Directorate Officer
Caption: A Daragon-class Colony travels past the Moonflower Nebula
Image Source: Spartan Game's Induction-class FrigateAffiliation: Directorate, Closed Market
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Daragon-class Colony Corvette
Modularity: Cargo hold
Production: Minor-Produced
Material: Chimera Composite hull plating, mirrsteel-iridium-condensed matter composite frame as per Ossis starship frame, starship components
Classification: Colony Ship / Anti-Starfighter Corvette
Length: 150m
Height: 30m
Width: 80m
Armament:
Rating 11
10 Light Quad Turbolasers
8 Trudo-class Defense Turret
8 Flak Cannons
16 AG-2G Quad Laser Cannons
16 Sentinel Point Defense Emplacements
1 Gravity Well Projector (Optional: take up cargo and passenger holds if installed)
Defenses:11
Hangar: 0 Squadrons
Special Features:
Biolux Organoform Circuitry
Calor series Bio-computers
Communications Array
Encryption Network
Escape Pods
Holonet Transceiver
Ossis starship frame
Plasma Cut Boarding Devices
Standard Deflector Shield Generator
Standard Detention Cells
Standard Life Support Systems
Standard Navigational Systems
Standard Sensor Array
Standard Targeting Systems
Tractor Beam Projectors (x2)
Zephyr-class Hyperdrive
Can Enter Atmosphere and Land
Cargo Capacity: 3,500 metric tons
Passenger Count: 500
Manoeuvrability Rating: 9
Speed Rating: 8
Hyperdrive Class: x0.8
Strengths:
Flyswatter: Most of the Daragon's weapons are optimized for fighting small enemy starships, and even its turbolasers have anti-starfighter modes.
Carrying Capacity: The Daragon can carry a large amount of passengers and cargo.
Weaknesses:
Pillow fisted: The Daragon has few capital ship weapons, making it ill-suited to fighting other capital ships.
Large Target: The Daragon has an exceptionally large target area because of its width and length.
Description: Project Vanguard is Lucerne Labs effort to create colony vessels that are tough enough to withstand dangerous natural phenomena ranging from dense asteroid fields and intense stellar radiation along with artificial threats such as pirates and hostile alien civilizations through the use of biomemetic and biologically augmented systems. This required the use of developing new technologies, many of which were partially implemented on the Tercel-class Heavy Cruiser, but the first vessel to full incorporate and utilize these advances for Project Vanguard's stated purpose is the Daragon-class Colony Corvette.
The Daragon is small colonization vessel that is frequently compared to the aging Star Seeder-class Colony ship and is primarily designed to establish small settlements or the advance parties of larger colonization projects. To this end, the Daragon uses an almost saucer-shaped hull to help maximize its material expenditure to carrying capacity while still retaining a hull form that can 'fly' in atmospheres if repulsorlift drives fail. The frontal areas of the saucer contain the ship's cargo and passenger holds, while the core of the ship contains the ship's vital functions including its multiple solar ionization reactors, command information style bridge, and life support systems. The rear of the craft is mostly occupied by the ship's engines and maneuvering systems. The vessel maintains a variety of weaponry well suited towards fending off attacks by marauding strikecraft and similarly sized hostile corvettes on their voyage to their new world. Daragons are generally capable enough combat vessels that the settlers often refit them for use as intrasystem patrol craft. In this role, it is typical for the expansive cargo and passenger holds to be refitted with a gravity well projector and generators. Both the passenger configuration and the patrol variant see some use in militaries.
Technical Explanations:
Crew & Internal Arrangement: The Daragon's internal arrangement is much inspired by CEC's successful line YT-series of freighters, using a circular main corridor and core systems area around which modular compartments are mounted. The ship's central core area contains the ship's bridge, power plants, life support, and other basic ship function systems. A pair of elongated engine compartments each contain the ship's sublight drives and a Zephyr-class Hyperdrive. All other semi-circular compartments that sprout from the central core are modular compartments dedicated to transporting passengers and cargo to their new homeworld. Each of these slice-like compartments of optimized to the particular needs of the group operating the Daragon. Many of the Daragon's systems are partially automated through the use of Calor Series BioComputers connected with Biolux Series Organoform Circuitry. This allows the Daragon to run with a moderately small number of crew, allowing more room for passegners and cargo as well as extending the amount of consumables for each crewmember on especially long voyages. Access around a Daragon is typically controlled by the use of code cylinders, which prevents passengers from wandering into restricted areas of the ship or into the wrong living area while allowing crew full unhindered access to most of the ship. This is typically enforced through the use of holo-cams and reversed repulsorfields if an entry is forced. Because of the long duration of many of these voyages, most Daragons have a small public lounge area with a small bar and game tables just ahead of the ship's bridge.
Engine Systems: The ship has two almost identical engine sections that mirror each other on either side of the ship. Each contains a cluster of identical ion drives while a single Zephyr-class hyperdrive lays between them. Because long-term reliability was the major concern for the ship, the Daragon's sublight drives are fairly basic but ruggerized ion drive units that propel the ship at average speeds for a ship its size. But because of the dense Ossis style framing, the ship suffers somewhat in sublight handling compared to its peers. Taking a cue from many scout ships, the Daragon carries Zephyr hyperdrive with a back-up x12 mode for redundancy's sake: the failure of a hyperdrive deep in uncharted or wild space can mean certain death and mission failure.
Shielding Systems: The Daragon uses fairly standard ray and particle shields for a ship its size, providing it with modest protection against a variety of threats.
Hull Design: The Daragon is the first ship to use the Ossis starship frame, which provides the ship with a rugged frame for voyages in the rough and wild edges of the galaxy. This frame is then covered in alternating layers of the Lab's new Chimera Composite alternated occasionally with an almost microscopic layer of condense-matter composite to diffuse vibrations, such as those from small asteroid impacts. The Chimera composite is connected to several heat exchangers at the rear of the hull which allow it to slowly diffuse built up heat such as that which may be experienced in systems like the Athega system. This construction allows the Daragon to be more resilient to environmental hazards than many of its competitors, which is a strong selling point emphasized in Lucerne Labs's marketing materials.
Weapon Systems: Because of the dangers from unknown raiders and alien civilizations in the less explored areas, the Daragon carries an armament that is somewhere between that of a picket ship and larger heavier corvettes. Most of the ship's armament is optimized to defend the Daragon against the small but frequent dangers of small enemy capital ships and strikecraft. The ventral bow has ten light quad turbolasers arranged in a half-circle around the edge of the vessel's bow. These serve as the ship's only anti-capital ship armament. Sometimes these weapons are also used to set up large volumes of low-powered turbolaser bolts to act as flak walls to supplement the ship's dedicated flak cannons. This high volume of somewhat distant fire is supplemented by quad laser cannon and autoblaster fire an the unorthodox Trudo Point Defense turrets. This armament configuration makes the Daragon particularly effective as a screening vessel, though it generally lacks the firepower to individually take on even most corvettes. Some Daragon corvettes operators, in attempt to mimick the Agave-class Picket ship convert the ship's spacious cargo holds to hold a gravity well generator along with the power plants to supply it. This makes Daragon's effective mini-interdictors well-suited to patrolling the space lines for small time smugglers and pirates.
Carrying Capacity: The Daragon is designed around its ability to carry a reasonably large number of people and materials to distant worlds. This resulted in the large, sector-like compartments that sprout off the hub of the ship. As the needs of each colony can be vastly different, each of these slice-like compartments is internally modular to allow them to transport a variety of loads. Each 'slice' of the saucer contains two deck levels with high vaunted ceilings that allow large vehicles and equipment, prebuilt structures, or animals to be easily accommodated. To facilitate exit and entry of these objects, each self-contained compartment has blast doors built on the dorsal and ventral surfaces that allow these loads to be relatively easily loaded and offloaded with the assistance of internally mounted freight moving tractor beams. The stern ventral door is exceptionally large, allowing it to easily disgorge large vehicles and droids. The typical compartment, however, makes use of temporary carbo-plas cubicle walls and lofted furniture to provide prospective colonists with their quarters.
The Daragon's speed, armament, and modular internal holds have also made the craft popular as small troop transports. Most troop transports carry several companies (up to five hundred men) along with their equipment, vehicles, and several weeks of operational supplies. Here, the blast doors on each compartment allow the rapid deployment of troops onto the battlefield. The Plasma Cut Boarding Device included on the airlocks, originally meant to facilitate rescue and salvaging operations, may also be used to initiate boarding actions against other starships and space stations.
Caption: The underside of a Daragon-class Colony Corvette as it comes in to land on a new colony world.
Development Thread: The Silver Jedi Come (specifically here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Intent:
Who Can Use This: Galactic Alliance, Silver Jedi, Directorate, Closed Market
Primary Source: N/A
(A note on the statistics: I am going for something with the feel of the old balanced corvette classification. To that end, I averaged the picket and heavy corvette examples and did some minor rounding and other slight modifications)
