The Let's Play Archive

Escape Velocity: Nova

by Decoy Badger

Part 62: Ships Part 05 - Polaris 2

Prosthetic_Mind posted:

Highly illegal everywhere, you can only get them on pirate planets or from captured pirate ships.

Federation Destroyers and Carriers also carry and fire EMPs. I'm not sure how illegal it is once you capture one.

Let's Meet the Polaris: Part II

Zephyr

Zephyr posted:

The Zephyr was originally designed specifically for use with the cloaking organ. Naturally, such a design meshed well with the requirements of the Mu'hari to interact and fly amongst the peoples of other nations, so they added design specifications until the final version of the Zephyr was born. It is a versatile little craft, falling somewhere between the categories of fighter, freighter and gunboat without falling short in any way.
The Zephyr is like an upgraded Striker. It carries the same weapons, but boasts more cargo, weapons space, fuel and top speed. It trades shields for a ridiculous amount of armour - almost matching the mighty Raven, coming out slightly ahead of the Striker. Of course, the price is higher as well. Zephyrs are useful ships, but really shine as escorts due to the AI knowing how to properly use cloak. A great all-rounder that is one of the best-looking ships in the game.

Arachnid

Arachnid posted:

Like all Polaris vessels, the Arachnid starts out as a metal frame with internal components. It is then suspended in a vat of amniotic fluid which begins to grow an organic shell around those components. Eventually the two intermesh so well that it is difficult to pick the mechanical from the biological. In battle, the Arachnid's main weapon is an organic-based Capacitor Pulse Laser that is grown during this phase and which runs from a fusion generator. The generator itself is installed after other construction is complete, and Arachnids do not leave the shipyard without one.
It's a bit goofy-looking, but it's fairly powerful. However, much like other Polaris ships, it's just a weaker version of a slightly different ship. They can mop the floor with any other government's ships, their major drawback being a relatively small amount of free space.

Scarab

Scarab posted:

The mighty Scarab is the last line of defense for the Polaris people. Only a handful of the vessels have ever been constructed, and they mount the most devastating ordinance that the Polaris can produce. Two pulse lasers provide short-range firepower, while a polaron emitter in the front mandibles fires a packet of coherent energy dubbed the Polaron Torpedo. This ship is capable of taking on entire fleets by itself, and has done so on occasion. However, there are pitifully few of these proud ships, and the defense of Polaris Space is a heavy burden on their shoulders.
It's a stronger Arachnid that carries fighters. It also suffers from lack of free space, but all enemies will die so quickly that you won't miss it. The Manta escorts alone can defeat almost any enemy in the game.

Raven

Polaris Cruiser posted:

This ship is a behemoth. Sliding through the ether with an ease that belies its enormous bulk, the Polaris Raven is a vision of glory and terror. It dwarfs the massive Scarab in both size and firepower; it is, simply put, the most powerful weapon humanity has ever constructed. The Raven utilizes twin Etheric Induction engines for sublight travel. These devices simply suck the fabric of space-time in the front, and squirt it out the back. If one of these engines should ever stop suddenly, the graviton effects would cause the momentary formation of a black hole.
The Polaris capital ship. These pictures don't show off just how massive this thing is - it takes up a huge chunk of the screen. The Raven is inertialess, which when combined with the dead zone between the 'claws' can make it incredibly annoying to swat down enemies at close quarters. Of course, the 8 Mantas it can launch and the ridiculously overpowered torpedoes will mostly alleviate these concerns. This is simply the most powerful ship in the game, though one very special ship is better armoured.