The Nebulon-B escort frigate was originally designed by the Empire for use against rebel starfighters, which had made several successful raids against poorly defended Imperial cargo convoys. The rebel alliance got there hands on several Nebulon-B when a number the these vessels were captured by rebel forces, and when their crews defected to the alliance. These ships became the backbone in the alliance's fleet, especially in the early years of the rebellion when larger starships where not available.
Standard Nebulon-B frigates are equipped with six double barreled turbo lasers for use against capital ships, and twelve laser cannons against starfighters and missile defense. It also carries two ion cannons which are used to disable a ship without damage.
The frigates fighter complement is twenty-four (two squadrons) starfighters. Standard complement for the Rebel Alliance and New Republic is one squadron X-wings. The second squadron changes depending on mission. Y-wings or B-wings for assault, A-wings for reconnaissance and escort missions.
Many Nebulon-Bs have additional and sophisticated sensor and communication equipment, allowing the ships to act as long-range scouts or as a command ship in battle. In many cases, the low on resources, rebel task forces used a Nebulon-B as command ship, with Corellian corvettes and gunships acting as supplementary capital ships.
Some frigates has been converted to medical duty. The medical frigate has treatment facilities for over seven hundred patients. With complete modern medical materials, including fifteen bacta tanks, the ship's patient survival rate is nearly 98%. To make room for the medical facilities, the ship's weaponry is generally reduced to three turbo lasers and eight laser cannons. Most of the interior hangar bay space is also lost, and the medical frigate carries no fighters.
Notes of game conversion:
Because of the nature of the movie series "Star Wars" 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. I do make one huge change, fighters in Star Wars act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. The Television series Babylon 5 is a good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles should would probably maneuver.
Phase world version uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F. and Kreeghor 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. 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:
Model Type: Kuat Drive Yards Nebulon-B
Vehicle Type: Escort Frigate
Crew: 850; 77 Officers, 773 Enlisted.
Troops: The ship can carry up to 1000 passengers total in cramped
conditions.
Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:
24 | Fighters (2 squadrons, type depending on mission) |
4 | Lambda-class shuttles |
M.D.C By Location:
Turbo-laser Cannon Mounts (6): | 800 each | |
Ion Cannon Mounts (2): | 1,000 each | |
60 mm Point Defense Laser Turrets (12): | 250 each | |
Capital Proton Torpedo Batteries (2): | 1000 | |
[1] Bridge: | 20,000 | |
[1] Auxiliary Bridge: | 20,000 | |
Hanger Bay: | 20,000 | |
[2] Main Engines (7): | 15,000 each | |
[3] Main Body: | 60,000 | |
[4] Shield Generators (6): | 300 each | |
[4] Variable Force Field: | 6,000 a side (36,000 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] Destruction of main engines reduced acceleration by 20% per engine
destroyed. If all engines are destroyed, the ship can still accelerate
and decelerate at 5% using maneuvering thrusters.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Frigate 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] The Frigate has one shield generators per facing. If one is destroyed,
the shield cannot operate on that side and reduce the shields regeneration
by 1/6 for every generator destroyed. The Shields must be penetrated before
the shield generators can be hit. Shields positions can be varied and all
could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1,800
M.D.C.) per melee.
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 Frigate
can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.6 percent of light per melee
maximum (Standard is 0.2 percent of light per turn).
Moderate Version: The Frigate does not have an effective top
speed but is limited by acceleration. The Star Destroyer can reach a top
acceleration of 3 G but standard is 1 G to reduce stress on engines.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Both Version: The Frigate cannot
operate within an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will
crash.
Stardrive: Uses a hyper drive system that allows the ship to
reach a maximum of 40 light-years per hour (In the Game universe of Phase
World, it could be limited to 4 light-years per hour to compare to the
other Phase World FTL systems).
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
Carries about four years worth of supplies on board.
Statistical Data:
Length: 984.3 feet (300 meters)
Height: 518.4 feet (158 meters)
Width: 170.6 feet (52 meters)
Weight/Mass: 352,700 tons(320,000 metric tons)
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally
only goes 5 years between refueling.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 10,000 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment
of supplies and ammunition. Each crew member also has a small locker for
personal possessions and officers have decent sized quarters.
Market Cost: 8 billion credits to construct. Neither the Empire
or the Rebel Alliance/New Republic will not sell the Nebulon-B to other
interests.
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.]
[ STAR WARS copyright © 1977 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1980, 1983, 1996 Lucasfilm Ltd.]
[ Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and their associated
logos are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd.]
CGI of Ship by David Benjamin. More of his CGI pictures of Star Wars ships at SWMA Gallery.
By Michael Söderlind (michael.soderlind@telia.com)
Revisions by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).
Rifts Conversion Copyright © 1999, Michael Söderlind. All rights reserved.