Kimagure Pursuit Cruiser
Because I like weird and offbeat stuff, we're going to take a look at one of the stranger ships ever fielded by the Star League Navy. Apparently designed and built just because some bigwig at Krester Ship Construction thought they could, the SLDF brass was sufficiently impressed by this well-named act of whimsy to order an even dozen of the ships and bring them into service at the height of the Reunification War, presumably to help eliminate those wascally Tauwians. Given that the SLN would later go on to order over three dozen of an expensive battlecruiser they did not like, this seems less like approval to me as patting Krester on the head and sticking their WarShip onto the fridge for a few weeks. They must have proved their worth over the years, because the Kimagures would remain in service for the remainder of the Star League's existence. They would even help land Krester a juicy battleship contract almost forty years later, presumably when front-line commanders who had seen the ships in action firsthand were now the admirals in charge of procurement.
At 780 kilotons, the Kimagure lies right in the middle of the weight class for a cruiser, between the Avatar and Aegis classes that were its initial principal contemporaries. Where the Kimagure shines is the immense fusion drive that propels it to a spleen-congealing 4gs of maximum thrust, earning it the designation of Pursuit Cruiser. That's not to say that it would use that power constantly in pursuit of fleeing enemy ships. After all, Star League crews are still human, and thus function best with their spleens uncongealed*. Like anyone else who wants to actually fight at the end of their trip(or do anything other than moan in pain), Kimagures and their prey will spend most of their time burning at or slightly above 1G. Where ol' Hatchetface's power is revealed is in the ability to burn for short sprints. When your enemy is unlikely to be rated for three Gs(if that), even ten minutes at maximum burn will do wonders for closing the distance. A short sprinting period like that followed by a recovery period at normal acceleration means a much higher likelyhood of catching your prey, and forcing a fight. Once battle is actually joined, you've got more than enough power to pull off any maneuvers you can imagine, to say nothing about easily controlling the range of an engagement.
Once the fighting actually starts, the Kimagure is in good hands. 878 points of ferro-carbide is an extremely tough shell, only beaten in the cruiser class by the Luxor 145 years later. You're not invincible, but a hide like this does give you a wide margin for error, allowing players to experiment with Kimagure tactics and get the absolute most out of the aforementioned engines to pull off all sorts of fancy maneuvers. Do be careful, as you're still vulnerable to thresholding by a lot of capital-grade weapons, and bigger ships have the kind of firepower that can strip your shell FAST if you let them. You're the decision-maker in the fight, so choose the range/armor/gun combination that suits you the most(or suits him the least), and force your enemy to play by your rules.
As last week's article reminds us, the business of any WarShip is war, and for this the Kimagure is very well-equipped. I'm rather worried by the complete lack of capital missiles, as this restricts your fighting ability to normal gun ranges while other ships may be able to send noticeable firepower your way for quite some time before then main battle starts. Once you are on the same map though, this cruiser is far from disappointing. Over 90% of your fighting power is provided by a plethora of medium and heavy capital PPCs, mostly concentrated in the bow and broadside arcs. Most of these guns are grouped into large quadruple bays, allowing you to bracket for all you're worth, and use the extreme range of your guns to maximum effect. (Hmmm...you've got the speed to control the range, and the guns to hit hard at any range you want, even beyond the effective response range of many other ships. Is anyone else seeing a fighting style evolve here?) Sadly, you don't have the heat sinks to fire all these guns willy-nilly, though you do have enough to fire two of your heavy arcs, and maybe one or two or your lighter arcs. The only notable non-energy weapons are a pair of small NACs in the aft. While they do seem odd, it makes sense to me when you factor in the heat curve. Even if you fire both main broadside arcs, you'll still have the capacity left over to fire those tail guns on anyone trying to sneak into your aft arc. Given how important that engine is to Kimagure tactics, having a medium-sized bay always able to cover your tail seems like a good idea to me.
Kimagures are also notable for actually mounting an array of conventional guns, and also for the high technological level of said guns. Numerous ER Large Lasers are found fore and aft, with LB-X turrets in the quarter-arcs, and a sizeable turret of Large Pulse Lasers adding to your tail defenses. In another good move, most of these guns are placed in your low-heat arcs, so even if you're busy blazing away at a WarShip, you'll probably have the capacity to fire one or two additional arcs at fighters that try to hit you from another direction - and ALL of those bays are big enough to crit fighter squadrons, or even most DropShips. Finally, every arc also mounts a large turret of Small Pulse Lasers as a final line of point defense, alleviating some of my worries about that lack of capital missiles.
As a transport, the Kimagure is decidedly lackluster, cementing it in the space-superiority role. Twelve fighter bays and twin DropShip collars allow for just a minimum of organic escorts, so Kimagures expecting to face opposition that their own guns can't handle are advised to fight with friends available, either escorting larger ships in a line squadron, or as the lead ship in a pursuit squadron. A paltry cargo bay of just under nine kilotons also ties it to fleet supply ships instead of independent operations, unless you're carrying Mules or Mammoths on those collars. (This isn't a bad idea, actually. If you can find a safe place to stash your supply ships, you could wreak havoc across a few systems before having to return to a home port for some real resupply.) For boarding actions, a team of thirty marines are permanently stationed aboard the Kimagure, though a lack of shuttles makes their offensive use difficult.
Like many other Star League cruisers, Kimagure are equipped with Lithium-Fusion systems for added strategic mobility. While boosting their ability for independent operations, this is probably most useful when traveling with the Star League's battleships, enabling an entire task force to quickly cross huge distances to respond to trouble situations.
Command of a Kimagure means having options. You've got speed, armor and firepower to spare, so you're not really reliant on any given strategem to avoid defeat. A cautious commander could keep to extreme range all day, tune his PPC bays for maximum accuracy, and snipe until the space cows come home(Taurian jerky?). On the other hand, an aggressive son-of-a-Cameron can rapidly close, relying on superior armor to survive the drive in, and go for a turning fight, outflying his enemy to constantly hit his weakest spots with full-powered guns. Just remember not to get in over your head.
How do you beat the Hatchetface? Heat is the real weakness of this ship, so try to swarm and hit him from all directions. This is obviously easier said than done, but if you can really pull it off, you'll always have someone that cannot be fired effectively upon. Also, don't forget the small hangar deck, heavy fighter strikes will find it easy to get close to a lone Kimagure. Once they do, remember those conventional guns. While the bays are powerful, they are also small in number, so can also be quickly overwhelmed.
*Yes, I know that's not actually a symptom of excessive high-G exposure. I don't care. It's fun to say.
