The Empire of the Killocats – Race Information and Fleet Design Comments

This document contains the information about the Killocat race, which will be included in the race pack and displayed on the race homepage. Also included here are additional comments about the race design, especially explanations for the setting of some Killocat properties that have not been discussed elsewhere.

In this text the term “Kilrathi” refers to the original race in the Wing Commander universe and the term “Killocats” to the race implementation in VGA Planets.

General Race Information

Life form type: Feline

The Killocats are predators by their very nature. Their ancestors first hunted to survive and then fought against the other native races on their homeworld and among themselves for dominance. Now they have decided to expand their territory to the stars and to unite the known universe under their rule. Their entire culture is based on warfare and only strong warriors can be promoted into leading positions. Therefore every young Killocat is trained in personal combat right from the time that they learn how to walk. This training together with their muscular bodies, their fangs and claws make the Killocats excellent ground warriors.

In space Killocats prefer fighter combat in which they excel. Their fighters are fast enough to outrun every ship that is not gravitonic accelerated and they can operate independently over long ranges away from their carriers or bases. The fighters of the Killocats are very specialized; therefore their different fighter designs can perform only some duties well and will fight poorly when used inadequately.

The fleet of the Killocats is based on their carriers, which can carry a lot of their powerful fighters into battle, but which are vulnerable at short range. They have several medium sized (beam and torpedo-based) capital ships to protect their carriers, but none of them is a match for the big battleships of some of the other races. However when it comes to long range fighter combat, there is hardly an equivalent for the wings based on the heavy Killocat carriers.

Killocat ships are designed to be both lethal functional and psychological frightening. They are often asymmetrical and incorporate frequently fang- or claw-like curves and points. Typically engines and weaponry are clearly visible to display the strength of the ship or fighter.

Since the Killocat society is focused so much on combat, they have not much sense for culture, arts or philosophy. Their science and economy serve primarily military purposes and are considered secondary. Even their freighters are smaller than average, but are more massively built (with the disadvantage to consume more fuel) to allow them to carry a small number of point defenses.

The Killocats, like all cats, reproduce fairly quickly by giving birth to several kittens at the same time. However their territorial nature makes it difficult for them to stand large populations. Therefore they will build only a small number of cities on any planet and their happiness decreases on worlds with a high population. This forces them to expand to other planets quickly.

They have a very strong sense for honor. Therefore they follow their rules closely and prefer also honorable combat - which is primarily ground combat (cat against cat) and also fighter combat (pilot against pilot) for them. Actually Killocats tend to fight below their true combat skills, if they outnumber their enemies in battle clearly, because they dislike dishonorable "slaughtering"). Their rigid feudal system enforces the supporters of a leader to follow his orders fully. However if a leader is weak and unsuccessful in battle, then he can be overthrown and replaced by a stronger warrior (lost battles lower happiness).

Even though most Killocats prefer the open confrontation in combat above anything else, there are some Killocats who have mastered the art of undercover operations and have shown good results in espionage, sabotage and even in the more subtle forms of undermining the morale of their enemies.

The Killocats take slaves from other races and force them to work in labor camps, labor mines and their fighter factories. They also recruit spies from slaves. This increases their spy rating against the race held captive significantly.

The Killocats like higher temperatures and humidity. Therefore they prosper in climates slightly warmer than average. Since their farming range is quite limited and they do not posses terraforming technologies, many colonies of the Killocats depend on food imports.

Killocat scientists have made several breakthroughs in military related fields. For example they have invented fighter-carried-torpedoes that can pass through all shields and they have developed special devices that can block jump-points by cloaking them. The Killocats have also capital ships equipped with biological weapons that can wipe out entire colonies.

The Fleet Composition

While the games and the movie do not explain much about the Kilrathi fleet composition, a lot more details can be found in the books. The book “Action Stations” tells more about the Kilrathi ship development before the war with the humans started. Originally the Kilrathi fleet was built around heavy battleships which were very successful in their early wars like against the Varni. Since these ships were protected by very powerful shield generators, typically the only way to destroy them was to attack the shields with a lot of firepower over a long period of time until the shields were completely drained. The best way to provide such firepower over an extended time against a battleship was to attack it with another battleship or - even better - with several other battleships. Hence battleships were decisive for the outcome of major battles in this time, smaller ships played only secondary roles and fighters were relatively ineffective, because even large numbers of them were usually destroyed by the weapons of a battleship before the fighters could bring its shields down.

This changed dramatically with a new Kilrathi invention: a torpedo that could pass through any defending shield and that was small enough to be carried by fighters. The torpedo has the disadvantage that it takes a relatively long time (about 30 seconds) to lock on its target, because it needs this time to analyze the frequencies of the shield before it can pass through. Any fighter that tries to fire a torpedo is vulnerable during this time, because it cannot turn away from its target without loosing the lock and having to start the shield decoding process again. Nevertheless fighters are the ideal platform to fire torpedoes from, because they are very agile and because capital ships would have to lower their own shields before they could fire torpedoes, because otherwise the own (strong capital-ship-size) shields interfere with the shield analyzing process of the torpedoes and prevent them from locking onto their targets.

With this invention suddenly a few fighters could unleash the same offensive power as only a battleship could before and the carriers, which could launch and support the fighters, became much more important. The first major Kilrathi victory at the beginning of the war against the humans (which resulted in the destruction of a major human base and about half of the human fleet) was based on their advantage that the carriers and fighters were much faster to deliver their deadly blows than the battleships which the humans had expected.

Soon the humans learned also how to build torpedoes (after they could retrieve an unexploded Kilrathi torpedo) and the battleships became obsolete (or destroyed) on both sides. During the next 30 years of the war (the area of the Wing Commander games), both sides rushed to build more and increasingly larger carriers as well as smaller escort ships, but nobody invested anymore into battleships.

Especially the Kilrathi created larger and more powerful carrier designs. Dreadnought carriers appear already in the games and the book “Fleet Action” narrates the construction of a fleet of Kilrathi super-carriers that are much larger (about six times) than the previous existing heavy fleet-carries (at the same times the humans are forced by their lack of resources to build less fleet-carriers and more smaller escort-carriers). These super-carriers carry a fighter complement about three times as powerful as the largest human carriers and prove to be very hard to be beaten in the typical long range carrier battles.

Nevertheless even these gigantic super-carriers have their weaknesses. In the battle of Sol, human boarding parties succeed to plant explosive charges on three super-carriers. In the book “False colors” one super-carrier is forced into a ship-to-ship-battle at Vukar after loosing her escorts and the ability to launch fighters and is not able to win with her capital ship weapons against only two cruisers, despite being much bigger.

In general Kilrathi carriers of all sizes tend to be vulnerable if caught under adverse circumstances. In the battle of Vukar-Tag in the book “End Run”, most of the mighty Kilrathi home fleet gets destroyed, because the humans succeed to lure them into attacking the planet Vukar and can hit the Kilrathi fleet unexpectedly while their fighters are supporting the planetary ground assault and are therefore unavailable to defend the fleet. “False Colors” describes the battle in the Hellhole system: a superior Kilrathi carrier group suffered significant damage, because it got too near to the enemies when jumping into the system and could not avoid a battle at close range.

Standard Kilrathi battle doctrine became therefore to form carrier groups of (typically several) carriers mixed with a good number of smaller escort ships, mainly cruisers and destroyers. The role of the escorts is to protect the carriers from surprise attacks and to keep enemy ships at a distance that allows the carriers to stay out of immediate danger while their fighter wings engage the enemies. Naturally the Kilrathi developed also an array of support ships like freighters and tankers, both to support the carrier groups and to supply their planets and ship construction centers.

This is also the fleet design that the Killocats have access to: carriers of all sizes from small to huge, escort ships for many specialized duties up to cruiser size and also a variety of support ships to supply the combat fleet and to keep the economy running.

Carriers

Lion Class Dreadnought Carrier

The pride of the fleet. Really big and really expensive (the largest and most expensive ship in the Killocat fleet). Huge capacity for fighters. Well armored, shielded and equipped with point defenses, but for its size only few large and small weapons. Medium speed.

Tiger Class Heavy Carrier

The backbone of the fighting fleet. Somewhat smaller in all aspects than the Lion Class Dreadnought, but considerably more affordable. Large fighter capacity. Good armor, shields and point defenses, but only few large and small weapons. Medium speed.

Cheetah Class Fast Attack Carrier

Same size as the Tiger Class Heavy Carrier with the same large fighter capacity. However the Cheetah sacrifices basically everything else for maneuverability. Less armor, less shields, less weapons. Good speed and fuel tanks. Carrier is well suited for hit and run tactics.

Lynx Class Support Carrier

Medium size, with limited combat abilities. Has mobile fighter factories of all three fighter types. Medium speed. This is the ship to supply the fleet with fighters on long range missions far away from friendly bases.

Bobcat Class Auxiliary Carrier

Small carrier. Basically to move fighters around between friendly bases and planets. Also useful as scout. Cheap and weak ship. Above average speed.

Non-Carrier Warships

Leopard Class Cruiser

Relatively heavy ship with good armor, shields and point defenses, but fewer weapons than a battleship would have. Medium speed. Ship's main role is to protect the carriers from close combat attacks by other ships.

Snow Leopard Class Cruiser

Same size as the Leopard Class Cruiser and very similar to the Leopard in most respects. However this ship sacrifices most of her large weapons and some speed to be able to mount a World Crusher Missile super weapon.

Jaguar Class Frigate

Smaller and weaker than the Cruiser, this ship still posses some decent beam and torpedo based fighting powers as well as a Boarding Laser. Therefore the Jaguar is the best ship in the Killocat fleet to deliver the fearsome Killocat warriors to board a target vessel, even though the guest quarters of this ship are limited.

Puma Class Destroyer

Even smaller and weaker as the Frigate, this ship is equipped with a Gravity Well Generator. It is the perfect ship to protect a carrier group from hyperjumping enemies.

Serval Class Corvette

Cheap and weak ship with above average speed. Main role is to be a scouting vessel with some firepower based on beams and torpedoes.

Support Ships and Bases

Wildcat Class Star Base

Immobile base to support primarily defensive operations and economic development. Well armored and shielded with a large fighter capacity and an arsenal of weapons comparable to a Leopard Class Cruiser. Has a show lounge that may help to finance its fighter complement.

Ocelot Class Factory Ship

This factory ship can support fleets on missions far away from friendly bases, especially if it finds planets with natives to hunt and to exploit in its Reticulian Laboratory. Mounts a Reticulian Med Lab, a Mobile Ord Factory and a Mobile Repair Factory.

Cougar Class Alchemy Ship

A heavy ship with limited weapons that can transform supplies into minerals. Has an Alchemy Forge.

Caracal Class Refinery Ship

A heavy ship with limited weapons that can transform minerals and supplies into fuel. Has a DTMS-N fuel converter.

Feline Super Freighter

The Killocat version of the Super Freighter has less cargo space, but more mass and fuel consumption than the universal standard version. It is equipped with four point defenses.

Feline Large Freighter

The Killocat version of the Large Freighter has less cargo space, but more mass and fuel consumption than the universal standard version. It is equipped with three point defenses.

Feline Medium Freighter

The Killocat version of the Medium Freighter has less cargo space, but more mass and fuel consumption than the universal standard version. It is equipped with two point defenses.

Feline Small Freighter

The Killocat version of the Small Freighter has less cargo space, but more mass and fuel consumption than the universal standard version. It is equipped with one point defense.

Special Units and Buildings

Fighters

Drahltor Class Hunter

Drahltor: A fast long range hunter-fighter that was designed to engage enemy fighters in dogfights. It is armed with powerful fighter-to-fighter missiles that cannot be used against capital ships or ground targets. Killocat pilots can fly wide area reconnaissance patrols and minesweeping missions with large groups of this fighter.

Pakthor Class Bomber

Pakthor: A fast long range bomber-fighter that is very dangerous against enemy capital ships and ground structures. It is armed with powerful fighter-to-ship/ground torpedoes that arc through all shields but cannot be used against enemy fighters. Killocat pilots can lay small barbitic and laser minefields with this fighter, but only when large numbers of this fighter are joined in one wing.

Strakhor Class Cloaker

Strakhor: The only (non-Bird) fighter in the game that can cloak. It is therefore very hard to detect without the help of a Tachyon Emitter. Even though it has to decloak briefly to fire its weapons in combat, it is very difficult to lock weapons on it. Although relatively fragile, its long range, fast speed and good weaponry make it a versatile all-purpose fighter. Killocat pilots can probe a 50 lys radius area for hidden objects or transport troops for ground assaults with large groups of this fighter.

Ground Units

Killocat Coleopter

This planetary Killocat unit is an atmospheric fighter that is not able to fly in deep space and can be used only in planetary battles. It is very efficient when used to engage enemy fighters, but does only little damage against enemies on the ground.

Killocat Man-Eater

This planetary Killocat unit was designed to enhance the already awesome personal combat skills of the Killocat warriors. It is very deadly against enemy ground troops and suitable also to invade cities, but is less useful against mechanized ground or air units.

Killocat Tank-Buster

This planetary Killocat unit has the purpose to destroy enemy ground units and buildings. It does a lot of damage to ground vehicles and is also useful against cities, but enemy troops and air units can evade most of its firepower fighter.

Base Buildings

Drahltor Hunter Factory

The hunter factory requires planetary tech level 6 and costs 480 MCs and 1 supply unit to be built. It uses 120 MCs and 1 kt Tritanium to build one Drahltor Hunter fighter. The production cost is decreased significantly, if slaves are available to work in the factory. If the factory is filled with 100 enemy prisoners, it uses just 60 MCs (and no minerals) to build one Drahltor Hunter fighter.

Pakthor Bomber Factory

The bomber factory requires planetary tech level 8 and costs 520 MCs and 1 supply unit to be built. It uses 130 MCs and 1 kt Duranium to build one Pakthor Bomber fighter. The production cost is decreased significantly, if slaves are available to work in the factory. If the factory is filled with 100 enemy prisoners, it uses just 65 MCs (and no minerals) to build one Pakthor Bomber fighter.

Strakhor Cloaker Factory

The cloaker factory requires planetary tech level 4 and costs 500 MCs and 1 supply unit to be built. It uses 125 MCs and 1 kt Molybdenum to build one Strakhor Cloaker fighter. The production cost is decreased significantly, if slaves are available to work in the factory. If the factory is filled with 100 enemy prisoners, it uses just 62 MCs (and no minerals) to build one Strakhor Cloaker fighter.

More Design Comments

Tech Levels

The Tech-Levels of the fleet have been chosen, so that the player gets access alternatively to new carrier and non-carrier warship hull designs, when he researches higher hull tech levels.

The player will get also access to a new support ship hull design (freighters or ships/bases with economically important special devices) on nearly every tech level.

Counting all ship types together, the player gets access to two new hull designs on most tech levels.

Tech Level	Carrier	Other Warship	Support Ship
1			Feline Small Freighter
2		Serval Corvette
3	Bobcat Auxiliary Carrier
3			Feline Medium Freighter
4		Jaguar Frigate
4			Wildcat Star Base
5	Lynx Support Carrier
5			Feline Large Freighter
6		Leopard Cruiser
6			Ocelot Factory Ship
7	Tiger Heavy Carrier
7		Puma Destroyer
8	Cheetah Fast Attack Carrier
8			Feline Super Freighter
9		Snow Leopard Cruiser
9			Caracal Refinery
10	Lion Dreadnought Carrier
10			Cougar Alchemy

Fighter Bays

The size of the main Killocat fighter bays has been set to 275, which is 10% higher than the proposed minimum size of a fighter wing to be able to fly a special Killocat fighter mission. This was done to allow the special fighter mission also for wings that have taken minor combat losses, so that the carrier has not to return to a base to restock its fighter complement after every minor engagement.

The number of fighter bays depends on the size of the carrier and I have chosen the following distribution:

Bobcat Auxiliary Carrier 1 fighter bay

Lynx Support Carrier 2 fighter bays

Cheetah Fast Attack Carrier 3 fighter bays

Tiger Heavy Carrier 3 fighter bays

Wildcat Star Base 4 fighter bays

Lion Dreadnought Carrier 5 fighter bays

This gives the Bobcat Auxiliary a relatively large fighter complement for its small hull size; therefore I have deliberated about reducing its fighter bay significantly. However in the end I have decided to make the Bobcat somewhat larger and more expensive (it is now roughly comparable to the other light carriers in the game) and to give the Killocat an early (in the hull tech levels) access to their special missions. Nevertheless it may not be very prudent to put a large and therefore very expensive wing with over 250 fighters on such a fragile ship.

The other warships (corvette, destroyer, frigate and cruisers) have small fighter bays, so that they can carry a few fighters around (for example to have some reserves in a fleet to restock the true carriers). I had the feeling that the Killocats as a pure fighter races would like to have some fighters on all their warships (and the books describe that at least the cruisers have a small complement of fighters on board), but the option to remove all fighter bays from the “non-carrier warships” has also a lot of merit.

Speed and Stealth

Jak-tu is an ancient word of the Kilrathi language which could be translated as “to jump a larger, but unsuspecting enemy from a hiding and to kill him with a single blow”. While other races may consider such an insidious attack without any previous warning as not honorable, the Kilrathi appreciate it as highly efficient. A good example for Jak-tu is the surprise attack of the Kilrathi against the human base and fleet at McAuliffe: the Kilrathi used their fastest carriers to jump into the system and launched their (even faster) fighters at maximum range, so that they arrived at their targets before most human ships even had the chance to power up their engines and defenses.

Naturally also the Killocat fleet in VGA Planets should be suitable for such swift surprise attacks. Therefore the ships have a good speed (the Kilrathi prefer maneuverability over armor on their ships anyhow) and especially the Cheetah Fast Attack Carrier was designed to be the perfect ship for fast surprise attacks and hit and run tactics. The ability of the Strakhor fighter to cloak and therefore to approach the enemy unseen (both on scouting and combat missions) adds to the Killocats ability “to strike from a hiding”.

Freighters

The Kilrathi freighters are typically armed with some weapon turrets, that are not much of a threat against other capital ships (well, they could be a threat to other freighters), but which can help to defend at least against a lone fighter. In order to be more compatible with the freighters of the other races, I have decided not to equip the Killocat freighters with a small number of small weapons (because I felt that having “armored transports” with a good capacity for cargo would be too much of an advantage), but to install just some point defenses on them. I think that this will not be too much of an advantage, but it will represent the original Kilrathi freighters nicely and make the Killocat freighters very unique in the game. After all, which Killocat pilot would be prepared to fly a totally unarmed ship?