TSN Light Cruiser

The original "Artemis" class space cruiser, the TSN Light Cruiser is the main class of Terran starship. It is sturdy, fast, and maneuverable, capable of defending the area of space to which it is assigned with relative assurance of victory. In capable hands, it can take on any opponent it might encounter. It carries moderate shielding, high-speed engines, both sublight and warp speeds, and beam and torpedo weapons. It can dock with friendly starbases to resupply its energy stores, as well as its stock of torpedoes.

Artemis class starships are equipped with a sophisticated power allocation system, allowing the ship's engineer to adjust the flow of power from the ship's generators. This allows the engineer to augment the performance of many of the systems on the ship, simply by providing the system more power. For example, more power to the Warp system means that the ship will fly at a higher warp speed without using any additional energy. More power into the beams means that they will fire more frequently. More power to the shields means that they can sustain more damage, and will recharge faster, and so on.

Further, the ship is equipped with the most advanced science equipment, allowing the science officer to detect enemy vessels, mines, space anomalies, and the like. There have even been unconfirmed reports of some science officers detecting space monsters. The science officer is also useful in combat, since they are able to discern the best setting for the Artemis' beams which will result in boosted damage to the enemy. Science can also detect internal damage to enemy ships, indicating that the enemy ship is likely losing combat ability, and may be willing to surrender.

In Artemis 2.7, the Light Cruiser's role as a long range patrol vessel was expanded with the addition of probes, tags, and beacons. These new torpedo types open up new possibilities for dealing indirectly with enemy forces, such as by setting up a beacon to attract monsters into an area where they can defend the sector. Artemis 2.7.1 finalized this supply of ordinance at 5 of each, giving the Light Cruiser class a large supply of probes and other scientific instruments, second only to the Scout.

The communication systems on the Artemis class starship are also top of the line, being able to receive incoming friendly transmissions, as well as intercepting enemy communications, and even being able to give orders to friendly ships. 

Finally, the weapons systems allow for the weapons officer to lock onto enemy ships, get a general reading of enemy shield status, (green for up, yellow for damaged, and no longer visible when destroyed) and load and fire the four (five in 2.2) types of torpedo weapons on board the ship. Also, the weapons officer can set the beams to the frequency provided by the science officer to receive a boost to beam damage against enemy ships.

Several TSN Light Cruisers have undergone an overhaul, using the technology developed to build the TSN Medium Carrier. Among the changes included in this upgrade are advanced baffles on the Light Cruiser's impulse drives, and removal of certain panels over the gravitic P-Coils, exposing the glow of the power system as it emits excess photons. As a side effect, some engineers have begun changing the frequency of their power systems, in order to change the color of the glow emitted by the engines and sensor systems.

The following historical document shows details of the creation of the original Light Cruiser "Artemis" (then called a "Battle Cruiser") and shows the original configuration. The images below can be compared to the current appearance to show the changes involved. (The new look for the Light Cruiser was introduced in Artemis 2.4.)

Jayne's Fighting Starships Entry