| name | |
|---|---|
| General Plans and Schematics | |
| Class |
Trebuchet-class |
| Type |
battle cruiser |
| Statistics | |
| Ship height |
190,000 tons |
| Armament |
10 200 pound guns |
| Other equipment |
autocannons |
Trebuchet-class Battle Cruiser at Universe battle
The Trebuchet-class battle cruiser is a heavily armed class of warship, 190,000 tons, armed primarily with long-range missile batteries and 10 heavy guns, that was approximately as prolific as the Longbow-class Patrol Cruiser at the Universe battle.
Details[]
The piloting skill specialties in the Serenity RPG are done by factors of 10; up to 100 tons is shuttles, 100-1,000 tons is light transports, 1,000-10,000 tons is mid-bulk transports, etc. By that logic, the Trebuchet-class Battle Cruiser, listed in Cortex Shipyard Volume 1 (a non-canon publication, but the entry was written by Lynn Blackson; the only reason I can think that it's not in Six-Shooters & Spaceships is space issues) at 190,000 tons, is in the same category as the Longbow, but it's an escort vessel. In modern naval terms, it's a destroyer, with only 4 support craft of 50 tons or less (gunships or ASREVs). It can't fill the role of a patrol boat, but it carries no less than ten 200 pound guns, 320 long-range 1,000 pound missiles, 4,000 long-range 100 pound missiles, and 640 medium-range 1,000 pound missiles, as well as decoys (the Longbow also carries decoys, but I'm skipping defensive autocannons and decoy missiles; this is merely a comparison of size, support craft, and offensive power). I believe that is enough firepower to destroy a rather large fleet at long range, and there were at least half a dozen of them at the Universe battle, so the Reavers really did an amazing amount of damage in my opinion. They had the clouds, which provided cover from sensors as well as visual, to get close to the Navy fleet, and Reavers seem to like grapplers, which get you too close to shoot at, but they still managed to, perhaps most notably, destroy the Operative's Victoria-class Corvette. The Navy also had all those support craft. Of course, the Reaver fleet was basically every Reaver with a ship still hanging out near Miranda, so it's unclear who had numerical superiority, but I think it's clear that the Navy had superior firepower. They just didn't have a lot of time to fire missiles before the two fleets intermingled. Remember the Operative: "Target the Reavers...target the Reavers! Target everyone!...Somebody, *fire*!"
Trivia[]
- The trebuchet is the most powerful version of a catapult. It is a siege engine that was able to throw stones, since it uses counter-weight and gravity to propel the ammunition, instead of the spring and crossbar that caused a catapult to work. The largest ever built was the Warwolf.