The Imperial Navy has been enjoying good success with their orbital bombardment programs, which are currently based on their Star Destroyer and Torpedo Sphere platforms. Combined with custom ordinance, these means systematically lay waste to any system eventually, regardless of the level of protection. There are some admirals of the fleet which have expressed the desire to bombard a system by even greater suprise. They have identified the need for a system which could conduct bombardments independantly (to a point) if sector fleet resources were already tied up. DOCE began the Tropitane Project.
Tropitane starts with a series of miniature probe drones which are no larger than a helmet or basketball. Up to ten of them are transported to the target system in a compact hyperspace-capable cylinder. Upon arrival, the cylinder releases the drones and they spread out around the system, detecting power sources which would indicate anti-orbital guns and shields. Once this information is collected, it prepares a map of these items as target points and sends this information in a coded burst to the systems base of operations.
Once this information is recieved, the base system launches the appropriate amount of Tropitane rockets. These are hyperspace-capable and are updated immeadiatly by additional info the drone may have collected while the rockets were in transit. Tropitane rockets are capable of far faster hyperspace speed, as all the rocket is made up of is 70% hyperdrive engine, 25% explosive, and 5% targeting system. Expect Tropitane rockets to be capable of .1 speeds in game terms. Sometimes, better speeds are attainable, but not much farther.
Some notes on the operation of the Tropitane rockets is due here. First, it was found that proper planning must be conducted to ensure that no Interdictor Cruisers were in the path of transit which the rockets take. If the rockets are forced out of hyperspace before their program is complete, they behave in strange and erratic ways which is dangerous in a blockade situation. A single rocket can quite feasibly put an Imperial Class Star Destroyer out of business, or worse. Also, there is a bug in the targeting program which doesn't allow for fleets to observe bombardments by hanging close to the system while the bombardment is taking place. This is being worked out, but for now the secondary mission of the drones is to provide observation and wrap-up information on how the bombardment went.
Tests were done on remote worlds manned with working shield generators and several anti-orbital armaments. In three tests, the average number of rockets used to obliterate a well-defended planet's defense system was 15. Subsequent waves can be produced in the system if the drones are programmed to target metropolitan or industrial areas and send that targeting information back. As far as accuracy goes, not one single rocket missed, and they ususally hit within a recorded tartet-parameter tolerance of three inches. The fleet admirals were amazed at the ability to so surgically strike a system, and that's why the project was dubbed Tropitane. Hich Tropitane is the personal shipboard surgeon of Grand Moff Tarkin.
© 1998 Star Wars Supplement Resource Nealos