Imperial Light Attach Cruiser
This deliverable is crucial to complete the first graphic novel of the series. Additional copies of this ship are going to be used as set decoration of minor locations through the big part of the series.
The Angry Shark That Grew Old Too Fast
Imperial Light Attack Cruiser is a relatively new addition to the Imperial fleet. Originally, the design of this ship has been approved for production after a seven years long development cycle, but it was cancelled at the last minute.
The reason was simple – Federal forces attacked the Imperial capital world by using a never-before-seen super-heavy dreadnought. Armor of that two-kilomeasure-long beast of a ship was completely impenetrable for all Imperial weapons.
In order to adapt to this new threat, the Light Attack Cruiser was extended downwards to accommodate a gigantic dreadnought-killer railgun. This addition together with thickening of the armor took one more year to complete and as a result, this ship became too heavy for any chance of planetary landing.
Unfortunately, after the addition of the railgun nothing on the Light Attack Cruiser could be sacrificed to reduce its weight, so the engineering team chose to add more things instead.
This is how the Light attack cruiser got its dropship landing bay that extended downwards from the previously existing emergency hangar/repair section. With no hopes left for atmospheric flight this addition still has turned the Light Attack Cruiser into a truly multipurpose fighter – it could equally harm any known enemy vessel and perform small landfall/boarding operations without any external support.
Only few years after beginning its mass-production, the Light Attack Cruiser became the most wide-spread military vessel in the Imperial Navy. Its firepower and agility made clearly superior to better armored, but “clumsy” Imperial Heavy Cruisers. And the ability to carry up to 50 combat-ready Shipmen on standby for any king of mission made Light Attack Cruisers sometimes preferable vessels for the planet-side operations compared with dedicated landfall barges.
These advantages made Light Attack Cruiser shine as the spearhead of the Imperial might, until Federal forces began to adapt munitions that could easily bypass this ship’s armor. As the Imperial construction conglomerates scrambles to solve this problem by either fast-tracking a new generation of vessels or upgrading the armor plating on the existing fleet, most of Light Attack Cruisers are treated as military assets with no future.
This is why so often a single half-crewed Light Attack Cruiser is being sent to patrol the void along the Imperial border – if they stumble upon a threat, they will likely win; if they lose though – radio silence will become a clear warning, so a bigger fleet can be sent in that sector. Fortunately, there are thousands of Light Attack Cruisers in conservation awaiting for a fresh crew of recruits.
Make it Angry, But Sleek!
The first version of the Imperial Light Attack Cruiser was morphed from a cut-off “head” of the Imperial Heavy Transporter and was strongly inspired by the body of real life whale shark. Additionally, the extra-large railgun at the bottom of the frontal section was added as a nod to the design of Idris-M from Star Citizen. Later this senselessly gigantic piece of armament was explained in the lore of ZARYA-3 and supplied with an appropriate ammunition storage space when the latest interior was assembled.
Unlike aesthetically driven design of the exterior, the interior of the Light Attack Cruiser was designed based purely around practical needs of the crew and approximate shape of ship’s hull.
After studying multiple real life blueprints of submarines and aircraft carriers, I decided to avoid the “crammed” militaristic approach and add a bit of spatial luxury to the living block. It is important to note that unlike real life vessels that leave for relatively short six months long rotations, this Light Attack Cruiser is supposed to patrol the void of space for up to FIVE years at a time! It means that conditions that can be tolerable for six months may become unbearable if experienced for longer periods of time.
Fortunately, since this ship is a high technological piece of machinery and space in space (pun intended) is cheap, I chose to keep the crew not bigger then 100 people and provide them with some significant creature comforts: Spacious semi-private quarters are designed to accommodate, maximum of two people and provide the necessary privacy for those who want to be alone. Circular corridors and a gym are there to keep the crew in shape. For those who are longing for the steady ground though, there is even a gigantic hydroponic garden in the frontal section of the ship that serves as a farm/oxygen supply/relaxation and worship room – all at the same time.
All and all, this ship combines both functional existing solutions from real life naval vessels and some original engineering inventions that are purely based on the internal logic and technology from the Universe of ZARYA-3.
The First Ship that Made Me Proud
This ship is deeply in development and have been a test bed for assets that are shared with multiple other Imperial ships and structures. Unfortunately after a careful review its exterior is considered to be reworked in order to become more visually interesting and similar to other Imperial ships. Updates pending!
The most recent design of the Imperial Light Attack Cruiser has grown to a slightly intimidating, but extremely satisfying level of detail: Around 90% of all corridors and rooms are updated to the latest standard of construction parts. Interior of this ship can be clearly defined on section with different levels of protection and isolation. The habitable sector is clearly insulated from volatile parts like ammunition- and fuel storage units or reactors.
Even the clear weak spot of torpedo/drone rearm/launch bay have been secured with a blast channeling protocol when the vehicle elevator lift goes up while opening the blast doors between the torpedo bay and the hangar. This way in case of accidental detonation of explosive munitions, the blast wave will be channeled inside the hangar and not upwards where the command/habitation module is placed.
The interior of the Light Attack Cruiser became a fun, but exhausting task. Since this vessel can not land on planets, a hangar for dropships became a must, then the reality of prolonged autonomous patrols prompted me to include a vast habitation section to the blueprint.
Lastly, being a true military vessel, Light Attack Cruiser was in need of a plethora of armaments and enough of internal space to realistically circulate resources towards them.
After dozens of iterations, the final version of the interior is somewhat an engineering achievement: It manages to provide an effortless flow of personnel and wares between all sections of the vessel while being constructed with “no dead ends” philosophy. It means that no matter at what direction you wandering – if you walk/climb/crawl long enough you will always find yourself either back at the starting point or near an escape pod.
Imperial Light Attack Cruiser was rapidly evolving alongside my 3D modeling skills. It was conceived first as an arrowhead-shaped vessel with a wide open frontal weapons bay, but through the design journey its shape was growing from slightly more rounded towards becoming again triangular and angry.
The final iteration of the shape of this cruiser is an interplay between sharp aggressive angles of a military vessel and rounded aquatic shapes that visually connect it with other Imperial vessels and architecture.
