[LF] Taurus LT - RE

For Vanilla version, go to https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2844827721

The Phoenix Starworks Taurus Light Transport

The Taurus LT is an early start CV, designed to be a space hauler for cargo, SVs, for early to mid game, and late game can still function in a few roles.

Hello kindred Empyrion spirits!

[i]Let me start with a request; please respect blueprint authors. Often it takes months to finesse a build, and to have it ripped and reuploaded without permission or even so much as credit, can be discouraging, often pushing such authors away from the community.

I personally don't mind critical feedback, and constructive criticism, as it will serve me to better my builds. However, If you enjoy my content, and there is much more to come, respect my (and others) authorship of these massive timesinks. Thank You.[/i]

To see this and other builds come to life, check me out at https://www.twitch.tv/lyfeforse

To learn how to upgrade the Taurus LT, and track future content, follow me at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl4Sr97HEkx2QfCNVjRMF1w

The Taurus LT

Comes standard with a warp drive for both the RE and Vanilla builds. Shields will have to be added later, and this is omittied to keep the spawn in level down - 12 for RE and 10 for Vanilla. It is recommended to install this as first device, as the armor rating is lacking.

Armament

Stock armament only yields a pair of forward facing Minigun Turrets, and 4 sentry guns to cover the rear midsection and bottom. It is recommended once a shield is installed, and CPU is added to augment the top tail section with a few more turrets. Until then, if encountered by drones, turn the front of your ship toward the enemy and show them your horns.

Long term through upgrades, the Taurus can see a robust armament, including up to 10 mounted weapons in wings and nose (or swap for drills for miner config), and an array of 26+ turrets, many of which can be placed on the bottom to transition the build into an atmosphere POI raider (19-21 gun suite), although pilots should take care to manage shields, rather than letting the hull be breached.

Armor

The Taurus is termed a LT; Light Transport for this very reason. The armor profile is lackluster, owing the bulk of the frame to carbon substrate, only some areas see reinforcement of steel, and a sprinkling of reinforced steel.

The hangar area is encased with a layer of steel, as well as the shield and warp engineering rooms. The bridge area is also encased with steel for most of its area, with the core above the pilot encased in hardened steel. The CPU area also sees a belt of steel, with some sections fortified with reinforced armor.

The ammo controller is surrounded with some reinforced steel, and its recommended to keep the glass over its facing, as these measures serve to keep it from detonating the whole hangar.

Thrusters

Spawning in with a mix of mediums and larges for Reforged Eden, or a mix of mediums and smalls for Vanilla, the Taurus offers an upgrade path including a number of Thrusters L / Advanced Thrusters, totalling some 4 + placement for 8 mediums, allowing the Taurus to comfortably transport its total cargo through space, and any mounted vehicles.

It's recommended that until you upgrade your thrusters, you take care not to overload your cargo capacity

Features and Devices

The stock configuration comes with 2x 9 plot hydroponics, 2 wifi placed front and rear for extended coverage, a warp drive, and 2 medical suites; one full medical at hangar, and a half suite in the bridge area. The Taurus allows ease of deployment, with a small ramp located in the bridge, and a full ramp located at the rear. The bridge also gives access to the flight deck via ladders, which also functions as a drone hatch.

One of the interesting characteristics of the Taurus is that although the hangar can't accomodate larger HV's, this can be offset by mounting the top of the ship, via going up the sloped face of the forward section. This allows the wing area to host a mix of HV's and SVs, and even some small CV's allowing the Taurus to operate in a limited carrier capacity

Storage

The Taurus cargo capacity totals up to 1117k for RE, and 1114k for Vanilla. This is split between:

320k x2 container 203k x1 supplemental container 135k x1 ammo 120k x1 harvest (RE) / container (VN) 16k x1 misc storage

Lore and History

Phoenix Starworks originally intended the Taurus to be a starter CV, which could be afforded on a shoestring budget, and transition into a high gravity transport as it was upgraded. The reality is that during the development process, through corporate corruption and misappropriated funding, the Taurus would take a wildly different direction.

The early form of the Taurus kept increasing in size to allow for an ever increasing list of functions from board members, and as the utility piled on, the thrust to weight ratio suffered as a consequence. The result ended up putting the Taurus' lift thrust at odds with its total cargo capacity, leaving the vessel unable to lift a full payload of cargo with its stock configuration.

This would lead to the sacking of a Phoenix Starworks CEO, and the project being shelved, with only one protoype hitting production. This would be the end of the Taurus' story, if not for an unusual mix of events. The protoype was moved to a holding facility at the edge of UCH space, where through dereliction and corporate corruption, the single prototype would fall into the hands of a goods smuggler known as Shepster_tcd. Shepster repurposed it as an illicit goods transport, operating in space, where the lift thrust wasn't a factor.