Sian Macross Class Battle Fortress

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 11/11/2005)
Background information inspired by Macross class Border Fleet Battlefortress by Pieter Thomassen, with Peter Walker, on the Unofficial Robotech Reference Guide.
Sian Macross Class Battle Fortress

The Sian Macross class was designed as the new backbone ship class of the Border Fleet squadrons, and was the most modern (and also last) design in the Zentraedi and Border Fleet lineages. The first vessel of the class, the Macross, was completed on schedule in August 1949. As planned, this class would have twelve prototype vessels by 1952, and be in full series production in 1988. An initial run of 25,000 ships was planned. However, as the Robotech Empire became more and more drained of Protoculture resources, the plans for series production had to be put off indefinitely. Consequently, the twelve prototypes have remained the only Tirolian ships of this class, and the program never moved out of its experimental phase, with the ships never reaching the intended users.

Some prototype ships were then given to VIPs for use as their personal craft, and also some special forces combat groups made use of one of these rare vessels. In 1956, the class suffered its first loss, when a Tirolian diplomatic flotilla was attacked and destroyed completely by unidentified forces, although the Disciples of Zor were the (usual) suspects. It was later determined that the Invid were behind the attack, not the Disciples of Zor. A Tirolian Governor had been traveling in the Lugmor, and the ship was lost in the engagement. The Aippa was lost next, after being hit by a kinetic projectile fired from a mass-driver on the moon of an indentured planet. While the ship did survive, it was considered a constructional total loss. The records do not reveal the fate of the indentured race responsible. An unknown attacker mysteriously destroyed the Noziroh, although the Zentraedi blamed the Invid for the ship's destruction. The Robotech Masters suspected that Dolza had the ship destroyed, but had no proof to confirm this. After the Sentinels took control of Haydon IV from the Invid in 2025, they confirmed that the Zentraedi had indeed destroyed the Noziroh at the orders of Dolza.

Then came the greatest blow to the Empire. By 1995 the name vessel of the class, the Macross, had been converted into a vessel specially suited for Zor's seeding attempts on other planets. These seeding missions were the only source of Protoculture for the Masters' empire. Consequently, a large Zentraedi force had been assigned to guard Zor and his ship, which carried the last fertile seeds of the Flower of Life in existence. However, Zor had managed to modify his ship, replacing much of the Tirolian crew, apart from a Bioroid and Clone soldier detachment specially assigned to guard him and a skeleton crew, with Zentraedi. Using their gullibility towards advanced technological items, he had also placed the AI computer Eve (also sometimes rendered as Ih'va) on board, disguised as the ship's main computer. This gave him almost total control over the ship. It was his plan to desert the dying empire with the ship and his seeds, and travel to the genetic home world of the Terran races, whose approximate location Eve had discovered in the Haydon IV Library. He idealistically reasoned that this world, untouched by the greed of the Masters and the wars with the Disciples of Zor and the Invid, would have remained a peaceful oasis.

During an Invid raid in 1999, Zor was killed, taking the secrets of Protoculture replenishment with him to the grave. The Macross, controlled by Eve, mysteriously ejected the command tower and folded for parts unknown to the Masters. A faint fold trace detected by the hyperspace sensors on one of the Mother ships could only give the roughest indication of distance and direction, but a huge Zentraedi armada was sent after it, or more precisely, after its seeds and secrets, as soon as possible. As is widely known, the Macross did make it to Earth, where it crash-landed. Because Zor's Tirolian escort died with him, there were no Bioroids or Assault Carriers onboard the wreck, and these weapons would therefore give the Southern Cross a nasty shock 30 years later. The exploits of the SDF-1, as the ship was later named, are well known, as is its destruction on the in 2013.

In 2005, The Nezium went missing after a standard fold operation. Nothing has ever been heard of her since. The Nasices was cannibalized for Protoculture in 2015 by the fleet of the Masters, prior to their sublight trip to Earth. Efforts to locate the completely undamaged hulk have so far proven fruitless, but it is known that she is somewhere in a radius of 23 light years from Earth. In the early 2020s, the prototypes started running out of Protoculture. The Ronarak crashed on a remote planet, and most of her mass was vaporized during atmospheric entry, while the rest fell into an acidic ocean and was soon dissolved. The Badeval went missing under circumstances like the Nezium's, but the educated guess is that her generators failed in mid-fold. Three of the remaining ships, Splaney, Baslits, and Raflawem were destroyed during the Invid advances on Tirol. They fell to the Invid in system close to Tirol, after their fold engines had become inoperable due to low generator performance. Only the Eicass survived. The ship was mothballed after its' generators started to fail and it was severely damaged when it crashed into the surface of Kaberra. The ship was taken over and re-energized by what would become the core group of the Sentinels. The Invid eventually destroyed the ship in orbit of the planet Praxis.

The Humans, in an attempt to increase the size of their fleets, designed a ship based on reverse engineering the Macross. Construction started on Earth's moon in 2003, and in 2013 the ship was completed and transferred to New Macross City to take on crew and supplies. However, in Kyron's surprise attack, both the SDF-1 and SDF-2 were destroyed.

Around the mid 1970's, the main ships of the Border Fleet, the Sian Dereta Class Battle Fortress, were requiring increasing amounts of maintenance due to the relative age of their components. Many general fleet designs were even older, but those ships operated in close proximity to repair and refit stations, and the maintenance requirements could be met. The Border Fleet required a new run of ships, preferably from an updated design. The result was the Sian Macross Class Battle Fortress.

The Tirolian design bureau, also responsible for the design of the Tou Salaam exploration cruiser and the assault carrier, designed the Macross class. As such, the design shared several features with the former craft, but it also had a large number of unique features. Among the features the Macross battle fortresses had in common with their older brethren were the reaction engines, which were more angular looking, the human-sized command spaces located in a tower-structure above the main part of the vessel, and a more 'non-organic feel' to the rest of the ship. However, the basic hull morphology and internal arrangement clearly showed its descent from the Sian Dereta class that had come before it.

The Macross class vessels were of a modular design; the ship was made from ten main sections. The central section, called the main hull, was the main connection point for the rest of the modules. Inside the main hull were the fold drives, as well as a number of main compartments: four Tirolian-sized crew decks, four Zentraedi-sized crew decks, and three large holds that contained machinery and cargo space. The two engine sections, naturally, contained the reaction engines, the reaction mass supplies, Reflex furnaces and such, all stored in ten large holds, five per leg. It was also here that the manufacturing centers were located, as Border Fleet ships operated at the end of very long supply lines, and were thus required to be as self-sufficient as possible. The fabrication installations could, given sufficient raw material, construct any spare component as well as expendables and even small numbers of replacement mecha. The RDF especially benefited from this, particularly during the Pluto-Earth voyage of the Macross. However, the production lines on board were not geared for mass production, as some have speculated, and wore out very fast if used for this purpose.

Forward of the engine blocks on either side of the main hull were the main vertical thruster sections, to which the main gun sections and outboard hangar/rail gun sections attached. The main armament was built into the two forward sections of the ship. These two booms would not open up vertically, as had been the case with the original Reflex Cannons, but horizontally. The outer sections of these cannon booms remained upright during the firing maneuver, and it was in the outer hull layers of these sections that the secondary mecha launch bays of the ship were placed. The main landing bays, though, were located in the large sponsons, which also mounted the rail guns. The final section of the vessel was the command citadel, which was located on the rear dorsal of the main hull. The ships sported a command tower on top of the citadel, in which the main bridge and CIC were located; the Human design for this tower came from the ship's computer, as the original command tower of the Macross was ejected by Eve before her departure for Earth.

The armament of the Macross class was the heaviest ever mounted on a ship of its size. The Reflex Cannon was by far the most powerful that ever put to space. The only installation more powerful was the Human Grand Cannon built in Alaska in the early 2000's. In addition, the Macross class vessels carried eight heavy anti-ship cannons, more than on the larger Queadol Magdomilla. On top of these systems, two experimental weapon systems were built into the design, though more for testing purposes than for operational deployment. The first was the Converging Beam Cannon Cluster, which the designers hoped to replace the aging Main Laser Cannons used on most Zentraedi ships. The second experimental system were advanced medium particle cannons. The particle turret systems were improved on the Zentraedi battle cruisers by mounting three cannons together in a more heavily armored housing. Sixteen of these turrets were mounted, giving the class the firepower of the far larger Thuverl Salan Cruiser. The ship carried four Rail Guns, the same type as used on the Taul Detrel Class Destroyer. The class also carried a standard torpedo and defensive missile fit.

One of the most remarkable features of the Macross class was that they could reconfigure their layout. The engine sections could telescope outward to the rear, the cannon booms could rotate to the sides, and originally the main hull could rotate 90 degrees downward. This was designed so as to make maximum use of the modularity, as it simplified repairs immensely because of the better accessibility of the various sections, and it also made it possible to replace entire sections if needed. However, it soon became clear that the 90 degrees main hull rotation would leave the structural strength of the ship suspect. Originally this was acceptable, since the transformation was only meant for space dock, but later it was decided that field-repairs and refits should be possible, and the hull was refitted to rotate 180 degrees, and reconnect to the engines for increased power and stability in repair configuration. Because of the loss of the fold-system in the Human refit Macross, and the associated loss of conduit connecting the main guns to the engines, this configuration, renamed as the 'Attack mode', was maintained for most of her operational life.

Names and Disposition:

The first 12 ships were built at the Tirol Orbital Shipyards and entered service from 1949 through 1952. One half sister of this class (SDF-2 Megalord) was built using reverse engineering from the SDF-1 using many local components by the Humans in the Apollo base shipyards from 2003 - 2013.

  • Class: Battleship
  • Year Commissioned: 1949 CE

    Ship Information:

    Vehicle Complement:

    M.D.C. by location:

    Speed:

    Statistical Data:

    Weapon Systems:

    1. Heavy Reflex Cannon
        Unique among all Tirolian ships, the Sian Dereta battle fortress sported two heavy reflex cannons, the most powerful weapon every deployed by the Tirolian Mercantile Empire. The two cannons are mounted on the front of the ship and dominate the forward half of the ship. The cannons each need four full minutes to power up their enormous capacitors before they is ready to fire. The beam itself will last for one full melee and then the capacitors can begin recharging again. The cannons' strength is equivalent to 60 MT (megatons) of TNT. See Tirolian Ship Systems for more details on Heavy Reflex Cannons.
      • Range: 100 miles (160.9 km) underwater, 200 miles (321.9 km) through an atmosphere, and 200,000 miles (321,869 km) in space.
      • Damage: 3D4x1,000,000 M.D. per single blast.
      • Blast Radius: The cannon's beam width is 2500' (762 m) and when used against a planet, it leaves a crater with a diameter of 60,000' (11.4 miles / 18.3 km) and a depth of 6000' (1.1 miles / 1.8 km).
      • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 100
      • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire once every eight minutes, but can fire no more then five times per hour each.
      • Payload: Effectively unlimited
    2. Converging Beam Cannon Clusters (8)
        This is a unique weapon mounted on several places around the ship. It is made up of several large particle accelerators that are linked and synchronized to aim and fire at the same time. It was hoped that this weapon would one day replace the standard main laser cannon mounted on current Zentraedi vessels. The Cluster is capable of 360 degrees of rotation with an arc of fire of 180 degrees. One cannon is located on the top of the ship, two cannons are located on each side of the ship, one cannon are located on the bottom of the ship, and two cannons are located on the front of the ship.
      • Range: 100 miles (160.9 km) underwater, 200 miles (321.9 km) through an atmosphere, and 200,000 miles (321,869 km) in space.
      • Damage: 1D4x1000 M.D. per single blast.
      • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 24
      • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire four times per melee.
      • Payload: Effectively unlimited
    3. Reflex Electromagnetic Rail Guns (4)
        Mounted on the side sensor arms are four large rail guns. They use magnetic accelerator technology to propel a large number of small metallic slugs at incredible velocity and can sustain an extraordinarily fast rate of fire.
      • Range: 16 miles (25.7 km) underwater, 32 miles (51.5 km) through an atmosphere, and 32,000 miles (51,500 km) in space.
      • Damage: 4D4x100 M.D. per single blast.
      • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 25
      • Rate of Fire: Each rail gun can fire eight times per melee.
      • Payload: Effectively unlimited
    4. Retractable Particle Beam Cannons (16)
        Scattered across the hull of the ship are powerful anti-ship particle beam cannons, the cannons stand ready to pop out from under their sliding hatches to attack. Each turret is capable of 360 degrees of rotation with an arc of fire of 180 degrees. Two cannons are located on the top of the ship, four cannons are located on each side of the ship, two cannons are located on the bottom of the ship, and four cannons are located on the front of the ship.
      • Range: 100 miles (160.9 km) underwater, 200 miles (321.9 km) through an atmosphere, and 200,000 miles (321,869 km) in space.
      • Damage: 2D4x100 M.D. per single blast.
      • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 24
      • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire twice per melee.
      • Payload: Effectively unlimited
    5. Retractable Laser Turrets (60)
        The Lasers Turrets are located in batteries along the all sides of ships and are used as anti-mecha and small anti-ship weapons. They are not very powerful, but if fired in large numbers they can be devastating. Twelve turrets are located on the top of the ship, ten turrets are located on each side of the ship, eleven turrets are located on the bottom of the ship, and sixteen turrets are on the front of the ship.
      • Range: 1584' (956.6 m) underwater, 3168' (956.6 m) through an atmosphere, and 60 miles (96.6 km) in space.
      • Damage: 2D6x10 M.D. per single blast.
      • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 23
      • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire four times per melee, but they must fire in a volley of at least three cannons.
      • Payload: Effectively unlimited
    6. Retractable Long Range Missile Turrets (48)
        These are very similar to the Retractable Laser Turrets, except they fire missiles instead of laser beams. They can use several different types of warheads according to the mission at hand, but they are usually configured to be anti-spaceship missiles with the heaviest warheads available. Twelve turrets are located on the top of the ship, thirteen turrets are located on the each side of the ship, and ten turrets are located on the bottom of the ship.
      • Missile Design: SAA-1 Granite (Gliquoun Touwhaug) Long Range Missile
      • Missile Type: Any available type.
      • Missile Guidance Systems: Select any three available guidance systems.
      • Missile Warhead: Any available type.
      • Range: 400 miles (643.7 km) in an atmosphere and 1,169,406 miles (1,881,978 km / 6.25 light seconds) in space.
      • Speed: 2500 mph (4023 km/h) in an atmosphere and an acceleration of 4% of light (0.04c) per melee in space, with a maximum duration in space of 16 melees and a maximum safe speed in space of 55% of light (0.55c).
      • Damage and Blast Radius: Varies with type of missile warhead.
      • Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 missiles. Each launched can fire once per melee.
      • Payload: 100 missiles per launcher, for a total of 4800 long range missiles.
    7. Retractable Heavy Missile Turrets (12)
        These are similar to the Retractable Long Range Missile Turrets, except they fire cruise missiles. They can use several different types of warheads according to the mission at hand, but they are usually configured with the heaviest warheads available. Two turrets are located on the top of the ship, four turrets are located on the each side of the ship, and two turrets are located on the bottom of the ship.
      • Missile Design: SSA-1 Sniper (Lojredbeth Deuawhaug) or SSA-2 Scrapper (Letkes Deuawhaug) Cruise Missiles
      • Missile Type: Anti-Spaceship
      • Missile Guidance Systems: Select any two available guidance systems.
      • Missile Warhead: Armor Piercing, Fragmentation, High Explosive, Plasma / Napalm, Kinetic Energy, and Reflex only.
      • Range: 1600 miles (2575 km) in an atmosphere and 3,019,777 miles (4,859,860 km / 16.2 light seconds) in space.
      • Speed: 3000 mph (4828 km/h) in an atmosphere and an acceleration of 6% of light (0.06c) per melee in space, with a maximum duration in space of 32 melees and a maximum safe speed in space of 60% of light (0.60c).
      • Damage and Blast Radius: Varies with type of missile warhead.
      • Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 missiles. Each launched can fire once per melee.
      • Payload: 40 missiles per launcher, for a total of 480 cruise missiles.
      • Modifiers: Automatically hits a stationary target in space, has more advanced targeting equipment that gives a bonus of +6 to strike a moving target, but has a penalty of -10 to strike any target under 500 tons (453.6 metric tons).

    Shield Systems:

    1. Hexagonal Force Fields (25)
        The ship can create 25 hexagonal force fields at any point around the ship to protect it from incoming attacks. Once placed, the fields cannot be moved until the next melee round, but they can be taken down and replaced by an inactive shield between each volley against the ship. There are enough hexagons so that the entire ship can be covered with ten hexagons remaining inactive. Damage in excess of what an individual field can sustain if caused by a beam or projectile weapon will cause damage to the ship, but excess damage from a missile or a missile volley will be completely deflected. Each field regenerates at a rate of 50 M.D.C. per minute while active and 100 M.D.C. per melee round while inactive.
      • M.D.C.: 1000 each

    Special Systems:

    1. Missile Storage
        The ship has storage for a large number of missiles used by all Border Fleet ships. Fully loaded, the ship holds 20,000 SAA-1 Granite (Gliquoun Touwhaug) Long Range Missiles, 1000 SSA-1 Sniper (Lojredbeth Deuawhaug) Cruise Missiles, and 1000 SSA-2 Scrapper (Letkes Deuawhaug) Cruise Missiles. These can be transferred to other Zentraedi ships to reload their missile supplies or they can be used to reload the ship's own missile launchers. Transferring missiles to another ship takes about ten minutes for every 50 missiles transferred. Reloading the ship's missile racks takes about 1 melee round to completely reload one missile launcher and up to six launchers can be reloaded simultaneously.
    2. Weapon Production Facilities
        The ship contains basic weapon construction facilities. There is a single factory aboard the ship and it is dedicated to producing armor and infantry weapons. At normal production, the factory can produce 50 suits of Zentraedi-sized armor of any type, 75 suits of Tirolian-sized armor of any type, 75 Zentraedi-sized infantry weapons of any type, and 75 Tirolian-sized infantry weapons of any type per week. Double rate of production if the factory is at maximum production, but for every month the factory is at maximum production there is a cumulative 5% chance that the factory will fail and must be repaired at a shipyard.

    Standard Systems:

    1. Life Support System
        The ship has a fully operational life support system that provides fresh atmosphere throughout the ship. The life support system can sustain a maximum of 6000 people indefinitely or 18,000 people for a short period of time in case of an emergency.
    2. Communication Systems
        The ship is equipped with four communication systems. The first is a long range laser system with a maximum range of 100,000 miles (160,934 km), the transmissions travel at the speed of light, but they rely on line of sight, so it cannot communicate with a ship that is on the other side of a solid object. The second system is a long range radio system with a maximum range of 50,000 miles (80,467 km), the transmissions travel at the speed of light, but they are easy to intercept and jam. The third system is a satellite relay system that allows the ship to boost the range of the other communication systems indefinitely by using satellites or other ships to relay the transmission. The forth system is a Hyperspace Communications Relay, which travels at a rate of one light-year every 5 seconds. Hyperspace communications can travel through planets and other obstructions unhindered, are extremely difficult to intercept, and impossible to jam. The ship's communication array can contact with up to 3000 ships simultaneously.
    3. Sensor Systems
        The ship is equipped with four sensor systems. The first is the Electromagnetic Detection Equipment that detects other sensor systems at twice the maximum range of their transmitter. The second is a powerful array that uses standard radar waves, which are fairly easy to jam, but it is obvious when the radar array is being jammed. The sensor can track tiny targets at a range of up to 900,000 miles (1,448,410 km), small targets at a range of up to 9 million miles (14.5 million km), medium targets at a range of up to 18 million miles (29 million km), and large targets at a range of up to 27 million miles (43.5 million miles). The third is a Subspace Mass Sensor that uses gravity-based technology to detect target's at real time speed. The sensor can track tiny targets at a range of up to 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km), small targets at a range of up to 15 million miles (24.1 million km), medium targets at a range of up to 30 million miles (48.3 million km), and large targets at a range of up to 45 million miles (72.4 million miles). The forth is a Hyperspace Mass Sensor that can detect and track ships that are using a Fold Drive. The sensor can track tiny targets at a range of up to 6 parsecs (19.56 light-years), small targets at a range of up to 30 parsecs (97.8 light-years), medium targets at a range of up to 60 parsecs (195.6 light-years), and large targets at a range of up to 90 parsecs (293.4 light-years). See Tirolian Ship Systems for more details on sensor systems.
    4. Targeting Computer System
        Connecting the ship's sensor systems with the weapon systems is the Targeting Computer System. The system is designed to control all of the weapons currently equipped on the ship. This system can track up to 300 targets simultaneously, providing detailed information about the targets from the ships data files. All direct fire weapons receive a bonus of +5 to strike and missiles using non-autonomous guidance systems receive a bonus of +3 to strike. These bonuses are in addition to any previously stated bonuses or penalties.

    Combat Summary: