Transwarp cruiser


 * The Transwarp Cruiser is a spaceship in the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.



The Transwarp Cruiser is a Predacon starship commanded by Covert Agent Ravage of the Predacon Secret Police. The unnamed ship was constructed in secret by the Tripredacus Council.

Designed for stealth and infiltration, it has a cloaking device and can land directly on the ground and be stored inside space stations.

Beast Wars
After the Quantum surge collided with the Predacon Outpost One, the Tripredacus Council despatched Ravage in their new Transwarp Cruiser to deal with Megatron and the rest of the beast warriors, quietly, while they plan their eventual, but distant revolt against the Maximal Imperium.

Ravage's ship saved the Axalon and its beleagured crew of Maximals, revealing to them his supposed intention of capturing Megatron and the other Predacons, in order to secure their help in attacking the Darksyde. In the ensuing battle, while the Maximals played the role of ground units, the Transwarp Cruiser blasted Rampage apart after being hit by his missiles, then shooting through the ruined hull of the Darksyde.

Victorious, Ravage had Megatron imprisoned in the Cruiser's containment cells. However, former Decepticon later turned on the Maximals after learning of Megatron's true mission from a recording of the original Megatron.

The Transwarp Cruiser blasted the Axalon's shields and intended to destroy her with all of its weapons at full power and a powerful, implausibly large tactical missile. Unfortunately for Ravage and fellow Predacon Secret Police member Tarantulas, Rattrap had managed to burn and chew his way through the Cruiser's hull, and detonated two thermal charges inside the engine room, killing Ravage and sending the ship crashing into the ground, where it was finally destroyed by the explosion of the missile.

Technical Specifications
The Transwarp Cruiser has a compact transwarp capable drive able to travel the range of time that larger ships such as the Axalon and Darksyde could.

Its hull construction is capable of withstanding the explosions of low-yield nuclear missiles and can shrug off incoming laser fire from the Darksyde with ease, but it is suceptible to focused, high-temperature heat elements such as an energon-fueled blowtorch. After cutting through the outer layer of armour, it is a simple matter to tear off the remaining plating and gain access through the weakened superstructure.

Deep within the ship there is a containment cell for prisoners, and outside of it are two auto-turrets used to terminate prisoners that are no longer required to be caught alive.

Tactical
The ship's main unique system is a highly sophisticated optical and thermal camoflaging cloaking device, that not only makes it invisible to the naked optic, but to sensors as well. It can even fool the Vok-technology enhanced sensors on board the Darksyde. Unlike cloaking ships designed by foolish and primative flesh creatures from other universes, it can still fire its weapons while cloaked.



For a ship of its size, the Transwarp Cruiser is impressively armed. Two powerful anti-ship laser cannons mounted on its wing are capable of firing smaller, multiple blasts in sucession, or a more powerful single shot out of each emitter, though this requires a not-insignificant recharge time after firing. Its secondary armament is a small, multi-barreled anti-personnel laser cannon mounted on its bow.

Two multi-function hatches mounted are mounted on the ship, one dorsally can be configured to deploy high-yield explosives such as a tactical missile. Another, a drophatch is mounted behind the pilot's chair in the main cabin, and is used either for dropping small munitions or troops.

However, even with all these systems, the Cruiser has a major tactical weakness in that all of its weapons are mounted on a directly forward arc and has no shields, limiting its ability to defend against threats attacking from other directions.