User:Vivaporius/Sandbox/League of Civilized Worlds/III: Difference between revisions

Skimmers are lightly-armed voidships employed by the League for internal patrol duties and customs enforcement. Whereas their lancer counterparts are equipped with heavy weapons such as fusion and particle beam cannons, the skimmers are mostly limited to most modest yet potent weapons, such as laser emitters and ordinance launchers to fulfill the limited combat roles they might encounter. The skimmers are typically crewed by fresh recruits and newly-minted naval officers before they are reassigned to more prestigious postings on larger voidships. Skimmers operate almost entirely within the colonial and frontier systems of the League, where the presence of larger and more potent military vessels is deemed as either being too expensive or unnecessary for the needs of maintaining law and order in the system. As a rule, skimmers operate in groups of two or threefour, and only everyever break off from their groups individually if deemed absolutely necessary, as the threat of an ambush by pirate flotillas or being marooned in space without immediate support are constant threats for the skimmer and its crew. Skimmers are the smallest military vessels in use with the League capable of independent patrol duties, with scales ranging between 50-80 meters in length, and usually run with a complement of 30 to 50 personnel and 10 to 20 marines depending upon the areas of patrol assigned to the vessel.