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Description

A reference sheet of an obscure UNN warship type from The Expanse setting. This one was commissioned by BaconShelf as a model reference for a mod he's working on. Since the ship had only been depicted once in a comic (and rather inconsistently at that) I had a lot of freedom in interpreting the design in a style more in line with other ships in the Expanse TV show. Before the final design, I brainstormed a few rounds of alternatives before settling on this as the polished version.

This is the lore flavor text provided by the commissioner:

Zhang Fei-class destroyer

Pictured: UNN Guan Yu (DD-42)

The UNN's Zhang Fei classification of destroyer was introduced in the early 2200s, originally intended as a middleweight multipurpose combat ship for missions which were deemed unworthy of a full battleship. The UNN's order of Zhang Feis was placed in 2198, with the original order calling for thirty-two ships to be built within a decade - each named after a warlord of the Three Kingdoms period. In the end, only fourteen such vessels were constructed before the Martian Declaration of Independence. These early ships were fitted with powerful chemical propellant engines with high delta-v at the cost of long travel times - something which was ultimately crucial to the UN's decision to grant the Martians their demands - in exchange for the newly-invented Epstein fusion drive. The Martians were ultimately the first to put the new drive into usage, but lacked suitable shipyards or existing spaceframes to fit the torch engines onto. The UNN were quick to follow their Red Planet counterparts, and were able to hastily retool their existing under-construction stock of destroyers with the new engine. These Flight Two Zhang Feis boasted the new torch engines built into their superstructure from the ground-up, with a number of electrical systems improvements built-in to make leverage of the new power generation system. The original Fourteen Flight Ones were soon retrofit to match the specification of their newer siblings, with a further twelve ships ordered as the Outer System opened up. Zhang Feis served the UNN as mainstay destroyers throughout the early period of the Outer Planets rush, serving to "show the flag" in locations not deemed important enough for a battleship deployment. They would later be surpassed by the newer Second Generation Mulan- and Munroe-class destroyers, though the emerging Cold War with Mars saw these new vessels primarily assigned to Inner Planets patrol to standoff against their MCRN counterparts. As the decades rolled on, Zhang Feis were slowly reassigned to the outer planets, seeing most predominant use in deep space patrol and the Jupiter/Saturn fleets. With the renewed naval arms race between the UN and MCR following the Vesta Blockade incident, the Zhang Fei was officially retired from service, and the ships began to officially end their long-running tenures. Five were officially scrapped, making their final landings inside UN shipyards on Luna before beginning the process of being stripped out and recycled. However, the emergence of the brief but devastating war between the two powers in 2350 saw the Zhang Feis pulled out of mothball to perform rearguard actions as the UN mobilised in the Outer Planets. They continued to see service in the interim period after the war's end as the UNN began a slow process of rebuilding its strength, though were ultimately saved from being fully-retired by the emergence of the Free Navy conflict in the 2360s. Following the end of war in the Sol System, the scant remaining Zhang Fei-class destroyers were formally retired as the Earth-Mars Coalition solidified its ongoing standardisation programs. The remaining examples were stored in mothball yards, with three sold to the Transport Union to work as the union's frontier policing and enforcement arm. Famously, the UNN Gongsun Zan (DD-65), now renamed the TUS Peacegiver and reclassified as a cruiser, was involved in the blockade of the New Halifax ring gate for three months throughout 2371 over taxation disputes.

The Zhang Fei-class measures 173.5 metres in total height, from antennae to engine, and is equipped with a relatively light armament when compared to later ships of the UNN Fleet. The signature armament of the Zhang Fei is two Ferris-pattern dual M32 50mm coilgun batteries, supplemented by six anti-ship missile silos and six Redfield Ballistics M167 "Criterion" Close Engagement Weapon Systems for point-defence. The coilgun batteries of the Zhang Fei are emblematic of the standard for weapons design prior to the true advent of Second Generation warships - with a hallmark of the later generations being the introduction of plasma railguns for increased long-range projectile acceleration. The torpedo silos are mostly incompatible with more modern Epstein-equipped fusion torpedoes, resulting in the vessels maintaining a stock of otherwise antiquated missiles for antiship work. A handful Zhang Feis were refitted with full modern autoloading torpedo silos during the 24th century, though many more simply weren't and had their silos stripped out and replaced with additional electronic warfare equipment and coilgun charge capacitors as stocks of older chemical munitions ran dry. Alternate missions packages employed in this refit program involved the installation of more modernised countermeasure systems, allowing the Zhang Fei to punch well above its weight for decades after the class was ostensibly antiquated. By the time of their prolonged service in the Transport Union and the new interstellar frontier, all remaining Zhang Feis sported a unique weapon and systems loadout reflective of the missions, repairs and refits the ships had been subjected to over the 150 years of service lifetime they had seen, with the majority having replaced their older weapons for newer counterparts, where appropriate.

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My commission information

Description

A reference sheet of an obscure UNN warship type from The Expanse setting. This one was commissioned by BaconShelf as a model reference for a mod he's working on. Since the ship had only been depicted once in a comic (and rather inconsistently at that) I had a lot of freedom in interpreting the design in a style more in line with other ships in the Expanse TV show. Before the final design, I brainstormed a few rounds of alternatives before settling on this as the polished version.

This is the lore flavor text provided by the commissioner:

Zhang Fei-class destroyer

Pictured: UNN Guan Yu (DD-42)

The UNN's Zhang Fei classification of destroyer was introduced in the early 2200s, originally intended as a middleweight multipurpose combat ship for missions which were deemed unworthy of a full battleship. The UNN's order of Zhang Feis was placed in 2198, with the original order calling for thirty-two ships to be built within a decade - each named after a warlord of the Three Kingdoms period. In the end, only fourteen such vessels were constructed before the Martian Declaration of Independence. These early ships were fitted with powerful chemical propellant engines with high delta-v at the cost of long travel times - something which was ultimately crucial to the UN's decision to grant the Martians their demands - in exchange for the newly-invented Epstein fusion drive. The Martians were ultimately the first to put the new drive into usage, but lacked suitable shipyards or existing spaceframes to fit the torch engines onto. The UNN were quick to follow their Red Planet counterparts, and were able to hastily retool their existing under-construction stock of destroyers with the new engine. These Flight Two Zhang Feis boasted the new torch engines built into their superstructure from the ground-up, with a number of electrical systems improvements built-in to make leverage of the new power generation system. The original Fourteen Flight Ones were soon retrofit to match the specification of their newer siblings, with a further twelve ships ordered as the Outer System opened up. Zhang Feis served the UNN as mainstay destroyers throughout the early period of the Outer Planets rush, serving to "show the flag" in locations not deemed important enough for a battleship deployment. They would later be surpassed by the newer Second Generation Mulan- and Munroe-class destroyers, though the emerging Cold War with Mars saw these new vessels primarily assigned to Inner Planets patrol to standoff against their MCRN counterparts. As the decades rolled on, Zhang Feis were slowly reassigned to the outer planets, seeing most predominant use in deep space patrol and the Jupiter/Saturn fleets. With the renewed naval arms race between the UN and MCR following the Vesta Blockade incident, the Zhang Fei was officially retired from service, and the ships began to officially end their long-running tenures. Five were officially scrapped, making their final landings inside UN shipyards on Luna before beginning the process of being stripped out and recycled. However, the emergence of the brief but devastating war between the two powers in 2350 saw the Zhang Feis pulled out of mothball to perform rearguard actions as the UN mobilised in the Outer Planets. They continued to see service in the interim period after the war's end as the UNN began a slow process of rebuilding its strength, though were ultimately saved from being fully-retired by the emergence of the Free Navy conflict in the 2360s. Following the end of war in the Sol System, the scant remaining Zhang Fei-class destroyers were formally retired as the Earth-Mars Coalition solidified its ongoing standardisation programs. The remaining examples were stored in mothball yards, with three sold to the Transport Union to work as the union's frontier policing and enforcement arm. Famously, the UNN Gongsun Zan (DD-65), now renamed the TUS Peacegiver and reclassified as a cruiser, was involved in the blockade of the New Halifax ring gate for three months throughout 2371 over taxation disputes.

The Zhang Fei-class measures 173.5 metres in total height, from antennae to engine, and is equipped with a relatively light armament when compared to later ships of the UNN Fleet. The signature armament of the Zhang Fei is two Ferris-pattern dual M32 50mm coilgun batteries, supplemented by six anti-ship missile silos and six Redfield Ballistics M167 "Criterion" Close Engagement Weapon Systems for point-defence. The coilgun batteries of the Zhang Fei are emblematic of the standard for weapons design prior to the true advent of Second Generation warships - with a hallmark of the later generations being the introduction of plasma railguns for increased long-range projectile acceleration. The torpedo silos are mostly incompatible with more modern Epstein-equipped fusion torpedoes, resulting in the vessels maintaining a stock of otherwise antiquated missiles for antiship work. A handful Zhang Feis were refitted with full modern autoloading torpedo silos during the 24th century, though many more simply weren't and had their silos stripped out and replaced with additional electronic warfare equipment and coilgun charge capacitors as stocks of older chemical munitions ran dry. Alternate missions packages employed in this refit program involved the installation of more modernised countermeasure systems, allowing the Zhang Fei to punch well above its weight for decades after the class was ostensibly antiquated. By the time of their prolonged service in the Transport Union and the new interstellar frontier, all remaining Zhang Feis sported a unique weapon and systems loadout reflective of the missions, repairs and refits the ships had been subjected to over the 150 years of service lifetime they had seen, with the majority having replaced their older weapons for newer counterparts, where appropriate.

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My commission information