while not as powerful as the capital-grade weapons carried by its Confederate contemporary, the weapons often served as the critical Ion-based portion of the ship's deadly one-two punch against capital craft.Īdditionally, the ship's trio of powerful engines granted it shocking speed and maneuverability, able to run rings around the lumbering Imperials and keep up with the equally speedy Suppressor now being fielded by the Confederacy However it had one main advantage aside from its firepower: redundancy. The ability to rapidly sweep fighters from the sky became particularly important as fighter technologies advanced- the TIE-Hunter, X-Wing, and Raptor Droid would soon make their appearances, as would a plethora of other disproportionately dangerous smallcraft, making strong point-defense ever more vital to a ship's survival.įinally, the ship also mounted four tubes for medium-weight Torpedoes, arranged in two pairs on its nose. unlike the Consular, however, the Guardian was armed to the teeth: twenty Turbolasers in ten dual turrets gave the ship a powerful punch against capital craft, but its secondary weapons array was even more formidable.įive turrets with individual heavy laser cannons were only the tip of the iceberg- indeed, the Guardian became famous for its lightest weapons: a whopping THIRTY TWO point-defense lasers spread across sixteen dual turrets that made assaulting the craft in a fighter or bomber practically suicide.
The resulting vessel, officially the FR-12, was quickly dubbed the 'Guardian' thanks to its engine design hearkening back to the Consular-class cruiser. Naturally, the Republic turned to Correllian Engineering Corporation to meet their needs. The New Republic needed a ship that could credibly threaten a Star Destroyer, fend off Confederate Vulture Droid swarms, and, most importantly, be build quickly, in mass quantities.
Guardian class light cruiser series#
Their own Senate-class Star Destroyers were still on the drawing board, and new warships such as the Imperial-class Star Destroyer were making their presence felt in a series of devastating victories for the Empire. The New Republic, on its founding at the very beginning of the Galactic Civil war, was faced with a serious problem: though many of its founding members, particularly Corellia, maintained large defense forces, these were typically inexperienced crews equipped with ships that, while capable, were outgunned and out-shielded by the Grand Army the Empire had inherited and lacking sufficient anti-fighter weaponry to face Confederate swarm tactics.