Component:dragon
In Game Description
A high-efficiency drive with the majority of power redirected to the maneuvering thrusters, pulled from mining vessels. Although it sacrifices some top speed for the warship, it significantly increases the agility of the warship, allowing much faster turns, rolls, and translations.
Gameplay usage
Not often used, as orienting ANS-style warships is often a proactive, not reactive challenge. On Keystones, Railguns function at enough range that this is an inconsequential change, and Beams tend to emerge from cover pre-aimed, and will sweep across the target more as the nose "overreacts" to previous drifts in aim[1]. It may have niche use in ships that want to get from A to B quickly who have to turn a lot to use their main engines for such, especially for example carriers who may wish to remain at FQ with low crab angle.
Stats
| FM240 'Dragonfly' Drive | |
|---|---|
| Faction | ANS |
| Cost | 20 pts |
| Dimensions | 5x3x5 |
| Hitpoints | 250 |
| Hitpoints to Function | 50 |
| Damage Threshold | 40 |
| Mass | 35 Tonnes |
| Catastrophic Event Prob. (Drive) | 5% |
| DC Priority | Critical |
| Crew | 10 |
| Power | +500 (kW) |
| Modifier: Top Speed | -7.5% |
| Modifier: Turn Rate | +40%[2] |
| Modifier: Angular Thrust | +35%[3] |
Notes
Multiple drives do not inherently affect the mobility of a ship, only provide redundancy, however, the modifiers to a ship's mobility are a combination of all installed drives' modifiers, so installing drives with multiple of the same effect can further affect it's capability (two whiplash drives will provide more speed than one, but a whiplash and standard drive will provide no different speed than a single whiplash). If some drives are disabled, only those drives' modifiers will be removed, which may even result in the ship's mobility improving in some cases (such as a prowled drive being disabled). If all drives on a ship are knocked out, it will not be able to move altogether.
Most drives have a small and large counterpart. Asides their sizes, small variants of drives tend to have weaker negative modifiers, but are more fragile, produce less power and may or may not have better or worse positive modifiers.
The FM240's Large counterpart is the FM540, which provides more power and durability, as well as a larger top speed malus and higher Turn Rate and Angular Thrust bonus.
Lore
Re-routed ignition fuel to the thrusters and an underspec'd main drive means you can hold months worth of fuel and lose just a small amount of speed, something that a lot of long-haul freighter crews appreciate. 'Dragonfly' drives, though, take that concept and put it on a naval level, which means you'll usually see these on Keystones or similar.
Maybe not the best for closing the distance or getting the hell out of dodge, but gunnery will love you when they're able to keep their spinal guns on target.
- I. Parker, CMC
- ↑ needs citation, I have never examined both behaviours for myself, only been told this
- ↑ The maximum speed the ship can yaw/pitch/etc at, but not how quickly it can start/stop turning, that would be the Angular Thrust.
- ↑ The amount of force a ship can apply when rotating itself: for example how quickly it can accelerrate/decelerate the turn rate of yawing/pitching/rolling
