RH-GM110 "Heimdall" Red Hessian Gunship

Template:Ship Infobox 2 "Heimdall" is the codename for the Red Hessian gunship project. Named after the mythic Norse guardian, this ship was designed to operate with full efficiency inside the rocky environments of the Hessian controlled parts of the Omega border worlds, all the while maintaining a superior offensive and support capability. It is a prized ship design amongst the Red Hessians, and is never seen outside their ranks.

History

The Red Hessian gunship project was first proposed in 780 A.S. as the Corsair - Hessian war spread across the upper Omega systems, into the open space there. The Hessians, previously relying on the size and speed of their mainstay fighter craft inside the thick asteroid fields in order to nullify the advantage of the bulkier Corsair gunboats of the Omega edge worlds, have been quick to realise the lack of effectiveness of this tactic in actual open space. A team of former Daumann engineers, freshly defected to the Hessian movement, have been set to work on the project that year, adapting a blueprint from a ultimately unused Daumann armoured deep space miner design mixed with a few finer points from the infamous Rheinland Gunboat. A working prototype was completed only a few months later.

Despite this quick progress however, the Heimdall design continued to remain relatively out of production for the next 30 years. The first recorded battlefield use of this type of ship was during the Casablanca offensive of 811 A.S. and it has been confirmed to be regarded as an invaluable support vessel to the usual hordes of Hessian fighter craft ever since. Use of these types of ships still remained low however, up until 817 A.S. when the Red Hessian leadership decided to finally adapt their now quite extensive production lines to the growing size of combat vessels in Sirius, and the Heimdall gunship was launched into mass production in earnest.

Handling

• This ship is too large to use docking bays, it must use mooring points.

Review without version number

Review The Heimdall continues the tradition of Hessian design by heavily relying on its speed and agility to fight its opponents. Its sleek design allows it to carry out these manuevers inside certain asteroid fields, thus making it even harder to hit when in the hands of an experienced pilot. Unlike the towering Rheinland Gunboat, this ship has only 6 turrets, all of which face forward. Only three of those face backward, however, and due to the superior turning speed of the gunship, the Heimdall is more effective when handling more like a bomber than a heavy gunboat. Despite these boons however, the ship is lightly armoured and really does need to rely on agility and dodging to avoid shots, as it is not able to take much punishment head on. It also sports a relatively small reactor which suits it more towards the anti-fighter/bomber role than against capital ships - unlike some of the other, larger gunboats. Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Review by Blodo

Hardpoints

• 6 Gunboat Turrets

Purchase Includes

Spoiler:
1 Deep Scanner ($14,750) 1 Gunboat Molecular Shield ($3,000,000)

Availability

Spoiler: Buying Locations
Base Owner System Location Wolfsburg Shipyard Red Hessian Guard Omega-54 Border Worlds