“You can’t have your cake and eat it too… Either we scratch the Trinity Cannon and go with the straight dual spinal mount or we completely redesign the power transfer assembly.”

- Overheard during the Conquest Mk I 30% Design Review

HISTORICAL & PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW-

The end of the 30th Century of mankind was a time of revolution and upheaval. The Mauridians were overthrowing their Nummidian masters, the Freemen were violently proving that religion wasn’t dead and the Onadai were envisioning another invasion of the known galaxy. The explosion of the Freeman Rebellion stopped all thoughts of peace and harmony as wayward planets and small pirate fleets began actively campaigning against the thinly spread Republican Naval Forces. During a supposed time of peace, wartime production had fallen off and there had been no rush to replace antiquated combat vessels when it was widely known that they would eventually be replaced with the multipurpose vessels that were just seeing construction. It was during this time that the Admiralty of the Republican Navy decided that a stronger response would be needed to ensure the dominance of the Republic through turbulent times.

With the advent of the Turbo Particle Accelerator Cannon (T-PAC) in 2879, many ships were brought in for immediate refit to include these vastly more powerful weapon systems. The T-PAC featured greater range and striking power than the lauded Extended Range Particle Accelerator Cannon. The drawback was it’s inordinately high power consumption. To compensate, many of the larger capital ships were refitted with enormous power capacitors to help drive these new, devastating weapons.

With some vessels, however, this was not enough. One such vessel was the Triumph Battleship. The Triumph Mk III was refitted to accept the new T-PAC batteries, thus, inaugurating the Triumph Mk IV. Unfortunately, under combat condition, the power requirements for both the T-PAC batteries and the Triumph’s much-vaunted Trinity Cannon caused shorts all over the ship.

The Triumph Mk V featured a boosted power output transfer manifold to help alleviate some of the power shortages. But, it was merely a stopgap. It works, but, if the transfer manifold failed... The resulting power shortage could cripple the ship for several seconds until the auxiliaries kicked in. At which time, the Triumph would be an easy target.

It became clear that the Trinity Cannon and these new T-PACs simply could not coexist on the same space frame without a nearly impossible power transfer redesign. And, since the Triumph is built around this enormous tri-barreled mass driver, breaking the spinal mount up would be a costly and time-consuming refit. Thus, a new class must be christened to accommodate the new T-PAC batteries.

This response came in the form of the Conquest Class Battleship, the successor to the Triumph. Envisioned by High Admiral Steven Michael Rodgers, perhaps the most decorated naval officer in the Republican Navy, and constructed under his vigilance the design was awarded a sizable budget and quickly passed through to production.

He stipulated that this new class would need more than the awesome capital ship destroying power of the Triumph, it would have to be able to fight in any combat situation and survive, it would have to lead the attack and still be standing when the smoke cleared. He decided to remove the Trinity Cannon in favor of the standard and easy to power dual spinal mounted mass drivers and add more fighters to a healthy compliment of T-PACs, ER-PACs and fusion missiles. The obvious intent was "More Is Better" and the Conquest showed it, having more firepower on a single platform than any other ship created in the history of the Republic.

The Conquest, in Terran Naval tradition, boasts exceptional armor and shielding. The sheer mass of the vessel however, has made her ungainly, and, despite several attempts to improve her outboard speed, she still tends to fall behind the common mobile Terran Fleet lines.

The obvious improvement is the addition of some three Turbo Particle Accelerator turrets, two forward and one aft. These combined with the other tried and true Extended Range Particle Accelerators and Fusion Missile Launchers; the Conquest is able to deliver devastating firepower in virtually any direction.

Another notable aspect of the Conquest is that she is the first warship built with an internal hyperspace module, giving it the protection it needed for extended combat operations. This was only possible because of the advent of a more powerful metaphysical shield would could safely protect the crew from the waves of energy and radiation that spewed from the module during jump. However, just like all new inventions, problems arise and new technologies appear to supplement or replace the old. And so despite mediocre results with the metaphysical shielding a new and improved shield based off the observations and improvements on the Mark I resulted in a new refit of the Conquest.

The Conquest, along with the Masada and the Avatar represent the last vestiges of the older, more volatile Republic Navy and are slowly being phased out. The Conquest remains, as it is a relatively new design, and it's size and expense makes it difficult to decommission. Additionally, several of the chairmen of the budget commission oversaw the design and deployment of the Conquest Ships, notably, Admiral Rodgers, who still holds power within the Republic Senate. Thus, there's a level of bias that goes into the status of the vessel.

PRODUCTION OVERVIEW-

Since the first Conquest was christened in 2956 all eyes watched how this vessel would perform, the multipurpose ships were already rolling out into production cues and it was surmised that this new versatility would finish off the single-minded warships. Since that time, two major refits have taken place to the Conquest.

The Conquest Mk I Class had production dates from 2956 to 2988. This class still remains in service with the Republic Navy.

The Conquest Mk II was commissioned in 2976 in a singular attempt to increase the class’ overall sub-light speed. Additional thrust vents were installed across the length vessel. To accommodate these new thrusters, the vessel had to be enlarged across the broadsides; this had the undesirable side effect of increasing her mass, which reduced her overall agility. To compensate, the vessels fusion missile launcher compliment was reduced. The results, despite such a determined attempt, were less than satisfactory in this case.

However, other improvements include additional fighters, and an increase of power to the metaphysical shield, which protected the crew of the battleship during hyperspace jumps. The Mark I had the ability to protect the crew under optimal conditions but the fact that the Conquest was designed and built to be put into the messiest of situations and continue to operate with little to no refit time in a dry dock made the easily damaged component a serious liability on the frame.

By 3025, a newer, more powerful shield was fully tested and approved, for use with the Avatar Mk IV. Thus, refit recommendations are beginning to surface for the Conquest, which would perhaps open the door for a renewed attempt to improve the vessel’s speed, or perhaps reexamine the power transfer problems of old which would resurrect the legendary Trinity Cannon.

NOTABLE VESSELS-

R.N.S Conquest (BB-1)- The Conquest was the first ship to actually be put through the meat grinder that enthusiasts call “Trial by Fire”. From the first day of it’s commission it was thrust into fighting situations, putting down no less than two uprisings on colonial worlds while at the same time trolling for pirate incursions in merchant shipping lanes.

No sooner had it quenched the fires of the Freeman Rebellion’s first outbursts and put down the wayward pirate fleets than it was sent to the Nummidian frontier where it was on hand to see the last stand of the Nummidian Ruling Families at the hands of the Mauridian Expeditionary Forces in 3014. The Conquest was able to stop the overexcited Mauridian upstarts from invading the Republic after a few well placed holding actions with the Conquest’s dwindling escort fleet, it tested it’s increased magazine capacity in a cat and mouse firefight that savaged the would-be invaders.

In all, the Conquest counted no less than 25 different actions where it survived and proved a stalwart defense of the Republic in a time when the rest of the Galaxy looked at the Republic as weak.

The Conquest still serves, having been successfully refit to the Mark II standard on orders from High Admiral Rodgers, it remains the flagship in the 1st Battle Fleet, a.k.a. Fleet Conquest.

R.N.S Vengeance (BB-512)- Though this ship is just newly commissioned it is set to provide exciting stories in the future years. Assigned to the newly formed Task Force Rhino and commanded by Fleet Admiral William Willeford, it’s mission is to travel to various hot spots within the Republic and put down whatever dangers the Admiralty or her commanding officer deems threatening. No other ship in any class would provide such a confidence boost to any serving naval officer as to make them think that it could serve such a broad spectrum of missions successfully.

The Vengeance is the new Mark II Refit and has the latest technological advances further reducing the internal structure of the ship and allowing more consumables to be placed aboard as well as a stronger metaphysical shield encapsulating the hyperspace module.

R.N.S Majestic (BB-8927)- Earmarked as a test bed for a future Mk III refit, the Majestic has a new experimental power transfer manifold installed. She also features a new targeting and tracking suite that allows her to fire on targets more accurately at longer ranges.

Commanded by Admiral Juanita Riggs as part of an oversight duty for the Naval Budget Commission as she is put through trails with a mock “simulated” Trinity Cannon aboard. Computers and power management resources were reduced and tasked to power the simulated cannon, even though the mass driver was merely the simple dual driver.

During one such trail run, the Majestic happened upon a small Diesho raiding force consisting of two No'Gong'Tao Class Light Cruisers and a single Dom'Oung'Tao Class Carrier. While the Terran Battleship was forced to withdraw, test telemetry suggests that not only did the mock Trinity Cannon function admirably with the new transfer manifold, had it been real, Majestic may have overcome against those odds.

Armed with this new test data, the Republic Admiralty is clamoring for new tests to make the Trinity Cannon work. Designers are optimistic that advances in power output technology would mark the resurgence of the powerful triple barreled spinal mounted mass driver.

In the meantime, while the Majestic performs her trials, designers and technicians alike are feverishly examining how to emplace the mass driver without having to redesign the vessel’s bow. Results have thus far been unsuccessful and indications are leading to the requirement of a completely revamped forward section, thus demanding a new vessel class, or perhaps a revitalization of the old Triumph class.