I was discussing about the Federation Cruiser's origins on the Shipyard thread when I realised there's a lot more to the FTL ships that needs to be looked at.
You know how you have all those alternative layouts and paintjobs for the various ships? Where did they come from? What led to that ship in particular ending up there? I'd like to share theories on why...
Of course the way the descriptions explain it and the events to unlock most of them, it sounds like each ship is unique but how do you come back with another exact same one? Do you actually find a fleet of Crystal ships or Slug ships? Or is it that every run is always the first run?
Kestrel:
A - An old ship repurposed for the war. We all know that.
B - During the opening parts of the war, the Rebels also used old Kestrels before they switched to the ships we see today. Perhaps the Federation raided scrapyards for the old things and shoved lasers on them because they were all modified by those Rebels who were laser weapon aficionados.
C - Of course, with a lot of spare kestrels lying around being mothballed, pirates would of course find them and paint them in pirate colours. Some were captured back or they joined the Federation.
Engi:
Nothing much here. The Engies donate various ships and loadouts to the cause. Maybe the Type B is an experiment.
Federation Cruiser:
A - It's one of those ships you see in the Last Stand except it's been modified to fire a top-secret experimental laser. Very few have been built and some were captured by the Rebels for analysis (then you hopefully rescued it)
B - I believe the Nisos was created to be some sort of command vessel. The green/yellow colours make it stand out compared to other ships (even though this wouldn't matter in space) and the souped-up artillery was there because command vessels have better guns (Dual lasers? Better than BL II)
C - Pirates grabbed a few damaged vessels, painted them and realised they couldn't rebuild the lasers. So throw a mass driver in there and call it a ship. Federation then grabbed them or they rejoined the fleet.
Zoltan:
Again, donated to the cause thanks to the Captain's wisdom (or attempt at it). The Type C is probably built by the lowest bidder considering how much the loadout sucks. Ion cannons and a Beam Drone? Who approved that?
Stealth:
The Type A was built and reclaimed by the Engies with the help of a Federation Captain. Or at least several were. Some were modified with Glaive Beams and the Type C was an experiment.
Lanius:
The Lanius always support the underdog in battles. If they joined the Rebellion or helped them out, they'd get very little Scrap. Plus a prolonged conflict means more metals to eat from both sides.
So after seeing the ragtag fleet, the Lanius donate some of their ships to the cause. Beware once the Rebels start to lose though...
Mantis:
The various layouts and colours are from different Hives. The red scheme is associated with Kazaaak and other raiders. The thief had a whole bunch of these "custom cruisers" constructed. Once in the hangar, other Mantis hives repainted them.
Slug:
"You actually managed to steal that ship? We're impressed at your cunning. Have some more. By the way, this one hasn't got a medbay. Not in the budget"
Rock:
Of course, the Rocks who give you the cruiser are from a tribe who build these in bulk. The Type C is what happened when the Crystals and the Rocks got back together, took a look at the Bulwark-type and said "Let's cover it in crystals".
Crystal:
You didn't find just the one Ruwen used but a whole fleet. They have been sitting idle in a hangar for a while.
So yeah those are my thoughts on the matter of the ships.
Ship Theories
-
R4V3-0N
- Posts: 1287
- Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 11:44 am
Re: Ship Theories
Kestrel A:
No, it wasn't repurposed. It was always built for war. But it was a very old ship and was out dated, even when upgraded (current known Kestrel) it still isn't the best ship out there.
There is a few ways we can look at this ship but this is what I like to look at it...
This is the first "Federation Cruiser", the other Fed Cruiser we have playable is a very brand new prototype cruiser, while we also know the current main cruisers as the Federation Fleet Cruiser 1 and 2 in the backgrounds in the last stand.
If you have issues following this.
Kestrel Cruiser = Very Old outdated cruiser
Federation Fleet cruiser = current majority of cruisers in the Federation fleet
Federation Cruiser = New cruiser
This was a very popular cruiser of choice... well back in the day, they were plenty full and were of great use to the Federation hence it's very long service record. However it is going near the expiration date...
We can tell it is popular also not only due to age but the B and C's existance...
Kestrel B:
We know the Rebels are well... part of a Rebelion. and Rebellions that often succeed is known as a Revolution. Both Reb and Rev are often from internally of a empire/ kingdom/ or country in history. It is a quite common theory that the Rebels ORIGINATED from the Federation and thus Rebel Painted Federation ships in the opening of the Rebellion could have been what the Rebels used mainly at first...
The other idea of why there are Rebel coloured Fed ships is due to the fact there are Federation Deserters who left to join the Rebelion (either way you look at it, it is former Federation members going to join or form the Rebels). And there ship (in this case the Kestrel) was repainted and used at least for firsts.
Player hand control of this ship is probably due to capturing back one of these Rebel Kestrels. Which is also another common parrarel to modern history in reality
Kestrel C:
Much like you said, most likely spare kestrels captured or Federation crews deserted the Galactic Federation and became pirates which later on were recaptured. We can tell as there are some hints with some pirate and mercenary encounters in FTL. Typically the ship that belonged to a race typically had that race on the ship.
Engi A:
The Engi are one of the main supporters of the Federation and are part of the Federation through thick or thin. This is the conventional colour scheme for the Engi ships and would be suspected that there would be some Engi ships in the last stand assisting with Federation medical and repair needs.
We can see from the standard crew on this ship that there is a human onboard which still pushes the idea this is a federation ship.
Another major hint this is a federation ship is the way to unlock it... directly from the Kestrel and/or going to sector 4. It was also one of the first player ships in game along with the Kestrel.
Engi B:
Very little is unknown about this ship... it only has 1 crew, is mainly filled with drones but it doesn't use drones for offence or defence directly in the form of anti ship drones and defense drones. It instead uses it's heavy laser and heavy ion to take on enemy ships...
it is quite possible these ships are to throw of suspicion on the Engi's interactions with the Federation and that these may be used in the last stand as it's repair drones could probably help. But These is mainly speculation. Not much is known about it.
Engi C:
With a new chrome silver appearance and much more smooth texture using high end technology like hacking and such. It is quite likely these are the high end science and research platforms for the engi as well as being there high end ships in there brigade. It is quite possible to fend of Mantis invaders in the Engi coreworlds as well as to work on study and research with the Zoltan.
Federation Cruiser A:
As I mentioned earlier, it is not the ship from the laststand (Fleed Cruiser 2) but instead a new design built to replace it. The "Winglet" design, nose design, engine design and quantity, the Bridge, the Stripes, the profile, the height, etc is much more different then the Federation Cruiser A. As mentioned earlier in the Shipyard thread. The Fleet Federation Cruiser 2 is simply the Predecessor of the Federation cruiser and NOT the direct upgrade. If anything it is speculated that due to the fact it has 4 engine exhausts per engine instead of 3 that this ship may be much more faster and agile then the Federation Cruiser and possibly has much more on-board weapons then the artillery weapon. Also the Air locks are in a different location.
Anyway, back to the Federation Cruiser. this is the latest cruiser in Federation hands using the Vindicator Beam as it's primary artillery weapon and burst lasers for support , it is a secret top end ship that was probably the last ship developed by the Federation in our current time line. It is the only Artillery vessel in vanilla FTL for player use. However there is some on the Rebel side known as ASB's in Rebel controlled beacons.
This ship was meant to replace the current Fleet Cruisers as well as the Kestrel. Few have been built but they have been captured by the Rebels at one point near a top secret facility that is where the second Rebel Flagship was being constructed.
Federation Cruiser B:
Unknown really, it's colours it adorns is not of Rebel of Federation colours. It is possible the Command ship of the Militia/ Civilians of the FTL universe that could be newly imerging but it is unknown in detail who belongs this ship. All we know is the Federation somehow got it back. The starting crew has a Human, Zoltan, and Slug... The Zoltan sectors does have some Nebulas in it where some Slugs could reside. Theoretically this may be a Federation-Zoltan ship. As it adorns simular colours but not identical to the Zoltan ships. This could be the result of getting the Zoltans support again post the Zoltan peace envoy quest. Zoltans used to be part of the Federation in the past theoretically before the Federation Mantis war.
Federation Cruiser C:
Due to it's configeration...
Clone bay... Prototype Artillery... Crew... Teleporter... These are no ordinary pirates by any measure which shows through the paint work which is not only more expensive due to the fact it covers the entire ship but also the Very ship itself and the weapons on it. I theorise that this came from possibly a battle hardened group of ex-federation crew as well as new additions during the Rebel uprising. Possibly one of the Flagships that escaped the claws of the Rebels.
This ship does not look like any normal pirate configeration in FTL at all. no propper weapons. rare prototype weapon artillery. Zoltans, Teleport and clone bay with a Flak for artillery I have to repeat again. This is probably one of the more elite of the elite out there... another theory for this is the fact this ships colour scheme matches the colour scheme of the ship achievements in FTL which kind of emphasis that these are the more battle hardened elite crew and ship out there. Unique.
I highly doubt the replacement of the artillery beam was due to it being faulty and a make shift repair (it would have been easier to simply not even bother replacing it and just add normal weapons, this ship can use 4 weapons and both federation cruiser A and B has weapons present, it makes no sense to remove them to have a sub-par weapon as it's main gear.
"With a Flak Artillery weapon and an improved Clone Bay, only the most suicidal of infantry chooses to fly on this ship." - ship description.
This kind of also shows how this is a high risk, high skill, high performance ship...
Zoltan Cruiser A:
The zoltans used to be part of the Galactic federation, but not anymore. Due to the captains wisdom in his Kestrel Cruiser they regained the support of the Zoltans and the first aid the Federation get was the Zoltan Cruiser A.
It has the typical zoltan weapons, colours, crew, etc. As well as being asymmetrical as always.
Zoltan Cruiser B:
Some colours mimicing the Federation Cruiser B's colours... This ship has one of the most powerful gear on any ship in FTL thus far. It is an interesting ship that's only defense is it's engines and the zoltan shield. Designed most likely as a interceptor of sorts- fast and hard punch to take victory. It is unknown what faction owns this ship specificly or what colours on this represents, but it could be a sub faction of the Zoltans... perhaps a more battle-ready group?...
This ship is named after the surname of a great mathematician and physician... probably part of the Zoltan Research Facilities possibly testing in FTL jumps and it's affects on the ship, crew, etc... as well as to charge the shield.
A prototype ship by the zoltan research and study organisation.
Zoltan Cruiser C:
Cerenkov... a scientists that is mainly for the "Cerenkov radiation". quote: " electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle (such as an electron) passes through a dielectric medium at a speed greater than the phase velocity of light in that medium.". Continuing hte theme of research and study, this is another prototype ship studying Faster then Light Travel and it's affects and radiation. As well as the ship having a back up battery and zoltan crew as it's main power source (Zoltan provide energy via radiation of some form...).
This is an interesting ship and a very high end scientific vessel. it's colour scheme yet again is rather unknown and possibly belongs to the same or simular group of Zoltans who study in FTL travel.
based on the BP values of some equipment here as well as it's augments, crew, and scientific value, this is probably one of the most expensive ships both in information and in general gross price probably matching up with the Federation cruiser or pass. It is a very interesting vessel I have to say. Due to it's use of drones and ion (zoltans use ions but so do there Engi friends..) this is possibly a joint scientific research with Engi's as well as the production of the ship, this ship theoretically can go to Sector 3 without a single upgrade to it's weapons or drones which adds to it's uniqueness.
Stealth Cruiser A: This was commissioned by the Federation to the Engi to build them a ship. This ship is built as a form of direct action - stealth reconnaissance (DR-SR, name of the type B, it's name revealed to us via it's coding in the blueprints in the FTL coding). Probably meant to be the messenger to the Last federation fleet OR the ship that is meant to take out the Rebel ship...
however. It isn't a love story so to say. This is also rumoured to be the first major evidence the Engi are trying to side with the Rebels to secretly play and smuggle the ship to the Rebels hands instead of the Federation. This rumor came around due to the fact that Stealth is meant to be a prototype Engi exclusive equipment however the Rebel Flagship and other rebel ships also use it...
https://youtu.be/x0emVMsH8DA?t=5m23s
This video segment can sum up the theory on this part...
"Constructed for the Federation by the Engi, this ship is designed to use cloaking technology and speed to get behind enemy lines."
This ship discription further aids the idea that this ship could have been the messanger so to say as it can flank enemies or avoid them completely...
Stealth Cruiser B: "Built like a glass cannon, this ship is hard to handle. If its cloaking can keep it safe long enough to charge its weapon, few cruisers can withstand its might."
This ship description aids the idea this may have been built to take on the Rebel flagship as the Rebel flagship is weaker to smaller cruisers who are agile... this one is just that, but also have stealth to aid it AND large firepower...
I can't add more to the B then what I haven't already said for the A.
Stealth Cruiser C: "This ship was part of an Engi experiment to make a power efficient version of the Zoltan shield. Unfortunately this required the removal of the Cloaking system."
Another collaboration between the Engi and the Zoltan. This is the first Engi ship to have a zoltan shield. However it is the first stealth cruiser with no stealth as well... this was most likely not meant to be used by the Federation.
Can't add more to this then what I said to the A.
Lanius Cruiser A:
This race is pretty unknown... as well as the unlock conditions for this ship not aiding to any real reason to join the Federation... probably a race that is missunderstood and longs to be with others... the war would give them good rewards and the Federation is rather stable in economy with Scrap...
Lanius cruiser B: unknown origins and skin...
Mantis Cruiser A:
built by KazaaakplethKilik, he is a famous Mantis Raider who made this ship and can join your crew.
IT is adorned in the general Mantis Red colour scheme and it is rumored that there is a Mantis Empire of some kind...
Featuring the teleporter and typical mantis boarding party. It is a deadly close quarters ship
Mantis Cruiser B:
"This warship encourages sending massive boarding parties and keeping strong defense."
This is probably a more forced-engi variation of the ship as slave labour by the Mantis... this time using a Drone system for more deffense as this ship focuses on putting the entire crew on board the enemy ship more or less with it's large teleporter...
Unknown what faction holds this ship...
Mantis Cruiser C;
(Crystal) lock down bomb... stun bomb... lanius. This is probably a ship that was created after the portal to the Crystal sector were opened... the ships colours is blue as well if like it is a crystal ship... This ship probably is a Federation variant that has the help of the lanius, crystal, engi, and mantis to make it... probably the first collaboration of the Galactic Federation reborn...
... named after the founding king of Athens... this is an odd ship to be souly a mantis vessel...
Slug Cruiser A:
Stolen from the slugs by the Kestrel crew... this ship is a typical nebula slug ship. It is not really known if the crew are happy to be with you or not...
Slug Cruiser B:
only non rock ship with all ammo based weapons. Using a rather rare healing bomb... this ship is an interesting boarder ship that has an edge over even the mantis ships in some aspects. Very good for nebula boarding and such...
Skin is of unknown origins and factions.
Slug Cruiser C:
Can't add more then what I said above...
Skin of unknown origins and faction.
Rock A:
A typical rock ship using missile weapons. It is in standard rock colours and it is quite heavily armoured as usual of rock ships. it is only received to the federation when the rock learns they are not as weak as they assumed.
Rock B:
Unknown skin and origins... again mimics the elite-skin of ships mentioned for the fed cruiser
Quote:
"Trivia
The name "Shivan" combined with the color scheme of Layout B is a reference to an alien race of the same name in the game Descent: Freespace. " (FTL Wiki ship)
"<!-- name it after FP2 Shivans? - Rakshasa - Moloch - Ravana - Sathanas-->" (coding from FTL for this ship)
Seems like there is a possible inspiration for this ship from Freespace... possibly factions are simular.
Note: this ship is missing 1 weapon.
Rock C:
Description says most of it: "Contact has been made with the Crystalline race and this cruiser was offered to the Federation as part of diplomatic discussions between the sister species."
A Federation Rock-Crystal ship.
Crystal A:
You get it by helping out a crystal crewmember who was in stasis sleep... you get yourself to the crystal sector opening a portal there and getting this ship as a reward... seems very impressive for it's size ...
Crystal B:
Unknown origins of faction or skin.all we know is what the game says... "Their unique racial ability makes the Crystal beings very adept at ship boarding. This ship was designed for such raiding parties."...
No, it wasn't repurposed. It was always built for war. But it was a very old ship and was out dated, even when upgraded (current known Kestrel) it still isn't the best ship out there.
There is a few ways we can look at this ship but this is what I like to look at it...
This is the first "Federation Cruiser", the other Fed Cruiser we have playable is a very brand new prototype cruiser, while we also know the current main cruisers as the Federation Fleet Cruiser 1 and 2 in the backgrounds in the last stand.
If you have issues following this.
Kestrel Cruiser = Very Old outdated cruiser
Federation Fleet cruiser = current majority of cruisers in the Federation fleet
Federation Cruiser = New cruiser
This was a very popular cruiser of choice... well back in the day, they were plenty full and were of great use to the Federation hence it's very long service record. However it is going near the expiration date...
We can tell it is popular also not only due to age but the B and C's existance...
Kestrel B:
We know the Rebels are well... part of a Rebelion. and Rebellions that often succeed is known as a Revolution. Both Reb and Rev are often from internally of a empire/ kingdom/ or country in history. It is a quite common theory that the Rebels ORIGINATED from the Federation and thus Rebel Painted Federation ships in the opening of the Rebellion could have been what the Rebels used mainly at first...
The other idea of why there are Rebel coloured Fed ships is due to the fact there are Federation Deserters who left to join the Rebelion (either way you look at it, it is former Federation members going to join or form the Rebels). And there ship (in this case the Kestrel) was repainted and used at least for firsts.
Player hand control of this ship is probably due to capturing back one of these Rebel Kestrels. Which is also another common parrarel to modern history in reality
Kestrel C:
Much like you said, most likely spare kestrels captured or Federation crews deserted the Galactic Federation and became pirates which later on were recaptured. We can tell as there are some hints with some pirate and mercenary encounters in FTL. Typically the ship that belonged to a race typically had that race on the ship.
Engi A:
The Engi are one of the main supporters of the Federation and are part of the Federation through thick or thin. This is the conventional colour scheme for the Engi ships and would be suspected that there would be some Engi ships in the last stand assisting with Federation medical and repair needs.
We can see from the standard crew on this ship that there is a human onboard which still pushes the idea this is a federation ship.
Another major hint this is a federation ship is the way to unlock it... directly from the Kestrel and/or going to sector 4. It was also one of the first player ships in game along with the Kestrel.
Engi B:
Very little is unknown about this ship... it only has 1 crew, is mainly filled with drones but it doesn't use drones for offence or defence directly in the form of anti ship drones and defense drones. It instead uses it's heavy laser and heavy ion to take on enemy ships...
it is quite possible these ships are to throw of suspicion on the Engi's interactions with the Federation and that these may be used in the last stand as it's repair drones could probably help. But These is mainly speculation. Not much is known about it.
Engi C:
With a new chrome silver appearance and much more smooth texture using high end technology like hacking and such. It is quite likely these are the high end science and research platforms for the engi as well as being there high end ships in there brigade. It is quite possible to fend of Mantis invaders in the Engi coreworlds as well as to work on study and research with the Zoltan.
Federation Cruiser A:
As I mentioned earlier, it is not the ship from the laststand (Fleed Cruiser 2) but instead a new design built to replace it. The "Winglet" design, nose design, engine design and quantity, the Bridge, the Stripes, the profile, the height, etc is much more different then the Federation Cruiser A. As mentioned earlier in the Shipyard thread. The Fleet Federation Cruiser 2 is simply the Predecessor of the Federation cruiser and NOT the direct upgrade. If anything it is speculated that due to the fact it has 4 engine exhausts per engine instead of 3 that this ship may be much more faster and agile then the Federation Cruiser and possibly has much more on-board weapons then the artillery weapon. Also the Air locks are in a different location.
Anyway, back to the Federation Cruiser. this is the latest cruiser in Federation hands using the Vindicator Beam as it's primary artillery weapon and burst lasers for support , it is a secret top end ship that was probably the last ship developed by the Federation in our current time line. It is the only Artillery vessel in vanilla FTL for player use. However there is some on the Rebel side known as ASB's in Rebel controlled beacons.
This ship was meant to replace the current Fleet Cruisers as well as the Kestrel. Few have been built but they have been captured by the Rebels at one point near a top secret facility that is where the second Rebel Flagship was being constructed.
Federation Cruiser B:
Unknown really, it's colours it adorns is not of Rebel of Federation colours. It is possible the Command ship of the Militia/ Civilians of the FTL universe that could be newly imerging but it is unknown in detail who belongs this ship. All we know is the Federation somehow got it back. The starting crew has a Human, Zoltan, and Slug... The Zoltan sectors does have some Nebulas in it where some Slugs could reside. Theoretically this may be a Federation-Zoltan ship. As it adorns simular colours but not identical to the Zoltan ships. This could be the result of getting the Zoltans support again post the Zoltan peace envoy quest. Zoltans used to be part of the Federation in the past theoretically before the Federation Mantis war.
Federation Cruiser C:
Due to it's configeration...
Clone bay... Prototype Artillery... Crew... Teleporter... These are no ordinary pirates by any measure which shows through the paint work which is not only more expensive due to the fact it covers the entire ship but also the Very ship itself and the weapons on it. I theorise that this came from possibly a battle hardened group of ex-federation crew as well as new additions during the Rebel uprising. Possibly one of the Flagships that escaped the claws of the Rebels.
This ship does not look like any normal pirate configeration in FTL at all. no propper weapons. rare prototype weapon artillery. Zoltans, Teleport and clone bay with a Flak for artillery I have to repeat again. This is probably one of the more elite of the elite out there... another theory for this is the fact this ships colour scheme matches the colour scheme of the ship achievements in FTL which kind of emphasis that these are the more battle hardened elite crew and ship out there. Unique.
I highly doubt the replacement of the artillery beam was due to it being faulty and a make shift repair (it would have been easier to simply not even bother replacing it and just add normal weapons, this ship can use 4 weapons and both federation cruiser A and B has weapons present, it makes no sense to remove them to have a sub-par weapon as it's main gear.
"With a Flak Artillery weapon and an improved Clone Bay, only the most suicidal of infantry chooses to fly on this ship." - ship description.
This kind of also shows how this is a high risk, high skill, high performance ship...
Zoltan Cruiser A:
The zoltans used to be part of the Galactic federation, but not anymore. Due to the captains wisdom in his Kestrel Cruiser they regained the support of the Zoltans and the first aid the Federation get was the Zoltan Cruiser A.
It has the typical zoltan weapons, colours, crew, etc. As well as being asymmetrical as always.
Zoltan Cruiser B:
Some colours mimicing the Federation Cruiser B's colours... This ship has one of the most powerful gear on any ship in FTL thus far. It is an interesting ship that's only defense is it's engines and the zoltan shield. Designed most likely as a interceptor of sorts- fast and hard punch to take victory. It is unknown what faction owns this ship specificly or what colours on this represents, but it could be a sub faction of the Zoltans... perhaps a more battle-ready group?...
This ship is named after the surname of a great mathematician and physician... probably part of the Zoltan Research Facilities possibly testing in FTL jumps and it's affects on the ship, crew, etc... as well as to charge the shield.
A prototype ship by the zoltan research and study organisation.
Zoltan Cruiser C:
Cerenkov... a scientists that is mainly for the "Cerenkov radiation". quote: " electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle (such as an electron) passes through a dielectric medium at a speed greater than the phase velocity of light in that medium.". Continuing hte theme of research and study, this is another prototype ship studying Faster then Light Travel and it's affects and radiation. As well as the ship having a back up battery and zoltan crew as it's main power source (Zoltan provide energy via radiation of some form...).
This is an interesting ship and a very high end scientific vessel. it's colour scheme yet again is rather unknown and possibly belongs to the same or simular group of Zoltans who study in FTL travel.
based on the BP values of some equipment here as well as it's augments, crew, and scientific value, this is probably one of the most expensive ships both in information and in general gross price probably matching up with the Federation cruiser or pass. It is a very interesting vessel I have to say. Due to it's use of drones and ion (zoltans use ions but so do there Engi friends..) this is possibly a joint scientific research with Engi's as well as the production of the ship, this ship theoretically can go to Sector 3 without a single upgrade to it's weapons or drones which adds to it's uniqueness.
Stealth Cruiser A: This was commissioned by the Federation to the Engi to build them a ship. This ship is built as a form of direct action - stealth reconnaissance (DR-SR, name of the type B, it's name revealed to us via it's coding in the blueprints in the FTL coding). Probably meant to be the messenger to the Last federation fleet OR the ship that is meant to take out the Rebel ship...
however. It isn't a love story so to say. This is also rumoured to be the first major evidence the Engi are trying to side with the Rebels to secretly play and smuggle the ship to the Rebels hands instead of the Federation. This rumor came around due to the fact that Stealth is meant to be a prototype Engi exclusive equipment however the Rebel Flagship and other rebel ships also use it...
https://youtu.be/x0emVMsH8DA?t=5m23s
This video segment can sum up the theory on this part...
"Constructed for the Federation by the Engi, this ship is designed to use cloaking technology and speed to get behind enemy lines."
This ship discription further aids the idea that this ship could have been the messanger so to say as it can flank enemies or avoid them completely...
Stealth Cruiser B: "Built like a glass cannon, this ship is hard to handle. If its cloaking can keep it safe long enough to charge its weapon, few cruisers can withstand its might."
This ship description aids the idea this may have been built to take on the Rebel flagship as the Rebel flagship is weaker to smaller cruisers who are agile... this one is just that, but also have stealth to aid it AND large firepower...
I can't add more to the B then what I haven't already said for the A.
Stealth Cruiser C: "This ship was part of an Engi experiment to make a power efficient version of the Zoltan shield. Unfortunately this required the removal of the Cloaking system."
Another collaboration between the Engi and the Zoltan. This is the first Engi ship to have a zoltan shield. However it is the first stealth cruiser with no stealth as well... this was most likely not meant to be used by the Federation.
Can't add more to this then what I said to the A.
Lanius Cruiser A:
This race is pretty unknown... as well as the unlock conditions for this ship not aiding to any real reason to join the Federation... probably a race that is missunderstood and longs to be with others... the war would give them good rewards and the Federation is rather stable in economy with Scrap...
Lanius cruiser B: unknown origins and skin...
Mantis Cruiser A:
built by KazaaakplethKilik, he is a famous Mantis Raider who made this ship and can join your crew.
IT is adorned in the general Mantis Red colour scheme and it is rumored that there is a Mantis Empire of some kind...
Featuring the teleporter and typical mantis boarding party. It is a deadly close quarters ship
Mantis Cruiser B:
"This warship encourages sending massive boarding parties and keeping strong defense."
This is probably a more forced-engi variation of the ship as slave labour by the Mantis... this time using a Drone system for more deffense as this ship focuses on putting the entire crew on board the enemy ship more or less with it's large teleporter...
Unknown what faction holds this ship...
Mantis Cruiser C;
(Crystal) lock down bomb... stun bomb... lanius. This is probably a ship that was created after the portal to the Crystal sector were opened... the ships colours is blue as well if like it is a crystal ship... This ship probably is a Federation variant that has the help of the lanius, crystal, engi, and mantis to make it... probably the first collaboration of the Galactic Federation reborn...
... named after the founding king of Athens... this is an odd ship to be souly a mantis vessel...
Slug Cruiser A:
Stolen from the slugs by the Kestrel crew... this ship is a typical nebula slug ship. It is not really known if the crew are happy to be with you or not...
Slug Cruiser B:
only non rock ship with all ammo based weapons. Using a rather rare healing bomb... this ship is an interesting boarder ship that has an edge over even the mantis ships in some aspects. Very good for nebula boarding and such...
Skin is of unknown origins and factions.
Slug Cruiser C:
Can't add more then what I said above...
Skin of unknown origins and faction.
Rock A:
A typical rock ship using missile weapons. It is in standard rock colours and it is quite heavily armoured as usual of rock ships. it is only received to the federation when the rock learns they are not as weak as they assumed.
Rock B:
Unknown skin and origins... again mimics the elite-skin of ships mentioned for the fed cruiser
Quote:
"Trivia
The name "Shivan" combined with the color scheme of Layout B is a reference to an alien race of the same name in the game Descent: Freespace. " (FTL Wiki ship)
"<!-- name it after FP2 Shivans? - Rakshasa - Moloch - Ravana - Sathanas-->" (coding from FTL for this ship)
Seems like there is a possible inspiration for this ship from Freespace... possibly factions are simular.
Note: this ship is missing 1 weapon.
Rock C:
Description says most of it: "Contact has been made with the Crystalline race and this cruiser was offered to the Federation as part of diplomatic discussions between the sister species."
A Federation Rock-Crystal ship.
Crystal A:
You get it by helping out a crystal crewmember who was in stasis sleep... you get yourself to the crystal sector opening a portal there and getting this ship as a reward... seems very impressive for it's size ...
Crystal B:
Unknown origins of faction or skin.all we know is what the game says... "Their unique racial ability makes the Crystal beings very adept at ship boarding. This ship was designed for such raiding parties."...
R4V3-0N, a dreamer.
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stylesrj
- Posts: 3638
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Re: Ship Theories
So a lot of solid theories there but I have some counter-theories to some of them 
I'm guessing the Lanius are on loan and after their contract is up, the Engies have plenty of Scrap to spare.
I wouldn't say it's sub-par either. It's powerful but only the most suicidal of Captains would fly want to actually use it in combat.
Who knew Corvettes were such big ships? (I go by the Homeworld Standard. Although I think the FTL Cruisers are way too small and are more like Frigates or something.)
Fun fact:
The Rebel Flagship is actually smaller than the Federation Cruiser. Maybe the Rebels wanted a small flagship so the big guns would have a harder time tracking it?
I know it was built for war. But it wasn't built for The War. It had to be taken out of mothballing and given a new breath of life with modern guns.Kestrel A
No, it wasn't repurposed. It was always built for war. But it was a very old ship and was out dated, even when upgraded (current known Kestrel) it still isn't the best ship out there.
There is a few ways we can look at this ship but this is what I like to look at it...
This is the first "Federation Cruiser", the other Fed Cruiser we have playable is a very brand new prototype cruiser, while we also know the current main cruisers as the Federation Fleet Cruiser 1 and 2 in the backgrounds in the last stand.
So where does the Lanius fit into it though? Were they hired to protect the researchers and fly the ship?Engi C:
With a new chrome silver appearance and much more smooth texture using high end technology like hacking and such. It is quite likely these are the high end science and research platforms for the engi as well as being there high end ships in there brigade. It is quite possible to fend of Mantis invaders in the Engi coreworlds as well as to work on study and research with the Zoltan.
I'm guessing the Lanius are on loan and after their contract is up, the Engies have plenty of Scrap to spare.
Maybe the Artillery Beam had a bunch of powerful electromagnets. While they couldn't fix the gun back up, they could throw some rocks in it and lob them out at high speed.Federation C:
I highly doubt the replacement of the artillery beam was due to it being faulty and a make shift repair (it would have been easier to simply not even bother replacing it and just add normal weapons, this ship can use 4 weapons and both federation cruiser A and B has weapons present, it makes no sense to remove them to have a sub-par weapon as it's main gear
I wouldn't say it's sub-par either. It's powerful but only the most suicidal of Captains would fly want to actually use it in combat.
I got the reference without playing the game. Seeing an Let's Play is enoughRock B:
Unknown skin and origins... again mimics the elite-skin of ships mentioned for the fed cruiser
Quote:
"Trivia
The name "Shivan" combined with the color scheme of Layout B is a reference to an alien race of the same name in the game Descent: Freespace. " (FTL Wiki ship)
"<!-- name it after FP2 Shivans? - Rakshasa - Moloch - Ravana - Sathanas-->" (coding from FTL for this ship)
Seems like there is a possible inspiration for this ship from Freespace... possibly factions are simular.
Note: this ship is missing 1 weapon.
Who knew Corvettes were such big ships? (I go by the Homeworld Standard. Although I think the FTL Cruisers are way too small and are more like Frigates or something.)
Fun fact:
The Rebel Flagship is actually smaller than the Federation Cruiser. Maybe the Rebels wanted a small flagship so the big guns would have a harder time tracking it?
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R4V3-0N
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Re: Ship Theories
Fed A:
It would help to mention what was "THE war", as the Federation were part of 3 major wars and 2 of them are named.
(Federation-Mantis war) (Rebellion uprising)
Engi C:
proberly I accidently edited out that line, the Lanius technology and anatomy and it' abilities is 1 thing they are researching.
Ya know... not everyday you come across an alien that can make a burst laser mk II out of some scrap in seconds or able to not only not need to breath air but also sucks it out of the room...
Fed C:
Last time I checked... beams do not need electromagnets...
Also I know the Rebel flagship is very small. I work with FTL modding a lot ya know... I've seen the rebel flagship side by side with many other ships in FTL... I might make a image sheet of every ship in FTL side by side and how many pixels are they long...
It would help to mention what was "THE war", as the Federation were part of 3 major wars and 2 of them are named.
(Federation-Mantis war) (Rebellion uprising)
Engi C:
proberly I accidently edited out that line, the Lanius technology and anatomy and it' abilities is 1 thing they are researching.
Ya know... not everyday you come across an alien that can make a burst laser mk II out of some scrap in seconds or able to not only not need to breath air but also sucks it out of the room...
Fed C:
Last time I checked... beams do not need electromagnets...
Also I know the Rebel flagship is very small. I work with FTL modding a lot ya know... I've seen the rebel flagship side by side with many other ships in FTL... I might make a image sheet of every ship in FTL side by side and how many pixels are they long...
R4V3-0N, a dreamer.
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stylesrj
- Posts: 3638
- Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:54 am
Re: Ship Theories
The current war that's going on of course. The Kestrel is a relic from a previous war and thus needed to be updated with modern weapons. Like putting an Abrams tank cannon and a missile launcher onto a Sherman.R4V3-0N wrote:Fed A:
It would help to mention what was "THE war", as the Federation were part of 3 major wars and 2 of them are named.
(Federation-Mantis war) (Rebellion uprising)
How do we know that this one does? It pierces shields after all. Also, most beams have those focusing rails. Why do they need rails? I don't see a lens on them (unless it's very thin).Fed C:
Last time I checked... beams do not need electromagnets...
Even then, if they don't use an electromagnet, you have the rails. Run a copper wire around it and you've got a Gauss gun. Thus the Flak Cannon is born.
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R4V3-0N
- Posts: 1287
- Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 11:44 am
Re: Ship Theories
possibly thin lenses... I mean if they are lenses how would you do something that would be best practically clear...
On top of that... if you got a gauss rifle.. which I have to add is more difficult to make then ANY weapon in FTL as of currently. (compared to reality. IRL we got lasers and beams and plasma launchers and flame throwers and missiles that can reach space... but it is still hard to develop a military grade coil gun/ gauss rifle...)
Even then... Why would the artillery version of the flak be a gauss rifle while the other ones are not?... unless I am missing something from the design of the flak in general...
Even then... why is it such a low velocity for a coil gun?... the coil guns/ gauss rifles main advantage over any other weapon irl is it's sheer velocity and snipping capabilities....
Either way, I doubt that the Flak cannon is just a make shift slap-it-on weapon because the artillery isn't working.
Even then we do not even know if the vindicator beam uses rails...
We know that the glaive beam and the pike beam does... but the helberd and 'mini beam' barely have any useful length of rails that wouldn't be easily found at a near by store...
On top of that... if you got a gauss rifle.. which I have to add is more difficult to make then ANY weapon in FTL as of currently. (compared to reality. IRL we got lasers and beams and plasma launchers and flame throwers and missiles that can reach space... but it is still hard to develop a military grade coil gun/ gauss rifle...)
Even then... Why would the artillery version of the flak be a gauss rifle while the other ones are not?... unless I am missing something from the design of the flak in general...
Even then... why is it such a low velocity for a coil gun?... the coil guns/ gauss rifles main advantage over any other weapon irl is it's sheer velocity and snipping capabilities....
Either way, I doubt that the Flak cannon is just a make shift slap-it-on weapon because the artillery isn't working.
Even then we do not even know if the vindicator beam uses rails...
We know that the glaive beam and the pike beam does... but the helberd and 'mini beam' barely have any useful length of rails that wouldn't be easily found at a near by store...
R4V3-0N, a dreamer.
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stylesrj
- Posts: 3638
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Re: Ship Theories
In pixel art, don't they use white or a light blue to indicate a mirror?R4V3-0N wrote:possibly thin lenses... I mean if they are lenses how would you do something that would be best practically clear...
Isn't that mostly an energy issue? Where do you get the power for all these toys? Ships have that reactor for all power concerns.On top of that... if you got a gauss rifle.. which I have to add is more difficult to make then ANY weapon in FTL as of currently. (compared to reality. IRL we got lasers and beams and plasma launchers and flame throwers and missiles that can reach space... but it is still hard to develop a military grade coil gun/ gauss rifle...)
Gauss Rifle, Mass Driver. Whatever it's called for a flak gun. Essentially they're lobbing rocks at high speed at a target. Why are they so slow then? New theory:Even then... Why would the artillery version of the flak be a gauss rifle while the other ones are not?... unless I am missing something from the design of the flak in general...
Even then... why is it such a low velocity for a coil gun?... the coil guns/ gauss rifles main advantage over any other weapon irl is it's sheer velocity and snipping capabilities....
The Flak guns are designed for asteroid mining/salvage. You grab the materials in an area and shoot them at another. Clear out a part of the asteroid/debris field and put the stuff in a convenient location where a mining/salvage vessel can grab it (or a platform).
Altering the speed settings might damage the hardware.
Well it does come from the middle. But that doesn't mean it has rails. I keep looking at the gun CE gives it.Either way, I doubt that the Flak cannon is just a make shift slap-it-on weapon because the artillery isn't working.
Even then we do not even know if the vindicator beam uses rails...
But I say the Flak gun is rather primitive compared to a shield-piercing laser. Why downgrade it? Because you don't have a Vindicator but you have the infrastructure for something else.
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R4V3-0N
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Re: Ship Theories
It isn't a power issue... in fact it uses immensely less power then a laser or beam in modern day works... in fact with the same power you can lob projectiles the same size as ships at the enemy with gauss rifles (in fact NASA wanted to do this for awhile to get ships into orbit using a massive gauss rifle...)
The main problem is the affects of "wear and tear" as well as how fragile it is and unstable at times as well as the fact it costs immensely more to make and maintain then the cheaper rail gun... in a perspective way...
The gauss rifle is trebuchet like the war wolf... and the rail gun is a catapult.
Even when cannons were introduced you saw thousands of catapults because how cheap they are and how they get the job done...
Also the coil gun needs precise timing to activate each set of magnets so an advantage computer is needed to simply fire the weapon while the rail gun doesn't need an ai besides aiming at ridiculous ranges.
Also you have to remember this is justins first main work into pixel art. you see through FTl's many development phases you can see how the art keeps changing and getting better...
Look at the oldest ships in FTL that are not altered... Slug ships... Kestrel... etc.
Try to select the outline, then flip it and try to fit it on the ship, it is very asymmetrical and if you look closely at some parts of those ships you see a lot of errors in shading or in geometry. Specifically with some regions on the slug ships...
Or you can look at the original rebels design... there very generous use of the pirate markings and the oddly shaded areas and shape is also quite visible...
Justin Ma has made very beautiful ships but he is no expert... however the more and more later works he gives... the better it gets... for eg the lanius ships.... oh and do not even make me mention how the early attack drones looked like... they looked like clone trooper helmets from star wars with sputnik antenna sticking out of them...
Justin was probably not that familiar with this pixel art technique and didn't do it.
Also the Shotgun is mainly associated with the Lanius vessels... which the ammunition is most likely from salvaged ships as scrap... which is obvious as we can see in the debris some pylons and i beams that are present on some ships like the Kestrel... I doubt it was used originally to keep blowing at asteroids and using it's rubble for more ammo as this isn't present in any way-shape- or form in FTL, not in event texts or in art or description.
Meanwhile we know it being a relatively heavily used lanius weapon which we know the Lanius often repurpose a lot of things to others using there lanius butchery magics and vola...
Also I doubt it would be used for mining because being used by the Lanius... it wouldn't make sense... there own hands and face basicly do a better job then any known weapon or augmnet in FTL... besides the Scrap collecting arm augment thingy...
Also what does CE give the vindicator?
Also you say the Flak guns is rather primitive compared to the Vindicator beam even though both weapons are very new (if not:the flak is newer) and the Flak uses elements that no weapons used in FTL thus far and are mayhem on enemy shields. It makes ship debris into very deadly ammunition and also can be viewed as a shield piercing weapon if you count it as 1 projectile...
it throws a total of "7 shrapnel" which technically would deal at least 1 damage (if all hits) to a ship with 6 shields.
In FTL the max you see is 5, so that's 2 damage max at worst case situation but the common max is only 4 while even still on sector 8 you can find ships with 3, with 4 it does 3 damage and with level 3 shields it's 4 damage...
Vindicator? regardless of shield strength, it'll do approximately 4 damage due to aim aimming techniques. However it will only do 2 damage to a zoltan shield instead of 7 (which would be enough to destroy the shield in 1 voley).
Oh but 1 point.,.. the flak takes out shield bubbles of the enemy ship... not only that but it does 'more' damage the less shields the enemy has, 7 damage to a ship without shields... quite a bit higher then the average 3 to 5 damage the V beam does...
Looking at the raw damage of the weapon (7), you cna compare it to any burst laser, any heavy laser, any missile and any bomb or crystal weapon.
The Flak artillery does more damage then most weapons in game excluding hull missiles I think it was, or player aimmed glaive beam (AI aimmed G beam will probably equal the damage or at worst case lower)
In some ways, this weapon is superior to the V beam... not only that, but due to the fact it knocks enemy shields down practically completely each time it fires. It is a deadly weapon to have extra weapons with it- this includes normal beams, ions, burst lasers, heavy lasers, hull lasers... etc...
V beam? in a way it is only useful for dealing damage when you can't hurt the shields and is best to go with missiles, bombs, etc...
The main problem is the affects of "wear and tear" as well as how fragile it is and unstable at times as well as the fact it costs immensely more to make and maintain then the cheaper rail gun... in a perspective way...
The gauss rifle is trebuchet like the war wolf... and the rail gun is a catapult.
Even when cannons were introduced you saw thousands of catapults because how cheap they are and how they get the job done...
Also the coil gun needs precise timing to activate each set of magnets so an advantage computer is needed to simply fire the weapon while the rail gun doesn't need an ai besides aiming at ridiculous ranges.
Also you have to remember this is justins first main work into pixel art. you see through FTl's many development phases you can see how the art keeps changing and getting better...
Look at the oldest ships in FTL that are not altered... Slug ships... Kestrel... etc.
Try to select the outline, then flip it and try to fit it on the ship, it is very asymmetrical and if you look closely at some parts of those ships you see a lot of errors in shading or in geometry. Specifically with some regions on the slug ships...
Or you can look at the original rebels design... there very generous use of the pirate markings and the oddly shaded areas and shape is also quite visible...
Justin Ma has made very beautiful ships but he is no expert... however the more and more later works he gives... the better it gets... for eg the lanius ships.... oh and do not even make me mention how the early attack drones looked like... they looked like clone trooper helmets from star wars with sputnik antenna sticking out of them...
Justin was probably not that familiar with this pixel art technique and didn't do it.
Also the Shotgun is mainly associated with the Lanius vessels... which the ammunition is most likely from salvaged ships as scrap... which is obvious as we can see in the debris some pylons and i beams that are present on some ships like the Kestrel... I doubt it was used originally to keep blowing at asteroids and using it's rubble for more ammo as this isn't present in any way-shape- or form in FTL, not in event texts or in art or description.
Meanwhile we know it being a relatively heavily used lanius weapon which we know the Lanius often repurpose a lot of things to others using there lanius butchery magics and vola...
Also I doubt it would be used for mining because being used by the Lanius... it wouldn't make sense... there own hands and face basicly do a better job then any known weapon or augmnet in FTL... besides the Scrap collecting arm augment thingy...
Also what does CE give the vindicator?
Also you say the Flak guns is rather primitive compared to the Vindicator beam even though both weapons are very new (if not:the flak is newer) and the Flak uses elements that no weapons used in FTL thus far and are mayhem on enemy shields. It makes ship debris into very deadly ammunition and also can be viewed as a shield piercing weapon if you count it as 1 projectile...
it throws a total of "7 shrapnel" which technically would deal at least 1 damage (if all hits) to a ship with 6 shields.
In FTL the max you see is 5, so that's 2 damage max at worst case situation but the common max is only 4 while even still on sector 8 you can find ships with 3, with 4 it does 3 damage and with level 3 shields it's 4 damage...
Vindicator? regardless of shield strength, it'll do approximately 4 damage due to aim aimming techniques. However it will only do 2 damage to a zoltan shield instead of 7 (which would be enough to destroy the shield in 1 voley).
Oh but 1 point.,.. the flak takes out shield bubbles of the enemy ship... not only that but it does 'more' damage the less shields the enemy has, 7 damage to a ship without shields... quite a bit higher then the average 3 to 5 damage the V beam does...
Looking at the raw damage of the weapon (7), you cna compare it to any burst laser, any heavy laser, any missile and any bomb or crystal weapon.
The Flak artillery does more damage then most weapons in game excluding hull missiles I think it was, or player aimmed glaive beam (AI aimmed G beam will probably equal the damage or at worst case lower)
In some ways, this weapon is superior to the V beam... not only that, but due to the fact it knocks enemy shields down practically completely each time it fires. It is a deadly weapon to have extra weapons with it- this includes normal beams, ions, burst lasers, heavy lasers, hull lasers... etc...
V beam? in a way it is only useful for dealing damage when you can't hurt the shields and is best to go with missiles, bombs, etc...
R4V3-0N, a dreamer.
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stylesrj
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Re: Ship Theories
I like to think the Flak gun is an old design with new purpose. It's not just the Lanius who use it, but everyone else too. Pirates and Rebels could be sporting a Flak I or II.
So maybe it used to be a mass driver but because the war's cost on resources means throwing the kitchen sink is a viable strategy.
(Mod makers, if you can, make a ship in the shape of a kitchen sink. And have it shoot kitchen sinks :lol)
Also, the Flak Artillery isn't better than the Vindicator. That thing has the accuracy of someone who can't shoot a broadside of a barn. Sure the Vindicator can't either but the fact it goes through shields means it's something nasty. Unblockable too. You can avoid the projectiles lobbed (and be left with low shields for the next barrage). But not the Vindicator. 100% accuracy.
(I also know that the false projectiles also count as projectiles and if the RNG is to be believed, you want those to miss so the other shots are more likely to hit. I know it's not how probability works)
So maybe it used to be a mass driver but because the war's cost on resources means throwing the kitchen sink is a viable strategy.
(Mod makers, if you can, make a ship in the shape of a kitchen sink. And have it shoot kitchen sinks :lol)
Also, the Flak Artillery isn't better than the Vindicator. That thing has the accuracy of someone who can't shoot a broadside of a barn. Sure the Vindicator can't either but the fact it goes through shields means it's something nasty. Unblockable too. You can avoid the projectiles lobbed (and be left with low shields for the next barrage). But not the Vindicator. 100% accuracy.
(I also know that the false projectiles also count as projectiles and if the RNG is to be believed, you want those to miss so the other shots are more likely to hit. I know it's not how probability works)