Battleplate

A UNS Battleplate is one of the most feared vessels in the Schlock Mercenary universe. Equipped with massive power plants, a Battleplate is capable of manipulating gravity with unrivaled power and finesse, capable of both crushing a cruiser such as the Touch-and-Go into neutronium, and manipulating individual fingers of a captive. Shaped like a regular geometric figure (triangles, diamonds, and pentagons have all been seen) Battleplates feature enormous annie-plants at their corners (and in the case of the one known diamond-shaped ship, in the middle). It is unknown how many classes of battleplate there are, or how much they vary in size. At least one class of triangular battleplate has sides seven kilometers long, and at least one (the ship used to build Jumpstar Prime) carries 1100 meter annies. The majority of battleplates shown in the comic are triangular.

A battleplate is effectively a militarized flying city, complete with buildings inside that are spaceworthy in their own right, onboard farms supplying fresh food, and a large community of civilian contractors. They carry a nominal crew of 120,000, although when entering battle they leave behind their civilian modules, stripping down to a combat crew of 50,000.

In Book 19, the UNS deployed a new battleplate variant, the Carbon class. The carbon-class are tetrahedral instead of flat, with four annie-plants at the corners and six massive weapon emplacements along the edges. The carbon class are much more threatening in combat than the only other named class, the Tricorn-class, which uses the triangular shape; the two are rated Q9+ and Q7, respectively. The carbon class appear to use a different naming convention than previous classes; all other named battleplates are named after impact craters, but the Shoemaker-Levy (the only carbon class we have seen thus far) is named for a comet. One quote refers to battleplates being named after "craters and commets," so it is possibly coincidence that we have seen no traditional battleplates using that naming scheme.

Purpose
Battleplates were initially constructed for the purpose of protecting planets from impact events; notably they are named for previous such occurrences. . They have since been applied broadly, as their incredible gravitic power and precision makes them almost universally useful. Carbon class battleplates appear to be warships as their primary purpose, as displayed by massive dedicated weapons platforms and a "9+" rating, the highest the Planet Mercenary system can assign.

Battleplates are often used as headquarters for UNS military agencies, such as Project Laz'R'Us and Sol System Traffic Control, providing both ample base facilities and the option of rolling in with heavy firepower. A battleplate was consider "the usual" when discussing headquarters for a UNS intelligence agency.

Known Battleplates

 * UNS Chicxulub
 * UNSV ChesapeakeUNS_Morokweng_(Side_Image).PNG
 * UNS El'gygytgyn
 * UNS Manicouagan
 * UNS Morokweng {destroyed}
 * UNS Popigai
 * UNS Shoemaker-Levy (tetrahedral Carbon-class} [Destroyed]
 * UNS Sudbury
 * UNS Tunguska {destroyed}
 * UNS Vredefort
 * Unnamed ship {Sold, renamed Jumpstar Prime, and dismantled for to parts It was remade into a city/habitat.}