This is one of the main capital ship used by the Colonies before the destruction of all the colonies. They were built about one thousand years before the destruction of the colonies and are a marvel of engineering and endurance. They have been continuously upgraded throughout their long service and are potent warships. The ships act as both battleships and carriers and are capable of engaging the defenses of many planets. In general firepower and fighter compliment, the Battlestar is less powerful and has a smaller fighter and troop capacity than the Cylon Base-Star. The ship makes up the difference by being armed with heavy missiles and her fighters are superior to cylon raiders. The general crew quality is also far superior for both the ship itself and her fighters. The ship is faster than her Cylon countepart but that is only due to the fact that the ships uses a lot more space for propulsion than the Base-Star does.
There were a total of twelve Battlestars constructed. The battlestars were named Galactica, Atlantia, Colombia, Pegasus, Rycon, Acropolis, Pacifa, Bellerophon, Cerberus, Olympia, Prometheus, and Solaria. There were five known remaining Battlestars when the peace conference and the destruction of the colonies occurred. Galactica, Atlantia, Acropolis, Pacifica, and Colombia (the Pegasus was thought destroyed at that time). It is though that all the Battlestars with the exception of the Galactica were destroyed at that time but it is possible other Battlestars might have survived one of the battles. The survival of the Battlestar Pegasus clearly shows the unwillingness of these ships to die.
Battlestars normally have a crew of 496 and have a total of 75 fighters
Due to the emergency conditions that the Galactica found itself in, the Galactica ended up carrying more personnel and a larger fighter compliment that the ship was designed for. The ship had its crew increased to 1,012 and fighter compliment increased to 120 fighters.
Battlestars are long blocky ships that widens at both the front and the rear of the ship. In front is the bridge and most of the major command and control facilities. The main bridge is in the center and top of the forward section. The rear of the ship is taken up by four ion engines and the ships FTL engine. The ship has two hanger bays that are attached to the sides of the main hull by the means of three supports. The rear of the hanger bay is open and has a semi permeable forcefield to prevent atmosphere from exiting.
The Battlestars are large ships that both act as battleships and carriers. Because of this, the ships are both heavily armed and have a decent number of fighters although the number of fighters is dwarfed by many true carriers within the Three Galaxies.
The ship has two means of propulsion. The first are four powerful ion engines. These engines force particles to very high speeds and use the reaction to propel the ship. The second is the FTL propulsion. The ship moves into hyperspace and then travels via hyperspace propulsion. This propulsion is very expensive. The ship burns 1% of its reaction mass for every ten light year the ship travels. While this means of propulsion was never shown in the "Battlestar Galactica" series, there is no means that the ship can go from one Star System to another without taking several years at the shortest. Hyperspace propulsion was also mentioned in several of the books.
The ship has only light shields when compared to other ships in the Three Galaxies that are as large as a Battlestar but the shields do provide some protection against attacks.
They are armed with a heavy mega pulsar cannons that is often used against other capital ships. The cannon is more powerful than those on some of the largest C.A.F. ships, can destroy frigates and destroyers often in one shot, and is capable of crippling a cruiser with one hit. The ship has forty turbo laser batteries to act as point defense. They are quite capable of destroying fighters within just a few shots and can be used as anti-missile defense as well. The Battlestar carries missile batteries for heavy bombardment and against Basestars and other capital ships.
The Battlestar carries the equivalent in fighters that normally a light fleet carrier would carry. Fighters are organized very differently than most phase world or modern carriers. They are organized in two squadrons of about thirty eight fighters each. Modern carrier squadrons consist of twelve fighters and that organization is very common in Phase World as well, especially within the CAF. Each hanger bay can support up to 60 fighters, allowing some support for a damaged hanger bay. Fighters are launched by electromagnetic catapults that are on the sides of the hanger bays. Fighters land in hanger bays in the rear. The rear of the hanger bay is also where shuttles take off and land.
Notes of game conversion:
Because of the nature of the series "Battlestar Galactica" and the needs to put the Starship into game mechanics, I have given many statistic as two different possible statistics to take this into account. The G that I have seen listed would not be sufficient to get near the speed of light yet many episodes have indicated speeds in this area. In some ways each version is closer to what was seen in the series.
Phase world version uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreegor Starships. This version is recommended if you with to put them into Phase World as among equals. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Moderate version uses Gs of acceleration and reduced weapon ranges. This version is useful for Mutants In Orbit, Phase World if used as a lower tech race, used with my Earth Force ships conversions for B-5, and as a possible crash on Rifts Earth. Listed is the formula to allow player and game masters to calculate the velocity and distance traveled:
Brackets [] are for the Battlestar Galactica after the destruction of the Colonies
Model Type: CF-BS
Vehicle Type: Combination Battleship/Carrier
Crew: 496 [1,016 on the Galactica after the destruction of the
Colonies]
24 officers [32], 62 gunners [62], 88 fighter pilots [130], 326 crew
[612 crew - 72 civilians]
Troops / Passengers: 510 marines or passengers [110]
Vehicles:
| Standard | [Galactica] | ||
| 66 | 108 | Viper class Star Fighters | |
| 10 | 16 | Asp class Star Fighters | |
| 8 | 8 | Standard Shuttles | |
| 12 | 12 | Landram Ground Transports |
M.D.C By Location:
| Heavy Mega Pulsar Cannon: | 5,000 | |
| Point Defense Turbo Laser Cannons (40): | 300 each | |
| Anti-Ship Missile Launchers (12): | 1,500 each | |
| Hanger Bays (2): | 30,000 each | |
| [1] Bridge: | 20,000 | |
| [1] Auxiliary Bridge | 20,000 | |
| [2] Engineering section: | 50,000 | |
| Ion engines (4): | 10,000 each | |
| [3] Main Body | 110,000 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field | 5,000 per side (30,000 Total) |
Notes:
[1] 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.
[2] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion
systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten
percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[3] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Battlestar out
of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1500 MDC) per melee rounds
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight:
Phase World Version: Has a special sublight engine that allows
the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. The Battlestar
can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.85 percent of light per melee
maximum (Standard is 0.5 percent of light per turn).
Moderate Version: The Battlestar does not have an effective
top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Battlestar can reach a top
acceleration of 5.5 G but standard is 1.5 G to conserve fuel.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Both Version: The Colonial Battlestar
cannot operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere,
it will crash.
Stardrive: Uses a hyperdrive system that allows the ship to
reach a maximum of 6 lightyears per hour. The Hyperdrive uses 1% of the
ships fuel for every 10 light years the ship travels.
Maximum Range: Both Versions: 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 Battlestar carries six month of reaction mass for travel at normal
acceleration. Double the consumption of fuel for maximum acceleration.
The Battlestar also burns 1% of its reaction mass for every ten lightyears
the ship travels in hyperspace. The ship will often accelerate for a period
of time and then shut down the engine and travel using the ships velocity
but this cannot be done in hyperspace. 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 four months endurance at cruising speed from the fighters using
the ships reaction mass.
Statistical Data:
Length: 2,002.8 feet (610 meters)
Height: 952.2 feet (100 meters)
Width: 328.3 feet (290 meters)
Weight: 3.1 million tons (2.8 million metric tons)
Power System: The Ship is powered by fusion reactors that will
theoretically operate for 40 years and can provide effectively unlimited
electrical power. However, it was recommended that the drive and power
system have routine maintenance every 5 years. Also, the ship only carries
about a six month supply of reaction mass.
Cargo: 20,0000 tons of cargo. Each crew member also has a small
locker for personal possessions.
Market Cost: 12 billion to construct, No new Battlestars have
been constructed in about a thousand years.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
[ Phase World TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin
Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books Inc.]
[ Battlestar Galactica is copyright © Universal Pictures.]
Technical Information from Galactica Technical Data!
By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
Rifts Conversion Copyright © 1998, Kitsune. All rights reserved.