COMMENCE TRASHY SCIFI! See if you can find the Penny Arcade reference. A cookie to the person who finds the other reference, in the weapons section.
Faladhi Empire at a Glance:
Population: 267 billion sentients on 32 worlds, 19 moons, and 2,167 asteroids
Sphere of Influence: 44 Parsecs or 143.5 LY, with several irregularities out to 49.05 Parsecs or 160 LY
Demographic Breakdown: 79% Faladhi, 12% Shimian, 5% Sbera, other minorities
Total Fleet Tonnage: 8.9E11 tons in 2,189 interstellar ships, 560 large orbital installations, and 12,000+ smaller craft
Current Capitol: Denan IV, population 15 billion. Faladhi homeworld.
Cultural precis: The Faladhi Empire, for lack of a better term, has a three level heirarchy that has lasted roughly 1300 years. A landed aristocracy numbering roughly 8% of the total population is supported largely by heavy automation and other technological amenities. The remainder are commoners, once serfs before the industrial and electronic ages. Now these commoners have considerable social and economic freedom when compared to their days as peasants. The peasantry is broken into castes. It is possible to change caste, but it is infrequent to this day and the caste system still serves as the economic bedrock for the empire. Castes include large martial and artisan classes, with the remainder being taken up with industrial and agricultural duties.
The nobility has a much more intriguing role. Simply by dint of population and technology much of the Faladhi war machine is now composed of commoners, so the overwhelming pressure for the nobility towards military service has diminished somewhat. Instead the nobility tends to social leadership roles in all fields, whether as captains of industry or as politicians. A large fraction, roughly one sixth, of the nobility still assumes their traditional roles as generals and the military elite. Rank in the elite is determined by a series of aptitude tests taken throughout life geared towards indicated profession and trade. Certain technologies and vessels are still geared towards exclusive use of the nobility and bear the trademark black on white colors of the Assembly of Houses, most notably the Asura-class Dreadnought. Originally the ships of the nobility bore the same embellishments of the artisan class as the common lineships, but as duelling resurged in popularity such crass frippery was stripped from the hulls of noble craft to increase thrust to mass ratios. While the artisan caste has complained mightily, they still have a massive customer base in the common navy.
At the top lie the royal family, which has expanded dramatically over the centuries and is firmly lodged in its roots. Almost 75% of the extended royal Faladhi family is currently serving in the military. The current emperor is Izval the Physicist. The current heir is named Shaeder, who is currently remaining on the homeworld organizing the Faladhi offensives on their neighbors. The second in line by ability is Rejas, currently in command of the flagship Shrike and on extended deployment in Shimian space.
Faladhi ship recognition guide, released several months ago
The Faladhi fleet is overwhelmingly composed of ships of the Common Navy, bearing the traditional green on black colorscheme. Due to continuing automation of traditional labor tasks, the artisan caste has found a great deal of work adorning the ships of the line. The shipmaker subcaste of the artisans recently decided upon the current winged incarnation as a suitably intimidating motif. The segments are reinforced, providing a measure of ablative protection though their destruction can be as much a setback for a ship with close range weaponry as a boon.
Faladhi ships tend to be focused around a closing engagement, using their multiple-shot Missile Bays to pepper an enemy's defense before closing with their rapid-fire Alary Blasters or laser batteries. Shirking the familiar pulse cannons entirely, Faladhi close-in weaponry is largely derivative of light lasers. In smaller numbers on newer hulls the Faladhi also deploy scatter-beam lasers, high powered but inaccurate weapons. The most recent ships, notably the Fafnir-class destroyer, the Cataphract-class battleship, and the Shrike feature extremely powerful medium ranged lasers. Instead of any active defenses, Faladhi ships feature strategically reinforced armor plates providing adequate protection. A terribly conservative group, the Faladhi are being very slow at implementing captured Shimian railgun technology.
Faladhi patrol ships are generally either hit-and-run ships or slow support craft, with the Procyon and Hawk falling into the former, and the Jacinth and Butterfly the latter. Faladhi destroyers are oriented around group operations, with ships like the Agamemnon, Sabembermoff, and Jamiroquai suited for fleet actions and the Cruithne and Fafnir assault destroyers for close range flanking maneuvers. Faladhi battleships tend to have similar specified roles, with the Tiefling notably as an entirely short range assault battleship. Cataphract, Daphne, Scamander, and Ouroboros-class battleships are all suited to ranged combat, while the Perseus is at home at all ranges. Notably Perseus and Cataphract class vessels are extremely rare, having just come into production and featuring cutting-edge technology.
At the core of almost any Faladhi military operation is one of thier dreadnoughts. Daeva and Reconquista dreadnoughts are the most well-rounded, offering withering all-round firepower at all ranges, heavy armor, and decent mobility. The noble ships are more specific, with the Jormungand-class dreadnought best suited supporting a line of long range battleships with its large attack drone complement and repair systems. The Asura-class dreadnought is currently the most popular hull by far amongst the nobility, offering great mobility with its advanced jump drive (one of the technologies the commoners are not allowed to use) and pinpoint accuracy with its beamers. The Asura sees a great deal of use in the current conflict, operating independently to destroy commercial operations of the foe rapidly with overwhelming firepower. The Asura also sees use at home as the ship of choice in the occasional honor duel. With the exception of the Shrike itself and the Jormungand class, the Faladhi dreadnoughts all feature minor mobility in their weapon appendages. While locked into position for space combat, particularly craft with multiple fixed weapons like the Asura will reposition these appendages in an atmosphere to better target surface installations.
Mixed light patrol force returning to dock in preparation for departure. In the leftmost group, clockwise from top-left:Agamemnon-class fleet destroyer, Cruithne-class assault destroyer, Jamiroquai-class escort destroyer, Sabembermoff-class heavy destroyer.
Center is Fafnir-class advanced assault destroyer.
Large station is Ballos-class orbital fortress, smaller is Glamour class firebase.
First heavy task force breaking orbit under escort, recognition guide attached.
1: 2x Hawk-class advanced patcoms
2: 2x Procyon-class patrol gunships
3: 3x Butterfly-class harassers
4: 2x Jacinth-class harassers
5: Ouroboros-class carrier
6: Tiefling-class assault battleship
7: Scamander-class experimental battleship
8: Daphne-class fleet battleship
9: Cataphract-class experimental command ship
10: Perseus-class experimental command ship
Main body of fleet now underway, capital ship group. Top row from left: Daeva-class assault dreadnought Prime, current CO Captain Aach
Asura-class noble dreadnought Falcata, current CO Lady Fen
Reconquista-class assault dreadnought Falx, current CO Captain Fith.
Bottom left: Jormungand-class battle carrier Durga, current CO Lord Haldt.
Bottom right: Imperial flagship Shrike, current CO Prince Rejar.
Author/Designer's Notes:
The Faladhi fleet initially began balanced against the stock ships, but seem to have succumbed to power creep rather dramatically. At some point I believe I will sit down for a few days and do nothing but pit my ships against each other until I have a sane balancing system, and just scale it back to work with the stock ships. The ships are named by class, with PT indicating patrol ship, DD indicating destroyer, BB indicating battleship, DN indicating dreadnought, SD indicating superdreadnought, and SS indicating space station. This fleet began as just personal ships I was pitting against the stuff my friends threw together, and they can probably find themselves referenced in here. Oh, what else... Ah. I drew huge tons of inspiration from a couple-years-old memories of Warning Forever, particularly in the name of the Asura-class. The name stuck with me and started me naming everything else (like its counterpart the Daeva) and made me want to try and depict mobile limbs. Sadly BSF has yet to implement such radical technology. Hope you enjoy it, and any commentary welcome (though try and be constructive)!
Weapon note: Q-click on weapons to check out what I've added. Fast-tracking beamers are like the rear beamer on the Oenone, turning rapidly. Advanced and Heavy lasers are modded mining lasers. Missile Bays are multishot missile launchers. ER <weapons> have longer than standard range. Alary blasters have damage 12, range 600 and reload 18 frames, and are a reference to something.
Edited for spelling... I'm stupid.
Very good fleet.
