Could the Vudar some time get any remaining X-ship classes in a Captain's Log/X1B?

Such as:
FWX
HDWX
X-Carrier (i'd propose based on the CWX just to make them different, and they didn't have CCX's lying around)
XPFT (again CWX-PFT or DWX)
BTX (x-battlestation)
MISX (x-minor storm station)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 07:16 pm: Edit

I was going to set up a new thread to propose a Vudar X-PFT, but I might as well use this one since it was listed above.

While an X-PFT may be an obvious variant (or perhaps a not-so-obvious choice for the Vudar to build at first glance), it occurred to me that, of the various "minor empires" in the Alpha Octant, the Vudar are the only power not to already have an X-PFT which would have cause to build one - at least after Y195.

As detailed on page 30 of Module X1R, those surviving Alpha Octant empires which chose to operate PFs eventually realized that advanced fast patrol ship tenders were crucial in rooting out the Andromedan Rapid Transit Network, as they had the sensors needed to detect each RTN node, the speed required to get there before the Andros either reinforced it or packed it up for re-location, and the firepower needed to destroy it in the relatively short window of opportunity available to do so. (The Feds of course had their own alternatives, but we don't need to go into those here.)

While the various major empires already have X-PFT designs available to carry out this task, the situation for the "minor empires" is more varied. The WYN Navy had their own X-PFT (R12.210), though it's not clear whether or not they ever sent it outside of the Cluster in order to get rid of any RTN nodes lying within striking distance of their home space. The Jindarians seem to have not bothered with such a concept, unless one wanted to speculate on what an advanced "metal-hull" PF tender/RTN-hunter might have looked like. Sadly, the LDR were already out of the picture by the time this was figured out - it would presumably fall to the Lyran Empire to try and flush out what had once been Dark Star County/LDR space.

Which leads me to the issue facing the Vudar. As the minor empire with the largest territory, the risk of Andromedan infestation may be greater than for, say, the WYNs. (That said, it remains to be seen just how much of an Andro presence there was across the Vudar Enclave by then, at least relative to other parts of the Alpha Octant.)

While the Enclave could have chosen to hire Orion X-PFTs to do the job, the background data in X1R suggests that the Orions were better at "displacing" any nodes they uncovered rather than destroying them. Plus, for political reasons, the Vudar would not wish to see Klingon or Hydran X-raiders enter Vudar-occupied space to perform the task, at least not if they wanted to maintain any semblance of the "sovereignty" they had ostensibly claimed prior to the onset of the Andromedan invasion.

For these reasons, I would argue that the Vudar may be obligated to build at least one X-PFT (on a cruiser hull) in or after Y195; both to allow them to flush out any RTN nodes located in their space, and to assert their (quasi-)independent status in the face of Klingon and Hydran observers.