Ladies and Gentlemen! You have all been so patient, helpful, understanding and nice. When I first started perusing this forum I had a hard time even just changing the coloration on ships. Now, largely thanks to darkstar076 and Archduke Astro, my mod is finally released to the public.
The link will be posted at the end of the 5-story compilation. Here’s hoping you enjoy reading the stories as much as I enjoyed writing them.
Admiral Robert Bianco gazed across the starscape, knowing full well that somewhere, out in the infinite expanse of tiny dots from which this new weapon was drawing power, was a menace so great it was a threat to all life forms across the whole of creation.
“may the one true god forgive me for what we’re about to do.” The man wasn’t religious or even from the Order, but many of the less extreme tennents of the faith appealed to him. He was a former Federation captain, now exiled and outlawed for his ideas like everyone else in the loose coalition he had managed to scrounge together.
He looked around at the bridge crew of the station and spacedock he was visiting: his Swarm Comm. officer, gave a beaky smile and chirp that meant “ready when you are.” His Imperial science officer with an ear to ear smile as he spoke to a the Tribal chief engineer. When the admiral left the Alliance woman would be in command of the station and she was going over security protocols with a Rebel Security chief and an Order tactical officer.
His focus returned to the spacedock, where two massive ships were under construction. The First, an entirely new and overhauled Rabbit Cruiser, easily 20% larger and designed to function as a carrier platform when the first squadrons of Fireflies arrived.
The second was to be the crown jewel of the fleet: the flagship of the Union Resistance Coaliton. Already this small shipyard above the Union homeworld had produced frigate-class ships with firepower comparable to all but the heaviest cruisers, even the so-called “dreadnaughts” would be hard pressed against such unique weaponry and defenses.
Then again, the admiral thought…that’s what happeens when you have the combined technology of seven militarized races.
“Admiral Smith to Admiral Bianco” A holographic image blared forth.
“Andrew! we’ve been friends too long and worked too closely for that formality to be necessary.” Robert waved off Admiral Smith’s attempt at a salute. The truth was he hated formalities like that, especially when friends were involved.
“Ok, ok Bob.” Andrew replied with a chuckle. “Thought you’d like to know the solar cells are nearly a full capacity, we should be ready to fire in about 2 more minutes.”
“TWO MORE!” Bob sounded more surprised than angry. “This thing better be able to turn the tide of a battle in one shot 'cause it’ll never be able to fire twice!”
“Relax, this is just a proof of concept not even a prototype, I’m already looking at specs and alloys to cut down on recharge time.”
“You DO know that as soon as they detect this kind of beam discharge every single race in the war is gonna be comming for us?” Bob rubbed his eyes. “And then there’s Unity to deal with.”
“Just make your broadcast sound as conviencing as possible my friend.” Andrew replied.
“you sure you want me to do this?” Bob asked. “You’re the one best suited for-”
“We’ve been through this Bob!” Andrew smiled, interrupting his friend. “This is your show, you’re the one in the lead here, you’ll be fine and I have to get back to overseeing the test firing.”
Andrew’s image cut out before Bob could get another word in so the admiral turned back to the starscape and after several deep, calming breaths, placed his finger on the BROADCAST button and began speaking.
“Attention all species who can detect my signal, This is Admiral Robert Bianco, former Federation captain and now joint C.i.C. of the Union Resistance; a coalition of every major race in the Gratuitious War! The Union exists for one purpose, to defeat the rouge Artifical Intelligance known as Unity.”
The bridge crew, indeed the entire station and shipyard, were listening intently to the signal and the admiral knew it, which is why he was shaking like a leaf. Giving a speech like this scared him more than being on the frontline in a battle, and THAT scared him more than he would ever admit.
“The the combined technologies of our alliance we have developed the most powerful ships and technologies the galaxy has ever known, and we will need every scrap of that to defeat Unity! Make no mistake the few lost outpost worlds are NOTHING compared to the true horror a power like Unity can unleash, it must be stopped and you’re all to thick headed to see that! So I BEG every sentient spacefaring species that can hear my voice; do not make us defend ourselves. And to the intellignce commanding Unity I have only this to say: go back to the trash heap you crawled out of or we will blast you back ourselves!”
The two admirals; Smith and Bianco had been working so closely they knew each other inside out and backwards so Bob was not surprised wen as soon as he finished speaking he heard Andrew’s voice counting down “3…2…1…mark!”
The Swarm Communications officer chirped and squawked with urgency. Everyone knew everyone else’s language and these notes and tones meant “incoming signal”
“Open a channel.” Admiral Smith whistled the reply notes in Swarm speak as a gesture of respect to the officer who had always done an exemplary job.
“Attention unidentified station! This is Grand Admrial Yurak, Aldais Bergeron the Third of the Centurion cruiser Hammer’s Fall.”
“This is Former Rebel Admiral Andrew Smith, joint Commander-in-Chief of the Union Coalition and acting captain of this station: which you may identify as Space Vault one.” Andrew Replied. “Are you willing to discuss a potential treaty with the Empire against Uni-T?”
Being formerly of the Rebels Andrew knew better than to hope that was the case. Still he followed the sage advice of the friend he had co-founded the coalition with: “Offer EVERY sentient life form we make contact with a chance to either leave peacefully or join us without fear of mistreatment, Unity is the biggest threat to creation this side of the Big Bang and if we don’t muster every SCRAP we can to fight them we’re done for!”
“Treat with a disaffected Rebel? HA!” Yurak’s voice snapped Admrial Smith back to the here-and-now. “In the name of the Glorious Empire, I hearby order you to surrender all your personnel and technology to the Empire, if you do so peacefully you will be arrested and allowed comfortable accommodations until your trial in the Imperial court.”
“Trial?” Andrew raised an eyebrow. “What crime have I committed against you, I never ordered a single laser fired in the general DIRECTION of Imperial space.”
“all rebels are defectors against the Glorious Empire and must be tried and punished swiftly and decisively.” Yurak’s voice was filled with pleasure with himself and his species. “Just like the Corrupted Federation ships we obliterated en route here, the grave threat that scared so many people into abandoning their ideals is little more than pathetic target practice!”
“Hyperspace windows are opening, multiple contacts! May the one true god protect us all!” An ensign almost shrieked. Within three seconds an Imperial Battle group appeared. Admiral Smith counted 6 cruiser-class ships immediately, with 8 additional support vessels.
“Sir there are four more ships coming in!” the Ensign almost cried for happiness.
“Attention Admiral Yurak! This is Union C.i.C Admiral Robert Bianco aboard the Assault Frigate Windreaper.” The younger man spoke with dignity and clarity that surprised even himself, he hated following protocols and ettiquette but had to admit, he sounded great saying it. “You are hearby requested to power down your weapons.”
“Negotiate with you upstarts? Your ship is a frigate and we are out of your weapons range.”
The admirals never got the chance to offer Yurak another chance. That instant the entire fleet commenced bombardment of the station and ships.
Now we get to see what an Imperial shield does with an Order reactor and a Tribal projector, Andrew thought to himself.
As the beams made contact Andrew winced briefly, expecting sparks and explosions to start blowing through the consoles and relays. Instead he heard cheering and shouts of surprise. Popping his eyes open he saw that the beams were still trying to bore through the shielding with almost no effect whatsoever!
“Ok, the shields are doing their job, let’s see if we can dish it out as well as we can take it.” Andrew said aloud.
Admiral Smith never even had to ask if Robert was ready. Smith knew the younger admiral was not only ready, but willing to support him.
“All batteries, OPEN FIRE” The two shouted almost in unison.
The barrage of firepower was incredible, the admirals, indeed just about everyone on board every ship that could see the weapons discharge took pause for just a moment. The admirals didn’t mind, how could they? They themselves were astounded by the onslaught.
There were three frigates leading the charge that never had a chance against the punishment being thrown against them. Within 20 seconds the first cruiser’s shields had fallen and it began withdrawing, taking it’s frigate escort with it.
The Union captains didn’t bother firing on the fleeing vessels, they would be shamed, shunned and either executed or exiled. And if exiled, they had nowhere to go but the Union ranks.
“Admiral Smith!” the ensign cheered. “The Imperials are in full retreat.”
“All ships cease fire.” Smith replied, then he turned to the Swarm comms. Officer and chirped “open a hailing channel.”
“Damn that accursed cleaning droid, get it out of here or shoot it!” Yurak’s face was lit by sparks and flames dancing in the background, his calm arrogance had left him and his face shown clear with fright, rage and triumph. “Kill me if you will but it won’t accomplish anything! The ENTIRE 1st fleet is en route to finish you, a PAIR of Senator-Class dreadnaughts serve as joint flagships.
Upon hearing this news both admirals lost their voices for just a moment, they’d heard stories. After all, who hadn’t? the behemoths of the Great Powers that were so powerful they could take on 4 cruisers at once and emerge victorious. One of them was daunting, but a pair? Then again, Andrew thought, if anyone was going to have the power and resources to field two dreadnaught-class ships it was the Empire.
Before either admiral could find his voice again the remnants of the imperial battle group fled into hyperspace.
“Oh my god, admirals!” The Ensign shrieked in fear. “Forgive me for speaking out of turn.”
“No ensign, go ahead.” Robert replied over the opened channel.
“Sensor readings just came back from the Hammer’s Fall, this readout shows anomalous energy readings emanating from the portside droid bay and Yurak stated he had wiped out a few corrupted Fed. ships, more to the point he was yelling about a droid malfunctioning, a cleaning droid!”
The two admirals looked at each other, neither of them were smiling, they knew what these signs meant and the didn’t like it.
“Attention dudes, I mean, admirals and captains, this is Captain Corolla of the Nova? Yeah, my science officer confirms those readings, it looks like the Hammer’s Fall was infected.”
“If they follow standard operating procedure.” The Ensign piped up.
“And they will ‘cause they’re too thick to do otherwise.” Andrew added.
“That battle group will rendezvous with the first fleet” Capt. Corolla added.
“And infect dozens of ships, to say nothing of the Senators!” Robert finished the train of thought. “Andrew?”
“I know what you’re gonna say Bob” Andrew replied.
“Then don’t make me say it.” Robert replied. “We’re gonna need at least one of them up and running within three days!”
“The Starburst MAY be ready, but not the Prominence, not by a long shot!” Andrew replied. “Captain Corolla, you being system hopping, muster as many patrols as you can! Bob there’s no way I can stop you trying to go after them is there?”
“Not a chance Andrew.” Bob replied.
“Then good luck.”“Admiral, we’re being hailed.” the Windreaper’s security chief stated. “And we’re receiving a universal distress call”
“Open both channels and split the view screen image.” Admiral Bianco replied, know immediately what they both were.
“This is Admiral Yurak of the Hammer’s Fall! We are being overrun by our own droids!” The man who had been so calm mere days before was now frantic, small arms laser fire could be heard clearly in the background. “We are about to attempt a manual shutdown of our starboard reactor and starve the FTL drive of power before abandoning ship. Any Imperial vessels in the area respond immediately.”
“I was afraid of that, the blasted fool!” Andrew couldn’t help but let his Rebel origin and disdain for the Empire come to the surface. “Should’ve just blown the thing apart and then called for help. Now we’re going to have to fight a corrupted battle group and the first Imperial fleet!”
“How far behind us are you Andrew?”
“Just about 500 lightyears, we wired the FTL drive into the Maximum Burn!” Admrial Smith replied. “They’re both in the red zone but we’re closing fast.”
“What’s the status of the Starburst?” Admiral Bianco asked.
Admiral Smith never had the chance to reply, it faded to static as soon as the image began to speak.
So, we’re being jammed, the question is are we being jammed by the Empire or Unity? Bob thought to himself.
“Disengage FTL, slow to 10,000 Megalights.” The admiral forced his concern out of his voice. “Red alert, prepare for evasive maneuvers.”
By the time the subspace window shut down the Windreaper was already under fire, but a cruiser shield concentrated around a Frigate sized ship meant the ship took no damage. Bob turned his attention to the Hammer’s Fall, it had already shown signs of it’s corruption by the Unity A.I., and escape pods could be seen still gliding away from the fleet.
“Admiral,” The science officer spoke up, “I’m only reading partial power from the hammer’s fall, the corruption sequence is incomplete, I’m running scans on the other ships now.”
“Admiral, Long range sensors are lighting up like a Multari thunderstorm!” the Ensign shouted, terror in his voice. “It’s the 1st fleet, at 150 lightyears and closing!”
“All batteries, concentrate on the Hammer’s fall!” Bob shouted, “Blow it into space dust!”
No sooner had the order been given than it was followed, but it was given a second too late, numerous things happened at once.
Moments before the Thunderhawk Pulse cannons destroyed the ship it released a series of warheads; three targeting the Windreaper, one each targeting the remaining ships in the battle group and at least 10 that were aimed in a seemingly random direction.
The Windreaper’s size and speed meant it dodged the missiles easily, and for a moment Bob breathed a sigh of relief; his small ship had more droids than living bodies on it and if the windreaper fell into Unity control, well he was grateful not to have to contemplate that for the time being.
Only a moment later the hyperspace windows opened, no less than 20 in front of him and one behind him. And no sooner did the windows open than the ships emerging from hyperspace were struck with nanite-infected warheads!
“Bob?” Andrew’s voice finally broke through the static. “I count a solid 30 ships, before fighters.”
“I see it” Bob replied. “But I don’t wanna believe it”
The first Imperial fleet, set to the task of defending the heart of Imperial Space, their most precious shipyards, their greatest population centers, the main governing body and the Emperor herself. This was no mere fleet, this was a grand Armada, the grandest either general had ever seen.
And that was before the twin flagships. Seeing one of those legendary behemoths was daunting enough, seeing a pair made both admirals tremble as though they had stared at the heart of a singularity. Admiral Smith took a deep calming breath and opened the Communication channel himself.
“Attention Admrials of the Dreadnaughts Pride of the Empire and Oblivion this is Admiral Andrew Smith of the Starburst, Your ships have been infected with Unity Nanites, I urge you to power down all systems other than basic life support to forestall the corruption of the greatest vessels I’ve ever laid eyes on, as proof that we have good intentions we are powering down our own weapons now.” Admiral Smith stated.
Andrew, Bob thought, if you were a woman I’d kiss you right now. Such ego stroking for the former Rebel must have been anathemic but Bob knew the man’s irony resistance was peerless. He nodded to his tactical officer, who also began powering down weapons.
“This is Grand admiral Kevin Castaldo, aboard the Oblivion, we have detected the data corruption and are following your suggestions.” He stated calmly.
At this, even the imperial defectors took a double take, some shook their ears at the statement to be sure they heard correctly. The empire fielded the most competent and brilliant captains and admirals to be sure, but also the most stubborn, thick headed and proud ones.
“Admitrals, 8 more ships coming decloaking 123 by 975!” The Windreaper’s ensign shouted, his face contorted with fright as he looked over the sensor data. “ZERO life signs captain, their Unity ships!”
“Re-power the weapons, all fighters LAUNCH!” Smith shouted. “Attention first fleet, do not engage. Repeat DO NOT ENGAGE, powering up now will only allow your ships to fall into Unity control!”
But the Unity ships were already converging on the two Dreadnaughts, flying through their shield bubbles and pelting it with nanite and EMP warheads. The ship flashed with electrical power as every system within it began going haywire, then, slowly, lights began to turn on and the ships, now packed to the brim with nanities, began to lumber forward once again.
“They never got to the pods!” Andrew shouted, forcing tears back.
At that the Imperial Dreadnaughts commenced their bombardment of the Windreaper and Starburst: Each one was carrying firepower comparable to at least 4 cruisers, the Unity craft had now turned their attention to the remaining ships of the first Imperial battle fleet.
“Ensign, evasive maneuvers our networked shields can’t handle this forever!” Bob shouted. “All batteries return fire.”
The Windreaper was only the size of a large frigate, but carried the firepower of a standard cruiser. The Starburst, at over 300 meters long dwarfed it as it moved to block the enemy fire from the infected ships.
“All batteries, target the Oblivion and fire at will.” Admiral smith shouted. “We have got to keep those Dreadnaughts out of Unity control at all costs!”
When the Starburst opened fire the generals found themselves surprised yet again, it seemed the ideas they had concocted had surpassed their own expectations. The sheer number of weapons the Starburst brought to bear on the Oblivion was even greater than either single dreadnaught, indeed it just may have been more than both of them combined.
Upon seeing the amount of punishment raining on the Oblivion the unity drones abandoned their attempts to corrupt the remaining first fleet ships and began streaking into the massive Shield Bubble of the Starburst.
“Andrew! If you can keep the Dreadnaughts off me I may be able to help you with the unity drones.”
“Take out the remaining Imperial Ships Bob, we’re about to deploy six full fighter squadrons.”
At that, the massive carrier bay doors began creaking open for the first time, it took almost ten seconds for a full deployment but once that occurred the overlarge Union fighters began to emerge and surround the massive cruiser. Within a few moments the first unity ship closed to firing range and after a few mere seconds were cut down but the sheer number and power of the heavy fighters and corvettes.
“What the heck?” Robert’s voice was blended with fear and shock at seeing just how much fire one of the unity ships sustained. “They have shields?”
“Sensors indicate a power generation capacity of almost 80 megawatts, they’re sporting a pair of frigate-class power cores, but the shield systems are suffering considerable damage to our weapons fire.” the science officer reported.
“Well now we know how small a ship can be when it’s gutted and doesn’t need a crew compliment.” Admiral Bianco couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea.
Still, he thought, to be that small and have frigate-class shields and power generation means there‘s almost nothing keeping those things together, one good shot and they should crumble..
The young admiral was right, a lucky shot with the Genesis Lasers brought down the shields almost instantly, and immediately after a single burst from the fusion colliders destroyed the tiny craft.
Finally, after several minutes of bombardment the shields on the oblivion collapsed and without the imperal shield systems protecting it the Dreadnaught’s hull became fast prey for the massive bombardment of the Starburst.
While The Starburst was trading broadsides with the Oblivion and the fighters were dealing with the Unity ships the Windreaper weaved in and out of the rest of the corrupted first fleet ships. Corrupted Imperial fighters found defense lasers too much to stand and quickly wthdrew back to their capital ships. By the time the Windreaper had brought down three cruisers and four frigates, the infected ships were in full retreat.
“The Pride is trying to make a run for it!” Andrew barked out. “I’m reading power buildup in the FTL drives!”
In an instant the Windreaper was barreling at flank speed towards the fleeing dreadnaught. Both admirals knew the ramifications of that ship escaping and they were too ghastly to comprehend.
The Unity A.I. primarily used Nanites to both break down organic components and build and repair ships. If the Pride of the Empire escaped Unity could replicate the design endlessly. After all, they had no need for a budget, currency or even crew shifts, they could churn out an endless number of the behemoths. Or worse yet, imporove on the design somehow.
Admiral Bianco shuttered to think of something the size of a Senator under unity control, without crew requirements there a ship that size could mount as many or more weapons that the Starburst
“Open fire with all weapons, target the hyperdrives!” Robert almost shouted.
In an instant the 3 heaviest weapons on the Windreaper; the Fusion collider cannons, Thunderhawk pulse cannons, and the Genesis Lasers all opened up in a barrage of withering laser fire, but it was too late. The Sub-space window had already opened and the Pride was accelerating though it.
“Tell me I didn’t just see that!” Andrew shouted.
“Ok, I won’t tell you.” Bob forced a chuckle. “But it doesn’t change the fact that it happened.”
“You know what this means right?” Andrew stated.
“Andrew, set course for Stardock Delta 9,” Bob sounded grim as he cut the signal. “Ensign, send word to Vice Admiral Tornatore to expect us in 5 rotation cycles”The two admirals couldn’t have been felt worse as their ships hurtled through subspace at 20,000 times light speed, they had escaped without suffering casualties, which was lucky since the Union Coalition had so few bodies to spare. But they had failed to prevent the nanite infection of the First Imperial Battlefleet. What’s more, they had allowed the Senator-class ship Pride of the Empire to fall into Unity control. There wasn’t a single crewman abort either ship that wanted to think about the ramifications that would have for the galaxy.
Stardock Delta Nine was their destination. The Hibernia System was remote by most standards which is why it made an excellent home base for the Union to set up shop in. Beings from all over the galaxy fled there from the ever expanding war. No race was unwelcome. Even beings from the Swarm and Nomads occasionally decided to settle down and leave the fighting behind.
But most of the inhabitants of this far-flung neutral space were not there by choice. Most were either ashamed to return to their home worlds or ashamed OF their homeworlds to remain there.
Admrial Smith was a prominent fleet admrial charged with the defense of the entire Caspian system. He had successfully defended the rebel territory over a dozen times and was on the fast track to being the given command of the second Ragnarock-class super heavy cruiser.
Smith also had the distinction of being the first Rebel Admiral to encounter the unity scourge.
His fleet fought like mad, every single man and woman carried themselves with distinction, and even as ships began to fall and explode his subordinates believed they would come out victorious.
And then the enemy ships began attacking the escape pods
The horror of this action, destroying defenseless survivors, sent ripples of shock and despair across the fleet. Finally, his flagship in critical condition, Admiral Smith attempted to surrender
“surrender is an unknown paramater, you will be cleansed.” a computerized voice responded as the ships continued to attack without hesitation. Admrial Smith was forced to retreat.
The battle cost him thousands of lives and over 90% of his fleet. Rebel command refused to believe his claims about the overlarge fighters that had shields, disruptor bombs and other frigate-class weaponry. When Smith suggested the only way to stop this nightmare was a unified galaxy they gave him two simple choices, put a blaster to his own skull or flee with the remains of his cowardly fleet.
Knowing sometimes it’s better to live to fight another day, Admiral Smith chose the latter.
Admiral Bianco never actually earned any command within the Federation, he was a brilliant young man, and a prominent ship designer. To earn the prestige and money to have his ultimate design built he finally attended the Federation Academy and during the examinations he passed with historic scores, but for one problem. He invested what the federation at large considered an obscene number of Currency Units into the survival of each individual crewman. Robert Believed there could be no higher cost than the loss of even a single life and because of this he never received a station in the Federation fleet.
Outraged, and having no reason to remain, Robert fled the Federation as soon as it was possible for him to do so.
The Hibernia System called to both men. And as their cruisers hurtled through subspace Robert, in spite of the loss they had fled from, could not help but smile. He knew something Admiral Smith didn’t, a surprise of sorts.
“Windreaper to Starburst, Andrew we’re about to disengage FTL drives, prepare to activate your view-screen.” Robert, stated with a level of almost childlike excitement.
The tiny cruiser’s energy wake destabilized and shuddered for a moment, the smaller the ship the bumpier the turblence was during an FTL down jump. The Starburst, being over 340 meters long, barely felt a tremor.
“Activate the monitor and…” Admiral Smith’s voice trailed off. His ensign had activated the viewer faster than the admiral could speak. “Oh my goodness. I’ve never seen anything so incredible.”
“Surprise my friend, salvage barges have been raiding trash planets of every single faction for upwards of a full stellar revolution, the thing was so top secret it had to be built in pieces before final assembly.” Robert smiled, pleased with how well he was able to keep anyone from truly knowing what was happening.
Robert had great faith in his fellow sentient beings, but was also no fool, there were still Union members that held more loyalty to their own races and factions. So, he kept every shipyard in the dark on the entire project, parts were assembled in 5 separate shipyards across the entire 12-planet system.
Filling the viewing screens of both ships was Stardock Delta 9 and Robert’s top-secret project; a ship that dominated the upper portion of the screen. The behemoth was almost 300 meters long, and from tip to tip the massive Nomad wings spanned just about that same distance. At the end of each wingtip was a pair of engine drives, the rear of the ship featured a whopping five more; 3 of Imperial design with Rebel flow regulators and another two that looked Federation, as though the engines of a Gazelle Frigate had been supersized and blended with the Nacelles of a Buffalo Cruiser. Slightly forward of that was an alliance armored truss protecting and supporting the biggest Order reactor ever built, already glowing a throbbing not just one color but 4. From there a dorsal power conduit from the Swarm ran forward along the spine of the ship.
Finally the forward section featured a Canard wing set around the command bridge. Jutting out from the Canard Wings and the main wingtips were massive cannon mounts of Tribal origin. The whole craft had a green hue, Robert’s favorite color.
But what amazed Admrial Smith the most was sheer number of turret mountings and hard points the ship had. Not even fully assembled and he could tell its weapons load already surpassed the Starburst!
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Union Coalition, I give you the fifth and final evolution of the starship I’ve been dreaming of and trying to build for two deca-revolutions. A Ship so bold and determined it can only be called one thing: The Resolute.” Bob almost teared up in happiness as he spoke. “Andrew, prep a shuttle, I’ll meet you on board at the earliest opportunity.”
Within one megacycle the two admirals were aboard the Stardock and walking to the docking bay. The station’s entire compliment of starboard docking clamps were being deployed to keep the massive cruiser stable.
As the air-lock doors opened a young order female greeted and saluted both Admrials with a smile.
“Vice Admiral Carolyn Tornatore sirs, overseeing the final construction and supply process!” She saluted formally.
“Carolyn how many times must we go through this?” Robert sighed with a smile, “When it comes to people I think of as good friends I HATE FORMALITY!”
After Admiral Smith, Carolyn Tornatore was one of the first people Robert recruited. Her careful interpretation of Order’s sacred text; Words of the One True God was integral in getting the Order refugees into the Coalition against Unity. Since then she had proven herself an accomplished leader, a skilled diplomat, and a trusted friend.
Carolyn smiled and gestured for the Andrew and Robert to properly enter the craft and while Carolyn was overseeing the final preparations for it’s equipping and construction, it was Robert who gave her and Andrew the grand tour.
“Final total, what kind of specs are we looking at?” Carolyn asked.
“It’ll be able to 37 system modules, including crew bays, shields, armor mountings engines, and generators. A network of micro capacitors from the Order, Federation and Empire means a massive power increase. The combined Swarm, Nomad and Rebel tech in the flow regulators means a healthy speed boost from every engine we install. Finally, we’ve got Alliance armor mountings lased with tribal alloys to hold even the most fractured armor in place.”
“I’m noticing something of a flaw in your grand design Bob.” Andrew stated. “Namely the fact that we’re in a cavernous space without any reinforcing struts, how incomplete is the superstructure.”
“Oh the ship is 100% complete, this space is intentional, see this whole thing is going to be used to house all the vital systems, the catch is hull integrity itself suffers a whopping deficit, but when she’s fully loaded the sheer amount of stuff she carries will act as the internal superstructure, which should grossly overcompensate for the lack of reinforcing beams.”
Carolyn could see Robert was acting excited, like he was struggling to contain some last secret piece of information, both she and Andrew knew what the question would actually be. And were intentaionlly saving it for last, knowing full well the true response would astonish them. And as they entered the command bridge the anticipation became unbearable.
“Ok Bob I’ll bite, how many weapons will this thing be able to carry?” Carolyn asked, forcing herself calm.
“Once all the turret mountings are in place? Forty-six separate weapons, six of which will be deployed in arrays of 2 or 3.” Bob spoke with an ear to ear smile on his face as he responded. Drinking in the scene of his two friends as shock, awe and a little fear flooded their expressions.
Andrew’s legs buckled from the shock of the answer and he had to catch himself on the armrest of the captain’s chair. He couldn’t help from himself and let out a strange noise that was part shout of surprise, laugh of happiness and yell of fear. After all, the Dreadnaught-class ships of the Great Powers could only mount 12-17 weapons. The Starburst had a staggering weapons compliment of 28 turrets, but being primarily a carrier most of those were dedicated to anti-fighter weaponry.
It was then Andrew and Carolyn truly saw the genius of the man standing before them. He was right, the sheer amount of material that would be housed within this gutted cavernous frame would be enough to make it swell…and the hull had been designed to do just that, bend and flex with the load it was carrying to make the necessary room. No single race could have built this incredible machine. They realized this is how Robert had intended it. This ship would be the lynchpin of the Coalition, what better flagship for a group featuring every single faction than one that was built from every single faction?
“Bob that’s gonna be a logistical nightmare! Carolyn spoke up after regaining her own composure. “You’ll never see this thing fully loaded and flying. Even if you stuck with basic blasters and pulse lasers you’re talking about a crew requirement of over 1,000 bodies. To say nothing of the power you’d need to run all that! I know R&D has made some incredible tech, but it ALL needs way more manpower and energy to operate than standard weaponry.
“Carolyn I have had twenty galactic standard revolutions to out plan you with this baby!” Bob smiled handing her a data-pad. “It contains a complete manifest of the parts and equipment this thing will be able supplied with. As you can see, it leaves significant breathing room for errors in my own calculations.”
“I’m detecting a ‘but’ about to leave your mouth” Andrew looked at Bob after examining the manifest
“There’s one major catch. Everything has to be slightly altered to fit properly and be compatible with every other system. So the every single module will cost more to retrofit and install.” Bob explained. “Between the system design, installation and sheer cost of this hull it’s a one-of-a-kind starship here, we can’t make another one of these.”
“Bob this single ship is going to have the firepower of a well supplied battle group!” Andrew cheered. “One of these is all we’re ever gonna need!”The two Commanders in Chief were neither naïve nor stupid: Space Vault one’s test firing of the Sunbeam Cannon and the companion universal broadcast had kept every space faring species in the galaxy 1,000 light-years from Union Space except the Empire. And the even with a pair of Senator-class dreadnaughts the first Imperial fleet had suffered a pasting at the hands of the Starburst.
So there was only one reason Stardock Delta Nine’s long range scanners were being overloaded by signals from incoming ships.
“It’s a Uni-T assault force alright,” Admiral Smith finally piped up. “Maybe the biggest one ever!”
“Just to attack little old us? I’m almost flattered.” Admiral Bianco made a joke to conceal the fact that he was physically shaking as he spoke. “How much time do we have?”
“Not enough,” Vice Admiral Tornatore piped up with the fear of the Order’s One True God on her face and voice. “Five Galactic Standard Chronocycles at most, probably less.”
“What’s the first target on their subspace path?” Robert asked looking over starcharts. His voice carried some concern.
“Looks like, oh no.” Captain Peter Carolla’s voice faded out for a solid ten seconds. “Hibernia itself! Space Vault One will be in the planet’s sensor shadow!”
Andrew was already power walking across the station’s main control room to the communications console. The Nomad officer sitting there backed away and saluted as the former Rebel admiral began speaking.
“Attention, all Union ships, I have grave news. The day we’ve been preparing for and dreading is upon us, Unity forces are closing on our territory, and their first target will be the planet Hibernia itself!”
There was a muffled hush as the Admiral went on, everyone intently listening to his orders. “The planetary defenses and orbital assault platform have absolutely no chance of repelling or even surviving a battle of this scale. We MUST defend our homeworld at least long enough to evacuate it. We will form a defense grid with every single ship we can muster!”
Admiral turned around and saw every single sentient being in his presence making for the shuttle bays, the level of commitment and willingness to sacrifice themselves brought a tear to his eye, this was dedication he thought. In that moment he felt more honored to be part of the Union Coalition than he EVER felt as a Rebel.
“Where did Bob go?” Carolyn asked.
“He took off as soon as you started talking.” A the Nomad communications officer stated. “The Coward’s deserted us!”
"Not likely" thought Andrew, but neither he nor Carolyn had time to debate Robert’s absence with the Nomad as they made their way to the shuttle bay
Four Standard chronocycles later every single Union ship had assumed stationary orbit around Hibernia. The fleet consisted all 6 Windreaper Assault Frigates, 8 Jackalope carriers, 9 Aurora Frigates, 8 Nova-class frigates, 10 Millennium-class frigates, and an array of 12 defense satellites in towed into position from other planets in the system. A fighter screen of over 100 heavy fighters, bombers and corvettes flew in a holding pattern around the main fleet
The Assault Platform stationed in orbit around the planet was orbiting behind the planet and would not be able to participate, the personnel were detached to other ships or to oversee the evacuation of the planet’s surface.
Finally the two Starburst-class carriers Union had been able to cobble the resources together to make; the Starburst and Prominence served as joint-flagships. Both were fitted with over a dozen long range siege weapons at the cost of anti-fighter artillery.
Andrew didn’t have to wait long before he heard the same digitized voice he heard back in his days as a Rebel; “We are Unity, you will be cleansed.”
“Save your breath everyone, there’s no negotiating with those things” Andrew spoke to the entire fleet
“Prime Uni-node will now handle communication protocols, channel opening.” the digitized voice spoke
“Prime node? Somebody wanna explain that?” Admiral Smith was surprised enough to temporarily forget his professional mannerisms.
“We are Prime Uni-node. This sector requires cleansing.” This time a different voice spoke. In his previous encounters, the A.I voice was nothing more than sampled voiced strung together without inflection, or flow. This voice was completely digital, uniform and even less organic. The lack of any organic sampling made it even more threatening to Andrew.
“There is nothing that needs to be cleaned here, so go clean somewhere else! ” Admiral Tornatore said with a hint of disdain in her voice.
“Statement Invalid, this system contains material identified as garbage. Unable to comply."
"Maybe you don't understand, your cleansing will result in the deaths all sentient life in this sector." Andrew retorted.
“Prime directive is to remove waste material materials only.”
The lack of inflection in the robotic voice made Andrew and Carolyn unsure whether the words were a statement or a threat.
"Alright, according to your databanks what am I classified as?” Carolyn asked
"Cross referencing with materials database, You are trash, you will be cleansed."
At that, the unity fleet began to move, fighters deploying from over a dozen ships, all on course for the planet and the billions of people on it’s surface that had not evacuated. At the rear of the armada were 3 massive cruisers. Individually they were less heavily armed than the Starburst or Prominence but, even at this distance it was clear each weapon was capable unleashing catastrophic damage. The fact was the Union fleet was staring down no less than THREE dreadnaught-class cruisers, to say nothing of the rest of the ships.
“All ships initiate defense pattern Seven Echo Foxtrot!” Andrew barked out on a universal channel. “Maintain a range of no more than 700 clicks away from a flagship, the fighter screen is to fly escort patter Tau-5, with a maximum distance of 800 clicks All ships weapons free!”
“At that tight a formation we‘re not gonna have much room for maneuvering chief.” Carolyn spoke as the Prominence slipped alongside the Starburst. “Are you sure you don’t want us looser?”
Andrew didn‘t have time to reply. The Unity fighters were already firing beam cannons and disruptor bombs at the growing mass of ships. The Fighters may have been quick and well loaded but the sheer number of weapons targeting them proved an overwhelming prospect, a solid half of the fighters were committed to the attack, but not one was able to avoid the immense deployment of Union firepower.
“Brilliant Andrew!” Carolyn cheered, “Our defensive fire is so thick they can’t get close it! And our we’re so close to they can’t focus enough on any ship to take one out!”
No sooner had the formation began creeping fowarrd than all three behemoth dreadnaughts opened fire. They were over 1,000 clicks away each but each one struck something. Two struck frigates, one struck a Windreaper cruiser, two more connected with Jackalope carriers, and the Prominence was unlucky enough to take the rest.
“Carolyn, damage report?” Andrew asked, showing fear in his voice for the first time in the battle.
“Three hits, a feedback loop in the shield emitter caused a hull breach on deck 24, shields down to 89% and holding.” Carolyn replied. “The frigates and cruisers are moving to an attack posture!”
“All ships hold formation” Andrew ordered.
Finally, the Unity assault force was in striking distance. Within seconds the first Unity frigates began losing shields and only moments later they were reduced to scrap metal. Even the heavy cruisers that attempted making attack runs on the fleet were driven back after only firing a few quick beam discharges.
The four dreadnaughts fired again. Different ships were struck this time, Two of the frigates suffered massive shield trauma as well armor damage from feedback through the shield systems.
And them Admirals Smith and Tornatore realized something dreadful, the enemy fighter screen had vanished from their scopes.
Neither could raise the warning fast enough, No sooner had they realized this than the Unity fighter compliment had decloaked within the formation!
In an instant ships were deploying every close range weapon they could. But with the formation so tight and the risk of friendly fire so great there was no way to defend each other.
“All ships break formation and initiate defense pattern Delta, three frigates to a cruiser!” Carolyn ordered. It was a testament to her command skill that Admiral Smith didn’t belay the order.
Immediately the cluster began breaking up, three frigates clustering around a cruiser. But the damage was already done, three cruisers lost armor and a pair of Millennium frigates were destroyed. A Corona frigate suffered extensive damage and lost one of it’s tractor couplings, it starboard section spinning into a nearby Nova, tearing frigate apart.
With the cluster formation broken the and the Union armada now in manageable groups the Unity cruisers had more success. But these weren’t the same ships Unity was used to fighting, these had the combined technology and firepower of all eight races in the war! Even with only four ships to a single battle group the Union firepower was unlike anything the relatively frail Unity ships had ever seen before.
The massive dreadnaughts at the rear of the fleet were looming closer now. And as their heaviest weapons began to impact the Starburst’s shield Andrew began to tremble, this was firepower that was heavier than most of the Union’s best. Still the networked shields were doing their job, spreading out the strain and keeping shield strength high.
The next thing they knew a light cruiser was decloaking as it rammed the Prominence! Andrew had just enough time to see a handful of escape pods launch before the two colliding ships exploded in a colossal fireball the likes of which he had never seen!
Only a few moments later, all four of Unity dreadnaughs began unloading their firepower upon the starburst and it’s escorting frigates. The mighty shields held for two salvos. But as a third heavy salvo rained down the shields buckled and collapsed, leaving nothing but the thin armor plating between the Starburst’s crew of over 1,000 beings and oblivion.
“Admiral, we’re starting to see hull breaches on multiple decks, we can’t take much more!” An Impreial engineer stated. “We MUST abandon ship!”
“And do WHAT!” A female Nomad ensign shrieked, “Sit in an escape pod and wait for unity drones to pick us off? We’re all dead!”
The forward most dreadnaught fired it’s superheavy plasma launcher. As the energy burst lumbered towards the Starburst Andrew braced himself for what he was sure was the end.
A second later Andrew’s eyes popped open in surprise. He was sure he wasn’t dead. And a moment later he knew why.
Another cruiser had decloaked and flown in the way of the beam and taken it for the Starburst.
“Attention Starburst, Prepare to receive a shuttle with repair supplies.” Robert signaled. “Attention all ships, this is Admiral Bianco assuming command of the fleet, Attack pattern Epsilon 5. All fighters commence attack, all cruisers and frigates fall into formation behind the Resolute!”
Wave upon wave of fighter began weaving in and out of the Unity fleet. They didn’t making a dent in the shielding or armor. But they were serving their purpose, drawing some of the fire of the enemy frigates and cruisers it gave the beleaguered Union fleet the precious seconds it needed to re-organize.
Robert shouted with a healthy blend of anger, frustration and determination that Andrew had never heard from him before. “This is for Carolyn! All batteries, OPEN FIRE!”
Andrew had been taken back when he saw the Sunbeam cannon test fired. He had been stunned when he saw what the Starburst was capable of. He knew what the Resolute was theoretically able to do. But knowing it and seeing it for the first time were two entirely different things.
Andrew thought aloud: “That ship carries more guns than SIX average cruisers, it’s armed with all the best Union tech Bob could muster and ALL that power is being focused onto a single target.”
The attack was so immense it was actually hard to see just what was being fired The shields of the forward most dreadnaught held for ten agonizing seconds before collapsing just in time for a rocket barrage to rip into the armor. With the shields down and so many weapons being brought to bear on a it, the Unity dreadnaught never stood a chance.
“This is the Starburst.” Admiral Smith cheered, “Repairs are completed and we are recycling shields, we’ll be back in the fight in 40 chronoticks. In the meantime, Red group, gold group, all fighters provide a fighter escort for the Resolute! Rearm and repair aboard the Phoenix at your discretion!”
Even before the formation was completed the Union flagship began diverting it’s incredible firepower across the Unity fleet. The few fighters that penetrated it’s weapon spread were quickly dispatched by the supporting frigates.
Finally, the task force began gliding closer to heart of the Unity fleet. Most of the ships in the formation didn’t even have a chance to fire with the Resolute obliterating a dozen capital ships. After a close brush with the enemy the Union force, following Robert’s lead, broke away from the battle and began to run for Hibernia.
The Resolute, being so heavy, was easily outpaced by the rest of the Union fleet, and within a chrono cycle the aft shields were taking a tremendous amount of punishment. The shields held firm however, and the Unity fleet was so busy making a concerted effort to knock out the Resolute the didn’t notice the trap they were being drawn into.
Admiral Smith knew Robert’s plan the moment he saw the fleet braking off the battle, and before the shields were at full strength the Starburst began running for the planet. By the time the fleet was within firing distance he had already pulled the Assault Platform orbiting the planet into a firing position along with the rest of the orbital defenses.
A Sunbeam cannon blast from the station, impacted the closest unity dreadnaught with enough pressure to halt it’s forward advance. Rockets from each defense platform ripped into every surviving ship in the Unity fleet. The Starburst assumed formation beside the Resolute, it’s six fighter groups moving to cover both union dreadnaughts from the swarms of Unity fighters.
“Bob?” Admiral Smith asked nervously as he saw the Unity dreadnaughts “They’re using my strategy against us! Hope you’ve got some bright ideas for this one ‘cause I sure don’t!”
“I do Andrew!” Robert replied. “All ships fire at the enemy formation with all batteries, all fighters maintain an escort pattern.”
At that, every frigate and cruiser in the Union fleet began unloading on the formation tightening around the three Unity dreadnaughts. With the Resolute and Starburst at the heart of the bombardment it was like the equivalent of three fully equipped battle groups. But the combined power of the Unity cluster and the three dreadnaughts at its core was overwhelming and one by one Union ships began exploding.
“Bob this is NUTS!” Andrew shouted. “We’re not gonna take every one of their ships down before we’re blow to pieces!”
“We don’t have to!” Bob cheered back as he saw a Unity cruiser lose it’s shields “We just have to take down ONE!”
Finally, the first Unity cruiser exploded. It was only a modestly armed and equipped ship, but in a tightly packed formation like the unity fleet was in it was more than enough to start a chain reaction that tore through the nearby frigates and cruisers alike. One by one the entire Unity fleet began blowing itself apart, each frigate and cruiser that blew up took the nearest ships with it. The cycle continued until only one of the three dreadnaughts was left, and with most of it’s systems crippled it began limping away from the battle, trailing smoke and flames in it’s wake.
“Consider this a warning prime node!” Andrew shouted as the Starburst continued to bombard the crippled behemoth, “Whatever you are, where ever you are, if you want to clean this galaxy you’ll have to get through US!”
Finally, the beleaguered cruiser succumbed to the attack and, in a fireball the size of a small sun, it exploded.
“Oh, thank goodness it’s over.” Andrew slumped back into his captains chair exhausted. “It’s finally over.”
“No it’s not, not by a long shot.” Bob replied. “I was monitoring the battle while the Resolute got underway, whatever that ’prime uni-node is, it’s out still out there and calling the shots! Unity won’t stop until that prime node, whatever it is, is blown to pieces.”
“And we’ve got to tools and the talent to see that happen Bob!” Andrew allowed himself a smile and a few tears, “There’s enough scrap here to make another Starburst-class cruiser and I already know what to call it.”
“Let me guess.” A female voice crackled across the comlink. “The Prominence 2?”
“Carolyn!” Andrew almost cried for happiness. “Where in the void are you!”
“Currently drifting dangerously close to Hibernia’s gravity field.” Carolyn remained calm knowing rescue was imminent. “It would be VERY nice to get out of this cramped little escape pod.”
“Copy that Vice Admiral Tornatore!” Robert chuckled. “Attention supply shuttle Razor, please secure the Vice Admiral will you?”Without further delay I give you, the link to download the Union Mod! Here’s hoping you enjoyed the stories and screen shots. Thank you all so much for your patience and faith that I’d get this thing done. It’s taken over a year, and it’s been a daunting challenge, but it’s been a very satisfying and rewarding journey.
Special thanks again to Darkstar and Archduke Astro…without you guys I’d never have gotten the inspiration or technical help to even GET this far!
Here’s the latest version of the mod
Union v1.12 for the PC
mediafire.com/?al2wecj09soerjt
Union v1.12 for the Mac
mediafire.com/?x4xkg7z30b8o17r
This looks wonderful! Impressive story, and I appreciate all the wonderful work you’ve put into this. Great job, and thanks for giving us one of the best GSB experiences possible!
I’m gretful for your kind words…enjoy the mod.
Cen, these stories are quite entertaining – kudos to you for crafting them. 
I am impressed with the way in which you’ve woven these tales to include so much of the action & excitement from the mod itself. One wonders what other great deeds the Union might accomplish. I have got to visit my local mod dealership and take this baby out on the highway for a test-drive.
You’re most welcome. I should say that while I may have infrequently provided inspiration that served as a partial road-map, you were the one who had the creative vision & determination that was needed in order to undertake this long, arduous, fulfilling journey; every single step of it.
well Archduke thanks for the kind words…like I said it was you’re original dreadnaughts that really got me started down the road of making my own ships. They were EXCELLENT designs, and to be fair…your material about the revised dreadnaughts you released is nothing short of outstanding yourself.
All the same I’m glad you enjoyed reading my material…I only hope you enjoy the mod as much as the stories. In particular the Resolute was more or less directly inspired by you sir. The hull and weaponry are mine…but it was your dreadnaughts that first got me saying “Omg…MAYBE I can actually DO that!”
Hell, I love the designs, especially the aesthetics. I’ve been playing around with them for a number of hours now, and the only concerns I have is that the linked shield matrices (Or any shield with improved stacking effectiveness) can become very overpowered very quickly. To wit, I had 4 shield generators on a dreadnought and 4,500 shield points. Using 4 linked shields and that one really, really powerful 750 point one. Just a concern for balance, as it’s very easy to make ships that are effectively immortal. Add a lot of armour? And you have the ultimate tank.
You’re fears aren’t unfounded, and in revisions I may tone that down a little. By original thinking was to do something that had never been done before with a shield that got STRONGER the more you put on.
If you look at Networked shield you’ll see a few ways I balanced that out: First of, it has very low strength and resistance to beign with, and it has higher power/crew/weight/cost requirements.
My thinking behind that (and the stacking armor) is that, yes you CAN have a ship that’s just shy of unstoppable. BUT it’s going to crawl into the fight and get hit by everything. If you REALLY wanna go nuts you can dump a lot of high power engines on it as well…but you’re going to have a SUPER EXPENSIVE ship that you’re lucky to field 2 or 3 of…Especially if we’re talking about a ship loaded down with high cost Union specific weaponry…and if you’re talking about all that on the Starburst or Resolute the whole cost idea ratchet’s up 2 or 3 orders of magnitude…I’ve got a Resolute that costs over 21,000
The Superconcentrated Shield, by contrast has a much LOWER stacking effectiveness than the average shield. So you’re putting it on for the resistance value…It’s designed more for ships like the Jakalope and Windreaper, where you don’t have a lot of module slots to spar.
In the Campaign setting…you may have a point…I’ve personally found that the extremely high costs of such ships helps balance out their considerable power. But please remember everyone…this IS only version 1.00. I’m not DONE with revisions of these ships, hulls or weapons.
As far as the weaponry goes most of the weapons I personally made, while they have impressive damage, don’t have very high shield/armor penetration ratings. So they DO damage to shields and armor but not a LOT of damage to shields and armor.
That was at least…my logic behdind everything…my logic may be flawed. All the same Glad you like the designs and graphics…I’m especially fond of the Thunderhawk Pulse Cannon
True xD
I’m particularly fond of overly expensive ships, as it happens, and my resolute ship is approximately 20,856 xD; as you can see I hold true to the quality over quantity. Anyways, in campaign it basically destroys everything, or so I’ve found (yes, I modded the yards to let me produce it, stop glaring at me xD), but then again, I did mod the campaign itself to allow it. So, it might destroy several hundred thousand pt strong fleets on its own, but it was never meant to be fielded in the first place. And on that note, once you take cost out of the equation, everything becomes unbalanced. That said, I love the Union, and I think you did superb work. Keep it up!
All I did was mod the shipyards to let me MAKE one…I didn’t do anything to the factories or academies to get the crew/money off the bat. Doing that it takes a LOT longer to get one, especially since you have other ships that you’ll need to make to strain your resources.
Beyond that, I have found that even with like 8 union armor slots and 6 Laserstorm 2000’s A fighter swarm eventually wears down the armor…and with a -36% integrity bonus she blows up all the same.
Tested the mod and, woah, absdolutely loved several hulls and some of your beam Fx looks pretty interesting, i really enjoyed them,
Can modify 2 of them? The pulse thingy beam and the multi lighthing used on fighters ^^ (i cant remember the names hehee)
Also, i noticed some modules inspired and/or using my first releases, the Shadow Armour, Energy Armour and the Gravy-Magnetical Missile Laucher 
Pretty happy about that ^^
Back to the mod, i loved a lot of things of it, i can’t say everything because i’m very whimsical and/or perfectionist, respectively, in terms of Hulls Designs and Beam Fx (talking about blast-moving glow-beam transition, i always try to get the most perfect or less noticeable transition ^^)
The histories. I really like to read and more if is about Sci-Fi/Conflicts/Space etc etc etc, so, only one thing to say… I LOVED THEM! 
The Race battle music in one word: AWESOME.
Pretty nice how you used the lights of the hull as part of the trail ^^
Loved the black big cruiser, it is my fav one. Damn, i can’t remember any name xD
The only thing that i noticed that needs this mod is Custom sound FX, as the majority of the mods 
Awesome work man!!
Ah - the Grav Missile . .
The ONLY knockback missile that will NEVER destroy a target.
there are quite a few new innovations in this mod 
wwwwwaitasecond!, didn’t noticed that, knockback without damage? even hull damage?
EDITED post above ^^
EDIT:
reads
ECM Warh…
-Oh my… oh my gawd!!!
reads again
-THAT IS THE KEY!!!
You guys are awesome!! You have no idea how long I have tried to eliminate that overpower!
i had never thought of warheads, because i never had played with that value… yesterday!! Yesterday was the first time recently started working on missiles, including changes on that variable in my codes! LOL
I have several new ideas with missiles, and now, you managed to revive my hopes for the classified …cough cough “Push” cough cough… project. (long ago dead because i never found the solution to this overpower problem)
Thank you again guys
If you read back through the Unity thread you will notice where the conversation between Cen2050 and I gets a little cryptic. It is around those times where there has been a breakthrough.
In this case - I had sat on the Perfect Knockback missile solution for over a year. I have been dying to use it with Unity 2.0 but it didn’t quite fit (In its current version) However Cen2050 had the perfect use for it so i sent it his way.
Cen2050 came up with this one particular awesome idea which i didn’t think would work out - however when he showed me the results i was glad i was wrong (And i will pinch that idea for Unity)
So as i said - there are quite a few new innovations in the mod, you just have to find them.
Also the Black ship is the Starburst Carrier . .
Well I guess I will be the unpopular one and talk about balance again.
One bug is that the Union EMP Shield has the same name as normal one (cruiser_ecm shield), so you would need to fix that.
Now except for one thing this might possibly be the most balance mod I ever seen. Race specific guns are good, but hulls comes with cost boost and large size. Even the Jackalop doesn’t seem to be causing too much problems.
The one problem however is the positive stacking, pretty much with everything but most specifically with armor. So take this for example
As you can see, all 46 hardpoint are full with guns. This monster has 3785.68% armor boost, 1883.77 armor resistance, and god knows how much armor strength. So you will want to lower the positive stacking significantly to compensate for the Flagship.
Basically if you end up with a ship full of guns and still over 73 armor resistance, you have a problem.
Edit: And Frigate Armor need fixing too. I got 8 ion cannon, 0.3 speed, 329 armor resist, at 3654 cost. Personally I set my positive stack armor in Microbe at 3%, but also with a much lower base defense/cost. If you want to keep the current cost/base you probably need something between 1-2% growth.