I would LOVE to get opinions on my design for a next-gen Vasudan Destroyer in the Interdictor role. Fire away!
Blue Planet has such fun lore, and equally fascinating discussions. One of these discussions I stumbled upon while researching for a mod I am making mentioned a Vasudan push towards Node Denial in the Post-Capella GTVA. Terran military doctrine is pushing towards the terrifying reality of subspace weaponry, as demonstrated in War In Heaven, and shock-jump assets, and we get to see plenty of that. But we only get the tiniest peek at what the Vasudans are doing.
A couple comments I came upon mentioned the need for Vasudan ships that feel right, and the likelihood of making their own. Having taken a look at existing fan-made Vasudan destroyers, I conclude that there aren't that many that really look Vasudan. Some are so incredibly old that they now look like the low-poly model has entered the battle in modern Freespace. Those that do look good are either Hatshepsut or Typhon extrapolations or kitbashes, often leaning towards the ridiculously skinny side with long necks. Read their descriptions, and they are all the absolute best, next-gen destroyer that can top anything thrown at them. More guns equals next-gen. Dang.
With my tirade over, I decided to try my hand at designing a Vasudan ship, inspired by the patterns and shapes of existing Vasudan ships, and the best of the fan-made ones.
The Aker-class destroyer seeks to meet the desires of a Blue Planet-esque next-gen Vasudan destroyer in the node denial role.
A guardian ship of GTVA space, the Aker-class is in the prototype stage. Currently just the GVDi Duaj, the Vasudans hope to test its Interdiction technologies for the official PGDi Sefer. If successful, the twin destroyers will secure the Alliance's borders and safeguard generations to come.
https://www.deviantart.com/varsaigen/art/WIP-PVDi-Aker-1043905025
Following the destruction of Capella, the GTVA needed new methods of war. Terran war doctrine focused on the development of subspace weaponry and jump-strike assets.
Meanwhile, the Vasudan admiralty longed to prevent another Vasuda Prime, and decided the best solution was to prevent Shivan forces from entering GTVA space. With the advancement of subspace technology and the Terran construction of the Sol Gate, Vasudan scientists applied this knowledge towards an equally hopeful endeavor. The ability to prevent subspace usage by invading forces.
The Aker-class destroyer features an Interdiction Ring, designed to ripple space around it, preventing ship computers from accurately calculating jumps. Intended to guard hostile borders, the Aker presents its most powerful weaponry towards new threats, while its flanking systems shred passerby's.
Alas, Interdiction comes with extraordinary power requirements, which limit the Aker's side-mounted weaponry. To combat this issue, the majority of its weaponry are missile and flak munitions, and the power-efficient Houndstooth pulse turret.
Massive AWACS arrays provide counter-jam precision jumps for allies, subspace sensor packages, aspect lock jamming, electronic countermeasures, intercept and decryption, and defensive stealth.
AWACS description mirrors Blue Planet's Setehk AWACS capabilities. A bit overboard in my opinion, but I imagine the Aker would have quite the tech shops under that primary array. It's probably quite toasty over that belly of nebula fuel, too!
Good ol' Terrans, forcing their brand new Winter King beam cannon toys on their alien allies.
"You will fire our awesome new beam cannon at the Shivans, or else! Afterall, only cool kids have Winter Kings" -Some Terran admiral, probably
