Replacing the Spikeris class corvette in service, the Kamekh class was the standard Kilrathi corvette during the Twenty-Six Sixties. In many ways the ship should be considered the functional equivalent of the Confederation Venture class corvette. The ship is an intermediate size class between a bomber and a destroyer. In many ways, the ship does not really satisfy either role.

These ships were used for many roles by the Kilrathi including as escorts for battle groups, where the ships were often used as missile decoys for the capital ships, and in the role of scout. Another role was for the corvettes to act as a picket for jump points where a destroyer or larger vessel is considered too valuable to picket. Like the Confederation equivalent, these ships are extremely cheap to build and can be constructed extremely rapidly. Most of the class appear to have been decommissioned soon after the Battle of Terra with their replacement being the more modern Kamrani class.

Many people describe corvettes as eggshells with sledgehammers. The Kamekh class is no exception to this. Its main battery is the launcher for eight anti-ship torpedoes. The Kilrathi corvettes are only slightly heavier armored than the Confederation Venture II class corvette and their shields only have half the output of the shields carried on the Confederation design. For defense against fighters, the ships have twelve long range missiles as well as carrying an extensive mass drive point defense battery.

These ships are not especially fast, being slower to accelerate than the Ralatha class destroyer. Even though comparatively small, these craft are too large to operate from large carriers but instead have to dock externally. Some large orbital bases have the ability to land the corvettes and the craft can also land on a planet. As a result, the corvette is designed for atmospheric operations unlike most capital ships. Like capital ships, the Kamekh is designed with a jump drive which allows the ship virtually unlimited range.

Notes of game conversion:

Because of the nature of the Video Game / Novel series "Wing Commander" and the needs to put the starship into game mechanics, the starship has several modification compared to the Video Game and Novels. The most important change it to change top speed to acceleration. Like fighters in Star Wars and original Battlestar Galactica, the fighters appear to act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. This is incorrect. The Television series Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactic are good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles would probably maneuver although still not a perfect perspective. The starship has been modified to uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor starships. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model Type: Kamekh class Corvette
Vehicle Type: Escort / Scout
Crew: 16 (3 officers and 13 Enlisted)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Light Point Defense Mass Drivers (9):	120 each
	Cruise Missile Hard Points (8):	25 each
	Long Range Missile Hard Points (12):	10 each
	Landing Struts (3):	50 each
	[1] Bridge / Cockpit:	1,000
	[2] Engineering section:	1,400
	Main Engines (2):	850 each
	[3] Main Body:	3,300
	[4] Variable Force Field:	1,000 per side (6,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship does not have an auxiliary bridge. Even if the bridges is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[3] Depleting the MDC of the main body will put the Destroyer out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (300 M.D.C.) per melee.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.40 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Unlike larger vessels, the Corvette can operate within an atmosphere but is extremely limited in an atmosphere. Maximum cruise speed is Mach 1 (741.5 mph / 1,193.3 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight.
Stardrive: The corvette mounts a jump drive which is capable of jumping instantly from a fixed point in a system to another fixed point in a system. These points are weaknesses in the fabric of space and have been mapped in most cases. Fuel is hydrogen which the corvette scoops from space to fuel the jump engine.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system. The corvette has about one year worth of supplies on board.

Statistical Data:
Length: 442.91 feet (135 meters)
Height: 213.58 feet (65.1 meters)
Width: 303.15 feet (92.4 meters)
Weight: 1,433.0 Tons (1,300 metric tons) fully loaded
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 100 tons (110.2 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. Ships officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: The Kamekh class corvette costs around 550 million credits to manufacture.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Nine (9) Light Point Defense mass Driver in Single Mounts: nine total on top, bottom, port, and starboard side. All can fire forward and aft. Each Turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Weapon is equal to standard fighter mass driver mounts except has a higher payload. Compared to most point defense weaponry carried on most starships within the Three Galaxies, the weapon mounts have a longer range.
   Maximum Effective Range: 1,242.7 miles (2000 km) in space and 6.21 miles (10 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 2D6x10 per 20 round burst.
   Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: 20,000 Rounds (1000 Bursts) per cannon.
2. Cruise Missile Pylons (8): Kamekh class corvette carries four cruise missiles on external hard points on each wing for eight total. Cruise Missiles 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). Since starships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, 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 starships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all missiles are normally considered to be smart missiles. Missiles can be launched on multiple targets simultaneously.
   Maximum Effective Range: Cruise Missiles range is 8,000 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 Revised Phase World Missile tables (Cruise Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of two, three, or four missiles.
   Payload: One Cruise missile per hard point for eight cruise missiles total
3. Long Range Missile Pylons (12): In addition to carrying anti-ship missiles, the Kamekh class corvette carries a total of twelve external hard points for long range missiles. Long Range 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). Since star ships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, 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. Battery can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
   Maximum Effective Range: Long Range Missiles range is 3,400 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 Revised Phase World Missile tables (Long Range Fusion does 2D4x100 MDC).
   Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of two, three, four, or six missiles.
   Payload: One long range missile per hard point for twelve long range missiles total.

[ 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.]
[ Wing Commander copyright © Origin Productions]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Rifts Conversion Copyright © 2007, Kitsune. All rights reserved.