Consider the following stats to be unofficial errata for the IPV-1 System Patrol Craft (page 140, Starships of the Galaxy.)
System Patrol Craft[]
Two IPV-1s engaged in battle.
Independent/Imperial Patrol Vehicle 1[]
IPV-1 System Patrol Craft (CL 13)
Colossal (Frigate) capital ship
Init -3; Senses Perception +5
Defense Ref 17 (flat 15), Fort 36; +15 armor
hp 660; DR 15; SR 165; Threshold 136
Speed fly 16 squares (max. velocity, 1,000 Km/h), fly 4 squares (Starship scale)
Ranged 2 Laser Cannon Batteries +5 (see below) and
- Heavy Concussion Missiles +3* (see below)
Fighting Space 16x16 (character scale), 1 square (starship scale); Cover total
Base Atk +0; Grp +46
*Apply a -20 penalty on attacks against targets smaller than Colossal size.
Abilities Str 63, Dex 14, Con ---, Int 16
Skills Initiative -3, Mechanics +5, Perception +5, Pilot -3, Use Computer +5
Crew 12 (normal); Passengers 10 (Troops and prisoners)
Cargo 200 tons; Consumables 1 month; Carried Craft none
Payload 24 Heavy Concussion Missiles
Availability Military; Cost Not available for sale (Black market value 3,000,000cr)
Point-Defense Twin-Linked Dual Light Laser Cannon Batteries (2 gunners)
- Atk +5; Dmg 5d10x2 (+1 die/3-over ref, max 6d10x2)
Heavy Concussion Missile Launcher (Gunner)
- Atk +3 (-20 vs. targets of Gargantuan size or smaller,); Dmg 9d10x5
The IPV-1 is a tough little ship, too small and too lightly-armed to be true pocket warship. It does, however, make a fantastic patrol vessel, customs enforcer... Or commerce raider, if a hyperdrive can be installed, which is precisely why one wasn't, in the baseline model. The IPV-1 can be carried aboard a larger vessel in hangar space that would otherwise house four shuttles or one squadron of 12 starfighters.
IPV-1s are often sadly overlooked for their potential, as their bizarre weapon scheme could be easily refitted into something much more dangerous with the outlay of some credits and converting some troop space into additional gunnery crew berths. The standard scheme has each gunner controlling a pair of twin-barreled light laser cannon turrets for use against smaller vessels, like snubfighters or pocket gunships made out of space transports, and a Heavy Concussion Missile launcher with a sizable magazine actually poses some nominal threat to small capital ships, and is hilariously lethal if fired at space transports or gunships which for some reason do not enjoy the benefit of combat thrusters.
In light of the potential of the chassis, the IPV-1's shortcomings are almost tragic, and almost all of them stem from neglect from their military chain of command. On its own, or even with a small group of them, the IPV-1 isn't up to the task of repelling a true, serious, military problem, and because of its lack of a hyperdrive, they get assigned to a single system for years at a time; the longest-serving IPV-1s have been on-post for decades. As a result, IPV-1s are seldom assigned promising crews, even when they are operated by an actual military, and haven't been sold off to the planet they were assigned to as a cost-cutting measure. This tends to lead to creeping laxity as regards military discipline, especially when the IPV-1 is basically assigned and then forgotten about, a situation in which the crews often find themselves more attached to planetary interests than their nominal commanders, who frequently developed form letters to respond to transmissions and missives from the IPV-1s.
Ironically, an IPV-1 makes an ideal pirate vessel or commerce raider, if only it can find a vessel to carry it through hyperspace, or have one fitted - a fact not lost on the crews. The IPV-1 has four unused emplacement points, and for as much ship as you get, a class-3 Hyperdrive at 75,000cr or a Class-1 at 150,000cr, along with a navicomputer at a mere 2,000cr, is a reasonable bargain for a ship that can be easily modified into a pocket warship.
Independent/Imperial Patrol Vehicle 1.5[]
IPV-1 System Patrol Craft, Laser Cannon Refit (CL 13)
Colossal (Frigate) capital ship
Init -3; Senses Perception +5
Defense Ref 17 (flat 15), Fort 36; +15 armor
hp 660; DR 15; SR 165; Threshold 136
Speed fly 16 squares (max. velocity, 1,000 Km/h), fly 4 squares (Starship scale)
Ranged 2 Laser Cannon Batteries +9 (see below) and
- Heavy Concussion Missiles +3* (see below)
Fighting Space 16x16 (character scale), 1 square (starship scale); Cover total
Base Atk +0; Grp +46
*Apply a -20 penalty on attacks against targets smaller than Colossal size.
Abilities Str 63, Dex 14, Con ---, Int 16
Skills Initiative -3, Mechanics +5, Perception +5, Pilot -3, Use Computer +5
Crew 16 (normal); Passengers 6 (Troops and prisoners)
Cargo 200 tons; Consumables 1 month; Carried Craft none
Payload 24 Heavy Concussion Missiles
Availability Military; Cost Not available for sale (Black market value 3,000,000cr)
Point-Defense Dual Medium Laser Cannon Batteries (4 gunners)
- Atk +9; Dmg 5d10x2 (+1 die/3-over ref, max 8d10x2)
Heavy Concussion Missile Launcher (Gunner)
- Atk +3 (-20 vs. targets of Gargantuan size or smaller,); Dmg 9d10x5
A very simple and common, if somewhat expensive, modification to the IPV-1 involves removing the original laser cannon set-up (and possibly defraying the costs by selling the original laser armament for 9,000cr), and installing eight double medium laser cannon turrets, each with their own gunner, configured in a battery of four gunners each, at a cost of 96,000cr (87,000 defrayed by the sale price of the original guns.) Reassigning four of the troops as additional gunnery crew, and the IPV-1 becomes substantially more formidable for much less than 5% of its original purchase price. While an onerous cost to most individuals except for wealthy nobles or business magnates, most IPV-1s so modified were done so as a result of a year or two's tax increase on system-local businesses, if not paid for proactively by the businesses themselves in a coalition.
For the star system on a budget, the original light lasers can be converted to battery-fire at essentially no additional cost (the sale of the fire-linking equipment will cover the cost of the additional gunnery stations,) though this will drop the base damage of the laser cannons to 4d10x2. Needless to say, in the absence of any greater available funding, this is one of the most common unofficial modifications to IPV-1s in existence, to the point that more of them are probably firing batteries of 4 dual light laser cannons than are firing batteries of two fire-linked dual-light laser cannons.
IPV-1 Pocket Warship[]
IPV-1 System Patrol Craft (CL 13)
Colossal (Frigate) capital ship
Init -2; Senses Perception +6
Defense Ref 17 (flat 15), Fort 36; +15 armor
hp 660; DR 15; SR 165; Threshold 136
Speed fly 16 squares (max. velocity, 1,000 Km/h), fly 4 squares (Starship scale)
Ranged 2 Laser Cannon Batteries +11 (see below) and
- 2 Light Turbolaser Batteries +11* (see below)
Fighting Space 16x16 (character scale), 1 square (starship scale); Cover total
Base Atk +2; Grp +48
*Apply a -20 penalty on attacks against targets smaller than Colossal size.
Abilities Str 63, Dex 14, Con ---, Int 14
Skills Initiative -2, Mechanics +6, Perception +6, Pilot -2, Use Computer +6
Crew 22 (skilled); Passengers 48
Cargo 200 tons; Consumables 1 month; Carried Craft none
Hyperdrive x3; Navicomputer
Availability Military; Cost Not available for sale (Black market value 3,000,000cr)
Point-Defense Dual Medium Laser Cannon Batteries (4 gunners)
- Atk +11; Dmg 5d10x2 (+1 die/3-over ref, max 8d10x2)
Light Turbolaser Battery (4 Gunners)
- Atk +11 (-20 vs. Gargantuan and smaller); Dmg 3d10x5 (+1 die/3-over ref, max 6d10x5)
An extremely effective upgrade to the IPV-1 (preferably starting with the IPV-1.5, as it utilizes the same Dual Medium Laser Cannon Battery,) the pocket warship modification involves removing the expensive, emplacement-hog heavy concussion missile launcher and installing more economical and longer-ranged light turbolasers (40,000cr), a class 3 hyperdrive (75,000cr), and cramped bunk quarters for troops (25,000cr,) although with such tight quarters and a full compliment, it should come as little surprise that at least a basic luxury upgrade (50,000cr) is one of the most sought-after extras, while installing an x1 hyperdrive instead of an x3 is also very highly-sought, preferably when the ship is first being converted rather than afterwards, when the 75,000cr cost of the x3 is sunk and can only be recouped to the tune of 18,750cr.
The fact is not lost on those crews who are lucky enough to fly this variant that it is as ideal a pirate vessel as it is an antipirate vessel, not the least of which reason being that it isn't unusual in the slightest for a space transport to be ordered to come to and prepare to be boarded by an IPV-1, only to realize too late, and to their own detriment that the IPV-1 they're being boarded by wasn't the system's own patrol vessel. The Rebel Alliance also got quite a lot of use out of this model of IPV-1 in its formative years, and many experienced IPV-1 Pocket Warship crews preferred to keep flying them even when the opportunity to transfer to larger ships became available. On either side of the law, the IPV-1 Pocket Warship's crews tend to be more highly-skilled and disciplined than those of most IPV-1s.