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Jean-Luc Martel
Jean-Luc Martel
2 years ago

for some reason the gun mounts remind me of the MCRN Gunships from The Expanse.

Jango Fett
Jango Fett
2 years ago

This thing is really cool I like that design

Richard Ched
Richard Ched
3 years ago

Looks like an Alternate DP20. I’m really loving it!

Jean-Luc Martel
Jean-Luc Martel
3 years ago

this is an oddball…

George
George
3 years ago

Ansel, could you share the height of the ship? Is it a single deck? Any thoughts on the internal arrangement? Any estimate on number of crew? Am I correct that there’s no landing gear and no means of access other than the forward docking ring? Thank you!

Jean-Luc Martel
Jean-Luc Martel
3 years ago
Reply to  Fractalsponge

I’m guessing this is a CEC design? What’s the Model Number?

Shaun
Shaun
3 years ago

3!

James Retzer
James Retzer
3 years ago
Reply to  Fractalsponge

Based on other imperial Vessels it probably has a crew of 150 to 20 and a troop capacity of 10-50.

AlternativeHeadcannon
AlternativeHeadcannon
4 years ago

Edit: Sorry posted twice

AlternativeHeadcannon
AlternativeHeadcannon
4 years ago

Ok, so here is my alternative headcanon / background story to this ship:

A rather unknown ship, the Dart-class gunship could only be found patrolling smaller, less frequented hyperlanes (alongside other vessels) and sometimes cleaning them from debris or smaller asteroids with its added tractor beam projector. It emerged from the successful occupation of the Outer Rim world A’ogaoth II, a less significant trading outpost turned planetary civilization with less than 15 million inhabitants. The world’s main economic products were the planet-side mineral and metal deposits and the “Dur’t shipbuilding and manufacturing company” products such as this vessel, originally labelled the Drt-43d/4, but often referred to as “Dirt ship” due to its manufacturer’s phonetic similarity. It was originally sold both into the general market (receiving only little demand) and into local smuggling and pirate groups. It lacked significant hull strenght, shield strenght (only navigational shields), armament, equipment and generally quality often seen in Imperial warships; this is due to the circumstance that the local Sector governor decided not to reconfigure the shipyard to produce standard Imperial warships, either not bothering at all with this planet’s unimportant affairs or out of concern, that this might plunge the world into unemployment and disarray. He therefore proposed a way to utilize the relatively useless ship in a minor, yet necessary role: Patrolling and maintaining smaller hyperlanes, first only locally and later across various places of the galaxy. Its cheap cost and decent functionality was appreciated at least by the Imperial Survey and Exploration Program, which also monitored and maintained remote hyperlanes. The ship was procuded out of anything the manufacturer could gather, given that planetside materials were often exported and shipwrecks and debris was readily available. With Imperial contracting, this design philosophy changed somewhat, as the construction process became more streamlined and standardized, yet remained distinctly unique in its incapability to produce two exactly identical ships, as the Empire demanded a fixed amount produced each year, yet tried to keep the price as low as possible. The asymmetrical assembly of weapons systems and other components is still a trademark of this ship class, being often described as a “nightmare to maintain” and as an “unusable piece of junk, barely worth the scrap price”.

BladeRunner
BladeRunner
4 years ago

Its beautiful in an ugly way, like it was built out of spare parts because they needed any available ship. Seems like something the rebellion would manufacture.

SovietSeagull101
3 years ago
Reply to  BladeRunner

That perfectly describes this ship, and I agree with you about it looking like something the rebellion would manufacture

TheEpicDude
TheEpicDude
4 years ago

I love these kind of ships

OmegaS
OmegaS
4 years ago

My hunch is that this seeming Saturday Night Special is a badly obsolete technological/doctrinal forerunner to the Skipray Blastboat, sold to bottom tier planetary defense forces and criminal groups that lack either the connections to acquire or technical base to operate something more modern. If it ever runs into something more capable than a low grade Space Technical its dead meat, but that’s more than enough to cover most of the the Outer Rim hellholes that would need it.

Mohammad
Mohammad
4 years ago

Hi
your work is remarkable , i waiting to see more of it , specially Arquitens-class light cruiser

Pityuka
Pityuka
4 years ago

Landing gear ?

PhoenixKnight
PhoenixKnight
4 years ago
Reply to  Pityuka

I doubt it

gthompsn
gthompsn
4 years ago

I really like the asymmetry of it (you have obviously allowed for internal space for the port and starboard mounts).

I like both versions of the Dart. Fractal, would you be open to keeping them as different ships?

wusolja
wusolja
4 years ago

can the side guns aim fwd or aft?

wusolja
wusolja
4 years ago

a reduced blockade runner? 🙂

Road Warrior
Road Warrior
4 years ago

You in some direct competition with Howard Day in some sort of “Pimp my Gunship”? 😉

Looking from astern, it appears you have an element or two out of alignment. This might just be perspective…

Chaucer
Chaucer
4 years ago

Doesn’t really look Imperial. Not brutalist enough.

Daib
Daib
4 years ago
Reply to  Chaucer

Why were you ever assuming it was Imperial to begin with?

Frizzo
Frizzo
4 years ago
Reply to  Daib

Why were you not? It’s the same slate grey, and it’s flying in formation with Imperial craft.

Daib
Daib
4 years ago
Reply to  Frizzo

Fractal literally said earlier that he had no firm view of the manufacturer and that it would be a patrol/customs type ship that would be very widely produced under license.

Taghmata Omnissiah
Taghmata Omnissiah
4 years ago

With that nose remind me a boarding craft from Seaquest.

Daryl Froggy
Daryl Froggy
4 years ago

I love this ship already! I don’t know why exactly but this reminds me of the short time that I worked on fan ships for Stargate, ah nostalgia how you have ruined me.

So are those light or heavy guns?

Shaun Smakal
Shaun Smakal
4 years ago
Reply to  Daryl Froggy

Ultralight turbolasers in the over/under config from the Lightskimmer concept.

Fractal, given the ample range and traverse of that front ventral turret, I’m assuming the base unit itself doesn’t rotate around that curved bottom–or does it?

Also, love the gimbaled and asymmetric gun mounts. Overall, she’s fugly as hell–looks like something you’d see in the background of a half-page spread in an early ’88 WEG supplemental titled ‘Space Kittens & Turbolasers’–and I have a lot of questions about why anyone needs a 3-turret gun tube slapped to a set of engines, but she looks like she works like an ornery SOB.

James
James
4 years ago

Nicely!

JAMESMCGR
JAMESMCGR
4 years ago

Would something like this have a hyperdrive?

gorkmalork
gorkmalork
4 years ago
Reply to  JAMESMCGR

Seems more likely than not-I get the distinct impression you have to go *much* smaller (i.e. single-seat ultralight fighter ala the Delta-7) before internal hyperdrives become flat-out impractical.

DanielShenise
DanielShenise
4 years ago

It’s cool, but if I were a junior officer looking for a first small ship command, I’d still be hoping for one of those lovely sloops.

PhantomFury
PhantomFury
4 years ago

Looks like a CEC subcontracted KDY creation! Pretty neat!

Ryadra777
4 years ago

Is this a revamped version of this?: https://fractalsponge.net/dart/dart2.jpg

AzureOwl
AzureOwl
4 years ago

The engine block reminds me of a DP20. Any in-universe relation?

countvertex
4 years ago
Reply to  Fractalsponge

This design is immediately so convincing I think it should stand on its own and not be considered a reimagination of the DP20 (Corellian Gunship). Great work!

gorkmalork
gorkmalork
4 years ago
Reply to  countvertex

Well, ‘revision’ and ‘related’ aren’t quite the same concept, but this thing does seem like more of a bare-bones fast picket design than the DP or even CR90. Speaking of Corellian products, it’s good to see that YT-1300 variant again.

Valoren
Valoren
4 years ago
Reply to  AzureOwl

The engine block is very reminiscent of the original concept of the Tantive VI.
Overall it looks great, I love the asymmetrical gun mount on each side.

CFletch
CFletch
4 years ago

That is certainly unexpected. Dedicated boarding/assault ship?

Jekub
Jekub
4 years ago
Reply to  CFletch

Looks more like a system patrol boat/customs corvette to me. A large engine block for speed with a few small but powerful guns to enforce local laws.

StarkillerXI
StarkillerXI
4 years ago
Reply to  Jekub

That’s precisely what it is. Looks small, I’d say maybe a pilot, co pilot, 2 gunners and a commander. Only thing I’d add is a missile system mounted on the engine block, right where that dome is. One up top and one bottom. I’d use the system that is on the Scythe tank. In case you read this Fractal, what do the dimensions look like? Small enough to fit two in an Imperator II? Great design, good work!