Directorate Officer
Image Source: Sato Dragon concept art modified by yours truly
Affiliation: Lucerne Labs, open market
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: LL-1500 Medium Freighter
Modularity: Cargo containers, designed to easily accept aftermarket upgrades (generally requires separate submission per individual ship)
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Durasteel frame, Alusteel hull plating, ceraglass viewports, standard starship components
Classification: Medium Freighter
Length: 45 meters
Height: 5 meters
Width: 8 meters
Armament: Rating 5
2 Twin Laser Cannon Turrets
Defense: Rating 15
Squadron Count: 2
Special Features:
Basic Warheads Countermeasure Launcher (10 Chaff bursts or 7 Flares)
Standard Communications Array
Standard Communications Array
Standard Deflector Shield Generators
Standard Ion Engines
Standard Life Support Systems
Standard Navigational Systems
Standard Sensor Array
Standard Targeting Systems
Four escape pods
Can Enter Atmosphere and Land
Two Ventral Turreted Hansen FeatherTouch tractor beam projectors
Carries 6 passengers, 6 external cargo containers (such as Class B or Class C containers) and 320 metric tons of cargo or other equivalent
Manoeuvrability Rating: 8
Speed Rating: 6 (7 when hauling external cargo container with tractor beam projectors)
Hyperdrive Class: 1 (x5 backup)
Strengths:
Easily Modified and Repaired: Lucerne Labs carefully emulated CEC's YT-series of freighters in its interior systems architecture to ensure that the LL-1500 can be easily modified by its operators. To help ensure that its parts would be easily acquired anywhere. Not only is the freighter designed to accept a variety of parts from different manufacturers, but its stock version includes components from other companies, rather than using model specific parts.
Hauler: The LL-1500 is designed to haul a vast amount of different cargoes. Not only does the ship have four spacious cargo holds, but it also has 6 adaptable magnetic clamping areas to hold cargo containers. In addition, the LL-1500 can haul larger and more unusually cargo containers or other objects through space with its tractor beam projectors in a similar manner to the Heavy Lifter.
Weaknesses:
Subcontractor Construction: In an effort to cut down on construction cost and to appeal to independent operators, most of the basic starship systems (such as life support, various computers, etc) were supplied by a variety of other companies at a bid contract basis. Because of this, it's not unusual for various glitches to occur between these systems or to find occasional subpar components that somehow managed to pass through the contractor's quality control measures.
Low Performance Craft: The LL-1500 is unlikely to win any flying competitions. Its heavy duty engines are optimized for pulling heavy loads at the cost of reduced maneuverability and acceleration. When dragging an object through space with its tractor beam projectors, its speed is further reduce.
Description: The LL-1500 is Lucerne Labs's medium freighter entry for their new LL line, which is intended to provide highly adaptable and affordable starships in the vein of CEC's classic designs. Unlike most of the LL series, the LL-1500 is designed around two goals, maximizing cargo hauling capacity and minimizing operating costs, to ensure profitable trade runs.
Most freighters the LL-1500s size simply use internal holds to move their cargo as it is the simplest and most cost effective way to move many basic cargoes. To this end, the LL-1500 has a four internal cargo holds each capable of accomodatig up to 80 metric tons of cargo. This cargo can be easily moved up the ship's extra-wide ramp and around the ship's interior itself via an internally mounted C5 tractor beam emitter. Looking to give its customers more opportunities to haul freight, Lucerne Labs also included six external mag-clamps to haul small types of cargo containers, such as Class B or Class C containers. This allows LL-1500s to move around a variety of cargoes from volatile gases to vehicles, that most other standard medium freighters cannot carry. Lastly, the LL-1500 has a pair of ventral mounted Hansen FeatherTouch tractor beam projectors. These are not only used to move the external cargo pods to the magnetic clamps, but also can be used in a manner similar to those used by the Heavy Lifter to drag objects through realspace and hyperspace. Typically, most operators use these to move cargo containers that either too large or unusually shaped to carry in the magnetic clamps, such as Class-D cargo containers, but the tractor beam projectors can also haul other objects, such as disabled starships or asteroids. Dragging an object through space like this lowers the ship's sublight speeds. Additionally, it usually takes several minutes for the ship to adjust its hyperdrive settings to compensate for its altered center of gravity before the craft can jump into hyperspace. While none of these cargo methods are unusual throughout the galaxy, the innovation of combining all three methods into a singe ship its size was not easy, but it also makes it one of the more competitive cargo haulers in its size class.
Lucerne Labs's engineers found minimizing the ship's operating costs a more easily achieved goal. The LL series highly adaptable interior systems already made the basics of the craft fairly cost-effective to maintain wherever the operator was. The next step adapting basic automation hardware and software derived from the Nyubba-class cargo barge driver to help run the LL-1500's system. This has resulted in the LL-1500 only needing two crewmembers to run it effectively; one of which can often be replaced by a droid.
While the LL-1500 easily meets its goal of being a profitable ship to run, its lack of combat and flight performance has curtailed some interest in the design from external buyers. While the ship has reasonable shields and a durable alusteel hull to not make it a complete liability in batle, it is clearly not a combat vessel. Because of this, most independent operators who buy a LL-1500 sacrifice some of the ship's interior cargo space for improved weapons, shields, or larger engines. Larger corporate concerns typically assign escort ships for the same reason. Most LL-1500s are consequently used by these operators as simple cargo haulers, though several have been converted into salvaging or rescue craft.
Development Thread: No
Intent: To provide Lucerne Labs and the galaxy at large with an easily modified medium freighter
Who Can Use This: Anyone
Primary Source: N/A
