Sága-Class Long Range Explorer

The Sága-Class Long Range Explorer is a large grid personal craft, capable to operate in Atmosphere as well as in open space. It can traverse from planet surfaces to space and vice versa and comes equipped with a Jump-Drive. The ship is powered by two small reactors and a set of batteries. Multiple Solar-Panels are provided as well, allowing the vessel to be somewhat self-sustainable on energy.

This ship is full vanilla and easy to build in survival. It is fully conveyed, thruster-damage compatible and pre-loaded with uranium and ammunition. No Mods were used in this build.

Caution: The Solar-Panels are mounted on subgrids, which will not be displayed when loading the blueprint with a projector in survival.

Author's note

The Sága started as a cheap explorer i built on a survival-server. After a successful mission to mars, it eventually crashed into the surface and had to be abandoned. I haven't touched the design eversince, but recently needed another vessel like this. So I grabbed the blueprint and redid the whole ship from scratch. This is the result of that overhaul.

If you like compact exploration-vessels, I suggest you check out the Vertigo Exploration Corvette by Doctor Budgie as well. This ship has been a great inspiration for my build and I even adapted some elements.

Datasheet

Blocks: 492 Non-armor blocks: 275 PCU: 5,838 Triangles: 1,382,379 Grid mass: 542,952 kg

Key features

• Can transit from Planets to Space and vice versa
• 2x Small Reactor, 6x Batteries, 4x Solar-Panel - Solar-Panels can be realigned to increase efficency
• Functional Airlock
• 2x basic Refineries, 2x basic Assemblers
• 2x Hydrogen- and 2x Oxygen-Tanks
• 2x H2/O2-Generators to reproduce fuel[/list]
• [h1]Controls[/h1]
• Toolbar 1
• 1 - Gatling Turret: Shoot on/off
• 2 - Group: Connectors - Switch Lock
• 3 - Group: Landing Gears - Switch Lock
• 4 - Group: Atmospheric Thrusters on/off
• 5 - Group: Ion Thrusters on/off
• 6 - Group: Hydrogen Thursters on/off
• 7 - Large Hydrogen Thruster on/off
• 8 - Upper Rotors: Reverse
• 9 - Lower Rotors: Reverse
• [h1]Description/Lore[/h1]
• The original Sága-class was introduced as a cheap solution to observe key-points in space. Developed to be used by naval and peacekeeping forces, the Sága carried a ton of equipment in a small package, required to be operated by a crew of only two. This came a price, though. The Sága was know to be terribly underpowered in terms of thrust and had almost no defence-capabilities.
• Even though it was designated as a military-vessel, the Saga was not suited to operate on the front-line. Despite being used for Long-Range surveillence, a Sága can be declared as lost with all hands, when encountering enemy resistance. The Sága provided a bare minimum of sub-light propulsion in order to make room for its surveilance equipment, which also limited her abilities to carry armor plating. As a result, many critical components like the fuel tank and the Jumpdrive itself remained open and exposed to enemy fire, rendering the Saga inoperationable within seconds.
• A set point-defense turrets provided the Sága with enough firepower to scare or fight off hostile Interceptors or small pirate vessels, but couldn't defend the ship against a serious military encounter. Her strongest protection is the ability to quickly retreat from the battlefield by using the Jumpdrive.
• Despite her poor capabilities as a military vessel, the Sága still proved to be a reliable surveillence ship and a decent planetary explorer. The Sága-Class features a set of Atmospheric Thursters, allowing it to set down and launch from most planets that hold an atmosphere. The ship also comes with an Ore Detector and an Antenna to coordinate scout-operations.
• Given these features, many decomissioned Ságas were bought by small private Mining-Companies and Colonies to gain access to cheap Explorers, which allowed them to find and claim new Ressource-sites or establish landingzones for larger Industrial Vessels.
• But like most Ships in the Terminus-Expanse, Many Sága-class ships ended up in the hands of organized crime. While Ságas were no threat in a military conflict, They were still capable to observe tradingroutes from a safe distance while remaining undetected, then providing intel to nearby lurking raiding parties.
• With the next wave of colonists moving into the Expanse, V.M.E redesigned the Sága from scratch. While a lot of the communication-equipment went overboard, the ship was outfitted with everything one could ask for, when establishing a new forward operating base.
• This time V.M.E aimed straight for the civilian market and even though the ship found a places in a few naval forces, the Sága became the spearhead of many civilian corporations, leading expeditions to remote worlds and establishing new colonies. To archive this, the ship carries two basic refineries and assemblers, allowing the operating engineers to move straight to a full-scale refinery. The Sàga also comes with some basic cargo-space to carry equipment and material.
• The Saga is self-sustainable thanks to its Solar-Panels wich can be realligned for better efficency. A battery-bank can safe power and help to provide energy to a new established FOB when connected. In terms of protection, the ship is equipped with a selection of 5.56mm Point-Defence Turrets as well as a Gatling Turret, mounted to the main hull.