The Coventry Conglomerate formed on New Coventry, one of the nine planets orbiting the star Exa-27. Controlling over 60% of New Coventry, it is one of the largest corporate groups in the Exa-27 system, doing interplanetary and interstellar trade in various markets. In the early stages of incorporation, the founders realised the need for a military arm to protect their vast trading fleets, resulting in the creation of the Coventry MetalWorks, Heavy Industries and SiegeWorks subsidiaries.
These subsidiaries proved extremely profitable, churning out combat ships that not only protected them from pirates and outlaws, but also found an extremely successful market supplying mercenary companies, planetary defence fleets, and even private high networth individuals with their highly effective ships, resulting in the three subsidiaries becoming one of their top earning industries.
Name: Rail Fighter MK9D
Designation: Nailer
Built by: Coventry MetalWorks
Cost: 193,100 C
Mass: 377.0 tons
Crew: 22
Designed and built by the Coventry Conglomerate during the founding years, this heavy fighter has seen many iterations over the decades, bringing cheap and affordable long range firepower to mercenary, corporate and private fleets.
While relatively slow and sluggish, the twin rails the Nailer brings at its price range allows them to swarm larger ships, punching through shields to exploit gaps in their armour, or rapidly taking out enemy fighters at longer ranges with their combined firepower. Its heavy armour allows it to shrug off a single nuclear missile from the front, but its open rail channels protected only by a single shield often leaves much to be desired when fighting other fighters at close range. A wise fleet commander would keep them on the defensive flanks, out of close combat but close enough for them to rain their heavy firepower on the enemy fleet.
Name: Rail Destroyer MK2E
Designation: Jackhammer
Built by: Coventry MetalWorks
Cost: 357,600 C
Mass: 525.3 tons
Crew: 48
A premium version of the original Rail Destroyer MK2, this Jackhammer boasts better top speeds and FTL capability while retaining the ship-breaking firepower of the triple rail guns, albeit at a significant increase in cost. It still remains a popular purchase by many mercenary fleets despite its increased cost due to its ability to demolish moderately armoured crafts of similar tonnage in a few volleys and poses a deadly threat to even capital ships if left ignored.
Jackhammers are commonly found protecting trade convoys due to their agility and firepower. Somewhat unconventionally, they often do not stick close with the trade fleet like most defence ships, but instead flank the convoy, using the convoy as bait. Should the pirates take the bait and chase the convoy, the triple rail bursts from the aptly named Jackhammers would punch through the lesser armoured side and rears of the pirate ships, destroying them in just a few volleys. Such is their reputation that pirates often would bypass trade ships if they pick up even just one Jackhammer nearby on their sensors.
Name: Rail Battleship MK1B
Designation: PileDriver
Built by: Coventry SiegeWorks
Cost: 2,500,000 C
Mass: 4079.0 tons
Crew: 384
The first battleship sold by the Siegeworks subsidiary of the Coventry Conglomerate, the PileDriver builds on the tried and proven triple rail layout with a battery of HE and EMP missiles protected by flak and several arrays of point defences which gives it a high level of protection against missile barrages while it sends its triple burst of rail slugs punching through opposing ships.
The PileDriver has proven itself well many times in combat as a heavy artillery capital ship against moderately armoured capital ships, but often struggles against heavily armoured ships like the broadsiders it often follows in fleet battles. Coventry military doctrine therefore often places them in the rearguard of fleets, where they can use their range and firepower to rapidly core through lighter ships, leaving the more heavily protected enemies for the ShipBreakers in the fleet.
