After years of design and prototyping the Thunderbolt Class Battlecruiser is the newest advance in fleet warfare. It bears deadly phasers, powerful railguns, and is prickling with PDCs and anti-air missile launchers. [Armament] 33 Light Phasers 23 Torpedo Ports 8 Heavy Railcannons 23 Flak PDCs 13 "Scorpion" Laser PDCs 18 Adaptable Munition Missile Launchers 2 Medium Phasers 10 Rapid Firing Coilguns 6 Medium Railguns 2 NCI Missile Ports 8 small plasma turrets [Additional Systems] Gas mine ports for anti-air defense. Strike craft rack to house dive bombers or scouts. Bright Dark drones for intersystem/FTL reconnaissance. Radiators for heat dispersion Heat diversion network. (Fuels engines and plasma weapons) [Armor] Fermionic shielding as a first defense Outer layer of carbon composites to defend against plasma and laser weaponry. Main hull of Duralium alloy framed with Terminalium for additional support and with graphene layers spaced throughout. Inner radiation protective layer to defend internal systems from armor bypassing radiation weapons. [Reactor] Voidian high yield anti-matter reactor [Design & Lore points] The Thunderbolt class went through several iterations in design and was repeatedly changed entirely. It was originally classed as a cruiser during design, but increasing size and armament forced it to be moved up to a battlecruiser. After the first complete prototype was assembled, it underwent its first combat tests. Phasers proved highly effective in testing against warships and anti-air defenses proved capable of protecting the ship exceptionally well. After combat testing, the prototype was sent to test general travel and warping. The vessel was shown to be highly energy intensive to accelerate due to its mass, and as a result had very poor maneuverability and acceleration. After prototyping, GASI assembled the first three Thunderbolt Battlecruisers, the GSN "Thunderbolt"(namesake of the class), GSN "Reaper", and GSN "Decimator" [Notes and Disadvantages] The ship has a significant power issue, with the vessel only being able to sustain full weapons usage for a very brief moment. The ship cannot warp during combat on account of this power issue and must enter a low power state for several minutes after intensive power use before it can flee via warp. Despite the extensive heat control systems, the vessel will occasionally suffer from overheating in times of extensive systems use.
