- Game version
- 0.199.654
"Checking out the Tarsus-class merchant ship? Smart choice for the budget-minded!. She’s an older model, but she sure is practical. You get a homey interior, cargo space, and room for some upgrades. Did I mention she’s a nimble ship, as merchant vessels go? No? Listen. If you can’t afford a Drayman – and who can these days – you’ll find the Tarsus can provide for your shipping needs. So… how about flying a Tarsus home today?"
- Adapted from the classic purchase hook for the Galaxy class medium freighter from Wing Commander: Privateerhttps://wedge009.net/wc/privateer/dealer.php
This ship is built as a recreation of the Tarsus class explorer/freighter that is the starting ship in the Privateer (tm) game, estimated by some sources as 56 meters long, not counting the gun barrel(s). This ship has a 1:1 thrust/mass ratio, with a tiny bit of extra thrust. It also has a passive-stop effect for hovering, which allows it to easily work as a planetary shuttle, just like in the original Privateer game.
She has been built to look and act like the original ship in the Privateer game. With that said, I built her with a bulkier exterior, more closely matching the Privateer's game in-hud bulky representation of the ship, rather than the actual renders, which make the ship appear much thinner, which would greatly reduce her ability to work for the player in a similar fashion to the starter ship from the original Privateer game. Despite the bulky changes, all the features are present, such as the dorsal radar dish, which doubles as an anti-missile automated turret, external piping, a cargo bay at the bottom, which can be used to enter the ship from ground level, a cockpit that somewhat resembles what you can see in the original Privateer game, considering the limitations of the Starmade blocks that can be used for decoration, and the rocket-engines on the sides of the ship.
The following is a video tour of the outside of the ship, to give you a good look at all the external features (length: 1 minute, 24 seconds). What is not shown: a pair of center-line docking blocks, that will allow this ship to dock on a receiver, such as a rail block.
Of course, what tour would be complete without a view of the interior? Please find an interior tour of the Tarsus below (length: 3 minutes, 25 seconds).
Here is a bottom-up summary of the features:
- Level 1 / Ground Floor: The front half is all-external to the ship, holding only the landing gear under the ship's nose. The rear half is the lower cargo area and the docking points under the ship, on the bottom of the cargo area floor.
- Level 2: The front has a control room for the passive stop system, so that gravity hovering can be controlled manually. This room is flanked on both sides by complete washrooms, equipped with separate, albeit small shower and toilet rooms. mid-ship are the doors to the stairwells on both sides of the ship that go down to the main cargo bay and up to Level 3. Behind this is the vertical cargo expansion bay, directly above the main cargo bay on Level 1. Behind this bay is a basic utility room at the back of the ship, flanked on both sides by utility rooms which generally hold the shield capacitor systems.
- Level 3: The front has the upgrade bay, which when you start only includes the semi-rapid-fire small laser system, mounted behind the single gun barrel on the exterior of the ship's nose, just below the ship's cockpit. Behind this upgrade bay, behind doors is a hallway with doors to the side stairwells that lead down to level 2 and the level 1 cargo bay. Further behind this on either side of the ship are the two crew quarters, equipped with a medical cabinet, a bed, and a workstation with a chair facing a small table, looking up at a computer screen. Finally, at the very rear of this level is a clear area with twin staircases leading up to Level 4.
- Level 4: The front has the cockpit. Directly through the cockpit's rear door is a six-way intersection. On one side, directly starboard of the door is the rear-access panel for the ship core. To the port side of the cockpit door is a small cargo room for basic supplies. Behind these two areas are twin toilets, so that the pilot doesn't have to leave the cockpit for any extended period of time. Finally, the door at the rear of the intersection leads to the long tube that runs along the spine of the ship, to another door, which leads to another intersection area. In this area, on either side of the long tube, are twin reactor upgrade ports, leading toward the front of the ship. (Just remove the instructional display units to find the long, single-line tube in which reactor lines can be placed and capped.) Directly aft of the central door is another door leading to a small utility room with a computer that can be used as an engine-monitoring room (or any other RP purpose that the player has in mind.) On either side of this small utility room are the twin staircases leading down to Level 3.
- Level 5: There is no interior on level 5. This is the top of the ship. At the front, above the cockpit is a thin, wide door that can be opened to directly access the cockpit from outside the ship. At mid-ship is the external radar dish. (The actual purpose behind this construction is to reflect the exact appearance of the radar dish of the original "Tarsus", and also to provide the ship with an actual, Bobby-driven anti-missile turret.)
