Introducing Emperor Smn's New Ship

Sunday, March 25, 2018

The scientists and ship engineers of the Fascist Empire, under the direction of Emperor Smn, have now completed their research and development. It is time to unveil the new weapon they have created!

It is here and available to Fascist commanders for use in campaign games! The specs:

Name: D9 Usva Class Stealth Raider


Tech: 9
Mass: 347
Fuel: 550 
Cargo: 320 
Crew: 489
Engines: 2
Beams: 10
Torps: 3
Bays: 0
Cloak: No
Radiation Shielding: Yes

MC: 600            
Dur: 98             
Trit: 102
Moly: 148
Adv: 20

Special Ability:
Stealth Armor - Reduces the range from which the ship can be seen, dependent on its warp speed.

Details:
Similar to cloaking technology, the D9 Usva's stealth armor allows it to sneak up on targets largely undetected. The visibility of the ship decreases as its warp speed decreases. Under normal conditions, the visibility will be twice the square of the warp speed, down to a possible minimum of 10 ly:
Warp 0 - 10 ly
Warp 1 - 10 ly
Warp 2 - 10 ly
Warp 3 - 18 ly
Warp 4 - 32 ly
Warp 5 - 50 ly
Warp 6 - 72 ly
Warp 7 - 98 ly
Warp 8 - 128 ly
Warp 9 - 162 ly

The stealth armor can also make use of the masking effects of nebulae, and visibility in a nebula is halved (though still with a 10ly minimum), or the visibility of the nebula, whichever is less.

Note that a ship under tow has warp 0, so a D9 Usva being towed will have a visibility of only 10 ly.

The stealth armor is always active and cannot be disabled by the player, though a few circumstances listed below can prevent it from working:

The stealth effect is prevented if the ship has no fuel or runs out of fuel.

The stealth effect is prevented by damage during the ship's movement, and it must start and end its motion undamaged. This means that damage from mine hits will prevent the stealth effect, but damage from combat will not. Also, unlike cloaking which is prevented by damage at the start of a turn, the D9 Usva can repair itself before movement and will then utilize its stealth armor.

The stealth effect is also prevented by travel through a radiation halo, since power from the stealth generator must be instead applied to the radiation shielding systems. But unlike standard cloaking technology, stealth armor operates normally in ion storms.