Part 59: Ships Part 02 - Vipers
Let's Meet the Vipers!Vipers are one of the most common ships in the game, and serve as cannon fodder. They're light, weak, and fast, and only present a danger if you get yourself surrounded in a slow ship. If player-flown, their maneuverability can completely shred some ships - if you survive the initial approach.
Threat level: 3/10 for a typical variant, 5/10 for the Rebel Gunboat class. If that thing shows up, it can't be ignored. Their tendency to swarm can be easily exploited, however.
Combat rating: 4/10. The high speed lets you pirate freighters and take on fighters with ease, but the low weight means you'll be forced to run from any well-turreted ship, as you will be constantly pushed out of weapons range.
Comara Racing Viper
The Shipyard posted:
With the rapid development of space flight, it was inevitable that sports (particularly racing) would come to fruition sooner rather than later. Power Sled racing stood up to the challenge. A few intrepid hot-rodders noted that one particular sled, the Viper, took very well to a bit of extra weight in the form of armour and armament. With a little engine tweaking, these modified Vipers, designated F-23, were selected by the Federation as the mainstay of their fighter wings. This model is a civilian shell by Comara Racing.
F-23 Viper (Pirate Upgrade)
The Shipyard posted:
As soon as Comara released the Viper frame on the general market, a few shiploads of frames were bought up by notorious pirate shipwright Olaf Greyshoulders. He and his crew have totally refitted the shell, and the familiar shape of its advanced armour plating hides a wealth of minor and major improvements to the basic idea. But, as with all Greyshoulders upgrades, there is a hefty price to pay for the improved model. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth it.
Federation F-23 Viper
(Official game art! Behold the majesty of 2002's state-of-the-art Mac game graphics.)
The Shipyard posted:
With the rapid development of space flight, it was inevitable that sports (particularly racing) would come to fruition sooner rather than later. Power Sled Racing stood up to the challenge. A few intrepid hot-rodders noticed that one particular sled, the Viper, took very well to a bit of extra weight in the form of armour and armament. With a little engine tweaking, these modified Vipers, designated F-23, were selected by the Federation as the mainstay of their fighter wings.
Rebel Viper
The Shipyard posted:
With the rapid development of space flight, it was inevitable that sports (particularly racing) would come to fruition sooner rather than later. Power Sled racing stood up to the challenge. A few intrepid hot-rodders noticed that one particular sled, the Viper, took very well to a bit of extra weight in the form of armour and armament. With a little engine tweaking, these modified Vipers, designated F-23, were selected by the Federation as the mainstay of their fighter wings. This Viper was appropriated from Federation stocks on an unnamed supply world.
Viper Racing
Gambling on Viper races is a popular fruitless pastime. The expected payout of the game is $0, and the commentary and videos never change. Why bother?
Here (Youtube) are all the Viper Race videos, in all of their 256x128, 20fps Quicktime glory. Seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0jZrrIU8kI