Romulan Raider

The Romulan Raider is a four crew attack fighter based on a Romulan shuttle design, heavily armed for its size but true to, and easily classifying under, existing Imperial design policies. It is disruptor armed with a significant torpedo payload, cloaking device, but compromised performance requires astute piloting to compete against other fighter designs.

Characteristics
Derived from the Romulan shuttle of the Dominion War era, the Raider employs the same split-shell hull and some internal components making it an easily produced and maintained support ship in these challenging times for the proud Star Empire. Just over twenty five metres long with a beam measuring sixteen metres the improvised attack ship is far larger than its typical opponents... but with size come the benefit of robust shielding and sustained warp cruise, a cloaking device that provide immediate tactical advantages to Romulan tacticians.

The Raider makes use of a piloting team of two supported by a dedicated Sensor and Weapons Operator and Engineering Specialist when on mission, though can be inefficiently operated by a single pilot. Their command systems are arrayed as per Romulan fashion; a centre console for the chief pilot with flanking consoles for supporting staff and ship systems display to the back of the flight deck. Systems are simple, making training and piloting relatively easy in some measure however intricate maneuvring is challenging due to the lack of 'finesse' to the control-ware.

Performance is not awe-inspiring for the role of 'fighter' it has been pushed into; lacking the acceleration and turn of other ships thus classified. As such crews must rely on sharply timed and powerful thruster bursts to change attitude and keep out of the targetting solutions of more nimble opponents when engaged.

Armed with two powerful forward facing disruptor cannons on the warp nacelles, with a disruptor array along the spine of the ship and the ability to launch spread after spread of torpedoes the Raider makes a potent strike craft willing to challenge the always ready Klingon Bird-of-Prey. But these weapons though powerful have trouble targetting small fighters and only the disruptor array has proved effective at tracking light interceptors who take advantage of limited fields of fire and relative sluggishness to collapse shields and best the Romulan Raider.

Offensive Systems

 * 2 Disruptor cannons (forward facing)


 * 1 Disruptor array (upward facing with limited coverage forward and behind the line of flight)


 * 1 Spread firing torpedo launder (forward facing)

Defensive Systems

 * Deflector shields


 * Cloaking device

Flying Notes
''"This is a patrol cutter creatively re-designated to give the appearance for Intelligence Analysts with no real knowledge of such things, that our Navy has sufficient strike fighters in service on our worlds to dissuade Bird-of-Prey raids. As it is; this raider doesn't have the Warp rating to get into an advantageous intercept position once scrambled against incoming Klingons. Its shielding is substantial but still stripped quickly by larger opponents and nibbled away at by smaller ones who, while they do not have the punching power, do have the turn and acceleration to circle and hit, and circle and hit and so on until they have some satisfaction." ''

- Tal Shiar seized early evaluation of Operational Assessment by Pilot

"Very quickly Reman we knew to attack from below and behind where no weapons could be deployed quickly to counter us. Rate of roll was such that we had warning of a response from their fighter-shuttle and could vector away from the field of disruptor fire they rotated to try and catch us in. We soon encountered Romulan fighters that were concentrating energy in the aft deflectors and rapidly decelerating while twisting about; when drilled consistantly gave their flight team something they could employ on most all small fighters. This tactic to get a fighterpod to overshoot was usually successful as our accelerations were always much much higher, but fixed fields of fire meant targetting before we reoriented and accelerated away (almost always diving away relative to them) was tricky, even to those well versed in such a trick; their Aces."

-Reman treatise on besting the Romulan Raider excerpt by Colonel