The Victory class star destroyer was the backbone of the Old Republic fleets before the Republic became the Empire. These ships are far smaller than the Imperator class Star Destroyer but are still well armed and quite capable. It is interesting that during the Old Republic times they filled the same role as the Imperator class does for the empire, and they were considered the ultimate mass produced large starship in their day. These ships were designed during the Clone Wars. Although the Victory was never manufactured in such tremendous numbers as the Imperator, that is a relative number. The total production run of Victory Star Destroyers build by both the Old Republic and the Empire still numbered in the thousands of ships.
No longer being build today, the Victory had both advantages and disadvantages over its
descendant, the Imperator SD. Its main advantage was that its smaller size and more powerful
antigravity drives actually allow the Victory to enter and maneuver in a atmosphere, whereas a
Imperator will crash if its attempts to do the same. The Victory can even be set down in a
sufficiently large body of water, such as large lakes and oceans.
The main disadvantages of the Victory are its very slow acceleration and low top speed.
More
modern naval vessels (and the occasional smuggler) can almost literally run circles around a
Victory SD.
This means that in a direct battle, the captain of a Victory will have to take great care to
maneuver
his craft into a favorable position, preferably pinning the enemy craft between the Victory and
various
celestial bodies, so that the engagement becomes a slugging match (which the Victory is well
equipped
for....).
Although the Victory is no longer being build, being replaced by the more potent Imperator, they are still a common sight in many of the more backwards naval bases, where the need for more powerful warships is low. Many of the Victories are also being sold off to outside interests as they are being phased out. A good example of this is the sale of two hundred and fifty Victories to the Corporate Sector Authority. These ships were sold at relatively low costs, and the Authority uses them as their new class of large warships. Most of these vessels may have received refits by the Sector Authority to keep them up-to-date, but the Authority is, as usual, rather tight-lipped about its military assets, so little is known about any upgrades. Not long after these vessels were sold the famous smuggler Han Solo, then operating in the Corporate Sector, had a run-in with one of these ships, and ultimately only got away from it through a ruse.
The Victory is in appearance similar to most Imperial craft. It is a large wedge shaped structure with a large superstructure near the rear of the ship. These ships were in many ways the prototype for the Imperator class Star Destroyer. There are two different models of the Victory class Star Destroyer. The listed version is the newer model of the star destroyer and virtually all models have been upgraded to this version. This newer version has a set of atmospheric control surfaces set near the aft edge of the hull. These control surfaces have the shape of a flat X when seen from the front or the back.
The design of these ships was peacekeeping and protection of the Republic. It is well armed for this purpose. When compared to ships from Phase World, it would be considered to have about half the firepower of a Protector class Battleship. The weapon layout is very different from an Imperator class Star Destroyer, but like that ship, the Victory class Star Destroyers carries Ion cannons. They are not like standard Rifts and Robotech Ion Cannons and instead interfere with the operation of various systems. The ship does not have as many point defense weapons as most Phase World ships of her size but each mount is more powerful.
These ships have smaller crews than earlier ships because they use maintenance droids of various types for various jobs on the ship. It is not normally listed but the ships has a total of about 2000 droids. Even so, the ship still have a large number of crew although a fraction of those carried on a Imperator class Star Destroyers. The ship also carries a large number of marines but only has two squadrons of fighters. If the ship is acting a flag ship, it carries additional crew as the flag support staff. The ship carries shuttles and various ground vehicles as well.
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. This is incorrect. 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.
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: VSD MK II
Vehicle Type: Star Destroyer (Would be considered a battlecruiser
by Phase World terms)
Crew: 4,798; 522 Officers, 1,950 Ship Maintenance, 1,640 Gunnery
Personnel, 696 Support Personnel (Does not include hanger Personnel).
Troops: 620 flight personnel, 2,040 Stormtroopers. If the ship
is acting as a flagship, add an additional 400 personnel. The ship can
carry up to 900 passengers total.
Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:
24 | Standard Tie Fighters (2 Squadrons) |
4 | Lambda-class shuttles | |
6 | Stormtrooper transports | |
4 | Gamma-class assault shuttles | |
4 | AT-AT Walkers | |
10 | AT-ST Walkers |
M.D.C. By Location:
Heavy quadruple Turbo-laser Cannon Mounts (10): | 1,000 each | |
Heavy Ion Cannon Mounts (2): | 600 each | |
40 mm Double Turbo Laser Turrets (40): | 200 each | |
Capital Proton Torpedo Batteries (4): | 800 each | |
[1] Bridge: | 50,000 | |
[1] Auxiliary Bridge: | 50,000 | |
Hanger Bay: | 30,000 | |
[2] Main Engines (2): | 25,000 each | |
[2] Secondary Engines (2): | 10,000 each | |
[3] Main Body: | 180,000 | |
[4] Shield Generators (12): | 400 each | |
[4] Variable Force Field: | 10,000 a side (60,000 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 40% per engine
destroyed. Destruction of secondary engines reduces acceleration by 10%
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 Star Destroyer
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 Star Destroyer has 2 shield generators per facing. If one is
destroyed, reduce maximum shield strength on that facing by half and reduce
the shields regeneration by 1/12 for every generator destroyed. If both
generators on a shield facing are destroyed, the shields are not operation
in that facing. 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% (3,000 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 Star Destroyer
can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.3 percent of light per melee
maximum (Standard is 0.1 percent of light per turn).
Moderate Version: The Star Destroyer does not have an effective
top speed but is limited by acceleration. The Star Destroyer can reach
a top acceleration of 2 G but standard is 1 G to reduce stress on engines.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Both Version: The Victory class
Star Destroyer, unlike the Imperator class Star Destroyer, can operate
within an atmosphere but is very limited. Maximum speed is 350 mph (563
kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not really designed for prolonged
atmospheric flight. Atmospheric control surfaces mean that any penalties for
atmospheric flight are halved though.
Stardrive: Uses a hyperdrive 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: 2,953 feet (900 meters)
Height: 1,115 feet (340 meters)
Width: 1,542 feet (470 meters)
Weight/Mass: 10 Million Tons (9.1 million 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 8,100 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: 25 billion credits to construct. The Empire will
sell (by their standards obsolete) Star Destroyers to other interests. Note that the
price of these may vary from at least the original construction price for most buyers to rather
lower
(10 billion) for sale to outside interests that are known as "friendly" to the Empire.
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.]
Technical Information from Star Wars: Technical Commentaries , and the "Star Wars Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels" by Del Rey books.
CGI of Ship by Maciek Skawinski. More of his CGI pictures of Star Wars ships at SWMA Gallery.
By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune) and Mischa (E-Mail Mischa).
Rifts Conversion Copyright © 1999, Kitsune and Mischa. All rights reserved.