Hi.


At the moment, three of the published ships for the Qixa Amalgamate or designed as trading vessels - for use on long-range commercial ventured beyond the Qixa Cloud. These ships are less tailored for in-Cloud combat compared to the bulk of their navy, but are more useful in their given role because of it.


At present, these three ships are something of a mixed bag. The DDT and FFT only really have their speed to rely on, though the larger CT is more capable of defending itself. (Eventually, the onset of gauss cannon-armed PFs, plus the mech links to mount them, make things a little easier for a would-be Qixa merchant captain.)

Prior to the Souldra and Andromedan invasions, the Qixa were in competition with the Bolosco - whose heavier units, such as the Merchant Cruiser and Mercenary Dreadnought, gave them major advantages, to say nothing of the patient work over several decades spent establishing the Octant-wide Bolosco trading network.

However, the Sixth Cycle hit the Bolosco hard. With their home space lost, their surviving ships were in no position to maintain their former supremacy when it came to trans-Octant trade - even leaving aside the battered state of the sedentary economies the blobs would be trying to deal with.

On the other hand, the largely-unscathed Qixavalor Cloud - no less wealthy in Y205 than in Y190 - would be in a key position to take up the reins left slack by the Bolosco, and (try to) become the new masters of Omega trade.


To fill this gap, one new ship type I wouldn't mind seeing would be a Qixa take on the old Ming Dynasty treasure ships. A SC2 unit, with a MC of 1.25, designed to carry large quantities of cargo and defend it with a combination of phasers, gauss cannons, 'brick' ultrawarp missiles and the speed needed to let it run from any pirates or attackers it can't fend off.

At present, the Qixa have no MC 1.25 ship, and room perhaps for more out-of-Cloud traders (especially for use in the Seventh Cycle). Perhaps this kind of unit could suit the space bunnies in both regards?

By Kurt Byanski (Kurtski) on Thursday, December 05, 2019 - 06:06 pm: Edit

This could a variant of a Battleship (for the size).