Suffolk Escort Cruiser / Tiger Strike Cruiser

Suffolk Escort Cruiser                        Tiger Strike Cruiser

One of the longest continuously serving ships in the NAC fleet, the Suffolk class escort cruiser began its service in a much different role.  In the arms race which the NAC was participating to maintain the prominence of the Royal Navy before the Second Solar War, plans were put forth to build one of the largest (at the time) warships yet proposed during that shaky peacetime era.  In many ways, the early Suffolk class epitomized the design philosophy of the NAC; a well-rounded ship designed to take on whatever large ships the other nations were also developing at the time.  Its role as a flagship, anchoring the battle line and exchanging weapons fire with opponents lasted for several years until the technology had advanced to make the Renown class battlecruisers and Thunderer battleships possible.  

The Suffolk has served long after its replacement as the standard flagship of the NAC, becoming a staple ship-of-the-line for their growing fleets.  Some models were eventually mounted with the latest Lance technology during the Third Solar War, but with the emergence of even larger Battle Dreadnoughts and Super Dreadnoughts, their role began to change.  No longer were they able to go blow-for-blow with the heaviest elements, but another, equally vital role began to emerge.

As the technology of causing destruction advanced, so did the methods of countermeasures.  In cyclical fashion, ways were found to circumvent those countermeasures, and a pattern of progression emerged that is familiar to any scholar of war history.  NAC strategists began to notice the vulnerability of their heaviest elements.  Being focused on the engagement and destruction of their capital equals meant a lack of ability to engage with the lightest craft on the battlefield: Fighters.  Additionally, the mass adoption of long-range missile weaponry by several factions (primarily the FSE) meant to counter the range of their Lances was further amplified by the slow, unresponsive nature that a Dreadnought naturally possesses.  Added to that was the larger role that fighters were playing on the interstellar battlefield with the proliferation of carrier craft of all sizes.

The NAC's response was to develop the AEGIS (Area Enhanced Guardian Indirection System).  A considerably massive defensive armament, the AEGIS worked by linking together the input data from multiple ships to efficiently identify, track and destroy incoming hostile fighter craft or relevant weaponry.  Since it is typically an offensive strategy to try to spoof the sensors of the target's point defense, receiving targeting information from another ship in the AEGIS network circumvented these features.  The only downsides lay in the large resource and mass it taken by the ship that equipped the AEGIS and the necessary proximity that the system required to function.

The astounding increase in survivability against opponents that had before given the NAC much trouble led to a hurried refit to the Suffolk, transforming its image from an aging warrior no longer able to contend on the battlefield to a shepherd of the lumbering beasts of war, guiding them towards the destruction of their enemies.  Some pre-refit Suffolks are still to be found, however, among smaller outlying NAC colonies, still serving as a flagship.

In changing its role from being the anvil to the hand that holds the hammer, the maneuverability requirements changed accordingly.  Now matching the pace of larger, less maneuverable ships, it became more important that its position relative to the rest of the battleline adjust to keep coverage of the AEGIS to a maximum number of ships.  Additionally, the Lance was modified into a wider, but less potent beam saturation weapon.  When slaved to the AEGIS, it created a zone of endangerment to any fighters, drones or missiles that came close enough to track.  The final change was an additional major shield.  Shortly after the use of this new design, enemy navies made it a focus to single out the Suffolk in an attempt to drop the AEGIS, making defensive escorts more and more necessary.

One other note to be made about the history of the Suffolk is the divergent evolution of the Tiger-class Strike Cruiser.  As mentioned in the data for the Lancaster and Broadaxe cruisers, an attempt was made to create a variant of the Suffolk ideal for raiding.  The result ended up being closer to a smaller Renowned battlecruiser (to be detailed later) or an overgunned pre-refit Suffolk, and as such its raiding utility has been limited.  It still finds use, however, in assaults on installations and less maneuverable targets, where its powerful dual Lances and substantial mixed defenses allow it to trade equally with any but the strongest of opponents in the cruiser category, provided the Tiger can keep on target, at a very reasonable cost.  Most found in the NAC fleet are still in the prototype phase, as mounting Lances as the entire armament is a new battle tactic. 

Designer's note:

I started placing the ship profile separate from the icons based on feedback.  Now that I've had a chance to look at them properly, I should probably make them full scale 100% opacity.

Edit: Fixed the opacity issues.  For some reason the Armor component does not resolve at 100%, I'll look into that later.

Jan 2021 Edit: Resolved issue with opacity, changed card format, changed point values to be inline.