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.
- Arrow 00 Vichy Type 'Hardboiled'
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.
- Arrow 00 Maxil Type 'Widow Maker'
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.
- Notes on the Calabim Cruiser
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>
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