(50R.5.0) THE DRAGONFLIAN SKIMMERS
DRAGONFLIAN SHIPS
(50R5.1) HEAVY CRUISER (CA):
The Dragonflian Heavy Cruiser was a sleek, agile vessel capable of performing an abundance of “impossible” Warp Maneuvers. This was due to the strange Hoverwarp that was embedded into each Dragonflian starship. Armed with Two Hyperdrone Racks, a Battery of Forward Offensive Phasers, and Dual Defensive Phasers, the Dragonflian Heavy Cruiser was a match for any other Sector 50 Heavy Cruiser. A special Cargo Bay housed an abundance of Reloads for the Hyperdrone Racks.
DESIGNER NOTES:
The Dragonflian Heavy Cruiser is roughly Half of the Flivver Heavy Cruiser. Some choices had to made regarding the PH-3’s, the Hyperdrones, and the Cargo Boxes.
It was vital that the Dragonflian Skimmers be a real, actual empire in Sector 50 utilizing Flivver technology. This will massively expand the strategy and tactics utilized by the Dragonflian Player. No longer will Flivver technology be restricted to opponents of the Klingons and the Federation. But the goal is not simply to turn a simulator empire into a real empire for the fun of it. Instead, the goal is to take the Essence of the Flivvers, which is Hoverwarp and Hyperdrones, and expand their tactical applications exponentially.
The first task was to make sure that Hyperdrones were their own unique, viable heavy weapon in comparison to other similar heavy weapons. It was therefore necessary to do an in-depth comparison between Hyperdrones, Ultrawarp Missiles, Mass Drivers, and Regular Drones. Fortunately, Hyperdrones proved that they could stand on their own in the tactical sense, with completely different game details than the other similar heavy weapons.
Hyperdrones move 20 Hexes per impulse, while Ultrawarp Missiles move 4 Hexes per impulse (Speed 128). Hyperdrones score 8 points of damage upon impact and require 6 points of damage to be destroyed. Ultrawarp Missiles score 2 points of damage upon impact (outside of the Qixavalor Cloud) and require 4 points of damage to be destroyed (Pre-Y215). Of course, there are other types of Ultrawarp Missile Warheads.
Mass Drivers move immediately in a straight line toward the target, stopping 2 hexes away (the terminal approach hex). The Basic Anti-Ship Missile (ASM) scores 5 points of damage and requires 3 points of damage to be destroyed. There are many different types of Mass Drivers. Clearly, Mass Drivers are much different than Hyperdrones.
The Basic Type-I Drone scores 12 points of damage and requires 4 points of damage to be destroyed. The Type-I Drone moves at Speed 8. Again, we can see a clear difference between the Basic Type-I Drone and the Hyperdrone.
There are other details, such as Arming Cost, Launching Frequency, Reloads, and More, but those details can be looked up individually at the Player’s discretion. Suffice it to say that Hyperdrones are their own unique tactical entity worthy of game exploration.
What else can be done with Hyperdrones in the future? What types of different Hyperdrone Racks will be developed? Will different Hyperdrone Warheads be created? Will there be some kind of Hyperdrone Scatterpack? Can Hyperdrones be carried by Fighters? Can Fast Patrol Ships carry Hyperdrones? What types of Advanced (X) Technology will be created for Hyperdrones? These are all new areas to explore in the future for Hyperdrones and the Dragonflian Skimmers.
The next task was to make sure that Hoverwarp was not too unbalancing, overpowered, or game breaking. The Dragonflian Heavy Cruiser can generate up to 5 Hoverwarp points based on its Center Warp. These Hoverwarp points can be used to Slip in Any Direction when Not Scheduled to Move, Counteract a Scheduled Move, or Turn an Additional 60 Degrees. While all of these things are extremely useful in a tactical sense, I don’t believe any of them create a game-breaking function. Hoverwarp therefore turns into an intriguing tactical device with countless applications, depending on the opponent and the heavy weapons it is being used against.
Ultimately, the Dragonflian Heavy Cruiser turned out to be fine conversion of the Flivvers into Sector 50. It is quite different than the Europa Heavy Cruiser and the Babylon P3A Battlecruiser which are the base vessels of Sector 50. Flying the Dragonflier Heavy Cruiser has its own unique feel, thanks to the Hoverwarp, and victory depends on successfully scoring hits with the long-range Hyperdrones. This is easier said than done, because the Dragonflian adversary can easily counter each Hyperdrone with Phasers as they only require 6 damage points to be destroyed before impact. Luckily, each Hyperdrone Rack can launch 2 Hyperdrones per turn (not within 8 impulses of one another).
Consider yourself fortunate, for you have just witnessed the Birth of the Dragonflian Skimmers!
** Version 2.0 of the Dragonflian Heavy Cruiser SSD has been uploaded to replace the previous version. Version 2.0 corrects Hyperdrone storage space and racks shown on the SSD. Special thanks to Jeff Anderson for pointing out these oddities! **
HOVERWARP
This functions as described in (C52.0).
HYPERDRONES
These function as described in (E55.0) except that each Hyperdrone Rack can only fire once per turn (see E55.12).
PHASER-1
These function as described in the Basic Set
PHASER-3
These function as described in the Basic Set
