Difference between revisions of "UEC Sanctus"

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(Sanctus cruisers only have medium armor)
(Updated tech description)
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==Description:==
 
==Description:==
 
===Blue Planet: War in Heaven Tech Description===
 
===Blue Planet: War in Heaven Tech Description===
The Sanctus occupies a tactical space between the Karuna frigates and the old GTA Great War-era cruisers. The UEF military officially designates the Sanctus as a next-generation cruiser, though the ship's dimensions approach those of the Vasudan Sobek class corvette. The cruiser was designed with the Federation's philosophy of generalisation in mind, and as such has enough cargo space to serve as a military freighter and transport while still performing adequately as a warship. Although numerous and tactically flexible, the Sanctus is so broadly deployed that casualties are simply inevitable.
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The Sanctus is a ship with a troubled development history.
  
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The Sanctus started life as a support vessel for the newly developed Solaris destroyer. Anticipating a host of logistical and financial issues with the Solaris, the Sol element of Han-Ronald Corporation drew upon its years of cruiser design experience to conceptualise a hybrid cruiser-freighter. Deploying a wing of Sanctus vessels as part of a Solaris battlegroup would relieve the logistical strain of deploying these behemoths in combat, while providing area defense and fire support for the destroyer's air wing.
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The Sanctus turned out to be an unhappy compromise. The ship was substantially larger than any previous cruiser in service, yet its weapons barely outstripped that of a Fenris. Cargo space was limited by the need to host the ship's own weapons and combat systems, and though critical spaces were sufficiently protected, the cargo hold had a desultory armour scheme that left it vulnerable to a determined attack. Due to ongoing trade route raids by Gaian Effort forces, the role of the cruiser was switched from the relatively supported fleet cruiser role to that of convoy escort, to which the Sanctus was poorly suited.
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In the immediate aftermath of the Gaian Effort campaign, Admiral Calder began an extensive refit program to all Sanctus cruisers to replenish Third Fleet's strength. The cargo hold was removed and armour improved around vulnerable areas. Light torpedo launchers, new point defense and burst flak weaponry were added. The result was a tactically flexible weapons platform, powerful against strikecraft - if somewhat undergunned against larger warships. Throughout the course of the war with the GTVA, Earth and Mars would began a similar process of upgrading Sanctus cruisers and deploying them as attack cruisers. It was not until the second refit of the Sanctus where deficiencies in firepower and armour were finally addressed and the design would reach its full potential as a line combatant.
 
===Developer Notes===
 
===Developer Notes===
 
N/A
 
N/A
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|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
 
| colspan=2 style="background:#351515;"| '''Default Statistics'''
 
| colspan=2 style="background:#351515;"| '''Default Statistics'''
| colspan=2 style="background:#351515;"| '''Sanctus Mk2'''
 
 
|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
| style="width:120px" |Turret Type
 
| style="width:60px" |Amount
 
 
| style="width:120px" |Turret Type
 
| style="width:120px" |Turret Type
 
| style="width:60px" |Amount
 
| style="width:60px" |Amount
 
|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
 
| [[Warhammer]]
 
| [[Warhammer]]
| 2
 
| [[Hydra]]
 
 
| 2
 
| 2
 
|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
 
| [[Burst Flak]]
 
| [[Burst Flak]]
 
| 2
 
| 2
| [[Burst Flak]]
 
| 6
 
 
|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
 
| [[Point Defense Turret]]
 
| [[Point Defense Turret]]
 
| 2
 
| 2
| [[Point Defense Turret]]
 
| 6
 
 
|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
 
| [[UEF Heavy Turret]]
 
| [[UEF Heavy Turret]]
 
| 2
 
| 2
| [[Gauss_Cannon#Gauss_Cannon.23Sanctus|Gauss Cannon#Sanctus]]
 
| 3
 
 
|- align="center"
 
|- align="center"
 
| [[Mass_Driver#Mass_Driver.23Sanctus|Mass Driver#Sanctus]]
 
| [[Mass_Driver#Mass_Driver.23Sanctus|Mass Driver#Sanctus]]

Revision as of 14:39, 23 May 2016

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


UECSanctus.png
The UEC Sanctus


Description:

Blue Planet: War in Heaven Tech Description

The Sanctus is a ship with a troubled development history.

The Sanctus started life as a support vessel for the newly developed Solaris destroyer. Anticipating a host of logistical and financial issues with the Solaris, the Sol element of Han-Ronald Corporation drew upon its years of cruiser design experience to conceptualise a hybrid cruiser-freighter. Deploying a wing of Sanctus vessels as part of a Solaris battlegroup would relieve the logistical strain of deploying these behemoths in combat, while providing area defense and fire support for the destroyer's air wing.

The Sanctus turned out to be an unhappy compromise. The ship was substantially larger than any previous cruiser in service, yet its weapons barely outstripped that of a Fenris. Cargo space was limited by the need to host the ship's own weapons and combat systems, and though critical spaces were sufficiently protected, the cargo hold had a desultory armour scheme that left it vulnerable to a determined attack. Due to ongoing trade route raids by Gaian Effort forces, the role of the cruiser was switched from the relatively supported fleet cruiser role to that of convoy escort, to which the Sanctus was poorly suited.

In the immediate aftermath of the Gaian Effort campaign, Admiral Calder began an extensive refit program to all Sanctus cruisers to replenish Third Fleet's strength. The cargo hold was removed and armour improved around vulnerable areas. Light torpedo launchers, new point defense and burst flak weaponry were added. The result was a tactically flexible weapons platform, powerful against strikecraft - if somewhat undergunned against larger warships. Throughout the course of the war with the GTVA, Earth and Mars would began a similar process of upgrading Sanctus cruisers and deploying them as attack cruisers. It was not until the second refit of the Sanctus where deficiencies in firepower and armour were finally addressed and the design would reach its full potential as a line combatant.

Developer Notes

N/A

Name Origin

Sanctus is Latin for Holy. As an Ordinary of the Mass, it is a hymn that is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer.

Notes

Performance:

Statistics

Name UEC Sanctus
Type Cruiser
Manufacturer Han-Ronald Corporation
Yaw, Pitch, Roll 80.0, 80.0, 80.0 s
Max Velocity 40 ms-1
Hitpoints 67 000 pts
Length 760 m
Width 281 m
Height 269 m
Turrets 17 turrets


Armaments

Default Statistics
Turret Type Amount
Warhammer 2
Burst Flak 2
Point Defense Turret 2
UEF Heavy Turret 2
Mass Driver#Sanctus 3
UEF Medium Turret 4
Gauss Cannon#Sanctus 2

Veteran Comments

Please read the Veteran Comments policy before editing this section.


The Sanctus is the most numerous of the UEF's versatile and beautiful capital ships. To compensate for its lack of beam weapons and relatively light railgun armament, the Sanctus mounts a pair of four-tube torpedo launchers that a)look incredibly cool and b) allow it to serve as a close-range, formation-disrupting combatant. It may not have much punch, but it can force a GTVA gunline to turn off and deal with a new threat.


The Sanctus will get murdered at range by beam-armed combatants. Its antifighter defenses are, relatively speaking, numerous, and it is a veritable fortress except from the fore against bombs.


Treat it as you would a GTC Aeolus were you a GTVA pilot. The fighter screen is exceptional, and a welcome relief for a damaged fighter who needs escort. When hostile warheads are incoming however, you need to defend these over-sized cruisers. They do not have heavy armor, so they are vulnerable to fighter attacks especially swarm missiles. Unattended they tend to be the easiest pickings for GTB Artemis attacks in the UEF warship ranks. Do note however the 40 meter per second top speed, 160% of the speed of a GTCv Chimera. As far as damage output, it barely outstrips a Freespace 2 GTC Fenris. Much of the first War in Heaven campaign can be spent trying to rescue these things from the slaughter.