We are still wrestling with the distribution of Orion hulls across these sprues. There are so many we will have to go with three. Here are Chris N's lastest theories and my replies to them.

>Command Collection: DN, BC, CA, BR, MR, CR
MOVE THE SALVAGE CRUISER TO COMMAND AND THE MEDIUM RAIDER TO RAIDERS.
>
>Raider Squadron: BR, CR, LR, SAL, DR, SLV
MOVE THE SALVAGE CRUISER TO THE COMMAND SPRUE AND THE MEDIUM RAIDER TO THE RAIDERS.
>
>Mercenary Squadron: DW, DW, HDW, CA, BC, BR
I COULD ARGUE TO REPLACE THE SECOND DW WITH AN MR or CR or LR.
I COULD (MAYBE) ARGUE TO SWAP THE HDW UP TO COMMAND FOR THE CR.
>
>Thinking of dropping the BC from the Merc set, leave it in the Command
>set, and put in another BR or some other Raider type there.
I COULD GO EITHER WAY THERE.

We want your input.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 - 11:07 pm: Edit

Taking some of the noted changes for the sprues, Perhaps the following

Command Collection: DN, BC, CA, SAL, DCR, HDW

Raider Squadron: BR, CR, MR, DR, LR, SLV

Mercenary Squadron: CA, BR, DW, DW, CR, LR

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 - 11:20 pm: Edit

Mercenary Squadron correction: I agree only the one DW, change it for an MR.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 01:33 pm: Edit

Command Collection
Nasipak: DN, BC, CA, BR, MR, CR
Cole: DN, BC, CA, CS, SAL, HDW
Power: DN, BC, CA, SAL, DCR, HDW

I think the DCR got forgotten and needs to find a home. Not sure command is the right place, but it may be the least wrong place.
The CS is the new strike cruiser no one has seen outside of the office. Even Chris doesn't know about it. It is a new base hull.
============================
Raider Squadron
Nasipak: BR, CR, LR, SAL, DR, SLV
Cole: BR, CR, LR, MR, DR (double light raider), SLV
Power: (same as Cole)
============================
Mercenary Squadron:
Nasipak: DW, DW, HDW, CA, BC, BR
Cole: DW, MR, CR, CA, DCR, BR
Power: DW, MR, CR, CA, BR, LR
============================

More input wanted.

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Command - DN, BC, CA, BRH/HBR??, SAL, HDW
Raider - LR, CR, BR, MR, DBR, SLV
Mercenary - DW, BR, CR. DCR, SLV, WR/MR

Fewer hulls than I thought …

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 07:12 pm: Edit

Hrm, Heavy Battle Raider... *pages through R-books*

Yeah, I should get that drawn up.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 11:47 pm: Edit

BRH (R8.29) is the heavy battle raider, there is also the HR heavy raider (R8.20) and the AR Attack raider (R8.22), but not many produced and replaced by the MR and BR.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 11:59 pm: Edit

Perhaps place the BRH (R8.29) with the Mercenary Squadron, replacing a CR raider ship.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 02:13 am: Edit

Perhaps place the new CS Orion strike cruiser in the Mercenary Squadron, replacing the CA.

The Squadrons:

Command- DN, BC, CA, SAL, DCR, HDW

Raider- BR, CR, MR, DBR(double light raider), LR, SLV

Mercenary- BRH, BR, CS (strike cruiser), MR, DW, LR

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 02:27 am: Edit

Not having information on the CS (as noted) or the HDW, it may be better with the CS (strike cruiser) in the Command Squadron and the HDW in the Mercenary Squadron.

New Squadrons,

Command- DN, BC, CA, DCR, CS, SAL
Raider- BR, CR, MR, DBR, LR, SLV
Mercenary- BRH, BR, HDW, CR, DW, LR (I took the MR out for a CR. Purchase all three different squadrons and get a total of two BR, two CR, two LR, and one each of the other ships)

All good

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 10:32 am: Edit

Is the WR enough different from the LR to warrant a separate mini at this scale?

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 01:21 pm: Edit

The difference between the WR and LR are miniscule -- an extra option mount and slightly bigger warp engines. (And the shield refit baked in). I don't think a separate mini is warranted at this stage, myself, but it's SVC's call.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 02:44 pm: Edit

I don't think we need a 7000 WR but you can do one for the main scales sometime.

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 04:33 pm: Edit

Then is the CR/MR that different, at this scale?

SVC: YES, THEY ARE.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, May 16, 2020 - 04:28 pm: Edit

THIS IS MY FINAL TAKE ON THE QUESTION.
Unless you hear from Jean or somebody makes a really good case for a change (and I read every case made to date so if I didn't take your idea don't resubmit it) this is where we go.
=======
Command Collection
Dreadnought, Battlecruiser, Heavy Cruiser
Strike Cruiser, Salvage Cruiser, Heavy War Destroyer
The above ships are those owned only by carte lords themselves.
============================
Raider Collection
Battle Raider, Raider Cruiser, Light Raider
Medium Raider, Double Light Raider, Slaver.
These are the ships most commonly used for piracy.
============================
Mercenary Collection:
Battle Raider, Raider Cruiser, Light Raider
Heavy battle raider, Double Raider cruiser, War Destroyer
These are the ships used primarily for mercenary detachments.
============================
This yields two BR, two CR, two LR, and one each of the others
A total of 15 unique hulls.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Saturday, May 16, 2020 - 06:34 pm: Edit

I don’t see a heavy battle cruiser. I see a BC which is between the BCH and the CA.

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Saturday, May 16, 2020 - 07:02 pm: Edit

Don't worry, Nick, this is not the be-all-and-end-all, it's just what we're currently working on.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Monday, May 18, 2020 - 11:51 pm: Edit

Not many BCH produced (can some Empires have 7 ships to a sprue?).

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 12:28 am: Edit

There is also the tug and maybe LTT on the fourth sprue, and possibly others. There will probably be a fifth sprue for Orions, at some point in the future.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 02:38 am: Edit

All good.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 11:48 am: Edit

I did some cleaning up to make sure everyone was clear on where this is going.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 03:16 pm: Edit

To follow up on Nick Samaras' comment, perhaps one option could be to replace the DN on the command sprue with a BCH, and then to offer the DN as a stand-alone hull the way that other empires' battleships are presented in 1:7000 scale.

My reasoning is that the heavy battlecruiser is the largest unit the Orions deployed historically, so might find more use for players wishing to stick within historical limits. Whereas the dreadnought is a conjectural design, yet one which would act as a "stand-out" in the way that battleships do for more "traditional" star navies.

That said, the issue of historicity is not really a problem for the likes of FC or ACtA:SF, so that might not work here.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 04:27 pm: Edit

I could see the DN-single BCH-gets-the-slot option working. I don't remember doing an Orion BB but that door isn't irrevocably closed, although the ship would never be "real."

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 05:14 pm: Edit

How about we go ahead and swap in the BCH, then do a fourth collection... call it "Orion Empire". It would get the DN, Tug, LTT, and other conjectural/support stuff.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 05:50 pm: Edit

That would be a good place for the OK6.