Autumn-class heavy cruiser (EXverse)

Intended to replace lots of war-era cruisers, the Autumn-class heavy cruiser is a general-purpose warships designed to be a stopgap model waiting for next-generation models.
Developed to replace the , the and the all at once, it became the backbone of UNSC fleets during the troublesome post-war years. Marked by a number of solution tended to improve resiliency against plasma fire while being budget-friendly, the Autumn was considered a masterpiece by many inside the Navy, due to limited resources and short time available to design and build an effective vessel.
After the Created conflict ended, many of the Autumns disabled by EMPs were reactivated and they continued to serve in UNSC Navy to fight against the Banished, in a long and difficult war which end is hard to see.
== History ==
== Specifications ==
=== Hull ===
=== Powerplant ===
=== Crew and complement ===
=== Armament ===
== Roles ==
As the Autumn-class is marked by the most expansive modularity ever conceived for a ship, it can fulfilled a wide range of roles, wider than the predecessor . While it cannot be repurposed as a light carrier as the predecessor, it can still assume specific-combat and support roles in a much more effective manner thanks to newer technologies.
The main configuration is the escort one; this typology extend cruiser's capabilities in order to escort other capital ships. This role is the most preferred, as the cruiser, while general-purpose, it does not excel in any specific field, so it is not suitable for direct combat without support from other ships, typically carriers as the cruisers do not carry more than a squadron. Anyway, the escort configuration grants additional anti-ship firepower to the fleet thanks to the advanced MAC gun and oversized Archer pods, however it lacks effective anti-air systems as it carry too few point-defense guns. Other than that, nine Broadsword starfighters can give air cover, despite against quantitatively superior enemies there is little they can do.
The first, less used, configuration is the orbital one. In this capacity the Autumn trades Broadswords for additional Pelican and Darter dropships, granting additional supplies and firepower to ground forces. However the armament is the same, due to potential requests for orbital strikes: if these are made, an Autumn often deploy Archers or the MAC gun, very rarely Spitfires due to being weaker and slower. Anyway, due to cramped hangars, this configuration was used less frequent after the Created Conflict, when newer carriers came out from shipyards and needs for carrier-ships decreased. In addition, escort and combat configuration can also make orbital strikes and grant reinforcements from the orbit, as the complement of both ODSTs and SOEIV drop pods are the same.
The last one is the combat typology. More utilized than orbital configuration, it was conceived as a solution when more powerful vessels don't take part to fight. While it carries four less Pelicans than the escort type and no Broadsword fighter, it has more four more Sentries and twenty Howler pods. Initially Bidents were intended for implementation, however their sheer size prevented to do so; as such, Howlers were fitted instead, granting six hundred warheads, something not possible with Bidents. These numbers grant much more firepower, however that's all: while some admirals were interesting in Howlers, the majority of them noted that this configuration limits the Autumn-class' strong point, that is the general-purpose capacity, due to the lack of starfighters. Due to this, this typology was used only in fleets where enough carriers could make up for this deficiency, and it happened not too often after the Created Conflict.
== Ships of the line ==