Skill: Capital ship piloting; Highlight (-1D
unspecialized)
Cost: Only 30 ever made, prices vary greatly
Crew: 24
Passengers: 50
Cargo Capacity: 500 metric tons
Consumables: 1 year
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x.3
Hyper Backup: x11
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 0D-1
Space: 19
Atmosphere: 700; 2000 kph
Hull: 2D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 60/1D
Scan: 110/2D
Search: 220/4D
Focus: 13/5D
Weapons:
1 Ion Cannon
Scale: Capital
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 3
Skill: Capital Ship Gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 1-10/25/50
Atmosphere Range: 2-20/50/100km
Damage: 3D
5 Turbolaser Batteries
Scale: Capital
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 3
Skill: Capital Ship Gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 3-15/36/75
Atmosphere Range: 6-15/72/150km
Damage: 5D
This craft is the last ship ever produced by the independent
Carman research facilities. Designed to travel faster than any
ship ever made, the Highlight was supposed to engage in long range
scouting, and high speed pursuit missions. The one problem that
proved intractable was the maneuverability rating of the ship. In
the words of one engineer, the Highlight "looked like a shark,
moved like a shark, handled like a cow." This problem was a direct
result of the improvements made to the hyperdrive and the sublight
engines which provided a force so powerful that the Highlight
eventually developed a "wobble" at just about any speed, making it
nearly impossible to control, often emerging from hyperspace
several lightyears from where it was supposed to go. (reducing the
maneuverability to -1D, and increasing the astrogation difficulty
by 25.) After several years of work, Carman Research had produced
a fleet of thirty experimental crafts that outpaced everything in
space, but were prone to hitting any obstacles in it's path. Like
solar systems. The Highlight project was soon abandoned, and the
experimental craft, most without working weapon systems, were sold
to independent buyers at remarkably low prices. Some still ply the
spacelanes, piloted by very skilled or very stupid pilots.
This is a fun ship to give players. The first time they gun
the engines, and they find themselves zooming away from the fastest
of improved TIE fighters, they will fall in love with it, and work
to correct it's "minor" flaws. The only catch is, those flaws
can't be fixed without creating an entirely new impulse and
hyperdrive system. The one it has is fundamentally screwed up, and
will never work properly. In addition, the Highlight is an
experimental craft, and it has all the idiosyncrasies of a ship of
that type. One problem that crops up fairly frequently is
overburn. When either the hyperdrive or the sublight drive have
been engaged too long, the wobble will decrease and then disappear,
and the ships velocity will begin to slowly increase. At this
point, the ship cannot be stopped by any methods short of
destruction of the drive system, a risky prospect considering the
fact that it is now sparking, and covered with a thick layer of
green plasma. The overburn can continue for several minutes, hours
or days before it subsides, leaving the crew with a burnt out
hyperdrive, thousands of lightyears from where they should be.