Guest Azrael Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 (edited) XC-22 ECLIPSEX-Net://Pegasus.net/Craft/NewGeneration/Eclipse The XC-22 Eclipse Fighter-Transport aircraft is an advanced, Alien-based, replacement for the XC-11 troop transporter. Possessing a very high top speed, the Eclipse also sports a single weapon pod for limited combat capabilities. For weight and speed reasons the Eclipse is unable to transport any sort of XCAP, limiting it to X-Corps operatives only. With vastly superior capabilities to any Earth-based vehicle currently in service, the Eclipse fighter-transport aircraft is a mighty weapon in the war against the Alien menace. Production of these awesome craft would greatly aid our cause. With the advent of fighter aircraft based on advanced Alien technologies and components, it was only a matter of time before a troop transport derivative was engineered that took full advantage of these technological developments. Representing the first time an Alien aircraft design has been innovated rather than replicated, the Eclipse troop transporter is a faster, more maneuverable, and more reliable transport than the XC-11 model. It surpasses Earth-based counterparts by leaps and bounds. Initially, the Eclipse was to be a refitted XC-11 design. However, after the obvious superiority of Alien technology became clear to the X-Corps designers, a shift towards a design featuring core Alien characteristics was inevitable. This craft utilizes the same basic components as any other Alien vessels; namely a Xenium Reactor, Alien Navigation Systems and a structure composed of Alien Composites. By applying knowledge gained from the XC-2 StarFire project, engineers were able to hybridize Human design with superior Alien technology to create a ship that puts X-Corps in a position to represent a considerable threat to the Alien menace. The Eclipse uses a heavily modified UFO chassis as a design base. The need for a cargo bay large enough to carry an entire complement of X-Corps soldiers into battle ensured that the overall size of the Eclipse would be significantly larger than its XC-2 Starfire counterpart. Because of all this, certain compromises were required in terms of flight performance. The Xenium Reactor had to be shifted forward, which in turn affected the rate of energy transfer between it and the engines. Consequently, engine performance is slightly lower in the Eclipse when compared to the XC-2 StarFire, which translates into a lower top speed. Since our understanding of Alien technology is still only rudimentary, no solution to this problem has been put forward yet. However, this is of little importance since the Eclipse far outperforms the XC-11 in both V.T.O.L capabilities and in maximum cruise velocity. Given that the Eclipse is designed as a troop transport first and fighter craft second, it is this ability that is of paramount importance to X-Corps. Because so much room needed to be reserved for cargo, there were concerns among the X-Corps engineers that the Eclipse's maximum takeoff weight would simply be too much for it to bear. However, giving true testament to the undisputed supremacy of the Xenium-based reactors and engines, initial field tests of the first Eclipse prototypes exceeded vertical thrust requirements by over 320%. In essence, there were absolutely no concerns about this craft's ability to airlift troops to a designated hot-spot landing zone. While certainly not intended as a heavy assault craft, the Eclipse is still equipped with a single weapon pod, located under the nose of the aircraft. X-Corps felt it was in the best interests of the Eclipse for it to have offensive/defensive capabilities. Although initial designs features two weapon pods, just as in the XC-2 StarFire, it became apparent later that a redesign was required due to the unforeseen complications related to the safety of the passengers aboard. In the event of a catastrophic weapon pod malfunction, the resulting explosion could potentially cause significant harm to the occupants of the cargo hold. In order to ensure that the troops on board reach their destination with the lowest degree of risk, a single nose-mounted weapon pod was decided to be the best configuration for the Eclipse. Although this limits the ability of the Eclipse to serve as an interceptor, it does not affect its design mission in any way. Furthermore, the craft is unable to safely and easily accommodate X-Corps Assault Platforms due to its limited size. Increasing the structure to support XCAPs as well as a compliment of troops would have significantly impacted flight performance. The entire science team hopes that this issue will be addressed in future aircraft designs. However, this weakness is a small price to pay for increased speed and firepower ultimately inherent to the Eclipse. "Ha! The Aliens really didn't see it coming. I don't know what they must have thought when we first landed - backup had arrived or something - but then the door opened and Humans come out shooting! Man! You should have seen the look on their faces!!!"- Sergeant Hauser, Third Squad. Edited March 24, 2005 by Azrael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moriarty Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 seeing this in "completed", I can't help but point you to the fact that the first line refers to the craft as "XC-11" instead of "XC-22" also, I would suggest changing "Alien-based" into "Alien technology-based" or "based on Alien technology", because I would just hate to sit in a craft that is made from Aliens. I bet you'd never get those stains out of your clothes. or armor, for that matter. ...but I guess this is going into proofreading soon anyway, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Azrael Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 It will. The XC-11 bit is my fault, the text didn't have a title and I put it quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breunor Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 [Creaky closet door opens, and a dusty, hunched-over form emerges, blinking at the bright lights] That's looking very good Az! For that first sentence, I was also looking at the use of commas and wondering how to smooth it out: "The XC-22 Eclipse Fighter-Transport aircraft is an advanced, Alien-based, replacement for the XC-11 troop transporter." Perhaps it could read: "The XC-22 Eclipse Fighter-Transport aircraft is a technologically advanced replacement for the XC-11 troop transporter, [and is] based on cutting-edge alien design." It's really a personal preference issue regarding word flow, IMO either would be fine here. Keep up the nice work! [suddenly looking about in a worried fashion, the decrepit visitor shuffles back into the closet muttering about leveling his alliance Paladin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzuchan Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 /me peers at the CT and pats his chainsaw...Don't worry precious, you'll have a chance at it when it's in the proofreading department... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Azrael Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 [Creaky closet door opens, and a dusty, hunched-over form emerges, blinking at the bright lights] That's looking very good Az! For that first sentence, I was also looking at the use of commas and wondering how to smooth it out: "The XC-22 Eclipse Fighter-Transport aircraft is an advanced, Alien-based, replacement for the XC-11 troop transporter." Perhaps it could read: "The XC-22 Eclipse Fighter-Transport aircraft is a technologically advanced replacement for the XC-11 troop transporter, [and is] based on cutting-edge alien design." It's really a personal preference issue regarding word flow, IMO either would be fine here. Keep up the nice work! [suddenly looking about in a worried fashion, the decrepit visitor shuffles back into the closet muttering about leveling his alliance Paladin]<{POST_SNAPBACK}> *coughs because of all the dust*Hey Breunor!, great to see you. Your suggestion looks good, this text will soon put for proofreading, where all necessary modifications will be made. Thanks, does this reaparition mean you'll be back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breunor Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 The most famous line Arnold Schwarzenegger ever spoke? Yeah, "I'll be back" here and there. Work is still taking most of my time at work (doesn't that suck?!?), and World of Warcraft has devoured the rest of my soul. So mostly my visits will be brief ones; hopefully I can offer some comment on texts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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