Dart-class Scout
The Dart-class Scout is a highly developed Prototype for a new generation of long-range scout and data-gathering vessel. The ship has just entered the field test phase, but reports show that is already outperforming all currently available ships of its size in both speed and range.
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I worked on this on and off for a good while. I started as early as last year and dropped the project again and again to work on other things. While I am quite pleased that managed to finish it, this seems just to be how I work on my private projects. Work really hard and focused and then drop it for a month or two.
All work in Blender and Photoshop
The craft is designed to be fast and self-sufficient.
The two high-powered engine cores and the large hyperdrive are the centrepiece of the Darts development. They are more fuel efficient and allow for greater speeds and longer deployments.
The Hyperdrive is experimental and has dozens of superfluous parts. This means that is is less likely to experience catastrophic failures. The engineers are now testing if it is feasible to maintain those redundancies without driving up the cost.
The ship is only lightly armed but has considerable shield strength to resist environmental hazards.
The pits to either side of the cockpit house the sensitive sensor equipment.
The landing-gear can be magnetized to land on any hull and is strong enough to hold the ship vertically, potentially for weeks. An additional tensor field ensures a strong grip even on unconventional surfaces.
The long-range Comms antenna is folded against the hull to avoid an awkward flight profile. The space behind the cockpit contains the very small but comfortable living quarters for the pilot and 3 storage units.
The Dart is currently refuelling at a Mirialan Trade Depot. The Mirialan trade commission sponsored a considerable part of the development.