Intrepid (Small Craft class)

Description
Designed during the Age of War era, the Intrepid Assault Craft was a Primitive Small Craft which was used as a multi-function vessel being able to undertake roles of both interceptor and assault craft.

The Intrepid was conceived prior to the Federated Suns fully adopting the aerospace fighter into its military. At the time, the FedSuns was among the last to adopt the aerospace fighter, and its leadership desired a ship that could be used in additional roles for their fleet.

The craft was used to replace early "Assault Shuttles" and small escort craft. The intent was to create a general purpose vessel, so the craft took on roles that many other nations were using a variety of different types of ships for. In addition to serving as a fighter craft, it was used also to transports marines to vessels for boarding actions. The ship was designed with enough firepower to put it on par with the contemporary spacecraft of its day. The ship's performance motivated others into adopting similar vessels.

Eventually, it was phased out by more economic aerospace fighters, due to cost of having so many of these larger vessels by 2455.

Weapons and Equipment
The Intrepid's weapons array had the following: Two Large Lasers, one per wing section which provides the craft its long range firepower. The remaining ship's fire-power comes to bare when it closes in close-in combat, where ship's six Medium Lasers. Three medium lasers are concentrated in the nose, while single laser mounted in each of the two wings. An additional Medium Laser is mounted in the aft to give the ship some measure of defensive ability if it is tailed.

The ship's primitive fusion engine provides enough movement so the ship may reach the maximum thrust of 8. The ship's hull was protected by 18.5 tons of primitive grade of armor. The vessel also had a crew compliment of a single officer, 2 enlisted crew and two gunners.

Cargo
The Intrepid has a Cargo Bay for 1 Foot Platoon, with two cargo doors.

Related Designs

 * Aquarius Surface-to-Orbit Escort craft


 * Lyonesse Surface-to-Orbit Escort craft


 * Tigress Close Patrol Craft

Design Quirks
The Intrepid Assault Craft has the following Design Quirks;
 * Atmospheric Flight Instability
 * Improved Cooling Jacket (Large Lasers)
 * Obsolete (2455)