This is a little something I worked up when I was busy being bored by YT-1300s. Since I'm rather non-unique when it comes to the way things look (all my ships tend to look fighter planes), I decided to see what I could do with the base YT-1300 design. Since I had several ideas on how to improve the thing, I pretty much *had* to make it contraband to balance things out :) One thing; the only description of the ship is in the capsule, and it isn't terribly good. For those of you who play Star Fleet Battles, it looks like a cross between a Lyran and a YT-1300; something like this *** *** ***** ***** ******** ******** ********** ********** *************************** *************************** *************************** *************************** ********* ******* ********* ******** ***** ******** ******* ***** ******* ***** *** ***** *** *** I suppose it also looks like a fat Dralthi, from a certain point of view. Craft: Incom RD-380 Light Transport Type: Light Freighter Scale: Starfighter Skill: Space transports: YT-1300 transports Crew: 1 to 2 (can coordinate) Crew Skill: Varies tremendously Passengers: 8 Length: 25.0 m Cargo Capacity: 90 metric tons (but see note) Consumables: 2 months Cost: 125,000 (new), 30,000 (old) Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2 Hyperdrive Backup: x12 Nav Computer: Yes Maneuverability: 1D Space: 5 Atmosphere: 295; 850 kmh Hull: 4D+1 Shields: 0D Sensors: Passive: 10/+1 Scan: 30/1D+2 Search: 50/3D Focus: 2/4D Weapons: One Laser Cannon Fire Arc: Turret Crew: 1 Skill: Starship gunnery Fire Control: 2D Space Range: 1-3/12/25 Atmosphere Range: 100-300m/1.2km/2.5km Damage: 4D The Incom RD-408 began as a clone of the widely popular Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 freighter, as an Incom manager took notice of the huge popularity of the ship and decided to cash in. Not content with a simple copy, however, Incom's engineers spent a great deal of time talking with tramp freighter captains to find out how to improve on the original vessel. The primary concern the captains had was upgrading their hardware; as a result, everything from the power plant to the hyperdrive to the sensor suite was built with copious free space and simple plugs, to facilitate picking up a new component and dropping it in instead of the heroic measures occasionally required of the predecessor (game effect: +1D to any modification/upgrade installation rolls). This meant that cargo space was somewhat curtailed, although the space can be effectively regained by upgrading the hardware (game effect: first 20 tons of upgrades are at only 1/2 weight cost). Also, the cockpit was completely redesigned, with the most-used controls at the operators fingertips and even the more rarely used ones barely an arm length away. This manages to confuse most new pilots, but experienced ones can use it to great effect (game effect: - -1D on all rolls in cockpit for first three trips, after first six trips, penalties associated with piloting for three and more actions are reduced by -1D (i.e. one action no penalty, two actions -1d, three actions -1d, four -2d, etc.)). When the RD-408 debuted, it was an instant hit, so much so that the Imperial Navy took a closer look at the design. Suspicious additions were found; in addition to the copious space for military class power plants and mountings for military shielding, there are several heavily reinforced areas with pipelines directly to the main power plant or alternate auxiliary plants that seem almost designed for mounting heavy weapons. (additional +1d to installing heavy (>4D damage) weapons, and for an additional half of its cost, the turbolaser can be fitted with a separate power plant enabling it to fire every turn). As a result, particularly heavily modified versions of this ship are extremely dangerous, and after the Navy lost four corvettes, two frigates, and was treated to a crippled Victory-class Star Destroyer as a result of one such ship, entitled the _Sun's_Flame_, Imperials have standing orders to fire immediately upon modified versions of this ship (mainly detectable if dramatic improvement of onboard weaponry, or if the ship shows itself to be more capable than the original model). Unfortunately for hapless captains, the one thing Incom did not do on the ship was design it for sensor baffling, and any increased power conduits can be detected fairly easily. Also, while the freighter isn't illegal, it verges on impossible to secure permits to legally fly it. The suspicions of the Imperials were confirmed when the Incom engineers involved in this project fled to the Rebels with the X-Wing, and Incom neither makes, supports, or indeed acknowledges this class of ship anymore. The actual ship looks vaguely similar to the YT-1300; the main body consists of two flattened circular disks, with forward mandibles similar to that of the YT-1300. However, the disks themselves are not joined; the main cockpit is mounted on the front of a slab of metal that joins the two. The overall effect is somewhat similar to a butterfly. While the cockpit's position restricts the pilots field of view, there are cameras focused in those arcs, and the craft behaves quite well on a lateral roll in case additional visibility is desired.