Balao Type: Corvette In Service: 38? Introduction: 2612 Mass: 30,000 Sail Integrity: 3 Thrust: 3/5 Fuel: 300 tons Structural Integrity: 60 Armor: 36 tons of Lamenor Ferro Carbide (50, 10+6 fwd, 8+6 others) Docking Collars: 0 Fighters: 0 Small Craft: 0 Crew: 30 Lifeboats: 4 Cargo: 900 Bay 1: ECM/Stealth equipment Bay 2: Cargo (450) 1 door Bay 3: Cargo (450) 1 door Weapons: Fwd 2 Naval Autocannon 30 FL/FR 2 Large Pulse Lasers Ammo Load: 80 shots of Naval AC 30 ammunition Other Equipment: Lithium Fusion Battery, extensive stealth equipment Designer's notes: Inspired by the crossover fanfic "The Saotome Gambit". Illegal by AT2 rules because of its size (curse them!). ECM/Stealth equipment was calculated as one percent of the ship's mass. As an optional rule, the ship's radar absorbing hull coating and small radar cross section increases the difficulty to detect it with active radar by four, AND radar detection is only possible at a maximum distance of 90 km (5 battlespace hexes). Other means of detection, such as the ship's drive flare, neutrino emissions, and esm follow normal rules. As an alternate (and simpler) optional rule for the ship's stealth ability, the ship may start out a scenario hidden. The craft will loose its concealment whenever it fires weapons or expends thrust. The ECM side of the equipment isn't intended to prevent radar detection, but rather floods fire control systems with interference while the ship runs for it. As an optional rule, the ECM may be switched on during the end phase of any turn. While the ECM is active, ALL craft (friendly and enemy) suffer a +2 modifier to their attack target numbers. Variants: Balao Flight IIA replaces one NAC 30 with eight Maelstrom AR-10 (four each FL and FR) and 35 Adcap standoff guided weapons or white sharks. Overview: The Balao was one of the Star League's least well known warships. Officially classified as a fleet surveilance ship, that designation was intended to serve as a barely plausible smoke screen to cover its real role as an attack ship and raider. The Balaos were designed with one mission in mind, to close to within one hundred kilometers of its target undetected, strike it from ambush, then escape. In order to achieve this goal, the ships were packed with some of the most advanced stealth features the Star League had. The hull was designed to present as small of a radar cross section as posible (like the stealth aircraft of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries), and coated with an advanced radar absorbant material. These technologies combined made the ships undetectable by conventional sensors outside of extreme close range, though only if the craft was not itself using its radar or its drives. This meant that standard tactics for a Balao were to lie in wait for their target along their path of transit, relying on passive sensor systems (ESM) to track them, then hitting them as soon as they came within close range. To achieve a knockout blow, the Balao was fitted out with a pair of massive Oriente-30 naval autocannons. These twin guns give the ship the ability to tear the heart out of a dropship or jumpship in a single barrage. The guns also give the ship a severe first strike punch against conventional warships as much as twelve times its size. Unfortunately, the Balao is not armored for a stand up fight, a consequence of its incredibly compact size. This meant that the ship could not expect to get more than two volleys off before it had to withdraw from combat. In order to help the ship get away, the Star League designers included a powerful electronic countermeasure system in the design, allowing a Balao to flood every fire control radar for a hundred thousand kilometers with interference. A quartet of large pulse lasers were included for a marginal anti fighter defense, and a Lithium fusion battery allows for a quick escape. Despite its exceptional capabilities, the Balao was not everything that its designers hoped for. Its heavy guns, though impressive against transports and dropships, won't do much more than make a large warship mad. As a consequence, the Balao was widely considered to be a flying violation of the Ares Conventions, intended to be little more than a killer of civilian ships (this is one of the reasons that the SLDF didn't talk about the Balao much). Despite this, the SLDF constructed at least thirty Balaos at various yards across the Hegemony (exact numbers and locations have been lost to history) from 2612 to 2760, classifying them as noncombatant surveilance ships. Despite this peaceful designation, Balao captains were known to conduct surprise mock attack drills against the ships of member states. These drills involved closing in to attack range undetected (from fifty to one hundred kilometers) and flashing the target with their fire control radar. Such manuevers were highly dangerous, and at least once a Balao came under fire from its mock target. The majority of the time, however, the Balao succeeded in sneeking up on its target. In some cases the ships even got away without being detected at all (except for the pulse of the fire control radar illuminating the target), inspiring stories among the crews of member state warships of ghost ships prowling the spacelanes. In the year 2764 interest in the Balao was revived with the introduction of the ADCAP standoff guided weapon. This heavyweight guided missile had incredible potential as an antiship weapon, and plans were made to fit out Luxor class cruisers to fire it. At the same time as the first Luxors were undergoing refit, it was realized that the weapons would be even more lethal mated to a small, stealthy ship like the Balao. Rather than designing a whole new ship, engineers set to work on a major variant of the Balao, tagged the Flight IIA (or Type T). One of the heavy naval cannons was sacrificed in favor of eight Maelstom AR-10 launchers. Though the small size of the ship limited its load to only 35 ADCAPs, between the enormous power of the weapons and the ship's ability to strike from ambush, this was considered to be more than enough. At least eight Balao IIAs were built before the Amaris Coup (once again exact numbers simply aren't available). Balaos of both types served to some degree during the Coup, though the nature of the battles of that war limited their usefulness. Exact numbers of ships that survived are unknown, though it was believed that no ships of the class remained in the inner sphere. That is, of course, until now. It was learned late in 3066 that the Capellans have possession of six Balao IIAs. The Capellans claim that the ships are actually craft that chose to stay behind when the exodus fleet left the inner sphere (despite the long held assumption that no star league ship remained behind), however there are no records of these ships serving during the succession wars. Given the nature of the ship, it is possible that they simply escaped notice, though improbable. The ships are all in fairly bad shape. They have no missiles or ammunition for their autocannons, their ECM systems are in need of repair, and their jump drives have been removed. Currently the Capellans are planing to restore all six ships to full operation, though such a project will take time, and without a source for ADCAPs, the craft will have to make do with standard naval missiles, which will drastically reduce their firepower. A couple of states have occasionally considered constructing new ships along the lines of the Balao, however all design efforts have failed. The technology that allowed the construction of so small a jump capable ship as the Balao has been lost, and it may be decades before we see a new ship of this type.