Pioneer Class Super Dimensional Fortress

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 05/14/2006)
Background information inspired by Pioneer Class Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF) by Pieter Thomassen, with Peter Walker, on the Unofficial Robotech Reference Guide.
Pioneer Class Super Dimensional Fortress

The SDF-3 Pioneer was completed in February 2022, and soon folded for Tirol with most of the Home Fleet of the time. Upon arrival in the Oort cloud of the Valivarre system, the Pioneer left its obviously non-Tirolian fleet trailing behind and proceeded to Tirol. The crew had anticipated either talks or combat with the Zentraedi and/or the Robotech Masters, but instead, long range scans of Tirol showed non-Tirolian invaders in some numbers. The allied Zentraedi recognized these as the Invid, the REF High Command considered an immediate return home if the Robotech Masters were not still on Tirol, but to determine this the REF must reach the planet. This forced the REF into a war different from the one for which it was prepared. Still, after fierce fighting, Tirol-space was dominated by the REF, and less than two months later REF troops were mopping up the last of the Invid on Tirol. Unfortunately, during the battle the SDF-3's Fold Drive was badly damaged. To make matters worse, the REF determined that the Robotech Masters had indeed left the Valivarre system to travel to Earth for the remains of the SDF-1 Macross.

As much because of the state of its fold systems as of its enormous firepower, the Pioneer would serve as the main protection for the single most important Human asset in the local group, Tirol. While other ships of the fleet were detached for duty with the alliance from occupied planets known as the Sentinels, the Pioneer remained in orbit around Tirol. Because of the strategic value of the ship, she was not to undergo her refit until her new engines had been fabricated, for her stay in space dock had to be as short as possible. She was scheduled to undergo this refit shortly after the first of the new class of battle fortresses, the Izumo, had been completed. However, before this happened, General Edwards staged his coup. As the loyalist and rebel forces on board the SDF-3 were about evenly matched, both sides silently agreed that the Pioneer would not be a target in the naval engagements, though the small arms battles on board were often fierce, leading to an armed standstill. In the end, Edwards lost his gamble and his life, and the Pioneer came out of the civil war undamaged, but the Orbital Yards and her new fold engines were destroyed. It was necessary to fabricate new fold engines at Kaberra then fold them to Tirol to once again make the ship fold-capable.

Shocked with the ease with which the Invid destroyed the attack wings sent to prepare the way for the reclamation of Earth, the REF high command decided to assemble most of the fleet and prepare for a long and large campaign to retake the planet. It was not until 2038 that they were confident they could defeat the Invid on Earth. In a spectacular and much recorded sight the Pioneer folded from the system she had guarded for so long to the system of her birth, accompanied by her close escort of Garfish destroyers. She has not been heard from since.

The SDF-3 Pioneer was primarily designed to be the flagship for the Human expedition, named the Pioneer Mission, to achieve a peace treaty with the Robotech Masters or to ensure that the next Robotech War would be fought light-years away from Earth. As such, it would be necessary to open talks with the Tirolians but still have the capability of waging a war without any support from Earth. Achieving diplomacy would be difficult, since, according to Zentraedi descriptions, that race had become after many centuries of war prone to attack first and sift through the wreckage later.

To approach the Masters, it was decided that the SDF-3 would have to appear as normal as possible to the Masters, at least until messages rather than weapon salvos were exchanged. Thus, the decision was made to model the exterior characteristics of the SDF-3 not on the rare Macross class of battle fortresses, but on the Sian Dereta class, a Border Fleet design. It was hoped the Masters would be more trusting of a ship they believed was under the command of some of their clone Triumvirates. However, the internals of the SDF-3 were to be as advanced as Earth was capable of producing. At that time, the technological standard of Earth was based on the Macross's systems, which had been mostly deciphered. The SDF-3 was first constructed with only a light exterior hull. Once completed, exterior hull plates scavenged from Zentraedi ships were mounted on the Pioneer, giving the ship an almost authentic exterior.

As designed, the central hull section, which served the same function as the central hull section of the Macross, was the smallest, most important and best-shielded part of the ship. It was flanked by the two engine sections, which contained the reaction engines and most of the special equipment on the SDF-3. These three sections were all mounted behind the twin cannon booms, receiving additional protection. The two engine sections were themselves shielded by what were dubbed the 'outriggers' of the ship. These large and heavily armored outer hull sections flanked the engine sections. These outriggers contained several laser turrets and sensors. On top of the SDF-3 was a conning tower, a rather low and stretched-out design compared with the conning tower of the Macross. It contained the navigation bridge and several key sensor installations.

A unique feature of the Sian Dereta class was its twin Reflex Cannons. As the original Zentraedi vessel was designed for the Border Fleets, and thus to operate for extended periods without external maintenance, two Reflex Cannons were provided in order to save wear and tear on a single cannon by repeated firings. In addition, the two cannons could be fired in sequence, giving the Sian Dereta the power of two regular monitors, though only for one salvo as the ships could not recharge more than one cannon at a time. As a near copy of the Sian Dereta class, the Pioneer also carried twin Reflex Cannons. However, as the Tirolians found the advantages of twin cannons specious, so did the Humans, and later ships reverted to a single Reflex Cannon.

As stated above, the capabilities and internal systems of the SDF-3 differed considerably of those of the Sian Dereta. The Reflex cannons on the Macross class were more powerful and smaller than those on the Sian Dereta, and the Macross-style Reflex Cannon had to be slightly redesigned so as to conform to the resulting longer beam-generation area, as well as to the fact that the inner sections of the cannon booms no longer rotated. The additional space between each cannon and the outer shell was partly filled with four large particle beam cannons. These four were mounted in the outer forward corners of the cannon booms. Another six, for a total of ten, were mounted in the normal Sian Dereta heavy weapon mountings; four on the engine pods and two in the dorsal main cannon booms. The ubiquitous Zentraedi laser turrets of the Sian Dereta were replaced with a terrestrial two-barrel design, also used on the other ships of the fleet, with a higher rate of fire and a larger yield. The missile batteries too were fully human in design. In addition to this heavy weapons suite, about as powerful as a large Zentraedi ship, the SDF-3 carried 1100 Naval fighters, a full Army Corps, two Zentraedi Cavalry regiments, and a full Air Force. In effect, the SDF-3 combined the capabilities of the Tokugawa Class Cruiser with those of the Tokugawa Class Assault Landing Ship. Unfortunately, there was insufficient hangar space to allow the Army and Air Force mecha to operate from the SDF-3 as additions to the Naval Air group. The SDF-3 had one of the best fighting groups in the Human Robotech Forces, not to mention the most powerful.

In addition to all this fighting capability, the SDF-3 was equipped with on board factories of much the same capabilities as those on board the Macross, and until ground-side factories could be set up, the SDF-3 would be the single source of newly fabricated supplies for the fleet within light-years. The most glaring technical problem with the SDF-3 lay in its fold system. Using the controversial technique of placing two fold-systems in tandem, the engines were never fully tested until the REF's departure. Upon arrival in Fantoma-space, the engines failed and were destroyed. The SDF-3 had to be completely refitted with newly built fold engines. However, the sorry state of the Tirolian facilities, the pressures of the Sentinels' War, and the destruction of the Orbital Shipyards during Edwards' coup caused an unintended delay in of over a decade; it was not before 2038 that the fold system was once again operational on the SDF-3. As is widely known, the ship never defolded from hyperspace after its last jump with the Saturn Group, and the most likely explanation is that the new fold system failed in mid-jump, destroying the ship; or that it malfunctioned less severely and defolded and stranded the SDF-3 in an unknown location, but outside of communication range with either Earth or Tirol.

Names and Disposition:

Ship Information:

Vehicle Complement: (2022 CE Complement)

Vehicle Complement: (2038 CE Complement)

M.D.C. by location:

Speed:

Statistical Data:

Pioneer SDF front and rear views

Weapon Systems:

  1. Heavy Particle Cannons (2)
  2. PB-45 Particle Beam Cannon Turrets (16)
  3. LT-5 Point Defense Laser Turrets (60)
  4. SLS-25 Vertical Missile Launchers (14)
  5. SRS-2 Heavy Missile Launchers (12)

Shield Systems:

  1. DS-1 Pinpoint Barrier System (4)
  2. DS-2 Omni-Directional Barrier System

Special Systems:

  1. Electronic Warfare System
  2. SF-X Shadow Cloaking Device (after 2037 CE refit only)
  3. Cyclone Production Facilities
  4. Mecha Production Facilities
  5. Auxiliary Production Facilities
  6. Weapon Production Facilities
  7. Missile Production Facilities
  8. Missile Storage

Standard Systems:

  1. Life Support System
  2. Communication Systems
  3. Sensor Systems
  4. Targeting Computer System

Combat Summary: