Since y'all are impatient for eyecandy (maybe better compared to crackers in this case...), pictures first off. Sorry for the raw post, but I dont have time to polish and look up proper URL tags.
First incarnation
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/errant_variable/kittyrailgun022205.jpg
Then my work went splat, so I went back to an earlier version and came out with
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/errant_variable/66bf6eb4.jpg
time: 3 hours for each
concept:
During the middle stages of the expansion of the Kilrathi Empire, particle shields for capital ships were developed that could withstand fighter-mounted weapons with impunity. Irked at being held back for "inconsequential" missions during fleet battles, the elite of the Kilrathi pilots clamored for a new design, allowing them to mount the most powerful weapons available - and an innovative designer answered with what would now be considered a miniature corvette, albeit with more problems than anticipated.
The design itself is moderately atmosphere capable, landing on the two lower fins and retracting nosegear, and handles respectably well (in the range of 30 DPS in all categories, with a very respectable top speed of 350KPS when not firing the weapon actively). The armor carried was the heaviest on a vessel of that scale until that time. The primary armament was a capital-scale railgun, throwing massive slugs able to punch straight through the then-imperfect particle shielding and breach the hull of many smaller ships, and even be a threat to larger capital vessels. However, the size of powerplant required to produce this much force fatally irradiated the pilot of the prototype, prompting a relocation of the cockpit to the end of the port wing and elimination of the premier sensor suite installed there. Ammunition exhaustion was also a concern, but as the ship was designed to fight in fleet actions this was often more a bogeyman than a true problem, and the 100 carried slugs lasted quite some time. Later incarnations equipped point-defence weapons (not currently modeled), better shielding, a revamped sensor suite, and as miniature powerplants improved even early plasma weaponry and some of the first corvette-scale shields created by the Kilrathi. However, by the time the design reached it's full potential the power carried by smaller fighters made it more obsolete than useful, and soon before it's retirement the attrition suffered to medium hunter-killer fighters eliminated many of the pilots who would have complained.
Comment/complain/flame away! Also lemme know what kind of point defence weapons to slap on this (since it's such an early design I'm thinking a Stormfire-type weapon or two).
First incarnation
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/errant_variable/kittyrailgun022205.jpg
Then my work went splat, so I went back to an earlier version and came out with
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/errant_variable/66bf6eb4.jpg
time: 3 hours for each
concept:
During the middle stages of the expansion of the Kilrathi Empire, particle shields for capital ships were developed that could withstand fighter-mounted weapons with impunity. Irked at being held back for "inconsequential" missions during fleet battles, the elite of the Kilrathi pilots clamored for a new design, allowing them to mount the most powerful weapons available - and an innovative designer answered with what would now be considered a miniature corvette, albeit with more problems than anticipated.
The design itself is moderately atmosphere capable, landing on the two lower fins and retracting nosegear, and handles respectably well (in the range of 30 DPS in all categories, with a very respectable top speed of 350KPS when not firing the weapon actively). The armor carried was the heaviest on a vessel of that scale until that time. The primary armament was a capital-scale railgun, throwing massive slugs able to punch straight through the then-imperfect particle shielding and breach the hull of many smaller ships, and even be a threat to larger capital vessels. However, the size of powerplant required to produce this much force fatally irradiated the pilot of the prototype, prompting a relocation of the cockpit to the end of the port wing and elimination of the premier sensor suite installed there. Ammunition exhaustion was also a concern, but as the ship was designed to fight in fleet actions this was often more a bogeyman than a true problem, and the 100 carried slugs lasted quite some time. Later incarnations equipped point-defence weapons (not currently modeled), better shielding, a revamped sensor suite, and as miniature powerplants improved even early plasma weaponry and some of the first corvette-scale shields created by the Kilrathi. However, by the time the design reached it's full potential the power carried by smaller fighters made it more obsolete than useful, and soon before it's retirement the attrition suffered to medium hunter-killer fighters eliminated many of the pilots who would have complained.
Comment/complain/flame away! Also lemme know what kind of point defence weapons to slap on this (since it's such an early design I'm thinking a Stormfire-type weapon or two).