Epoch-class heavy carrier (EXverse)

The Epoch-class heavy carrier - hull classification symbol CV - is a massive carrier in service with the UNSC Navy. Built to be the next generation carrier, which would have projected the naval power across the entire human space, the Epoch-class became one of the most effective carriers against the Covenant, despite being designed half a century prior.
Performing very well during initial tests, Epoch-class become quickly a valuable asset in every battlegroup, being capable of escorting other capital ships while provide anti-air cover with both a vast array of point-defense guns and a large squadron of starfighters; however, before and during the Insurrection the carrier seemed to be overpowered against threats posed by insurrections, which led Naval Command deciding not to fit a MAC gun in the last decade of the 2400s.
While issuing a RFP for a new carrier in 2525, the Covenant attacked Harvest. So a proper refitting program was approved, making these carriers one of the few effective UNSC ships in countering Covenant vessels, despite the technology-related overwhelming difference between Humans and Covenant. The lack of suitable replacement for the venerable carrier meant a further flight being produced by Sinoviet Heavy Machinery after the introduction of its battle-oriented variant, upgrades coming with.
The useful of the Epochs became well-known after the war, when only four survived it. Despite the design being almost eighty-years old, it would be continue to be used in the next-generation carriers, showing the goodness of the original project.
== History ==
=== The next generation carrier ===
UNSC's naval theorists hypothesized already during the Inner Colony Wars a massive carrier capable of supporting the fleet in gaining orbital control and escorting other capital ships both with its own weapons and a large wing of starfighters. Despite space battles never happened until the last decade of the 25th century, the UNSC Naval Command understood that such a ship could be useful, in case of a sudden alien encounter
While the Roman-class light carrier's Halifax Spacewerx, built upon a shortened colony vessel's hull, was indeed an excellent troop carrier and orbital support vessel, it was too lightly armed to sustained a theorized naval battle by escorting other ships: it was the 2441 and the Navy was seeking what half a century prior was defined a heavy carrier. However the best project was introduced by the newly-estabilished Sinoviet Heavy Machinery: this carrier had a vast hangar bay, a modular slanted wings-type hull and an increased firepower compared to Roman carrier, however it was also slower, bigger and less agile than the latter, and so someone disliked them, even if they were still also capable to keep the pace of an entire fleet.
What marked the Javelin-class was the slanted wings-type hull, borrowed by the Phoenix-class colony vessel, which at the time wasn't popular: using parts of a ship directly taken from a civilian ship was seen as a failure for shipbuilding companies, charged with not be able to design a military vessel from scratch. Nonetheless the Javelin-class' design was all but recycled from a civilian vessel, and wings were the only part that was evocative of the Phoenix. Other than purely aesthetic criticism, Javelin-class found themselves underpowered due to poorly designed fusion drives: according to naval architects, those engines produced twenty percent less energy than contemporary ones, so Javelins became outpaced by even larger ships.
While the CMA Navy enjoyed the class, largely because it was the largest ship it ever had - and for no other reasons - the UNSC space branch instead was dissatisfied, but it couldn't afford another carrier since budget should diverted elsewhere, and UEG denied further increments. So, for almost twenty years, UNSC Navy used Javelins alongside much older Romans, and since colonies were still relatively peaceful it needn't a replacement for both classes.
In the sixties of the 25th century, tensions arose in some Outer Colonies. These were under CMA jurisdiction, but UNSC feared that rebel seeds could spread even among Inner Colonies, and UEG was on the same wavelength; so, in 2468 the human government increased, for the first time in decades, the UNSC budget, thanks to which Naval Command could send a RFI for a next-generation carrier. Not many shipyards took part to the challenge, since the RFI asked for a over thirty million metric tons and a cheapness carrier, requests unfeasible for most shipbuilding manufacturers at the time.
Sinoviet's architects, once again, proved its superiority in aerospace matters: leading by its founder, they reused much of the Javelin-class' hull, such as the slanted wings and the cavernous, central hangar bay, and they used much lighter materials to construct the class; this led to a very heavy carrier which displacement, however, was far larger than the previous class' one, capable of holding more assets and being able to optimize internal space. This carrier, as every other ship, had some disapprovals, regarding mainly its size, which dwarfed considerably the Javelin one by over five hundred meters in length, and so it would cost some in agility and speed; however, speed shown to be the fastest among cruisers and carriers thanks to a very powerful, specially-made, fusion drive, an engine that allowed the later known Epoch-class to outpace older capital ships. However, designing a ship of that size, for the first time, required much time and work, so a first prototype was produced only in 2473.
What made really doubtful some high-ranked naval officers was the light point defense array, but seeing the role it would have filled, it wasn't a real concern; instead, they enjoyed a lot the anti-ship armament: since Mark 33 Spitfire naval coilgun batteries were felt too light for a vessel of that size, Sinoviet's engineers decided to complement Spitfires with two Mark 10 Breakwater, which became the most powerful naval coilgun battery that UNSC Navy could fielded and, a time where the MAC gun was still hypotetical, the most powerful, projectile-based weapon in the entire UNSC arsenal; nonetheless, the Mark 10 version proved to have many flaws, due to the fast developing process and a new, improved design which remained unchanged in newer models. But, as later seen during Insurrection, this armament was wasted against a rebel force, only because they hadn't ships larger than a frigate.
In 2475, after five years of development due to a series of strikes regarding unsafe working conditions, finally the UNSC Epoch was introduced in the UNSC Navy.
=== The rise of the Insurrection ===
The Epoch-class never took part to major operations until the end of the century. However, in order to justify a carrier of that size, the UNSC Navy regularly organized drills to keep these carriers and their crew ready to fight, even if there weren't threats suitable for such vessels. Even against pirates these carriers would never be used, due to be a waste of resources - however their upkeep costs wasn't much prohibitive.
All changed with the advent of rebel movements. In 2494 a battle group containing an Epoch carrier nuked the colony of Far Isle, an event that marked the start of the Insurrection. Despite such civil war, the class would never be upgraded with the MAC system: roles filled by it combined with an already powerful armament and the size of ships fielded by insurrectionists prevented so, as Naval Command needed to allocate resources elsewhere.
During all the Insurrection, Epochs saw only small operations, despite being the only carrier in service with the UNSC Navy for a while; things never got better when, at the start of the 26th century, the Navy introduced the : more suitable for planetary assaults, it replaced the Epoch-class in battlegroups. When CMA ceded all , Naval Command used them together with Orions, therefore putting Epochs in rear lines. The explanation was simple: Punics could carry more complement, while Orions had internal factories: this combination was the best for prolonged campaigns; besides, this tandem proved its superiority wherever they went, so a change of mind couldn't happen.
As rebels never had capital ships, roles suitable for the Epoch-class would never existed, but some high-ranked officers were convinced that the class could be useful again. When the Covevant showed up themselves, their beliefs became certainties...
=== Human-Covenant War ===
After the Second Battle of Harvest, and the start of the subsequent Harvest Campaign, Vice Admiral Cole was given command of the Third Fleet, an expeditionary fleet comprised the majority of the UNSC fleet. In this fleet thirty Epoch-class carriers were present. These took part in every major fight until the death of Cole, such as the Battle of Alpha Aurigae, the Battle of XI Boötis A, the Battle of the Great Bear, the Battle of Leonis Minoris and the climactic Battle of Psi Serpentis, where five carriers engaged the two Covenant fleets, and all were destroyed. In the early years of the war, UNSC's naval formations were basically the same used during late-Insurrection; as such, Epochs were employed with the Escort configuration only, while Orions were tasked to ferrying ground forces. This happened because Orions weren't powerful enough to stay on the frontline, nor they had enough armor to withstand to plasma fire. On the other hand, Epochs had less space for tanks and vehicles than Orions.
UNSC Caracas engaged the Covenant fleet above Alpha Corvi II, where the UNSC fleet was beaten, but the carrier survived and fought three other battles before being destroyed at Leonis Minoris.
UNSC Endurance and UNSC Demon took part in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, as a part of Battlegroup Leviathan in 2552; both survived the skirmish but with were so damaged that they need weeks of repairs. Both one and the other would have been destroyed in the following Fall of Reach.
The importance of the Epoch-class give the Sinoviet a chance to conceived a battleship's variant: known as , it confirmed the goodness of the Epoch project by becoming one the few UNSC's ships capable of directly engage an and potentially win. The Alliance would became the most produced mid-war ship class, but less than the cheaper, yet powerful, . However the technological gap was significant.
=== Post-War ===
During the war many carriers were destroyed, as they were one of the Covenant shipmaster's primary target. However their importance continued long after the end of the war, by the fact that the Navy hadn't planned a new class with such characteristics. Only in 2555 a RFP was emitted, with only two projects being still in stakes after a review in one year later.
During the Rise of the Created, Epochs were still on the frontline.
== Specifications ==
=== Hull ===
The Epoch-class is one of the biggest ships in the entire UNSC Navy, measuring 2,563 metres in length, 817 metres in width and 552 metres in height. With a mass of 35 million metric tons is also one of the heaviest ships in the Navy, surpassed only by the supercarriers and the .
Designed to be an escort, the class possess a single, but large, bridge that dominates the entire hull, allowing the command crew to seeing the exterior area of the ships. Having an airframe based on Phoenix ships - as it was the prior Javelin and Roman-class - the Epoch has large slanted wings that run across the ship's length, which houses many weapons.
The class also possess one of the thickest armor ever fitted onto a UNSC ship, having three meters of Titanium A2; this armor, an improvement over the previous A1 variant, is still troublesome, as plasma torpedoes and energy projectors can easily dissolve it and destroy the ship. However, the A2, combining with this thickness, allow an Epoch-class ship to take extreme damage before being destroyed or disabled. This characteristic became vital during the Great War, as Epochs drew plasma fire allowing other ships to survive and give them time to respond. Even Covenant shipmasters recognized the Epoch's relevance in a UNSC fleet.
The carrier, as any other capital ships in the UNSC Navy, possess a recreational room reserved to officers, which is located under the bridge; is an exclusive club, not open to NCO and sailors. There are three types of crew quarter: those reserved to officers, those reserved to NCS and sailors and those reserved to non-Navy personnel. First ones are large, single dorms with a number of privileges, such as a desk and a chair; second ones are small, double dorms with only the toilette; third one belong to marines and other non-Navy personnel and are similar to that of NCOs and sailors, but they can have four beds. Anyway beds are generally comfortable.
There are two cryo-bays, one located near the engine room, and the other near the bridge; armories are four, two next to cryo-bays, one on the prow and one amidships. Throughout the hull twelve hangar are fitted, which can host at the same time two starfighters and three dropships. Starfighters too large to be stored in these hangars can be docked externally using a series of clamps and access umbilicals; up to twelve starfighters can be carrying using these handholds.
The section in which there are non-Navy quarters can be remodeled to be function as an additional hangar; this is used in combination with Escort configuration, allowing the carrier to carrying some more starfighters.
=== Propulsion ===
The fusion drive fitted aboard Epochs is the Naoto Technologies V8/C-DFR. This reactor uses a dedicated configuration, made up of a single, large reactor supplemented by two secondary ones; the threes work together, with the secondaries that always overcharge the primary one, allowing the ship to move itself and powering weapon system. Other than that, four smaller reactors further integrated the system, granting an impressive increased output of 250% when needed.
The slispace drive is Series IV CODEN Kawanishi Engineering SED-2522S.
=== Crew and complement ===
1,300 sailors are needed to operate an Epoch ship. If there is manpower shortage, the number of sailors can be decreased to 717, after which a vessel of this size cannot be manned effectively.
Complement can varying, depending on the configuration used for the mission:
* the Escort configuration, which is also the widely setup used, foresaw 36 Pelican dropships or Darter dropships, 12 C709 Longsword starfighters docked externally and 24 C712 Longsword or F-41 Broadsword starfighters, while only 200 marines are hosted for security purpose. This setup allows the class to effectively escort a capital ship not only with its armament, but also with its wing of starfighters, while Darter or Pelican dropships can ferrying supplies to ground forces if needed. C712 Longsword are a small GA-TL1's variant and they can executes all mission related to multirole fighters, which means protecting ships and ground forces from air threats, as well as providing air strikes both on a planet's surface or in space if requested; by 2534 some carriers hosted F-41 Broadsword instead of C712 Longsword, which are less capable against ships but are abnormally effective in dogfighting roles. C709-variant is, instead, an anti-ship specific-fighter, armed with special guided bombs and missiles - later in the war even counter-shield missiles - capable of inflicting heavy damage even to mid-size Covenant vessels. This mix allow an Epoch to be a serious threat to enemy fleets;
* the Support configuration, which is used lesser due to cramped space for land materials. In this setups an Epochs can carry 36 Pelican dropships, 12 Darter or Albatross dropships, 40 M12 Warthog vehicles, 18 M808 Scorpion tanks, 50 M274 Mongoose, 800 marines, 120 ODSTs and 12 C712 Longsword starfighters. Longswords, in this configuration, are a key component of the class' complement, as they can assist ground forces by striking enemy positions or protecting them from air assaults, otherwise they can protect the carrier. While the number of ground forces can appear to be enough, it's not sufficient for a full-scale planetary invasion.
=== Armament ===
The armament of the Epoch-class is very diverse, as it can allow the class to fulfill various role.
The primary weapon system is a single Mark II, Light Coil - 56A2F9 MAC; essentially a rapid-fire variant of the Stalwart-class' MAC, it has eight capacitor banks capable of storing up a great amount of energy. This MAC gun can fire 300-tons slugs at fifty kilometers per hour; while not having the best kinetic energy, lighter shells allows carriers to fire more slugs in a short time than other MAC systems. The power, however, is still enough to disable a Covenant destroyer-size shields. Thanks to powerful engines, they take less than a minute to fully charge the MAC gun, and less than half a minute when all energy is directed to the coils. This variant, as all MAC variants, can fire all type of munitions available, even the later developed shield-piercing rounds, with which the 300-tons slug can also damages the hull, after having penetrated the shield. The carrier, differently from other classes, do not carry heavier or lighter shells, as this gun was implemented as a purely defensive weapon.
The MAC gun is supplemented by two Mark 15 Breakwater naval coilgun battery, mounted on the prow. These three-barreled coilgun batteries were the most powerful coilgun batteries at the time, but they had a number of issues: they were not so accurated at long distances and they required a great amount of energy to work. An improved version was developed in the late-2530, but it was implemented only on the Epoch's subclass due to resources shortage. Anyway, the Mark 15 can fired three 5-tons slugs in a shot at twenty kilometers. Combining these batteries with the MAC gun can easily destroy a Covenant destroyer and disable most Covenant cruiser's shields, except those on . Due to the massive energy required, only if the energy is directed to weapon systems can allow an Epoch ship to fire both MAC gun and Breakwater batteries. The battery itself can fire three shells every twenty seconds, but only if the MAC gun is not used.
Epoch-class' secondary armament is, as common on other UNSC ships, made up of missile batteries. Seventy M58 Archer missile pods are fitted onto the hulls; each pod contains thirty general-purpose missile, for a total of 2,100 missile. Twenty M4020 Bident missile pods, instead, are installed on the wings, and each pod contains thirty missile, for a total of six hundred Bidents. While Archer are general-purpose missiles, even if it can be used with various warhead options, Bidents are a more specific weapon. Using a scaled-down version of a starship's fusion drive, it can be launched from a very long distance and it is designed to penetrate a ship's shield, supplementing in this way the MAC gun. Generally used with nuclear-pumped X-Ray laser warhead as its explosive munition, its munition can be swapped-out with kinetic rod bundles or fusion warheads for conducting planetary bombardment; the latter option is frequently used in combination with Support configuration, as with which the carrier can assist ground forces effectively. That's allows the ship to avoid using the MAC gun to support planetary operations.
As anti-air weapons, the class possess twelve M66 Sentry autocannons, twelve M870 Rampart point defense guns and twenty M810 Helix point defense guns; these are generally ineffective against medium-to-large ships, but they can shot down fighters and smaller ships. While Ramparts and Helix fire fifty millimeters projectiles at five kilometers per hour, Sentries fire larger eighty millimeters shells at the same speed. This particular combination became vital during the Great War, as Covenant starfighters and starbombers were systematically shot down.
== Role ==
An Epoch-class carrier can fulfill various role.
Though conceived as an escort for other capital ships, so using its hangar to host starfighters, it can carry ground vehicles as well. Support configuration allows the vessel to deploy ground forces and air support, while maintaining orbital control thanks to its diverse armament.
However Escort configuration is the primary setup because it increases the ship's effectiveness. Despite being so heavy and large, its powerful engine allow it to move quiet fast, keeping the pace with cruisers, destroyers and frigates, while its large complement of starfighters permits the ship to give air cover to the entire fleet; anyway the ship itself can also take part to fight directly: its thick armor provide a high resistance even against plasma torpedoes, and its secondary armament can easily destroy a Covenant destroyer-size by combining Breakwater shells with Bident and Archer missiles. But in one-to-one fight, the key is its starfighters complement, which can, combined with above-mentioned armament, posing a serious threat even to , because the MAC gun is still too lightly to engage a ship at long range.
The last role belonging to an Epoch ship is the interdiction of another ships or a flotilla of light ships, always thanks to its starfighters. However, during the Great War, this role was considered useless due to the technologically superior enemy, which also rarely used vessels smaller than a destroyer.
== Ships of the line ==
Name 	Hull Classification Symbol	Commissioned	Destroyed 	Notes
 	CV-281 	2522 	Unknown 	Lead ship of the class.
UNSC Caracas 	CV-284 	2523 	2537 - Leonis Minoris	Took part at five battles during the Great War Minoris.
UNSC Endurance	CV-299 	2526 	2552 - Reach 	One of the last Epochs to be built.
UNSC Demon 	CV-286 	2524 	2552 - Reach