. Her immediate priority for now, as the Empress's unofficial right hand fox, will be to prepare the Empress to rule.

Captain Daniel O'Farrel, Equerry to HIH Princess Yui of Akasha

Captain Count Daniel O'Farrel. An impoverished noble who rose through the ranks on talent and results. Daniel O'Farrell is skilled at taking information from a variety of sources, and weaving it together into a cohesive, meaningful package. Give him a day and he'll give you a dossier on your enemy; give him a week and he'll tell you where all their hiding holes are. Currently serving as Adjutant to VAdm Yui Akasha.

Daniel O'Farrel has served with Yui for some time now, as her Adjutant, and enjoys a close, respectful working relationship with her. She's recently offered him the position as her Equerry, and he's accepted the appointment, with the understanding that his role will be less ceremonial, and more towards running her private intelligence team.

At present, he's embarked for a 3-month covert investigation into SA-Caledfwlch, source of refitted warships that ended up in pirate hands.

Shoko Kitakami, Lady-in-Waiting to HIH Princess Yui of Akasha

Shoko Kitakami is Princess Yui's lady-in-waiting. Her role is greater than that of a glorified secretary; she oversees the Princess' household and manages her affairs, and under her stewardship has managed to keep Princess Yui's personal finances in a strong position, despite the massive undertaking of refitting 13th Fleet.

Empress Meigyoku

Her Imperial Majesty Empress Meigyoku, personal name Ahri, is the newly ascended Empress of the Golden Orchid Empire, and Princess Yui's younger cousin. At 16 years old she is untrained and untested, and her political education is shallow and lacking, which is Princess Yui's first priority to correct. She utterly loves and adores and completely trusts her onee-sama, which is something Yui can exploit and make use of.

Presently, Her Majesty is being mentored by Princess Yui in key aspects of rulership, though she has much to learn before she ascends to her throne in two years' time.

Social Decorum: 1/20
Political Etiquette: 4/20
Constitutional Law: 1/20
Crisis Management: 0/20
Governance: 0/20

Fleet Admiral Sir Yonatan Chew, Commander Fleet Operations

Fleet Admiral Sir Yonatan Chew is third in command of the Imperial Navy, and as Commander Fleet Operations, is responsible for the day to day operations of the Imperial Navy. He's diligent, dutiful and loyal, and serves his Empire... well, not entirely happily. He works long and hard, making bricks from stray, playing with smoke and mirrors to keep the Navy running and meeting its obligations. At the moment, he is prioritising the Inner and Outer Rim over the Core systems, with his aim being to stabilise unrest on the Rim, banking on the Imperial Royal Guard to be able to keep a lid on things long enough until he can build up the Navy's strength everywhere. The Empire may be on the path to balkanisation, but Yonatan Chew will do everything in his power to keep that from happening.

He's a close personal friend of Yui's father, Admiral Masatada Akasha, His Imperial Highness the Prince of Akasha; they were junior officers together, they have seen combat together, their paths have intersected throughout their respective rises through the ranks. He's the older brother Prince Masatada never had, the best man at His Highness' wedding, and he has known Yui her entire childhood. When she joined the Imperial Navy, he arranged for her to be assigned to him as his Flag Lieutenant, and later requested her to serve as his Adjutant. He has watched over her career with interest, guiding and mentoring her development as a naval officer, and he has been a strong influence in her life.

Yonatan is something of an oddity in the Admiralty in that he is a mustang, an officer who was formerly enlisted. Mustangs are not uncommon in the Imperial Navy, but very few have risen as high as Yonatan has, from sailor to Fleet Admiral, with combat experience up close and personal and from a warship's bridge. His long time in service and career path from both sides of the fence has given him a certain unique perspective to the Navy. For all that he wears a Fleet Admiral's stars on his shoulders, Yonatan believes he remains senior enlisted in his heart.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Codex: Political Information

• Map of the Golden Orchid Empire
• The Regency Council
• House Akasha's place in Imperial Succession
• Imperial Law of Sucession

Codex: Military

• 13th Fleet Composition and Imperial Navy Fleet strength
• Combat Doctrine and Sensors & ECM
• Warships and Weapons Overview
• Officer Ranks and Insignia of the Imperial Defense Forces

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Also, uh @Whiskey Golf What 'Sustain' stat means.

Because Yui's only got one plus, and if that's what I suspect it is, we are going to starved for logistics.

Click to shrink...

SV doesn't actually have any rules against doubleposting, just FYI. Anyway...

Sustain + is actually the Imperial Navy's baseline standard for independent operations. What that means is that you carry a full warload of weapons, and have enough consumables and perishables for a standard Imperial Navy deployment (which is several months), but you don't have fleet tenders and must thus periodically "refuel" (taking on reaction mass and propellant) from various space stations. This is generally not an issue because practically every system has at least one refuelling depot; a lot of the more built up systems can have multiple spaceports/docks where you can refuel. If you expend ammunition and need resupply, likewise the Imperial Navy has authorised bases/ports where you can get resupply.

This assumes that you're not in range of a Navy base to resupply though, and there are a good number of Navy bases in the Empire. Basically, the Imperial Navy's approach to basing is like the USN. There are bases that the Navy owns and controls (like the USN's Rota or Guam or Pearl Harbor). There are bases that the Navy shares with local Ducal forces* (Like how the US shares Yokosuka with Japan). And there are bases where the Navy has a logistics presence (Changi Naval Base in Singapore is owned by the Singapore Navy, but has a full on USN logistics presence and docks capable of refitting and repairing aircraft carrier). In IRL terms, Sustain + is a USN DDG operating on detached duty and stopping by various ports to refuel.

Sustain ++ , Alastor's setup, is the Navy's baseline for extended independant operations - this is basically enough consumables to last at least 6 months, with fleet tenders carrying extra consumables, spares, ammunition, reaction mass, propellant, and a repair ship or two. In IRL terms this is a USN carrier strike group with fleet tenders (oiler, ammo ship).

Sustain +++ , Yonatan's setup, he gets that by cheating abit. He's about torp dumping, minelaying, hit and run attacks, so his fleet mix is mostly lighter combatants that are more easily sustained (predominantly DD & CL), along with carrying an utter shitload of tenders, ammo vessels, and repair ships.



*I'll talk about this both organically in a story update and later in a lore post.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Yeah so as the treadmark label says...

I forgot to make this clearer in the text of the update itself, but there's a reason all the options in the update involve you joining the Regency Council.

The Regency Council is a body consisting of 11 members; the council has odd-numbered membership in order to prevent deadlock. It is said that the Regency Council rules in the Empress's name, but as a practical matter it serves as an advisory body to the Empress, and is the Privy Council with 6 additional members representing the Imperial House and the five Great houses. The mandate of the Regency Council is to maintain the political and economic status quo of the Empire, until the Empress reaches her majority and is judged fit to rule. As per the worldbuilding document that the Council put together elsewhere, the membership of the Regency Council is:

1. Imperial Chancellor. By default, he's the Regent and the head of the Regency Council (more or less first among sort of kinda equals). His day job is the day to day administration and running of the Empire.
2. Lord Protector of the Realm. Aka the Minister of Defense, in our terms. He oversees the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Army.
3. Commanding General of the Imperial Royal Guard. He commands the Imperial Royal Guard, which is essentially what happens if the Secret Service, USMC, USN, and JSOC had a baby that was then staffed by foxes. (In Battletech terms, the IRG as a whole is rated Fanatical/Elite. More on them later.)
4. Lord Chief Justice. He's the head of the judiciary, and is supposed to focus more on the law and less on politics. His job on the Regency Council is to try and give legal advice to keep everyone on the legal side of things.
5. Speaker of the Imperial Senate. Represents the Imperial Senate on the Council.
6. Positions 6-10 are filled in by representatives of the Five Great Houses: Sumeragi, Fenghuang, Hoou, Peyrac-Beausoli and Eisenwald. I'll elaborate on them in another post, but generally: Sumeragi remain salty tilted that Hagoromo bitchslapped their ancestor down and they're always on the lookout for ways they can politically strike at the Royal Family. Fenghuang and Hoou generally are politically neutral. Peyrac-Beausoli and Eisenwald historically have been staunch allies of the Royal Family but after 500 years their ardor has cooled somewhat.
7. The final, and 11th position on the council, is, as the narration said, held by a member of the Royal Family. The prime candidate in this case was Prince Masatada, but he's got a day job as an Imperial Navy Admiral who's doing shit, so the backup option was Yui.

So that's why all the options had you being a part of the Regency Council, because right from the start, Yui was supposed to be the 11th member of the Regency Council; in the Alastor and Yonatan routes, Yui would be confirmed as a member of the Regency Council while they'd be the Imperial Viceroy. This is why the Regency Council is so tilted by Empress Meigyoko* proclaiming Yui as Imperial Vicerine, because not only did she overstep her boundaries, but now you're a member of the Regency Council and Viceroy and you're juggling multiple hats and responsibilities and this leads to an imbalance of power, so to speak, especially given how obviously the Empress favors you.


*Her reign name is Meigyoko, but her personal name is Ahri and she still thinks of herself as Ahri. Kind of like how King George VI's personal name was Albert Windsor.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Also anyway since it was asked: 13th Fleet's composition:

BB: 16
BC: 24
CA: 36
CL: 48

Total 124 warships, of which 40 are capital ships (BB, BC). CL is faster than CA/BC, which are faster than BB. People have not seen the need to make fast battleships in this verse (which more than a few commanders reeee about). Yes, you read that right, 13th fleet doesn't have DDs, it uses its CLs as screen.

Imperial Navy Fleet strength:



Note that all figures have been rounded down to the nearest hundred, and I cannot into BBcode tables. >.<

Spoiler

In case the image goes away:

BB: 350 total. 140 Mothball, 70 Deployed, 70 Working Up, 70 Refit.
BC: 500~ total. 200~ Mothball, 100~ deployed, 100~ Working Up, 100~ Refit.
CA/CL/DD: 4200~ total. 1800 Mothball, 800~ deployed, 800~ Working Up, 800~ Refit.

The ratio of CA to CL to DD is roughly 1 : 1.5 : 2.5.

 

[ckk185]

You guys have to note that there isn't any... stat line or dice rolls for this quest.

What those stats affect is what IC knowledge and options you will have access to off the bat rather than if a option is more likely to succeed or not.

You really need to read and think about the implications of each and every option given.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Map of the Golden Orchid Empire and its territories (not quite to scale). Takama-ga-Hara is the territorial holdings of the Imperial Family, and holds more systems individually than any single Great Houses' holdings. The Imperial Core or the Core systems are terms used to refer to Takama-ga-Hara and the Great Houses' territory.

Officially, the Inner Rim systems are independant, unaligned with any of the Great Houses and swear their loyalty to the Imperial Throne as Imperial citizens. In practice...

The Outer Rim is divided into five frontiers: Senaphimuk, Beiyang, Volga, Corsica, and Salsu. The main Imperial Navy presences in the Outer Rim are Admiral Alastor von Toth, Despa Sector Fleet, Volga Frontier, and Admiral Masatada Akasha, Tenth Fleet, Salsu Frontier.


Many thanks to @Slayers148 who drew this map. Go commission artwork from him.​

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Also, to provide everyone with some further food for thought, infodump post on Combat Doctrine and Sensors & ECM.


Combat Doctrine


The prevalence of sophisticated electronic countermeasures (ECM) amongst all parties, even merchant shipping and pirates, means that while long range shots are theoretically possible, it is discouraged as the presence of ECM means that one's target can 1) hide himself from sensors, 2) softkill incoming missiles, and 3) fire active-emitting ECM drones to decoy home-on-jam missiles.

As a general rule, the best way to generate a constant, consistent targeting solution against hostile ECM is to get closer, as the effectiveness of deceptive and defensive ECM decreases as the range between ships gets closer, and radar, lidar, Electro-Optical and Imaging Infrared sensors become more effective the closer you are. By the time a warship is at the range where ECM no longer "cloaks" the opponent, both parties have entered gun range and are trading fire; as a result there is an opinion among many serving naval officers that long-range missiles and BVR combat is more than a little pointless.

Missiles remain a relevant weapon, but warships tend to use missiles as part of a massed missile salvo in close range. More sophisticated milspec missiles can be programmed to act as impromptu mines; lying in space on passive until receiving a launch order or detecting enemy ships. Pirates have, on occasion, used command-detonated missiles as expensive warning shots.

The universality of ECM on all sides means that against peer opponents, both sides will be roughly equally blind and hidden from each other. Combat involves sending screening elements to scout until the main force is found, whereupon the fleet jumps in to engage. The target force will then either give battle, or attempt to get away via tactical jumping (tacjump). This is where DDs come into play; their drives recharge faster so they can chase their foes and data link back to the fleet, giving targeting data so the other ships can try to snipe you with railguns (until their drives cycle and they can tacjump to the enemy and engage in a slugging match).

The exception is during a planetary invasion, during which the opposing force has corvettes and keeps them in the gravity well of a planet. By design, a tacjump into a gravity well is impossible, it will result in the ship bouncing away from the well and drift for a while before it course corrects. For corvettes, this works to their advantage and they are able to make use of the gravity well to prevent opposing elements from closing the distance, while their ECM prevents long range missile and railgun salvoes from connecting.


Sensors and ECM

When fighting peer opponents, enemy ECM is effective enough that you have to get close to get consistent, constant targeting solutions. However, this is when fighting peer opponents.

The mismatch between milspec and civilian-grade equipment is a lot more pronounced. The simplest way to sum up the milspec vs civilian-grade: I see you further before you see me, I hide me better than you hide you.

Top of the line civilian-grade sensors & ECM are equivalent to milspec sensors & ECM roughly 3-4 generations prior. This mismatch becomes even more pronounced because most civilian ships are not running top of the line sensors & ECM, meaning that the average merchantman's first warning of attack is when a warship appears in WVR and opens fire.

Sensor and ECM effectiveness, using peer milspec systems:

At Very Long Range, ECM in deception mode defeats sensors.

At Long Range, sensors can detect that there is something there, but the contact strength is not strong and there is a high probability the system can be tricked into classing the contact as noise.

At Medium Range, sensors can properly detect that there is a contact and track it, and begin to conduct target motion analysis of the contact's kinematic profile. Engagement with railgun is possible but not encouraged. Track quality is not consistent enough for a BVR missile shot.

At Close Range/WVR, sensors can detect the contact and make a class identification based on radar cross-section analysis, and maintain a constant and consistent lock on the target.

As a result, in order to maintain system-wide sensor coverage, serious players will seed their star systems with listening posts.

Furthermore, while it's possible for a ship to hide itself from sensors, it cannot hide its jump signature: it is possible for a sensor node at Long Range to detect jump signature, even if the ECM completely spoofs the sensors.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any work done on the update due to Christmas being the single busiest time of the year for me. So, as a Christmas Present, here's the Weapons and Warships informational overview, from the milspec perspective.

Weapons and Warships overview

Missiles are launched via hull-mounted Vertical Launch Systems, with most manufacturers working off common standards. VLS systems are predominantly cold-launch, using compressed air to kick out missiles from the launch tubes, allowing missiles to coast along in frictionless zero-G before their engines activate. While theoretically missiles can be used for long range attacks, doctrinally they are used for close range alpha strikes, the intention being that a massed salvo of missiles will overwhelm point defenses and confuse the opponent's sensor tracking with a massive volume of contacts. Multiple seeker options exist, ranging from radar, laser beam-riding, heatseeking, infrafred imaging, electro-optical; many of the better milspec missiles will combine multiple seekers.

Torpedoes are essentially bigger, heavier, faster missiles with larger warheads. The stereotypical torpedo is around 5-6 times the mass of a standard missile, with an armored nosecone and hull to absorb point defense fire and to punch into the target's hull. What the torpedo gains in warhead and toughness, it loses in range and burn time. As such, torpedoes are typically employed by lighter combatants as a means to punch above their weight and threaten heavier warships.

Countermissiles, aka Point Defense missiles, are smaller than standard anti ship missiles, and can be launched from common VLS tubes or from dedicated counter missile cluster "blisters", and operate on similar principles as missiles above. They are used for anti missile point defense, as a complementary system to point defense lasers, and are typically dual mode passive RF/IR homing.

Lasers are used for antimissile point defense, and at close range can be used to attempt to mission-kill sensor blisters.

Railguns exist in four classes: quick-firing aka "pom-pom" (FS), light (DD, CL), medium (CA), and heavy (BC, BB). Rate of fire decreases and lethality increases with each tier you go up. Railguns are ubiquitous throughout the Empire, being fairly easy to maintain and operate. All railguns can fire solid slugs, typically steel (civilian grade) or DU (milspec) for armor penetration and aftereffects, though some operators prefer APHE rounds for lighter skinned targets. BB railguns can fire sensor rounds that provide targeting data to missiles or targeting data for their own guns. Doctrinally, railguns are the preferred weapon for long range sniping, but close range gun battles are preferred to maximize accuracy and impact.

Beam Cannons are mounted by CA, BC and BB as alternative weapons to railguns. Beam cannons deliver higher salvo damage when compared to railguns but are range limited. Unlike railguns with their theoretical infinite ballistic range, beams dissipate past their maximum range due to focal distance. The IN intends to eventually move to pure beam cannon armament at some point, but the slow rate of new warship construction and proven nature means railguns remain ubiquitous in the navy; even BBs with beam cannon main battery will mount railgun secondary battery, or vice versa.


As a baseline setup, all warships will carry ECM, railguns, and countermissiles in some configuration or other.


The following is an overview of common warships classes present in the Golden Orchid Empire.

Corvettes (FS): In-system combat craft, being too small to carry an FTL drive. FS carry on the ideals of the Jeune Ecole in the sense of being swarm ships capable of taking down bigger ships by sheer weight of numbers and there being a lot of them to shoot at. The typical FS will generally carry pom-pom railgun. Their small size precludes large missile salvoes, so multiple corvettes must make concerted attacks to maximise missile throw weight. (The Hoou "heavy corvettes" are an exception to the general trend, being essentially DD hulls without the FTL drive.) The IN considers corvettes as area denial warships and as primarily defensive assets, as the lack of FTL drive tethers corvettes to their home systems

Frigates (FF): The smallest FTL-capable combatant. Depending on the class and manufacturer, frigates range in size and weapons fitout from somewhat larger than a corvette to being somewhat smaller than a destroyer. The IN and IRG eschew the use of frigates combat vessels, preferring to instead build destroyers, which are superior in every way except cost (although destroyers are arguably more cost-effective in the long run). The only operators of frigates as combat vessels are the Revenue Service, stingier ducal forces, various PMCs, and pirates. There are frigates in civilian ownership with the appropriate permits filed, but quite frankly, you'd get better bang for your buck with an armed merchantman. (Actually better, given the crazy shit VSS in particular has done.)

Destroyer (DD): The workhorse tin can of the Navy, and the smallest fleet ship used by the IN and IRG. Destroyers are primarily used for scouting, screening and patrol duties. Their smaller size and mass means DDs have the best thrust to mass ratio of a fleet's warships, and their FTL drive recharges faster than heavier ships, allowing them great tactical mobility and the ability to make hit and run harassment attacks. It is not an unusual tactic for DDs to jump after a fleeing force, and transmit back targeting data for the fleet to BVR snipe with railguns.

Light Cruiser (CL): Essentially, a DD writ larger. As a general rule, CLs carry more of the same caliber of weapons as DDS, and use their increased size to also carry more robust datalinking and communication facilities. It's common to see CLs being used as DesRon leaders, or used to replace DDs as screening elements in some fleets; CL FTL drives recharge a little slower than DDs, but still faster than CAs.

Heavy Cruiser (CA): To an extent, a CL writ larger, with a higher tier of weaponry. CAs are considered the IN's baseline for independent operations and ship comparisons: pros or cons of a ship-class are weighed against the CA. They are built to slug it out with lighter combatants, and it is not uncommon to see all-gun CAs in use alongside balanced gun and missile CAs. CAs are maneuverable enough, fast enough, armored enough, and armed enough, making them a jack of all trades capable of taking on most missions.

Battlecruiser (BC): The commerce raider par excellence: it can kill anything that can escape it, and can escape anything that can kill it. BC are somewhat smaller than battleships, and carry BB-tier firepower with CA-tier handling and armor. In fleet actions, BCs support BBs by flanking and fixing enemy forces, allowing the BBs to close in and hammer them. Combined BC/CA groups are a potent force. While less durable than BBs, competently handled BCs have a fighting chance against an equal number of BBs - if the battle does not devolve into a slugging match. The slowdown in naval construction and lack of credible threats means that most battlecruisers in service are on average a century if not older, though all operators have attempted to keep their ships relevant with periodic service life extension programs and extensive system refits.

Battleship (BB): The capship par excellence, BBs are the hardest hitting, toughest ships commonly available in the fleet. They are hoarded zealously by the Great Houses, and even the IN and IRG employ their BBs with an eye to safeguarding them. The slowdown of naval construction and the lack of a peer opponent mean that, as with battlecruisers, most battleships in service are long in the tooth, albeit with periodic refits and SLEP.

Dreadnought (DN): Twice the size of a battleship, hull thick with armor and bristling with weapons, carrying more firepower than an entire BB squadron in a single hull, the dreadnought is the greatest and mightiest warship ever created. The five Takemikazuchi-class dreadnoughts were built for the IRG and IN to utterly dominate any other warship that any of the Great Houses could put to space. Their price tag also utterly dominated any other warship anyone could put to space. DNs are harder, tougher nuts to crack than BBs, but are too valuable to be used without an escort fleet, and require significant logistical support to operate. No dreadnought has ever ventured outside of the Inner Rim.