Tim continues his short series on Antares spacecraft. This time, he looks at the ships of the Isorian Senatex. The Senatex uses ship classes roughly the same as many others (frigate, cruiser, scout, and so on) but ship sizes vary more often than others depending on whether or not they are intended to carry a mix of Tsan and panhumans or just humans.
An overview on the ratings given here can be found in the article on the Algoryn.
Senatex Starship Design
Despite the much greater conformity with the Senatex’ IMTel compared with Concord, the advanced technology of the Senatex gives rise to ships controlled by the most idiosyncratic machine intelligences in the Antarean universe – perhaps so because of the greater conformity. Their technology also boosts their repair capability to that equal to the Freeborn, and also makes their weapons as accurate as those of the Concord.
Senatex ships are often larger than the Concord’s at the same offensive capability, but this is to contain and support the Tsan Ra marines they may carry. Classes based around the Determinate also tend to carry greater area defence systems to counter Algoryn and Ghar tactics. Ships of a given class often give themselves names that start with the first letter of that class.
It’s worth reiterating the summary from the weapons article:
The Isorian Senatex use spinal ‘lances’, plasma weaponry, nanoswarm launchers, light missiles and drones. For area defence, they have adapted their phaseshift technology to phase incoming missiles out of our normal frame of reference: a highly effective defence system. Senatex ships are also fast, with good armour fields, and have Acc 6.
| Senatex Ship Type: | Mercantile | Combat | Liners/ Troopship | Survey/ Scout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GA drive acceleration: | 160g | 200-240g | 160g | 220g |
Representive Ship Class Stats
These are just a few of the better-known Senatex ship classes. Note that suites are extensive and readily adaptable to barracks: some ships have extra marines always on board within those suits/barracks, denoted by the ‘+’ number after the ‘Marines’ entry (Marines are allocated their own barracks already). A ‘T’ indicates Tsan Ra are aboard acting as marines, crew or transported as passengers whilst (+T) indicates a mix of panhuman and Tsan.
| Class: | Type 16 Incision | Type 73 | Type 25 | Type 30 Expectation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type: | Frigate | Military Transport | Interface Patrol | Light Cruiser |
| Length: | 275m | 340m | 130m | 500m |
| GA Drive: | 240g | 160g | 220g | 200g |
| Armour: | 13×13 | 11×11 | 10×10 | 15×15 |
| Fire Control: | Acc 6 | Acc 6 | Acc 6 | Acc 6 |
| Crew: | 3 (+T) | 3 | 1 | 5 (+T) |
| Marines: | 1T | 2T+3T+3 | – | 5T+1T |
| Spinal Weapon(s): | Spinal Lance | – | – | Spinal Lance |
| Secondary Spinal Weapon: | – | – | – | – |
| Main Armament: | Launch Rails: Drones, Nanoswarm pods | Launch Rails: Light Missiles, Nanoswarm pods | Launch Rails: Drone | 4×Heavy Plasma Cannon |
| Secondary Weapons: | 3×Plasma Cannon | 3×Light Plasma Cannon | 3×Light Plasma Cannon | Launch Rails: Drones, Nanoswarm pods |
| Tertiary Weapons: | – | – | – | – |
| Area Defence Systems: | 3×Phase Emitters | 3×Plasma ADS | 2×Phase Emitters | 4×Plasma ADS |
| Shuttles: | 1 | 3 | – | 2 |
| XCM: | -2 Acc | -2 Acc | -2 Acc | -2 Acc |
| Notes: | 1×passenger suite | 6×barracks (0 spare) | Small; crew skimmer | 5×barracks (4 spare) |
Class Descriptions
The Type 16 Incision class frigates are highly capable with minimal living crew but a substantial number of operational automation, represented by giving them the same Crew stat as other ships at the same level of capability. Visually, they are slightly larger than their Concord counterparts, being designed to carry Tsan Ra, and betray the tell-tale signs of organic Isorian engineering. Their emphasis is on speed, drones and defence. Sample ships: Irresponsible, Inciteful, Incisive, Incomparable, Indescribable, Intuitive.
The Senatex makes a huge use of IMTel-update vessels that other factions might term message scouts, such Isorian vessels carrying numerous, sub-sophont intelligence message drones and, typically, human crew. Their Type 25 interface patrol ships along the Northern and Southern Interfaces are a different order altogether. Whilst small, they are fast and tend to use their onboard drone not only for repair but also for emergency messaging back to their command ships. Their use as IMTel-update ships means the controlling intelligences tend to be more conformist than other ship types. Sample ships: T25-P001, T25-P276
Type 30 Expectation class ships are used to command a group of systems and a large squadron of frigates along the Interface areas. When called upon to act, its high speed and powerful impact from its plasma weapons makes even a Ghar destroyer take note. Whilst normally not taking passengers, it is capable of transporting a substantial number of troops into combat zones or to act as an initial garrison and command centre on a war-torn world. Sample ships: Expectation, Exact, Excision, Encourager, Effortless, Excitation, Extinction.
The military transports of the Senatex are similar to those of thee Concord. The Type 73 Military Transport series of ships is one such, able to carry Tsan Ra and equipped with light missiles to provide ground bombardment in support of its 3 shuttles and troops. Their intelligences also tend towards conformity, taking their job very seriously. Example ships: T73-MT9047, T73-MT847.
Antares Nexus 