Light Cruisers (3k)
Light Cruiser (15k)

When the war with the Cylons heated up, the Colonials knew that they had to build more ships, and they knew that these ships had to be capable of fighting the Baseships as well as to escort the Heavy Carriers.
Being limited also in resources, the Colonials decided that this new ship would have to be small, but quickly and cheaply built.

The Xerxes Class Light Cruiser was the result. Initially it was used mainly to escort the Carriers, and provide additional fighter coverage, but when it was found to be a useful addition to (what was to become) a completely revitalised fleet, it was modified into many variants and used in a plethora of roles.

When the newer Battlestars, Gunstars and Destroyers were brought into the fold, the Cruiser's role as escort was dwindled, but never died completely. However as the Cylons also introduced their newer larger Baseship, the cruiser found itself more and more out-matched, and it is role changed.

Now it was destined to perform all the other roles of the fleet, such as pirate hunting, contraband interception, rear line escort and supply, and so on. It never fuller lost it is position in the fleet, although when employed against Baseships it had to operate in packs, and nearly always suffered grievous losses.

However many variants were constructed with more fighters, more weapons but none was ever strengthened enough to survive battle.
The most common variant of all, was the CVL Light Carrier. Built in incredible numbers, almost no fleet or squadron was complete without at least one of these vessels.

Variants:

(CL) Xerxes Class Light Cruiser

The 'standard' version of the cruiser, the Xerxes Class is a blend of cargo carrying, protection and speed, albeit in a small fragile hull.

(CLE) Fleet Escort

The CLE was designed solely to protect a squadron or fleet from a Cylon Raider attack. Never designed to stand up against Baseships, the CLE also had doubtful use when pressed against a mass Raider assault as well. Against Raider patrols though, it served a useful purpose, or when employed in numbers with overlapping fire arcs.

(CVL) Light Carrier

The CVL was the most common design out, and simply added as many fighters as the hull could carry, which turned out to just over a full squadrons worth. Every Colonial fleet or squadron utilised these craft as the capacity to carry Vipers was a very important consideration, especially when faced with overwhelming Cylon Raiders. Being classed as a warship, the CVL never had any officially assigned escorts, indeed, it was generally considered an escorting ship itself when paired with the larger Destroyers and Gunstars.

(CLD) Missile Cruiser

An attempt to mount serious firepower on a light chassis. While having potential to inflict some serious damage on an enemy, these ships ended up staying out of the way and coming into play to deliver the final blow against an enemy stripped of it is light weapons. This was because a Cylon Baseship had so many light lasers, that it was proved effectively pointless to try and shoot missiles at the beast unless it could be distracted, which is quite a difficult feat to do.

(CLS) Strike Cruiser

More numerous than the CLD, although designed with a similar purpose. More effective as well, for while the heavy pulsar lasers couldn't inflict the same amount of damage as a missile, a Baseship couldn't intercept the laser beam, and thus the ship could be damaging.

(CLC) Command Cruiser

Because the only way for light cruisers to be effective was if they were employed in packs, a variant had to be developed which could command the pack and control the flow of the battle. The CLC was the result, and soon became a staple with every 'pack' of cruisers sent out to fight. While no formal escorts were ever assigned to this ship, normally a CLE and CVS would be in the same squadron.

(MSL) Minesweeper

The Cylons had a nasty habit of mining large areas of space that they either did not want to patrol, or simply wanted to deny access to their Colonial enemies. And for every Cylon reaction, the Colonials had to have an answer if they were to keep the upper hand. Thus when the Cylons started mining, the Colonials had to mine themselves, and more importantly, find a way to clear their opponents mines. Thus the MSL was born, and loses of these ships was always high.
These ships may buy MSL or MSS shuttles at additional BPV.

(CPL) Patrol Cruiser

The Cylons are not the only threat out in space. We hear of smugglers, pirates and even some other alien races that exist in the galaxy, and for day to day patrolling, a Battlestar is probably not required. A standard CL could do, but for those adventures a little bit out on the rim, or in pirate infested areas, a something with a tad more punch may be required.

(SRL) Science Cruiser

There is always a constant need to examine and identify areas of space, exploring anomalies and the like, and for this, a vessel with a decent amount of scientific equipment is required. A Battlestar could do this role, and in enemy space, that would be the ideal vessel for the job, but there are always lulls in combat, and Battlestars are not always available.

(ATL) Armoured Transport

In times of war, transports are prime targets - deplete an enemies supplies and you reduce their ability to wage or sustain a war. Usually freighters are employed, but typically freighters have little in the way of defensive systems, instead their ability to haul large loads is deemed a better service, and then escorts can be provided. Cylons however are noted for their ability to send in large waves of attacking fighters and completely ignore any defending escorts, instead going after the transports. While this results in horrendous Cylon losses, it also usually results in the destruction of the transports.

Thus the Armoured Transport was born. Not able to carry as much cargo as a freighter, but it can carry it much more safely.
The ATL sometimes carried heavy transport shuttles in it is bay.

(TTL) Troop Transport

One thing I can not believe, is that there where no troop battles with enemies. Okay, these are probably out of the range of the series anyway (which, I think wants you to believe that all Warriors are fighter pilots as well as the local ground troops!), but there are times when you need to capture bases and supplies instead of just annihilating them!
Thus the Troop Transport has been developed to supply all the local ground troops and equipment needed for the job.
The TTL often carried 2 or more heavy transport shuttles in the cavernous shuttle bays.

(CLR) Fleet Repair

In the middle of a campaign, battlefield repairs are a necessary evil, especially as the Cylons tend to want the destruction of the enemy instead of its capture.
Not really needed around Battlestars and Gunstars as they tend to be able to repair even the most fierce damage to their systems, but other Colonial ships are not as well equipped.

(CSL) Scout Cruiser

Born out of a need to protect a fleet with heavier duty EW capability than Asps, which were generally used to protect the fighters anyway, the Scout Cruiser became a valuable, but fragile addition to a fleet or squadron it is powerful scout channels can add extra vitality to any attack.

(CFL) Priority Light Cruiser

The CFL is simply a light cruiser with additional power generators installed to handle the day to day running of the ship and the weapons, so that the engines can be left to propel the ship. The additional space was converted to cargo capacity, and in essence this is just a fast cargo transport, although the amount of cargo that can be moved is fairly limited.

(CLO) Ore Transport

Designed by Steve Stiever

The Ore Transport is a fairly major redesign on the CL, and was designed to transport the large quantities of raw materials that are need by any space faring community, in relative safety. It is unusual in that the side pods do not actually carry the ships fighters, but instead carry the mining shuttles and the ore itself. The fighters are carried in a central landing bay in the middle of the ship. The ship also has special sensors and a large lab for the finding of ore deposits for it is shuttles to mine.

(CLP) Power Ship

The CLP was designed as a means of getting power to ships in a hull that could keep up with a fleet and defend itself. It was not meant as a rear guard ship, but one that would be in the thick of things. The CL hull was chosen for this and modified accordingly. Unfortunately CLP ships were readily destroyed simply because the CL hull just couldn't really stand up to major combat. Still, because the light cruiser was relatively cheap to build, these ships were built in sufficent numbers to be around when needed. Their main use was in setting up camouflage fields rather than supporting ships in combat though.

(PFL) Patrol Ship Tender

The Patrol Ship Tender was designed to support patrol and gunboats in the field, giving them a small base of operations along with repair and rearm facilities. Patrol boats were never designed to stand against the Cylon Fleet, mainly acting as anti-piracy craft, and having a tender gave the ships the ability to strike deep in the heart of pirate held space, with the tender being able to provide additional firepower if need be. To be able to hold a squadron of 6 patrol boats, the PFL lost the ability to operate fighters. The PFL is more recognisable than the other variants as it has no launch tubes and a slightly larger front to the landing bays.

Fast Cruisers

Not a class in themselves, some light cruisers were constructed with faster hyperspeed engines to enable them to engage in raiding deep into enemy space and also to be able to keep up with Fast Destroyers which needed support in the way of scouts and fighter carriers. Because of their fragile nature they were generally withdrawn if a better ship class became available and because of this the CFL was the most common fast light cruiser. Fast Light Cruisers are designated with the suffix -F, thus a Fast Scout Cruiser is a CSL-F. The Priority cruiser does not have the suffix as it was constructed aroud fast hyperspeed engines.

The Light Cruiser was designed and SSD by me, art drawn by Darren Greenaway, SSD drawn by Sean Driscoll.

 

Game Rules (2k)

Light Cruisers have the equivalent of one large shuttle bay. The bay has a launch tube (J1.54) which will propel a fighter flight to speed 12 and will launch in direction 1 and a standard shuttle hatch (launching and landing in direction 4).

The CVS has two shuttle bays, and transfers are possible via (J1.59).
The shuttle bay is not large enough to accept yachts.

The PFL is a true PF tender and can operate yachts. The full rules for yacht operations can be found here. Because the PFL cannot operate fighters, it may launch patrol boats from directions 1 or 4.

Light cruisers have a hyperspeed multiplier of x1.
Priority and Fast CLs have a hyperspeed multiplier of x0.75. This does not alter the BPV.

Colonial Xerxes Class Light Cruiser boarding diagram: