Here is something I've been working on, but stalled: The Orthoptera range - 5 similar looking ships. The one pictured is the original Locust mk XIV, although I think the Locusts will have a dusty brown colour scheme, with the green reserved for the grasshoppers and shiny white / custom paintjobs for the Cricket.
The concept was for a ship that has a massive number of missile slots, so that people can really have fun with all that strange and interesting different missile-mounted OXP equipment. The payoffs for these missile-heavy ships are various, but include:
- No laser weapons at all (!) on one version, and no rear / side lasers on any of them.
- Cruddy maneuverability & speed on most versions.
- Mediocre cargo space.
- High price on the decent variants.
This is my first attempt at using Wings 3D, and I don't think I've done too badly, but I'm kind of stuck now. I think i need to sculpt all the different models before I begin skinning, but I have no idea how to go about skinning or whatever lies beyond that (scripting, presumably?). Also, I think it might need some kind of custom dashboard, to make missile management easier. I may have been a little overambitious...
Anyway, screenies and writeups below:
Locust mk XIV
The Locust mk XIV is a defunct military missile ship.
About a century ago, some promising developments in missile technology threatened to upset the balance between missiles, ecm and laser weapons. In response, the military ordered a new platform for what looked to be a new era in space combat. The result was the locust, at the time a state-of-the-art, super-tough ship with an astonishing 42 missile slots. The intention was for a fleet of locusts to release a swarm of missiles that would utterly overwhelm any counter-measures deployed by the enemy. It featured a standard issue fuel scoop to reclaim unused ordinance and the best ECM of the era, and as soon as the designs were ready, huge numbers were put into build.
By the time the first locusts rolled off the production line, the new missile technology had already been made obselete by advances in ECM. Rather than scrap the program though, the military displayed either laudable foresight or stubborn refusal to admit a mistake and continued funding the project. The massive fleet of locusts was maintained in anticipation of some future game-changing development in weapons technology that might necessitate a massed-missile patform.
So the locusts languished in mothballs for decades, to be dusted off once in a while and retrofitted with upgraded hardware, until at last the ageing spaceframe could be be updated no further. After over a dozen revisions, the locust finally fell prey to budget cuts. The fleet was auctioned off to various interested parties, and the designs and license to manufacture sold to Orthoptera Shipbuilding, a small startup headed by a few ex-military engineers who had been looking after the locusts for the last thirty years or so.
The Navy has been reluctant to comment on rumours of a new missile platform project to replace the locust.
As you might expect, the locust's age and design makes it an unusual choice for most uses, unsuited as it is to modern laser duels. While quick when it was designed, it is painfully slow by today's standards. Despite being in the same size class as a cobra mkIII, it handles more like a python, with the cargo space of a cobra I and no laser mount. Therefore most extant ships are in the hands of collectors and enthusiasts, who view it as a charming piece of eccentric militaria. However some are in active use, and those rare few willing to pilot one in open space will fiercely advocate its strengths - The locust is heavily armoured, and the massive missile magazines can be re-purposed for all kinds of innovative (but usually expensive) 3rd party equipment and weaponry. It has a small but devoted fanbase, who refer to the mkXIV as the "Locust Classic", in order to differentiate it from its successor. Properly equipped, and in the right hands, even its worst detractors will admit that the locust classic can be a versatile and dangerous ship.
Locust mk XV Rubbisher
Within a year of buying the rights to the locust, Orthoptera unveiled the Locust mkXV Ravager. According to the marketing blurb, the Ravager brought the locust line into the present, combining the strenghts of the classic locust, while addressing its shortcomings with improved speed, better maneuvering, greater cargo capacity and a front laser mount.
According to Toop Gear magazine, it was a botched attempt at an impossible task. The basic design had been upgraded so many times over the last century that it was almost impossible to squeeze anything more out of it. In order to fit the front laser they had to move the cockpit from the head to the body and reconfigure the entire interior of the ship- for example, to get from the cockpit to the cargo bay, you have to climb over the engine coils and go through a trapdoor above the toilet. The meagre cargo space improvements came at the cost of more than half the magazine capacity and the ship's laudable ruggedness had been sacrificed in order to provide speed and handling improvements that were nominal at best. All the selling points of the original had been sacrificed for barely noticable improvements elsewhere. ToopGear famously summed up their review with "The Locust mkXV Rubbisher (Even rubbisher than the mkXIV)" and the moniker stuck. Nobody remembered the name "Ravager" and even today most HUDs and targetting systems will ID a mkXV as a "Rubbisher". Although many thousands were produced, few remain in use today- their terrible combat capabilities have taken countless Rubbishers out of circulation, and most shipyards that receive one in part exchange will simply scrap it rather than have it sitting unsold on their forecourt indefinitely. It is universally regarded as a truly terrible ship with no redeeming qualities, that no sane pilot would willingly fly for any reason.
Co-founder of Orthoptera and ex-Head of Engineering Sally Mandibles (deceased) admitted in her autobiography that the mkXV was rushed prematurely to market in an attempt to recoup the cost of purchasing the locust legacy. She also asserted that with another six months to finish development, they would have fielded a reworked locust that equalled or surpassed its predecessor in every way. These plans were eventually finished and they were ready to begin production of the mkXVI, but by that time the name and brand had become a laughing stock, and Orthoptera were in serious financial trouble.
Grasshopper
It took several years to sort out the financial mess, but the original Orthoptera team re-emerged, heavily in debt, ready to try again. While they had the plans for a mkXVI locust, it was decided that the spaceframe was too old and its reputation too poor to be worth the risk. Instead they designed a new ship from the ground up, keeping the familiar form factor and niche role of the Classic but with a brand new, state of the art, slender spaceframe. Most people agree that the Grasshopper delivered on the promises of the Locust MkXV. While it still has somewhat less magazine space and durability than the Classic, it is much quicker - almost nimble, in fact - with a laser mount and a respectable hold. Much of the project's budget went on image-management services, which for the most part succeeded in distancing the Grasshopper from the disaster of the Rubbisher, while retaining a link to the quirky appeal of the Classic. Due to these rebranding efforts and the high development costs, the main criticism of the grasshopper has always been the price, although prices on the second hand market tend to be more reasonable.
Grasshopper Blade
Having just about covered their debts with the Grasshopper, Orthoptera decided to break out of the missileship niche with the release of the limited edition Grasshopper Blade. The Blade was an attempt to give the Grasshopper a more mass-market appeal, by converting more than half of the magazine space to cargo. It also trades some of its ruggedness for extra maneuverability, making it a worthy contender in laser combat. New materials and production techniques enabled the designers to slim the craft down a little to reduce its target profile. While it certainly handles more like a traditional blockade runner, most people agree that it still doesn't quite measure up to the less expensive Cobra mkIII. Therefore it is commonly regarded as a bit of an outcast, caught between two different design functions and fulfilling neither particularly well. However it is a nice ship to fly, and of course still boasts an uncommonly high number of missile slots. The Blade sold in moderate numbers, enough to put the company firmly back in the black, but the sales weren't compelling enough to continue development of a mainstream variant, and the next ship in the Orthoptera lineup returned to its niche roots.
Cricket
The Cricket (inexplicably referred to as the "Krikket" in some localities) was the last ship in the Orthoptera line, and undoubtedly the best. It took the best of the two grasshopper craft and improved them again. Built on the Blade chassis, it is tough, nippy, with 40 missile slots and over 20 tons of cargo space. It is also the only Orthoptera ship capable of mounting fuel injectors. All this ability comes at a price though, and only a small number of wealthy enthusiasts were prepared to purchase one. Most of them complained vehemently about the shining white paint job, which made it an easy target in combat. Therefore if you are lucky enough to spot one in the wild, you will most likely see it in customised colours.
Sadly, Orthoptera's manufacturing facility was completely destroyed in a mysterious attack less than a year after the Cricket began production. The ongoing investigation into this tragedy has so far been completely fruitless and almost all Orthoptera management and employees were killed. Although offsite backups of all their ship designs and blueprints do exist, they are currently all tied up while the complex legal web of ownership and inheritance is settled, so no new Orthoptera ships are likely to be built in the near future.