Fiction:Archange-class battlestar

The Archange-class is a French combat carrier released in 2799. A rival of the age-old battlestar design concept, the class is the successor to the Céleste-class battleship and Orleans-class carrier in both design and use. It is also related to the Superbe-class, France's legendary carrier-battleship of the early 2700's.

At 2.1 kilometers, it is France's largest starship currently in service and by far the most expensive. Incorporating technology from France's allies such as the Draconid Imperium and Tybusen Intergalactic Allied Federation as well as new research made at home, it is a member of a new generation of French ships tooled specifically to fight in hyperspace. A sleeker design and more efficient engine reduces the effects of hyperspace fog on the ship's mobility and makes the ship harder to detect, track, and target with sensors. This is opposed to previous hyperdrive designs which had no such measures and were painfully visible and noisy while travelling through hyperspace.

The ship primarily functions as a carrier, ferrying hundreds of strike craft at a time along with the fuel, ammunition, and spare parts needed to maintain them. Numerous repair facilities tend to damaged strike craft in every one of its cramped hangars. In modern hyperspatial battles which span hundreds of lightyears, the Archangel-class will rarely see its enemy, let alone engage it with its close-range weapon. However, it was built to assume the role of a battleship-of-the-line in close engagements, boasting a devastating broadside twice as powerful as that of the Céleste-class that preceded it. It can also defend itself proficiently against missiles and close-range strike craft attacks in both hyperspace and realspace thanks to its hypermatter autocannons. However, these are not nearly as efficient at taking down missiles as dedicated point-missile-defense weapons are, which means that the class often requires support to fend off concentrated missile attacks.

Conflicts participated in:
 * Gigaquadrantic Conflicts (2800)