Maugen-pattern armored cruiser

The Maugen-pattern armored cruiser is a Covenant capital warship classification.

Design details
The Maugen is an older design pattern of cruiser in the Covenant fleet inventory, predating the newer and more ubiquitous by two Ages of Reclamation.The cruiser bears an extremely similar overall form to its successors, though with a bulkier and (as its name would suggest) more armoured look; the nanolaminate hull is coated in additional layers of armour plating as opposed to the smoother look of later cruisers. This is in part due to the cruiser's age - when first commissioned, Covenant energy shielding technology was limited and thus less reliable. While less advanced than more modern vessels, the Maugen has a reputation for reliability and simple operation. These traits have proven especially useful in the wake of the Great Schism, allowing post-Covenant warlords the ability to maintain powerful capital ships even despite the loss of the empire's vast network of naval depots, Huragok technicians and legions of skilled shipmasters - these ships can be reliably maintained in a resource-scarce environment unlike their more modern counterparts.

Measuring 2,000 meters long, 1,000 meters wide, and 296 meters tall, it is the second-largest known cruiser of the former Covenant fleet, overshadowed only by the. The port and starboard sides of the armoured cruiser each contain two primary hangars and a single dedicated strikecraft hangar, allowing for the deployment of fighters and dropships to support the vessel's operation. As on the Ket-pattern battlecruisers, a single gravity lift is located on the ship's belly, shared with the single excavation beam. The neck is additionally flanked by two large communications arrays, manifesting each as sets of three curved antennae. The nose of the ship is fitted with 4 sensor vanes to allow for sensing of the area around the ship, while the aft contains the ship's two primary repulsor engines.

Armaments
The Maugen's armament is fairly standard for a Covenant cruiser, though by the modern era considered underpowered when compared to the battlecruisers of the Covenant's navy. Its armaments include a single ventral Excellen-pattern excavation beam, 22 anterior Morfen-pattern plasma cannons, and a point-defence network of 60 Gon-pattern pulse laser turrets. An additional 6 Gon-pattern plasma torpedo silos adorn the ship's dorsal surface.

Alongside the primary armaments, the cruiser is armed with a "stasis enfolder system" located on the ventral surface underneath the neck of the ship. The precise function of this system is unknown, though its name suggests it is of a similar function to the Stasis cannons equipped on the aircraft.

Usage
The "R", or Reverence, in the cruiser's Office of Naval Intelligence-assigned three-letter classification code, "RCS", indicates that the cruiser is capable of conducting reconnaissance missions and is capable of excavating Forerunner artifacts. The "S", or Salvation, denotes that the RCS-class armored cruiser is a dedicated warship.

When originally introduced, Maugen-pattern cruisers served the Covenant empire as its primary missionary and compliance warship. However, their obsolence led them to be relagated to rear-line duties, working in patrol and occupation roles. The Maugen's status as a larger vessel also lent it some use as a command vessel for other smaller ships.

Operational history
Maugen-pattern cruisers were introduced into Covenant service in the Fifth Age of Reclamation; around the time that humanity was only just beginning to make its own early long-distance ocean voyages on Earth. They served as a mainstay warship in the Covenant fleet for centuries as the empire's primary "missionary and compliance" warship, though the class was eventually supplanted by the more refined. Many cruisers of the Maugen-pattern were broken down into feedstock for High Charity's Assembly Forges, being reformed and remade into new ships, vehicles, and armor to equip the Covenant military. The remaining vessels of this class were left as reserve vessels in the fleets of important Covenant colonies or transferred to distant reserve fleets to take on various utilitarian roles.

The Maugen's use during the Human-Covenant War was largely overshadowed by the Ket-pattern battlecruiser, the mainstay of the fleet. At the dawn of the Great Schism, many armored cruisers played an important role in many remnant factions of the Covenant empire. Following the end of the war, many surviving battlecruisers were commandeered by Kig-Yar scavengers or independent Sangheili factions. As a result, the RCS-class armored cruiser took on a more predominant role in Jul 'Mdama's Covenant. Several RCS-class cruisers were assigned to Jul 'Mdama's fleet occupying Requiem in February 2558, escorted by a much larger number of comparatively diminutive s. One was destroyed when the emerged from slipspace and rammed it. Another fled the shield world after 'Mdama set the planet on a collision course with the local star.

Covenant RCS Battlecruiser
This element includes a single RCS-class battlecruiser.

Covenant Supported RCS Battlecruiser
This element includes an RCS-class battlecruiser and one SDV-class heavy corvette.

Covenant Reinforced RCS Battlecruiser
This element includes an RCS-class battlecruiser and two SDV-class heavy corvettes.

Covenant Escorted RCS Battlecruiser
This element includes an RCS-class battlecruiser and one ADP-class escort.

Covenant Defended RCS Battlecruiser
This element includes an RCS-class battlecruiser and two ADP-class escorts.

Covenant Paired RCS Battlecruisers
This element includes two RCS-class battlecruisers.

Production notes
The Maugen-pattern armoured cruiser was first mentioned in Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, and first-depicted as a 3D model created by 3D artist Steve "Coolhand" Tyler for Axis Studios' cutscenes in Spartan Ops. Tyler was commissioned to construct two Covenant ships; a large capital ship he referred to as (and based on) the CCS-class battlecruiser, and a smaller escort ship based on the same design. The "CCS-class" was later fully-canonised as the RCS armoured cruiser in Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide. To begin the modelling process, Tyler initially modelled the smaller, ultimately overdetailing the model and being asked to strip back some of the detail. As such, some of the excess geometry discarded from the early light cruiser design was reused and scaled up for placement on the armoured cruiser.

To try and add a sense of scale, Tyler looked to real-world oil tankers, and attempted to add a similar sense of industrial machinery alongside "window" lights to the ship to help make it easily identifiable as a massive ship.

Trivia
Armored cruisers were a warship classification used by European, American and Japanese navies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries that featured superior armor to their predecessors. Armored cruisers became obsolete with the introduction of better armed and faster battlecruisers in 1908, and smaller but just as well-armored light cruisers, though they would serve during World War I, with some surviving to serve in World War II. The history of the Covenant ship parallels the history of the real-life human class, being supplanted by the more advanced.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Fleet Battles
 * Halo Mythos