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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,147
# 37
04-02-2013, 12:12 PM
I don't think anyone would want a carrier that is completely unarmed except for it's fighter compliment.
Replicators, industrial or otherwise are not the infinite material source some would perceive, they require energy on a massive scale and possibly some source of raw materials which would need to be housed somewhere. Also contributing to it's size is it's propulsion and energy systems, matter/antimater and fusion reactors all use reaction mass which must be stored aboard ship. Starships are meant to be afield for multiple years at a time, not simply a few months deployment, so the amount of interior volume dedicated to crew is considerably greater than would be the case of a modern carrier. A modern carrier built to meet those requirements and still be able to field 80 fighters would be considerably larger than an Atrox.