Automated Dreadnought (based of the flagship in the NSC mod with the Automated dreadnoughts appearance):
Weapons layout:
8 X-grade weapon systems= 6 giga cannons/2 particle
8 H-grade weapon systems= 4 advanced fighter hangars (and manufacturers)/4 Advanced bomber hangars (and manufacturers)
6 G-grade weapon systems= 6 marauder missile launchers
25 L-grade weapon systems= 25 Plasma cannon emplacements
14 M-grade weapon systems= 14 Gauss cannon emplacements
Armor plating: Durasteel armor with a Neutronium frame (reason why it looks grey and blue)
Shielding: Hyper shields
Propulsion: Impulse thruster
Control system: Sapient AI
Sensors: Subspace sensors
Means of FTL: Jump drive
Means of power generation: Blackhole generator (Zero point energy backup generator)
Special ability: Can manufacture, and use, a special kind of missile payload designed to destroy planetary targets in a wave of high energy plasma and short-lived radioactive sub-atomic particles. Its designation is "P.U.R.I.T.Y" (high energy Particle- and Unstable-Radioactive matter creation through Igniting and Tearing of the spatial Yuron-field).
Lesser systems/High priority areas: Nanite repair systems (2), Shield capacitors (6), Gestation chamber (1), War manufactories (2), Cyber-warfare/defense hubs (4), Barracks (4), Engineering hold (1), Hydroponics "E.D.E.N" system (1), Armory (2), Mess halls (4), Toilets/baths (108), Biological waste disposal system aka "nutrient replicator" (1)
Size/placements of weapon systems: the length of the top section is 10 km and it is 500-770 meters wide, the lower portion is 7 km long and 100-650 meters wide and the connecting piece of the Dreadnought is 500 meters in diameter. The connecting piece houses the hangars while M and L class systems are spread around the lower and upper parts of the ship. G class weapon systems resides on the side of the lower part of the ship, while X class are situated in the front of the upper part of the ship and in the back, lances in the middle of the front and cannons lower down in both front and back of the ship.
Comparison: Ships in the mass effect universe makes use of deflector shielding and nanocomposite armor, while the reapers use the improved deflectors and ceramo-metal armor, though some reapers have shown to have plasteel armor and shields, such examples being Harbinger and Sovereign. All reaper ships have a form of nanite repair systems, though they are not as efficient as the Automated dreadnoughts. The weaponry of the Mass effect universe can be compared to coil guns, kinetic batteries, sentinel point defense and basic strike craft, powerful early game stuff, but not effective against late game ships, though all their ships have high evasion because of their size not being bigger than 1 km. The reapers have what amounts to sentinel point defense, a proto-particle lance and, in rare cases, perdition beams, though they have low evasion because of a lack of thrusters and great size.
Prologue: The war of Heaven
POV: Unknown
Time: Unknown
There are few beings in the universe which can lay claim to have traveled from one end of it to the next, but all aboard the Dreadnought Ventrau can confidently say, "yes, I have traveled from one end of the galaxy to the other while seeing all of its glory".
There had been many wonders throughout the years, giant beings that lived by feeding of off gas giants, monsters that ate suns and beings whose eggs were the size of planets. Yes… the Ventrau had seen much beauty and much horror, but through it all, its mission to explore and research the universe continued unhindered.
…
Then the "Others" came.
…
There was no warning, no prophesies that hinted at their arrival and no anomalous events that could have so much as hinted at it. They simply came, and with them, came war.
War, on a size that had never been thought possible.
War, that was uncaring, unfeeling and without mercy.
It was a war, that shook the heavens themselves and burned planets to cinders.
…
The "Others" used a kind of technology that was ages beyond our own and which, for all intents and purposes, acted like magic in our eyes. They blew through our greatest of ships with the smallest of their own, it was as if we had come into the story of Vidad and Golthia, only, we didn't have a weapon that could harm Golthia.
And so, war was waged through the galaxy and former enemies became allies so that we might best this foe that threatened the entire galactic community. We shed blood and tears for every planet, for every mile, for every foot of land that we had to give. We fought hard and we fought without mercy, for we knew that none would be shown to us, and so, war waged in the galaxy.
…
A War that lasted for 300 Years.
…
We held our ground for 300 years, every battle a sacrifice, every naval combat a hard fought loss and every ground battle a last stand. We gave everything to slow down the enemy so that we might find a solution, a way to cripple or kill our enemy.
…
300 years it took.
300 years to find but a tiny chink in their armor, a way to kill the beast that had tormented us for so long, which had made us suffer.
For. So. LONG.
…
It was a miracle really, a one in a million chance, something that, if we had not looked, would have never presented itself to us. You see, what we found, was that the enemy we had fought wasn't from the same plane of existence as us. That was why it seemed as if we could do nothing but slow them down, simply, because we couldn't hit them with the right kind of weapon.
…
It was that simple.
…
Yet it was also so complex.
For though we had found a way to kill the enemy, we did not have a way to manufacture a weapon that could be used against them. And so, we fought on, safe in the knowledge that we were one step closer to defeating our enemy, and that now? We simply had to fight even harder, fight with more fervor and strength, so that we might give our people the chance to find a way to use our new found knowledge and make it into a weapon.
…
This took another three decades.
…
But, we did it.
We found a way to create a weapon, a missile to be exact, that would disrupt the energy bonds that made up both their ships and themselves. It was called PURITY, though to us, it was called Hope. The key to our victory and to our survival, and so, we began to mount our ships with this new deadly weapon, the Ventrau being one of the first to gain the honor of using the weapon.
And it. Was. GLORIOUS.
Finally, we had an edge against our enemy, and we used it to great effect. Wherever there could be found a bastion of their wretched existences, we were there, dealing them a swift and brutal end. This, signaled an end to our foe and they knew it, but still, the war was not won but its end was certain.
…
We fought for another fifty years before we came to the last battle between us and our old enemy. Our people was nearly wiped from the universe, our homes were but smoldering ruins, but we stood triumphant and with our might, we cast ourselves into the battle, certain that this would be the last fight.
…
And it was, but it did not go in our favor.
…
We killed and killed, until our arms could not hold our weapons and our minds grew weary with fatigue.
We sacrificed and we bled, all so that we might find a small glimmer of hope in this uncaring war.
We fought and we died, all so that we, with hope in our hearts, might see the sun rise one more time.
But in our final victory, where we should have felt jubilation and triumph, we felt only the bitter taste of death.
…
Our allies, the ones we trusted and whom we had fought many a battle with. Betrayed us.
We. Were. Slaughtered.
…
…
…
And it is so, that I, with a heavy heart and broken spirit, left the battle after having been in the middle of the fight. The Ventrau had suffered critical damage and 95% of its crew was dead before we chose to evacuate the battlefield. But something was wrong with our jump drive and we were flung throughout space and time, and we are now in a place that is so far away from our home. The ship, is dying. Its crew, are dying. And I… I am at the end of my rope.
…
…
I hope, that who ever finds this, may preserve and treasure this knowledge. That we did not go silently into the books of history. That WE fought and bleed for our SURVIVAL, that we did not just lay down and be killed, but that when we were bitten, We. Bit. BACK.
…
This is the Captain of the Dreadnought Ventrau, Grand Admiral of the United Defense Fleet, Protector of the Sulkron and Savior of the Sulkron people.
This is my last message and final words of wisdom, That war is fought by people, but won by heroes.
