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Impaler Cruiser

Of the three ship types the Royal Navy deployed to maintain order within the Kingdom, the Impaler-class Cruiser was the premier anti-cruiser platform of the Kingdom. While the base form of the ship is very similar to the Stabber-class Destroyer, there were noticeable differences between them. The Impaler was longer and more heavily armed by comparison and was only equipped with anti-cruiser guns in order not to fill its ammo supply with more than two different ammo sizes between anti-cruiser and anti-destroyer/frigate. The Impaler’s armaments included 8 650mm four-barrel artillery cannons for long range assault. The Impaler also used 22 220mm dual autocannons for use in short to medium range engagements, but again those guns were used against other ships in the same class and were not effective against smaller targets. To add more kick at extreme long ranges or for orbital bombardment, the Impaler also had a single 800mm heavy artillery cannons but this weapon was forward firing only and only had a few rounds. The Impaler was lightly armed compared to other Royal Navy ships but a lot of that was contributed to the ammo storage due to the smaller frame. Also, because the ship was equipped with four-barrel cannons, it was deemed sufficient to destroy or decimate any enemy since it was effectively two turrets in one. The other reason was to confuse State ships into thinking they were engaging destroyers at first glance and misreading the situation due to the front profile of the ship being very similar. While an effective tactic at first, State ships eventually had better scanners to determine the ship they are facing long before it got in range. Much like with the Stabber, the primary weakness of the Impaler was its ammo supply running out. However, with as much firepower as the Impaler had available to engage targets, a battle of attrition was not a good tactic against such ships. To compensate, State ships generally resorted to getting in close to prevent the Impaler from using its heavy guns if the situation called for it and pelt the Impaler with waves of missile barrages, a tactic that had been proven effective much to the annoyance of the Impalers’ commanding officers.

After the First Interstellar War, the Royal Lykan Kingdom was reformed into the Holy Lykan Republic after the destruction of the orbital city of High Charity and the death of their corrupt king. During this transition, the Impalers were decommissioned and recycled into the Omen-class Battlecruiser based on the prototype Harbinger Battleship that was developed near the end of the war. However, it generally took two Impalers to be recycled into a single Omen, and thus the number of Omens in the Holy Lykan Navy is half as many as there were Impalers in the Royal Navy.

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