Centuari Republic Altarian Class Variants Centaurus Heavy Destroyer The Centaurus Class was an attempt to enhance the Altarian Magnus Heavy Destroyer Leader and give it a bit more punch. It replaced the base Altarian's matter cannons with battle lasers, the forward twin array with a plasma accelerator, and an enlarged reactor. It proved less than satifactory when, during battle in particular, the larger reactor failed and the ship was all but defenseless. Centaurus Class SCS (Rare) Alpherus Scout Destroyer The Alpherus Class was built to provide a more robust hull than a Vorchar, but not be as expensive as a Corvan. This rare ship met with limited success, but was shunned in favor of the smaller, more maneuverable Vorchar, or the more robust Corvan. It lost its matter cannons in favor of guardian arrays. Alpherus Class SCS (Rare) Sirianus Fast Destroyer The Sirianus was an attempt to duplicate the maneuverability and speed associated with the Vorchan and later Demos classes on a destroyer hull. The hangar was removed, and an enlarged engine was placed in the hull. The aft thrusters were upgraded, but the ship still had the same maneuverability profile. The ship accompanied Vorchan groups in a command ship role until the introduction of the Demos class. It was armed with six twin arrays, and one plasma accelerator. Sirianus Class SCS (uncommon) Proximus Light Carrier The Proximus Class was built to supplement the newer Balvarin and Balvarix Class carriers. It had three, six fighter hangars capable of fielding medium or smaller type fighters. In order to make room in the hull, all matter cannon and associated ammunition storage was removed. Proximus Class SCS (uncommon) Taurus Battle Destroyer The basic Altarian was not a bad design. Many Centauri houses shared the same opinion, but as the progress in fleet development led to more modern and especially better armed destroyers, the basic Altarian was slowly phased out. That was not a disadvantage since this durable and dependable hull became readily available even to the not so wealthy houses. Several of them obtained a lot of the phased out ships and began evaluating how to increase the combat worthiness this veteran. The Jaddo Altarian Magnus showed the possibilities in this ship (not to mention what the Gaim did to them!). But the Magnus was far from being cost effective in construction and maintenance so more a cautious approach was advisable. By removing all MCs and putting two BLs into the fwd mounts the not so wealthy houses who could not build or maintain an expensive BC created a cheap and reliable substitute for the Primus. And in larger engagements the so-called Taurus variant of the Altarian could perform escort duties for the larger ships by providing additional fighter and TA cover while being able to dish out damage even from longer ranges. This mission profile is similar to that of a Sullust destroyer but the Taurus had several advantages over the newer ship: some houses simply couldnīt afford the higher cost in the maintenance and some saw a drawback in the Sullust lacking fighter carrying abilities. The Sullust was more manoeuvrable but the Altarian was sturdier and had a lower profile. So a great number of the old Altarians were rebuild into Taurus battle destroyers. (note: This ship was suggested by "Emperor Turban" on the B5 Online forums site) Taurus Class SCS (uncommon) Continuing the Joke from the Primus Variant page, the Quack class's primary escort: Fantastic Vir's class Hair Designer The reason for this is, well, the Quack needs something to keep it on the right course, while itself maintaing a safe distance. Also, any self-respecting Centauri would HAVE to have his hair redone at least once per party... Fantastic Vir's Class SCS (Common, as they're constantly needed everywhere in the Republic...)