Blitz - Class Strikecraft Carrier

A large spacecraft carrier used by the Alti Dominion that primarily carries fighters with rapid fire railguns.

The carrier's craft served a long range role, able to penetrate a large number of holes in enemy armour through sheer kinetic energy penetration. However, these fighters could not easily power their armament and as such would be forced to return to their respective carriers after most missions. This somewhat limited the amount of fighters that could be in space simultaneously, as they would have to land on the carrier to charge. As such, this carrier and its fighters serve a strange role shared by very few ships. However, it also has fighters which can serve more conventional roles. The railgun fighters tend to be a more effective anti-starship or sometimes even anti-station weapon.

Logistically, these carriers often require more energy than ammunition, especially in war. The railguns use a massive amount of power, and there are a large number of them. These ships tend to be refueled with hydrogen fusion fuel than restocked with ammunition. Because of this, they can be hard to field. However, as most Alti Dominion warships are equipped with large TDD-boosted rapid fire railguns, Alti logistics are designed for the large cost of logistics compared to other factions. These carriers are also built with backup batteries which are used to send signals back to the Dominion and allow it to be rescued. These emergency batteries are not large enough to support significant FTL travel.

The ship also used a type of large fusion reactor for power. This was armoured in its own compartment although most of the carrier had only weak armour in order to save weight and improve its acceleration. Due to its massive effective range as a carrier, it would retreat from any incomming enemy forces that would threaten it. To further protect itself, the ship featured a large number of CIWS turrets in order to destroy enemy fighters and missiles that might be fired from very long range. However it is usually escorted by dedicated point defence and Ewar ships, which are very efficient at performing their respective roles. With this setup, such a carrier could potentially become difficult to dislodge, although lighter ships such as frigates and corvettes could easily outrun them in acceleration. 

The carrier had little armament intended for planetary bombardment, leaving it woefully unequipped for that role. It's fighters would be space only, but later, some air and space fighters were developed. The carrier could then perform bombardment duties but only if equipped with these fighters, which are less effective in space combat, beforehand.