> Transmit Date: 01.09.2008
> Gunboat Killer: Alliance Fast Attack Ship [Data Source: admin]
Those of you who have been following the Cerberus posts here know what a flexible and powerful design the Series 3 Military variant was. You also know practically none survived the war and that the Cerberus and most of the 12th Cavalry gunboats were destroyed in a single skirmish at the Battle of Sturges. Which begs the question: What could have happened to so swiftly shift the balance of power to the Alliance?
What happened was the Alliance Fast Attack Ship (AFAS) – the boat responsible for taking space superiority away from the Independents and making the gunboat all but obsolete. First deployed in significant numbers at Sturges, the AFAS was a sleek and maneuverable short-range fighter created with one purpose – destroy the Independents advantage in the ship-to-ship guerrilla battles that had defined space combat up to that point in the war. As such, the AFAS was small and quick, making it difficult for the gunboat’s railguns and plasma cannons to target. It had minimal armor, which it traded in favor of a couple small caliber turrets and two big cannons on the front.
The tactic it used to down a gunboat was simple and effective: Attack in small three-ship wolf packs. While two AFAS hem their target in, firing turrets while staying clear of the gunboats big weapons, the third drops in behind and cuts loose with those forward cannons.
Among the Alliance the AFAS were known simply as gunboat killers. Among the Independents, they were called “Shinigami”, fast and silent death for anyone caught on board a ship like the Cerberus.
We asked Sean Kennedy, the CG designer who did our Cerberus renderings, to bring the infamous AFAS to life following the design specs developed in the original Firefly timeline. Below are the not-quite-final renderings of that ship. We think Sean really outdid himself and couldn’t wait to share these with you Core-Techs:
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
So this the nasty little critter that too the 3’s out. Cool.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
It looks like a Manta Ray. A cool deadly one though.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Now that’s gonna make some shiny wallpapers.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Lovemunkey – first time I saw the roughs on this, it reminded me of the Flying Sub from Journey to the Bottom of the Sea. That’s a good thing, as that’s always been one of my favorite ship designs!
Michael – really? I mean, it looks *awesome* cool, but would you lower yourself to having an Alliance Firefly-killer on your desktop?
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
OMG! AWESOME write-up. Lots and lots of fic potential there, to say nothing of RPG goodness. Dude, you guys are amazing! Got any more?
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Hey there Mary - yes, there is much on the drawing board. We’ve been very lucky to be able to tap some of the big brains behind a bunch of the creative for Firefly and Serenity as we’ve developed this “extended ‘Verse” content. There is literally years worth of work behind fleshing out timelines and the like.
I’m really hoping to post the part of a Cerberus short story here sometime soon. Got something percolating, as it were
But maybe before then we should post the Firefly timeline?
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Stuff like this makes me wonder why there aren’t a bunch of books of stories from the Firefly universe.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
god of death huh? cool design, damn purple bellys
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Here’s what I was thinking for wallpaper. Surely there had to be at least one battle that those little critters lost…
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Great job on the AFAS. Would love to see a rendering of the Walden the salvage vessel from “Out of Gas”.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Thanks all! Glad you like the design.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Deckplans!
I demand deckplans!
Oh, and stats for it, too.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
Deckplans? I take it you want to use it for the RPG.
01.09.2008 at 7:05 pm
I’d love to see stats and deckplans for Cerberus and the ASAF. I could see a story either during the war at the Battle of Sturges, members of the crew who had to evacuate after getting shot up trying to find their ship at the same battle or mercenary/Robin Hood/Dust Devils storyline. Also do you have any more pictures anywhere?