Solaris Combine Shipwerks

[Aerzaal]

with 3.6km range? That\'s excessive. The AI only tracks targets up to 2.5km, which is also a player\'s maximum detection range. I suppose you could have a longer draw distance, but you\'d probably be better off splitting those guns up. How big is your carrier that it mounts this kind of firepower? Because that sounds more like what we\'d put on a cruiser or battlecruiser. Carriers, in our opinion, are to be seen and not heard. We design our ships with specific roles in mind, with the expectation that they operate in concert in fleets.

Which is not to say we don\'t have plans for a massive, system crashing supership of our own. It\'s just not our first priority.

 

[Aerzaal]

Another weekend (We operate on a 6-day week, so it doesn\'t quite match up to most people\'s weekends) gone, and what to show for it? Several hours spent making a ship on Vivacitas, only to have it scuttled by mobs. We blame the schools. The good news for you is that we took out our frustrations on the Maw, and after a couple long hours of counting blocks, made some noticeable progress on the upper carapace. Honestly, this is the most time-consuming part. a couple more big red armor bits, and it\'s all downhill.

 

[I_is_Tinsy]

Amazing! I love the red/grey/black color scheme, not that I haven\'t seen it done before, but the way you do it is just marvelous! And I like what you do for the thrusters, that\'s pretty cool, and exposing power tanks on the inside of the rings for that glowing green light is tremendous! I also love the way you put green plex lights on the inside f some of the gun barrels, on turrets and a few ships. Keep up the incredible work!

 

[Aerzaal]

Original concepts had our ships decked black on black, with grey mechanical details and red accents. We\'re glad we went another direction. The way plasma discharge gleams off of the crimson carapace of our warships instill, we like to think, a sense of dread more primal than would have our drab, matte black hulls. As for our armaments, we wish there was something akin to lava or ice which we could ram down their barrels to give them their particularly otherworldly green glow. Alas, the universe only provides so much.

 

[I_is_Tinsy]

You should try a space station

 

[Aerzaal]

Or hardly working. You be the judge. Our Maw is nearing completion, however, work has slowed to a crawl as our engineers have become distracted by much prettier ships, and a dangerously addictive murder simulator. We do, however, have a few goodies for you. Here\'s the pitch:

Do you love Suppressor drones, but hate rifling through the bin to find one that isn\'t crap? Do you ever wish you could have more Razorbacks, but dread the long checkout lines? Do you ever wish your favorite Interceptors came with an inconvenient and environmentally hostile plastic webbing so you could load your carriers and indirectly kill local wildlife at the same time? Well, we have just the thing for you! Introducing Solaris Combine 6-packs! Loading carriers and replacing turrets after a tough fight has never been easier, or less cost effective! Available now in the Catalogue!

 

[Aerzaal]

Have you enjoyed your respite, mortals? Good. As have we. But it ends soon. The Maw is coming. We\'ll let you gaze upon his majesty. So sleek. So curvaceous. So unlike a potato.

Internals are incomplete. But the armaments have been declassified. We thought telling you all the ways this elegant predator of the void has to murder you might cow you into submission. Here goes:

• 12 Razorback Point Defense Turrets
• 6 Shredder CIWS
• 24 Fang Interceptors
• 48 Suppressor v2.0 Drones
• Onboard machine shop and production facility
• Over 250m of lean, green* Combine death machine
• Carpets match the drapes

Well? Sufficiently cowed? We thought so. Once we smooth out the hull and fill it with stuff, this bad boy\'ll be hitting our catalogue, and harassing mining operations near you!

*The Maw Drone Carrier is not actually green. It is red. Some people wouldn\'t know that to look at it, though.

 

[AxNinjaX]

I certainly appreciate your ships\' flamboyant coloration. It makes them much easier to spot when in combat.

Matte black may be a bit drab, but it\'s quite stealthy. Not to mention, classy.

...But it DOES get rather annoying when you lose your ship. Or when you run into it at high speed while carrying explosive payloads.

 

[Aerzaal]

After countless years of research and exhaustive focus groups, Combine technomages deduced that Red Ones Go Faster. Also, that tvtropes does to free time what a black hole does to space-time. It\'s quite an amusing phenomenon.

 

[Aerzaal]

The Seeker is certainly a venerable design. Yes, it has served us well. But alas! It lacks something. Something flat. And shieldy. And mostly useless. Yes! It lacks a proper seat for the mighty Eye of Origin! Fret not, we will soon release an upgrade package for your weary Seekers. Look, here the mighty Seeker of Disquieting Dreams sports a pair now, and note how much more legible that emblem is! We suppose if you are one who repurposes our ships to fit your fickle fleshly needs, you could paint your own emblem on there. We\'ve even made them modular, so that you can easily replace them as they get damaged in battle.

These will be officially released with the Seeker v2.0, which will also dump that clunky Stonewall system in favor of a larger primary shield array. Don\'t know why we put that in there. It\'s removal will allow the Seeker to dock to larger ships. It\'s been replaces with a neat-o quantum brainy thingy, because we figured the core room needed something and didn\'t want to waste that beautifully crafted cage.

 

[Aerzaal]

Rival shipyards have been getting uppity lately. They seem to think they can challenge our dominance. We\'ve decided to release these images from the Advanded Weapons and Defense Research Provision.

Pictured here: The Suppressor v2.0 and the Fang v2.0, with their predecessors

An artist\'s rendering of the Seeker v2.0, with upgraded v2.0 turrets

The new core room of the Seeker v2.0, Note the absence of the Eldritch Ceiling Arm, replaced instead with a small eye thingy. Always watching. Always judging.

That nifty new Quantum Brain majigger I mentioned earlier



Well? Terrifying, isn\'t it? Don\'t expect these to be released any time soon, the designs are far from finalized. Expect the v2.0 series to begin launch as soon as all the ships on the Mighty List of Planned Ships are complete. We may learn a few things yet that we wish to apply to the 2.0 lineup.

As always, Live in fear, mortals. All Hail Origin! All Hail Solaris!

 

[Aerzaal]

In unrelated news, Alnitak mysteriously disappears from the night sky. Where did it go? We assure we we almost certainly had very little to do with it probably.

With the bulk of the Maw complete, our clutch of cybercultists are permitted a short reprieve, as the Technomancers of the Discus Operati System go to work on its internal systems.

Added to the Maw\'s specification is a brand new IOBM launcher designed for capital class ships. More on that later, for now enjoy the splendor of 24 fighters and 48 drones crammed like sardines into a ship vaguely reminiscent of an alligator\'s head.

 

[WolfChild]

Hole-Eeeyyyy Cheese Balls. I would give my bacon up for something like that.

 

[Mortiferum]

Hello, I wanted to test the combat effectiveness of some of my Light Frigates, mind having a \"Sparring\" match?

(Not real hostility, just a friendly \"Drill\")

Kind regards to Solaris combine Shipwerk.

 

[Aerzaal]

Not sure when I\'ll be on next, but I\'d be happy to next time I\'m on SATURN.

 

[Aerzaal]

Lenseflare!

Can you see the Type 3F Guided IOBMs in their launch tubes? Here\'s a better look.

And in case there was any uncertainty, it\'s about ten meters longer than VFW\'s Ensemble.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Can those IOBMs even be launched or do they get stuck in the tubes?

 

[Mason]

I would like to test my new turret corvette, the Heretic. I\'m curious to see how well the 32 turrets hold up to a drone swarm. Next time we\'re all on, perhaps?

 

[Aerzaal]

Making them seperate ships would take up too much space, not to mention make them useless. They\'re just big missile launchers.

 

[Aerzaal]

The Combine\'s Advanced Weapons and Defense Research Provision just rolled out the first Oppressor prototypes. The verdict is still out as to whether these will be a viable weapons platform. Already we can see a few ways to improve the general functionality of the platform without inordinately increasing the unit cost.

Oh, and here\'s a screenshot.

expect those shoulders to change a bit on the production version. We already have plans to implement the adjustments, we just need to stop looking at this thing for a while.



The AWDeRP prototype is available here.