UEFg Karuna

The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe.

The UEFg Karuna is a fan-made Terran-designed multi-role combat frigate used by the United Earth Federation in Blue Planet. The UEF utilises this class of warship very heavily, particularly as a standard warship deployed during the war with the GTVA. While the Karuna lacks heavy-hitting long-range weaponry, it is peppered with numerous turrets to engage warships effectively at medium and close range. The Karuna also has a small fighterbay, allowing it to launch fighters and/or bombers to escort or engage targets should additional reinforcements be unavailable.

Description:

The UEFg Karuna

Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius Tech Description

The Karuna class frigate, a product of the orbital shipyards of Earth and Mars, is the backbone of the United Earth Navy. These versatile ships perform a variety of missions, including strike, escort, long range patrol and scouting. The incorporation of a launch bay for 12 light to medium fighters provides an added edge to its combat capability. It's simple but elegant design reflects its ingenuity despite the lack of advanced resources and construction facilities. The most noteworthy design concept is the utilisation of a rotating section, creating gravity for those aboard the vessel. This greatly reduces the need for power hungry gravity plating, and serves as a platform for the ships medium range sensor arrays giving them an outstanding field of view. It also acts as a centrifugal power generator that powers most of the secondary subsystems leaving the main reactors free to deliver more power to the engines, weapons and other primary subsystems. The Karuna's weapons array consists primarily of conventional pulse cannon, flak and missile batteries

Blue Planet: War in Heaven Tech Description

The Karuna class frigates are the backbone of the new Federation Navy and are the most versatile warships in the fleet. While smaller than the old Orion class destroyers, they are faster and pack a much greater punch. Armed with several point defence turrets, railguns and heavy missile batteries, they are a deadly threat to any ship that engages them in battle. Ideally suited to independent intrasystem duties, they have been instrumental in maintaining peace and order within Sol. As Solar military forces continue to move closer and closer towards a more generalised ship design, Karuna frigates are expected to serve the navy in their current capacity well into the foreseeable future.

Developer Notes

Downturreted version of Steve-O's original Hyperion frigate.

The Karuna packs so many torpedoes that it can effectively saturate a target's point defenses, leaving no beams or pulse weapons available to fire at oncoming fighters or bombers. This is part of its tactical abilities - on its own, the Karuna lacks the firepower to stand toe-to-toe with most GTVA warships of comparable or greater size.

Name Origin

Karuṇā is a Sanskrit word meaning "Compassion" or "Pity". It is one of the four main pillars of Buddhism. For Theravāda Buddhists, dwelling in karuṇā is a means for attaining a happy present life and heavenly rebirth.

Performance:

Statistics

Name	UEFg Karuna
Type	Frigate
Manufacturer	Manadyne Designs
Max Velocity	40 ms-1
Hitpoints	85 000 pts
Length	1295 m
Turrets	29 turrets
Fighter Complement	12 fighters

Armaments

• Turrets

Age of Aquarius		War in Heaven
Turret Type	Amount	Turret Type	Amount
Mass Driver#Karuna	2	Mass Driver#Karuna	2
Gauss Cannon#Karuna	5	Gauss Cannon#Karuna	5
Apocalypse#Karuna	3	Apocalypse#Karuna	3
Point Defense Turret	11	Point Defense Turret	11
Burst Flak	8	Burst Flak	8

Veteran Comments

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The Karuna can be disturbingly fragile under certain circumstances, such as when it is being skewered by beam fire. Under any other circumstance, the Karuna is nearly everything that can be expected from a frigate. While it is not as powerful as the Narayana and it lacks proper long-range weaponry apart from the two mass drivers at the front, it has all the teeth and muscle required to handle any close- to medium-range combat from any direction. Add in the fighterbay and a crew of experienced pilots, and you have yourself a small fortress that can easily fend off multiple attacks from any fighter or bomber the GTVA can fling at it.

As noted above, the Karuna does not fare well in the face of beam fire - nothing is quite as wince-inducing as watching a lucky TerSlash rip across the broadside - but it's also worth noting that it can outpace all of the GTVA's cruisers and corvettes by a fair amount (for a capital ship), and has slightly more hull points than some of them. The Karuna is also fairly - perhaps even disturbingly - maneuverable for a ship of it's size. Never underestimate them, especially if there's two of them working together.

Just not quite tough enough to take one salvo from the frontal beam cannons of a GTD Titan. It performs the role a midway between a corvette and destroyer would in the GTVA. Although you occasionally see a lone Karuna in War in Heaven it is rare, and usually travels with another warship. Even in Insane, typically Karunas basically run their own escort, as any stray bomber wings coming in will probably be almost instantly destroyed on contact with the frigates defenses; shoot down incoming warheads and the defense screen will do the rest.