Amongst the many megacorporations, colonists, and pirates living in the frontier, there exists a constant need for space warships. As a result, a whole industry has formed around providing heavy arms to whoever can pay. These ships run the range from rusty, outdated workhorses to state-of-the-art battleships capable of matching anything mil-spec.
THE SHIPS:
One of the oldest ships still in service, Dorn Defense Industries' Dreadnought-class light cruiser has aged poorly. Once considered a battleship, her increasingly inadequate armament resulted in her reclassification to heavy cruiser, and finally, light cruiser. Though producing new ones is certainly uneconomical in modern times, the number of old models still operational means that buying one used is a cheap way to get a tough ship.
Developed by Callisto Aerospace to complement the common Dreadnought fleets with heavier firepower, the Condor was classified as a battlecruiser for her then-impressive cannon armament. However, a poor safety record, inefficient loading systems, and the simultaneous launch of superior ships resulted in few sales.
Dorn Defense Industries' answer to advancing technology, the Dreadnought II-class heavy cruiser stays true to the virtues of the original Dreadnought: high durability and surprising agility. Though heavy use of shields makes the Dreadnought II something of a nuclear powder keg if penetrated, and expensive, the excellent protection offered by her shields and hull is generally considered a good trade.
Impoverished by the failure of the Condor and now competing with Dorn's advanced Dreadnought II, Callisto Aerospace attempted to make itself relevant again by offering an upgrade package for the Condor's armament. Termed "Condor II," the new ships were equipped with much heavier cannons and a dubiously effective moving walkway system to load them. However, this was not enough to dig CA out of debt, and they filed for bankruptcy shortly after.
Those who bought Condor II upgrade kits were stuck with unused Condor weapon sections. Rather than let them go to waste, a common solution was to attach them to Dreadnought hulls in an arrangement dubbed "Condornaught light cruiser." The resulting ship was unwieldy, but certainly improved upon the Dreadnought's weaponry.
Ship of choice for the conservative astromilitary, the Dagger-class gun frigate was envisioned by the startup Armstrong Labs as an improvement on traditional broadside tactics: instead of only using half the ship at a time, the Dagger was intended to only be half a ship. The result was effective and cheap, if tactically inflexible.
Another of Armstrong Labs' unconventional one-sided ships, the Longsword-class battlecruiser was built very similarly to the Dagger but with bigger guns. However, the vulnerability of leaving such a large ship unprotected on one side ensured that she never sold as well as her smaller cousin.
Personal flagship of self-proclaimed pirate king Captain Sven, the Rattlesnake is a one of a kind amalgamation of other spacefaring vessels slowly added onto Sven's previous flagship, a Dreadnought II heavy cruiser of the same name. She consists of parts from two Dreadnought IIs, two Lurker ion frigates, two small gunboats, one Condor II battlecruiser, two Dreadnought light cruisers, and four Swan gun frigates. One-on-one, few ships can stand against the Rattlesnake.
Produced by Dorn Defense Industries for the purpose of enforcing and protecting the interests of their frontier mining subsidiaries (and as a response to the Rattlesnake), the Citadel is a, for now, one-off ship falling into the "superdreadnought" category. Carrying an enormous broadside, triple-layered shielding, and plenty of armor, very few ships can hope to outlast the Citadel.
