Battlestar Galactica (Re-imagined Series)

THE GALACTICA (Reimagined Series)

Craft: Battlestar Galactica (BSG-75)
Type: Colonial war-era class battlestar carrier/battleship
Scale: Capital
Dimensions:

• Length: 1438.64m (4720ft)
  
• Width: 536.84m (1762ft)
• Height: 183.32m (602ft)

Skill: Capital ship piloting: battlestar
Crew: 3,500 (approximate)

• Gunners: 1,124
• Troops: 500
• Skeleton: 800/+10

Crew Skill: Astrogation 9D, capital ship piloting 8D+1, capital ship gunnery 7D, sensors 6D, starship gunnery 7D
Passengers: 100 (roughly standard; can carry hundreds more in emergencies)
Cargo Capacity: 50,000 metric tons
Consumables: 5 years
Cost: N/A
FTL Capable: Yes (Colonial, see below)
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D+2
Space: 6
Hull: 8D

Defenses

• Ablative Armor: 1D (see below)
• Reactive Armor: 1D (see below)
• Shields: N/A

Sensors

• Passive: 50/1D
• Scan: 100/2D
• Search: 200/3D
• Focus: 5/3D+2

Ships

• Vipers: 20/40
• Raptors: 5/30
• Shuttles: 6

WEAPONS

24 Primary Dual Kinetic Energy Weapons

Location: Mounted on upper and lower portions of the hull
Fire Arc: turrets
Crew: 4
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Scale: Capital
Fire Control: 3D
Space Range: 3-12/25/50
Atmosphere Range: 300-1.2/2.5/5km
Damage:
-Flak Rounds: 6D+2 (Blast Radius: 0D/-1D/-2D)
-High-Explosive Rounds: 8D+2

Ammo: 200 (reloadable magazines)
Rate of Fire: 1 (fire-linked, full damage); 2 (not fire-linked, -2 damage)

514 Dual Point-Defense Kinetic Energy Weapons

Location: Scattered about the hull
Fire Arc: 100 front, 150 right, 150 left, 50 rear, 64 turrets
Crew: 2
Skill: Starship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 3D
Space Range: 1-3/12/24
Atmosphere Range: 50-300/1.2/2.4km
Damage:
-Flak Rounds: 5D (Blast Radius: 0D/-1D)
-High-Explosive Rounds: 6D
Ammo: 1,000 (reloadable magazines)
Rate of Fire: 1 (fire-linked, full damage); 2 (not fire-linked, -2 damage)

12 Missile Tubes

Location: Mounted in the forward hull
Fire Arc: "turret"
Crew: 1 (bridge crew)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Scale: Capital
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 1/3/7
Atmosphere Range: 100/300/700
Damage: Varies by warhead type
-Conventional: 9D
-Nuclear: 10D (Blast Radius: 0D/-1D/-2D/-3D)
Ammo:
-Conventional: 100(per launcher)
-Nuclear: 5 to 7 (varies, see below)
Rate of Fire: 1 (takes a full round to reload)

DESCRIPTION

Galactica (BSG-75) is a veteran battlestar and the last of her kind still in service with the Colonial Fleet at the time of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. Built during the early days of the Cylon War, she remains the only military vessel without integrated computer networks. Without networked computers, Galactica never upgrades to the new integrated defense system software developed by Dr. Gaius Baltar and his team. Because of this and other factors, she becomes one of only two known battlestars (the other being Pegasus) to survive the renewed Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies. At the time of this attack, she was part of the 75th Battlestar Group (BSG-75).

GAME NOTES

Before getting into the in-depth specifics of the Galactica, I wanted to take a moment to explain some key game rule material I've added to her for the purposes of gameplay. A while back, I did up some stats for the Andromeda, a mighty ship in its own right from a series of the same name. This ship had no actual 'shields' like in Star Wars, but it did have many different defensive systems that nevertheless gave it amazing survivability, even when the odds were vastly against it. I have adapted a couple of those systems here for the Galactica (and probably any future vessels related to it), to reflect how it relied on sheer bulk and heavy armor to defend it against the massive amounts of damage it soaked from many battles against the Cylons.

ARMOR

• Ablative Armor: The hull is designed to deflect incoming weapons fire away from it when it connects with the outer surface. Enemy shots lose 1D of Fire Control to land a hit on this ship's hull.

• Reactive Armor: The hull is designed to 'react' to incoming hits when they connect, blowing specially designed panels of itself off to keep damage from scoring deep into the ship. When a amaging hit is scored against this ship, instead of taking what is rolled on the Starship Damage Chart, it can instead reduce it's Hull Dice by one 'pip' per category of damage rolled on the chart (1 for Light Damage; 2 for Heavily damaged; 1D for Severly Damaged; 1D+1 for Destroyed; +1 pip for every 5 rolled past Destroyed result). It can do this for a maximum of 2D, then takes damage as normal.

NOTE: The Galactica also seems to be missing many panels of its armor since day one of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, and later iterations (such as "Razor") show other vessels of her class with complete armor during the original Cylon War when these battlestars were first introduced. The Galactica lists above as having 1D in each of these defensive systems, but if it or similar ships like it have their full plating, then these would be 1D+2, or perhaps even more.

NUCLEAR WARHEADS:

The Galactica's missile launchers are nuclear- capable, though she seemed to never have very many of these. These are the most powerful weapons in the arsenals of most ships in Battlestar Galactica. Aside from packing major damage (10D!), they also have a blast radius (0D/-1D/-2D/-3D) like grenades and other explosives, though the range is in space units (100m/space unit) instead of meters. They also have an EMP effect (electromagnetic pulse) that works like ion weaponry from the Star Wars setting. The rules for this work just like ion weapons do in the WEG Star Wars RPG rulebook, except that it's a blast radius affect. Also, the nuclear blast damage is completely adjustable and can have less blast radius AND/OR Damage (to a minimum of 0D/-1D range and/or 5D damage), and the EMP effect is twice the Damage blast radius, with the damage's strength in dice (again, 0D/-1D/etc.). The ability to adjust the stats of these missiles is similar to current nuclear weapons technology, as they may be adjusted to take out a hardened target, while trying to preserve surrounding terrain or allied forces. Like using flak rounds in the KEWs, nukes may be fired first to destroy or weaken a target, then sending in fighter craft after the initial impact.

KINETIC ENERGY WEAPONS (KEWs):

These are the Galactica's main weapons, powerful guns that use highly advanced technology to produce effects similar to older firearms and cannons, but with much more deveatating effect befitting a large spacecraft like a battlestar. They can fire different forms of ammunition, such as high-explosive for penetration, or flak rounds for airbursting purposes like saturation fire to take out incoming fighters or cause havoc along the hulls of other capital ships. These guns come in two types; the main guns used for capital scale combat, and the lighter versions used against smaller craft.

The Galactica has been seen on multiple occassions using these weapons in tactical engagements, including saturation fire where it's guns choose a direction (fire arc) and saturate it with flak rounds. This is preferably used when enemy fighters are coming in from a specific direction. The sensor operators give firing solutions to the gunnery crews, who adjust their aim and open up with their guns. This makes the entire fire arc deadly to pass through, even to Galactica's own fighters, who are ordered to steer clear from the affected area to either take out fighters that are not taken out by the saturation fire, or are engaging the enemy capital ship itself

• Saturation Fire: A Sensors roll of the range Difficulty Level is needed, made before the guns fire. The weapons then open up on the desired fire arc with all guns, saturating the arc with flak rounds. Any space craft caught in the affected fire arc must roll against that range's Difficulty every round while they fly through it under fire. The Difficulty is Difficult at long range, Very Difficult at medium range, and Heroic at short range. Failure means they take fire and are hit (GM's discretion on how to work out damage!).

HACKING IMMUNITY

The Galactica is a Colonial War-Era battlestar, one of the first twelve ever produced. They were made with none-networked computer systems which make the Cylon's wireless hacking abilities less of a concern, as this had caused so much easy destruction to the Colonials before the battlestars were introduced. The battlestars need computers to run what sophisticated systems are needed to make the ships work, but they are not linked together as any advanced computer systems should be, and they require much more raw manpower to operate. But this gave the Colonials the edge they needed to persevere in the original Cylon War. This hacking immunity is rendered useless if the crew ever network their systems for higher computing speed and ability, as was shown when Tigh and Gaeta did so to find the rest of the Fleet when they lost contact once before, leaving the ship open to Cylon hacking.

HISTORY:

THE FIRST CYLON WAR

Galactica was one of the first twelve battlestars to be constructed by the Colonials, each representing one of the twelve colonies; Galactica represented Caprica. As such, she is some 50 years old. While solidly built, various factors during Galactica's construction led to the shipyard "cutting corners" when she was originally built, with various components not completed to spec ("No Exit"). Following the outbreak of Cylon hostilities several more battlestars were built. Galactica's first commander was named Nash.

The original battlestars were all designed with non-integrated systems to avoid the Cylons' demonstrated ability to override or subvert networked command and control systems early in the war (Miniseries). Rather than technological sophistication, the battlestar depended on its sheer bulk and defensive/offensive capabilities to ward off any threats to itself or the Colonies.

After the rather mysterious Cylon armistice, and their withdrawal from Colonial space, Galactica and her sister ships served the Twelve Colonies in a variety of roles. While her surviving sister ships were scrapped or upgraded to match the systems capabilities of newer Colonial vessels, Galactica continued in service without her systems being fully networked or integrated, making her unique among Colonial military vessels. Galactica was relegated to intra-system duties for at least 20 years prior to her decommissioning.

DECOMMISSIONING

With her active career drawing to a close, a decision was taken to retire Galactica and decommission her from service. Colonial Fleet chose not to scrap her, but to turn her into a combination of living museum to the original Cylon War and an educational center, with her conversion being overseen by her final commander, William Adama.

At the time of her formal decommissioning ceremony, Galactica is stripped of all but one of her operational Viper Mark VII squadrons, her munitions are destroyed, and her starboard landing pod is converted into a pressurized museum which houses (among other things) a full squadron of Mk. II Vipers as well as a Viper model that appears older than the Mark II (Miniseries, also in deleted scenes).

RETURN OF THE CYLONS

With the renewed and unexpected Cylon hostilities, Galactica is quickly brought back to combat condition and sorties several Mark IIs retrieved from her museum, engaging in her first battle with the Cylons in over 40 years (all but one last Mark VII squadron were sent to Caprica for reassignment). She survives a direct hit by a tactical nuclear missile, and later jumps successfully to Ragnar Anchorage to replenish her empty ammunition stores at this strategic depot.

Galactica emerges from the anchorage and engages one basestar with her gun batteries, providing cover for a fleet of 75 civilian ships harboring survivors of the Twelve Colonies. Once the entire civilian fleet successfully jumps away, and as a second basestar approaches to join the battle, Galactica recovers her remaining Vipers and jumps to the rendezvous point beyond the Red Line, never to return to Colonial space (Miniseries).

LEADING A RAGTAG FLEET

Since the exodus of the Colonials from their overrun homeworlds, Galactica becomes both protector and provider for the Fleet. She provides covering fire for the Fleet during Cylon attacks no fewer than 240 times ("33", "Act of Contrition"). The battlestar provides much of the Fleet with recycled water ("Water") and she is the primary source of medical care, where groups of civilians are periodically brought aboard for check-ups and treatment ("Litmus"). Galactica also undertakes internal policing duties within the Fleet ("Water", "Bastille Day").

Galactica successfully goes on the offensive against the Cylons, capturing a tylium fuel mining and processing plant in the process ("The Hand of God").

The advanced battlestar Pegasus, commanded by Admiral Cain, joins Galactica approximately 6 months into their exile (See the series timeline for special information about this milestone). The two battlestars destroy two basestars as well as a critical Cylon support ship known as the Resurrection Ship. After Admiral Cain's death, President Roslin promotes William Adama to Admiral, restoring him to overall Fleet command, but now with two battlestars at his disposal ("Resurrection Ship, Part II").

NEW CAPRICA

Following the founding of New Caprica, Galactica is assigned to the orbital defense force that protects the planet. During this time the majority of her crew are allowed to the surface in an effort to populate the planet and restore the human race, a majority of whom are seemingly convinced that the Cylons will never find New Caprica. The diminished crew inevitably results in standard maintenance becoming overlooked or ignored; basic military responses, such as the launching of alert fighters and routine training exercises become difficult to execute. One year following the founding of New Caprica, a fleet of Cylon ships jump into orbit of the planet. Severely limited in their abilities, Admiral Adama orders the defense fleet to jump away from New Caprica along with a handful of civilian ships still in orbit of the colony. They vow to eventually return to New Caprica and liberate it from the Cylon invaders ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").

BATTLE OF NEW CAPRICA

Four months after their escape, Galactica's staff is still in the process of developing a rescue strategy with 16 training exercises having been completed and a 17th underway when an accident causes its early cessation ("Occupation"). This forces both a change in strategy and the reformulation of a rescue plan to deal with personnel who have not seen conflict in 16 months. While Galactica fights to liberate the Colonials on-planet, Pegasus is assigned to protect the remaining civilian fleet and continue its search for Earth ("Precipice", "Exodus, Part I").

After coordinating with the New Caprica Resistance, Galactica leaves Pegasus to guard the space-bound members of humanity while it uses a series of drones to misdirect the bulk of the Cylon Raiders and avoid immediate detection by baseships, thus allowing the civilians on the planet to escape to their ships and flee New Caprica. Galactica then jumps into low orbit, plummeting from an altitude of 100,000 feet. As the ship falls, Admiral Adama orders the launch of all remaining Vipers. Galactica then jumps back into orbit. In the subsequent battle with the orbiting basestars, Galactica is overtaxed, out-gunned, and faces destruction when Pegasus unexpectedly arrives. Pegasus's salvos draw the attention of the basestars away from Galactica, buying Galactica time to bring her FTL drives back on-line and escape, but at the cost of Pegasus's destruction ("Exodus, Part II").

Galactica bears the scars of the battle with significant scorching and dents to the hull. Nonetheless, the battlestar remains combat ready, holding off a superior Cylon force for a short duration in the Battle of NCD2539 ("A Measure of Salvation"), and threatening to use its nuclear arsenal twice after New Caprica ("The Eye of Jupiter", Crossroads, Part II"). Given the loss of Pegasus, Galactica now boasts a larger crew, Viper and Raptor complement, to the point where there are more pilots than there are ships to fly ("Torn"), although the training of new recruits is still ongoing ("Dirty Hands", Crossroads", "He That Believeth in Me"). Further, there are various redundancies between the two crews that are appropriately dealt with (e.g. Lee Adama in a deleted scene from "Exodus, Part II").

In "A Day in the Life", Colonel Tigh comments that Galactica took so much damage in this battle that it would "take six weeks in dry dock just to bang out the dents". This indicates that the damage is extensive enough to require a significant amount of time (probably months) for full repair, and would be unlikely to survive a massive battle again.

RESUMING THE SARCH FOR EARTH

Galactica takes aboard a significant quantity of civilians following the exodus from New Caprica, as several civilian ships are lost during the escape from the failed colony. Cramped conditions increase as crew and civilians struggle to adapt to life back aboard a ship. The civilians reside on the refurbished starboard hangar deck as a refugee camp nicknamed "Camp Oil Slick" and later "Dogsville" ("Torn, "The Woman King").

During a food shortage crisis caused by contamination of the Fleet's food processing systems, Galactica (along with her Raptors acting as pilot ships) guides the civilian Fleet through an area of intense heat, light and radiation caused by a dense star cluster to reach edible resources on the algae planet. Galactica's heavy armor and radiation shielding protect her from the intense effects of the cluster, but the ship still suffers hull damage and decompression. The ship confronts a Cylon fleet and barely escapes a nova during the events over the algae planet, jumping out at the last moment after recovering its ground teams and additional data on a way-point to Earth known to the Colonials as the Ionian Nebula ("The Eye of Jupiter", "Rapture"). Repairs continue on the journey to the Ionian nebula. Damage to one particular airlock nearly causes the deaths of Galen and Cally Tyrol during what they expected to be a quick repair of a hull micro-fracture ("A Day in the Life").

When the Fleet reaches the nebula, four Cylon baseships are detected following an unexplained power outage. With the entire Fleet crippled and unable to escape, Galactica scrambles her Vipers and prepares for a lopsided fight, outnumbered and outgunned ("Crossroads, Part II"). During the following battle, Galactica manages to hold off the main attack of the massive Cylon attack force. Despite the damage suffered in previous engagements, the old warship wields her main guns and point defense batteries effectively again in defense of the Fleet. During the battle Galactica takes many hits while covering the fleet although without crippling damage. Despite having the advantage, and managing to destroy or damage several civilian ships, the Cylons retreat in the middle of the battle, after detecting one of the Final Five among the Colonials ("He The Believeth in Me").

Galactica is once forced to prepare for a battle against the rebel Cylon basestar, but the Demetrius arrives to defuse the situation. In the wake of the basestar disappearing from the Fleet ("Guess What's Coming to Dinner?"), Saul Tigh assumes command of Galactica, jumping along with the Fleet ("Sine Qua Non").

After Kara Thrace picks up a strange signal in her Viper, the Colonials have a direct bearing towards Earth. Shortly later, after several years of searching, Galactica and her Fleet finally make the last jump to Earth ("Revelations").

POST-EARTH

After discovering Earth is a nuclear wasteland, discipline and morale on Galactica fall dramatically and the overall cleanliness of the ship suffers, e.g. outside CIC, the words "Frak Earth" are spray painted on the walls ("Sometimes a Great Notion"). When former deck chief Galen Tyrol disables the FTL drive, foiling the mutineers' escape with the ship, he discovers multiple tears in the chamber's walls, a sign that the aging battlestar's structural integrity is faltering ("Blood on the Scales").

A structural survey of the ship finds several torn supports and weakened areas in the hull, and a more in-depth examination finds endemic metal fatigue throughout the ship, with virtually every part of the hull riddled with small cracks and fissures.

Galactica's advanced age, the corners cut during construction and the abuse it has been put through since the war started contributed to its condition. Tyrol suggests treating the damaged parts of the ship with an organic Cylon resin from the Rebel Baseship, which would fill the cracks and bear the stresses, which Adama at first refuses. However, Adama finally appreciates Galactica's dire condition when he finds a tear in a bulkhead in his quarters, and orders Tyrol to carry out his plan to repair the ship ("No Exit"). Tyrol later says that the resin will buy more time but the ship's integrity has been fundamentally weakened and it might not survive more FTL jumps - it is impossible to say how long she can hold. Galactica is dying of old age and accumulated battle damage.

Later Galactica is damaged even further when Boomer jumps away very close to the hull. The resulting spatial distortion of her Raptor's FTL jump causes what appears to be buckling and explosive decompression in several sections of the alligator head of Galactica on her port side ("Someone to Watch Over Me"). This causes a chain reaction of explosions, structural failures and power outages throughout many parts of the ship including CIC.

At first refusing to accept the reality of the ship's fate, Admiral Adama gives the emotionally painful order to stop the repairs and begin the process of abandoning ship, moving to the Rebel Baseship as the Fleet's new flagship ("Islanded In a Stream of Stars"). As the ship is slowly offloaded of parts and personnel, the Admiral relents one last time, stops the scrapping of the battlestar, and calls for volunteers for what will likely be Galactica's final mission - to get the kidnapped Hera back from Cavil's Cylon colony ("Daybreak, Part I").

ENDGAME: BATTLE OF THE COLONY

With a skeleton crew and a frail battlestar, Admiral Adama executes a daring mission to rescue Hera Agathon. Galactica jumps to the Colony at point-blank range. Besieged by the Colony's gun batteries at first, the Hybrid Anders manages to take them and the Colony's Hybrids offline. As Galactica's Vipers engage incoming Raiders, her Raptors jump directly from their berth in the starboard flight pod (causing extensive damage to it) and maneuver to board the Colony.

Adama does the unbelievable: he rams Galactica's bow into the Colony, forming not only a second breech for his search teams to enter, but also forming an alternate escape route. The rescue is successful thanks to Boomer's help (before Athena kills her), but Galactica is far from safe. The Raiders are still attacking the ship, destroying at least one of its remaining heavy gun batteries. The rescue teams are pursued back to Galactica by Cavil and his troops, determined to recapture Hera. Platoons of enemy Centurions swarm into the ship. Cavil personally leads an attack on CIC but is foiled.

Things appear to settle down after Cavil and Adama call a ceasefire. Cavil agrees to let Galactica leave with Hera in exchange for the information needed to bring back resurrection technology. Part of the deal is that Cavil will leave humanity alone forever as well. The Raiders return to the Colony, while the Vipers return to Galactica. Unfortunately, as the Final Five begin to download their knowledge into the Colony, they are exposed to each other's secrets; Galen Tyrol learns that Tory Foster murdered his wife Cally Tyrol ("The Ties That Bind"). Tyrol flies into a rage and kills Foster, severing the download. Chaos ensues and the ceasefire ends. The Raiders renew their attack on the ship. In the CIC Simon, Doral and Cavil open fire but Apollo and Starbuck kill Doral and Simon while Cavil, realizing the hopelesness of the situation, kills himself.

Meanwhile Racetrack's Raptor, drifting in space after all aboard were killed, is hit by a stray asteroid, causing the Raptor to launch its nuclear missiles into the Colony. The Colony's orbit immediately decays, pulling it into the black hole--threatening to take Galactica with it. But Kara Thrace jumps the ship, using coordinates she had extrapolated from The Music at the last second.

JOURNEY'S END

The jump proves to be too much for the heavily weakened battlestar. Galactica experiences a series of fatal structural failures, permanently losing her FTL ability. But fears of being stranded in space are short-lived as Galactica arrives in the vicinity of a lush, blue-green habitable world, already populated by tribes of primitive humans who naturally evolved there.

The population of the Fleet, arriving later, agree to leave their technology behind and start new lives on the planet they decide to call "Earth". The Rebel Cylons also decide to stay on the planet. With this decision, the Rebel Baseship is left to the Centurions, who leave to seek out their own destiny. Anders, still acting as Galactica's Hybrid, brings the battlestar's adventures to a close as he pilots Galactica and the last ships in the Fleet into the Sun, destroying Galactica and her Fleet.

EQUIPMENT

Apart from any technological upgrades that may have been made to her sister ships, Galactica was built to the general technical specifications of her class.

STARBOARD FLIGHT POD

The starboard landing bay is eventually restored to usable condition, evidenced when Major Lee Adama lands his Raptor in the starboard pod. However, it is possible that this is due to a previously issued quarantine order and not because the flight pod is in regular use ("A Measure of Salvation"). The starboard hangar deck is designated an area of refuge for civilians displaced from lost ships (The Woman King).

During the last mission of Galactica, this pod held a number of Raptors ready for launch, these deployed out of the pod by FTL jump with the result that the shock waves fatally weakened the pods structure and the pod blew open to space ("Daybreak, Part II"). Strangely at least part of the museum setup survives all the way to Daybreak part 2, despite a hull breach and part of it being flattened by a heavy raider ("Scattered"). It's unclear why the museum was kept intact and/or repaired, though it's possible it was put right during the year on New Caprica before the Cylons found the planet, since this is probably the only period when the crew would have any spare time to fix it. This serves as a minor plot hole that may never be resolved.

The museum would certainly have been destroyed in the jump shock wave from the Raptors leaving the pod during the Battle of the Colony or the decompression immediately after that point, any remains were sent into the sun with the rest of the ship.

NUCLEAR WARHEADS

Galactica has five nuclear warheads as of "Bastille Day". Commander Adama uses one warhead to destroy the Cylon basestar orbiting Kobol ("Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"), and Dr. Baltar cannibalizes one to use in his Cylon detector. He later gives the warhead to Gina Inviere, who detonates it aboard Cloud Nine. It is unknown how many nuclear warheads Pegasus has when it encounters Galactica, but the two ships pool their nuclear ordnance stockpiles after that. As of "The Eye of Jupiter", Galactica possesses at least seven warheads ("missile tubes 4 through 10"). The yield of these weapons is unknown. It is likely they are of the "dial-a-yield" design which is common in real-life nuclear weapons. Because the physics of nuclear weapon design is a measurable science, and based on the size of the weapons seen on screen, the yield of Galactica's weapons may lie between 5 and 150 kilotons.

VIPERS

Early in the flight of the fleet, Galactica carried "40 Vipers and 21 pilots" ("Act of Contrition"), of which at least six were Mark VIIs. Following the advent of Pegasus, Galactica receives supplies that aid in the repair and refurbishment of her initial fighter complement ("Pegasus"). Some time later, new Mark VII Vipers are constructed at Pegasuss' Viper construction facilities utilizing the raw ore mined in an asteroid belt ("Scar"), and several of those are assigned to Galactica.

With Pegasus destroyed at the Battle of New Caprica, Galactica absorbs the former's fighter squadrons and personnel, and her Viper complement now counts approximately 80 planes.

RAPTORS

The number of Raptors available to Galactica is portrayed inconsistently. The assumption prior to joining up with Pegasus is that the battlestar has at least five Raptors, having left Ragnar Anchorage with at least eight. After the Battle of New Caprica, Galactica takes on Pegasus's Raptors. The subsequent number of available craft is unknown, but is at least 30, considering how many Raptors are deployed to rescue to the resistance fighters on Caprica ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II") and still have enough to move people from ship to ship through out the fleet.

OTHER CRAFT

Galactica possesses two Heavy Raiders. One is hit by Galactica's defensive fire and crashes into the starboard flight pod with unknown, but probably extensive, damage ("Scattered"). The other returns in operational status from Caprica ("Home, Part I"). One of these Heavy Raiders is relieved of its FTL navigation system for use on the rescue mission to Caprica ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").

A Raider from the first Cylon War may be on board Galactica after one follows Starbuck into one of Pegasus's landing bays and is shot down ("Razor"). A Cylon War era Raider, or at least a replica of one, was present in then Galactica Museum, but has not been mentioned since. A second Raider comes into Galactica's possession after Daniel Novacek's "escape" from a basestar, replacing the one retrieved by Kara Thrace and lost during the quest for the Arrow of Apollo ("Hero"). An experimental stealth fighter, the Blackbird, is constructed using spare parts ("Flight of the Phoenix") and used in a critically successful reconnaissance mission to explore the nature of what comes to be known as the Resurrection Ship. The Blackbird is destroyed after completing its first combat mission ("Resurrection Ship, Part II"). Galactica possesses fuel tankers used to supply fuel to Vipers and Raptors in flight without the need to dock with the ship. These may be dedicated craft or specially fitted shuttles or Raptors ("Occupation").

CREW

Before the attack, Galactica has approximately 2,900 crewmen. By the time of the arrival of Pegasus, attrition has reduced this number to about 2,660. (c.f. Crew tally) It is unknown whether the Colonial Marines account for members or not.

Between "Act of Contrition" and "Resurrection Ship, Part II", Galactica's offensive capability is also greatly hampered by the number of qualified pilots available, and their lack of flight simulators with which to train more. Since Galactica's reunion with Pegasus, this has ceased to be an issue ("Scar").

Galactica Type Battlestar

OVERVIEW

The first twelve battlestars were laid down in the early days of the Cylon War. Each of these twelve battlestars represented one of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol (Miniseries).

The original battlestars were space-going leviathans of more than 4700 feet (1400 meters) in length, housing at least 4 squadrons of 20 Viper space superiority fighters apiece and nuclear warheads. A fully armed battlestar is capable of a wide range of offensive actions, while her defensive armaments ensure she is fully capable of both protecting herself from attack and engaging an enemy at close quarters. Following the end of the war, the original battlestars remained in service and many newer battlestars were built. At the time of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, the newer Mercury class represented the top of the line. Ships such as these and the Valkyrie type battlestars have nearly completely replaced the original battlestars, making Galactica the last of this unnamed class still in its original condition. A few other ships of the class remained in service, although it is likely that these battlestars shared only their external configuration with Galactica, and were upgraded and thus more technologically advanced.

LAYOUT

The design common to Galactica and her sister ships can be broken down into two main sections: the main hull, and the twin flight pods.

MAIN HULL

This comprises the bulk of a battlestar and can itself be divided into three sections:

The "alligator head" contains water storage tanks (Water) and the CIC. The midships area contains the pod retraction mechanisms and crossways linking the hangar decks for the transfer of equipment and personnel (Miniseries).

The stern section contains sublight engines, FTL drives, etc. Four of the sublight engines are in engine pods, and two more are between the pods.

FLIGHT PODS

The flight pods are mounted on either side of the hull and contain a battlestar's Vipers and Raptors. During normal operations, they are extended away from the main hull. During FTL jumps, the pods are retracted against the hull, concealing their open ends and making launches and landings impossible, not including Viper launching; however, this would prevent the return of those Vipers. Each pod comprises two main decks for flight operations: the upper landing bay, which extends the full length of the pod, and the lower launch bays, which provide some 40 launch tubes per pod.

Landing approaches are made from the stern. The preferred approach is a slow run into the landing bay, prior to making a vertical landing on a defined landing area (Act of Contrition). However, in emergencies, combat landings can be made, in which a craft approaches and lands at high speed on its landing skids (Miniseries).

The hangar deck is used for maintenance, repair, refueling, rearming, and launch operations and runs the length of the flight pod.

Specifications

PROPULSION

Despite their massive size, battlestars are extremely maneuverable and can dock with space stations such as Ragnar Anchorage. Battlestars are not designed for atmospheric flight, although their hulls can manage a tenuous upper atmospheric storm like that surrounding the gas giant Ragnar (Miniseries) and can survive a jump and subsequent freefall into the atmosphere of a habitable planet (Exodus, Part II). A battlestar's FTL systems are capable of accurate jumps, able to place them in synchronous orbit above a relatively close planet and of placing them safely in the midst of an asteroid field (The Hand of God), a dense fleet of ships (Scattered), or a planetary atmosphere. However, they are grossly inferior to Cylon systems in terms of safe range (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

ENDURANCE

Battlestars are intended to operate for long periods without resupplying. Their water purification capabilities alone are so efficient that, barring an emergency or unforeseen event, a battlestar can operate "for several years before replenishing" (Water). They also appear capable of undertaking large-scale repairs following battle damage (Miniseries, "Water"). They have ammunition assembly capabilities in the armory (Epiphanies) and may have small general fabrication facilities (Litmus). Vegetable stores and canned goods are kept in titanium lockers (Final Cut). Battlestars are capable of continuing combat operations despite suffering massive damage, as evidenced by Galactica's continuing effectiveness at defending the fleet years after the first Cylon attack and following several punishing engagements (He That Believeth In Me).

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

The original battlestar vessels deliberately avoided the use of networked primary computer systems during the Cylon War, as Cylon forces were adept at infiltrating and subverting such systems (Miniseries).

On Galactica, in the post-Cylon War era, these primary computers remained isolated by practice on order of its last pre-Holocaust commanding officer, William Adama. This no-networks practice saved Galactica from the fate of its sister battlestars in the Fall of the Twelve Colonies as Galactica's no-network order meant that the CNP, installed in almost all Colonial Fleet vessels at the time, could not be used aboard Galactica as the CNP was designed for use with a computer network.

In one dire instance in the early months of their exodus, Galactica networks its primary computers temporarily to aid in computation speeds for jump calculations needed to find the missing civilian Fleet (Scattered), but it is not without consequence. One or more computers are cracked during a Cylon attack with a Cylon virus, which proves resistant to removal and (weeks later) threatens the operation of the battlestar until the computers' hard drives are erased and restored from pre-Fall backup sets (Flight of the Phoenix).

ARMAMENT

• 24 Large Antiship Gun Turrets (mounting 2 guns apiece): These are mounted on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the main hull and the ventral surface of the bow. The two guns on each turret fire in tandem. They have been shown to be quite effective against targets like basestars (Resurrection Ship, Part II). These large guns are able to use both flak ammunition and high-explosive anti-capital ship shells. Additionally, the guns are able to engage in coordinated barrage strategies, such as salvo (and presumably, volley) fire.
• 514 Smaller Point-Defense Turrets (mounting 2 guns apiece): These are mounted on the flight pods and other surfaces. Each barrel fires explosive rounds in bursts.
• Multiple Nuclear Warheads: Deployed from 12 launch tubes mounted in the main hull (The Eye of Jupiter).
• At least 4 squadrons of 20 Viper Space Superiority Fighters: Even the latest Mk. VII Vipers remain compatible with this class's launch and recovery facilities.
• Numerous Raptor multi-role vehicles.

CREW

Galactica's crew complement prior to her scheduled decommissioning was approximately 2,800. This figure is almost certainly higher for a fully staffed, operational battlestar.

LIFE SUPPORT

Approximately twelve oxygen recirculation units are mounted throughout the ship, which replenish oxygen as well as remove ("scrub") carbon dioxide from the air. These devices work continuously (Final Cut).

Source

All text provided by FreddyB of RPGGamer.org

Images stolen from an unknown website at some remote time in the past.