Beast Mothership
From Encyclopedia Hiigara
 Beast Mothership
Classification and cost
Technical specification
Usage
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The Beast Mothership was the command ship used by the Beast.
The Beast Mothership was originally a Kuun-Lan hangar module. An emergency beacon which contained a small portion of the Beast was brought into this hangar module; this part of the Beast then grew, subverting more and more mass into itself. Finally, in Tel Sector, the infection began to kill people. As a result, the ship's biohazard alarms were triggered, and the module was jettisoned.
The subverted module's first victim was the Clee-San, a Somtaaw vessel sent to investigate what had happened inside the hangar. The ship was hit by an Infection beam, a weapon which subverted Clee-San and its escort; they also become part of the Beast, after which the Beast quickly adapted new designs and begun to build fighters. Another early victim was a Turanic Raider Heavy Cruiser and its escort of frigates. Lacking the ability to face such a powerful array of vessels, the Kuun-Lan was forced to retreat.
The Kuun-Lan did not encounter the Beast Mothership again until arriving at a debris field in Koreth's Rift.
- "Martyrs of Kharak! Look at what that thing has done to our old lower deck section! It's grown an entire mothership around it. What is this thing?!"
- — Kuun-Lan
By this time, the Beast Mothership was completed, having grown new structures around it's lower decks. The subverted Caal-shto provided additional support during this encounter.
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[edit] Beast Mothership technology
The Beast Mothership was built using captured technologies from subverted ships. Itself based on a Kuun-Lan hangar module, the Beast added enormous structures to this base, including improved engines and building capabilities.
[edit] Weapons
Early on, 6 large Mass Drivers provided excellent coverage against enemy strike-craft, with the best coverage to the sides and below the ship. However, after this early stage and through most of its existence the ship was armed with Energy Cannons giving it the ability to defend against frigates. The only areas not well-covered by these energy cannons were the forward arc, and angles sightly above the ship. Even so, they provided coverage over 80% of all approaches, making it a difficult opponentSSource: Homeworld: Cataclysm manual
page 124 .
The primary weapon of the Beast Mothership was its infection beam. It had a range of 10 kilometers and could fire every 90 seconds, subverting whole squadrons of strike craft or up to two frigates with each shot. This beam could fire from any of 5 points all around the ship subverting enemy units in a matter of seconds. This version of the weapon was sightly more powerful then its downscaled equivalents on Beast Heavy Cruisers and Carriers, which required more time to recharge and could fire to a range of only 2 kilometers.
[edit] Armour
The Beast Mothership possessed unique organic armour, brown in color, which was reinforced by depleted uranium and superconducting fibers. This allowed the Mothership to survive direct exposure to the plasma from an exploding fusion sphere fired from the Siege Cannon. What is more, the organic component of this armour allowed it to regrow in seconds after being hit. Such combined armor was the best ever seen by Somtaaw, effective against a wide array of weapons, ncluding Ion beams, plasma weapons and kinetic gunsSSource: Homeworld: Cataclysm manual
page 123 .
