Converting Geoffrey Mandel's 1978 Imperator-class into RPG stats.

After looking closely at these blueprints by Geofrey Mandel made in 1978, I was wondering how to go about converting this to RPG stats, or at least how to determine what the designations used for weaponry and carried craft would mean in moden Star Wars terminology. I'll type out the stats from the third blueprint as its a bit difficult to read from the image.

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Imperator-class Star Destroyer

Dimensions:
Length Overall- 486.5 meters
Width Overall- 297.5 meters
Height Overall- 147.5 meters
Main Hull Height Overall- 70.7 meters
Standard Ceiling Height- 3.05 meters

Basic Armament:
[142] 38 cm Heavy Laser Batteries
[26] 19 cm Light Laser Batteries
[32] 60 mm Laser Cannons
[6] forward mounted Missile Silos launching [20] ten megaton and [100] five megaton Space to Ground Missiles
[8] rear mounted Minelayers deploying [40] two megaton Proximity Mines

Standard Armor Plating- 75 cm

Performance:
Cruising Velocity- .4 Light
Max Velocity- .65 Light
Endurance at Max Velocity- 480 Hours
Max Hyperspace Jump- 250 Parsecs

Number of Antimatter Engines- 3
Number of Hyperdrive Engines- 4

Standard Crew Deployment:
Officers- 25
Vessel Maintenance- 112
Gun Crews- 138
Field Commanders- 18
Stormtroopers- 280
Fighter Crews- 117
Utility Droids- 60
Total-750

Standard Hangar Compliment:
TIE Fighters- 48
TIE Assault Craft- 24
TIE Boarding Craft- 6
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Some questions regarding converting some of his non standard terminology into standard terms:

-Would the "38 cm. Heavy Laser Batteries" and "19 cm. Light Laser Batteries" be considered Turbolasers or regular Lasers? If they are Turboalsers, would they be Heavy and regular Turbolasers, or is there a Light Turbolaser that is in any RPG reference? Also, whould they really be considered multi-barreled batteries, or single-barreled guns, as the blueprints seem to show only single barreled guns to denote these weapons.

-Would the "60 mm Laser Canons" refer to anti-starfighter lasers similar to those used on the Lancer-class frigate?

-Would the "Missile Silos" be considered Concussion Missile, Proton Torpedo or Multipurpose Launchers? Conversely would the apparent nuclear "Space to Ground Missiles" be nukes, or rather Consussion Missiles, Proton Torpedoes or some other modern SW warhead?

-Would the 24 "TIE Assault Craft" be considered TIE Bombers?

-Would the 6 "TIE Boarding Craft" be the type using a TIE Bomber hull that has the warhead launcher hollowed out that holds six troopers?

Note that this class is being considered seperate from the standard 1.6km Star Destroyer commonly referred to as the Imperial-class. I do not agree with those that use these blueprints to argue the "correct" name based on Earth naval naming conventions for the ISD is Imperator-class.



Geoffrey Mandel's 1978 blueprints of the Imperator-class, as referenced in Curtis Saxton's Star Wars Technical Commentaries: Star Destroyers webpage

[image=http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/kdy/blueisd1.gif]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/kdy/blueisd2.gif]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/kdy/blueisd3.gif]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/kdy/blueisd4.gif]

A chart I made to compare the Imperator-class with the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer

[image=http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid27/p689ad49283d4522203e43552aa4c6289/fe1995f1.jpg.orig.jpg]

 

Star Destroyer Classes include:

Victory-class
Interdictor-class or Immobilzer-418
Imperial I & II-class
Super-class (The Executer er al.)
Eclipse-class
Sovereign-class

Plus there is the Arc Hammer factory ship & Jerrec's Vegeance, both of which may be their own classes.

Some have argued incorrectly that the Super Star Destroyer (Executer and her sister ships) is the Imperator-class, but this is wrong.

As for Mandel's work, this is the is the first I have ever seen of them. It is not listed in any if the following boioks: 'A Guide to the Star Wars Universe', 'The Star Wars Encyclopedia', 'The Imperial Sourcebook' or 'The Essential Guide to Behicles & Vessels'.

Basic Armament:
[142] 38 cm Heavy Laser Batteries
[26] 19 cm Light Laser Batteries
[32] 60 mm Laser Cannons
[6] forward mounted Missile Silos launching [20] ten megaton and [100] five megaton Space to Ground Missiles
[8] rear mounted Minelayers deploying [40] two megaton Proximity Mines

This has more fire power than an Imperial II-class, which has a total of 60 turbo laser cannons.

 

Hmm I've only heard of the Imperator being argued as the class name of the ISD, rather than the SSD, but in any case, these blueprints were probably intended to represent the Star Destroyer in ANH. However it appears Mandel used earlier concept ideas when the ISD was not finalized as being a mile in length. There is a sketch in the Art of Star Wars book, that shows an early comparison chart between the ANH ships, and needless to say, the Star Destroyer sketch appears to be scaled so that the Millenium Falcon would fit snuggly into the docking bay, rather than a 150 meter Blockade Runner. What became the Blockade Runner was originally an old version of the Falcon.

And yeah the weaponry seems to outgun the Imperial-class as listed in the WEG stats. In his illustrations, Mandel went so far as to show every turret, gun port and missile launcher to back up the data in the specifications table.

It seems difficult to think it is large enough to carry six squadrons of TIEs, but perhaps its internal volume is geared specifically for the carrying of fighters and anti-starship weaponry. Also note there are no ground vehicles carried whatosever. This indicates a primary role geared for space combat, with its primary surface assault weaponry in the form of its Space to Ground arsenal. Perhaps its Laser Batteries have the range for an orbital bombardment as well.

I also just considered that the Space to Ground Missiles need not necassarily be nuclear in function. The word 'megaton' is just a unit of explosive force equal to one million metric tons of TNT, but they could just be very very powerful conventional explosives rather than nukes.

 

Lets see how the Imperator stacks up to existing RPG stats for other Star Destroyers.

Imperator-class 486.5 meters
142 Heavy Laser Batteries
26 Light Laser Batteries
32 Laser Cannons
6 Space to Ground Missile Tubes
8 Minelayers
6 Starfighter Squadrons

Victory-class 900 meters
10 Quad Turbolaser Batteries
40 Double Turbolaser Batteries
80 Concussion Missile Tubes
10 Tractor Beam Projectors
2 Starfighter Squadrons

Victory II-class 900 meters
20 Turbolaser Batteries
20 Double Turbolaser Cannons
10 Ion Cannons
10 Tractor Beam Projectors
2 Starfighter Squadrons

Imperial-class 1,600 meters
60 Turbolaser Batteries
60 Ion Cannons
10 Tractor Beam Emplacements
6 Starfighter Squadrons

Imperial II-class 1,600 meters
50 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
50 Heavy Turbolaser Cannons
20 Ion Cannons
10 Tractor Beam Projectors
6 Starfighter Squadrons

Imperial III-class 1,600 meters
36 Double Turbolaser Cannons
30 Turbolaser Batteries
20 Heavy Turbolaser Cannons
6 Concussion Missile Tubes
50 Ion Cannons
10 Tractor Beam Projectors
7 Starfighter Squadrons

Super-class 8,000 meters
250 Turbolaser Batteries
250 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
250 Concussion Missile Tubes
250 Ion Cannons
40 Tractor Beam Projectors
12-14 Starfighter Squadrons

Sovereign-class 15,000 meters
1 Axial Superlaser
500 Turbolaser Batteries
500 Laser Cannons
75 Ion Cannons
100 Tractor Beam Projectors
5 Gravity Well Projectors
40 Starfighter Squadrons

Eclipse II ~16,000 meters?
(RPG stats unavailable)

Eclipse 17,500 meters
1 Axial Superlaser
550 Turbolaser Batteries
500 Laser Cannons
75 Ion Cannons
100 Tractor Beam Projectors
10 Gravity Well Projectors
58 Starfighter Squadrons

"Executor-class" 17,600 meters
(RPG stats unavailable)

 

Hmm I've only heard of the Imperator being argued as the class name of the ISD, rather than the SSD, but in any case, these blueprints were probably intended to represent the Star Destroyer in ANH.

Last year in the lit forum someone was arguing against established fact that the Super Star Destroyer was an Imperator-class. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

However it appears Mandel used earlier concept ideas when the ISD was not finalized as being a mile in length. There is a sketch in the Art of Star Wars book, that shows an early comparison chart between the ANH ships, and needless to say, the Star Destroyer sketch appears to be scaled so that the Millenium Falcon would fit snuggly into the docking bay, rather than a 150 meter Blockade Runner. What became the Blockade Runner was originally an old version of the Falcon.

That's probably it, because the Imperator doesn't look like a standard Imperial-I class seen in A New Hope.

And yeah the weaponry seems to outgun the Imperial-class as listed in the WEG stats. In his illustrations, Mandel went so far as to show every turret, gun port and missile launcher to back up the data in the specifications table.

The other thing I noticed is generally in Star Wars, no one uses munitions like nukes. That's not to say they don't, I think it more has to do with proton torpedos and conussion missiles, while producing a lesser yield, don't have harmful radiation. And, turbo laser batteries are orbit-to-ground if they want it.

It seems difficult to think it is large enough to carry six squadrons of TIEs, but perhaps its internal volume is geared specifically for the carrying of fighters and anti-starship weaponry.

I always got the impression that TIE fighters were stacked like cordwood in their launch cradles.

Also note there are no ground vehicles carried whatosever. This indicates a primary role geared for space combat, with its primary surface assault weaponry in the form of its Space to Ground arsenal. Perhaps its Laser Batteries have the range for an orbital bombardment as well.

Standard Star Destroyers can do orbit-to-ground with their turbo lasers.

I also just considered that the Space to Ground Missiles need not necassarily be nuclear in function. The word 'megaton' is just a unit of explosive force equal to one million metric tons of TNT, but they could just be very very powerful conventional explosives rather than nukes.

Agreed.