Cylon Basestar

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The Basestar is the primary capital ship of the Cylons in the 1978 science fiction television series and movie Battlestar Galactica, and its subsequent re-imagining in the 2003 miniseries and 2004 television series.

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[edit] Battlestar Galactica (2003, 2004–)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Underside view
Underside view

The Basestar, or Baseship is the primary capital ship of the Cylons within the re-imagining of the science fiction mini-series and television series Battlestar Galactica. They are different in appearance and function from the Basestars of the 1978 TV series.

The Basestar is designed to make FTL jumps and is equipped to deploy large-scale missile strikes with high-yield nuclear and conventional ordnance. Basestars are biomechanical entities, with fleshy "hangars" to house Raiders. Basestars are, however, capable of carrying other Cylon models within them. Basestars are controlled by a hybrid who is in turn controlled by the humanoid Cylon models. Cylon Basestars have a command center similar to Galactica's CIC. Their computer keyboards are some type of pad with water flowing ontop of it, they refer to it as "the water". The hybrid controls all autonomous actions of the Basestar such as: Jumping, Navigation, Centurion Control, and many others. These ships have two known armaments: convential detonation missiles, and nuclear missiles. The Basestar has no recorded speed, but we do know from references in "The Eye of Jupiter" that they have normal, and high speeds.

[edit] Battlestar Galactica (1978, 1980)

Basestar

Basestars in a typical 3-ship formation.
First appearance Saga of a Star World
Affiliation Cylon Alliance
General Characteristics
Fighters Cylon Raiders
Armaments 100x Laser turrets
Mega-Pulsar Guns
Unknown number of Missile Turrets
Propulsion Reactionless drive

The Basestar is the Cylon counterpart of the Colonial Battlestar. The Basestar has also been called a "Baseship" and a "Cylon Battlestar" in one episode, but "Basestar" conforms to the Colonial ship naming system.

The Cylon Basestar is a superior warship to a Colonial Battlestar in a technological respect, as it carries stronger weapons in greater quantity, and carries a greater fighter complement (Basestars could hold up to 300 Raiders each) as well. Because of this, the Galactica and her crew preferred to avoid combat with them as much as possible. Also unlike Battlestars, they are propelled by a reactionless drive that appears to make the ship spin slowly on its axis while engaged.

Basestars are considerably larger than Battlestars. They are about 5100 feet (0.97 miles, 1552m) in diameter.

[edit] Armament

Mega-Pulsars 
In the episode "The Hand of God", the Basestar is revealed to have two of these weapons on the upper saucer. Pulsars are a beam weapon more powerful than the average laser turret and meant purely for capital ship slugging matches. They are capable of destroying a Battlestar-sized craft in only a few direct hits. Battlestars usually attempt to approach Basestars from the lower saucer to avoid these weapons.
Laser Turrets 
Like a Battlestar, Basestars have laser turrets that resemble the weapons of their fighters but on a larger scale. The laser turrets on Basestars are located at the tips of the "spokes" on both saucers and are considerably more powerful than the Colonial design.
Missile Turrets 
These turrets were seen in the episode "The Living Legend Part 2" and they are located on the inner surfaces of both saucers. They are primarily meant for close range defense, since a Battlestar's point defense weapons could easily shoot them down at a longer range.

[edit] References

    [edit] External links


    Battlestar Galactica spaceships
    Colonial Military
    Battlestar (Original | Re-imagined) Military Vessels
    Galactica | Pegasus | Valkyrie Viper | Raptor | Blackbird | Stealthstar
    "The Fleet"
    Astral Queen | Colonial One | Cloud 9 | other..
    Cylon Vessels
    Basestar | Raider | Heavy Raider | Resurrection Ship
    In other languages