RVC-225 "Blockade Runner"

[Yuan]

RVC-225 Brig

AFFILIATION
Open Market

MANUFACTURER
Galentro Heavy Works

CLASS
Brig

ROLE
Armed Support/Escort

COMPOSITION
Durasteel and Transparisteel

DIMENSIONS
Length - 75 metersCREW
4 Minimum - 10 Optimum

PASSENGER CAPACITY
10-15

CARGO CAPACITY
200 Standard Tons

HANGAR CAPACITY
2 Fighters or 1 Light Freighter/Shuttle

CONSUMABLES
2 Standard Months

SPEED/MANEUVERABILITY
65 MGLT maximum speed and average maneuverability.

ARMAMENT

• x1 Dorsal Dual Light Laser Turrets
• x3 Ventral Dual Light Laser Turrets
• x1 Torpedo Launcher, x3 Torpedos in Tube

EQUIPMENT

• Class 6.0 Hyperdrive
• Navigation Computer
• Long Range Communication Suite and Sensor Array
• Medium Deflector Shields
• Many Escape Pods

DESCRIPTION​

Dubbed the Blockade Runner by much of the galaxy, the RVC-225 was originally designed by Rendili Vehicle Corporation as a Brig with various uses in mind. Militaries, merchants, planetary governments, major corporations and the like were the target audience. These vessels, while smaller, were vastly cheaper and easier to maintain than massive warships, but were significantly stronger and faster than most other civilian-grade vessels available on the markets. The design allows for them to function as patrol and inspection ships, as well as personal starships for those lucky enough to afford one.

The Blockade Runner was seventy-five meters in length and had a narrow hull, flanked on either side and near the stern by two powerful dual-thruster engines, which allowed it, despite its size, to move as quickly as many stock-model light freighters. It was protected by both ventral and dorsal dual-light laser cannons, as well as a missile tube that held three missiles in its magazine. The RVC-225 was also equipped with medium grade deflector shields, which allowed it to preform its roll as a military or commercial defense craft and endure some punishment from enemy starfighters, or even a few hits from enemy capital craft, without buckling.

Befitting its namesake, the Blockade Runner eventually became a popular choice for organizations looking to break through blockades of heavy, cumbersome capital craft. Its defenses deterred pirates and other criminals and the interior was quite spacious, which made for comfortable living quarters while on long journeys or assignments. The RVC-225 boasted customization to rival the light freighters of the era, the favorite of smugglers, the armament and equipment (i.e., power plant, communications, shielding, etc.) could be upgraded to higher classes in order to fit its owner's needs.

LEGALITY​

Legal. Brigs are not an uncommon sight throughout the galaxy and the Blockade Runner is cleared for both civilian and military usage.

INTENT​

To give a stronger, if less maneuverable, alternative to the common light freighter for a character's personal ship, more reminiscent of the personal ships given out in Star Wars video games like Star Wars: The Old Republic. Also to create an example of a Brig.

ADVANCED TECH​

Yes. Though legal for civilian ownership, the Blockade Runner Brig possesses many advanced qualities—weapons, shielding, and equipment—and is also quite expensive to purchase. Stealing one would likewise be difficult. A tech plot of 2-3 threads may be required to acquire one.

Spoiler: Original Configuration

RVC-225 Brig

AFFILIATION
Open Market

MANUFACTURER
Galentro Heavy Works

CLASS
Brig

ROLE
Armed Support/Escort

COMPOSITION
Durasteel and Transparisteel

DIMENSIONS
Length - 75 metersCREW
2 Minimum - 8 Optimum

PASSENGER CAPACITY
10-15

CARGO CAPACITY
200 Standard Tons

HANGAR CAPACITY
2 Fighters or 1 Light Freighter/Shuttle

CONSUMABLES
2 Standard Months

SPEED/MANEUVERABILITY
75 MGLT maximum acceleration and decent maneuverability.

ARMAMENT

• x4 Dorsal Dual Light Laser Turrets
• x4 Ventral Dual Light Laser Turrets
• x1 Torpedo Launcher, x3 Torpedos in Tube

EQUIPMENT

• Class 4.0 Hyperdrive
• Navigation Computer
• Long Range Communication Suite and Sensor Array
• Heavy Military-Grade Deflector Shields
• Many Escape Pods

DESCRIPTION​

Dubbed the Blockade Runner by much of the galaxy, the RVC-225 was originally designed by Rendili Vehicle Corporation as a Brig with various uses in mind. Militaries, merchants, planetary governments, major corporations and the like were the target audience. These vessels, while smaller, were vastly cheaper and easier to maintain than massive warships, but were significantly stronger and faster than most other civilian-grade vessels available on the markets. The design allows for them to function as patrol and inspection ships, as well as personal starships for those lucky enough to afford one.

The Blockade Runner was seventy-five meters in length and had a narrow hull, flanked on either side and near the stern by two powerful dual-thruster engines, which allowed it, despite its size, to move as quickly as many stock-model light freighters. It was protected by both ventral and dorsal dual-light laser cannons, as well as a missile tube that held three missiles in its magazine. The RVC-225 was also equipped with heavy military grade deflector shields, which allowed it to preform its roll as a military or commercial defense craft and endure quite a beating from enemy starfighters, or even enemy capital craft, without buckling.

Befitting its namesake, the Blockade Runner eventually became a popular choice for organizations looking to break through blockades of heavy, cumbersome capital craft. Its heavy defenses deterred pirates and other criminals and the interior was quite spacious, which made for comfortable living quarters while on long journeys or assignments. The RVC-225 boasted customization to rival the light freighters of the era, the favorite of smugglers, the armament and equipment (i.e., power plant, communications, shielding, etc.) could be upgraded to higher classes in order to fit its owner's needs.

LEGALITY​

Legal. Brigs are not an uncommon sight throughout the galaxy and the Blockade Runner is cleared for both civilian and military usage.

INTENT​

To give a stronger, if less maneuverable, alternative to the common light freighter for a character's personal ship, more reminiscent of the personal ships given out in Star Wars video games like Star Wars: The Old Republic. Also to create an example of a Brig.

ADVANCED TECH​

Yes. Though legal for civilian ownership, the Blockade Runner Brig possesses many advanced qualities—weapons, shielding, and equipment—and is also quite expensive to purchase. Stealing one would likewise be difficult. A tech plot of 1-3 threads may be required to acquire one.

 

[Yuan]

Credit to @Malon for the original design. He posted it up, but then let it die, which I was disappointed by. I'm a fan of Malon's work and I asked him if I could take his design and try to finish it, but he did not respond. Seems he hasn't been around much recently (might be why he never finished this) so hopefully I'm not doing something that would make him unhappy. I'm not trying to steal his work, but rather finish an unfinished piece of art out of respect for his craft. Love and Peace Malon!

 

[Wit]

You refer to the consular ships as old but familiar, those shipa exist in Canon thousands of years in the future.

 

[Yuan]

Good point. Edited. @Wit

 

[AutoFox]

Okay, a few things.

1: Crew is too small. For something this large, 5 people would be the minimum, not the optimum. I'll go as low as 3, but no lower. Optimum would be something like 10 or 15.

2: Nothing marketed to law enforcement is going to be marketed as a blockade runner. That may be one of its uses, that may even be what it's nicknamed, but the official name will have to change.

3: What is a concussion torpedo? And what is a communication disk? Neither of those are a thing, as far as I know.

4: I've never heard heard of a carrack in the context of Star Wars, aside from maybe the Carrack-class light cruiser, which is decidedly different than this thing's concept; Wookieepedia seems to have nothing to say on the subject. According to Wikipedia, a carrack is a type of merchant ship that first appeared in the 15th century, and while it was usually lightly armed, it was in no way a warship. In any event, you forgot to fill in "carrack" under the class heading, it's still just the placeholder text.

5: I would also consider making this smaller, around 75 meters. At 100 meters, it's firmly in the corvette size range, and really doesn't seem to have any advantage over them aside from heavier shields. Indeed, a lot of characters looking for a mobile base of operations would even be better served by a corvette, or by one of the galleons that already exist. They have better armament and more capacity.

 

[Yuan]

Excellent! There's work to be done!

1. I edited the crew. If I keep the weapons light as they are can we compromise on crew size to 2-8?

2. The write-up I was keeping pretty close to Malon's original to preserve the spirit of his work, but I agree my choice of Blockade Runner as the title doesn't make much sense if it is marketed to law enforcement. Edited the write-up.

3. Edited

4. I don't know why star wars would choose to assign the name Carrack to a cruiser. Makes no sense compared to the real world term. Way to go Lucas, lol. Anyway, I concede your point. Carrack is a term that more commonly refers to armed merchant vessels in the RW, and while this ship could be used as just such a thing, I thought perhaps Brig would be a better designation. In the RW great age of sailing, the designation of Brig was used to describe a large number of vessels in service of both militaries and merchants. While the designation really dealt with the number of masts and rigging of the sails (neither of which apply to spaceships) the general idea was that a Brig was a relatively small, fast, reasonably well-armed ship, and could be in the employ of either military or civilian persons.

5. I adjusted the size. I think you sell this design short, sir! Comparing this to the galleons is like peas and carrots. The galleons are quite nice and generally represent the strongest ship a character can privately own. But, they have slower speeds than we are talking about here, and while they have a couple of bigger guns, they have fewer turrets in number. The perk of this design is the number of turrets, which can be upgraded to stronger turrets. I believe the turret upgrades state that it is significantly easier to install turrets when there is already a designated place in the superstructure of the ship for them. The Gorath-Janteel for instance, has 6 turrets total, the Blockade Runner has 8. So, in theory, it should be easier for the Runner to upgrade up to 8 Borstal Heavy turrets than it would be for a Janteel to upgrade to the same, yes?

To say that a character would be better served by a corvette is true, but is not a very fair comparison, as I was under the impression that corvettes were supposed to be considered capital ships and thus not available for private ownership, save commanding one through one of the major factions. The Runner is supposed to be available for any character to own.

I upped the cargo capacity and speed a bit to improve the comparison with similarly-classed ships.

 

[Yuan]

@AutoFox

Also I seem to have butchered my coding somewhere. I can't seem to find the problem, but if someone could lend me a hand I would be eternally grateful.

 

[AutoFox]

One too many [/float_right] tags, it looks like. Anyway, I fixed it. Generally, if you don't want to screw up BBcode, you don't want to use the Rich Text editor; you can set the BBcode editor to the default in your settings. You can still use the Rich Text editor, but it auto-fills BBcode, and often screws it up.

Also, this ship is still referred to as a Blockade Runner. Still need to change that.

@Yuan

 

[Yuan]

I edited the details to remove the marketing to law enforcement bit. What is wrong with the Blockade Runner name?

@AutoFox

 

[AutoFox]

Eh... nothing, I suppose. It can still be called that, but you're gonna get some really funny looks from most law enforcement. That's really what I meant. I just don't think any ship trying to appeal to a broad customer base would be called something like that.

 

[The Good Doctor]

I think something that's literally called the blockade runner and is popular with trying to get through blockades with them would be viewed with suspicion by most people, or at least for the most part in the Sith Empire

A random security person at the dock goes: "Oh look it's one of those Blockade Runners there, not anything sketchy or anything going on in there"

It's like if Kuat made a ship called the "Smuggler-Class Freighter"

 

[Yuan]

Well, Rendili isn't technically within the empire under the new lines. But, I get your point. I changed the manufacturer to Galentro Heavy Works, which is a corporation based far outside the empire's sphere of control, who might be interested in marketing such a ship to non-imperial and even anti-imperial factions. Especially in this timeframe where much of the galaxy is at war, I think a call for a ship like this would be logical.

@AutoFox @Faster Than Light

 

[AutoFox]

Okay, so, I think you're missing the point here.

Nobody is disputing that there's call for a ship like this, or who should manufacture it. However, even if you produced this outside the Empire, the name is still going to raise red flags. It's the equivalent of building a car and calling it the "Crime Machine." Even if criminals don't use it, it's totally going to get that reputation, and that's not a good association no matter where you are in the Galaxy.

Blockade running is a crime. Even if it is the cool, rebellious thing to do, no sane company is going to build a ship and just name it after a crime.

 

[Yuan]

Oh, well the "Blockade Runner" part is not necessarily the official designation laid on the ship by the manufacturer. I'd like the galaxy to refer to this ship as the blockade runner, that's why I included it in the title. Leia's Tantive IV was referred to as the Blockade Runner in official star wars cannon for quite some time as were other ships of the same type even though they were actually CR90 Corellian Corvettes. This is just a term, an unofficial designation that pretty much anyone in the galaxy would recognize but is not necessarily endorsed by the manufacturer.

 

[Wit]

Why not just name it something sensible and you're free to call it by a blockade runner slang or whatever you want IC. Thing about writeups is that it's the official start sheet of ways, but having a different name as the nickname is not an issue. Make this with a normal name and let people call it whatever they want IC, same goes for whatever you want to call it yourself.

 

[Yuan]

But I want everyone to call it a blockade runner! >.<

 

[Yuan]

I edited the 'official' title to Brig, but included the part about the blockade runner name at the beginning of the description.

@AutoFox @Wit

 

[AutoFox]

Approved.

 

[AutoFox]

ATTENTION.

It has come to my attention that this vessel's capabilities are unbalanced, and have given an unfair advantage. For balance reasons, the stats have been changed, and should be reviewed by anyone who currently owns one of these vessels. The stats can be compared against the original configuration, which has been preserved in a spoiler tag.

 

[Topher]

Thanks for the heads up, will take a look at updating the Cygnus write up. Is it just the load out details that have changed?