Stalwart-class Escort Ships defending a Goliath-class Factory Ship.
The Stalwart-class Escort Ship is a convoy escort and planetary defence vessel, primarily used to protect merchant starships as they move to Mandeville Points at the fringes of a star system and to protect those arriving through the Warp from other systems. The Stalwart is not capable of FTL travel, but voidships of this type can be carried aboard Emperor-class Battleships and fleet patrol ships.
The Stalwart will both guard and guide merchant voidships they escort through their home system. Drawing on the intimate knowledge their captains possess of their own localities, the Stalwarts plot a course to avoid potential hazards, such as asteroid belts, comets and the favoured hunting grounds of pirate ships. If a pirate or other aggressor attacks, the Stalwart can turn its laser batteries on it. Compared to the average sub-stellar pirate ship or rag-tag entourage of a planetary governor, a Stalwart squadron is a fearsome foe indeed. Though it lacks void shields, a Stalwart can use powerful blind field generators for defence instead.
Blindfield generators produce a massive field of wide-spectrum electromagnetic interference, appearing something like black clouds of dense fog impossible to see through visually, with a similar effect on sophisticated voidship targeting systems. This provides complete protection for the merchant vessels behind it, also making the Stalwart difficult to target. If an enemy vessel closes in an attempt to penetrate the blind field, it comes within range of the Stalwart's own lasers.
Although a hardy sublight defence ship, the Stalwart-class is no match for huge, Warp-capable warships, and if an Imperial convoy has the misfortune of getting caught up in a battle between such behemoths, Stalwart-class captains must trust to the defence of their blind fields and their luck even as they and their convoy are forced to thread a fearful gauntlet of weapons fire from their attackers.
Sources[]
- Space Fleet Rulebook (Specialty Game)
- White Dwarf 139 (US), "Space Fleet: Rules Expansion," pp. 8-36
- White Dwarf 140 (US), "Space Fleet: Additional Background, Rules, Data Cards & Counters," pp. 46-75
- White Dwarf 141 (US), "Space Fleet: Spaceships, Flagships & Scenario System," pp. 50-72