Liberty Naval Service Gunboat "Wolfcrest"

LNS-Wolfcrest
Ship Class	Gunboat
Built by	Liberty Navy
Technical information
Guns/Turrets	1 / 7
Hull strength	110,000
Cargo space	400 units
Nanobots/Batteries	350/350
Max. impulse speed	80 m/s
Max. thrust speed	150 m/s
Power output	500,000 u
Power recharge	50000

This is a player owned ship.

**Hostile intent confirmed, taking initiative** - The phrase the Wolfcrest would utter before engaging a hostile vessel.

The LNS-Wolfcrest was one of the more unique vessels in the Liberty Navy's Secondary Fleet, being well-known thoughout Liberty not for its prowess in battle, but for the fact that in its later years, the vessel was one of the first wholly AI driven Naval vessels.

History

The Initial Plan

The 'pilot', Sebastian Wolfe, comissioned the ship out of his own pocket with funds he had made performing his duties as a pilot of the Colonial Republic, then known as the Colonial Remnant. He made the purchase in order to test out the AI programs he had been creating in his spare time, using them instead of other crew members in order to fly the ship solo. In its earlier flights, the vessel was controlled by Wolfe personally and alone, with 7 AI units managing the ships sub-systems. The ship was granted access to Alaska after performing well on the New Hampshire front, and Sebastian often took it into the system for refitting.

It was here that he first encountered the Nomads, and while he was able to resist their attempts at mind control, the strain of their attacks often left him with headaches and physically exhausted. It was at this point that he decided that a new method of controlling the ship was needed.

His new method involved remotely operating the ship from a safe haven, with the nearest one being Freeport 10 in the Magellan system. This worked for a time, however when the IMG learnt of his actions he was told to cease and desist, as they were in breach of existing IMG treaties. It was at this point that he decided to attempt to create a fully AI vessel.

The Birth of the AI Wolfcrest

Wolfe removed the control systems from Freeport 10, and upon arriving on Manhattan (where the Wolfcrest was based), he replaced the control receiever with a new AI unit housing, with links to the other 7. This would be the home of the master AI that would oversee all ship operations. It would also have limited speech capabilities, and be capable of expanding it's vocabulary with extended interactions with other ships. It was meant as a stop-gap measure until a better AI system could be programmed, but this model proved so popular with the local Liberty patrols that he kept it, adding to it as necessary.

The vessel proved more than capable of handling itself in some firefights, however it did require a full replacement every so-often. In the later months, there were actually 3 Wolfcrest gunboats, with one active, one in repairs and one ready to receive the AIs via. instant-burst transmission should the active one receive critical system damage.

Eventually, a liner was comissioned by Wolfe to oversee the maintenance of the AI systems on the Wolfcrest, as well as to gather research materials on AI units as a whole. This ship was designated the AIRV-WolfTech, and was purchased second-hand from Gallia and flown back to Liberty to oversee the gunboat. A crew was picked out for the ship, though some of these were lost in Tau-23 to an Outcast attack.

The Golem Project

Wolfe's research into AI programs led him to program the Wolfcrest to collect parts from Liberty Hacker Gunboats, in order to ship them back to Singapore Shipyard for reassembly. The plan was to create an AI from Wolfes brainwaves and place it into the rebuilt gunboat, as he had determined only the Hackers had ships with enough processing power to host such a complicated AI.

Nothing is known about the project's conclusion, however. It is assumed that the project was scrapped following the Gallic invasion of Tau-44.

The Loss of the Wolfcrest

When Sebastian Wolfe retired from the Colonial Remnant, the Wolfcrest too was decomissioned. The two non-active gunboats were shipped back to the Liberty Navy, and the third was placed into storage. It is not known where the Wolfcrest is stored, nor is it known if it will ever be active again...

Loadout

The Wolfcrest went through several weapon loadouts, including the use of Cerberus and Pulse turrets. It eventually settled on standard Liberty Gunboat turrets in all of the mount positions which could fire forward, and two missile turrets in the back-firing turret mount positions.