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Classification: Rlaan Orbital Sniper Ship
From a Forum Q&A:
etheral walker:
- I saw this one in shiplist, in artwork forum. What's the goal (and use) of this ship? Is it an orbital precison gun, designed to eliminate 1 ground target, like an embassador or something like that, or is it a more massive ship? Can you give more infos?
JackS:
- As alluded to in other documentation on the Rlaan, the distinction between civilian and non-civilian is a fundamental construct of their psyche. Likewise, although not previously referenced, the Rlaan eschew missiles when possible. Thus the Rlaan, rather than attempting to precision bomb targets, despite the inherently negative atmospheric effects, use microwave, xaser, graser, and particle beam weapons to surgically remove as many military installations and targets as is possible, minimizing collateral damage, prior to mass landing of occupation, subjugation, and policing forces. These ships then continue to support ground operations (using lower yield armament than the previous "bunker busting" stage) and using tertiary armaments for interdiction of long range missile weapons.
- Such ships are not designed for space combat, and are intended as weapons of seige and suppression. Ground targets capable of projecting noteworthy threats to orbit, despite civilian damage, are dealt with before the deployment of such vessels (the ships nonetheless are heavily armored on the side facing the planet). While this approach is much more costly and time consuming than invasion methods preferred by other species, the Rlaan are exceptionally long lived, exceptionally patient, and exceptionally picky about civilian death tolls (and they also have sufficient industrial infrastructure to absorb the cost of some of their inefficient eccentricities).
- So, no, not designed to snipe at individual organisms, although capable of precision fire at individual vehicles (aerospace, armor, etc) and buildings.
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