Avatar (WarShip class)
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- This article is about the WarShip. For other uses, see Avatar.
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| |
| Avatar | |
| Production information | |
| Manufacturer | Terran Hegemony |
| Introduced | 2531 |
| Production Year | 2531[1] |
| Use | Heavy Cruiser |
| Tech Base | Inner Sphere |
| Cost | 19,665,595,999 C-bills[citation needed] |
| Technical specifications | |
| Mass | 830,000 tons |
| Length | 855 m |
| Sail Diameter | 1,250 m |
| Fuel | 4,500 tons |
| Burn Rate | 39.52 per day |
| Safe Thrust | 1.5 g |
| Top Thrust | 2.5 g |
| Sail Integrity | 5 |
| KF Drive Integrity | 17 |
| LF Battery | Yes |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | 1,259 tons standard |
| DropShip Capacity | 6 |
| Crew | 307[2]
Bay Personnel: 48 |
| Grav Decks | 2 (1 x 185 meters diameter and 1 x 145 meters diameter) |
| Escape Pods/Life Boats | 40/60 |
| Heat Sinks | 2,399 (single) |
| Structural Integrity | 85 |
| BV (1.0) | 83,179[2] |
Contents
Description[edit]
Introduced by the Terran Hegemony in 2531, the Avatar-class Heavy Cruiser was intended to replace the aging Aegis-class. While the larger Avatar outweighed its predecessor by some 85,000 tons because of heavier armor and weaponry, advances in WarShip and drive system design allowed the newer vessel to maintain 1.5 Gs of acceleration for lengthy periods with attitude thrusters giving it surprising agility. The Avatar was popular with crews for its balanced mixture of naval PPCs and autocannons supplemented by Killer Whale launchers and naval lasers, tempered by never-resolved issues with the vessel's electrical systems shorting out without warning.[3]
The Avatar is notable as the first ship to feature the Lithium-Fusion battery system[2] (which was only introduced two years earlier, in 2529).[4] It has been speculated that the Avatar may thus have been something of a testbed for this new technology and that the battery system played a part in its infamous electrical system problems. Discounting the Kimagure-class proof-of-concept design from 2582 as a special case, the L-F Battery was subsequently eschewed in new designs for 87 years until several new designs with L-F Batteries appeared from 2618 onwards, after the technology had apparently been refined and perfected.
In the early twenty-eighth century, the aging Avatar was itself replaced by the Luxor-class cruiser. Many Avatars were placed in reserve fleets or reassigned as training vessels.[2] When the forces of Stefan Amaris seized Terra, they captured three Avatar-class vessels undergoing refits at the Ian Cameron Shipyards.[2]
Two of the captured Amaris Empire's Avatars were destroyed. In all, only six Avatars survived until the end of the Amaris-Kerensky Civil War, five SLDF vessels, and the last captured from the Rim World Republic at Nusakan. Despite being almost obsolete by the standards of the era, General Kerensky knew their superb cargo and DropShip capacity would be of considerable value to the Exodus fleet. Mothballed once the fleet reached the Pentagon Worlds, the vessels were upgraded starting in 3024, and continued to serve in Clan toumans in their upgraded Liberator form.[2][3]
Armament[edit]
Like many ships of its era, the Avatar features significant anti-ship firepower almost to the exclusion of any anti-fighter defense. The all-energy weapon nose bays mount six NL55 and four Heavy NPPCs, with the remaining forward-firing weapons consisting of two NAC/20s, two Heavy NPPCs, three Killer Whale capital missile tubes, three NL35s and three Artemis IV FCS enhanced LRM-20s on each fore angle. The broadside bays carry a mixed armament of two NAC/30s, four Heavy PPCs, three more Killer Whale tubes, and six NL35s on each side, with the aft angles mirroring the fore angles, and six NL35s, two NAC/20s and three LRM-20's mounted directly aft.[2]
Cargo[edit]
Even ignoring its ability to carry six DropShips and launch bays for twenty-four aerospace fighters with 8 launch doors, the Avatar features superb cargo capacity for its size with a single 60,886-ton storage bay and bunks for a single space marine platoon.[2]
Related WarShips[edit]
- Liberator - The result of the Clans choosing to reactivate the mothballed Avatars in preparation for Operation Revival, the renamed Liberator-class features Ferro-Carbide armor, boosting protection by 50 percent without reducing the craft's valuable DropShip or cargo capacity. While the capital weaponry remained relatively unchanged, the anti-fighter systems were upgraded to modern Clan standards, with the fighter bays reconstructed to hold three Stars worth of OmniFighters. The Liberator also gained berths for two Stars of battle armored Elementals, as well as rarely used cabins for an additional Clusters worth of standard infantry.
See Also[edit]
Gallery[edit]
Original Avatar from TRO:3057 Revised