A-14 Raptor

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A-14 Raptor
WC1-Raptor.png
Type Heavy Fighter
Manufacturer Origin Aerospace
Primary User Terran Confederation
Additional Users Free Republic of the Landreich,
Union of Border Worlds
Introduction 2630s
Retirement Confederation Service - 2660s
General Characteristics
Length 36 meters
Mass 20 tonnes
Crew 1 (pilot)
Performance
Maximum Yaw 6 dps
Maximum Pitch 5 dps
Maximum Roll 6 dps
Acceleration Good
Velocity
Cruise 250 kps
Maximum 400 kps
Afterburner
Maximum Afterburner 1200 kps
Armament
Guns
Mk. 40F Neutron Guns (2)

Mk. 30A Mass Driver Cannons (2)

Default Missile Loadout
Javelin HS (2)

Spiculum IR (2)
Pilum FF (1)
Porcupine Mine (1)

Components
Decoys None
Cloaking Device No
Jump Drive No
Defense
Shields
Fore 7 cm equivalent
Aft 7 cm equivalent
Armor
Front 8 cm
Rear 8 cm
Right 6 cm
Left 6 cm
Raptor2654.gif
Raptor Target Identification, circa 2654.


History

The A-14 Raptor was a Terran Confederation heavy fighter. It was included in the Joan's Fighting Spacecraft Vega Sector Supplement for 2654.092.

Raptors came into the spotlight in 2639, during the McAuliffe Ambush and Enyo Engagement. Then-Captain Geoffrey Tolwyn's daring plan rested on the abilities of a small force of Raptors outfitted as mine-layers. The plan worked, rescuing hundreds of thousands of captive civilians and ensuring the Raptor a place in history. Over the next fifteen years, through to the close of the Vega Campaign, the Raptor would see success in several roles: as a commerce raider, as a heavy handed answer to swarm fighter tactics and, when used in co-ordinated attacks, as a strike craft against line targets as large as cruisers.

During the height of the Vega Sector Campaign, Raptors from Star Slayer Squadron based on the TCS Tiger's Claw scored a string of impressive ship-to-ship victories.

Raptors continued to see service with front line squadrons through to the 2668 Battle of Earth. Following the conclusion of the Kilrathi War, surplus Raptors found their way to the service of the Free Republic of the Landreich - where they continued to see service through the border skirmishes of the early seventies.

An earlier variant of the Raptor carried a different missile loadout: two Phalanx missiles, three missiles of another type of missile and a Porcupine Space Mine. It also mounted laser cannons rather than neutron guns.

Specifications

Middle Terran-Kilrathi War

A-14 Raptor WC1-Raptor.png A-14 Raptor Bp-raptorside.png A-14 Raptor SWCraptor.jpg
Source: Claw Marks Wing Commander Super Wing Commander
Class: Heavy Fighter Heavy Fighter Heavy Fighter
Length: 36 meters 36 meters 36 meters
Mass 20 tonnes 20 tonnes 20 tonnes
Max Velocity: 400 KPS 400 KPS 400 KPS
Cruising velocity: 250 KPS 250 KPS 250 KPS
Afterburner Velocity: 1200 KPS 1200 KPS 1200 KPS
Acceleration: Good Good Good
Max. YPR: 6/5/6 DPS 6/5/6 DPS 6/5/6 DPS
Guns: Mk. 30A Mass Driver Cannon (2) Mk. 30A Mass Driver Cannon (2) Mk. 30A Mass Driver Cannon (2)
Guns: Mk. 40F Neutron Gun (2) Mk. 40F Neutron Gun (2) Mk. 40F Neutron Gun (2)
Missiles: Javelin Heatseeker (2) Javelin Heatseeker (2) Javelin Heatseeker (4)
Missiles: Spiculum Image-Recognition (2) Spiculum Image-Recognition (2) Spiculum Image-Recognition (4)
Missiles: Pilum Friend-or-Foe (1) Pilum Friend-or-Foe (1) Pilum Friend-or-Foe (2)
Missiles: Porcupine Mine (1) Porcupine Mine (1) Porcupine Mine (2)
Armor (Fore/Aft/Sides) 8.0/8.0/6.0 cm 8.0/8.0/6.0 cm 8.0/8.0/6.0 cm
Shields (Fore/Aft) 7.0/7.0 cm 7.0/7.0 cm 7.0/7.0 cm
Shield Recharge: 3 cm/seconds 3 cm/seconds 3 cm/seconds
Missile Decoys: None None None
Jump Capable: No No No

Sources

Claw Marks Vol. 1 No. 4 - #Issue 4/2654

  • Taggart's Tactics
    • "On 2639.033, Kilrathi occupation forces land on the human-occupied world Enyo, put a quarter of a million human prisoners under orbital guns, and await Terran reprisals. So begins the Enyo Engagement, a tactical situation made difficult by the presence of so many hostages.
      • Phase One of the Enyo Engagement involves bringing in an attack force against the Kilrathi fleet at Enyo. The attack force consists principally of Raptor-Class heavy fighters reconfigured to carry extra Porcupine Space Mines and practically no missiles. The force is small enough that Kilrathi forces at Enyo are certain of victory.
      • The Phase One forces drop their Space Mines in one region of space near Enyo and engage the enemy. Kilrathi ships maneuver to get out of the mined region and turn their attention to destroying the invaders.
      • By the time the Kilrathi navigators realize that the mined region corresponds to Enyo's principal jump point, it is too late: Phase Two has begun. A single radio signal detonates all the specially-modified Porcupine mines, and moments later the remainder of the Terran fleet appears at that jump point, in the middle of the engagement.
      • The Terran fleet strikes first against the gunships threatening the human colonies. The enemy ships are destroyed with minimal loss of life among the colonists. Then the two fleets settle in for a pounding match.
      • The Enyo Engagement ends with the Kilrathi in retreat. Losses have been nearly identical between the two fleets, but the Kilrathi have been forced to abandon a strategic position."

Wing Commander / Super Wing Commander

Wing Commander Conversations

  • Beta Wing (McAuliffe System)/Delta Wing (Gateway System)/Omicron Wing (Cheng-Du System)
    • Michael Casey: Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar.Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!
  • Omicron Wing (Gimle System)
    • Shotglass: Hey, Maverick. How’s it goin’? You heard about those new Rapiers? Ever'body's talkin' about 'em. I'm not so sure about 'em, though. I flew jus' about my whole career in Scimitars an' Raptors. Liked the Raptor best, even though she didn't handle too good. She sure was fast once you got her goin', though!
  • Tau Wing (Rostov System)
    • Shotglass: Have a seat, Maverick. This place is getting empty these days. I hear you've been flying the Raptor. She's a good ship, fast but a bit clumsy. It's an aggressive ship...if you're an aggressive pilot. I'd bet you could stand off a Gratha or two with that kind of ship. Oh well...you've probably got a better feel for the ship than me. Pay no mind to this ol' has-been.
  • Beta Wing (Jotunheim System)
    • Tanaka Mariko: "Shotglass believes we may fly in asteroid fields today. I hope he is right. There is something I wish to try. Have you ever seen Iceman in an asteroid field? No? He does some amazing things. If his front shield is gone, he will turn tail... ... and let his enemy come up behind him. He performs evasive maneuvers and uses his thrusters... ... and sets course straight for a large asteroid. At the last moment possible, he rolls out. The Kilrathi does not always follow successfully. Of course, Iceman prefers to do this in Hornets or Rapiers, not Raptors."

Wing Commander Missions

The Secret Missions Missions

The Secret Missions 1.5 Missions

The Secret Missions 2: Crusade Missions

Wing Commander: Freedom Flight

  • "Spirit rolled her Raptor fighter hard right to stay close behind the Kilrathi, glancing desperately at the power readings on her ship's neutron guns, slowly building up to full power again. The small fighter's powerplant was straining to recharge the weapons… she waited until the last moment, when the Kilrathi fighter was veering sharply away, to pull the trigger and let loose the volley of deadly red fire. The aft engine of the enemy fighter peeled away and exploded, taking the rest of the fighter with it. Spirit veered again to avoid the debris, scanning her aft view for Youngblood."
  • "She felt the vibration of the engines straining at the base of her spine as she flew at top speed, willing her Raptor to leap across the remaining distance and into the rocks..."
  • "Spirit punched on the Raptor's engines… for an awful second, all she could hear was the splutter of her ship's engines as they failed to ignite. Then they roared back into life and she hit the afterburners. She was beyond the diving Kilrathi a moment later, using the asteroids to block their weapons' fire. But she knew she couldn't play this game forever… soon they'd maneuver to box her in, to force her in front of their guns, and it would be over."

The Memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel Carl T. LaFong: The Kilrathi War's Greatest Ace (TCSN, Retired)

  • Academy Years
    • For Tighter Up or Down Movements, Roll and Turn
      • "The arrangement of thrusters on Hornets, Scimitars, and Raptors produces an unusual flight characteristic: up and down movements cannot be completed in as tight a radius as a turn to the left or right. Aerospace engineers are trying to correct the flaw in the new Rapier class, but it is still unknown whether their efforts have been successful."
    • Simulated Dogfights
      • "Our first dogfights featured computer Kilrathi opponents. We spent almost a month fighting these electronic enemies. Flying Hornets, we first encountered small wings of two or three [Dralthi]] or Salthi. The sim operators gradually increased the skill level of the Kilrathi and the number of enemy ships. Then they would throw in new types of ships until we had battled pilots in Krant, Gratha and Jalthi. During the progression of opponents, our own ships were upgraded to Scimitars and Raptors."
    • TCS Formidable
      • "Weapons training began in the final month before we would jump out of the practice area and into the Vega Sector. We hit stationary and moving targets with our lasers, dumb fire missiles and heat-seekers. We learned to lead targets moving at different speeds with the guns, and how to gain a lock with the Javelin. We wouldn't actually use Pilums, Porcupines, IR's, mass drivers or neutrons until we flew in Scimitars and Raptors, but our training ensured that we were prepared to employ them when we reached our next destination."
    • Using Your Ship's Guns
      • "Mass Driver - he Scimitars and Raptors were equipped with the mass driver cannon, the only weapon in the Terran arsenal where explosive power is not affected by the distance from the target. While you must be within 3,000 mrrs to hit a target, the effect of a hit with this gun is the same at 500 mrrs as it is at 2000 mrrs. The effectiveness of the lasers and neutrons decreases the farther away you get from your target. The mass driver packs more of a punch than the laser cannon and takes more blaster power for each shot."
      • "Neutron Guns - It eventually showed up as the second gun on the Rapier, but at the time the Raptor was the only ship that carried the neutron gun. The neutron was the most powerful gun in the Confederation's arsenal, carrying an explosive force that's 25-percent higher than the mass driver. It's effectiveness de-creases the farther away you get from your target and it uses blaster power quickly. As a pilot, it's best to get in close with this weapon, fire a few quick bursts and then wait for blaster power to reach maximum before firing again."
      • "Full Guns - On the Raptor, and eventually the Rapier, you could fire two guns at once. With the Raptor it was the mass driver and neutron. Later, on the Rapier it was the laser and neutron. Full guns really pack a wallop, but they use blaster power at an alarming rate. It's often a difficult call whether the added power is worth the drop in blaster power. Our instructors recommendations were to use full guns when you had isolated a single target or capital ship, but to stick with the neutrons in a crowded dogfight."
  • Between Missions (Jotunheim System)
    • " "I've got to admit that the lieutenant [Maniac] hasn't lost a second in reflex time and he can still put a Hornet, Raptor, Scimitar, or Rapier through its paces better than anyone," he [Paladin] explained. "The problem is that he's taking every mission personally, and trying single-handedly to take out every enemy fighter. He's not only a danger to himself, but to his wingleader as well. You never know what he's going to do next." "

Wing Commander: Fleet Action

  • Chapter 12
    • " "This is Tolwyn. Good luck to all of you and good hunting." The image winked off and Kevin smile. Typical Brit understatement. The forward edge of Rapiers, Raptors, Ferrets and Hornets, running ahead of the attack wave, slammed into the opposing wall of opposition defending the Kilrathi heavy carriers."

Wing Commander: False Colors

Star*Soldier

Classifieds

"Used ships available! Navy surplus means your lucky day! Fighters? F-36 Hornet, F-38 Talon, F-71 Stiletto, F-98 Phantom, F-95 Morningstar, F-97 Wraith! Bombers? A-14 Raptor, A-15 Gladius, even A-20 Banshee! Collectables and like new!
Contact crazyjoe@shipsmustgo.corporation"

Gallery

  • Raptor-class line drawing from Joan's Fighting Spacecraft.

    Raptor-class line drawing from Joan's Fighting Spacecraft.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

  • Origin Aerospace blueprint.

    Origin Aerospace blueprint.

  • View from a Raptor cockpit as it engages a Krant.

    View from a Raptor cockpit as it engages a Krant.

  • Raptor as seen in Super Wing Commander

    Raptor as seen in Super Wing Commander

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