At the time I did not feel like giving any design information on some of the ships and mecha from the last few story episodes. This is probably as good as any place to put that information, I'm sure a few people would like to see it. If you have not read the final stories yet you might want to treat this information as being spoiler type.

The largest modification is the mating of a Lyons type Guass Shotgun with the Standar Roberts Plasma Gun. Both weapons were given improved targetting systems. Speed and maneuverability were maintained by decreasing the weight of the combined weapons, and the ammunition. Extra clips for the Lyons Guass Shotgun are stored on the exterior of the mecha in areas were they enjoy some cover from enemy fire, such as the interior of the forearm sheilds.
An annendum concerning Diane Vichy: Not only is she a big fan of John Wayne movies, she also is a fan of the Hong Kong genre of action films.

The Maxil Type, which was nicknamed such after the battle, was modified by the inclusions of a prototype plasam sword, say about 10 kills at least.
Furthermore, for whatever reason, the Maxil Type possesed what can only be described as Thought Control for that last battle. Nasty, nasty, bad, bad.

Any company dealing with the SAC, and the USSA, is often hampered by the Gaian philosophy when it comes to product design. Bahn/Zai's newest Team, Kitbash, discovered this when they tired to sell the Wyvern. While it was a suprerior suit in many ways, it simply was not a design that was environmentally firendly. As such it never saw mass production and Bahn/Zai lost a large amount of money on the deal.
Kimble Industries, a small ship building company, was aware of this sort of thinking when they put forth their design for a new SAC crusier. While they were not the only company bidding on the cotract, they were ultimately successful. The problem all of the comapanies ran into was the same. A vessle that met the specs needed for the war ship were, like the Wyvern, not environmentally freindly enough. Those that met the Gaian's desires lacked something in military usefullness.
Kimble dealt with this problem by producing not one ship design, but two. The Calabim Cruiser and the Ofanim Cruiser. The Calabim outclassed every cruiser currently fielded by either the ODF or the SAC (the Ruby Cruisers had much better armour and were able to hold their own against Calabims) when it came to weapon systems and defensive measures. The Ofanim on the other hand was a ship closer the the Master class in many ways, a ship that could preform many duties.
The catch?
The Ofanim and the Calabim were basically the same ship. With a number of rather ingenious designs Kimble Industries designed the Calabim to be the ship that was needed to fight and win (it was thought) the war, and then afterwards to become the Ofanim, a ship that was more useful to peace time duties.
It got them the deal.
The Calabim is, as stated, a war ship. It offers no creature comforts. The quarters on board would seem cramped to even a member of the ODF. Tight quarters and high crew concentrations lead to the ship becoming very dirty, a build up a grime and such more than anything else. In fact SAC regulations stated that should any Calabim remain in use after the war (ie. not converted over to Ofanims) that no crew sepend more than two months serving on the ship. Furthermore, once every six months the ship is to undergo a thorough cleaning that will include exposing the interior to vaccum.
When converted over the Ofanim Class the ship looses some of its weapons systems (though the Ofanim is still a warship) and rotating crew decks are added on. This opens up much of the interior space, creating a much more liveable environment.

Later all,

Shawn Hagen <hagen@brant.net>

Return to Main Page