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Description

A quick build in LDD the other night, I felt like going ahead and adding another ship to the upscaled 1 stud to 12.34 meters collection. I chose the Defender class for the sole reason of 'because it was featured in a space battle RP with AngelisGoodwen and he wanted to see it upscaled'. This time, I've included a reproduction of the real life model in the same shot, since it was small enough it just fit there. The original model was a very early attempt to build a small starship to accompany my larger ones as an escort. It's.... really it's an ugly piece of crap, but I was able to build four of them at once, and so I've kept them around. Hopefully I've made it look somewhat decent in the upscaled version. I tried to give it a rough, hard edged, almost industrial look to it.... even though it's got more than a few curved surfaces.

The Defender class is an early Renarian Star Fleet design, intended to serve as an escort for larger ships, and as a most basic level of defense for space stations and planetary colonies. Fifty such ships were commissioned and built at the Aurendal Fleetyards, an early test of the new shipbuilding facilities' ability to handle bulk orders. 46 of the ships remain in service, though with the advances made in the fleet, and the newer ships built to supplement the same roles in the expanding Renarian territory, the Defender's need to be called into action has diminished. More recently, the ships have been retrofitted with technological improvements that reduce the required crew compliment from 165 down to 96.

For it's size, a relatively small 229 meters in length, the ship is heavily armed, featuring two powerful Ion Particle Cannons mounted on turrets on the sides of the main hull. The energy requirement of these weapons alone is nearly equal to the reactor's full output. Firing both at once at full power has on several occasions left the ship without power, adrift until the reactor can restore power. It's a significant weakness, an oversight in design, but the ship was pushed into service regardless because a redesign would have taken too long for the RSF. Instead they went with a "try not to do that" policy.

It also features much more appropriately sized weapons, including a single light plasma cannon on the ends of the 'wings', and a set of torpedo launchers in the nose. It features antiquated but still fairly tough armour, plus a large additional armor plate to offer some extra protection to the main reactor.

The Defender class frigate continues to serve as an escort frigate, supporting ships and fleets, or convoys, space stations and planets as needed. Old, but rugged and ...mostly dependable, the ship fills its roles effectively, and will continue to do so for some time to come.

Description

A quick build in LDD the other night, I felt like going ahead and adding another ship to the upscaled 1 stud to 12.34 meters collection. I chose the Defender class for the sole reason of 'because it was featured in a space battle RP with AngelisGoodwen and he wanted to see it upscaled'. This time, I've included a reproduction of the real life model in the same shot, since it was small enough it just fit there. The original model was a very early attempt to build a small starship to accompany my larger ones as an escort. It's.... really it's an ugly piece of crap, but I was able to build four of them at once, and so I've kept them around. Hopefully I've made it look somewhat decent in the upscaled version. I tried to give it a rough, hard edged, almost industrial look to it.... even though it's got more than a few curved surfaces.

The Defender class is an early Renarian Star Fleet design, intended to serve as an escort for larger ships, and as a most basic level of defense for space stations and planetary colonies. Fifty such ships were commissioned and built at the Aurendal Fleetyards, an early test of the new shipbuilding facilities' ability to handle bulk orders. 46 of the ships remain in service, though with the advances made in the fleet, and the newer ships built to supplement the same roles in the expanding Renarian territory, the Defender's need to be called into action has diminished. More recently, the ships have been retrofitted with technological improvements that reduce the required crew compliment from 165 down to 96.

For it's size, a relatively small 229 meters in length, the ship is heavily armed, featuring two powerful Ion Particle Cannons mounted on turrets on the sides of the main hull. The energy requirement of these weapons alone is nearly equal to the reactor's full output. Firing both at once at full power has on several occasions left the ship without power, adrift until the reactor can restore power. It's a significant weakness, an oversight in design, but the ship was pushed into service regardless because a redesign would have taken too long for the RSF. Instead they went with a "try not to do that" policy.

It also features much more appropriately sized weapons, including a single light plasma cannon on the ends of the 'wings', and a set of torpedo launchers in the nose. It features antiquated but still fairly tough armour, plus a large additional armor plate to offer some extra protection to the main reactor.

The Defender class frigate continues to serve as an escort frigate, supporting ships and fleets, or convoys, space stations and planets as needed. Old, but rugged and ...mostly dependable, the ship fills its roles effectively, and will continue to do so for some time to come.