Igarashii Type: Battlecruiser Introduced: 2708 In class: 34 Mass: 802,000 Sail Integrity: 5 Thrust: 3/5 Fuel: 4000 tons Structural Integrity: 120 Armor: 1400 tons of ferro carbide armor (1120, 186+12 fwd and aft, 187+12 rest) Docking Collars: 4 Fighters: 18 Small Craft: 10 Crew: 208 Lifeboats: 0 Escape Pods: 20 Grav Decks: 65 and 85 meter Cargo: 68,530 Bay 1: Fighters (18) 3 doors Bay 2: Cargo (68,530) 1 door Bay 3: Small Craft (10) 2 doors Weapons: Heat Sinks: 1570 (3140) (enough) Fwd 4 Naval Autocannon 30s FL/FR 4 Naval Autocannon 30s 4 White Shark Launchers 1 Barracuda Launcher LBS/RBS 4 Naval Autocannon 25s 1 Barracuda Launcher AL/AR 4 Naval Autocannon 25s 1 Barracuda Launcher Aft 2 Naval Autocannon 30s Ammo Load: 200 tons of Naval AC 30 ammo 200 tons of Naval AC 25 ammo 60 Barracuda 80 White Shark Designer's notes: Recognize it? :) Overview: The Igarashii class battlecruiser was first deployed by the Draconis Combine early in the twenty-eighth century as an answer to the SLDF's fearsome Black Lion. What's truly interesting about this ship is how much of a role espionage played in its design. A great deal of advanced hegemony technology, such as Ferro Carbide armor, was used to make the ship what it is, almost all of it acquired through the efforts of Kurita intelligence operatives. Even the ship's basic design seems to have been largely copied directly from the Black Lion. Capabilities: The Igarashii is designed to defeat a Black Lion in a stand-up fight, however there is some debate as to how successful the design team was. Both ships are just a hair over eight hundred thousand tons, and each is capable of 2.5 gs of acceleration. The Igarashi has superior armor protection to the Black Lion, and a heavily reinforced hull, and also has marginally better heat disipation capabilities. The Black Lion, on the other hand, outguns the Igarashii by about 33%. Even with the superior heat disipation of the Igarashii, the Lion still has the edge in firepower, and it is debatable whether the Igarashii's heavier armor is enough to overcome that disadvantage. Of course the debate is wholely academic now, as the Igarashii and the Black Lion never faced each other in combat, and there are no Igarashiis left anyway. Deployment: The Combine constructed a total of 34 Igarashii class battlecruisers before the start of the First Succesion War, and based most of them along the Davion frontier. Though the ships never got to face their rival in battle, they did prove to be more than a match for Davion warships such as the Rodney. Their fearsome capabilities, however, made them prime targets and the entire class was wiped out by the end of the First War. Recently, Combine engineers rediscovered the design schematics for the Igarashii, and a few officers have suggested that it might be worthwhile to construct new ships of this class. After the failures with the Yamato class battleship, it has been argued that an old, battle-proven design like the Igarashii is just what the Combine fleet needs. Despite that, there are no plans right now to construct new Igarashiis.