Hi.


In Module R11, the Andromedans are shown as using a recon variant of the Cobra, which strips out one of its TRLs in order to replace it with a displacement device. This allows the subsequent vessel to travel along the growing RTN to scout out various locations, leaving more important tasks free for Motherships.


However, in the earliest years of operation in the Cloud, and perhaps in Alpha and Omega, the Andromedans didn't have a whole lot of Cobras to go around.

What they did have was a healthy supply of Vipers, which might not have been overly useful in combat, but were there when variants were needed.


What if one of the earlier variants was a recon Viper, with its lone TRL replaced with a DisDev?

It's not the most imaginative variant, of course, and it would result in a ship that would be even less able to defend itself than the recon Cobra.

However, in the phase of the Invasions when the Andromedans had to depend more on the Vipers, and might have preferred to keep what few Cobras they had as combat variants tied to Motherships, perhaps this modest variant was out doing some of the yeoman work for the Andromedan conquest of the Cloud - and might have even been present in the Milky Way, if only for a limited time.


Would there have been a place in the early years of the Invasions for such a ship?

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 - 10:46 pm: Edit

Why not just a Python of course?

An Andromedan armed with 2xP-2s (IIRC) and a DisDev.

It would be a pretty unexciting battle to fight as it runs away and DisDev's it's pursuers away when they get close.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 - 11:19 pm: Edit

But the point would be that in the early years of establishing themselves in the Cloud, the Andros would not necessarily have a lot of Pythons to go around.


In terms of scenarios, there may be cases when the Andromedan player is required to get lab or other data on a given colony, base or ship, and has to make do with the recon Viper.


And if Pythons were so common that the Andros could rely on them for every occasion, there would have been no need for the recon Cobra either.


And besides, there are all sorts of units for other powers which are rather modest - from security skiffs to armed cutters and military pinnaces armed with self-defence packs, or what have you.

They still have a purpose, however.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Thursday, October 08, 2009 - 08:21 pm: Edit

I don't see why not.

Yank all the TRL's off the Viper, give it a DisDev, and there ya go.

Once the Andro's had enough Recon Cobra's/Python's to go around, they scrapped the Recon Viper's.