The Orpheus Project:
During the second Shivan incursion, advanced fighters like the Erynies proved very efficient against this terrible enemy. But the Erynies was also a rushed design: very expensive, difficult to maintain, and with several design flaws. Two other fighters competited for the Erynies place at that time but, because of the time constraints, the Erynies was put to service as it was the first one to have a completed flight pattern and service status. As the war reached its end, the GTVA decided to give a boost to the Orpheus project. The Erynies was finally discarded after a series of fatal accidents and complaints of SOC pilots about its poor dogfighting ability. The two other prototypes, on the other end, went, during all that time, through a whole refinement, and became up to the required standards for the Multirole Orpheus Fighter Project:
Senecal Hydrospace Ezechiel C
The Ezechiel is the first try at spaceships for Senecal Hydrospace, a company specialized in submarines and surface ships, but they were implcatied in spaceship industry already, they've been the manufacturers for most subspace drives for most light spaceships up to date, and have the proud heritage of being the ones who built the subspace reading device that helped track the Lucifer on the famous mission which dealt the killing blow to the shivan war machine during the Great War.
The Ezechiel is an surprising mix of old and new technology. Based on a rather commun frame, it features a couple intriguing systems to meet the Orpheus Project directives.
The ship is a rather stocky and heavy fighter. Survivability rates are upped by a very thick armor and very strong shields. If its secondary payload can be considered light even by commun standards, it still packs an awesome punch thanks to eight gunports localized on the two side rails of the ship.
Those rails also serve to reach the speed requirements of the OP. While standard speed is assured thanks to four high velocity deuterium engines that gives it speed almost equal to that of the best interceptors, the ship can reach for short period of times a tremendous speed, thanks to the two side rails ( Subspace Gliding Rail technology ), which basically open localized rifts between space and subspace, where the ship "hook" itself and is dragged by the formidable waves of subspace.
The four deuterium engines are barely enough to provide the vast amount of energy required by the ship, so the SGRs also "tap" into subspace while in afterburner mode to provide the extra punch needed. This technology was possible only tanks to Senecal expertise into the subspace technology fields, and advancement on shivan technology retro-engineering.
Ezechiel pretest summary:
pros:
-very good armour and shield
-excellent top speed and acceleration
-exceptional primary coverage
-very good energy input/output ratio
-easy to maintain
cons:
-average secondary payload
-average normal speed
-heavy -> average maneuvrability
-expensive
Shinohara Incorporated Vampire
Like Senecal's Ezechiel, the Vampire is the first attempt for Shinohara to build a space fighter. Shinohara is most famous for its successful range of atmospheric fighters.
Shinohara's take on the OP is radically different than Senecal's one.
The Vampire is a extract of cutting edge technology, packed in a surprisingly aerodynamical shape for a spaceborn fighter.
The fighter makes great use of the knowledge acquired from the shivans.
Exit the standard deuterium engines, the Vampire is powered by subspace tapping engines. The most visible aspect of that real revolution in spaceship design is the complete disparition of the regular rockets and verniers used on 100% of the terran and vasudan ships up till now. Both propulsion and spatial controls are assured thanks to the various wave emiters positioned all around the ship. This allows superior maneuvrability and speed for the Vampire, even tho it's heavier than the Ezechiel. The speed gain with afterburners on, tho is much less impressive, but the ship can maitain AB on for much longer. All in all, both ships, at max speed, can cover a dozen mile in the same time range.
The Vampire, thanks to the WE technology, displays unique 3 dimension motion habilities similar to those witnessed on several shivan ships.
Compared to the Ezechiel, the secondary payload is better, but still not better than standard. The ship features 6 gunports, but the energy distribution to the weapons is more optimized, which allows for a virtually continous stream of fire, while the Ezechie pilot will have to give some time for the reactors to recharge after a long strafing run.
Hulls and armours are also inferior to the Ezechiel, but in counterpart, the unusal design gives the Vampire almost stealth-like habilities, making it virtually invisible for radars at long range.
Vampire pre-test summary:
Pros:
-Exceptional maneuvrability
-Excellent top speed and acceleration
-Standard secondary payload
-limited stealth hability
Cons:
-very expensive
-can be difficult to maitain if supplies run low
-average shields and armour
-good primary capacity, but inferior to that of the Ezechiel
-large
The whole project went through some terrible hardships, and events happening in it's test system have still not been disclosed, and remain classified level Omega. The location and name of the test system remain unknown, as are the events that led to the loss of the original Vampire prototype. There was an outcome, tho, as the Ezechiel was finally chosen. It is said that the Vampire was finally chosen by the SOC, tho, and while the Ezechiel will join the regular GTVA fleets soon, the Vampire has now started new benchmarks on behalf of the SOC commandement.
FILES ( wheeeee! ):Ezechiel ( pof+maps, lacks some pof data, like docking points )
http://www.swooh.com/premium/venom/fs+/ezechiel.zipVampire ( pof, no lods nor debris yet, lacks some pof data )
http://www.swooh.com/premium/venom/fs+/Vampire.zip
