Defending planets is vital. That is where the vast majority of your population lives. There are a variety of strategies and tactics used to protect planets. Some systems do not have any fixed defenses and prefer to use mobile forces, either insystem only defense craft or faster than light capable vessels. Other systems use fixed orbital defense platforms. Basically they are designed similar to starships but lack drive systems. A third method is to build defenses on moons. The lack of atmosphere on most moons allow the weapons on the to be used without any reduction in range.

A final means for defense are asteroid fortresses. In most cases, a relatively small metallic (Normally Iron/Nickel) asteroid is used. The asteroid is tunneled out and weapon systems are mounted in the asteroid with a control center in the middle. While ten kilometer diameter asteroids are among the most common used, sometimes slightly smaller asteroids are used and in some cases much larger asteroids are used with top end around thirty kilometers in diameter. The masses of even the smallest asteroids dwarf virtually all starships and orbital defense platforms.

Normally fortresses orbit around forty or fifty thousand kilometers from the planet which they are suppose to protect. It can take years to get an asteroid from a systems asteroid belts to the orbit of a planet and then convert it into a fortress. Many have to have minor shaping to remove projects which would interfere with firing arcs. As one might expect, few really are more than vaguely spherical. Often they are quite misshapen with a common description as being potato shaped.

One should not think the whole asteroid is covered with weapon systems. In reality only a small percentage of the asteroid is tunneled out. There is good reason for this because it is the huge mass of the asteroid which makes the asteroid fortress incredibly tough not the heavy armor of a battleship or defense fortress. Enough rock equals armor. Because these fortresses are so incredibly tough, attackers usually don't try to destroy the actual fortress but instead destroy the weapon clusters and hanger bays on the asteroid. Because this is an expected tactic, these external locations are protected by individual force fields. No force fields have been developed to protect something the size of an asteroid.

Both the command centers and reactors are deep in the center of the asteroid and are incredible hard to penetrate to destroy them with virtually any weapon system. Even so, most asteroid fortresses has a pair of command centers and multiple reactors. Most smaller fortress will likely have around four fusion reactors. Fusion reactors are used because they are both cheaper to build and operate. Hydrogen fuel for the reactors is also far safer to store than anti-matter. On starships, volume is far more critical than it is on these fortresses.

Because they are immobile, fortresses can be hit by missiles from beyond powered missile weapon range. A second tactic is to use fighters to attack them. Some question the fortresses effectiveness for these reasons. Still, these fortresses have firepower greater than any battleship and are highly effective. Often older weapon systems from scrapped warships, usually Human Alliance, are used to reduce the cost of the fortress. As with the fusion reactors, the volume used by weapon systems is far less critical than it is on a starship. Weapons are mounted in clusters with one being eight heavy energy weapon clusters and four heavy missile clusters.

While larger fortresses tend to be armed with 40 cm particle beams, smaller 28 cm mounts are more common with the smaller fortresses. These were mounted on far more classes than the heavier mounts. As such, they are cheaper than the heavier mounts. These are usually mounted in pairs for a total of sixteen of the heavy particle beams. In support, the fortresses usually mount four 12 cm heavy lasers and four 8 cm heavy gravity rail gun mounts with each pair of particle beams. While the lasers are usually salvaged from older starships just as the particle beams, the rail guns are usually newer weapon systems. Still, they are considered to give the fortress a measure of firepower against targets which are impervious to energy weapons. Weapon systems are mounted to give approximately a 150 degree cone of fire so that they overlap with each other.

For missile weapons, the smaller asteroid usually mount two capital missile batteries and four long range missile batteries for each of the four missile clusters. Missiles can be fired off the axis of the launchers which makes them in many ways more effective than the direct fire batteries. Even though the older batteries do not have the ability to fire as large a volley as newer launchers, these give the fortress twice the missile firepower of a Yamato class battleship. The fortress also has almost four times as many missiles as the battleship usually carries.

Asteroid fortresses usually also have massive point defense weaponry. While these are clustered around the heavy weapon clusters and the hangers, they are designed to operate together and provide defense for the whole fortress. In most cases, each protected location will have four electromagnetic rail gun mounts, four twin laser mounts, and four mini-missile batteries. These are designed to deal with targets than manage to get through the outer defense of the long range missile batteries.

In addition to the fortresses own weaponry, they most often carry a large number of fighters. There is a total of six hangers with each able to support three squadrons of light fighters, two squadrons of medium fighters, and a half squadron of heavy fighters. In some cases these fighters are newer models, such as the Scorpion, Katana, Black Eagle, and Proctor designs. In other cases however the fortresses operate older fighters with the Vixen, Osprey, and Puma designs. Of course, other designs or mixes of different fighters are also operated in some cases. Unlike many of the larger fortresses, these asteroid fortresses usually lack the facilities for starship repair. Most do however embark large troop compliments for the defense of an asteroid. In some cases attackers will try to get troops into the fortresses to seize them.

This asteroid fortress design uses modified starship speed and range rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Weapon Clusters:
8 Heavy Energy Weapon Clusters each containing:

	2	28 cm Particle beams
	4	12 cm Heavy Lasers
	4	8 cm Heavy Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Lasers
	4	Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers

4 Heavy Missile Weapon Clusters each containing:

	2	Cruise Missile Batteries
	4	Long-Range Missile Batteries
	4	Point Defense Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Lasers
	4	Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers

6 Hanger Defense Clusters each containing:

	4	Point Defense Rail Guns
	4	Point Defense Lasers
	4	Point Defense Mini-Missile Launchers

Model Type: ODF-S1
Vehicle Type: Orbital Defense Fortress
Crew: 2,550 (150 Officers and 2,400 enlisted)
Troops: 5,000 Marines (2,000 in power armor), 4,500 fighter pilots, and 400 Silverhawk pilots.

Vehicles:
Power Armors & Robots:

	400	Silver Hawk Power Armors
	2,000	Ground Pounder Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	216	SF-69 Scorpion Star Interceptor (SF-9 Vixen or SF-128 Bobcat light fighters in some cases)
	84	BIF-67 Katana Star fighters (SF-6 Osprey medium fighters in some cases)
	60	SF-101 Black Eagle Star fighters (SF-6 Osprey medium fighters in some cases)
	36	LRF-25 Proctor Long-Range Interceptors (SF-12 Puma heavy fighters in some cases)

M.D.C. By Location:

Main Energy Clusters (8):

	28 cm Super Heavy Particle Beams (2 each cluster, 16 Total):	1,500 each
	12 cm Heavy Laser Cannons (4 each cluster, 32 Total):	750 each
	Heavy Gravity Rail Guns (4 each cluster, 32 Total):	800 each

Main Missile Clusters (4):

	Cruise Missile Batteries (2 each cluster, 8 total):	800 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (4 each cluster, 16 total):	500 each

	Point Defense Rail Gun Turrets (72 total, 4 each cluster or bay):	150 each
	Triple Barrel Defense Laser Turrets (72 total, 4 each cluster/bay):	150 each
	Mini-Missile Launchers (72, 4 each cluster or vehicle bay):	100 each
	[1] Protective Forcefields (18, One each cluster or vehicle bay):	10,000 each
	Small Craft Hanger Bays (6):	10,000 each
	[2] Control Center:	300,000
	[2] Auxiliary Control Center:	300,000
	[3] Main Body:	900,000

Notes:
[1] Instead of having variable shields, the station has shields over vital surface installations. These include weapon clusters, fighter bays, and starship bays. Each shield regenerates at the rate of 5% (500 M.D.C.) per melee round.
[2] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the control center through the asteroids. The control centers are near the center of the asteroid. This fortress also has an auxiliary control center. Even if both control centers are taken out, the weapon systems can be fired using local control. Unlike most platforms, weapon strikes have to penetrate the asteroid fully to be able to injure crew on the bridge. If an attack is attempting to penetrate directly to the control centers, the damage is also applied on the main body of the asteroid.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will completely destroy the Asteroid Fortress. While the material the asteroid is constructed from are S.D.C. materials (Rock), a weapon must inflict M.D.C. damage to do any actual damage to the asteroid.

Speed:
Does not move; if the position of the Fortress is changed, fleets of tugs are used to move it.

Statistical Data:
Length: Approximately 6.21 miles (10 km)
Height: Approximately 6.21 miles (10 km)
Width: Approximately 6.21 miles (10 km)
Mass/Weight: Approximately 1.65 x 10¹² tons (1.5 x 10¹² metric tons)
Power System: 4 Large fusion reactions (20 year duration each)
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the asteroid fortress that allow for the storage of up to 300 million tons (272.2 million metric tons) of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Fortress officers have more space for personal items. Most of the fortress spaces are take up by extra ammo, armor, troops, and weapons
Market Cost: 12 to 16 billion credits to construct (Does not include standard fighter and power armor compliment.)

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Sixteen (16) Heavy 28 cm Particle Beam Batteries: Located in clusters of two on the asteroid fortress, the fortress has a total of 16 heavy particle beam mounts. Weapon has standard minuses to hit fighters and small targets. Two 28 cm particle beams are in a cluster with four 12 cm laser cannons. Weaponry is designed to be able to be fired in a 150 degree cone so usually multiple batteries can fire on a single target.
   Maximum Effective Range: 70,000 miles (112,650 km)in space and 70 miles (112.7 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 1D4x1000 MDC each (Both in a pair can be linked for 2D4x1000 MDC for both.)
   Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee per particle beam.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
2. Thirty-Two (32) 12 cm Heavy Laser cannons: Mounted along the surface of the asteroid are eight mounts with four turrets in each beam weapon cluster. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets. The barrels can be can be rotated 180 degrees in all directions. Up to two may be fired as one volley. Weaponry is designed to be able to be fired in a 150 degree cone so usually multiple batteries can fire on a single target. Still, because of the positioning of the mounts, approximately half of the mounts can fire on any target.
   Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (25.8 km) through atmosphere and 16,000 miles (25,800 km) in space.
   Mega Damage: 2D6x100 MDC each. Two can be combined for 4D6x100 MDC.
   Rate of Fire: Maximum of Two (2) times per melee each.
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
3. Thirty-Two (32) 8 cm Heavy Rail Guns: Mounted along the surface of the asteroid are eight mounts with four turrets in each beam weapon cluster. These are gravity type rail guns. Used as one of the fortresses secondary batteries and they are used against targets that are impervious to energy as well. System can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee) and can rotate 180 degrees. Rail gun projectiles are fired from mounts at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Because of the positioning of the mounts, approximately half of the mounts can fire on any target. Weapon has standard penalties to hit fighters and small targets.
   Maximum Effective Range: 10,000 miles (16,100 km), range is 10 miles (16.1 km) in an atmosphere
   Mega Damage: 1D4x100 MDC per 80 round burst each.
   Rate of Fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: 32,000 rounds each (400 bursts).
4. Seventy-Two (72) Electromagnetic Point Defense Rail Guns: The Asteroid fortress has four point defense rail guns mounted in each heavy weapon cluster and around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress not just the cluster they are mounted in. Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World Starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. They are used as an anti-Starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. Each Rail Gun is in a Turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Projectiles are fired from mounts at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Cannon uses a 15 mm depleted uranium projectiles.
   Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 800 miles (1,290 km) in space.
   Mega-Damage: 80 round burst does 3D6x10 M.D.
   Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: 16,000 Rounds (200 Bursts) each cannon.
5. Seventy-Two (72) Point Defense Lasers in Double Mounts: The Asteroid fortress has four point defense laser cannons mounted in each weapon cluster and around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress not just the cluster they are mounted in. Used as an anti-Starfighter and missile weapon. Each laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.
   Maximum Effective Range: 2.5 miles (4 km) miles through atmosphere and 250 miles (40.2 km) in space.
   Mega-Damage: 2D6x10 M.D.
   Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Effectively Unlimited
6. Eight (8) Cruise Missile Batteries: The Fortress has four cruise missile batteries in each heavy missile battery cluster. Missile has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) See Modified starship rules for more details, Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF cruise missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.
   Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Anti-Matter inflicts 4D6x100 MDC).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, or 24 per launcher, per melee round, for a maximum of 192 missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.
   Payload: 192 total, 24 cruise missiles per battery. Fortress has 30 reload of missiles (5,760 cruise missiles total) for each launcher.
7. Sixteen (16) Long Range Missile Batteries: The Fortress has eight long range missile launchers in each heavy missile battery cluster. Missile has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship). Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Long range missiles do not have minuses to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF long range missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.
   Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Fusion inflicts 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 8, 16, or 24 per launcher, per melee attack.
   Payload: 19,200 total, 1,200 long range missiles per battery.
8. Seventy-Two (72) Mini-Missile Batteries: The Asteroid fortress has four point defense mini missile launchers mounted in each weapon cluster and around each hanger bay. They are directed for defense of the whole fortress not just the cluster they are mounted in. These are missile turrets used for point defense against enemy fighters and missiles. Missile has a top speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 2% of light per turn (slightly faster than any starship except if it is exceeding it maximum safe acceleration). Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
   Maximum Effective Range: Mini-Missile range is 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere and 100 miles (161 km) in space.
   Mega-Damage: Varies with mini-missile type (See Phase World Missiles.)
   Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of four (4) or eight (8) mini-missiles
   Payload: 128 per launcher for a total of 9,216 mini-missiles. Magazines hold has an additional 640 mini-missile for each launcher (46,080). Reloading launchers from cargo hold takes 1D6 minutes. Additional mini-missiles can be stored in the fortress.

[ Phase World TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2011, Kitsune. All rights reserved.