angelus2000
Mongoose
Anyone ever toyed around with making variants for the Oracle? Make into a bombardment cruiser, a gunship, carrier etc? I think its one of the best looking models in the entire EA range, seems such a shame to condemn a great looking clean mini to forever being a scout. Here's a few.
Oracle-class Beam Cruiser:
With the demise of the Olympic class gunship following the end of the Earth-Minbari war, Earthforce being casting about for a smaller ship hull capable of long range beam fire that could serve as a heavy firing platform to assist Olympusp and Artemis Squadrons. Plans for new hulls were shelved once they realized they already had such a platform in the Oracle. Soon, new build Oracle class beam cruisers came out of the yards, stripped of all thier elecetronic warfare equipment in favor of much larger and extensive weapons layout. Still classed as a medium laser cannon, the Oracles primary armament doubled in power, becoming as nearly as powerful as the Hyperion. The scouts missle racks were dropped entirely to furthur power the laser cannon, and the particle beams were replaced with pulse weaponry. Despite the new armament, the new Oracle has become what one oberserver termed a "paper tiger", as its already fragile nature is even more pronounced than the orignal scout.
Speed 12
Hull 4
Turn 2/45
Damage 16/5
Crew 22/6
Interceptors 2, Jump Point, Anti-Fighter 2
Weapons
Medium Laser Cannon 18 B 3AD Beam, Double Damage
Medium Pulse Cannon 10 F/S/P/A 4AD TL
Oracle-class Escort Cruiser
During the design phase of the beam variant, tactical schools identified 2 furthur roles which were seen as lacking in the earthforce inventory, a long range patrol ship/raider and a replacment for the Artemis Escort frigate. Despite voices raised from the budget offices and politiciansabotu mulit-role ships which were the new wave, far too many of Earthforce's surviving personnel from the Earth-Minbari War recalled the mauling the Starfuries recieved from Minbari fighters and just how dangerous they could be if allowed to attack ships directly. Once the ship came out of the graving docks, it became apparent just how radically differnt the ship had become from its scout roots. Bristling with anti-fighter weaponry, the Oracle was now much more robust as additional armor and crew space had been installed to give it reasonable protection from enemy cruisers and battleships. Additional missle racks were installed at the cost of the laser cannon, and the same particle-to-pulse refit on the beam armed version was accomplished as well, although with far fewer turrets as the majority had been converted into anti-fighter emplacements
Skirmish
Speed 9
Turns 2/45
Hull 5
Damage 18/6
Crew 24/8
Interceptors 3, Jump Point, Escort, Anti-fighter 6
Weapons
Missle Rack 30 F 2AD SAP, Precise, SL
Medium Pulse Cannon 10 F/P/S/A 2AD TL
Oracle-class Patrol Cruiser
While the Olympus served admirably as a long range patrol ship, its logistics problems serving its railgun and missle racks proved problematic onceit ran into oppostion, nearly always having to return and resupply after nearly every encounter. Its lack of fighter cover was keenly felt also, as the ubiqitous raiders nearly always managed to to damage the ship before they were driven off or destroyed. With those two thoughts in mind, the Oracle proved to be an ideal candidate, as its own cruising endurance and integral jump engine provided the perfect starting point. Its main armament was gutted, with both the laser cannon and missle racks being removed in favor Starfury launch bays. With the removal of those, Pulse cannons were fitted in place of the particle beams. It was quickly found though, that the power plant was now producing an excess of power, so the pulse cannons were upgraded even further into heavy turrets. A controversial decision was made during its design, as certain Earthfore design personnel felt it lacked the punch of the Olympus heavy railguns. With power still in excess, fixed arc Plasma cannons were installed as well, providing a heavy weapon capable of gret damage, although at much shorter distance than the railguns of the Olympus.
Speed 12
Hull 4
Turns 2/45
Damage 16/5
Crew 22/6
Craft 2 Starfury
Interceptors 2, Jump Point, Anti-fighter 2
Weapons
Medium Plamsa Cannon 8 B 4AD AP TL
Heavy Pulse Cannon 12 F/P/S/A 6AD TL
Thoughts, comments?[/i]
Oracle-class Beam Cruiser:
With the demise of the Olympic class gunship following the end of the Earth-Minbari war, Earthforce being casting about for a smaller ship hull capable of long range beam fire that could serve as a heavy firing platform to assist Olympusp and Artemis Squadrons. Plans for new hulls were shelved once they realized they already had such a platform in the Oracle. Soon, new build Oracle class beam cruisers came out of the yards, stripped of all thier elecetronic warfare equipment in favor of much larger and extensive weapons layout. Still classed as a medium laser cannon, the Oracles primary armament doubled in power, becoming as nearly as powerful as the Hyperion. The scouts missle racks were dropped entirely to furthur power the laser cannon, and the particle beams were replaced with pulse weaponry. Despite the new armament, the new Oracle has become what one oberserver termed a "paper tiger", as its already fragile nature is even more pronounced than the orignal scout.
Speed 12
Hull 4
Turn 2/45
Damage 16/5
Crew 22/6
Interceptors 2, Jump Point, Anti-Fighter 2
Weapons
Medium Laser Cannon 18 B 3AD Beam, Double Damage
Medium Pulse Cannon 10 F/S/P/A 4AD TL
Oracle-class Escort Cruiser
During the design phase of the beam variant, tactical schools identified 2 furthur roles which were seen as lacking in the earthforce inventory, a long range patrol ship/raider and a replacment for the Artemis Escort frigate. Despite voices raised from the budget offices and politiciansabotu mulit-role ships which were the new wave, far too many of Earthforce's surviving personnel from the Earth-Minbari War recalled the mauling the Starfuries recieved from Minbari fighters and just how dangerous they could be if allowed to attack ships directly. Once the ship came out of the graving docks, it became apparent just how radically differnt the ship had become from its scout roots. Bristling with anti-fighter weaponry, the Oracle was now much more robust as additional armor and crew space had been installed to give it reasonable protection from enemy cruisers and battleships. Additional missle racks were installed at the cost of the laser cannon, and the same particle-to-pulse refit on the beam armed version was accomplished as well, although with far fewer turrets as the majority had been converted into anti-fighter emplacements
Skirmish
Speed 9
Turns 2/45
Hull 5
Damage 18/6
Crew 24/8
Interceptors 3, Jump Point, Escort, Anti-fighter 6
Weapons
Missle Rack 30 F 2AD SAP, Precise, SL
Medium Pulse Cannon 10 F/P/S/A 2AD TL
Oracle-class Patrol Cruiser
While the Olympus served admirably as a long range patrol ship, its logistics problems serving its railgun and missle racks proved problematic onceit ran into oppostion, nearly always having to return and resupply after nearly every encounter. Its lack of fighter cover was keenly felt also, as the ubiqitous raiders nearly always managed to to damage the ship before they were driven off or destroyed. With those two thoughts in mind, the Oracle proved to be an ideal candidate, as its own cruising endurance and integral jump engine provided the perfect starting point. Its main armament was gutted, with both the laser cannon and missle racks being removed in favor Starfury launch bays. With the removal of those, Pulse cannons were fitted in place of the particle beams. It was quickly found though, that the power plant was now producing an excess of power, so the pulse cannons were upgraded even further into heavy turrets. A controversial decision was made during its design, as certain Earthfore design personnel felt it lacked the punch of the Olympus heavy railguns. With power still in excess, fixed arc Plasma cannons were installed as well, providing a heavy weapon capable of gret damage, although at much shorter distance than the railguns of the Olympus.
Speed 12
Hull 4
Turns 2/45
Damage 16/5
Crew 22/6
Craft 2 Starfury
Interceptors 2, Jump Point, Anti-fighter 2
Weapons
Medium Plamsa Cannon 8 B 4AD AP TL
Heavy Pulse Cannon 12 F/P/S/A 6AD TL
Thoughts, comments?[/i]
