THE JUMPGATE DEFINITIVE GUIDE - Tripod

FIGHTER CRAFT
The Tens & Piney Aerospace Fighter division has, in the past few years, developed a reputation
for randomness in the quality of their fighter design – the designs coming out of T&P have been
either brilliant advances of fighter technology or they’ve been utter disasters. Solrain designs
have also often shown off advanced Solrain technology – several times the fighters of the SDF
have done things that nobody thought a ship of that class could do.
Initially, the Solrain military was fairly weak; their premier Heavy Fighter, the S2 Intensity, only
had as an advantage the fact that it mounted an oversize shield. It was under-gunned, presents a
large profile, and didn’t maneuver very well. In the days of the original O2 Phoenix, this resulted
in loss after loss for the SDF in their attempts to maintain the integrity of Solrain space. This
continued for some time until right around 101.09… when out of the blue T&P released the S2-S.
It was the same ship as the old Intensity, except for one difference: it mounted the same kind of
power plant that the Phoenix did at the time. A Sport Plus.
The reversal was unprecedented – the SDF went from being the whipping boy of the five systems
to nearly total and utter domination overnight. With the Nix being “nerfed” recently, and the Phoon
being somewhat underpowered compared to today, there was little to stop Solrain from practically
dictating TRI policy. The release of the superlative Barracuda Bomber – the original oversize
shield version – only further cemented this military dominance, and the original Invader Medium
Fighter (the pre-Impeler version) was also quite useful in combat. And so it was for over a year.
The first faltering steps came with the release of the Intruder, however. In comparison to the aweinspiring
Dragon and the (eventually) excellent Monsoon, the Truder seemed… underwhelming.
Then, the recent theft of technical data from Octavius Core resulted in proper LFs and MFs being
built by T&P… with another schizophrenic result. While the new Interceptor was astounding, on
the whole they actually managed to make the Invader worse – especially compared to the new
competition in town. As T&P continue their ship design efforts, the pilots of the SDF can only
wonder if their next design will be a winner or another disaster that further limits their choices.
There is an interesting note concerning SDF ship development – weapons, specifically. T&P is
certainly attempting to match their rivals in both the advanced tactical fighter and gunship/corvette
areas (like Cromforge, T&P is apparently working on the gunship more, given an immediate
threat of the Vulture and continued failure in the field of the AF like everyone else), but rumors are
circulating that the SDF may be looking to dominate in another area. Recently, Particle Systems
Inc. of Hyperial offered public shares for investment, and then for some reason could not repay
the investment. The situation was eventually handled by the Soria Credit Union by refunding all
investors while complaining loudly about having to do so. While it may seem innocent enough,
rumors are circulating that the non-payment of PSI was planned. This was quite possibly a stealth
payment by the Solrain government (using investor credits as a medium) to PSI for something.
The rumors are also saying that the payment was for PSI’s development of a new kind of weapon
system – to be developed by PSI and manufactured in Solrain space by Tens & Piney. The
weapon is rumored to be a “particle cannon” – a weapon that hurls unstable subatomic particles
at high velocities and causes small atomic explosions on impact. The weapon is deadly, with
good range thanks to its matter-based shot (like an Ion Cannon) and fast enough to be useful in
combat while doing appreciable damage to boot. The weapon is also evidently workable in the
size 2 and 3 range only. Given this, T&P’s negligence of the Invader and Intruder suddenly seem
to make sense. Only time will tell if the rumor pans out – but if it does, it could signal a return of
Solrain dominance in space.
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