Ship Design Concept: The Arashi Scorpion

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Premise of the ship is it is a desert ambusher and loot hauler. It has to sit flush with sands and be able to fly low without clipping objects easily. This would help it ambush convoys. If the Bonefish is like a battleship, the Scorpion would be a cruiser or corvette.

Concept design would borrow some ideas from the Mobula. In fact it could be a design developed from theft or salvaging Mobulas. So a more flat vessel. But instead of a massive weak balloon underneath, it would have balloons on the wing tips and maybe thinner ones that are partially exposed on the top deck. Could be similar to Goldfish, squid, or Junker balloons, something salvagable. So it would have two on the wings and instead of a massive flat area like the mobula, there would be maybe a squid balloon sticking up that connects to both decks but is clearly built into the hull. All share the same system. Altho in official lore it could be it has separate systems.

Weapon system would consist of two light guns to front, kinda like claws. Possibly near the balloons, maybe angled more like on a Mobula. Then a elevated heavy mount gun platform that sits at the rear of the ship facing forward. Which would give it the appearance of a scorpion. Could possibly make it able to raise and lower but not necessary. Ideally the gunner up on it gets a full view of the vessel below and the area around them.

If Pilot station is forward like a Mobula, then lets put the hull point back before the elevated gun, then the balloon repair point put under the pilot station in the bowels of the ship. Accessible via a hatch. You can get down to it quickly, but getting out of it and back above deck might take longer.

Engine mounts. I'd like to see quad in use. Make it easy and set them up on the top deck. Break em up with the balloons possibly. Or put them on the wing balloons. Top and bottom of them. So you can't shoot out both sets unless you really plan your shots. But then running on one set would cause the ship to be tough to control and list a lot.

Movement speed and gameplay. It wouldn't have the vertical ability of the Mobula. However it would turn better due to the quad. Weapon loadout is similar to a Goldfish so this vessel could be an answer to the Yeshan Goldfish. It wouldn't be as fast as the fish but it would have better firepower capability. Perhaps the Scorpion would have better armor/etc. So ideally it would be a design that could beat a fish in certain situations but not all.

For added appearance, could put colors and flags on the wings that fan out and look like scorpion legs.

So yeah, been on my mind for a bit now, just posting it to finally get it off my mind.

[Carn]

Sounds cool.

[ShadedExalt]

Maybe a ridiculous acceleration, but not very fast, and low, low vertical mobility.

Turning acceleration should be high, speed not so much, sorta like opposite Mobula

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Maybe a ridiculous acceleration, but not very fast, and low, low vertical mobility.

Turning acceleration should be high, speed not so much, sorta like opposite Mobula

Right. Keep it slower than a fish.

So it would be a combination ship between Mobula and Fish. The issue is, the Spire fits a similar role. While this would have advantage over a Spire in the vertical area, there would be the question of it being necessary in the game with the Spire. How to make it unique enough to set it apart.

[MightyKeb]

there are builds where 4th gun on Spireisnt necessary and this could be a straight upgrade whenever thats the case. On Top of that, you're rivaling the premier charging ship (Pyra) in firepower and rivaling one of the best flanking ships in the game ( Squid) in ambush potential. Indeed, giving it a glassy survivability would make it too similiar to Spire. Problem is while it does make sense to make it turn pretty bad with those 3 blindsides (horizontally larger than mob and thus more vulnerable) It could just mean its more preferrable to snipe with this ship when it was primarily meant to do well brawling. I'm thinking of a large, Crusader-ish tye of hull hitbox with about 500 armor like the old spire and junker tier hull hp except with a lot more hull to shoot at. That way itd be survivable enough to get the damage it needed just in time but a second late or with a slight flank you could devastate it easily. I guess instead of replacing spire then it would be a cross between Squid and Spire- when you need the mobility and firepower but become even glassier and more vulnerable in return.I would say make the accel spire tier so its technically faster than pyra though might wanna keep top speed around same rate. A straight ship like that would have much more stability than mob, So id look for just giving it a pyra kind of turn considering how long the side blimdspots would be if you model it after something similiar to a Crusader. Though I havent seen enough arashi ships to make a solid image of them, I feel it would be balanced to borrow appearance from the playable baronies ship with Arashi paintjobs, which ironically would fit their salvagey nature.

Edit: Give it atleast average verticals too. Verticals play a big role in ambushing.

[DJ Logicalia]

I may have heard through the grapevine that there will be new ships for every faction, so an Arashi ship of some type is probably on the horizon

[Carn]

I just want stuff for Anglea. Period. There is virtually nothing on them..........

[Kamoba]

I love the idea, though I think instead of a heavy gun, a light gun could be ideal, especially for the image I have in my head...

I also imagine the fore guns being turned inwards a little bit like pincers, rather than straight forward, thus adding difficulty in gun arcs against ships which avoid gun arcs (squid)

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Inward guns might make it a bit too Pyra like. Unless it actually has a design where the light guns are wingtip mounted so it would sort of envelop a passing ship. Imagine one of these rising up on you unaware and you finding yourself with 3 guns aimed directly at you with your small trader ship caught in the middle of them. So size wise I'd say the Scorpion would have to be bigger than a Junker.

Light gun could go on the stinger, just it doesn't feel potent enough for me. If the tail stinger mount is meant to be the potent killing blow then it would definitely need to be a heavy gun. Although if we try to put some form of realism on it, a heavier weapon might be too much for the stinger to hold given recoil and weight. So maybe a light would be better. Imagine twin gat pinchers with a flak or mort on the stinger...heh.

[ShadedExalt]

Imagine twin gat pinchers with a flak or mort on the stinger...heh.

Would the ammo that reduces arming the most make the flak in range in brawl territory?

[Lieutenant Noir]

Really cool concept,
I was thinking of it being more like the new Alliance ships.

You would have two heavy guns down below with a light gun up top to make it look more like a Scorpion with giant claws.
The heavy guns arcs being so spread apart that the pilot would have to turn to get one heavy gun off at a time (Kinda like the opposite of a Goldfish).
That way the increased turning acceleration would come in handy (Basically Junker-ish mobility).
Also you could have an engineer up top as their work station being in charge of the balloon, back engine, and light gun.
You could have a long range side of just a lumberjack and a short range side pairing the light and other heavy gun.


In terms of component placement I was thinking it be almost exactly like a scorpion.
I was thinking of having the balloon be like the body of the scorpion. The balloon could be exposed completely at the sides and the back of the ship. That way the front of the ship would be armored and everyone would be standing on top of the balloon (kinda like a mobula).
The Light gun at the top would be on an elevated platform on top of the balloon (sort of like a watchtower accessible via a ladder) to look like a tail while the two heavy guns would be fixed on the sides of the balloon.
The balloon and back engine component be at the bottom of the watchtower structure so the engineer would have to jump down to fix it.
The side engines be near the heavy guns so that there is enough balloon exposed at the sides to be a weak spot (Also enough space to allow a Decal on either side).
The cockpit could be at the front of the balloon much like the head of the scorpion.
The hull component could be near the cockpit so the pilot could temporarily fix while the engineer would have to rush from a heavy gun in order to fix it (Kinda like the Top deck Spire hull component but engi is farther away and pilot is closer).
For aesthetics, make the side engines "big engines" while the back engine be a "small engine". That way the turn speed mobility would make sense.

It would be a confusing ship to fly but I think it would be interesting considering you have the fire power of a Galleon Broadside.

[Dementio]

Instead of a playable ship I want to see this as a huge boss ship. Guns on the pincers, one set aiming inwards and one set aiming outwards with the most firepower on the tail, elevated position thing, killing anything that it traps inside of its claws. But that's just me.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Hmm, dual heavies on the claws and light on the tail...interesting idea.