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Coalition HM(I)-170 "Worker Ant" MK I Medium Cargo Ship

Lore

The HM(I)-170 MK I entered development in early 2170 as a mixed hydrogen and ion vessel. Since it was built with an all out war against Earth nations in mind, the early prototypes boasted heavy armour and weaponry. By the end of 2171, the 170 was almost ready to begin production. However, due to the peace talks beginning in early 2171, this design choice was called into question. Additionally, the Jupiter Gas Plant Disaster later that year and the creation of the first reliable spacial distortion drives (also known as warp, jump or hyper drives) allowing full ion thrust ships to reach destinations just as quickly as their hydrogen counterparts, hydrogen propulsion was quickly falling out of favour. These two factors combined resulted in the development of the 170 being extended by over a year and a half to accommodate a near total redesign. By early 2173 the whole rear section of the vessel had been rebuilt to accommodate a fully ion based propulsion system, the hydrogen tanks were removed and replaced with two of the new "warp drives". By late 2173 the first batch of 170s made their maiden voyage. Due to the signing of the Lunar Pact, an all out war was unlikely and the heavy plate of the original design was stripped off in favour of lighter plate to increase acceleration and power efficiency. The 170 and it’s variants would serve as the main cargo ship of the coalition navy until 2203 when they would be superseded by the much more efficient HM-201.

Performance and Usefulness

Armament:
4x2 25mm Gatling Cannon Rotor Turrets
2x 25mm Gatling Cannon Turrets

Additional Features:
This ship includes 3 scripts. The Diamond Dome Defense Script controls the rotor turrets, with help from Isy's Inventory Manager it reloads them automatically too. Blarg's Aggressive Airlocks help keep the ship pressurised so you don't accidentally vent the cabin. There are a pair of solar panels on the bottom with a camera for aligning them. There's also an extra camera above the extendable connector arm for docking. Almost all functional blocks are accessible from the inside, they have labels on their names that match up with the areas in the last picture to tell you where to find them. There are also two timer blocks which enable you to engage and disengage an anti-boarding lock down mode.

Controls
Page 1:
-Exterior Turrets: On/Off
-Interior Turrets: On/Off
-Autorepair System: On/Off
-Spotlights: On/Off
-Antenna: Broadcast On/Off
-Frontal Camera: View
-Solar Panel Camera: View
-Disable Lockdown
-Enable Lockdown
Page 2:
-Extra Thrust: On/Off (This is useful so you don't burn something when trying to dock with it)
-Docking Camera: View
-Docking Piston: Reverse
-Docking Connector: Lock/Unlock

Survival Mode Viability:
I haven't played survival in a long time but the ship is mostly light armour with heavy on a few key points. It has two jump drives and plenty of power to charge them with. Maneuverability is about what you'd expect from a ship this size.

Summary
The main idea behind the CM(S)-170 MK I is to function as a cargo ship. I'd advise using it as a mining transport for storing your ores before bringing them back to base. The ship is equipped with light manufacturing capabilities. Fun fact: the HM(I)-170 MK I is actually one of the first ships I built, it was originally called CM-51. The economy update brought my attention back to it and I started on renovations, it was supposed to be done before the economy update...

Credits

Alysius
Diamond Dome Defense Script

Blargmode
Blarg's Aggressive Airlocks

Isy
Isy's Inventory Manager