Full Thrust Kra'Vak Heavy Cruisers

 

With the recent release of updated sculpts for the Kra'Vak fleet the range now has no less than three new heavy cruiser hulls.

 

Each is a unique design, and two of them break the common "two big guns" theme of the fleet as a whole.

 

All the new sculpts are intended to supplement the older range, and may represent new wartime construction, or the arrival of forces from War Families that weren't previously involved in the fighting, or a combination of the two. 

 

In the suggested stats below I'm going to go with the assumption that these are at least partially new construction and show a response to human tactics and weaponry.  All of them use three-row "advanced" hulls from the UNSC playtest article, which help keep their expensive drives and weapons online longer during battle without making them more difficult to outright destroy.

 

http://star-ranger.com/UNSCpreview.htm

 

UNDIA Code Name KANJI

 

 

The KANJI class sticks to the common Kra'Vak standard of mounting two large K-guns on weapon outriggers, in this case twin K-3 mounts.  However, it also devotes a large amount of payload mass to multiple small K-gun turrets, giving it unmatched all-arc fire in a fleet that otherwise concentrates heavily on narrow front arc shooting.  KANJIs skimp on defensive scattergun mounts and have less raw firepower than her cousins but they offer no safe approach angles for attackers to exploit.

 

 

I see the class as a direct response to human ships flanking Kra'Vak fleets one too many times.  Massed K-1 guns are not a way to win battles, but they do offer some response to getting outmaneuvered.  That shouldn't happen all that often in theory, but in practice it tends to be the direct cause of many Kra'Vak defeats.

 

TMF 81
NPV 327 / CPV 342
Thrust 6A q 3A q
FTL q
2 Fire Control Systems qq
2 Scatterguns qq
2 Class 3 K-Guns  (F) qq
5 Class 1 K-Guns (All Arcs) qqqqq

Advanced Hull 25 (9/8/8) - 5 crew units, one every 5th box

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UNDIA Code Name KAYAK

 

The KAYAK appears to be an upsized variation of the older KYLIE class, employing the same triple K-3 weapon mount.  The design combines excellent high-efficiency firepower with solid defenses, albeit at a fairly high cost.  Like most Kra'Vak ships her firepower is almost solely front-focused and she remains vulnerable to standard flanking and evasive tactics. 

 

The tri-gun Kra'Vak design has always been one of the better choices when looking for lots of bang for your buck, and the KAYAK is a nice step up from smaller version.  It's a solid choice for any fleet, but has all the same weaknesses of more traditional designs.  No broader arcs here, and while the advanced hull helps it keep shooting for longer it does drive costs up further.

 

TMF 81
NPV 330 / CPV 345
Thrust 6A q 3A q
FTL q
2 Fire Control Systems qq
5 Scatterguns qqqqq
3 Class 3 K-Guns  (F) qqq
1 Class 1 K-Gun (All Arcs) q

Advanced Hull 25 (9/8/8) - 5 crew units, one every 5th box

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UNDIA Code Name KAPOK

 

 

The KAPOK class mounts four lighter K-2 guns on her weapon outriggers, each with gravitic field tuners that allow them far wider arcs of fire than traditional mounts.  She also mounts augmented fire control systems that allow her to target three enemies at once, a fifty percent increase over most cruiser hulls.  The design has slightly less offensive firepower than some of her cousins but has far less trouble lining up shots and is better at engaging multiple small targets.

 

I see this oddball design as being a response to human use of massed strikeboats and corvettes.  Fighters are suicide to fly against scatterguns, which has forced the "attrition unit" role over to small starships and system defense boats.  These tiny targets present a problem for the usual twin-gun Kra'Vak designs, but masses of K-2 guns are decent counter.  Note that this design uses the "rotated" alternate firing arcs that you see in some fan designs, so all the guns have 120 degree firing arcs centered on the front.  That covers the arc from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock for those of you who remember what an analog clock face looks like.  The field of fire comes off the left and right hex faces rather than the vertexes.  

 

TMF 81
NPV 339 / CPV 354
Thrust 6A q 3A q
FTL q
3 Fire Control Systems qqq
3 Scatterguns qqq
4 Class 2 K-Guns  (Front 120 degrees) qqqq

1 Class 1 K-Gun (All Arcs) q

Advanced Hull 25 (9/8/8) - 5 crew units, one every 5th box

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