As the name suggests, I figured it would be fun to talk about uses for the Prowler be they conventional or not. For my part I was thinking about the Prowler's primary missions and then started to think about components. After that, I then brainstormed some uses for it. This is what I have thus far and let me know what you think.
Prowler Primary Use:
Named after the UPE military designation, the Prowler is a modernized version of the infamous Tevarin boarding craft from the First Tevarin War. With the recent discovery of the lost Tevarin planet in Kabal System, Esperia’s engineers were given unmitigated access to examine the preserved ships found in several of the caches, before meticulously recreating the design choices. The Prowler’s effectiveness as a rapid personnel deployment vehicle was mainly due to its silence. The boarding was constructed using a variety of techniques to minimize its signatures and get close to unsuspecting vessels before quickly deploying their boarders via EVA. With the updated Prowler model, you will find the perfect fusion of two cultures: the elegance and effectiveness of the Tevarin war machine combined with the reliability of modern UEE technology. (While lacking some of the upgrades of the modern version, vintage Tevarin-built Prowlers restored for modern spaceflight are prized by owners lucky enough to locate them.)
My thoughts:
So the Prowler is supposed to sneak up on ships (to within EVA range) and drop boarders (EVA only) to capture / disable other ships. I was honestly hoping for something that would attach itself to other ships and cut a hole in the hull but I could see how that would be problematic from a game design perspective. Regardless it is still a very focused use ship. Obviously, it's not going to be fast, armored, or have extensive weaponry. Which me to my next part, components.
Prowler Component Theorycraft:
The hull itself I imagine to be something like a cross between a B-2A Stealth Bomber and a F-117 Stealth Fighter. The Bombers hull is very curvy with a few angled points compared to the F-117 which seems to be a bunch of trianangles and parallelograms attached to each other that somehow form an aircraft. Ben said on a recent Bensday with Batgirl in regards to it fitting inside a Polaris that the problem would be the width not the length. This lends me to believe something akin to the B-2. The F-117 is thrown in there because of all the angles, it reminds me of Egyptian Architecture, namely the pyramids. Overall, I think it will be something like Freelancer / Constellation in size for carrying a Pilot, Co-pilot/Sensor Operator, and 1-12 boarders.
Engines: Not fast or flashy but incredibly efficient and quiet. Very little thermal signature at higher power levels and virtually none at lower.
Shields: Very weak. Basically, these are for emergencies when you are accidentally visually spotted during approach to a target spacecraft. Shields put off a lot of EM signature so I would imagine that turning these off before approach is a must.
Powerplant: Small for its size. It only really needs to power engines, sensors/avionics, and small shields/weapons for emergencies.
Sensors: I would expect it to have mediocre Active Sensors but some of the best Passive Sensors. Passive means quiet. Using Active Sensors could give up your position. I imagine this to pick up ships from long range with very little detail and as the Prowler approaches, altering course all the while to intercept as it listens. The closer it gets, the more information the Prowler can passively ID.
Weapons: 2 turrets with 2x S2 guns each is what I believe this ship should have for defense at maximum. I'm really hoping it has no weaponry as this would suck up much needed power from engines and sensors.
Obvious Uses:
Boarding / Infiltration of target spaceraft. Kill or capture everyone on board or maybe sneak into and disable an unsuspecting Polaris / Idris / Javelin. Need fuel? Target a Starfarer and set EMP charges on its powerplant and just as you assault the flight deck, the powerplant is fried leaving no escape for the crew.
Not so obvious uses:
Burglary. Imagine sneaking down onto a planet where an enemy org base awaits. They have something you want but it isn't worth a major engagement. Send a Prowler with a small team to infiltrate their base, grab the loot, and bug out before anyone can suspect a thing. This kind of gameplay could be really fun.
Well those are some of my ideas. Would love to hear what you think.
Prowler Primary Use:
Named after the UPE military designation, the Prowler is a modernized version of the infamous Tevarin boarding craft from the First Tevarin War. With the recent discovery of the lost Tevarin planet in Kabal System, Esperia’s engineers were given unmitigated access to examine the preserved ships found in several of the caches, before meticulously recreating the design choices. The Prowler’s effectiveness as a rapid personnel deployment vehicle was mainly due to its silence. The boarding was constructed using a variety of techniques to minimize its signatures and get close to unsuspecting vessels before quickly deploying their boarders via EVA. With the updated Prowler model, you will find the perfect fusion of two cultures: the elegance and effectiveness of the Tevarin war machine combined with the reliability of modern UEE technology. (While lacking some of the upgrades of the modern version, vintage Tevarin-built Prowlers restored for modern spaceflight are prized by owners lucky enough to locate them.)
My thoughts:
So the Prowler is supposed to sneak up on ships (to within EVA range) and drop boarders (EVA only) to capture / disable other ships. I was honestly hoping for something that would attach itself to other ships and cut a hole in the hull but I could see how that would be problematic from a game design perspective. Regardless it is still a very focused use ship. Obviously, it's not going to be fast, armored, or have extensive weaponry. Which me to my next part, components.
Prowler Component Theorycraft:
The hull itself I imagine to be something like a cross between a B-2A Stealth Bomber and a F-117 Stealth Fighter. The Bombers hull is very curvy with a few angled points compared to the F-117 which seems to be a bunch of trianangles and parallelograms attached to each other that somehow form an aircraft. Ben said on a recent Bensday with Batgirl in regards to it fitting inside a Polaris that the problem would be the width not the length. This lends me to believe something akin to the B-2. The F-117 is thrown in there because of all the angles, it reminds me of Egyptian Architecture, namely the pyramids. Overall, I think it will be something like Freelancer / Constellation in size for carrying a Pilot, Co-pilot/Sensor Operator, and 1-12 boarders.
Engines: Not fast or flashy but incredibly efficient and quiet. Very little thermal signature at higher power levels and virtually none at lower.
Shields: Very weak. Basically, these are for emergencies when you are accidentally visually spotted during approach to a target spacecraft. Shields put off a lot of EM signature so I would imagine that turning these off before approach is a must.
Powerplant: Small for its size. It only really needs to power engines, sensors/avionics, and small shields/weapons for emergencies.
Sensors: I would expect it to have mediocre Active Sensors but some of the best Passive Sensors. Passive means quiet. Using Active Sensors could give up your position. I imagine this to pick up ships from long range with very little detail and as the Prowler approaches, altering course all the while to intercept as it listens. The closer it gets, the more information the Prowler can passively ID.
Weapons: 2 turrets with 2x S2 guns each is what I believe this ship should have for defense at maximum. I'm really hoping it has no weaponry as this would suck up much needed power from engines and sensors.
Obvious Uses:
Boarding / Infiltration of target spaceraft. Kill or capture everyone on board or maybe sneak into and disable an unsuspecting Polaris / Idris / Javelin. Need fuel? Target a Starfarer and set EMP charges on its powerplant and just as you assault the flight deck, the powerplant is fried leaving no escape for the crew.
Not so obvious uses:
Burglary. Imagine sneaking down onto a planet where an enemy org base awaits. They have something you want but it isn't worth a major engagement. Send a Prowler with a small team to infiltrate their base, grab the loot, and bug out before anyone can suspect a thing. This kind of gameplay could be really fun.
Well those are some of my ideas. Would love to hear what you think.
