Sovinius-class cruiser

A Sovinius-class... They're getting old, but don't let that deceive you, they still have quite the bite.

— Captain Halimi, 383

The Sovinius-class is a Vestan class of cruisers tailored for infiltration and reconnaissance missions. It was designed in conjunction with the Aeris Mare-class destroyer, which is more oriented towards fleet escort and space superiority missions. By comparison, the Sovinius-class is not as heavily armed and armored, but has better maneuverability and most importantly, has stealth capabilities. Utilizing both deflective shapes and absorbing coatings, the entire hull of the Sovinius-class is nearly undetectable to most Enodian sensors.

The Sovinius-class is entirely manufactured at the Vestalia II Shipyard facility by Hyperion Industries. This limits the overall number of ships that can be built to one every 18 months, but also reduces the risks of espionage and sabotage by focusing more efforts into a single location. Indeed, the stealth capabilities of the Sovinius-class remains one of the most secretive information within the Federation, and a primary target for Enodian spies. Luckily, this information has yet to be comprimised in any way, giving the aging Sovinius-class a advantage against newer ship classes.

History

The Sovinius-class was born of a challenge that the new Aeris Mare-class could not fulfill. Aiming to replace the San Zemilla-class with a stealth ship retaining the same or better combat capabilities was simply too difficult given the numer of weapons and the associated power draw required. Instead, the program was separated into two designs: what would become the Aeris Mare-class was centered on space superiority while what would become the Sovinius-class was centered around stealth and mobility.

Space Frigates by Ridwan Chandra

Class Overview

Name

Sovinius-class

Builder

Hyperion Industries

Operator

Vestan Aerospace Defense Force

Preceded by

San Zemilla-class

Cost

14.6 billion PLV

Built

348-present

In service

12

Lost

None

Planned

28

On order

6

Building

2

The initial plans for the Sovinius were drawn in the late 330s and sustained numerous changes and updated through the years. Unlike the Aeris Mare, the Sovinius rapidly exceeded its initial budget due to the unclear missions it would undertake. This resulted in delays and a reduction of the planned number of ships. The first ship of the class launched in 350, with more than six years of delay and with a prohibitive unit price of 15 billion PLVs. As a result, only 12 ships have been built so far, with two more under construction.

Notable ships in class

Name	Hull Number	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Status
Sovinius	DG-001958	April, 20th, 348	January, 18th, 350	November, 7th, 350	Active
New Auris	DG-001971	August, 6th, 356	November, 17th, 358	May, 18th, 359	Active

Design

General characteristics

• Type: Reconnaissance cruiser
• Tonnage: 153 883 tons
• Length: 82m
• Beam: 87m
• Height: 385m
• Armor: 480mm Void Armor, 520mm composite armor
• Armament: 8x2 LAC-57 cannons, 4*60 Hot Launch Missile Tubes (240 total), 4 Mikoto Systems Ra LDS, 16 Continental Arsenal OGR-5 Point Defense Guns

• Power: Mikoto Systems PPC-71 fusion reactor (3.2 Terawatts)
• Propulsion: 4x Ratchet Star Industries H-690 fusion drive (1 870MN each)
• Maximum Acceleration: 0,731g
• Range: 29 lightyears (with FTL), 360 AU (sublight only)
• Aircrafts carried: 2x AC-56 Tempest Crusader
• Complement: 409 crew, up to 120 passengers
• Sensors, electronic warfare and processing systems: Long range: 4.7 light-seconds, Short-range sensors: 450km(EM)/290km(IR)