UNSC Pillar of Autumn: Difference between revisions

|hull code=C-709<ref name="Warfleet"/>

|naval architect=*[[Robert McLees (ship designer)|Dr Robert McLees]]<ref name="Warfleet"/>

*[[Adam Crokett|Senior Engineer Crokett]] {{C|refit}}<ref name="Warfleet"/>

|manufacturer=[[Reyes-McLees Shipyards]], [[Mars]]<ref name="Warfleet"/>

|class={{Class|Halcyon|light cruiser}}<ref name="Warfleet"/>

|engine=*[[Boglin Fields|Boglin Fields']] Starfire-IV [[Fusion drive|fusion rockets]]<ref name="Warfleet"/>

|slipspace drive=[[Kawanishi Engineering|Kawanishi Engineering's]] [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine#CODEN series|SED-2550X]] {{C|Series V CODEN}}<ref name="Warfleet"/>

|mass = 9 million metric tons<ref name="Warfleet" />

*32 [[Archer missile#M58 Archer|M58 Archer missile pods]]<ref name="Warfleet"/>

*8 [[Spitfire naval coilgun battery#Mark 33 Spitfire|Mark 33 Spitfire naval coilgun batteries]]<ref name="Warfleet" />

*6 [[M66 Sentry autocannon]] turrets<ref name="Warfleet" />

*5 [[GA-TL1 Longsword]] fighters<ref name="Warfleet" />

*12 [[D77-TC Pelican]]s<ref name="Warfleet" />

*2 [[D96-TCE Albatross]]<ref name="Warfleet" />

*20 [[M808B Scorpion]]s<ref name="Warfleet" />

*60 [[M12 Warthog]]s<ref name="Warfleet" />

*216 [[Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle|M8823 SOEIV]] drop pods<ref name="Warfleet" />

*1000 Naval personnel<ref name="Warfleet" />

*800 Marines<ref name="Warfleet" />

**400 ODSTs<ref name="Warfleet" />

UNSC ''Pillar of Autumn'' was constructed at the [[Reyes-McLees Shipyards]] on [[Mars]]. The ship began construction in [[2507]],<ref name="Mythos95"/> was completed in [[2509]], and was launched on [[2510|December 1, 2510]].<ref name= "data drop"/>

During the [[Battle for Arcadia]] in [[2531|February 2531]], ''Pillar of Autumn'' engaged two {{class|CCS|battlecruiser}}s alongside the {{UNSCShip|Belfast}}, {{UNSCShip|Texas}} and {{UNSCShip|Armstrong}}. Along with the other three ships, ''Pillar of Autumn'' destroyed the battlecruiser designated ''[[CCS-U321]]'' after catching it with its shields down, but the battlecruiser designated ''[[CCS-U624]]'' was able to make it to the surface of [[Arcadia]]. In the battle between the UNSC and Covenant forces, ''Pillar of Autumn'' was badly damaged along with ''Armstrong'' while ''Texas'' and ''Belfast'' were destroyed. Upon the arrival of the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}, the [[smart AI]] [[Serina]] reported on these events to Captain [[James Cutter]].<ref name="first sighted"/> Later in the battle, at the request of ''Spirit of Fire'', ''Pillar of Autumn'' contributed several [[M145D Rhino]]s to the ground battle, enabling ''Spirit of Fire's'' forces to take down a Covenant energy shield.<ref name="H:W_DomeOfLight">'''Halo Wars''', level ''[[Dome of Light]]''</ref>

The cruiser was decommissioned with the remaining {{class|Halcyon|light cruiser}}s, but was reactivated as the war worsened. ''Pillar of Autumn'' was  pulled from long-term storage and was refitted in [[2550]] to serve as an emergency support ship in a conflict near [[Zeta Doradus]].<ref name="HCESGuide"/><ref name="for238">'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', page 238</ref>

The cruiser received another refit designed by Senior Engineer Adam Crokett for the new mission, including a state-of-the-art fusion power plant and improved weaponry.<ref name="for238"/> Furthermore, the command bridge was upgraded with a Tier III datacore to house Cortana and the drop pod bays were significantly expanded.<ref name="Warfleet" /> After the refit, Cortana was transferred to handle the shakedown.

The internal superstructure of ''Pillar of Autumn'' was designed by [[Robert McLees (ship designer)|Doctor Robert McLees]], though it was deemed unnecessarily over-massed and costly due to a series of cross-bracings and interstitial honeycombs. This led to the design being dropped from future models of ''Halcyon''-class ships. ''Pillar of Autumn'' and 10 others out of 50 were built with this type of superstructure. The internal bracing structure allowed the ship to function even after sustaining critical levels of damage.<ref name="HCESGuide"/> Furthermore, the ship was fitted with an intraship transit system, which consisted of a network of lifts, stairs and mag-rail platforms. This allowed personnel to quickly travel through the ship. Following its refit in 2552, the ''Autumn'' had a substantially expanded [[SOEIV]] launch bays and its hull was wrapped in the latest Titanium-A ablative armor plating. Protruding from its front face is a foremast that is equipped with [[slipspace]] navigation sensors and hardened [[battlenet]] transponders. A planetary scanning array is mounted just below its Omega-pattern bridge, which is outfitted with planetary survey sensors and probe/satellite launchers. Four compact auxiliary fusion rockets are installed on either side of the cruiser, and while they are capable of a high-thrust, they are considered inefficient in their design. At the very top of the engine cowling is a multipurpose scan array, which contains tactical sensors and an electronic eavesdropping suite.<ref name="Warfleet" />

Prior to being refit for the Spartan mission, ''Pillar of Autumn'' was equipped with three Mark II Hanley-Messer deuterium [[Fusion drive|fusion engines]], which supplied only 10% the power of the standard [[2552]] UNSC Navy reactor. ''Pillar of Autumn'' was refitted with a set of improved nuclear fusion engines that featured two smaller reactors around a larger one, which were capable of boosting the overall power output by 300% for a short time if needed.<ref name="for274"/>

Fusion reactors generate extreme heat which must be removed in order for them to remain active without overheating. The Autumn's overhauled reactors were an especially severe case of this. Usually, the excess heat was conducted to a chemical agent which would then vent into space. However, the ''Autumn''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s upgraded specifications also included an upgraded cooling system, which featured a "laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero", which was far more efficient than the typical method and removed the reliance on expendable chemical temperature-control substances. In essence, the amount of excess heat removed by the new system increased as the reactors' output did. This self-regulating and self-cooling power plant was critical in combat since it virtually eliminated a commander's concerns about overheating and slagging a ship's engines.<ref name="for274"/>

''Pillar of Autumn's'' reactors were able to be [[Fusion drive#Use as improvised weapons|overloaded by explosives]], either grenades or rockets, destroying the vulnerable vent cores. Once these were destroyed, the reactors began to go critical, resulting in temperatures of over 100,000,000 degrees and a thermonuclear explosion large enough to tear apart a Halo installation.<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''', campaign level ''[[The Maw (Level)|The Maw]]''</ref> This explosion was later revealed to be similar in nature to a [[supernova]] and resulted in the creation of a new element on [[Alpha Shard|a surviving shard]] of the installation.<ref name="Nightfall" />

Prior to being refit for the Spartan mission, ''Pillar of Autumn'' had just one regular MAC gun and six Archer missile pods.<ref name="page238"/> The upgraded ''Pillar of Autumn'' received extensive refits, including several to its weapons systems. Eventually, it was host to a very powerful armament; far in excess of the original ''Halcyon''-class ships.  

*The '''[[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|Mark II, Light Coil - 56A2D4/MAC gun]]'''<ref name="waypointarticle"/> that ran two-thirds the length of the cruiser<ref name="Warfleet" /> fired lighter projectiles compared to most ship grade MACs, but these rounds worked much like [[shredder round]]s. Each charge was able to fire 3 rounds.

*Thirty-Two '''[[Archer missile#M58 Archer|M58 Archer missile]] pods'''.<ref name="Warfleet" />

*Eighteen '''[[M910 Rampart point defense network|M910 point defense gun]]s''' with overlapping fields of fire for point defense against single ships. Two of these cannons were later salvaged by the surviving UNSC personnel for [[Alpha Base (Installation 04)|Alpha Base]].<ref name="Warfleet" />

*Eight '''[[Spitfire naval coilgun battery#Mark 33 Spitfire|Mark 33 Spitfire naval coilgun batteries]]'''.<ref name="Warfleet" />

*Six '''[[M66 Sentry autocannon]] turrets'''.<ref name="Warfleet" />

The ''Pillar of Autumn'' had a complement of six hundred Marines and four hundred ODSTs, totaling 1,000 fighting personnel.<ref name="Warfleet"/> The ship's Marine complement were divided into the following units;

*[[14th Platoon]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[22nd Tactical]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Second squad (Pillar of Autumn)|2nd squad]]<ref name="flood6"/>

*[[Fire Team Charlie]]<ref name="flood6"/>

**[[A Company (Pillar of Autumn)|A Company]]<ref name="flood2"/>

***[[3rd Platoon (Pillar of Autumn)|3rd Platoon]] - Commanded by First Lieutenant Melissa McKay<ref name="flood6"/>

**[[C Company (Pillar of Autumn)|C Company]]<ref name="flood2"/>

**[[D Company (Pillar of Autumn)|D Company]]<ref name="flood2"/>

*[[Combat Team Alpha]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>{{Ref/Note|Combat teams are an organisational unit found within the ODST ranks. While combat teams in the level ''Pillar of Autumn'' are never explicitly stated to be ODSTs, it can be reasonably inferred that these teams are not marine units.}}

*[[Combat Team Baker]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Charlie]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Echo]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Foxtrot]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team November]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Oscar]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Romeo]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Sierra]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Tango]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team Victor]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*[[Combat Team X-Ray]]<ref name="CEPOA"/>

*In ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', the description of ''Pillar of Autumn'' is considerably different from its ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' incarnation. The bridge is described as having a command chair and a curved viewport; in ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', this chair is absent and the window consists of several flat sections. The novel also describes the bridge as being extremely cramped, with only a meter of space between the command chair and the other stations,<ref name="for277">'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 277''</ref> while in the game, the bridge is clearly more spacious. According to the novel, there is also an elevator leading directly from the engine room to the bridge.<ref name="for277"/> In the game, the engineering and the bridge are on the same level, and there are no doors which may belong to an elevator adjoining the bridge. In addition, the engine room is described as being "hexagonal", while in the game,<ref name="for274"/> it consists of two vaguely rectangular chambers with the engine core in the middle. The ship is also described as having rotating centrifuges to generate [[artificial gravity]];<ref name="for274"/> no rotating sections are present in the game, unless they are located within the hull.