The Carpathia class is the primary patrol and covert operations ship of the Soviet Star Union's fleet.
Characteristics[]
A joint project developed by the Polikarpov and Bartini-Beriev design bureaus, the Carpathia-class frigate is a three hundred and eighty-two meters long subcapital warship designed to be versatile enough to perform in a number of roles, sometimes independently, for extended periods of time. Though lightly armed for its size, the ship's stealth capabilities make it hard to detect and can cause difficulties for enemy weapons' targeting sensors, which, in combination with the arrangement of its engine cluster that gives it astonishing maneuverability and acceleration for its size, can make it a very tricky opponent to deal with in a fight.
The Carpathia class stealth frigate is armed with a number of light railgun turrets and plasma lances which are arranged in such a way to give the ship wide firing arcs and can be used both for point defense and for engaging enemy vessels. In addition, the frigate is outfitted with a number of VLS missile tubes and a pair of axial railguns which make it ideal for taking out small to medium-sized enemy vessels.
Like all ship designs which the Soviet Star Union fields, the Carpathia class is not equipped with shields, relying instead on its nanocomposite lattice armor which can adjust its crystalline structure to absorb kinetic impacts or reflect energy weapons. The hull is also designed in such a way as to present a small profile from all directions and makes use of armor sloping in order to further increase its survivability.
As a sub-capital ship, the Carpathia class is not designed to perform the role of a fleet carrier, however it does carry a squadron of strike craft, which can be of either the I-3A Lance Fighter or Su-47 Lance Interceptor design, to augment its role as a patrol ship and light strike vessel. The Carpathia class is also equipped with a pair of aerospace dropships and carries a small complement of three hundred Ultranauts for boarding enemy vessels, or engaging small outposts.
The ship is powered by a Zero Point reactor module which, although it generates less power than the Matter-Antimatter fusion plants usually fielded by Soviet warships, it is also much stealthier, further enhancing the ship's evasion capabilities, alongside its active camouflage system which can drastically reduce its sensor footprint by masking its emissions. For FTL travel, the Carpathia class relies on a Type 9 Rift Drive and is also outfitted with a Bartini-Beriev SP-W Warp Drive as a backup, or for operations in territory where Riftspace infrastructure is unavailable.