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| WEG Star Wars RPG Stats | |
| Name: | Venator-class III Star Destroyer |
| Weaponary: | 12 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries (4 Barrels)
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| 6 Medium Dual Turbolaser Cannons
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| 60 Point Defense Laser Cannons
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| 4 Proton Torpedo Tubes
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| 6 Tractor Beam Projectors
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| Following the Battle of Geonosis, the Separatist movement created a fleet of
dreadnaughts to achieve naval supremacy against the Republic. The previously so
successful Acclamator-class Military Transport was considered insufficient to
handle the new opponent, and the Venator-class was born. They fought the
decisive Battle of Coruscant and proved more than able to handle the
dreadnaughts. Not long after, the advent of the even more massive
Imperator-class Star Destroyer relegated the Venator to a secondary place, but
the design lineage did not die out as it inspired the Class II cruiser, which in
itself was a followup concept on the overpowered Class I Light Cruiser. Building
on the Acclamator's design, the Venator is capable of going into even the lowest
reaches of an atmosphere. The Venator is special in that it features a massive, single flight deck with a bow launch door which can hold an impressive amount of starfighers, but this is a structural weakness that was later abandoned. The ship also has several other problems, such as the broadside guns having too small firing arcs. To improve the point defences, modifications were sometimes made to include separated SHPA turbolaser mounts on the ventral side. It is a multi-role ship but with an emphasize on the carrier role. Shortly after the Imperial Directorate was founded a Dreadnaught from the ID's Home Guard Fleet stumbled upon a hidden research facility deep in an asteroid belt in the Minos Cluster. Upon further inspection it was discovered that the facility was a long lost and forgotten Imperial Research and Experimental Facility code named "Dark Force". According to records found in the database, Emperor Palpatine had sent 8 of the Venator-class Destroyer's to the facility to undergo major modifications. It was the Emperor's hope that these ships could be modified with increased weapons, shields and engines to make them more sustainable in combat. Since the ships numbered at more than a thousand at the time of the Battle of Endor, it made sense to upgrade them, than design a whole new series of ships that could fulfill the same function as the Venator. Unfortunately internal bureaucracy forced the Imperial Enginneering Corps to push ahead with a new design, the Escort Carrier, which would eventually replace the outdated Venator. The records further indicated that the Emperor then decided to continue the project, planning to hand the modified Venator's to the Dark Jedi, allowing them to begin building their forces inmass. After the fall of the Empire at Endor all knowledge of the facilities existence was erased or forgotten, until the Imperial Directorate came upon them. In the hopes of preventing the Emperor's Hammer and other factions from gaining these newly found ships, the Imperial Directorate immediately took possession of the 8 already modified ships, as well as the three similar ships that were found in their final stages of construction. Imperial Directorate engineers immediately went to work to finish the construction of the final three ships, and also set up a cloaking field around the facility to hide it from spies and other enemy factions. These ships have since been deployed to serve within the Fleets of the Imperial Directorate, with one being specifically assigned to the Imperial University, under the exclusive command of the Headmaster to serve as both a space-borne training facility and protector of the Imperial Universities orbital facilities. With a capability to transport up to 120 starfighters at a single time, and with improved weapons, shields and engine configurations, these ships are more than viable enough to support the modern star destroyers presently in use in combat operations. They have since replaced the aging Escort Carriers which have proven to be far more vulnerable and slower for fleet operations. |
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- Sources:
- Gorden, Greg. Imperial Sourcebook. West End Games. June 1994