Shipkiller

From ROI Wiki
Sergenious Drawing.jpg
Alternate version of the Sergenious design

A Shipkiller is an Earthfleet category of ships, which includes the Sergenious, Samurai, Pegasus, Raven and Wolfpack classes, that is designed entirely with the intention of being a small, light, inexpensive, yet fast, agile and powerful starships capable of going toe to toe with a full size battlecruiser, or ships of similar class and size, some of which can be over 20x's its own size, and winning the fight every single time. In each case, the different classes of shipkillers that were built were each created in their respective times with a different roll to fulfill, which focused primarily around which ships within the galaxy, and most especially among The Nine Ancient Races, they would most likely be used against should the need arise.

And, while the Mythos class eventually superseded the need for these ships in the primary defensive roll of protecting Sol Space, they still play a very important roll that the Mythos, and similar larger ships, are unable to fulfill, despite their impressive firepower and capabilities. The shipkillers, outside of the ship category they occupy, are classified as a corvette type starship, the smallest of those that are fielded by any of the races in the galaxy. Even so, these plucky little starships are force to be reckoned with, and are feared and respected by all races across the galaxy for their incredible fighting prowess and power.

Weapons

The various shipkiller classes either support or feature a wide variety of offensive and defensive weaponry, including a respectable selection of torpedoes, plasma cannons, fluidic armor, screamers and other tactical equipment. The ships themselves don't have any specific weaponry or defensive systems, aside from fluidic armor, that are unique to themselves. But rather, for purposes of simplicity and ease of resupply, they share many offensive and defensive systems and technologies that are common to all of Earthfleet. Some systems, such as their multi-layered shields, and Reactive Shielding, while common to the rest of the fleet, are generally more advanced and often unique in their operation and functionality when employed on the shipkillers.

Battle Ethos

While not universal across the entire fleet, one thing that Earthfleet likes to do in battle is to focus fire their enemies, by concentrating the entire power of the fleet onto one or two ships, or onto single points on an enemy's shields in a procedure called Rippling The Shields which rapidly degrades the strength and integrity of the enemy's shields, making the target easier to take down by creating a weakness in their defenses that can be more easily exploited. This focused attack method, with focusing all their firepower onto a single target, might seem foolish in the greater scheme of battle.

However, there is a very good reason for doing this. Earthfleet is a small military force. That's why they use this method, because, the faster they can reduce the number of enemies standing against them, the greater their chances are of winning the battle. So, while the enemy is spreading out their attacks, Earthfleet is focusing theirs and rapidly reducing enemy strength in the process for minimal damage and/or losses on their side. They also tend to work from the top down, starting with the toughest ships, and then moving onward to weaker and weaker ships until the enemy either flees, or is destroyed.