Database and Lore

The Siv Mark 1 Class Scouting Battleship

*Spoilers if you haven't read past Gabatrix: The First Peace arc* “Small and poorly armed, they are no match against our battleships, yet, the Aksren only seem to make more and more. They eventually just overwhelm us in the end,” a UHN enlisted man What was designed as a replacement to the research vessels of the Aksren clan had become a sort of advanced support ship for the small recon fleets. The Siv is considered poor in design but makes up for it by being used in large numbers to bolster the far distanced clan fleets. From its popularity, it seems that it will be used for a very long time despite its fame of being moderate in performance. Design Before the Itrean Civil War, the Aksren clan immediately knew that it needed additional warships. The most significant issue was that its research vessels would make poor scouts and that cloaking battleships were uncommon. In addition, with the clan devoted more to aggressive offenses, it needed something to supplement the battleships. The Siv class was often seen as a perfect choice, although there was much criticism right from the beginning. Designed as a reconnaissance ship, the vessel is moderately armed for its size. It carries a single light railgun and a scatterpack missile launcher array. This allows the vessels to serve as bare missile boats. It would carry a basic sensor array package and cost about half of a typical standard battleship. The issue of the vessel was the fact that many others viewed the vessel as a potential for serving a myriad of roles. Unfortunately, the original specifications called for this ship to be used only as a reconnaissance vessel. Contrary to belief, the Itreans used basic recon vessels but never wanted smaller warships to support fleet actions. The reason for the fact was that the battleships carried a sizeable armament that they really didn’t need to have smaller escort ships. The cost of producing a standard battleship had more value than building a spree of smaller but less effective ships. Many saw the concept of the Siv to be adequate in its role. It was a far improvement over the past research vessels and more durable. It didn’t take long for the Aksren clan to begin construction of the Sivs immediately. History Even with the advent of Zilik’s Disease, it didn’t slow down the construction of the Sivs. They were looked at as a cheaper alternative to the battleships and could be built twice as fast. By the time the temporary ceasefire was lifted, many of the Sivs were dumped into forward offensive fleets. There they would break off often with the company of a leading Italx battleship to lead them. These aggressive recon fleets often saw much action, pressing the Sivs into a role that it wasn’t perfectly designed for. While the vessels could use its scatter missiles to inflict some damage, it wouldn’t take long to deplete its missile supply. The light railgun and poor CIWS armament did little damage. The end result was that the Sivs were being used as poor escort ships. Regardless, it was all that the Aksren had, and they would continue to keep using the Sivs in the same intended role. According to sources, the Siv was often ridiculed in the fleets for being “fragile toothpicks with a peashooter” by the Aksren clan. According to the T’rintar clan, the warships were considered to be “harassment vessels within the first hour of the battle, then worthless afterward.” While they worked at times in being able to perform the roles of reconnaissance, their combat record was haphazard.  This still didn’t stop the Aksren from often using the Siv as much as possible. At home, the Siv was used as an interdiction vessel and could help provide relief to the other battleships to be used in the frontlines. Against pirates or small terrorist groups, the scouting battleship was adequate in its role. As a result, orders were made to make more and more of them. The UHN would often see the Siv class in moderate numbers, and it's no surprise. With the aspect of advanced scouting raids by the Aksren clan, the Sivs would be seen alone or supporting the Italx battleship. While they were looked at with apprehension, in the later years before the T’rintar clan alliance, the Sivs were still easy targets. Often, the UHN warships would choose to target and destroy them first or last. The only real value that the Aksren clan ships did was provide another target. The Aksren clan was fully aware of the limitations of the Sivs and would introduce the Mark 2 rather recently. The Mark 2 presents a series of vast improvements, including a storage bay for missile reloads and better CIWS batteries. While it fixes much of the problems, it’s still seen as an inadequate pocket battleship. The shipyards and half-operated population to crew them place the ships as disposable platforms.