imported>Ocherstone at 07:23, 10 February 2025

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{{Update Needed|[[IlKhan's Eyes Only]]}}
{{InfoBoxWarShip
| image = [[Image:Bug-eye.jpg|191px]]
| name = ''Bug-Eye''
| manufacturer = [[Bowie Industries]]<ref name=TRO2750>''Technical Readout: 2750'', pp. 124–125: "Bug-Eye Ship Profile"</ref>
| Use = Surveillance<ref name="BSs53">''BattleSpace'' sourcebook, p. 53</ref>
| Tech Base = [[Terran Hegemony]]
| Cost =
| Introduced = [[2620]]<ref name=TRO2750/><ref name="IP3:IEp113+">''Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3'', pp. 113–114: "Bug-Eye Class Surveillance WarShip"</ref><ref name="BSs53"/>
| production year = 2620
| Mass = 6,100 tons
| Length = 129 meters
| Sail Diameter = 86 meters
| Safe Thrust = 2.5 g
| Top Thrust = 4 g
| Sail Integrity = 3
| KF Drive Integrity = 3
| Fuel = 96 tons
| Tons/Burn-day = 2.82
| LF Battery = None
| Armament = 
* 1x [[PPC]]
* 2x [[Large Laser]]
* 1x [[AC/20]]
| Armor = 2 tons<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/> [[Mitchell 6HY]] [[Ferro-Aluminum]]<ref name=TRO2750/>
| DropShip Capacity = 0
| Crew = 48<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>
* 8 Officers
* 39 Enlisted
* 1 Gunner
----
(Crew Types)<ref name="BSr63">''BattleSpace'' rulebook, p. 63</ref> 
*3 Pilots / Engineers 
*3 Junior Officers / Other Crew (Non-Engineers) 
*14 Secondary Engineers 
----
Steerage Class Passengers: 12
| Grav Decks = None
| Escape Pods/Life Boats = 0
| Heat Sinks = 105 [[heat sink|single]]
| Structural Integrity = 20
| BV (1.0) =
| BV (2.0) = 1,169<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>
}}

==Description==
Surrounded by often belligerent neighbors, the [[Terran Hegemony]] placed a high priority on surveillance vessels with abilities far in advance of anything the rest of the [[Inner Sphere]] powers could produce, with the '''''Bug-Eye''''' class being one of the most successful and long-lived designs. Commissioned by the [[Terran Hegemony Armed Forces|HAF]] to replace the aging ''[[Nightwing]]'' and ''[[Tracker]]'' vessels in [[2524]], the distinguished service record of the compact and highly complex ''Bug-Eye'' continued when it entered service with the [[SLDF|Star League Navy]] in [[2620]].<ref name=TRO2750/><ref name="BSs53"/>

The Terran Hegemony continued to operate ''Bug-Eye'' ships throughout the [[Star League]] era, keeping a watching eye on its neighbors and the [[Periphery]] states. The [[Hegemony Armed Forces]] spared no expense in equipping the ''Bug-Eye'' to be a premiere spy ship, giving over almost a tenth of the total mass of the ship to advanced equipment such as a large naval communications scanner suite, as well as a lookdown radar and hyperspectral scanner for observing locations on the ground. The ''Bug-Eye'' was kept intentionally to the size of common aerodyne [[DropShips]] of the era such as the ''[[Buccaneer (DropShip class)|Buccaneer]]'' and ''[[Sylvester (DropShip class)|Baby Sylvester]]'' and was designed in such a fashion that with just a few weeks of work inside a shipyard, modular fittings could be installed onto the ''Bug-Eye'' that would make it resemble other vessels both optically and thermally. This allowed the crew of the ''Bug-Eye'' to convincingly explain why the supposed DropShip didn't land on planets, by instead masquerading as DropShip designs such as passenger or luxury liners that didn't need to land.<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

Common deployment tactics for the ''Bug-Eye'' included either jumping into a system alongside a civilian [[JumpShip]], arriving approximately twenty-eight kilometers apart - the minimum safe separation between vessels - or instead jumping into the outer fringes of the system and then maneuvering with its relatively powerful engines to pass through a safe jump point as the JumpShip arrived.<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

''Bug-Eyes'' were considered to be spartan vessels despite the generous amount of crew space aboard; the lack of any grav decks meant that personnel had to follow zero-g exercise regimens and undergo medical treatments to prevent bone deterioration, in addition to dealing with the constant stress of operating as the crew of a dedicated spy ship.<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

The ''Bug-Eye'' was effectively obsolete in the Inner Sphere from [[2770]] onwards, although at least one vessel would find her way into service with the company [[Interstellar Expeditions]] as late as the thirty-first century.<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/> Though an estimated 170 were produced,<ref name="BSs53"/> few examples survived the liberation of [[Terra]] and all accompanied the [[Operation Exodus|Exodus]] fleet.<ref name=TRO2750/> The tactical role of the ''Bug-Eye'' has no place among the [[Clans]] who mothballed the design, but only after a handful were used by the nascent Clans during their reconquest of the Pentagon Worlds.<ref>''Historical: Operation Klondike'', p. 40: "Alone in the Dark"</ref>

==Armament==
The class shines due to its large array of highly advanced passive stealth features. While looking like a DropShip, the ''Bug-Eye'' features two massive [[Quadrant Turbo Thrusters]] [[Interplanetary Drive System|interplanetary drives]] that give it deceptive speed and agility, combined with one of the most compact [[Compact Kearny-Fuchida Drive|jump drives]] ever created, so small that a relatively tiny internally stored [[Jump Sail]] can charge it. All the [[Tokina Imaging Company]] [[Tokina 9000R]] [[Naval Comm-Scanner Suite|surveillance equipment]] is hidden by sliding panels or directly integrated into the hull, which is coated in a special material that can absorb radar and seemingly disappear from enemy screens. The equipment is so advanced, handheld documents were able to be read from thousands of kilometers away and captains often ordered their crew to be silent for fear of being overheard by the spy vessels.<ref name=TRO2750/>

With the class's role of surveillance, the ''Bug-Eye'' has extremely light offensive armament even compared to the [[DropShips]] it resembles, with one [[Hellstar]] PPC mounted in the nose<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/> backed by two side facing [[Selitex-25]] Large Lasers and a single rear-facing [[Luxor-20]] AC/20.<ref name=TRO2750/><ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

==Cargo==
The compact ''Bug-Eye'' is considerably packed with surveillance equipment, with little cargo space beyond supplies for the crew.<ref name=TRO2750/>
*Bay 1: Cargo (102 tons), 1 door<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

==Variants==
No variants are known to exist.

==Design Quirks==
The ''Bug-Eye'' is subject to the following [[Design Quirk]]s:
* [[Improved Communications]]<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>
* [[Obsolete|Obsolete/2770]]<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

==Notes==
* Many special features originally mentioned for the ''Bug-Eye'' are incompatible with most WarShip rules, which led to the design being left out of ''[[Technical Readout: 3057]]'' and ''[[Technical Readout: 3057 Revised]]''.

* The detail on the Bug-Eye was substantially revised when the entry was republished in ''[[Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3]]''; the changes are reflected in this article. Amongst the revisions were a substantial reduction in the fuel carried by the Bug-Eye, the replacement of the forward-mounted [[Light NPPC]] with a standard [[PPC]] (originally changed in the BattleSpace rulebook), an increase in the crew size and a reduction in the armor on the Bug-Eye from 95 tons of armor to just 2 tons.<ref name=TRO2750/><ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

* All crew quarters aboard the ''Bug-Eye'' are considered steerage quarters (5 tons per crewman).<ref name="IP3:IEp113+"/>

* In German products, the unit's proper name was altered to '''''BEM''''', supposedly the acronym for '''B'''ug-'''e'''yed '''m'''onster, an (at least with sci-fi fans) established expression.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Bug-eye.jpg|Original ''Bug-Eye'' from ''[[Technical Readout: 2750|TRO:2750]]''
Image:Bug-Eye.jpg|''Bug-Eye'' from ''[[Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3|IE:ISP3]]''
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[:Category:Individual Bug-Eye-class WarShips|List of named ''Bug-Eye''-class WarShips.]]

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[BattleSpace]]''
* ''[[Historical: Operation Klondike]]''
* ''[[Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3]]''
* ''[[Technical Readout: 2750]]''

[[Category:Small WarShips]]
[[Category:Terran Hegemony WarShip classes]]
[[Category:WarShip classes]]
[[Category:German renamed units]]

Bug-Eye - Revision history

imported>Ocherstone at 07:23, 10 February 2025