Proposal: New "Phantom" Shipline

[aerelm]

Existing Phantom ships are low quality imports and their balance is admittedly somewhat out of whack, and the only reason they didn't really get much attention since 87 has been because the faction was not in use on the offiicial server. Now that the faction is getting a reboot and being reworked from ground up, I was asked to submit a retexture of the CTE line as the new shipline for the new faction which would take over the old Phantom assets.

The idea was discussed within the dev team and since it received a reasonable support there, it's now being posted for community feedback. Before you ask: Yes, the ships will keep their Nomad-style engines.

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Stating the obvious which previously did not seem to be necessary but turned out to be so:

    1. The ships are not intended as the permanent replacement for the line, and are only proposed as the temporary replacement of the current imported line, to remove the need for an immediate replacement and give modelers some time to actually wait for a new faction to take over the Phantoms assets and then make proper models which would go with the lore and characteristics of the new faction, as any attempt at an actual remodel of the line at the moment would be based on the lore of the old faction, which would not be much productive.

    2. As for the models linked here, since the dev team was never given the actual model files, unless someone can actually get in touch with the original modeler and get the actual files from him to submit for implementation, the models cannot be considered because, to put it as simple as possible, there's no actual ship posted in that thread.

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Merlin - Light Fighter
Replaces the "Slipstream"

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Raptor - Very Heavy Fighter
Replaces the "Raven Claw"

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Phoenix - Light Bomber
Replaces the "Umbrage"

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Color of the cockpit glass might be adjusted to crimson, but that's still pending consideration, and balance of these ships will be similar (not identical) to their equivalent of CTE line. Guns and equipment of the faction will also be receiving appropriate adjustments.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank imrdy (modeler of the original Roc)
for giving me the permission to use his model as part of this line.