Dakota "Kodi" Smith Kodi is fascinated with space travel, other cultures, and stories her mama told her about the war. She sees fighting as an unfortunate burden she is taking on to spare others. More of a cat person. Drives
Investigate Everything, Pursue Truth Relentlessly, Be Merciful, Avoid Social Awkwardness Relationships
Friend -
Crush -
Rival - Selena Green
Montana "Monty" Smith Monty has always wanted to be an explorer, to tell his mom stories about far-away places. Though not inclined to violence, he never backs down. Loves dogs. Drives
Make New Friends, Be Forward and Direct, Try New Things, Be A Show Off Relationships
Friend -
Crush -
Rival -
Traits
Void-Born: You never take complications from 0g or space suits, but take -2d6 to feats of strength and double complications from high gravity.
Shifting Gears: You can spend 1 Determination to switch profiles. Costs +1 Determination each time per episode.
Well-Connected: You can spend 1 Determination to create an old friend, comrade, instructor, etc on any appropriate ship, facility, station, etc you might visit. They are always willing to help if you help in turn. Certifications
Wild Animal 5+, Physical Instrument 5+, Social Being 5+, Cosmonaut 4+
English 3+, Russian 5+, OSL 4+ Artillery Officer 4+, Drone Pilot 3+, Missile Plotter 4+, Space Marshal 4+ Diplomat +4, Leader +4, Bureaucrat +4, Social Scientist +4 Modern Small Arms 4+, Damage Control 4+
Hobbies: Animal Handling,
Star Patrol VesselYeager-1
Statline will be linked above when ready.
Features
Corvette Dock, Transmaterializer
Weapons
x1 Sandblaster, x2 250MW Laser, x2 Probe Bay
It was a Trait option to take this previous voting round, and the winning plan included it. I thought it would be fun but potentially overcomplicating as a game mechanic, so I didn't include it in mine -- but I am far from displeased that the other plan won!
"I dunno, I haven't got much to do. Maybe go out this evening, catch a show, something like that. Until then, uuuh… anything need doing around the house?"
"You are a guest," Mom insisted. "I'm not asking a war hero to go take out the recycling."
"One, there's no war for us to be a hero of, two, that was Kodi, I was both not fronting and too terrified to think, and three, I know for a fact that isn't true, you get mama-."
"Your mama was on a remass tanker, honey, she's a lot of things, but war heroes' stretching it," Mom corrected hastily.
"I'll let her know you said that," I replied, and got a spatula gesticulated aggressively in my direction.
"Don't you dare, young man," she warned, though she was smiling ear to ear. "Tanker driving was damned dangerous, you know! Look, I'm just glad she got through it in one piece, and I want the same for you."
With a deft motion, she slid breakfast across the table. It arrived with shocking finality for an omelette and side of vat-grown bacon.
"So no more getting irradiated," she concluded.
It's nice, being home, it really is, even if I do already miss the routine and purpose of shipboard life. Yeah, it's not just you, dummy, I like our job. Admittedly, it was a lot more empty than we're used to with our brother barely around and Mama out in the stars someplace.
It never ceases to amuse me that it's our station-born spacer mom, who's never been more than a hundred metres from the void her whole life, who's terrified of space travel. Meanwhile, Mama was born down the gravity well, and she's one of Star Patrol's best diplomats. For all I know, she's picking up our mess in one of the closed meetings probably happening with the Zinovian Sphere right now.
I scrolled through the morning news as I ate, which was mostly boring, but nestled in at the bottom was a list of movie times. A double feature would eat up a good chunk of the day; by the time I got out, it'd be late enough that we could hit up a bar or... Whatever you're into other than having fun.
I kid! I know you have fun. Somehow.
I fetched my shoes and stepped out, wincing at the harsh sunlights. I checked over the edge of the balcony to see the streets mostly clear below, and after a moment reminding myself it wasn't as far as it looked, I jumped up over the railing. Three stories isn't that far under .35g, though I stumbled somewhat shamefully on the landing. Still! Just like when we were kids!
Ow. Okay, not quite.
Though I had set out with purpose, it quickly evaporated as I started moving through the streets of my old neighbourhood, getting lost in the crowds and noise and joy of it all. Some of my Terran and even Martian comrades in the Patrol had expressed trepidation, talking about how L5's habitation spaces work, but honestly I can't imagine anything else. When people first dreamed up these stations, they had a typically 20th century American vision of the inner surfaces being used as enormous suburbs and homesteads, holding ten to twenty thousand people at most. Remember when you did the math on that, the dollars-per-person calculation? There was no way that was ever going to work.
Instead, the cylinder was layered. The habitation sections were, in a matter of speaking, underground, three vast and dense cities five stories tall. Over our heads was the forests and farmlands which provided our fragile little biosphere, while under our feet was a thin layer of working spaces, redundant insulation, and then the void of space. The sunlight here was artificial, but you were never far from an elevator to the great outdoors.
That wasn't on the cards right now, though. Instead, I just wandered aimlessly a while, checking on shops and galleries, playing tourist in my own hometown. My watch buzzed a reminder about movie times, and I found a train to take me to one of the support spokes and up to the hub.
I'm not sure what it is about the theatre experience I like more. I'm a big fan of popcorn, sure, that's good, the sheer scale is nice, and the almost complete absence of gravity is fun, but I think it's the crowd experience. Hearing everyone around you oooh and aaaah along with it, you know? It's just not the same on shipboard movie night, when it's just a dozen people in a disused part of the cargo bay with a holoprojector.
My only regret is not having anyone to go with. It's just not the same on your lonesome. Well, we don't do anything on our lonesome, but you know what I mean!
… Honestly, it's mostly nostalgia, a think. Going to the theatre with mom as a kid, wondering if I'd see mama on the newsreels about the war. I know kids these days complain about them, I watched them all mess around on their tablets and smart watches when they came on, but I don't think they realise how much making the news communal helped back then, instead of just endlessly scrolling through the feeds to find out if we'd been enslaved by the aliens yet. Like, God forbid they don't get everything instantly streamed into their eyes…
Oh my god, we're old. Kodi, we're old.
The newsreel was very short anyway, just some voting information and that awful accident at the antimatter plant, and then Tomb World began, the first of our double feature and the one I was least interested in. Having actually seen some pretty inexplicable stuff out in space, creepy horror films about abandoned tombs and the ghosts of past civilizations were… just Tuesday, weren't they?
Alright, maybe not, but I'll admit it was a pretty slick production. Martian, of course, but they did a bunch of shooting way out on Triton and the frozen nitrogen surface surely was pretty alien and wondrous, even if they had to replace the familiar dark blue gas giant in the sky digitally. Shooting there must have been an experience!
The real treat was next, of course. Bullet to the Moon was great fun, and I highly recommend it once you're up front again, I think you'd actually like it. You know I've actually seen some of the spy series these are a revival of? They're terrible misogynistic trash, of course, but some of it is fun enough, even if they can't manage the spectacle of the modern stuff. The ending of this one especially, it's the gunfight, and then a fistfight, inside a deorbiting spacecraft as it burns up against a gas giant! I know there's a lot of CGI, but they did a really good job!
Wish they'd stop making Terrans the protagonist of everything, though, even the Martians movies do it. We need more spacers, as more than exotic love interests and the like.
The movies had eaten up a lot of time, and we'd gotten up later than I think we'd like, as it was already getting toward local evening. The massive solar reflectors at the ends of the cylinders had rotated to reduce the incoming light, and I could see shadow falling across the far wall on the lift ride down.
Outside, a dozen ships floated past, heading out to the graveyard orbits to collect their radioactive engines, or inward to dock with the hub. One of them looked like a Star Patrol transport, the big spherical forward section looking very odd without its nacelles.
I thought, perhaps we should stay here a while long. Put our posting on hold, find local work, stay home. I missed it. I know you do too.
I got off at the ground floor instead of continuing down to the city, to walk the pathways a while. Only a limited number of establishments were allowed up here, to preserve the natural life and such, but one of those nearby was the surface component of a brewpub with live music and such. Timing ought to be just right.
So, beer in hand and a nice spot in the corner selected, I sat down and waited for the first act. Their drum kit claimed they were Nickel Iron Asteroid, a charming little name. I didn't have to wait long; the group assembled soon after and launched without warning or introduction into their first song, accompanied by a surreal dance of wispy holograms.
It took me a moment to realise who the lanky man on guitar was. Our brother has finally found a band he vibed with! That must be where he's been all this time. The music was odd and slightly discordant, and with the accompanying imagery I was starting to wonder if perhaps I should be high for this. I was about to inquire at the bar as to options on that front when I was interrupted by my watch beeping noisily. Embarrassed, I muted the sound with my hand until I stepped outside.
"Specialist Dakota and Montana Smith?" the voice on the other end asked.
"That's us. Monty's up front," I replied. "What's going on?"
"Sorry for the short notice, but a posting opportunity has come up. We need a decision relatively quickly."
"Uuh… Look, we're not really looking for a new posting in a hurry, we're taking some well-earned time off. Radiation treatments are not fun, you dig?" I explained. Three weeks in hospital getting most of our cells replaced just wasn't my definition of a good time.
"Understood. Just clarifying, however, it's a vehicle commander post," the voice clarified. The words you worried you'd never hear. I knew better than to argue.
"Oh. Well, in that case…" I said, "Can I call you back after this song?"
---
That morning, you put on your uniform, packed your things, hugged your mom and told her you'd be back when you could, and you made your way to the dock number you'd been given. Sure enough, there were a number of other Star Patrol members there, their uniforms all off-duty grey. You were about to go sit with them when a yellow-clad admin specialist emerged from the airlock and directed you inside.
A few hallways later, you found yourself in a small meeting room, in front of an older man whose badge identified him as Flight Controller Ra Hyun of the Yeager program, one you weren't familiar with. It didn't even have a mission patch yet.
"Specialist-?" he asked.
"Uh, Smith, Dakota's up front," you replied. He gestured to sit, and you did so perhaps slightly too fast. "I, uh, I don't have a lot of details…"
"Sorry about that, the program is still consolidating," the Flight Controller replied, taking a seat himself. "I apologise for the short notice, but we don't have a lot of resources, and we have a fairly limited window on production."
That wasn't a good sign, but to be expected. You weren't expecting to be commanding in a big flagship program like Tycho or Newton, obviously, but if they were having to worry this much about yard time, it couldn't be good.
"I understand. It's a new program, right?" you asked.
"Yes, and one I think you'll be well suited to. It requires tactical acumen, calm under pressure, skill at deescalation, and an understanding of risk, all things you demonstrated excellently. If you agree, we're looking to post you as Vehicle Commander on Yeager-1."
He tapped something on his watch, and a three-dimensional star map popped up over the table, hanging in the air. As I watched, arrows began to crawl between the stars, then one by one, they turned back or winked out.
"This is the Calesius Abyss, a coreward frontier of the former Aquillian Empire covering roughly a hundred light years. It anchors the far end of the Demilitarized Zone, and is believed that it also represents the fringes of Zinovian and IDR space. Captured Aquillian records indicate it has been used as a repository for dangerous technology, and that it once played host to several spacefaring civilizations."
The arrows were labelled. Gagarin-7, Nightingale-14, Darwin-8 were ship names I recognized. Ships that were lost.
"It is also exceptionally dangerous, far above and beyond any other region of uncharted space. We have lost six ships there in the last ten years, and several more have had to turn back. Some of these were lost attempting to aid others. We don't fully understand the causes. The goal of the Yeager program is to more safely scout this region for resources, technology, and potential diplomatic contacts."
"What kind of ship are we looking at, then?" you asked, and the holograph flipped over to display a schematic of a ship, a very, very heavily modified YN block model.
"That's where most of the program's resources have gone. This is Yeager-1, the ship we're looking to post you to. It's state of the art, but more importantly, it carries more firepower than any Star Patrol ship of its size has ever carried. It's armed like a warship, but has mission endurance long enough to take you through a fair part of the Abyss. You will be closely accompanied by Yeager-2, a tanker and supply ship which will also be able to refurbish and resupply you."
"Damn," you muttered under your breath. It was a bit ugly and bulky compared to Mendel-5, sure, it it looked serious, dangerous beyond its size. An angry little bulldog of a rocket.
"Are you interested?"
"Yes, sir. Born ready," you assured him. He smiled.
"Good. I've just forwarded you schematics of the ship proper. We'll be setting out for Luna to pick her up and get her crewed in six hours, I suggest you get reading.
---
Alright, time to build yourself a ship! I'll be using a simplified creation process here.
For each slot, select one. Most will be free, but some options will cost points. You have 5 points. Don't worry too much about costs or particular stats, as much of this is in flux anyway; choose options to create an interesting ship you'd like to see.
Vote by plan, three-hour moratorium.
Reaction Engines
[ ] Standard antimatter engines with water as reaction mass.
[ ] Flammable, but high thrust liquid oxygen reaction mass.
[ ] Ultra-high thrust, low-efficiency, toxic liquid chlorine reaction mass.
Primary Weapon (choose 2, or 3 for 1 Point)
[ ] ACER particle cannons, with multiple firing modes, for disabling enemy ships.
[ ] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
[ ] An array of light railguns with excellent long range.
[ ] Twin heavier railgun turrets with lower velocity but more damage.
[ ] A set of 40mm autocannons firing explosive shells and flak at close range.
[ ] A precision railgun turret, for very long range probing attacks.
Probe Bay
[ ] A standard light probe bay with three tubes, with drones and missiles.
[ ] A retractable swarm missile cluster, with no drones.
[ ] An expanded, six-tube standard probe bay. (1 point)
[ ] A heavy, two-tube torpedo and heavy drone bay (1 point)
Special Weapon
[ ] None. The ship doesn't need the extra weight.
[ ] A 250mm chemical asteroid cracker. Not useful in most combat, but can cheaply fire nukes against stations, immobile targets, or down gravity wells. (1 Point)
Armour
[ ] The standard Star Patrol layered hull of dense metals and silica foam, protected by an artificial magneosphere and a screen.
[ ] Additional protective plates and whipple shields over vital areas. (1 Point)
Sub-Craft
[ ] A shuttle printing bay and external docks.
[ ] An accompanying Corvette with modular slots.
[ ] Both of the above. (1 Point)
[ ] A large dedicated shuttle hanger with up to six shuttles at a time. (1 Point)
[ ] Space for two Corvettes (1 Point)
Features (Choose Any Number)
Your ship will automatically have a teleporter, robotic manipulation arms, and a medbay.
[ ] Additional reaction engines for higher speeds (1 Point)
[ ] Enhanced FTL capabilities (1 Point)
[ ] A set of robotic repair drones to assist damage control (1 Point)
[ ] An armoured vault in the centre of the craft to safeguard crew or contain threats (1 Point)
[ ] A tractor beam. (1 Point)
[ ] Automated defensive turrets at key points inside the ship (1 Point)
[ ] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
[ ] Expanded remass tanks for longer range (1 Point)
[ ] A rotary probe magazine for higher rates of fire of missiles and drones (1 Point)
So hmmm, a very dangerous area? Well, we might need a ship that can just outlast anything we face out there, so maybe something with a lot of defense and ability to get the hell out would be very nice.
[X] Plan Space Purdey Over-and-Under
-[X] Standard antimatter engines with water as reaction mass.
-[X] Experimental pulsed particle cannon array (1 point)
-[X] A precision railgun turret, for very long range probing attacks.
-[X] ACER particle cannons, with multiple firing modes, for disabling enemy ships.
-[X] A heavy, two-tube torpedo and heavy drone bay (1 point)
-[X] None. The ship doesn't need the extra weight.
-[X] Space for two Corvettes (1 Point)
-[X] An armoured vault in the centre of the craft to safeguard crew or contain threats (1 Point)
-[X] A set of robotic repair drones to assist damage control (1 Point)
I thought about the six tubes and rotary deck, but ALL THE LAUNCH TUBES is kind of the Tycho program's schtick.
So what is the ship designed to do? To head into danger and come out. That's what everything is about.
So why don't I have armor or shields or more remass? Because those aren't of help against Weird Science Shit
Particle array to shoot down incoming stuff. ACERS for utility, railgun for a very long range poking stick.
Heavy torps because I want to see the rules for heavy torps. Same for corvettes, which aren't as disposable as shuttles, but are more useful and have options for FTL.
The vault as a sort of "storm cellar" for when we encounter a glow cloud, and the repair drones for when shit does blow up.
I checked over the edge of the balcony to see the streets mostly clear below, and after a moment reminding myself it wasn't as far as it looked, I jumped up over the railing. Three stories isn't that far under .35g, though I stumbled somewhat shamefully on the landing. Still! Just like when we were kids!
Some of my Terran and even Martian comrades in the Patrol had expressed trepidation, talking about how L5's habitation spaces work, but honestly I can't imagine anything else. When people first dreamed up these stations, they had a typically 20th century American vision of the inner surfaces being used as enormous suburbs and homesteads, holding ten to twenty thousand people at most. Remember when you did the math on that, the dollars-per-person calculation? There was no way that was ever going to work.
Never actually thought about this, but this makes so much sense.
[ ] Standard antimatter engines with water as reaction mass.
[ ] Flammable, but high thrust liquid oxygen reaction mass.
These are both good cause all that's needed is water ice to resupply, also not a fan of mimicking the Nariene engines.
Primary Weapon (choose 2, or 3 for 1 Point)
[ ] ACER particle cannons, with multiple firing modes, for disabling enemy ships.
[ ] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
[ ] An array of light railguns with excellent long range.
[ ] Twin heavier railgun turrets with lower velocity but more damage.
[ ] A set of 40mm autocannons firing explosive shells and flak at close range.
[ ] A precision railgun turret, for very long range probing attacks.
Probe Bay
[ ] A retractable swarm missile cluster, with no drones.
[ ] A heavy, two-tube torpedo and heavy drone bay (1 point)
Feel like these two make a good combo, but i guess we can only have 1?
Special Weapon
[ ] A 250mm chemical asteroid cracker. Not useful in most combat, but can cheaply fire nukes against stations, immobile targets, or down gravity wells. (1 Point)
Tempting as demolitions was chosen as a specialty, and it did just come in handy. Also presumably good for reducing the logistical load?
Armour
[ ] The standard Star Patrol layered hull of dense metals and silica foam, protected by an artificial magneosphere and a screen.
[ ] Additional protective plates and whipple shields over vital areas. (1 Point) Shields
[ ] Standard shield capacitors.
[ ] Upgraded shield capacitors. (1 Point)
Probably want at least one of these?
Sub-Craft
[ ] A shuttle printing bay and external docks.
Inclined to just this, especially if going for the heavy drones.
Features (Choose Any Number)
Your ship will automatically have a teleporter, robotic manipulation arms, and a medbay.
[ ] Additional reaction engines for higher speeds (1 Point)
[ ] Enhanced FTL capabilities (1 Point)
[ ] A set of robotic repair drones to assist damage control (1 Point)
[ ] An armoured vault in the centre of the craft to safeguard crew or contain threats (1 Point)
[ ] A tractor beam. (1 Point)
[ ] Automated defensive turrets at key points inside the ship (1 Point)
[ ] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
[ ] Expanded remass tanks for longer range (1 Point)
[ ] A rotary probe magazine for higher rates of fire of missiles and drones (1 Point)
Like the magazine, not sure on anything else.
Would probably do something like this:
[]Plan: Demo focus
-[ ] Flammable, but high thrust liquid oxygen reaction mass.
-[ ] Flexible "sandblaster" mini-railguns.
-[ ] ACER particle cannons, with multiple firing modes, for disabling enemy ships.
-[ ] A precision railgun turret, for very long range probing attacks.
-[ ] A heavy, two-tube torpedo and heavy drone bay (1 point)
-[ ] A 250mm chemical asteroid cracker. Not useful in most combat, but can cheaply fire nukes against stations, immobile targets, or down gravity wells. (1 Point)
-[ ] Additional protective plates and whipple shields over vital areas. (1 Point)
-[ ] Standard shield capacitors.
-[ ] A tractor beam. (1 Point)
-[ ] A rotary probe magazine for higher rates of fire of missiles and drones (1 Point)
-[ ] A shuttle printing bay and external docks
Idea is to sort of focus on the demolition specialty, while maintaining maximum flexibility otherwise. Heavy drones and torpedos with the rotary launcher for high output. Tractor beam and asteroid cracker to enable hijinks that were used to such good effect earlier.
Acer particle canons for flexibility, and the long range railgun for chip and/or anti pd attacks.
Liquid oxygen for improved performance, with the armor to prevent the flammability from being an issue at the first opportunity.
Not sure how better the 1pt pd option is, but that's something I might want to swap in for something else.
[] Balance of Judgement
-[] Standard antimatter engines with water as reaction mass.
-[] Flexible "sandblaster" mini-railguns.
-[] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[] An expanded, six-tube standard probe bay. (1 point)
-[] None. The ship doesn't need the extra weight.
-[] The standard Star Patrol layered hull of dense metals and silica foam, protected by an artificial magneosphere and a screen.
-[] Standard shield capacitors.
-[] An accompanying Corvette with modular slots.
-[] Additional reaction engines for higher speeds (1 Point)
-[] Additional reaction engines for higher speeds (1 Point)
-[] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
-[] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
OK! This was inspired by the BoJ from Andromeda, and it's a born and bred long range hunter. It's got TWO units of expanded internal stores to feed a six-tube probe bay (no rotaries because it can just set up time-on-target barrages) without draining it's Supply stores dry in two launches like we did. (All of this extra supply is also great for creating specialized equipment for exploration.)
It's also got extra engines and remass tanks to let it dictate the terms of an engagement, remaining outside of direct fire range of the enemy.
It's absolutely loaded for bear in terms of point defence, with two capital grade laser canons that also help PD, and sandblaster backups in order to shred the enemy's drones and missiles.
Now, I know, I know. Space Patrol is an exploration branch. And if this was a more general game, I would probably pick a more well rounded design. But this quest is meant specifically to test the combat system, and that means the best thing to do is make weird specialized designs that will push the rules and make Erika tear her hair out! It';s for the good of the game! With that in mind, I made a SpacePatrol!Defiant.
It's not fragile per say, but it definitely relies on not getting hit instead of tanking, which in my opinion is more exiting for us! Lots of tense point defence scenes!
edit: Replaced Expanded remass tanks with more engines because I read the rules and expanded remass tanks give -1 Thrust and -1 FTL. And dV is expendable, whereas extra engines just add Thrust without any other complications (they're running in economy mode, so you get more thrust without having to spend much more dV).
Edit2: I have been convinced to swap one of the laser mains for an ACER.
[] Balance of Judgement
-[] Standard antimatter engines with water as reaction mass.
-[] Flexible "sandblaster" mini-railguns.
-[] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[] An expanded, six-tube standard probe bay. (1 point)
-[] None. The ship doesn't need the extra weight.
-[] The standard Star Patrol layered hull of dense metals and silica foam, protected by an artificial magneosphere and a screen.
-[] Standard shield capacitors.
-[] An accompanying Corvette with modular slots.
-[] Additional reaction engines for higher speeds (1 Point)
-[] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
-[] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
-[] Expanded remass tanks for longer range (1 Point)
OK! This was inspired by the BoJ from Andromeda, and it's a born and bred long range hunter. It's got TWO units of expanded internal stores to feed a six-tube probe bay (no rotaries because it can just set up time-on-target barrages) without draining it's Supply stores dry in two launches like we did. (All of this extra supply is also great for creating specialized equipment for exploration.)
It's also got extra engines and remass tanks to let it dictate the terms of an engagement, remaining outside of direct fire range of the enemy.
It's absolutely loaded for bear in terms of point defence, with two capital grade laser canons that also help PD, and sandblaster backups in order to shred the enemy's drones and missiles.
Now, I know, I know. Space Patrol is an exploration branch. And if this was a more general game, I would probably pick a more well rounded design. But this quest is meant specifically to test the combat system, and that means the best thing to do is make weird specialized designs that will push the rules and make Erika tear her hair out! It';s for the good of the game! With that in mind, I made a SpacePatrol!Defiant.
It's not fragile per say, but it definitely relies on not getting hit instead of tanking, which in my opinion is more exiting for us! Lots of tense point defence scenes!
[X] Plan Just Bail At First Sign of Trouble
-[X] Flammable, but high thrust liquid oxygen reaction mass.
-[X] Experimental pulsed particle cannon array (1 Point)
-[X] ACER particle cannons, with multiple firing modes, for disabling enemy ships
-[X] An array of light railguns with excellent long range.
-[X] None. The ship doesn't need the extra weight.
-[X] A standard light probe bay with three tubes, with drones and missiles.
-[X] Additional protective plates and whipple shields over vital areas (1 Point)
-[X] Upgraded shield capacitors (1 Point)
-[X] An accompanying Corvette with modular slots.
-[X] Enhanced FTL capabilities (1 Point)
-[X] Expanded remass tanks for longer range (1 Point)
Okay so, this is my plan, the main point is just run the hell away as soon as we get something to report on what is going on over there. Of course, this thing has zero defense against boarders sooooo...
[ ] Rip and Tear, Untill it is Disabled
-[ ] Standard antimatter engines with water as reaction mass.
-[ ] Experimental pulsed particle cannon array (1 point)
-[ ] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[ ] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[ ] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense. (1 Point)
-[ ] A retractable swarm missile cluster, with no drones.
-[ ] None. The ship doesn't need the extra weight.
-[ ] Additional protective plates and whipple shields over vital areas. (1 Point)
-[ ] Upgraded shield capacitors. (1 Point)
-[ ] An accompanying Corvette with modular slots.
-[ ] Enhanced FTL capabilities (1 Point)
This is a diametrically opposite design. A purebred brawler with experimental PD, THREE capital laser systems that double as PD, reinforced screens and armor, a swarm missile launcher to throw in someone's face, and FTL withcraft for getting into someone's face RIGHT NOW DAMMIT.
I don't think it fits Smith as well, but it could be fun if we want to CQB.
Hmmm. And we probably can't expect to recover them given that they're off on odd trajectories and the like.
Also, do we need the torpedo launchers to use bubble poppers? Presumably we would have used one in the last fight if we could have with the standard missile/drone launchers.
Good food for thought, reworked my take a bit. I feel like torpedos are a must have, the options it opens up tactically are too good to pass up imo. Swapped the rapid fire and cracker for extra storage, and acer for extra pd flexibility.
[x] Plan Torp
-[x] Flammable, but high thrust liquid oxygen reaction mass.
-[x] Flexible "sandblaster" mini-railguns.
-[x] 250MW main laser arrays. Short ranged but powerful, and useful for point defense.
-[x] A precision railgun turret, for very long range probing attacks.
-[x] A heavy, two-tube torpedo and heavy drone bay (1 point)
-[x] Additional protective plates and whipple shields over vital areas. (1 Point)
-[x] Standard shield capacitors.
-[x] A tractor beam. (1 Point)
-[x] A shuttle printing bay and external docks
-[x] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
-[x] Expanded internal stores (1 Point)
(All of this extra supply is also great for creating specialized equipment for exploration.)