Forums of the Megaverse®

It apparently hates us, too...

darkmax wrote:Hmm... because we are no longer making as many jokes?!!......

Maybe BECAUSE of our jokes? Some of them have been real stinkers....

But I'll let you know I'm also tackling the Wasp...I really have to go all out on this bugger because it's your sig ship, which means it's going to be powerful for its size...The Cachelot's going to take some time because I'm essentially going to have to invent some new technologies(planetary assault EMpulse cannon among other things)...Likewise for the Angel and ArchAngel...those glowing wings suggest a new propulsion/defensive technology that we also see applied to the missile cruiser(energy absorption. maybe? With the ability to reinforce shielding or toss the energy back at an attacker?)....and the 'circuit board' skin(adapatable armor, like Dragyn Industries' Variable Armor, except with the ability to go into 'sensor stealth' mode?) of the Atom and several other ships suggests ANOTHER new technology it will take time to come up with stats for...


Hmmm...maybe I oughta raid Powers Unlimited for ideas....

The ideas for the fuel and its origins are very good...I don't nearly use the Megaversal Builder nearly enough....


Maybe make the fuel come as a liquid in small crystalline spheres...any attempt to break the sphere and sample the fluid causes it to evaporate into....nothing?It really fades back into its home dimension...the sphere is merely an 'anchor' matrix that forces it into a material form compatible with our own.
By the same token, the natives of this universe also are crsytalline(sort of like the Micromen/Micronaut toys), but they can disguise their appearance under makeup and clothing...break their bodies and their essences fade back into their home universe where they regenerate...but it acts like a Banishment spell...they cannot come back into this universe until their bodies reform and they can stabilize themselves again...a sort of immortality from our viewpoint(it would take magic or phase weapons to truly kill them).

Very nice...Good thing I already started using the name 'lucerin', which I loosely got from 'luce', or 'light'...though refering to it as a fusion fuel may be artful misdirection on the part of WZ's marketers...or maybe we can use another name....some variant of Lucerin which might suggest 'light beyond light', though the two power sources may be unrelated...
Gotta do some pidgin-Latin digging....

"Aqualuce"?

No, that sounds like a mouthwash.....

I'll try to think of something....

Busy weekend hanging out with friends. I sometimes don't get home during the weekend nights after gaming until the wee hours. I'm here!!!!

The youngster's gotta recharge his batteries somehow...
But glad to see he's back from a social life...

darkmax wrote:looks like he's the only one with it!

I know I ain;t got one, otherwise I wouldn't constantly be called to fill in on my job for snowbirds and sick-leaves(sometimes with only a four-hour notice!)!!!

I'd seen the 'Piecemeal'---great galactic version of the 'Calypso', and I'd load it with extra features making ity customizable for exploration...external remote-control isolabs, probe racks, sensor array plug-ins...a reconfigurable interior for various life support modes...tractor beams for hauling sample barges and eco-spheres of orbital observation platforms...

Hmmm...energy-aborbing armor shields? Some sort of 'heat sink' arrangement like a super fuze-box? And can be jettisoned when burnt up? Gonna have to seriously think about game stats for this system....
Nasty-looking devil, too...
Good job!

But bugger-all for missile capacity even if you made it half the size...at 2120 ft long and 120 ft wide though, I'd double or triple the number of MRMs(I generally regard Phase world MRMs as being roughly the size of a present day Maverick or Phoenix missile, and SRMs the size of a Sidewinder or Falcon missile)...in any caser, massive fire0-and-forget capability!

The fighter looks pretty mean. Especially with those four big fins that go forward. It almost looks like it can catch another vessel and then blow it away with it's firepower from really close. Are those four fins movable?
It looks very cool!

It is a pretty AWESOME design! And I have a question about your explorer. Is that big ring around the aft section of the ship supposed to be addiational shielding for the power plant? Or is it the habitation area for the crew?

As for your new power system. It looks cool. Reminds me of the ZPG from Stargate. I kow you're not watching it, so I know it's original and yours!

It looks good though!

I thought it looked crystaline! Great job!

Your welcome! That is the reason I waas asking if it was a shielded section for the power plant.

That looks pretty nice Gadrin!

It might need to skip across the top until it lost enough momentum to enter the atmosphere.

darkmax wrote:It does?! ... oh thanks...

It does...and if that's the main life support system, then it can be made of some supertough material(like the Puppeter General Products hulls from Larry Niven's 'Known Space' series)...so even if the rest of the ship gets blown away by natural disaster or hostile aliens in the way beyond, the habitat-module and support systems can survive intact, spinning to provide centrifugal gravity regardless of loss of generator-supplied artificial gravity.

gadrin wrote:found this little gem a few minutes ago...

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/spaf.jpg

this will work for a close-orbit shuttle.

3-4 years ago I did a conversion of this craft, updated with Rifts technology, as a transatmospheric stealth recon craft/bomber(dubbed the 'SR-1000')...I might still have it laying around somewhere....

Hmmmm.....still thinking of additional technologies and applications for the crystalline and liquid energy source...your introduction of tech and traders coming in from another universe answers a lot of questions and opens up soem possibilities...Ships like the Wyvern and Phoneix with their (IMHO beautiful) crystalline appearance could be made with 'living' hulls of tough, dense, crsytalline material strung through with 'capillaries' carrying the glowing liquid energy...the energy could be used to absorb and redistribute energy from energy weapon attacks and plasma storms, and used to rematerialize and regrow/regenerate physical hull breaches...making the ships dang tough to kill and adding to their mystique...

Pretty cool idea there Taalismn!

DM, you given any thought to the specifics of the other universe WZ's alien benefactors are from?

I idly did some random dice rolls from the Megaversal Builder last night and came up with some general points:


Name: Unknown
*Infinite Universe
*Permeable(no bonuses/penalties to cross into)
*Magic Level: HIGH! Ambient magic levels are equivalent to Rifts Earth!
*Primary Medium: Crystal(rose quartz)
*Secondary Medium: Mixed---Large continent-sized islands/caverns and seevral dozen pocket dimensions(perhaps these are used as 'transit' hubs to get to the caverns/islands
*Energy Matrix: Negative Energy(Phaseworld and Rifts Earth technology will work there, but some other universes' will not)
*Time Flow: Time actually flows slower there than in the 3G universe...travellers to our universe might be using the accelerated time flow to develop technologies for use back home...with the assistance of the locals....in a fraction of the time they normally would take)

*Dimensional Pecularities
-----Dimensional triangles(haven't figured out the specifics, number, or size)
-----Missing Elements---The mystic representations for FIRE are missing from the universe...fire-based or fire-elemental magic will not work. Related, I'd give the universe a strong Earth/Water bias...crystalline medium is shot through with microcapillaries, tunnels, channels, and rifts that shunt a high energy super-fluid or liquid around, ranging in density from a near-plasma gaseous liquid to a thick, oozing liquid sapphire

With an Infinite UNiverse, we could also have several different races and related lifeforms originating there, maybe even factions that could be drawn into intrigues in the Three Galaxies, especially if tech- and material exchanges benefit one of more factions back home in conflict....

darkmax wrote:Just put up two more entries, I can't seem to see them yet. May be later.

See two of them...not the Quest though...

AIEEE! The Komodo looks SCAREY!!!!

darkmax wrote:Wow! You did your homework...

Jut one small point I must insist. The Energy matrix should be Universal.

Universal it is....


I also have some ideas for the crystalline aliens...one group of them could be insectoid-like with a head, body, and limbs that look vaguely like a human head, spine, and ribcage....The aliens actually wear a full-body 'muscle suit' of synthetic flesh...when the disguise gets damaged, when the crystalsects 'bail out' it looks rather disgusting, and some more impressionable onlookers may mistakenly believe that the aliens are parasites that have taken control of live humanoid hosts...

I rather appreciate misunderstood aliens...they're underdogs, and it makes friendly relations with them all the sweeter because their partners have overcome some major cultural and racial hurdles...

In my case, I'm dreadfully afraid of spiders, so being able to be friendly with a giant arachnoid would be a MAJOR undertaking and personal triumph for me...but if it could be done(to the point of cheerful banter about the fear), then odds are, the two individuals, or species involved, will be boon companions for life, and it becomes easier to accept others into the relationship....beginnings of a strong multi-species society...

Curious basis for strong relationships, though...."The uglier you are, the firmer the bond between us.".
Not that I'm going to give up my pursuit of that leggy beauty down the street in favor of the wallflower next door, mind you...

First Contact Questions:
"Is it FRiendly?"
"Can We have Sex with It?"
"Do We WANT to have Sex with It?"
"WHEN Can We have Sex with It?"
"Your Place or Mine?"

The Komodo is cool and forbidding at the same time!

Possible fluff idea for the Komodo....

The Komodo was designed and build by the Kimasaugh people, who are relatively new to FTL spacetravel, and are a very superstitution- and ritual-bound people with a strong cultural tradition of ancestor worship...Owing to certain factors in their environment, the Kimasaugh regard travel as a grand and dangerous endeavor, especially space travel, which is through the 'Demon Dark', said and known to be inhabited by malicious spirits....space travel is thus accompanied by many rituals solemnly observed to insure the safety of the trip, by evoking the sacred spirits of the ancestors to escort travellers safely through the Demon Dark...
Curiously, the Kimasaugh culture features death-imagery extensively, but they have no horror or fear of death, instead seeing the use of what others might see as morbid or scary images as reminders of the constant presence of their transcended ancestors...Thus skulls and skeleton images are often seen as charms or wards against evil spirits, and ships and other modes of transportation will feature skulls or bones like the painted eyes on Terran fishing boats and ships' figureheads.

THus, with its massive skull, the Komodo is most adequately equipped to handle the spiritual dangers of space travel...But being a pragmatic, as well as a devout, people, the Kimasaugh have also amply equipped the Komodo with several point defense weapons clusters and laser arrays...

darkmax wrote:You never fail to impress me with that creativity of yours!

So what is the connection with WZ Techyard? One of the designers is a Kimasaugh?

I remember an alien in one of the AU books about these race that's dying... and often put on morbid-looking outfits... The picture has one wearing a half skeletal mask.... Oh never mind, your story's better.

The Kimasaugh fall under the category of 'newcomers', who want to break into the galactic market, but have little feel for the vagaries of the 3G market...Joining the 'craftsmen's guild' of WZTEchyards gives them access to necessary technologies(such as safety systems) and a wider distribution/marketing system than they might otherwise, if they'd gone it alone. In return WZ gets a share of the profits and another system of shipyards(at least with those Kimasaugh corporations that signed with WZ) to assist with projects..


The AU race ypu're referring to are the Manarr, and I've always had a fondness for the guys...they think they're dying, but the truth is their plaque has run its course, and the survivors are all uber-tough and determined to go out staring the Reaper in the eye...They're great heroes if you like suicidal do-gooders who laugh at their enemies; "Yeah, right, what more can you do to me? MY race has no future!"...if only they knew the truth....

Nope, hasn't shown up yet....

I was also thinking of a tie-in with the crystal-universe lifeforms and some of the previous canonical genuises such as the ex-Naruni inventor behind the Avenger power armor...perhaps he was approached by the(we gotta give them a NAMMMMEEEE!!!!) as a likley guy to serve theri business interests in entering the 3G markets and tech-community.....they actually manged to start some idea exchange with him(I'll have to look up the guy's name) enough to give him some ideas to apply to his next generation of designs, when Naruni did a legal hatchet job on him and either pushed him over the edge to suicide or literally pushed him to the edge and over....Leaving the whole promising deal in the lurch(the Naruni know nothing of the meetings...only that their ex-genuis was meeting with possible business partners), and the aliens looking for a new partner...

They BRIEFLY consider approaching Hartigal Combine, but see them as too close to the Naruni organization for their comfort, so they sign up with WZTechYards instead....

But rumors persist of 'crystalline Avenger suits' and other devices that bear the design stamp of the Narunis' old and deceased renegade....Are they WZ designs built from design notes the crystalline aliens acquired, or another faction within the crystal plane organization, spoiling for a fight with the folks who blew the first deal, or is there substance to this rumor of a 'Son of Avenger' or disgruntled ex-employees who have acquired another source of tech and production and mean to avenge the death of their late employer?

Your Gryphon looks pretty nasty.


It reminds when in this other SciFI RPG your's truly was testing out. (I'm still testing it for eventual production.) The group at the time who were all intelligence agent for one empire went under cover as the SciFi Equivilent as Rock stars. Their band was named the "Death Bunnies." It all climaxed on the enemies throne world. At the climax of the bands performance they teleported out just before the planbet was destroyed. They departed on their disguised ship the Mjolnir, which was a carefully crafted Battlecruiser. Of course their tour is still talked about.

Lester M'Kri....that was the guy's name, and his company was M'Kri Hardware, producers of the A-1 Avenger Power Armor.

A very nice PA!!! My leader of the "spectral Winds" own two!

I've got some other things to test too!

darkmax wrote:I was just joking. Don't mind me.

D, haven't you learned ANYTHING? From small suggestions and momentary inspirations come great things...even more so than from grandiose projects months or years in the making!
Besides, from A's field testing, we wll no doubt get feedback and anecdotes to apply to the emerging storyline...and suggest future products/projects!

And 'Jing'...I like that...I'll start metally using it...It's also very appropriately musical, like glass windchimes.
Good call!

Darkness™©®­ wrote::D Just a suggestion. I thought since it is quite pronounceable by English speakers, it should not be a big problem.Try different variation like J'in, Jyn, etc.

Us three add together would make "T.A.D."..... Tachyon Assimilation Device.

Or, for the more groovy-minded...Totally Awesome Designs...

darkmax2 wrote:That's cool! I cannot come up with those cool sounding acronyms...

Hardly cool, and all we'd need is some flamer to try cutting it (and us)down to size...."Like, you think you guys are awesome..well _I_ invented gaming dice!"

...and that's when you bring out the revamped OLD Chimaera Destroyer with its False God Slayer Cannon...usable only on alien intelligences and munchkins...

...Captain Elmer Fudd, first commander...
No, wait, that would be the DOUBLE-BARRELLED version...

taalismn wrote:

darkmax2 wrote:That's cool! I cannot come up with those cool sounding acronyms...

Hardly cool, and all we'd need is some flamer to try cutting it (and us)down to size...."Like, you think you guys are awesome..well _I_ invented gaming dice!"

Didn't Al Gore invent gaming dice?

Sometimes the best way to approach a problem is to tackle teh most difficult aspect of it....In this case trying to make the Dampier and the Prometheus practical....well, here goes!

*WZ-RS-087 Dampier Medium Runner Ship
The unusual three-hulled design of the Dampier is said to owe itself to a financial shortfall on the part of WZTechYard Spiral during its development of the WZ-VCC-00X Prometheus Vectored Command Carrier. Building the ship-class to the exacting specifications of its buyers, and exhaustively testing the various components before full systems integration insured safety, but also drew out the development schedule and put the program dangerously overbudget. In order to avoid a cancellation of the major order, WZSpiral had to pay for the overruns out of its pockets, but even that might not have been enough, and the company was faced with the unattractive prospect of retaining its reputation for delivering on its contracts, but going bankrupt to keep that reputation. The Prometheus program needed a ready infusion of capital and fast if the company was to survive.
During the development phase of the Prometheus’ unique hull configuration WZ-Spiral had to actually physically prototype the tri-hull design on a scaled down test article, rather than do the testing far less expensively in VR simulation. The 1/-scale prototype proved the tri-hull concept envisioned for the WZ-VCC-00X, and proved a stable craft in its own right. This got minds thinking; why not further develop the prototype into a ship-class in its own right? For the price of one massive project, the derivative technologies could spawn several additional classes for a fraction of the cost of developing those ships as wholly new and different designs. With the VCC-test article no longer needed for the Prometheus tests, WZ-Spiral immediately set about refining the design into a commercially-viable craft. This eventually emerged as the Dampier Medium Freighter, which was immediately offered for commercial sale. Sales for the new craft proved even more successful than anticipated, bringing in enough new income that WZ-Spiral could back away from the red and continue with the Prometheus.
The Dampier has a decidedly confidence-killing look to anyone seeing one for the first time. Two massive blocky utilitarian cargo-hulls flank a seemingly puny and fragile-looking sleek scoutship middle hull that links the outriggers. The main engines of the Dampier are twin arrays at the end of each cargo section; spacers often joke that if alignment of the Dampier’s twin engines is off even by a fraction of a degree, the ship will split itself in two as its two outriggers surge off at different angles. However, those who spend some time on the ships have come to praise the vessels’ rugged design and systems redundancy. With two sets of shield generators in the sponson hulls, and a third generator in the command section, the ship’s overlapping variable forcefields are actually more powerful than a single central generator of equivalent size on a ship of the Dampier’s class would be.
Few captains have anything bad to say to about the Dampier’s standard fit armament. With four turrets mounting multi-barrel heavy weapons, the Dampier can be mistaken for a light frigate or destroyer. Few pirates and privateers who see only the large vulnerable cargo pods and dismiss the turrets as ‘improvized pop-gun defense’ have lived past the first hull-shredding barrage of lasers and relativistic velocity projectiles. In fact, many small governments have invested in Dampiers as ‘heavy gunships’ or ‘mercantile cruisers’(and use them as regular warships or convoy escorts).
Furthermore, Runners like the fact that with the Dampier’s unique engine arrangement, the navigation ship, which is fully functional, can be kept charged up and ready for immediate flight in event it becomes necessary to abandon the rest of the ship. With its FTL drive capacitors fully charged and ready, the escape vessel can leap to the relative safety of FTL-subspace in a fraction of the time other ships take....and the just jettisoned cargo pods often provide enough cover for the vessel to make good its escape..And as any Runner will tell you, that which runs away, lives to smuggle another day.
Both as a ship design and as a financial gamble, the Dampier has proven a success; saving WZTechYards’ reputation and bank accounts, and allowing it to keep to its promises. While many hauler and Runner captains are still skeptical of the Dampier’s triple-hulled design, those who have bought the ship swear by it(rather than -at- it).
Type:WZ-RS-087 Dampier
Class: medium Fast Freighter(Runner)
Crew: 12
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body(2. Cargo Pods) 2,500 each
Bridge/Navigation Ship 1,000
Engines(2) 800 each
Rail Gun Turrets(2, ventral) 200 each
Laser Turrets(2, dorsal) 250 each
Gatling Lasers(2, centerbody) 150 each
Variable Forcefield 3,600(600 per side)
Height:
Cargo Pods: 126 feet (42 m)
Navigation Vessel: 30 feet (10 m)
Combined: 126 feet (42 m)
Width:
Cargo Pods: 90 feet (30 m)
Navigation Vessel: 120 feet (40 m)
Combined: 300 feet (100 m)
Length:
Cargo Pods: 360 feet (120 m)
Navigation Vessel: 180 feet (60 m)
Combined: 360 feet (120 m)
Weight: 7,500 tons
Cargo: Each pod can carry 3,600 tons of cargo, for a total of 7,200 tons
Powerplant: Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 35 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 4
(Navigation Ship:) Hover to Mach 6
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Value: 50% of light speed. Accelerate/Decelerate at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(Navigation Ship:) Mach 10
(Kitsune Value: 50% of light speed. Accelerate/Decelerate at 1% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4.9 light years per hour
(Navigation Ship:) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
(Navigation Ship:) Can survive brief exposures underwater; being able to move at 50 MPH at depths of down to 800 ft.
Market Cost: 138 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Spacecraft Systems, plus:
*Long Range Sensors---The Dampier mounts military-grade sensors as standard, with a long range radar detection range of roughly 6 million miles for large targets, and 2 million for fighter-sized targets.
*Targetting Computer---To make maximum effective use of its heavy weaponry, the Dampier mounts a military-grade targetting computer system to assist the gunners. Direct fire weapons have a +3 to strike for direct fire energy weaponry, and +2 for projectile weaponry
*Quick-Jump----The emergency escape ship jump-drive has a +1 to Initiative and +2 to dodge in the first melee when ejecting from the rest of the ship and escaping into FTL.

Weapons Systems:
1)Rail Gun Turrets(2x3, ventral)---For driving off space-borne pirates, clearing a hot landing zone, or beating off approaching Kreeghor customs officials, these triple-barreled rail guns can lay down a withering wall of fire that can chew through anything not protected behind paranoid-levels of force screening. Both turrets have a 360-degree arc of fire, and 70 degree elevation.
Range:12,000 ft in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 6 miles in atmosphere, 6,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst per single barrel; all three barrels firing simultaneously do 6d6x10 MD, and if both turrets are locked on the same target; 1d6x120 MD!
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload: 30,000 rds per turret(or 1,000 bursts per barrel); additional ammunition may be carrie as cargo.

2) Medium Laser Turrets(2, dorsal)---Mounted topside are two twin-barreled long range laser turrets, mostly used for engaging enemy cutters and atmospheric attack ships. Both turrets have a 360-degree arc of fire, and 70 degree elevation.
Range:5 miles in atmosphere,10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per single barrel, 2d4x100 MD for both cannons firing simultaneously(counts as one attack)
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

3)Gatling Lasers(2, centerbody)---Almost as an afterthought, the centerbody of the Dampier mounts two rapid-fire pulse lasers. Though these weapons are nearly impossible to bring to bear on a target when the ship is fully integrated and loaded, owing to their mountings, they can take pirates who try to hide in the turrets’ blind spot between the hulls by surprise. They also give the center escape section its own armament once detached from the rest of the ship. The guns have a limited 45-degree arc of fire in all directions.
Range:3 miles in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 6 miles in atmosphere, 600 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x10 MD rapid-fire burst; 6d6x10 MD for a simultaneous burst from BOTH guns(counts as ONE attack)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

Variants:
Like all good Runner-approved vessels, the Dampier has already seen its share of post-sale mods and variants. Most captains and owners who go this route typically swap out the gun turrets, impressive as they may be, for different weapons fitouts, or augment them with concealed missile launchers in the cargo pods. Other mods change the shielding system for something heavier or more advanced, or dump cargo capacity in favor of additional internal living space in the pods, or, in one case, a hangar deck with room for a half-dozen fighters. And of course Runners like to add sensor-fouling gear, extra sensors, and false signal transponders to better conceal their identities.

Sometimes the best way to approach a problem is to tackle teh most difficult aspect of it....In this case trying to make the Dampier and the Prometheus practical....well, here goes!

*WZ-RS-087 Dampier Medium Runner Ship
The unusual three-hulled design of the Dampier is said to owe itself to a financial shortfall on the part of WZTechYard Spiral during its development of the WZ-VCC-00X Prometheus Vectored Command Carrier. Building the ship-class to the exacting specifications of its buyers, and exhaustively testing the various components before full systems integration insured safety, but also drew out the development schedule and put the program dangerously overbudget. In order to avoid a cancellation of the major order, WZSpiral had to pay for the overruns out of its pockets, but even that might not have been enough, and the company was faced with the unattractive prospect of retaining its reputation for delivering on its contracts, but going bankrupt to keep that reputation. The Prometheus program needed a ready infusion of capital and fast if the company was to survive.
During the development phase of the Prometheus’ unique hull configuration WZ-Spiral had to actually physically prototype the tri-hull design on a scaled down test article, rather than do the testing far less expensively in VR simulation. The 1/-scale prototype proved the tri-hull concept envisioned for the WZ-VCC-00X, and proved a stable craft in its own right. This got minds thinking; why not further develop the prototype into a ship-class in its own right? For the price of one massive project, the derivative technologies could spawn several additional classes for a fraction of the cost of developing those ships as wholly new and different designs. With the VCC-test article no longer needed for the Prometheus tests, WZ-Spiral immediately set about refining the design into a commercially-viable craft. This eventually emerged as the Dampier Medium Freighter, which was immediately offered for commercial sale. Sales for the new craft proved even more successful than anticipated, bringing in enough new income that WZ-Spiral could back away from the red and continue with the Prometheus.
The Dampier has a decidedly confidence-killing look to anyone seeing one for the first time. Two massive blocky utilitarian cargo-hulls flank a seemingly puny and fragile-looking sleek scoutship middle hull that links the outriggers. The main engines of the Dampier are twin arrays at the end of each cargo section; spacers often joke that if alignment of the Dampier’s twin engines is off even by a fraction of a degree, the ship will split itself in two as its two outriggers surge off at different angles. However, those who spend some time on the ships have come to praise the vessels’ rugged design and systems redundancy. With two sets of shield generators in the sponson hulls, and a third generator in the command section, the ship’s overlapping variable forcefields are actually more powerful than a single central generator of equivalent size on a ship of the Dampier’s class would be.
Few captains have anything bad to say to about the Dampier’s standard fit armament. With four turrets mounting multi-barrel heavy weapons, the Dampier can be mistaken for a light frigate or destroyer. Few pirates and privateers who see only the large vulnerable cargo pods and dismiss the turrets as ‘improvized pop-gun defense’ have lived past the first hull-shredding barrage of lasers and relativistic velocity projectiles. In fact, many small governments have invested in Dampiers as ‘heavy gunships’ or ‘mercantile cruisers’(and use them as regular warships or convoy escorts).
Furthermore, Runners like the fact that with the Dampier’s unique engine arrangement, the navigation ship, which is fully functional, can be kept charged up and ready for immediate flight in event it becomes necessary to abandon the rest of the ship. With its FTL drive capacitors fully charged and ready, the escape vessel can leap to the relative safety of FTL-subspace in a fraction of the time other ships take....and the just jettisoned cargo pods often provide enough cover for the vessel to make good its escape..And as any Runner will tell you, that which runs away, lives to smuggle another day.
Both as a ship design and as a financial gamble, the Dampier has proven a success; saving WZTechYards’ reputation and bank accounts, and allowing it to keep to its promises. While many hauler and Runner captains are still skeptical of the Dampier’s triple-hulled design, those who have bought the ship swear by it(rather than -at- it).
Type:WZ-RS-087 Dampier
Class: medium Fast Freighter(Runner)
Crew: 12
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body(2. Cargo Pods) 2,500 each
Bridge/Navigation Ship 1,000
Engines(2) 800 each
Rail Gun Turrets(2, ventral) 200 each
Laser Turrets(2, dorsal) 250 each
Gatling Lasers(2, centerbody) 150 each
Variable Forcefield 3,600(600 per side)
Height:
Cargo Pods: 126 feet (42 m)
Navigation Vessel: 30 feet (10 m)
Combined: 126 feet (42 m)
Width:
Cargo Pods: 90 feet (30 m)
Navigation Vessel: 120 feet (40 m)
Combined: 300 feet (100 m)
Length:
Cargo Pods: 360 feet (120 m)
Navigation Vessel: 180 feet (60 m)
Combined: 360 feet (120 m)
Weight: 7,500 tons
Cargo: Each pod can carry 3,600 tons of cargo, for a total of 7,200 tons
Powerplant: Advanced Nuclear Fusion w/ 35 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 4
(Navigation Ship:) Hover to Mach 6
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Value: 50% of light speed. Accelerate/Decelerate at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(Navigation Ship:) Mach 10
(Kitsune Value: 50% of light speed. Accelerate/Decelerate at 1% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4.9 light years per hour
(Navigation Ship:) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
(Navigation Ship:) Can survive brief exposures underwater; being able to move at 50 MPH at depths of down to 800 ft.
Market Cost: 138 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Spacecraft Systems, plus:
*Long Range Sensors---The Dampier mounts military-grade sensors as standard, with a long range radar detection range of roughly 6 million miles for large targets, and 2 million for fighter-sized targets.
*Targetting Computer---To make maximum effective use of its heavy weaponry, the Dampier mounts a military-grade targetting computer system to assist the gunners. Direct fire weapons have a +3 to strike for direct fire energy weaponry, and +2 for projectile weaponry
*Quick-Jump----The emergency escape ship jump-drive has a +1 to Initiative and +2 to dodge in the first melee when ejecting from the rest of the ship and escaping into FTL.

Weapons Systems:
1)Rail Gun Turrets(2x3, ventral)---For driving off space-borne pirates, clearing a hot landing zone, or beating off approaching Kreeghor customs officials, these triple-barreled rail guns can lay down a withering wall of fire that can chew through anything not protected behind paranoid-levels of force screening. Both turrets have a 360-degree arc of fire, and 70 degree elevation.
Range:12,000 ft in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 6 miles in atmosphere, 6,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst per single barrel; all three barrels firing simultaneously do 6d6x10 MD, and if both turrets are locked on the same target; 1d6x120 MD!
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload: 30,000 rds per turret(or 1,000 bursts per barrel); additional ammunition may be carrie as cargo.

2) Medium Laser Turrets(2, dorsal)---Mounted topside are two twin-barreled long range laser turrets, mostly used for engaging enemy cutters and atmospheric attack ships. Both turrets have a 360-degree arc of fire, and 70 degree elevation.
Range:5 miles in atmosphere,10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per single barrel, 2d4x100 MD for both cannons firing simultaneously(counts as one attack)
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

3)Gatling Lasers(2, centerbody)---Almost as an afterthought, the centerbody of the Dampier mounts two rapid-fire pulse lasers. Though these weapons are nearly impossible to bring to bear on a target when the ship is fully integrated and loaded, owing to their mountings, they can take pirates who try to hide in the turrets’ blind spot between the hulls by surprise. They also give the center escape section its own armament once detached from the rest of the ship. The guns have a limited 45-degree arc of fire in all directions.
Range:3 miles in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 6 miles in atmosphere, 600 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x10 MD rapid-fire burst; 6d6x10 MD for a simultaneous burst from BOTH guns(counts as ONE attack)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

Variants:
Like all good Runner-approved vessels, the Dampier has already seen its share of post-sale mods and variants. Most captains and owners who go this route typically swap out the gun turrets, impressive as they may be, for different weapons fitouts, or augment them with concealed missile launchers in the cargo pods. Other mods change the shielding system for something heavier or more advanced, or dump cargo capacity in favor of additional internal living space in the pods, or, in one case, a hangar deck with room for a half-dozen fighters. And of course Runners like to add sensor-fouling gear, extra sensors, and false signal transponders to better conceal their identities.

Well, here's another...my big limit on productivity these days is how long I can sit down without my posterior giving me grief...
I'm not entirely happy with the mechanics of the repulsor beam here but until something better comes along....

WZ-ISF-105 Komodo Interstellar Freighter
The Komodo is originally a design from the Kamasaugh people, a race related to the Oni of the Bushi Federation, but somewhat smaller statured, with a culture distinctly their own. The Kamasaugh lay claim to a three system star-nation on the edge of the Wycott Nebula in the Anvil Galaxy, and have managed to remain relatively free from involvement with any other major power block(though the Golgans and Central Alliance have occasionally bothered them).
The Komodo is the Kamasaughs’ attempt to enter the larger Three Galaxies’ ship market with a high-capacity light freighter, with WZTechYards fronting the distribution and marketing effort. The Komodo has a roughly rectangular ‘flying boxcar’ profile, with an hourglass-shaped cross-section. Navigation and sensor gear are in the forward section, while the powerplant and drives are at the rear. The crew compartment is in the upper rear section, with access to a bridge module atop the stern fantail. The Kamasaugh haven’t mastered ship automation so well as others, so the Komodo has a relatively large crew, and accommodations for over twice the number of passengers(though any race with an average stature of 6 ft or taller will find quarters very cramped and close at maximum capacity).
Cargo is held in six midsection holds, three in the lower hull and three atop. The lower holds are triangular in shape and fitted for handling dry, bulk cargoes, and are accessed/loaded/unloaded through lateral hatches in each hold. The upper holds are fitted for carrying liquids or fine-particled and granulated solids such as grain; the cargo being loaded from the top of the hoppers, and unloaded through lateral vents at the bottom of each inverted triangular hold.
The ship is propelled by a high-efficiency, but low-thrust, traction drive, making for slow acceleration, but relatively trouble-free operation. This is supplemented by three anti-grav lifters for in-atmosphere operations, and a rather unremarkable Model B FTL drive for interstellar jaunts. Given the high particle density in space along the finges of the Wycott Nebula, the Komodo is fitted with a modest cladding of ceramasegite steel armor plate, and a high-value conventional forcefield, as well as gravitic repulsors.
The most striking feature of the Komodo is the ‘death’s head’ horned skull dominating the prow of the vessel. The Kamasaugh have a strong tradition of ancestor worship in their society and make abundant use of death-imagery to evoke the spirits of their revered ancestors for protection in worthy and hazardous enterprises, especially space travel, which the Kamasaugh equate with passage through a realm of spirits. The prolific use of images of death may strike other peoples as morbid, but to the Kamasaugh, it is a fact of life, and death’s heads and skeletons are frequent adornments on their vehicles and spacecraft. However, in addition to being a devoutly spiritual people, the Kamasaugh are also a very practical and innovative people. Besides serving as totemic protection, the forward death’s head prow also houses forward sensors, navigation gear, and deflector projectors.
And because malign spirits aren’t the only things likely to be endangering a freighter, the Kamasaugh have amply outfitted the Komodo with defensive weaponry. Three retracting point defense clusters and a pair of high powered laser cannons give the Komodo abundant short-ranged firepower against most bandits.
The Komodo doesn’t appear to have much to offer the high-end adventurer looking for a fast ride; slow, dumpy, and utilitarian, the Komodo does best, with its low cost, in sales to smaller operators and local freight lines. That’s probably why a fair number of these ships have ended up in the hands of low-end Runners looking for a ‘fixer-upper’, and pirate bands looking for a cheap (and some say appropriately photogenic) transport for their hardware and loot.
Type:WZ-ISF-105 Komodo
Class:Interstellar Freighter, Light
Crew: 18, plus provision for up to 25 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 3,900
Bridge 1,000
Skull Sensor Dome* 1,000
Repulsor Eyes(2) 200 each
Engines(2) 1,000 each
Cargo Hatches(9) 180 each
Point-Defense Turrets(3) 250 each
Laser Cannon(2, bridge) 300 each
Forcefield 1,800

* Destroying the forward sensor dome will force the crew to rely on backup sensors on the bridge; reduce sensor range by HALF(typically 100,000 miles).
Height: 105 ft (35 m)
Width: 150 ft (50 m)
Length: 375 ft (125 m)
Weight:8,000 tons
Cargo: 4,500 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 15 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3
(Sublight) Mach 7
(Kitsune Values: 20% of light. Accelerate/Decelerate at 0.7% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 2 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 90 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Ship Systems.
Weapons Systems:
1) Point Defense Turrets(3)---The Komodo mounts as standard three retractable PDS clusters, each consisting of a double-barreled light laser and a multi-shot mini-missile launcher. Each turret has 360-degree arc of fire and 90-degree elevation.
Range:(Lasers)8,000 ft in atmosphere, 16,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 3.5 miles in atmosphere, 350 miles in space)
(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage:(Lasers) 1d6x10 MD per blast, 2d6x10 MD per simultanous blast from both cannons on the same target
(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Lasers)EGCHH
(Mini-Missiles) Volleys of 1-12
Payload:(Lasers)Effectively Unlimited
(Mini-Missiles) 24 mini-missiles per launcher; 72 total. Additional MMs can be carried as cargo and reloaded manually.

2) Laser Cannons(2)---Mounted on either side of the bridge compartment is a light laser cannon for engaging heavier targets such as boarding boats and pirate cutters. Each cannon has 180-degree elevation, and 90-degree traverse.
Range: 2 miles in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values:4 miles in atmosphere, 4,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x10 MD per blast, 4d6x10 MD per simultanous blast from both cannons on the same target
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Deflector Repulsor Beams(2)---Mounted in the ‘eyes’ of the forward death’s head are two powerful repulsors. Though intended primarily to deflect space debris, they can also be used to shove aside missiles and smaller spacecraft. The repulsors are occasionally used to push cargo and other heavy loads in space. Each beam projector has a 140-degree wide arc of projection. This system is NOT usable in atmosphere(too much extra mass to move in the form of gas).
Range: 5 miles in space(NOT usable in atmosphere)
(Kitsune Values: 5,000 miles in space)
Damage: None, typically, but each beam can move up to 500 tons of mass. Used against incoming fast moving targets, it can reduce the target’s velocity by as much as 20% per melee(or, it acts as a Parry roll to deflect).
When used against missiles they have an 80% chance of prematurely detonating ‘dumb’ missiles, and 60% for detonating ‘smart’ missiles
Rate of Fire:EGCHH
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

Aux. Craft: 4 lifeboats

Variants:
A number of variants of the Komodo exist; most of these add an additional 1-3 cargo segments to the midsection, extending the length of the ship and adding cargo capacity at the expense of speed, or adding tractor beams to pull cargo modules behind. Other modifications include refitting the lower cargo decks as passenger accommodations or vehicle transport pods, while several agricultural worlds have outfitted their Komodos as heavy crop dusters, using spray heads on the upper cargo hopper vents to spread seed, insecticides, or fungicidal sprays. At least one Runner captain has used this feature to carry anti-laser aerosols to spread a cloud of laser-defense between him and pursuers.
Another post-market modification is the practice of many buyers to remove the skull prow and rebuild the ship’s nose into a more conventional radome. While this doesn’t cost much in time and parts and makes the vessel much less conspicuous, the Kamasaugh have insisted in the licensing agreement with WZTechYards that any such vessel so refitted, will be REFUSED warranty and servicing discounts under the buyers’ contract; claiming that such a vessel has been denied the protection of the Kamasaugh ancestral spirits. Very few Kamasaugh will agree to fix or even ride on a Komodo that has been so ‘defaced’.

darkmax2 wrote:Wow! You made this lady really fast!

Hmm.... I was just thinking of some of the old cadillac body arts of old being applied to this ship.....

Yeah...big tail fins, lots of chrome lining and accenting, a radiator grille on the front of the cargo hulls, and a Cadillac winged victory atop the prow of each one?

"Pimp My Runner Ship".

Those are some nice ships Talismn!

darkmax2 wrote:Which ones?!

Well, freighters are relatively easy...it's figuring their cargo capacity that's the real problem, but the rest is stock parts....Military craft on the other hand always have to have some sort of calculated balance performance and armor/armament, as well as some 'edge', be it new technologies or cost...

darkmax2 wrote:I've got my PC up to the level before that damn virus got it. I'll be posting the Dampier in another few hours.

I've already starting hammering on the next batch of work-ups(I'm close to finishing the Mech-Fighter)

So, Kryzbyn...you wanna do the stats for your namesake yourself or should the rest of us do it?

Another thread, most likely.

Then what you need is a deep space and search and rescue ship...

Call it the 'Nybzyrk'