Ship Lore

[Thexare]

// Hello and welcome to a little project of mine. Ship lore. Basically, a write-up on the origins and attributes in-universe of various open-market vessels. By the time I'm done, I hope to cover all civilian, Border Worlds, and otherwise non-faction craft. I've dabbled in this before.

Note that while I am a dev, and I do write ship infocards, this is not official canon. You're free to disregard if you like, but if you want to use it, feel free. I'll also take suggestions and ideas, feel free to PM me.

Also! If your faction has a Variant to note, let me know! There's room for more.

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Table of Contents

CTE Series: Griffin, Falcon, Eagle, Roc, Kestrel, Condor
CTE Shuttles: Starflier, Startracker (discontinued), Stargazer
IDC Series: Stargazer, Sunburst, Sunrider
Border Worlds Series: Scimitar, Switchblade, Sabre, Cutlass, etc.
Advanced Border Worlds: Bayonet, Falchion, Broadsword
Renzu Corp.: Ki (discontinued), Saishi, Sutinga, Touketsu, Anki, Shukensha

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CTE-4000 "Griffin" Light Escort
CTE-3000 "Falcon" Escort Fighter
CTE-6000 "Eagle" Heavy Escort
CTE-19000 "Roc" Escort Bomber
CTE-F-1050-A "Kestrel" Freighter
CTE-12400 "Condor" Multirole Corvette

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History

As piracy continued to rise in Liberty, the Big Three found their armed Startracker escorts to be woefully inadequate. Ageira and Deep Space Engineering worked together, with funding from IC and Universal, to design new, highly advanced escorts suitable for escorting long-haul convoys. The CTE-1500 "Hawk" Light Escort was the first model in the new line. Agile, resillient, and surprisingly livable for a combat craft, the Hawk was an instant hit.

The new vessels attracted interest all over Sirius, and Ageira and DSE made a killing selling them on the open market. With the rollout of the CTE-3000 "Falcon" Escort Fighter, licenses were offered to other corporations to produce the craft themselves.

Naturally, a vessel this successful quickly found interest from pirates and terrorists. The Xenos are generally agreed to be the first criminal organization to employ Hawks, believed to have been sourced from Universal sympathizers. Deployment from there is harder to track, but the vessels quickly became an ubiquitous sight across Sirius, on both ends of a convoy raid. It should come as little surprise that agencies such as the Liberty Security Force have also employed a number of these craft to hide in plain sight.

Unfortunately, as pirate tech and competing vessels have improved, the CTE series - even the long-beloved Eagle - had severely fallen behind. The '27 models, which have an upgrade package available for older craft as well, were specifically targeted at fixing those issues, but so far they still have the reputation of being large, clunky, and underpowered. The marketing campaign, "Not Your Father's Falcon", has seen limited success in changing that impression.

The first bomber in the CTE line was the CTE-10000 "Thunderbird", produced by the Zoners of the deep Omicrons in 810 AS. Though its anti-warship performance could be charitably described as "adequate", the over-armored torpedo tubes weighed the ship down and made it a larger target, a preview of what was to afflict the rest of the series later. Often derisively called the "pregnant Eagle", the Thunderbird had few fans, merely pilots that had few other choices. In 814, Ageira and BMM revealed the new CTE-19000 "Roc" Escort Bomber, which swiftly replaced the aging and unpopular Thunderbird.

The CTE-F-1050-A "Kestrel" is a late development in the line. The original prototype was made with parts from decommissioned Hawks and a spare cargo pod. Initial results were promising, and a proper design was formulated, leading to the modern Kestrel. Originally rolled out in 815 AS to limited distribution, most current Kestrels are built off the 823 AS revision with an expanded cabin owing to improvements in optronics miniaturization.

Zoners made another contribution to the line in 817 AS, this time from the deep Omegas. Working in concert with the Junkers of Bornholm Depot they devised the Condor, a versatile, well-balanced corvette suited to protecting vital supply convoys from rampaging Wild and belligerent pirates. Considerably more popular than the Thunderbird, the Condor's success led to Ageira and DSE purchasing full rights to the blueprints. The Condor was thus fully absorbed into the CTE family, designated CTE-12400, and as with the rest of the line, construction contracts were offered to numerous civilian companies.

Variations

Owing to the strict licensing requirements, there are few official variants, most of which amount to little more than a rebadging and some furnishing adjustments to the cabin. Lawyers, however, are woefully ineffective against Junkers, pirates, and terrorists, but such variations are rarely well-documented.

Maintenance and Reliability

Engineered from the ground up for mass production and mass deployment, the CTE series is praised for ease of maintenance. Documentation and training are readily available and parts are easily sourced, with many components cross-compatible across the line. This is why even as performance suffered compared to the competition, many corporations continued to field CTE escorts.

CTE snubcraft are also highly reliable and easy to operate, with flight controls comparable in complexity to the Startrainer shuttlecraft many students learn to fly with. The Condor is a more complicated beast, but still designed for a civilian market first and foremost; it's not unheard of for a military academy to maintain one or two as training craft, when a decommissioned patrol ship is unavailable.

Perception

Though once near-universally sought out by freelancers and hobbyists, the CTE line has taken a hit to its reputation in the last decade or so. In addition to the lagging engineering referenced in History, the vessels are often considered overly sterile and corporate, devoid of character. They have always been regarded as very reliable craft, however.

The Condor escaped much of the reputation decay its smaller siblings suffered, owing largely to a lack of competition. With only the Montante and significantly heftier Ahoudori as open-markiet competition, those who work primarily in House space often stick by the Condor for the availability of parts and ease of maintenance. Its edgeworld origin is something of an open secret, which has helped its perception among freelancers and other travellers significantly.

Special Notes

There's little else to say about the CTE small craft. If you've flown one, you're ready to fly them all; craft within this line have very similar control schema and no notable quirks. They are unexciting, but efficient and reliable.