Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide an up to date bomber for the open market, particularly for pirates and others who have difficultly getting "modern" designs
- Image Source: here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: CorelliSpace
- Affiliation: Open-Market
- Model: Tau Devastator-series StarWing Bomber
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: durasteel frame, Alusteel hull, typical starship components
- Classification: Bomber
- Length: 11 meters
- Width: 4 meters
- Height: 2 meters
- Armament: Very High
- 2 R-9X Heavy Laser Cannons
- 2 Flex Tube Proton Torpedo Launchers (capable of supporting various ordnances to include concussion missiles, proton torpedoes, proton bombs, and cluster missiles)
- 2 Internal Ordinance Hardpoints, each capable of holding one of the following:
- Defenses: High
- MD-FA Deflector Shield Generator
- Alusteel armored hull
- Twin rear-facing Caltrop-5 Chaff guns
- Squadron Count: Low: 8
- Maneuverability Rating: Low (Very Low in power dive)
- Speed Rating: Low (Average in power dive)
- Hyperdrive: Yes
- Hyperdrive Class: x2
- Standard Communications Array
- Standard Deflector Shields
- Standard Hyperdrive
- Standard Life Support Systems
- Standard Navigational Systems
- Standard Repulsorlift Engines
- Standard Sensor Array
- Standard Targeting Systems
- Can Enter Atmosphere and Land
- Detachable Koensayr Cockpit Module (acts as a built-in escape pod)
- Powerhouse Engines
- ST2x targeting computer with targeting laser
- Heavy Firepower: The Tau Devastator packs a lot of punch with its heavy, superchargeable laser cannons and in its potent mixes of ordnance. While capable of supporting a wide variety of weapons, the Tau Devastator is most at home 'power diving' down on targets and precisely guiding down ordnance through its sophisticated laser targeting system.
- Durable: Like the Y-wing before it, the Tau Devastator is a very durable craft with robust shields and a durable Alusteel hull.
- Low Performance Craft: The Tau Devastator, while not the galaxy's slowest small craft, is noticeably more sluggish than the typical starfighter.
- Small Squadron Count: The relatively large wingspan of the Tau Devastator means that fewer of them can be carried in hangars compared to the average starfighter.
As CorelliSpace sought to please its new, seedy clientele in the Outer Rim, it became clear that many of its customers were looking for heavy firepower in a starfighter-sized frame. To that end, CorelliSpace revisited the old Toscan 8-Q frame and revised it to more modern standards. Still trying to keep maintain a facade of legitimacy, the Tau Devastator was advertised as an precision dive bomber for planetary defense forces against insurgent bases and to destroy invading ground forces in their landing zones. With a Powerhouse Engine, the Tau Devastator can make unusually fast and precise dives towards such targets before releasing ordnance guided by a targeting laser to precisely destroy these ground targets even in heavy ECM environments. But what CorelliSpace didn't openly advertise was that the targeting system could be used with a huge variety of weapons carried in the bomber's twin FlexTube proton torpedo launchers or in a pair of internal ordnance bays or even the bomber's heavy laser cannons, which are capable of being supercharged. This allows the Devastator to precisely apply massive firepower in a wide variety of situations - a Devastator's supercharged laser cannons can easily vaporize many small military ground vehicles just as much as it can guide ion bombs to knock out a merchant ship's engine block.
Despite this focus on firepower, the Devastator is still a reasonably pleasant ride. The controls are forgiving and intuitive, and while clearly not a high performance craft, the ship is fairly aerodynamic. It actually can achieve enough lift to fly on its own without repulsorlifts, and some daring pilots even use unpowered glides to try and sneak up on targets in the atmosphere. As with the original Toscan, the Devastator uses a copy of the famous Koensayr cockpit module, which can jettison from the rest of the craft and act readily as an escape pod for both the pilot and weapons officer. However, with solid shields, a resilient Alusteel hull, and a pair of rear-facing caltrop guns to confuse sensors and destroy enemy warheads, most crewmen think that they will never need that unusual feature.
Tau Devastators fulfill the same role in many fleets and forces like the earlier Y-wing and R-41 Starchaser. While the Tau Devastator does not have the same ion cannons as either of those ships, it has far more versatility in its ordnance selection, which has seen it make considerable inroads against its aging predecessors in less than reputable fleets. While many such users employ them as simple firepower platforms to bomb enemy groundside defenses or disable enemy shipping, a group of marauders working out of the Syvris System had made a name for themselves by using the craft to deploy drones, mines, and sensor beacons across space lanes to quickly set-up "toll booth checkpoints" in deep space. Any ship which doesn't pay their toll or jettison some cargo finds itself under a withering amount of firepower from the fighters and their deployed static defenses. When more powerful enemies appear, the group simply jumps into hyperspace, leaving their static defenses to cover their retreat.
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