GTC Leviathan
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| The GTC Leviathan |
The first of the GTC Leviathan cruisers were built during the 14-Year War when it turned out that the war will not be over in a short time. Leviathans improve upon the much more fragile GTC Fenris with its heavier armoring and deadlier weaponry. Many of these craft were used during its long career beginning from the 14-Year War till the end of the Second Shivan Incursion. After the Great War's conclusion and the development of beam cannons, Leviathans were armed with a deadly array of four AAAf anti-fighter beams and one anti-warship beam cannon. This warship had the most anti-fighter beams of any GTVA cruiser, and the second most powerful anti-warship weaponry after the Aeolus, which had two SGreens vs. the Leviathan's one.
Some Leviathan-class cruisers joined the NTF and saw deployment against the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance. Many of these vessels were destroyed during the rebellion.
Despite its superior armoring and armament compared to those of the GTC Fenris, Leviathans were much slower and thus impractical for swift hit-and-run strikes, but whenever a Fenris would not have a chance of survival, there was still hope for the crew of a Leviathan to manage through.
Contents
Description:
FS1 Tech Room Description
After the Vasudans began making incursions into GTA space, command decided that it needed a new defensive cruiser. Changes to the Fenris led to the GTC Leviathan line of cruisers, produced as mobile defense battleships. Their speed and maneuverability were greatly reduced in tradeoff for more powerful weapons and a stronger hull. Production was discontinued when the GTA thought they would win the Vasudan war after the Battle of Gulnara, and then the production was started up again after the defeat at the Talania system. Because of the on-again off-again nature of this vessel's production, almost all of the Leviathan Cruisers have different armaments, but all have consistent hulls and speeds.
FS2 Tech Room Description
Early in the Great War, Han-Ronald engineers designed and built the Leviathan class of cruisers. The Leviathan is much heavier armed and armored than the Fenris, but also much slower and less maneuverable. Leviathan cruisers are used to guard critical installations, such as permanent jump nodes, deep-space factories, and gas-mining operations, where firepower is king and speed is of little importance. They're also well-suited to escorting slow-moving freighters or transports. The Fenris is good for fast-moving operations, but when you need some muscle, call in a Leviathan.
Developer Notes
None
Name origin
In the Old Testament, Leviathan is a large sea creature, associated with the Devil or Satan.
In the English language, leviathan functions as an adjective meaning "monstrous" and also a noun meaning "something very large."
Performance:
Statistics
| Type | Cruiser |
| Manufacturer | Han-Ronald Corp. |
| Maneuverability | N/A |
| Yaw, Pitch, Roll | 10.0 s |
| Max Velocity | N/A ms-1 |
| Max Afterburner Velocity | N/A ms-1 |
| Armor | 35 000 |
| Hitpoints | N/A |
| Shields | 253 |
| Length | {{{10}}} m |
Armaments
| Freespace 1 | Freespace 2 | ||
| Turret Type | Amount | Turret Type | Amount |
| Terran Turret | 8 | Terran Turret | 3 |
| FighterKiller | 1 | Fusion Mortar | 1 |
| Anti-Fighter Beam | 4 | ||
| Small Green Beam | 1 | ||
Veteran Comments
There is a discrepancy between the FreeSpace 1 and 2 technical descriptions. While the FreeSpace 1 description seems to indicate that the Leviathan was in service during Terran-Vasudan War the FreeSpace 2 description states that it entered service during The Great War. This discrepancy can be explained as the author of the FreeSpace 2 description getting mixed up with the two wars. In the FreeSpace community, the Leviathan is generally recognized as coming into service during the Terran-Vasudan War.
It's just another cruiser, but significantly tougher than most, in FS1. However, in FS2, you need to fear this ship. It has four AAA beams, covering every direction save dead aft and directly ahead. It can bring at least two of them to bear on any target further than a hundred meters. The single forward-mounted SGreen is not particularly well-suited to anti-capital work, but decent in the role (and don't forget the Fusion Mortar, which does more damage than its beam). Overall the Leviathan is probably the third most effective cruiser in the game, falling after the Shivan Lilith and the Aeolus.
With its four AAA beams and its thick hull plating the Leviathan could be a very good escort cruiser, but with just 10 mp/s it's much too slowly for that job. Even destroyers are faster! Anyway the Leviathan is quite useful in fighting enemy bombers at long range. In my opinion, the best location for this ships is near installations, depots or planets, where speed is secondary. If you have to attack a Leviathan, attack it from the front, where the SGreen is, that's the only place the AAA beams can not hit you.
The Leviathan is the slowest large ship in the entire Terran fleet. While it has more AAAfs than an Aeolus, this only gives it a minor advantage, for an Aeolus' turrets were built such that they can hit at any fighter or bomber from any given direction. Against a Leviathan, you could go up close, shoot the whole length across its broadside and get away with it.
The worst mistakes I've ever made are to forget the difference between blue and red. Attacking a Leviathan as if it were a Fenris is a very bad idea. Your first thought is, wow is this Fenris only paying attention to me? The next second you're torn apart by beams and being angry at yourself for not noticing this ship is blue.
