This ship was one of the first ship classes that was built by the Narn after the ending of the Centauri Occupation. The ship looks unorthodox when compared to other Narn ships because the ship is in reality a cobblework of different technologies with the fusion reactors and jump engines acquired by trade with members of the Free Worlds league. The only component of the ship that is of Narn design is the ships hull itself.
The Narn Assault Cruiser is about the same size as an Earth Force Heavy Cruiser but due to the fact that the Narn lag behind Earth in technology, the ship is slightly less powerful than a Roosevelt class heavy cruiser.
The hull of the ship is made out of inferior materials to the Earthforce Roosevelt class heavy cruiser and the ship cannot withstand nearly as much damage as the Earth Cruiser can. The weapons of the ship are mostly weapon systems copied from Centauri systems that the Narn were able to steal. The ships main weaponry are four pulse cannons. They are larger than corresponding Earthforce and Centauri mounts are but even so should be respected. The ship also has six lighter pulse cannons that the ship uses for point defense. Each point defense cannon has greater range than most Earth Force point defense weaponry but they do less damage on an average so it normally even out in combat actions.
Like most Narn ships, the sensor systems are most spread then on Earthforce ships. This means that it is far less likely that a single hit will take out the ships sensors.
These ships do not have artificial gravity and crews can only serve in the ships for limited periods of time or crew will suffer from the effects of no gravity.
The ship has a very small fighter compliment and can carry a small number of marines as well..
Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the Cruisers velocity and distance traveled:
Model: Narn Th'Nor-class Assault Cruiser
Class: Light Cruiser / Frigate
Crew: 150 (6 Officers and 144 Enlisted)
Troops: 60
Vehicle Compliment:
12 | Frazi Class Fighters |
M.D.C. by Location:
Pulse Plasma Cannons (4): | 500 each | |
Light Defensive Pulse Cannons (6): | 250 each | |
[1] Ion Engines (4): | 2,000 each | |
[2] Bridge: | 5,000 | |
[2] Emergency Bridge: | 5,000 | |
[3] Main Body: | 20,000 | |
Wings | 3,000 each |
Notes:
[1] The Destruction of one engine reduces the ships acceleration by
one quarter. The destruction of two Ion Engines reduces the ships acceleration
by one half. Destroying three Ion Engines will reduce the ships acceleration
by three quarters. Destroying all four Ion Engines means that the maximum
sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational
thrusters).
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon
to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship also has an auxiliary
bridge. Even if both bridges are destroyed, the ship can still be piloted
from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be
at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the
ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[3] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Assault Cruiser
out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life
support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable
floating wreck.
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Space Propulsion: The starship does not have an effective top
speed but is limited by acceleration. The Narn Assault Cruiser can reach
a top acceleration of 4 G but due to high fuel consumption and extra strain
on the engines, the ship will normally travel at 0.5 G for any extended
trips. Top acceleration is only meant for emergencies and combat maneuvers.
Because the Assault Cruiser is mostly unshielded from the effects of
radiation and hypervelocity atomic particles (It is not completely unshielded),
the destroyer is not operated at speeds exceeding 20% of the speed of light.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The Narn Assault Cruiser can operate
within the outer edge of an atmosphere but if it enters deep into an atmosphere,
the ship will crash.
Stardrive: Uses a hyperdrive system that allows the ship to
reach a maximum of 6.5 lightyears per hour. This means that the Narn Assault
Cruiser can cover the Galaxy in about 18 month (will need to refuel periodically).
The ship enters hyperspace by means of a jumpgate. This ship can use an
already made jumpgate or can form its own jumpgate.
The Th`Nor has enough power to open a jumpgate every twenty minutes
(80 rounds). The gate then takes one round to open, one round to traverse,
and another to close.
Maximum Range: Conditionally unlimited, while the fusion reactor
gives power for a decade of service, the ships propulsion is limited by
the ships reaction mass. The ship can be refueled at ground based facilities,
space stations, and other star ships as long as they have the special facilities.
The ship can also be refueled by fuel shuttles.
The Assault Cruiser carries two months of reaction mass for travel
at 0.5 G of acceleration. Double the consumption of fuel for 1.0 G of acceleration
and double the consumption again for every 1.0 G of acceleration beyond
1 G. This means the ship will burn the fuel 16 times faster than at 0.5
G of acceleration at maximum speed. The ship will often accelerate for
a period of time and then shut down the engine and travel using the ships
velocity. If the ships uses more than half of its reaction mass when accelerating,
the ship will be unable to decelerate fully and the ship will normally
only use a third or less of its fuel on accelerating so it does not run
into a problem.. If the ship runs out of fuel then it must be refueled
by another vehicle traveling faster or be lost.
If the ship has a large amount of flight operations, the ship is limited
to about one and a half months endurance at cruising speed from the fighters
using the ships reaction mass.
Statistical Data
Height: 394 feet (120 meters)
Length: 2626 feet (800 meters)
Width: 1641 feet (500 meters)
Weight: 5.3 million tons (4.8 million metric tons)
Power System: 2 Fusion Reactors (5 year duration). However,
it was recommended that the drive and power system have routine maintenance
every 2 years. Also, the ship only carries about a two month supply of
reaction mass.
Cargo: 80,000 tons
Cost: 5.3 billion credits to construct
Weapon Systems
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Technical Information from Babylon
5 Technical Manual!
CGI of Ship by Craig P. Condu . More of his CGI pictures of B-5 Ships at Epsilon Jumpgate
By Mischa (E-Mail Mischa) and by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
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