S/A-7 Talon Star Attacker
And this, juniors, is your new best friend. The S/A-7 Talon Star Attack Fighter. Those old Claws you used to fly in training? Forget them. these are faster, stronger, smarter, and make a better fried egg than anything else you'll ever fly.
The S/A-7 "Talon" is a hanger-based star attack fighter sporting hard mounts for gimbaled gun turrets and a relatively large reserve of missile and torpedo bays, developed for use against enemy capital ships and stations. This design is based on the Reiker Strike Chassis, which was also used to develop the AS/T-19 "Red Eagle" transport, resulting in similarities in design and certain functionality between the two vessels.
Appearance & Design
A typical Arshan Talon is painted in the usual dark black of all Arshan vessels. Accent markings are added in various parts of the ship to allow for easy identification of the craft's assigned branch, using that branch's color. The Arshan emblem is prominent on both sides of the hull, as well as a unit name and number if applicable. In the example above, the markings indicate this specific craft belongs to Zander unit 177-B, from Delta.
The cockpit is housed in a reinforced alloy chassis and a hardened transparent orange 'glass' like gem-based material. The internal cabin is pressurized, though pilots are required to wear void suits when piloting in the event of ejection or depressurization.
Weapons & Armament
Primarily serving the role of an attack fighter, the Talon's armament consists mainly of a bay of anti-capital ship weaponry such as long-range anti-ship missiles (LASM) of varying yields and munitions - Explosives, electromagnetic burst weapons, etc. These missiles are ejected sideways through one of two missile ports, one on either side of the craft, before their propulsion and guidance systems activate, launching the warhead toward its target. The craft is also typically loaded with a number of short-range high agility missiles (SHAM) for deterring enemy interceptors, alongside a pair of gimbal-mounted gun turrets on the fore section of the vessel.
Torpedos
The Talon is also equipped with a central torpedo bay, housing up to two medium-sized torpedos. These larger warheads have a higher yield than LASMs, at the cost of their size, mass, and lack of maneuverability. The typical torpedo equipped aboard a Talon is fired at a point in space where it is expected to impact its target based on that target's current trajectory - A calculation typically done using an on-board computer in the cockpit or by the co-pilot. These torpedos are the true strength of the Talon's weaponry when used effectively.
RPG Stats
Interfaces/Seats
A standard Talon star attacker has two available seats in the cockpit, both of which utilize the same interfaces: A pilot and co-pilot, or weapons system operator (WSO). Both crew seats handle control of the helm, primary weapons systems, navigation, and the gimbal turret controllers. In general, a single user can utilize both navigation and the helm at the same time, or the primary weapons and turret controllers at the same time without penalty, making the Talon theoretically usable by a single person. However, attempting to use a navigation or helm system at the same time as a weapon or turret system will incur penalties on the relevant skill checks.
Weapons Systems
The Talon is equipped with the following weaponry hardpoints:
2x Turret Hardpoints: Two forward-facing gimballed turret hardpoints set in the fore section of the ship. Due to their position, these turrets only have a 180-degree forward-facing field of fire. These turrets can be manually controlled using a turret control interface or provided with a control system for autonomous fire. A standard Talon utilizes a dual-barrelled gun turret firing Arshan heavy-caliber rounds in both hardpoints, with a basic tracker control system.
10x Missile Hardpoints: The Talon is equipped with two missile bays on either side of the hull, housing up to 5 missiles each. The missile loadout used by any given Talon can vary widely depending on availability and the requirements of the mission. Missiles are given a lock-on target and fired using a weapons control interface.
2x Torpedo Hardpoints: Located in the belly of the Talon is a torpedo bay able to house up to two medium-yield torpedoes. Like the missiles, the torpedo loadout can vary. Torpedos are given trajectories and fired using a weapons control interface.
Constructions
Work in progress.
Table of Contents
Player
This article is part of the RPG Player series and includes stats and information for use in the E.Lite RPG System usable as a player. More information on the E.Lite RPG system and an introduction to Galaxies End as an RPG setting can be found here. More information about subscriber groups can be found here.
Table of Contents
Ranger Advance Scout & Strike Division, Ekho
Sokol Advance Strike Division, Tango
Spearhead Anti-Piracy Strike Division, Zulusskiy
Zander Anti-Carrier Strike Division, Delta
Can I ask where did you get/made those two concept images for the ship?
If you are looking for my Worldember articles check Magic Earth or My Worldember Progress Page
The rainbow-colored blocky ones I made myself as a basic, rough sketch/idea of what the ship looks like. I started out sketching it on graph paper in a top-down view, then another one in an isometric view, then pulled up Inkscape and copied all the lines over to there. The side-profile image that's properly colored and much more professional-looking was from an artist named Hand of Manos on DeviantArt. Sadly, Manos has closed all of his accounts and dropped off the face of the internet since then.
Thank you. What do you recommend for someone with no drawing skills to get an image of a spaceship? Are there any programs? Just pen and paper?
If you are looking for my Worldember articles check Magic Earth or My Worldember Progress Page
Pen and paper's a good starting point. I use graphing paper when I'm making my sketches and work off of basic shapes, then refine those shapes down into something interesting/unique looking. Inkscape's a good program for redrawing those sketches on a computer as you can apply a grid to the canvas and align drawn lines to said grid to mimic your grid-paper sketches. It's free, too.