Berserker Warmachine:
This is a conversion from the Berserker novel series from Fred Saberhagen.
It is very powerful and should be treated with extreme care
The machine was a vast self contained fortress, set countless millennia
ago by its unknown makers to destroy a particular enemy wherever it found
it. Together with its brothers the machine had gotten good at its job,
and had dealt severe blows to the enemy, yet somehow its adversary always
appeared somewhere else, sometimes even before the last purging was completely
finished.
Forever fighting, there was never quite enough time for it to repair
all the damage done in the last battle, and still its enemy grew more numerous.
If the machine had been alive it might have despaired, but despite being
intelligent and self aware it was not alive. All it knew was its job, that
last great command, ordered by its makers:
DESTROY ALL LIFE.
It followed that command wherever it went, searching galaxies for any
trace of its ancient enemy, life.
The first people in the three galaxies to meet it and live to tell the
tale were a group of human mercenaries. The name they gave the machine
and its brethren was so apt that this is the name adapted by all races.
Men called it "Berserker".
Berserker machines are hundreds of thousands of years old war machines
build to be last ditch weapons in some unknown interstellar war. Like so
many of such weapons they did their job too well, destroying both their
makers enemies, as well as their makers. Each berserker is a fully self-contained
warship, bristling with weapons of mass destruction. They can range in
size from fighters to moon sized, but the typical berserker is a rough
spheroid 30 miles in diameter (May have any shape, but a sphere has the
best ratio of volume to outer surface, and the berserkers are nothing if
not efficient). This is the kind of machine described here. Even if it
is a "normal" berserker, it has the firepower to annihilate entire fleets,
and can pound the surface of a planet into a cloud of glowing dust and
steam miles deep in a couple of days. It has the ability to repair itself,
and learn from its encounters. It will never forget its ultimate target,
the annihilation of all life. It is not fighting a war for territory or
wealth, it is supremely indifferent to such matters. Any kind of life it
encounters it will attempt to stamp out, be it Kreeghor, Humans, Splurgoth,
plants, or bacteria.
It is unpredictable in its strategies: It can attack a group of six
planets, only to leave the last one alone and attack a target hundreds
of light-years away, and return years later to finish the job it had left
(It is believed that the berserkers strategies are dictated by the patterns
of dying atoms in a large block of radioactive material, making them truly
random. Once it attacks a target it will seldom give up though).
For the main energy battery, the Berserker has thirty energy clusters.
Each cluster consists of six heavy grasers, six medium graser mounts, and
four heavy mass driver mounts. These are protected by the defensive shield
over their sector, but also have six point defense lasers, six point defense
rail guns, and four mini missile launchers. The Berserker has eighteen
missile clusters as well. Each missile battery cluster has four cruise
missile batteries and eight long range missile batteries. They have the
identical point defense weaponry to the energy clusters. The Berserker
also has the same number of point defense weaponry protecting each of the
hanger bays. The point defense weaponry work in concert and are designed
to protect the whole Machine from all attacks not just the individual cluster
or bay that they are located at. As its most powerful weapons it has, in
three of the energy clusters, huge Antimatter cannons. these weapons are
mostly used against very large targets, and especially for planetary bombardment.
Because of the enormous volume of the Berserker, it has a huge amount
of space available for use. Most of this space is taken up with power plants,
drives, factories and stores for raw material and munitions. The Berserker
is a maze of unprecedented proportions, and through its myriads of airless!
corridors, thousands of drones and combat robots move. (GM, go for the
wilder things that ARCHIE dreams up, and other weird looking machines.
Whatever, they should be BAD news!) The remaining space is taken up by
bays, twelve in total, contain between them more fighters than four CAF
Packmaster class carriers have. (Treat various fighters as their CAF/Kreeghor
equivalent, without a pilot, Piloted by a AI wich flies it at 98%, has
full attacks and +3 to strike and +2 to dodge.) All of these machines are
in constant contact with the Berserker though. They are almost parts of
it. If the Berserkers AI is destroyed, the drones have no bonuses whatsoever,
but they WILL keep on going!
It is not certain how a Berserker will react to a species as the Machine
People. If they do not take a active affair in the fight against it, it
might not see them as true life, and spare them. A Berserker will readily
accept help from "Good life" e.g. persons or people who are willing to
help it destroy all life. Various death cults may see the Berserker as
their ultimate god, and decide to help it, in the form of information and
supplies! Their reward is obvious off course, but welcome.
It should once again be stressed that a Berserker will see ANY life
as something to be ultimately wiped out. The only way to stop one is to
destroy it, it will NOT listen to reason.
As described before, this is a average berserker, in good working order.
Some berserkers will be much larger, and/or different looking with different
weapons altogether. Some may have terrible damage (All berserkers hulls
will look as if it has been through incredible battles) and operate at
less than 30 % of their original capabilities, perhaps even unable to repair
themselves any more. Whatever the case, a Berserker will, even when debilitated,
be a machine of death and destruction. If used at all in a campaign, it
should be with a great deal of consideration, as they may be very unbalancing
to gameplay. Usually one will do the trick, only seldom will one see more
than one Berserker at the same place.
This design uses modified starship speed and ranges. See
Revised
Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Weapon Clusters:
30 Energy Weapon Clusters each containing:
| 1 | Antimatter cannon (in only three of the clusters) |
| 6 | 120 cm Heavy Grasers |
| 6 | 30 cm Medium Grasers |
| 4 | 20 cm Heavy Mass Drivers |
| 6 | Point Defense Rail Guns |
| 6 | Point Defense Lasers |
| 4 | Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers |
18 Missile Weapon Clusters each containing:
| 4 | Cruise Missile Batteries |
| 8 | Long-Range Missile Batteries |
| 6 | Point Defense Rail Guns |
| 6 | Point Defense Lasers |
| 4 | Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers |
12 Hanger Defense Clusters each containing:
| 6 | Point Defense Rail Guns |
| 6 | Point Defense Lasers |
| 4 | Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers |
Model Type: Berserker War Machine (generic)
Vehicle Type: Anti Life War Machine
Crew: None!
Troops: None!
Autonomous Vehicles/Robots:
Robots:
| 18,000 | Various robots (Treat as various Archie type combat robots(or Mechanoid, whatever) |
Fighter Compliment:
| 1000 | Light starfighters |
| 280 | Medium range Starfighters |
| 60 | Long-Range Interceptors |
Assault Shuttles & Starships:
| 20 | Assault Shuttles (use standard CAF design as template) |
M.D.C By Location:
| Main Energy Clusters (30): | |
| Antimatter Cannons(3 Total!): | 12,000 each |
| Heavy Graser Cannons (6 each cluster, 180 Total): | 3,500 each |
| Medium Graser Cannons (6 each cluster, 180 Total): | 1,000 each |
| Heavy Mass Drivers (4 each cluster, 120 Total): | 1,200 each |
| Main Missile Clusters (18): | |
| Cruise Missile Batteries (4 each cluster, 72 total): | 1,200 each |
| Long Range Missile Batteries (8 each cluster, 144 total): | 750 each |
| Point Defense Rail Gun Turrets (360 total, 6 each cluster or bay): | 200 each |
| Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (360 total, 6 each cluster/bay): | 200 each |
| Mini-Missile Launchers (240, 4 each cluster or vehicle bay): | 150 each |
| [1] Protective Forcefields (6, One for each side. ): | 400,000 each |
| [1] Protective Forcefields (60, One each cluster or vehicle bay): | 5,000 each |
| Small Craft Hanger Bays (12): | 55,000 each |
| [2] Control Center: | 12 Million |
| [3] Main Body: | 40 Million |
| [4] Main Drives(6): | 1 Million each |
Notes:
[1] Instead of having variable shields, the Berserker has six shields,
one for each side. Each shield regenerates at the rate of 5% (20,000 MDC)
per melee. Depleting the shield in that sector means that further strikes
can hit the sector underneath. Gravity based weapons do only half damage
to these shields. Each missile/energy cluster and bay also has a seperate
smaller forcefield protecting it. These fiels switch on when the main field
is destroyed. They do NOT regenerate, but must be completely depleted,
upon which it takes 2D6 rounds to fully restore it.
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done to hit the
AI at the center of the berserker. If the AI is destroyed, the Berserker
is no longer capable of spaceflight, and all weapons are at their local
AI control (-2 to strike), and there is no sensor data flow and coordination
any more (-20% to detect), and all weapons only have half attacks.
Damage repair is no longer carried out. If an attack is attempting
to penetrate directly to the central AI, the damage is also applied on
the main body of the Berserker.(The central AI is the thinking part of
the Berserker, without it it becomes a mass of automated reflexes.)
[3] Depleting the MDC of the main body will completely destroy the
Berserker.
[4] This is the damage needed to be done to actually hit one of the
gravity drive generators throught he hull. There is one under each screen
section of the Berserker. Destroying a drive means that sublight acceleration
is reduced by 0.1 percent of light. The Gravitonic Drive system for FTL
flight is dispersed through the entire Berserker, and for each 3 Million
MDC done to the main body, treat as losing 1 lightyear per hour in speed.
Speed:
Driving on the ground: Not Possible
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship
to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate
at the rate of 0.6 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion:Not possible, if it enters a atmosphere
it wil crash.
Star Drive: Gravitonic drive; maximum speed: 9 light years per
hour.
Range: Unlimited.
Statistical Data:
Length: Approximately 30 miles (48.2 km)
Height: Approximately 30 miles (48.2 km)
Width: Approximately 30 miles (48.2 km)
Mass/Weight: Approximately 8.3 trillion tons (7.5 trillion Metric
tons)
Power System: 12 large Anti matter reactors. nominal life span
is 100 years, but can manufacture own fuel. (effectively unlimited therefore)
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the Berserker that allow
for the storage of up to 28 billion tons of Cargo in addition to standard
compliment of supplies and ammunition.
Market Cost: Not for sale, never has been, never wil be.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
- Antimatter cannons (3):
Mounted on in the skinsurface of
the berserker are thirty weapons clusters. In three of these clusters are
huge Antimatter cannons. Each of these weapons works by accelerating a
dense stream of frozen Antihydrogen to near light speed. These weapons
are very cumbersome, and can only be used against targets that are cruiser
sized or larger. They are relatively slow firing, but they do enormous
damage to planetary targets due to the immense amount of radiation and
the huge shockwaves that are created when the antimatter is converted into
energy upon contact with the planet.
All of these weapons are located in the same hmisphere of the Berserker,
so they can be targeted against one target. Each weapon has a arc of fire
of 60 degrees.
Range: 50,000 miles (80,450 km)in space and 50 miles (80.5 km)
in an atmosphere
Mega Damage: 3D6x100,000 to starships and stations. Planetary
targets: 1D4x1,000,000 MDC at ground zero (1 mile, 1.6 km radius), 2D4x100.000
in a 9.3 mile (15 km) radius, 1D6x10,000 in a 18.6 mile (30 km) radius,
2D4x1,000 in a 37.3 mile (60km)radius, and 1D4x100 in a 55.9 mile (90 km)
radius.
Rate of fire: Once per every three rounds.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
- Heavy Grazer mounts (180):
six 120 cm grazer cannons are
in each battery (180 guns total). Each battery can fire at six different
targets or combine all attacks in a devastating blast that will take out
most ships. By firing combined blasts, they can core a planetoid with a
few shots. The weapon mounts have about a 25% increase in both range and
damage over standard laser cannons of the same size. Each graser sits in
a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. They cannot be
used faster than the speed of light. Weapon has standard penalties to hit
fighters and small targets for a large gun.
Mega-Damage: 4D6x1,000 for a single blast, or 6D6x4,000 for
a combined blast (all guns in the battery engaging the same target).
Effective Range: 160,000 miles (254,700 km) in space and 160
miles (255 km) in an atmosphere.
Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire up to two times per melee
round (Berserker has 180 cannons so ship can fire a total of 360 single
shots or 60 combined blasts from the main Grasers)
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
- 30 cm Heavy Grazer Cannons (180):
Grazer cannons use focused
gamma radiation and are very powerful. The weapon mounts have about a 25%
increase in both range and damage over standard laser cannons of the same
size. These mounts are slightly less powerful than the main battery but
are quite powerful and any ship caught in the cannons fire will regret
the situation very quickly. Like the main battery, these cannons are capable
of destroying frigates in one hit or quickly crippling heavier vessels.
The Weapons can rotate 360 dgrees and has a arc of 180 degrees. Weapon
has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets for a large starship
weaponry.
Range: 125,000 miles (201,000 km) in space and 125 miles (201
km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 2D4x1000 MDC each and both can be combined for
a total of 4D4x1000.
Rate of fire: Maximum of Two (2) times per melee per cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
- 20 cm Heavy Mass Drivers(120):
The cannons fire a single
large bolt on high tensile strength MDC material at the target. The projectile
is not explosive but has several tons of mass. Each mass driver is mounted
in a special turrets that are partially recessed into the ships hull. The
turrets have a limited firing. Each has a 120 degree arc of fire. The weapon
has standard penalties to hit small targets like missiles and starfighters.
These projectiles can be used against unmoving targets beyond the weapons
normal range when used in space but suffers the same penalties that normal
missiles do.
Range: 10,000 miles (16,100 km), range is 10 miles (16.1 km)
in an atmosphere
Mega Damage: 2D6x100+200 MDC each (optional rule is that cannon
gets a critical on a natural 18, 19, or 20 due to its high penetration).
Rate of fire: Maximum of four per melee.
Payload: 200 projectiles for each mass driver (24,000 total).
- Point Defense Rail Guns (360):
The Berserker has six point
defense rail guns mounted in each weapon cluster and around each hanger
bay. They are directed for defense of the whole Berserker, not just the
cluster they are mounted in. Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase
World Starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. They are
used as an anti-Starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that
are impervious to energy. Each Rail Gun is in a Turret that can rotate
360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Projectiles come out of launchers at close
to the speed of light. Cannon uses a 18 mm density enhanced Nickel/Iron
projectiles.
Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 800 miles (1,290
km) in space.
Mega-Damage: 80 round burst does 2D6x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Automated, 4 bursts per round.
Payload: 16,000 Rounds (200 Bursts) each cannon.
- Point Defense Lasers in Double Mounts (360):
The Berserker
has six point defense laser cannons mounted in each weapon cluster and
around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole Berserker,
not just the cluster they are mounted in. Used as an anti-Starfighter and
missile weapon. Each laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.
Range: 2.5 miles (4 km) miles through atmosphere and 250 miles
(40.2 km) in space.
Mega-Damage: 2D6x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Automated, 4 shots per round.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
- Cruise Missile Batteries (72):
The Fortress has four cruise
missile batteries in each missile battery cluster. Missile has a top speed
of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of
light per turn (far faster than any starship). Since star ships will no
longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down
is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missile.
When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless preset to self destruct
or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships
(Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile
when dead at -25% to detect.) See Modified starship rules for more details,
Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered
smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each. Batteries
have a lower number of actual launchers than the standard phase world cruise
missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.
Range: Missile range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere
and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space
Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (See
Phase World
Missiles - Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC).
Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, or 24
per launcher, per melee round, for a maximum of 1728 missiles per melee.
Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the
next
Payload: 1728 total, 24 cruise missiles per battery. Berserker
has 20 reload of missiles (36,288 cruise missiles total) for each launcher.
- Long Range Missile Batteries (144):
The Fortress has eight
long range missile launchers in each missile battery cluster. Missile has
a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration
of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship). Since star ships will
no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot
down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When
drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct
but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and
planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.)
Long range missiles do not have minuses to hit small targets unlike cruise
missiles and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on
multiple targets each. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers
than the modern CAF long range missile batteries and each launcher is slightly
larger in size.
Range: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere
and 1,800,000 miles (2,89700 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.
Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (See
Phase World
Missiles - Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, or 24
per launcher, per melee attack.
Payload: 230,400 total, 1200 long range missiles per battery.
- Mini-Missile launchers (264):
The Asteroid fortress has four
point defense mini missile launchers mounted in each weapon cluster and
around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress
not just the cluster they are mounted in. These are missile turrets used
for point defense against enemy fighters and missiles. Missile has a top
speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 2%
of light per turn (slightly faster than any starship except if it is exceeding
it maximum safe acceleration).
Mega-Damage: varies with mini-missile type (See
Phase World
Missiles).
Range: Missile range is 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere and
100 miles (161 km) in space
Rate of fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys
of 4 or 8 missiles
Payload: 128 per launcher for a total of 33,792 mini-missiles.
Cargo hold has an additional 640 mini-missile for each launcher (168,960).
Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes.
Special Equipment:
The Berserker has, in order to be a fully self sufficient warmachine,
some special equipment onboard:
- Munitions and arms Factory: Using raw material and material
scavenged from destroyed enemies, the Berserker can fabricate new munitions
for its weapons. Treat as fabricating 720 cruise missiles per day, 1440
LRM`s per day, and 2560 minimissiles per day. It can also manufacture 1000
massdriver projectiles, and 80,000 railgun projectiles per day. Also it
can repair or build anew, up to 200 fighters or warmachines of various
sizes per day.
This is only possible when the berserker is not engaged in battle,
and can scour a starsystem unhindered for supplies and raw materials.
- Self repair System: The Berserker has tens of thousands of small
repair drones, wich wil repair any damage done to the berserker, first
by using raw material available on the berserker, and secondly by scavenging
material from around the system. Treat as capable of repairing 30,000 MDC
per hour when using available raw material, and repairing 6,000 MDC per
hour when scavenging. When repairing complicated systems such as weapons
or drives, there is a 1 % probability that the drones cannot repair the
system. It is so far damaged that it is basically scrapped, and is lost
forever.
- Mining gear: The berserker has a large amount of mining gear
available for replenishing it stocks of raw material. The berserker usually
carries at least 500,000 MDC worth of raw armor plating with it. replenishment
of stocks should be up to the GM. Remember, mining operations and self
repair can cost a lot of time, time wich the Berserker often does not have!
Laboratoria Each berserker has several laboratoria aboard itself,
where it is capable of analyzing pieces of captured equipment a enemy has
used against it. In time, these technologies may become a part of the Berserker!
- Sensors: The Berserker has all the normal sensors that Phase
World battleships have, but it is +20 to detect any life in a system, and
receives no penalties to detect it.
- Antimatter plant: The Berserker can actually manufacture its
own Antimatter for its drive system and weapons! In order to do so, it
has to get close a star (1 light minute or less!) and then drains off part
of the photosphere of the star directly. Most of this power is used to
convert a small amount of the matter in the photosphere into antimatter,
wich the Berserker then stores. The Berserker can replenish its ENTIRE
supply of antimatter in 6 months in this way, but it does nothing else
while it is doing so, and is very vulnerable to attack!
- Sentient Computer: The Berserker should be considered a powerful
artificial intelligence in terms of Rifts. It can pilot itself at 98%,
has full attacks for all weapons, and has +5 to strike, and +3 to initiative.
It can be considered to have a IQ of 30, and can learn any skill it needs
at up to 95 % ability if it has to do with warfare, and any other.
[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.]
[Berserker is Copyrighted by Fred Saberhagen, 1967]
By Mischa (E-Mail Mischa)
Formatting and Minor Revisions by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune
).
Rifts Conversion Copyright © 1998, Mischa. All rights reserved.
