Database and Lore

The Tiltra Class Heavy Assault Carrier

*Spoilers if you haven't read past Gabatrix: The First Peace arc* “It is with the Tiltra that we have a serious chance of conquering and winning a ground war against the other clans. The Shal’rein that fight alongside us have no questions on the value of the ship,” a Yutilian centurion stationed onboard the *Click* Na’Nap. As the Emphra War had come to a close, the Itrean clans had put all their resources together. The united clan effort was pivotal in stopping the Emphra. In the later years, many saw the great Shal’rein carriers as the next step in providing a valuable ground defense. The Tiltras would serve as the beginning of that pivotal move. Prior to the Itrean Civil War, it would be one of the most valuable assault vessels that ever served in the T’rintar clan. Design It can be quickly said that the Tiltra class would be ushered as the new age of future assault vessels of all the Itreans, but sadly, it’s only part of the case. The Tiltras were nothing more than a replacement vessel for the Shal’rein Ulurein class Heavy Assault Carriers. The history of the Shal’rein assault ships are ones that are easily mentioned to be overpowered in ground assaults. The Ulurein was widely popular in the mid to late years of the Emphra Wars. It was such a famous vessel that it wouldn’t be fully decommissioned until just prior to the Itrean Civil War. The Tiltra project was to introduce a landing carrier that operated very much like the Ulurein. In fact, it’s so similar in design that they still use identical parts. Much like the successful Ikra class Battleship and Oldra class Dreadnoughts, the Tiltras were designed to provide a standard but powerful warship design that would easily allow Shal’rein, Aksren, and Yutilians to traverse together in the same ship. If the Emphra ever returned, the Tiltras could be easily retrofitted and prepared for all-out conflict. While the Ikras and Oldras were widely accepted, it was more than expected that the Tiltras would be widely built. By the 2310s, many of the Shal’rein families that moved to Yutilian space swore their loyalty to the new clan. The Yutilian clans were somewhat reluctant but decided that a Yutilian army with Shal’rein could greatly increase the fighting capability of their ground warfare. The Yutilians agreed to go along and build the Tiltra class along with procuring orders for Shal’rein battle tanks. The Shal’rein clan were just as eager to replace their aging Ulureins eventually. However, within a year of the design program, the Aksren clan pulled out of the project. It would be one of the first times that the clan would ever do so in a united shipbuilding project. Many argued that the Aksren really didn’t have much to benefit from the entire concept. They still relied heavily on their own carriers, and it was learned much later that they were indeed building their own assault carrier design. Despite the setbacks, the Yutilian and Shal’rein clans would introduce a pseudo-unified warship design. They would instead be built in large quantities. For the Yutilians, they would have the Jip Light Assault Carriers and have the Tiltras to provide and lead in large-scale assaults. The Shal’rein clan, of course, would have their own replacement to the Ulurein. The assault carrier very much follows the schematics of the original Ulurein. However, there are some noticeable differences. For one, the Tiltra switches its particle beam turrets to light underslung railgun turrets that can pummel ground targets with ease. The Yutilian variant offers both launch tubes for Yutilian and Shal’rein clan atmospheric fighter craft. The Shal’rein variant only carries launch tubes for their larger fighters. The vessel, much like the Ulurein carries a rear centripetal habitat ring that can operate independently in landing operations. The top rear railgun can be employed on the ground or in space against other wayward attackers. The spacious facilities could easily hold the Shal’rein battle tanks and house hundreds of smaller Yutilian hover vehicles. History Much as expected, the Tiltra class came out at a time when the Itreans were more focused on economic recovery. It wasn’t too much of a surprise that the new assault carriers came out when there was little interest in even having them. If anything, the Ikra battleships and Oldra dreadnoughts completely overshadowed the new ships. More priority was placed upon building everything else. Despite this, the carrier was still being pumped out at a slow but steady rate. Many of the Yutilians that served aboard the new carriers found an enormous amount of space, and the Shal’rein that fought alongside them were proud of having a viable but effective combat platform. Little was said in the Shal’rein clan, but they would continue to build them in good numbers. Most of these carriers only served in minor roles for the next thirty years. They were typically kept at home or in orbital defense fleets. Occasionally, they would be employed to move equipment around, but again, the cost of building them almost didn’t seem proper enough. However, the vessels would finally get a chance to see some action by the time of the Itrean Civil War. Ironically, the Shal’rein clan already had a replacement carrier, the Hiko class, but it didn’t mean that the clan completely abandoned the vessel. If anything, the Tiltras were almost used more often than the Ikra and Oldra class ships. The Yutilians, now named the T’rintar clan, surprisingly had more use of the Tiltra class than the Shal’rein clan. The T’rintar still needed the carriers to be well serviceable since they didn’t have a replacement vessel for their Shal’rein kin. Only the heavy battle tanks could be deployed on these vessels as the smaller N’jip assault carriers were accustomed to the smaller vehicle and statures of the Yutilians. In theory, the carriers made the T’rintar more viable in ground combat than the Aksren clan. Some analysts even claimed that the Aksren clan had made a critical error by not staying with the program. During the Itrean civil war, most of the carriers were kept on standby but did see usage in ferrying jobs, military transport, and the occasional direct fire. As the Shal’rein clan had brought in the Hiko, the Tiltras were phased out rather quickly, but the T’rintar clan saw no real value in replacing them. Of course, by 2349, the T’rintar clan did introduce the newer Tiltra Mark 2s, although their full employment will take some time before they will be fully utilized. A Tiltra class Assault Carrier, the *Click* Na’nap, was used to attack and kidnap the colonists of Eutera prior to the eventual alliance with the UWA. At the time, the T’rintar clan were unsure of the possibilities if humanity could hold a cure to Zilik’s Disease. At the same time, they felt that it was best to launch a quick strike onto Eutera, grab the colonists for experimentation, and get out. Na’nap, or “Green Wasp,” was selected for the role because it was unknown how bad UHN resistance was going to be. A single but large vessel could land, quickly deploy troops, and grab the thousands of individuals before the UHN could mount an incredible defense. Troops on the ground found very little resistance as the ground defenses were quickly neutralized. While there were a few fatalities, the colonists were successfully taken and brought aboard before the UHN launched a counterattack to repel the invasion. Interestingly, the same ship would be chosen to get many of the colonists back home after the alliance was made with UWA and T’rintar clan.