Introducing The United Star Axis

[Dr. Whammy]

Good Afternoon everyone,

First, I'd just like to offer thanks to to development team; they have effectively reserved most of my spare time for the foreseeable future. I've been playing this game in sandbox mode; as I am more interested in the creative aspect of StarMade than PVP/PVE. A lot of you have created some truly awe-inspiring designs so I figure I'll add to all this creative madness with some of my designs.

The United Star Axis is a faction I created with a storyline that predates StarMade. It is a group comprised primarily of fictitious civilian defense research contractors from the 22nd century. While I've dabbled in capital ships in the past, I think smaller agile ships fit the Axis much better. It gives them a fun 'under-dog' (and underestimated) quality.

The following is a brief history of my design process. Questions, comments and critiques are welcome...



Former generation low-orbital shipyard. The ship surrounded by the purple box is the prototype for all my more 'modern' designs.




An intermediate generation starbase




The Axis Command System shown with ASC Challenger and ASC Odyssey




ASC Challenger with ventral drop fighter bays. Rails and logic are my new best friends.




Speaking of rails; how about a comically over-sized railgun? This weapon will blow a 3 meter wide hole through a target and penetrate at least 3 meters of advanced armor before shredding the internal systems. The 'coils' on the side of the barrel flash when the weapon fires. Logic and rails are used to move the gun sideways to allow the drop-fighters to launch.





I don't usually build capital ships, but when I do...
Before weapons and power were rebalanced, this big fellow could destroy a planet using either sustained cannon fire or a 'world-ender device'. Time for a refit. The Axis NEEDS an ace like this up its sleeve.

 

[Gasboy]

Looks cool, can't wait to see what other ships you've got up your sleeve.

 

[virtue1987]

Awesome ships, i like the big one in the last picture, yay flightdecks .

 

[Reilly Reese]

Looks cool, can't wait to see what other ships you've got up your sleep.

Haha

 

[Gasboy]

Haha

I'll be here all week, try the veal. :D

 

[Peekie30]

Love 'em! the ships look Terran, as if built by actual humans

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Awesome ships, i like the big one in the last picture, yay flightdecks .

Thanks. I tried to go for half battleship, half aircraft carrier. For a smaller capital ship, this craft packs a decent amount of firepower on its own but it also holds a minimum of 20 fighters internally and over 50 light powered armors (mini-mechas for boarding stations/planetary assault). When I start the refit, I'll add rail "catapults" for the runways. I'll have to post pictures of my fighter line-up. They're all based on video game fighters from arcade-style scrolling shooters.

Love 'em! the ships look Terran, as if built by actual humans

Thanks. You are spot on with your observation. These ships are heavily inspired by modern day naval warships, military aircraft and NASA's space shuttle program. Very little space is wasted and most 'cosmetic' details have a purpose; from the angular shapes (explosion resistance) to the quad-nacelle design (engine resilience). Also, I wanted to give them an 'established' mid-22nd century Earth appearance without becoming too polished like Star Trek's Federation.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

This a ship I made for my sister. I guess this is my way of trying to convince her to play... It's not the fastest but this little guy can take a pounding and tends to punch above it's weight... which is a lot now that advanced armor adds so much mass.

Mass: 2257
Dimensions: L 59, W 55, H,28
Shields: 144,320 (Recharge 2387/sec)
Structure HP: 829,130
Armor HP: 566,000
Power grid: 1,893,193 (Recharge 199,103/sec)
Thrust 2590

Armament:
- 6 Auto-cannons - 3600 DPS
- 1 Ion beam weapon - 141,000 shield damage (I played too much Colony Wars)
- Dual Missile launchers - 165,000 damage per missile/330,000 total 22m blast radius
- 4 Quad-barrel turrets - 600 DPS each/2400 DPS total
- 4 Point defense 'wings'
- 1 armor piercing Pulse cannon 10625 Damage per shell

Scanner: Yes
Warp Drive: Yes








[DOUBLEPOST=1442539209,1442537053][/DOUBLEPOST]Defender Class.

This model is more geared toward raw fire power. It sacrifices shielding and some armor and speed in exchange for a higher power grid output. It is essentially a flying Gatling gun platform with engines. It can take a pounding but handles like a drunken brick in a river of molasses. Nevertheless, it will out maneuver larger craft, knock their shields down then shred them with 6000 DPS from its 12 forward firing auto cannons. It also has armor piercing cannons for armored targets.

Mass: 1968
Dimensions: L 50, W 41, H,24
Shields: 56,009 (Recharge 1210/sec)
Structure HP: 792,650
Armor HP: 464,400
Power grid: 1,016,074 (Recharge 301,194/sec)
Thrust 2892

Armament:
- 12 auto-cannons - 6000 DPS
- 1 ion beam weapon - 66,000 shield damage
- 4 missile launchers - 24,000 damage per missile/96,000 total 22m blast radius
- 4 armor piercing Pulse cannon 12,750 per shell/ 51,000 total
- 4 point defense 'wings'
- 2 anti-shield laser turrets 24,750 damage per burst
- 2 guided missile turrets 4,800 damage per missile/9600 damage per salvo

Scanner: No
Warp Drive: Yes

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Thunderbolt Class

This ship is a miniaturized example of what you get when you cross a Federation Constellation class with a Caldari Drake from Eve Online. It's slow and somewhat under powered with regard to standard weaponry but its turrets throw a LOT of missiles at the enemy.
The key feature of this craft is its ability to accurately launch torpedoes from outside the range of standard weapons.

Mass: 2215
Power: 2,613,264 (141,174 e/sec)
Thrust: 1970
Shields: 178,175 (511 s/sec)

Armament:
- 2 auto-loading, repeat-fire, magazine-fed torpedo launchers
- low yield pulse missile barrages (missile/pulse/explosive 1:1:1)
- 8 dual guided missile turrets
- 2 quad-vulcan turrets

 

[Reilly Reese]

If only it looked like a Drake :p

 

[Dr. Whammy]

If only it looked like a Drake :p

Under-sized ship. Over-sized turrets...

If I get it working the way I want, I'll eventually make a bigger variant. If you're lucky, it will look like a drake.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Under-sized ship. Over-sized turrets...

If I get it working the way I want, I'll eventually make a bigger variant. If you're lucky, it will look like a drake.

Oh goodie MKII then

 

[Dr. Whammy]

It's time for a starfighter showcase!!!


SF-37 E

Light space superiority starfighter. Sacrifices armor and acceleration for higher damage output and a wider variety of weapons systems. Small form factor enables larger quantities to be carried on starships.

Armament:
- 2 auto cannons: (12/12 cannon/cannon)
- 2 gauss cannons (16/8 cannon/damage pulse)
- 4 guided missiles (16/0 missile/damage beam)

SF-38 A

Light space superiority starfighter. Developed from the SF-37 series. Less armor than an SF-37 but noticeably higher stats in thrust, acceleration, power grid output and damage output. Similar dimensions to its predecessor allows large quantities to be carried on starships. Carries a gauss rail gun to pierce heavy armor.

Armament:
- 2 auto cannons: (16/16 cannon/cannon)
- 1 gauss cannon (14/8 cannon/damage pulse)
- 4 guided missiles (2 separate systems 8/0 missile/damage beam)

R-Gray series type 2 escort.

Close formation defensive fighter escort. Technically classified as a turret (looks can be deceiving). Provides long range fire support for larger craft. Has 360 degree firing arc on all 3 axes.

Armament:
- 2 medium range laser: (24/16 damage beam/damage beam)
- 2 High speed long range guided missiles (4/4/4 missile/damage beam/explosive)

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I am going out of my mind with impatience over the supposed planned creatures/fauna.

I remember this one time on an abandoned station, I got attacked by a spider crab. I said to myself, "Crap! It's like LV-426 all over again!" I took cover and ran back to my ship. I thought I was safe, only to find that the thing had made it inside my airlock! So I dusted off, flew about 300m away from the station and "Ellen Riplyed him"... I went back to base, chuckling and came back a few minutes later with this...


Then, I lived happily ever after...

 

[godmars]

I really like your ship aesthetic(s). It reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on what.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I really like your ship aesthetic(s). It reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on what.

Thanks Godmars,

My ships are a blend of many real life and sci-fi concepts. It's not surprising that some of them seem somewhat familiar.

Like this Trek-Wars-5 Federation-Class Star Fury Destroyer with NASA paint job...

 

[Dr. Whammy]

This is my first attempt to make a true starship with a stable cloak/jam system and not one of those spiky flying reactors everyone is so fond of...

ASC Atlantis

Advanced prototype deep space strategic reconnaissance Starship.

Mass: 664
Dimensions: Length 115m, Width 57m, Height 27m.
Thrust to mass ratio 1.3:1
Power grid: Capacity 568,499. Recharge 1,000,094 e/sec.
Shields: Capacity 28,950. Recharge 121 e/sec.

Armament:
- 4 Repeat fire cannons (4000DPS)
- Heavy ion beam weapon: 200,000+ anti-shield
- Warhead Launcher (will most likely switch out with a 25x launcher for mass reduction)
- 2 Point defense turrets

Equipment:
- Radar Jammer (stable)
- Cloaking Device (stable)
- Primary and secondary warp drives (can charge while cloaked, jamming and moving)

 

[Dr. Whammy]

BM-1 Anti-ship orbital defense platform (WIP)... Reach out and crush someone.

This is a 3500 mass, free floating turret with 360 coverage on all axes. It fires high explosive armor piercing shells, and powerful missiles from more than double the default weapons range. Deploy one of these and you offer a convincing reason to stay out of range of your base. Deploy a group of them and local shops are going to make a killing in repair fees.

Armament
- Burst rail gun: cannon/beam/explosive 1:1:1; 120,000 damage/burst 4 second reload
- Auto-cannons: cannon/cannon 1:1 damage 240 per shot x 4 guns x 100 ms reload
- Medium range guided missiles: missile/beam/explosive 1:0.5:1 up to 150,000 damage/missile x 4 missiles. 30 second reload

 

[Reilly Reese]

So like the Orbital Defense Platforms from Halo?

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I've haven't played Halo. My inspiration was more of the Star Trek variety... Although, I'm sure the concept is similar; big space gun, keeps big bad ships away.

I just added my Star Axis styling to it instead of Cardassian. In this model, the outer hull is the weapon; it rotates around a central spherical core which can float alone like a ship or be docked to a single station block with a basic rail on it. I must say; a google search reveals that the Halo version looks a lot cooler than what's on Star Trek.