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The Torpedo Sphere is a dedicated siege platform, successor to earlier torpedo platforms,
large warships specializing in missile bombardment. The design also has a clear, if
indirect, lineage to the Death Stars. It enters orbit around the world and uses its
thousands of high-resolution DER sensors (Dedicated Energy Receptors) to analyse planetary
shield emissions to find temporary power fluctuations in the shield. These weak points
rarely exceed a 20% power drop and a 6 metre square for a few microseconds. It is a very
complicated task to locate the shield generators only by shield emissions, and once a hole
is found, the hundreds of torpedo gunners fires the launchers to create a temporary breach.
Failure means that the operation must be started all over again. After a successful
temporary shield drop, the turbolasers fire to destroy the shield generator and the planet
is left vulnerable. If there is even a slight mistake in timing, the entire procedure must
be repeated from the beginning. While plans were made to assign one Sphere to each sector
group (over a thousand), this role was overtaken by the Death Stars (of which only one
reached active service) and only six were in service at the height of the New Order, each
part of a supporting bombard fleet of 100 warships. Aside from breaking shields, the
Sphere can perform a Base Delta Zero operation, permanently terminating a planet.
Only one Sphere carried a prototype grav-shock device made to cause earthquakes and
tsunamis, but it could be fitted to other Spheres. This prototype may have been a special
"super" torpedo sphere, similar to the normal Sphere, but vastly larger and more massive,
approximately over 120 km in diameter. An obvious forerunner to the Death Star. The
"super" Sphere was lost due to rebel sabotage when it was rammed by a container vessel
at Fangol.
While being a siege platform, the Sphere - actually an ovoid - is not without combat
capabilities. Grand Admiral Pitta used a Torpedo Sphere to defend the planet Talus from
Grand Admiral Grunger's entire fleet of 30 Star Destroyers, 60 Strike Cruises and 100
Carracks, until Grunger rammed the ESD Aggressor into Pitta's sphere, killing them both.
While the TS can spit out an impressive 500 proton torpedoes per salvo (although normally
20 tubes are reserves), these weapons are optimized against planetary shields and
experiences a 56% efficiency drop when used against starships. The optional gravshock device
can localize a nearby planet's gravitational field, causing artificial earthquakes and other
seismic disasters. While incredibly effective, these devices are also incredibly expensive
to power. The localization of the planet's gravity also causes nearby starships, including
the torpedo sphere, to experience rapid and random orbital shifts, making the weapon
dangerous to use. The main weakness of the design is a complete lack of point defences
and starfighter support, which is why each Sphere had a support fleet.
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Picture courtesy of Warlords
Specifications:
Name/Type: Torpedo Sphere
Designer/Manufacturer: Loronar Defence Industries
Designation: Battlestation
Crew: 61,245 + 2,030 Gunners
Length: 1,900 meters
Speed: 20 MGLT, 930 Kph
Hyperdrive: x3
Shield Rating: 11,400 SBD (est.)
Hull Rating: 11,067 RU (est.)
Weapons: 10 Forward Turbolaser Batteries, 500 Forward Proton Torpedo Tubes,
1 Two Wave Gravshock Device.
Fighter Complement: None.
Troops: 8,540 Stormtroopers.
Support Craft: Up to 48 shuttles and transports in 12 bays.
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