Pollux Class Battlecruiser

Here is the very long overdue Pollux Class Battlecruiser which I could not post for almost four days due to IRL reasons.   

And, if you don't like OP tactically-inclined and practical ships, you won't like this.

Let's just put it this way...this is pretty much an enlarged, superpowered version of the Centauri Class Cruiser. This piece of scrap metal took almost six days to construct due to constant problems and "fitting" problems with the missile winglets. (thanks to Ant for coining that term ) Then, I had to completely revamp the different hull segments multiple times for various reasons. And with the ship FINALLY   complete, I can say it turned out a lot better than it would've been without the constant, simultaneous revamps.   

Anyway, to the ship.

The Pollux Class Battlecruiser is the largest PXE ship to date, and one of the deadliest ever built. Armed with a massive number of various armaments, it can pose a threat to any ships that decide to engage it in close range. But its real firepower comes from the sixteen KMR-19 Anti-Ship Missiles, with four missiles per pod/winglet. The ShockER mounted ventrally can shut down shield and maneuvering/thruster systems, allowing the KMR-19s to finish off the enemy vessel.


D Missile Pod


Starboard view of missile pods C and D

The Pollux is built for one mission: to go into enemy territory, rip through as much ships as possible using its massive number of armaments, and finish off the largest ships of an enemy fleet with the KMR-19 missiles. These battlecruisers are almost completely self-sufficient and can hunt on their own for up to five months, carrying many squadrons of fighters, a large array of anti-aircraft cannons, many ship-to-ship weapons, and missiles to deal with large scale supercruisers, battleships, and other huge vessels. A Pollux can warp into a system at a safe distance from enemy weapons, fire its missiles, then warp out as quickly as possible, making it an effective long-range warship or an excellent vessel in fleets to take out or soften the armor and weaponry on huge starships, minimizing friendly casualties and maximizing enemy casualties.

Pollux Class Battlecruisers carry the KP-3s for anti-fighter defense in addition to the KP-6, KP-7, and KP-8 cannons, built for causing massive destruction to shields and armor alike. The KP-8 is a large, three barrel turret that is built to engage enemy warships for high damage and lower accuracy. However, PANS maximizes its accuracy, though KP-8s are generally used to destroy ships already hit by a KMR-19 missile. And finally, to the KMR-19 Anti-Ship Missile. The KMR-19 is four times as wide and almost twice as long as the KMR-17 Anti-Ship Missile mounted on the Centauri Class Cruiser. This allows the KMR-19 to completely devastate large targets with only one hit. A single KMR-19 can completely destroy an average sized battleship with its shields disabled by a ShockER, given enough time. (don't say this is OP, a missile that size aimed at some hull, with no shielding would punch through it, detonating within and causing huge internal damage, throwing shrapnel through the hull, tearing it apart) About four to eight missiles can destroy a supercruiser (I'll probably get a lot of hate from this), by targeting different areas of the ship. (of course, situations are individual for each supercruiser; other factors that determine the number of missiles necessary include the effectiveness of the ShockER, amount of hull armor, type of armor, strength or nonexistence of shields, structural integrity fields, etc) A massive spread of missiles aimed at various areas of a battlefield can throw debris and shrapnel into other ships, causing even more destruction. This makes the KMR-19 much deadlier than the KMR-17, due to the amount of oxygen carried as well as the amount and size of explosives. Unlike the KMR-17, the KMR-19 can carry various other modules besides high-explosive. Other (not very common) modules (not to be confused with warheads) carried include biotoxins (not to be confused with weaponized pathogens), chemicals (including some modern ones, such as anthrax and sarin), weaponized pathogens, and nuclear radiation. However, the high-explosive modules are preferred over all others. The KMR-19s are mounted on a missile rack (a technic beam, if you hide the missiles, there really is one), making reloading considerably easier than reloading the KMR-17s on a Centauri.

The KP-10 Mk. 2 Light ShockER (the same as the one mounted on the Centauri) can fire three consecutive blasts before the 72 hour complete recharge time. It works by overcharging electrical systems and frying them, making them effective against shield systems, generators, engines, thrusters, and the nervous system of biological beings, to a certain extent. This essentially (if it hits home) immobilizes an enemy vessel and strips it of its shields, allowing the KMR-19s to have maximum effectiveness.


Ventrally mounted KP-10 Mk. 2 Light ShockER

The Pollux utilizes fairly large amounts of absorbic armor to protect it from enemy fire. As the Pollux is usually on the frontlines, and sometimes alone, it must carry heavy amounts of armor. The Mk. 3 absorbic shielding grid also improves survivability of the Pollux.

The Pollux is not necessarily fast, but for a ship its size, it is quite agile. Five nacelles provide it with excellent propulsion and maneuverability when not at warp, while they also can sustain a relatively high warp factor at warp. This makes it effective for traveling long distances in a short-ish time.


Aft view of warp nacelles

Pollux's also carry large amounts of fighters for protection against enemy fighters and for evacuation, boarding, and bombing purposes. A Pollux usually carries twelve squadrons of fighters, with six squadrons of Phoenix fighters, two squadrons of Swallow fighters, two squadrons of Finch gunships, and two squadrons of Fireclaw dropships. However, if necessary, the Pollux can carry more in the surplus hangar space.


Hangar bays mounted on direct aft side of the missile pods (also located directly in front)


Hangar bays near bridge (also located near warp nacelles)

Though the Pollux is used as a lone-combat interceptor and independent assault ship, it is a very common sight in PXE fleets as well. In fleet, the Pollux serves on the frontlines of space battles, fighting alongside battleships and engaging enemy vessels with its large array of missiles.

Armaments:
x24 KP-3 anti-aircraft cannons
x50 KP-6 heavy turrets
x56 KP-7 long-range ship-to-ship cannons
x11 KP-8 heavy cannons (three barrels)
x1 KP-10 Mk. 2 Light ShockER
x16 KMR-19 Anti-Ship Missiles


Dorsal view/KP-8 heavy cannons mounted on towers

Defenses:
15.6 cm - 20.1 cm absorbic armor
Mk. 3 standard shielding grid

Warp Capabilities:
Mk. 5 warp drive: WF 9.9...

Fighter Complement:
x6 squadrons Phoenix fighters
x2 squadrons Swallow light fighters
x2 squadrons Finch gunships
x2 squadrons Fireclaw dropships

Affiliation: PXE Navy

Class: Pollux

Role: Battlecruiser, support heavy cruiser, light carrier, missile ship, interceptor

Maybe I'm too late, but I should warn you, the peeps here don't like overpowered stuff.

I don't think the Pollux is overpowered though... the missiles aren't overpowered because like you said, their Supercruiser-crushing-behavior only happens when the targeted ship's shields are depleted. With the shields up, they probably wouldn't be very effective.

Even then, though, a PCG Supercruiser is built to withstand the firepower of a Spectre. Even without shields I think a Supercruiser would be able to take quite a beating before going down. As in, lose entire chunks of hull and keep flying, blasting away with whatever weapons it still has....

So we'll see what the PCG says.

Hmmm... it *does* say not to read if one doesn't like OP ships... ah, whatever. How OP can he even make a ship, anyway? Couldn't possibly be that bad...

*5 minutes later...*

MUST... NOT... INTERNET... SCREAM... ABOUT... HOW... RIDICULUOSLY... OP... THE... SHIP... IS...

*Several minutes of calming-breathing later*

OK, I'm just going to pretend you didn't have time to write any stats so the ones I'm seeing are just figments of my imagination... it's the only way I can get out of writing huge walls of text...

So, I'm just going to comment about the model itself- and, to be perfectly honest, not your best IMO. It's just a tad too far on the bulky side for my tastes; that, and it's a bit too high (again, all IMHO).

I really like the model itself, but I'm going to have to think about the stats before commenting further.

Dino27 wrote:I really like the model itself, but I'm going to have to think about the stats before commenting further.

Mirage.

You're doomed.   

Well, I like the ship. Even though it is just a slightly modified Centauri, I think it's really cool-looking.

I'm just to come out and say it: I usually don't read the stats on a ship. I pretty much never put stats up for my own ships, either. I've just been building ships to look cool for the last few years while ignoring the stats. So, to me, fact that this ship is too overpowered is irrelevant because it looks really good. I really like the greebles in the screenshots of the side, and I think the 5 warp nacelles really gives a unique touch. Nice work!

Talmid, actually, I'm just in a weird mood and want to comment when I'm feeling "normal.... yeah... fat chance...

@Talmid: lol, okay, thanks for the "reassuring news". @Mightyman: Lol! Okay. Yeah I agree with you on the side hull. I'm thinking of a refit already. @Dino: Okay....  *stuttering*Err, Dino, was it something I said?  @Spud: Lol okay thanks!

On the model's asthetics:
1. The gebbling makes it look pretty cluttered, maybe it's just teh white color, IDK if it would look better in a light or maybe dark grey, but it makes it look a little ehhh in white. Otherwise, it's pretty cool. *realizes the first picture is white and the rest are light grey* yeah, it does look better in light grey.
2. However, you need to be careful about some of your weapon placements, such as the Shocker Mk. II, if the turrets just infront of it where firing straight "down" (barrles raised 90 degrees), it would hit them, it also blocks their line of sight somewhat, espeically if you where to raise it a bit to give it more clearance, while it looks cool there, I would place it where that 1x3x1 upward sloping brick on the bottom of your nose is. Make it look like the barrel is coming out of the ship and the gun is inside the nose somewhere, that will give it a better firing line, the turrets a better firing line, and might just look cooler.
3. Otherwise it looks pretty cool, I might tone down the geebling a little bit though. I like the "bulkiness" though, gives it a good feeling of momentum and power.
4. Love the three barreled turret by the way.

Model's Stats/OPness/Tactical ablity:
1. Talmid said it pretty well:

Talmid wrote:PCG Supercruiser is built to withstand the firepower of a Spectre...[plus]..As in, lose entire chunks of hull and keep flying, blasting away with whatever weapons it still has....

Yes, I do believe most supercruisers can do this. So while I do believe these missiles will punch quite a hole in whatever they hit (if they are not shot down first, which I believe is the best defense against them and makes them a little less OP), I do think larger ships will keep going. This "balances" them a bit better (there ya go Mightyman  ) They are about the same size (mass wise) as a small ship, and considering kamakzing a small ship, while rare (we don't want to fly a whole crew to their deaths several times each battle) would easily do as much damage to a supercruiser as you are claiming these would, with no complaint, I think it is prefectly reasonable for these to be as powerful as they are. Also given their size, they would be extremely expensive to produce, and so would be shot with extreme caution/judgment about whether it's really worth it to fire.

So there you go Mightyman, shoot it down, larger ships will soldier on, and they esspensive and rarely used, does that make it a bit better?

Anywho,
2. (repost 2 from Asthetics here, as it fits in both spots)
2. Some of your three barrel turrets have their line of sight obscured a little by the winglets, same problem as teh Shocker MK II. More powerful, lesser amounts of turrets should have better position with better line of sight over other, less important turrets, so maybe switch them around some.

@Mightyman: I laughed really hard at your post.  I've been there before, but with someone else.

You know, I know wonder what is more expensive, a small ship or a missile the size of a small ship. Because if they both deal the same damage in a collision with a larger ship, and the missile is more expensive, then we should just take older small ships, fill them with explosives, and send them on collision courses with enemy ships.

Ant- Yes, actually, very much so. Although I still feel that disabling a supercruiser with the ShockER in one hit is irredeemably OP (even given it's obscene recharge time); a destroyer, sure (it is a battleship, after all), but a ship several times larger than it? ....Ehhhh....

Really, now I feel the misssile's OP-ness is dependent on it's FTL-capability; if it can only go sub-light, sure, just blast it with phasers*; on the other hand, if it can be launched from a neighbouring star system, jump in right next to a supercruiser, and blast holes in it before it can raise shields? Yeah, not happening.

Another thing I want to address: Bioweapons? Sarin? Radiation? You know, we try to keep in line with ethics here...

Talmid- Well, ships need life support, warp drives, shielding... ships are probably more expensive.

*This made me think... wouldn't having those huge explosive tubes strapped to the side of your ship be a really bad idea? I mean, one lucky torpedo hit, and... well, I think you  can figure it out from there.

Mightyman wrote:on the other hand, if it can be launched from a neighbouring star system, jump in right next to a supercruiser, and blast holes in it before it can raise shields? Yeah, not happening.

I have a solution.

Autoshields. Turn on automatically when an unknown or known hostile ship is detected. The only issue I can see here is that the simple raising of shields might be seen as a threatening move, and if some random alien ship we've never seen before flies over and our shields go up, they might think we're gearing up for a fight....

@Ant: Should I stop using the light effects? And I tend to like the greebling IMO. I see what you mean with the line of sight stuff, but I was too lazy to change it. And thanks. Okay, I like how you balanced it, but I know I argue a lot I use these missiles like a larger version of the cruise/ballistic missiles in the US Navy. So, obviously, these are much rarer than, say, the KMR-17, they are not by any means as rare as like a superlaser.
@Talmid: What Mightyman said.
@Mightyman: KMR-19s are by no means warp capable, don't worry. About biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons; as the PXE is not aligned into any governing body (well the IF, but they already violated the law millions of times , nothing is considered unethical by the PXE). Weaponized pathogens are rarely used, because they can spread and mutate, while the others are also rarely used due to cost and effectiveness. KMR-19s are rarely used on civilian targets, as orbital bombardment can do that. On a battlefield (land), they are rarely used due to fratricide. Don't worry, auto-eject systems are equipped on the ship, and plus, it'll usually fire missiles once it reaches it's destination. (I just made that up ) Oh, and about the ShockER. It fires three bursts, combined with weapons fire. In fleet, there is a specialized warship for ShockER.

PXR- I don't like to see them used at all. Seriously, sarin is a pretty tough way to go...

(also, what's the range on those KMR-19s? I assume it's pretty long, but I'm not sure).

Talmid- I mean, they wouldn't even be able to be raised in time, autoshielding or not.

@Mightyman: probably 1-2 AU. Does that sound realistic or should at change it. Okay...no sarin.

Yeah, that's pretty long-ranged.

No, it's not at all realistic, not if it's only sub-light capable (1 AU is about the distance between the earth and the sun, for those who don't know). I mean, the missile could probably lock on at that distance, but it would take hours at the very least to get to the target (even traveling at the speed of light, it would take a few minutes).

Exactly, the ship would warp in, fire, then leave.

OK, so it's lock-on range is really long, but actual firing range is short... OK, got it. Makes sense.

@Mightyman: We will limit both ranges to 1 AU because having a long lock range and low fire r age is useless.

Eh, not necessarily; if your lock-on range is longer, you can effectively fire as soon as you get in range.

Mightyman wrote:
Talmid- I mean, they wouldn't even be able to be raised in time, autoshielding or not.

I'm pretty sure a computer is going to process things faster than it takes for a missile to traverse the distance between two points. (even though we see a missile go from Veridian III to the Veridian star in only eleven seconds in Star Trek Generations)

I don't think it takes so long for shields to come online either once the order's been given. :?

@Mightyman: Okay, lock on range is 1 AU + 1 km, which is like 149,000,001 km or something.

Talmid- It would at least take a few seconds I'd imagine, which is more than it takes for a missile fired at short range to hit (I think. Depends on what's considered "short range", really).

PXR- Yep, sounds about right.

@Mightyman: Lol, okay.