Sidewinder Mk III (ED)

Attention, Commander!

MCI Shipyards presents its latest: Sidewinder Mk III!

Made for REFORGED EDEN only(!), this ship grew up as a logical continuation of the Anvil Designer’s Challenge, November 2022. It’s a Core 4 void explorer and combat CV that you can spawn once you’ve scrapped your first Sunat Corvette and acquired a couple of the Improved CPU Extenders and some titanium from the hull.

Simple and elegant, Sidewinder is inspired by its namesake vessel from the Elite Dangerous universe and designed with a broader functionality than MCI’s Core 2/3 combat interceptors: It has full survival and medical suits, construction suit and better storage. It also comes with weapon upgrades and room for further growth – all while maintaining signature high mobility characteristics.

Features:

- 6x Fixed embedded Advanced Laser Cannons, 1x embedded Artillery Cannon and 4x Retractable Minigun Turrets – all slaved to the Combat Mode custom signal in the control panel. Toggling also retracts the covering ramps - try it, it works! ) - 19,000 HP shield (Standard Shield with upgrades to 150 recharge) - Warp Drive - Standard Detector - Mixed Steel, Hardened Steel and Carbon hull plating, spaced to prevent cascading of critical systems in case of shield failure - 1x Advanced and 1x Small Constructors - 88 kL Ammunition Storage, 94 kL and 96 kL Cargo Storage + small storage compartments - Wi-fi - Fridge, Food processor, Shower and full Medical suit on the top deck - Oxygen Station and Armour Locker on the engineering deck

- Space to place an Advanced CPU Extender – on the ceiling next to the Improved Extender on the left side of the Engineering deck.

Upgrades:

- 1x Advanced CPU Extender - Advanced Warp Drive - Advanced Shield Generator for slight augmentation in the shield capacity and increased resistance bonuses - Extra 1x Large Generator: remove the top right retractable turret, remove 3 marked and painted black half-blocks, install the generator, replace the turret. Depending on other upgrades you may need this to prevent your ship from running starved on power - Long Range Radar – optional in place of one of the top turrets: remove the turret, fill in the gap in the hull, install the dish - Turret upgrades up to 4x Heavy Positron Cannons or 4x Heavy Laser Cannons or 4x Gammas, or 2x EMP Cruise Missile Launchers plus Miniguns.

Mobility characteristics and weapon loadout allow Sidewinder to engage flexibly at any range – from sniping from 900m to hiding in relative blind spots of bigger ships or engaging in flat orbits with auto-break-Off/pilot-mode-On. You will need multiple shots with the single Artillery Cannon to penetrate most hulls once the opponent’s shields are gone, but your own shields and agility will give you plenty of room to do it, provided you stay mobile and don’t take OPV fire head-on.

All in all this is a jack of all trades master of none ship suitable for early-to-midgame exploration and combat (and even mining if you choose to sub one or two laser cannons with laser mining drills and swap the accessible Container Controller for Harvest Controller on the Engineering deck). It will serve you well, protect you, allow you to explore any space without fear of exploding in one shot and teach you how to pilot agile ships and punch above your weight. However available storage and production capacity means this won't be your all-in-one ship capable of hauling all of your accumulated materials and loot with you. Thus establishing a base or operating from a carrier vessel may be recommended.

Hope you will enjoy your new vessel, Commander!