In the line of new developments and improvemnts of the Centauri Navy driven by the Firebird program, an impressive new warship is actually produced and is entering service: the Maximus (Overlord) battlecruiser. The Centauri Navy, as well known, is based upon a two ship class structure: a fast attack frigate (Vorchan, and more recently, Morado Attack Cruisers), with an anti-ship function, and an heavy capital ship, able to support a fighter line and with polyvalent capabilities. The Vorchans, either in the original and in the upgraded variants, are impressive weapons, but it is a 60 years old design, with some weaknesses (Mainly the light protection). The upgrade of the class, and the launch of the new Morado Attack Cruisers, improved substantially the "Antiship wolfpacks" of the Centauri Navy.
The problem in the cruiser/polyvalent ship area was heavyer.
The Centauri reference ship in this field is the old Primus cruiser. Still impressive in its weapon system (Four long range particle beams, A.K.A. "Battle Lasers", eight twin ion turrets, some pulse point defence emplacements), maneuverable, but substantially fragile, due the light armor and the uneffectiveness of his first generation gravitic shield. The presumed successor of the Primus is the Octurion Dreadnought, that is a powerful ship, with spinal installed heavy weapons (heavy matter projectors) and an upgraded fighter line. It inherits from the Primus the effective weapon installation scheme, the firepower, and improves many of the weak points of the old cruiser, mainly in the overall affordability and in the protection, based upon a polycristalline armor. The catamaran structured hull offers some redundancy advantages, but the overall configuration, used by the Narns too, does not offer the best in terms of structural resistance, specific stiffness and surface/volume ratio, and it's expensive to build. As they did for the Morado, The Centauri engineers came out with a new design that is a break even point with some traditional concepts and schemes, and that represent a demonstration of the real technical capabilities of the Centauri Republic, when supported by a political will.

The Maximus is probably the most streamlined and elegant ship that can be met in the space, and one of the deadliest weapons.
The overall project started from the intention to combine maneuverability and firepower and merge the defensive capabilities of an effective armor and a gravimetric shield, a technical challenge that was won, at the end, by the technicians of the House Tavari Armament Co.
This integrated protection system gives a level of passive defence close to the one of an Omega Epsilon with E-Web MK3 but with a consistently lighter mass.
The propulsion system (Gravitic drive + Plasma Engines) allows a superior maneuverability, and a speed that Earthforce is barely able to match only with the Nike battlecruisers, and vastly superior to the usual speed/acceleration of the most important ISA members' heavy Warships.
The firepower is impressive, based upon an articulated system of powerful ion cannons, a couple of anti-matter projectors in spinal installation, more powerful than the old heavy matter projectors or the Mag Guns, even if inferior to the Earth Force's G.O.D. cannons in terms of discharge power*, and four pulse lasers. A missile battery, torpedo launchers, and a fighter line based upon the new Rutarian fighters integrates the weapon system, and gives to this ship an exceptional firepower: substantially, this cruiser is something like a Nike, but more maneuverable and with better close range defence.
The overall design, the good protection, the powerful weapons, the excellent mobility and the refined sensors and electronic warfare systems makes of this ship a masterpiece of space engineering, a formidable fighting unit, and a powerful addiction to the defensive capabilities of the Centauri republic and the ISA Members. From the point of view of the Centauri Citizens, this ship represents the will of renaissance and a reason of proud.

*Must be remarked that the E.A. G.O.D. cannons have a rate of fire substantially lower than the ARAD series anti matter projectors.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Class: Maximus
Type: Battle Cruiser
Length: 1450 meters
Mass: 28.8 million metric tons
Acceleration: (estimated) 10-12 g.
Fighters: 16*Rutarian heavy fighters.

Power/Propulsion:
4*CRVV Gravitic Enhanced Fusion Reactors.
4*Doradi VAX 12 gravitic enhanced ion engines.
1*Doradi/Tavari "Silverfire 3" gravitic engine.
2*Bichera K202-V12 Jump engines.

Weapons:
2*House Tromo Weapons Co. ARAD-E Heavy Antimatter projectors (Spinal)
4*House Tavari Armament Co. TRAN Heavy Twin Ion cannons.
12*House Tavari Armament Co. VOXX Twin Ion cannons.
4*House Tavari Armament Co. "Radena 6" hard ray pulse laser. (spinal battery above the nose)
2*House Tavari Armament Co. "Camlas" torpedo launchers, with 96 gravitic propulsion torpedoes.
16*Dorado "Rotai" Missiles.

Defense:
6-10 meter armored hull (Polycristalline spaced armor), additional layer of nanotechnologychal armor
Gravimetric grid projector, 4* tractor beam projectors.

MAXIMUS Battle Cruiser