Species R463

Species R463 controls 3 systems in the inner belt and these are the first alien species discovered nearby Xyth system. They were discovered by Miner Guild scouts who were send out to gather data about new possible mining fields. The first homeworld of this species was located at stellar object R463-X46F, hence the name the scouts gave to the newly discovered alien species. At the first encounter, Species R463 attacked the scouts and managed to destroy several Vector-scouts. Afterwards, Xyth base tried many times to contact the alien species to sort out some form of peace treaty as Xyths mitary leaders figured the aliens only attacked to protect their homeworld against unknown intruders, but it turned out the aliens had hostile intentions and on many occasions attacked both the Guard and the Legion.

Little is known about their planets, the technological level and what the aliens look like. Their systems are well-defended by 2 kinds of ships, small fighters, similar to the Nagato MK II and heavily armed battle cruisers. System R463-1 is located closest to Xyth and contains one inhabited planet. The R463-1 fleet consist out of approximately 800 units. All attacks on Xyth have been launched from this system, the 2 other R463 systems do defend their planets and attack anyone that enters their systems but have never send out fleets to attack Xyth, possibly because of the great distance between those systems and Xyth system. R463-2 contains 3 inhabited planets and has an impressive fleet with more than 12.000 ships. Their ships seem more advanced than those of the 2 other systems, system R463-2 is most likely their homeworld, from which they colonized R463-1 and R463-3. R463-3 has 2 small planets and a very small fleet with less than 100 ships, this system has probably been colonized within the last 25 years and it's technological level is not as high as that of the 2 other systems.



From the increasing number of attacks they've launched on Xyth system during the 2nd year AX (2nd year after the arrival of the 4th Moon of Xyth), Xyth fleets have learned that the R463 attack fleets are based upon a great number of fighters accompanied by several heavy cruisers. The fighters mostly keep incoming fire away from the cruisers and let those cruisers inflict most damage. The fighters have relatively strong armor and are very fast and agile compared to the Nagatos, but they don't have as much firepower. The cruisers on the other hand, have impressive offensive capabilities but certain sections of the ship are quite fragile.

R463 Heavy Fighter



The R463 fighters have about the same size as the Nagato MK II. The ships have one relatively big engine, which takes up most of the ship's mass. As a result, these fighters are very fast and agile but have limited flight range. The engine is well protected due to the ship's heavy armor. All R463 fighters are equipped with 5 weapons which seem to be some kind of pulse lasers, but not as strong as the lasers of the Nagatos and Vectors. Their strong armor, high speed and the fact that they attack with many fighters at once makes up for the relatively little damage these fighters do.
Dimensions : length = 70 meters (230 ft), max approx combat speed = 150.000 kph (93.000 mph), max approx cruise speed = 375.000 kph (230.000 mph).

R463 Battle Cruiser



The Battle Cruisers are responsible for dealing out most of the damage in any R463 battle fleet. Next to a great number of 4-way pulse-laser turrets and several heavy lasers mounted on the front of the ship, these cruisers are equipped with 2 gigantic weapons. The 2 main weapons fire of some kind of high-energetic ray, similar to a laser but the rays are jagged, like lightning. Although these weapons, also known as thunder-lasers, do have extra armor, they are the most fragile part of the ship. On several occasions the lasers exploded while in use, without being fired at and causing great damage to the ship itself, these weapons are probably still in a experimental phase. Despite it's offensive capabilities, the cruisers don't have strong armor so they're always protected by several fighter ships, which makes it hard for the cruisers to be targetted or hit by enemy fire. The cruisers also lack the speed and maneuverability of the fighters in combat situations, but have higher cruise speed.
Dimensions : length = 260 meters (850 ft), max approx cruise speed = 400.000 kph (250.000 mph).



Several cruisers and fighters have been salvaged from battles with Species R463, a small number of cruisers have been reinforced by Rune engineers and now serve as extra protection of Xyth system. After Species R463 met their own (but improved) ships in battle, they stopped attacking Xyth system.