Hey everyone! I’m back with even more ship designs/references! : D
In following with the general trend I’ve set with the frigate, we’re moving down the tonnage and size rating with this one, as we likewise lose something that has been present throughout all other ships up to this point — the intimidation factor.
Or at least, that’s what it might at first seem to the untrained eye.
Because you see, what we have today is something of an unsung hero in the EAF/LREF’s rich and diverse fleets.
You won’t see any primary weapon systems on this ship. Neither will you see main weapons emplacements, secondary weapons platforms, or even the capacity to carry supplementary ordinance delivery systems.
The only real ‘weapon’ you’ll find on this ship, at least as far as standard conventions are concerned, is the humble CIWS and a few invisible point defense emplacements scattered about.
You’d be right in assuming these are pretty much useless for anything but self defense against torpedoes, missiles, and drones… perhaps fighters if the enemy’s so inclined to go that route.
Regardless, the average observer would be right to assume that the Destroyer is something of an anomaly, a support ship in every sense of the word that somehow found its way into the roster of warships which should far outclass it.
They’d be wrong, of course, to make that assumption.
Because the Destroyer is anything but unarmed.
For within its confines, lies banks upon banks and rows upon rows of pure and unbridled processing power. Hundreds upon hundreds, perhaps even thousands of supercomputers all working away and performing tasks as fundamental as fleetwide comms relays, sensor sweeps and active multi-modal scans of the battlefield, as well as pinging for threats, establishing sightlines, and a whole host more ‘expected’ tasks of a floating comms center.
But that’s only the beginning.
Because beyond simple battlefield awareness, comms, and control systems, lies one of the most feared and invisible threats that humanity has ever unleashed into the void — electronic and cyber warfare (ECW).
Loaned directly from the ranks of the GUN’s Electronic Warfare and Cybersecurity Command (GUN-EWCC), the personnel aboard these vessels have the capacity to completely rewrite or dictate an engagement before it even has the chance to begin.
From simple acts as scrambling an enemy’s own battlefield control systems, spoofing its sensors, and causing a complete breakdown of comms… all the way to active subversive actions such as the direct infiltration of its electronic infrastructure, comms, weapon systems, and all — the humble destroyer has cemented itself as a terrifying beast in its own right. Capable of even ending a whole battle before anyone manages to fire a single shot.
They’re capable of completely severing the coordinated strikes of hedgehog packs.
They’re capable of rendering formations and armadas of drones completely inert… or worse… redirected towards the enemy; ‘the return to sender move’, as its crews colloquially refer to it.
Their mere presence forces back the deployment of drone-heavy fleets, and their positions across the battlefield are enough to force a tactical and strategic rethink of the positioning of ships ten times their size.
They’re even capable of outright causing the self-destruction of ships through an overloading of their systems or the detonation of a nuke within its silos… Though it is to be noted that this is nigh impossible if your enemy has even an ounce of e-warfare countermeasures themselves XD
Which leads me to my next point.
The High Frontier is a faceless battlefield. Wars fought through glass, and ended with math.
As even the last domain of war is not immune to mankind’s most pervasive construct: computers, networks, and the invisible worlds that lie therein.
The humble destroyer is the clearest example of the notion — that this isn’t your grandfather’s war anymore. But then again, when has that phrase been applicable in the past millennium?
A dedicated ECW platform, incorporated naturally into a fleet’s force composition, proves that war can no longer be considered a slugging match of bullets, missiles, lasers, plasma, and whatever other else exotic materials sapients can throw at each other.
Because in the words of a certain drill instructor: “The enemy cannot push a button if you disable his hand.”
Now I know that film was a parody and satire, but I can’t help but to reference and repurpose it for a different context, of a reality where your most destructive weapons onboard your most feared ship might one day be rendered useless because the systems and interfaces to deploy them, the sensors that guide them, and the means of directing them, are compromised in one way or another.
All because of a small, seemingly defenseless little ship.
So be respectful of Big Brother, because his gaze not only pierces into the hearts of all astronauts, but the computers, networks, and equipment which facilitates his very survival.
That’s all for the destroyer, everyone! :D
I hope you love this little bundle of computer-based warfare horrors as much as I do! :D
Now, let’s get into a few details regarding the ship itself!
So, the Destroyer as I mentioned in my little briefing, are highly specialized ships dedicated primarily to e-warfare and long range comms/scans. Within their storage bays are tens to hundreds of smaller deployable satellites and drones which are indispensable to the three main vectors of operations they fulfil — establishing a local networks/comms infrastructure, establishing an active local sensor net for live battlefield awareness/control, as well as the active scrubbing of local fleet chatter and the creation of network and counter e-warfare screens. This, amidst the many other actions they can potentially serve (as hinted at above), make them the literal backbone of the fleet’s invisible operations and infrastructure. Moreover, it's important to note that the role they often find themselves in is countering the enemy’s own e-warfare measures, as both sides try to dominate the battlefield in this invisible domain.
Besides the deployable satellites and drones, the ship is equipped with a whole plethora of scanning and network equipment, including the MASSIVE parabolic antenna taking up a near third of the ship’s overall length (at the aft of the ship), and acting as the main ‘eyes and ears’ of the ship once the front impact shield is removed. The various sensor arrays attached to the boom arms and masts are capable of being retracted of course, so that they don’t extend beyond the warp bubble when in warp XD It’s just that they’re currently pictured as mostly being deployed in one capacity or another.
An interesting thing to note here is that while a third of the ship’s length is dedicated to that massive parabolic antenna, the stern is literally taken up by the ship’s engineering section and radiators.
Speaking of space distribution, the rest of the ship is dedicated mostly to the computer systems in question, as well as the crew compartments. The crew in this case have to rely on gravity by acceleration, which means that they get rotated off the ship more frequently than ships larger than it which do have a rotating section.
Oh also, just to really hammer home the size differences here, destroyers are typically 100 - 225 meters, but this particular class is the norm nowadays, clocking in at roughly 200 meters! :D Whereas frigates are around 300 - 500 meters in length with the two frigates on this reference in particular being around 450 meters. Finally, the cruiser and heavy cruisers seen here on the group size comparison chart are roughly 1200 and 1700 meters long respectively! :D
But yeah! That’s the destroyer! :D I’m super happy with how this turned out and I hope you guys enjoy both the ship and my rambly worldbuilding thoughts on it too haha.
As always, the artist did an EXCELLENT job on this one, so once again, thank you so much to Sir_Lazz for this piece! :D
The fleet GROWS with each passing post XD
Also also, here's the links to the two previous posts I have if you missed the art and lore on the cruisers and frigates!
Cruiser art and general fleet lore: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wpatams-art-and-155025329
Frigate art and lore: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wpatams-art-and-156789967
Artist Reference: Sir_Lazz from Bluesky