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I've never really seen the Viper's fins as wings, but more like guiding rails for the launch tube to slot into

Weren't the latest models of Starfury's capable of atmospheric flight?

There was a model which was atmosphere capable yes. They had a longer, aerodynamic fuselage and fold out wings on the engine pods.

As I said, mounting pylons or the like don't bother me. "Wings" which are built like true airfoils on a non-atmospheric craft are just dumber than a bag of hammers.

Mikey wrote:As I said, mounting pylons or the like don't bother me. "Wings" which are built like true airfoils on a non-atmospheric craft are just dumber than a bag of hammers.

And crazier than a Bag of Badgers.

And crazier than a Bag of Badgers.

Is the mental state of a bag full of badgers some item of professional interest?

The Psychotic class is the newest, most expensive, most sophisticated, most capable, and arguably most effective fighter ever built by the Coalition. It was built as a long range strike fighter which could combine unparalleled combat capability with a range to match any attack craft in service.

Over the last decade or so, defensive technology has advanced to the point where it is becoming prohibitively difficult to attack a capital ship with strike craft. Defensive fighters are the most capable element of a defensive screen; typically attacking craft operate at ranges beyond their own fighters, so the defenders have an easy time taking them on.

Advances in weaponry and tactics perfected after the Tain war threatened to make them effective to the point where launching such attacks would simply not be viable. The Psychotic's role is to escort strike craft all the way to the target, where it would engage the defenders and so divert them from the attack craft.

The Psychotic is huge for a fighter. It mounts three big propulsor sublight engines, two huge midspace shunts, a massive long range cannon in the nose, and up to four long range missiles. It's flight performance exceeds that of a Samurai in fighter mode, although it reputedly falls slightly short of a Bloodlust or Deathdealer. It's range equals that of a Massacre class attack craft.

Such unparalleled capability comes at a high price; the Psychotic costs almost five times as much as a Deathdealer. As a result it has faced cancellation more than once, and the number to be bought has repeatedly been cut. At present it is issued only in small numbers to a few units, though it has proved to be extremely effective in its role.

Size Comparison

'Psychotic class'.
Very well named.

Somewhere in the Coalition is a building, miles on a side, that houses the military's administration offices.

Beneath that building are maybe five hundred floors of basements. It's a whole city down there, complete with shops, hospitals, banks, etc... a place you could spend your whole life if you chose to.

On some lost and forgotten corner of the lowermost floor of those basements is an office. It's small, it's cramped, and it's rather too cold and dark to be comfortable.

Within this office is the man who decides what class names will be assigned to fighters.

This man doesn't get out much, and to be honest he's gone a bit peculiar.

Psycotic, Bloodlust, Deathdealer. These names would fit an ROU pretty well.

wingarific

I do like the flavor though.

The Mule is the Coalition's standard ground to orbit assault transport. Powered by four low power toroidal repellor engines, the Mule is capable of accelerating at 50 gees; acceleration was not deemed to be a high priority given the short distances the craft would operate over.

The main hull is armoured and critical components such as engines are shielded, and the Mule is regarded as being quite a survivable craft with regards to small arms fire. It is not capable of withstanding hits from missiles or crew served weapons however.

The mule can carry up to 60 personnel, 40 fully equipped troops, or 24 litters and three attendants. All seats are easily removeable to allow the Mule to operate in a cargo transport role.

Standard armament is twin plasma cannon in a turret under the chin, plus a second pair of cannon mounted as door guns. A fifth cannon can be mounted on the aft ramp, but this is not often carried.

A Hind with no rotors!

JK - I'm sure it looks like that because it happens to be such a good design for that purpose.

Looks-wise I'd call it a cross between a Hind and a Blackhawk, but role-wise it's clearly a Huey.