The Ni'ocon Heavy Gunship is a close combat support vehicle designed in EE 001 and put into service in EE 002-v.

The Ni'ocon Heavy Gunship is a vessel designed to serve the role as a close combat support vehicle, unlike traditional Neshaten vessels which allow for modularity, this kind of a vehicle doesn't - its weapons package is specific to its design, permitting it to fill a very specific role within the Navy. The Ni'ocon is equipped with five graviton propulsion engines and ten bottom mounted turrets designed for barraging, and six top mounted for defense; along with its turret, it also has a single forward firing ballistics cannon designed to engage heavily armoured targets.

Ni'ocon's internal space allows it to carry up to two squads of infantry into battle, which can either repel down into the field or to be able to disembark. Its modest storage allows it to carry a decent amount of supplies either to allow it to remain on station for long periods of time, or even to resupply squads of soldiers by dropping said supplies into the battlefield.

Its crew complement means that almost none of its turrets are automated, each and every turret is manned by a single person - which allows the gunship to engage multiple targets or even focus fire onto a single target or a particular group.

The Ni'ocon gunship was designed for surface to surface or carrier to surface deployment with a small flight crew plus the capacity for 2 infantry squads, with a relatively small frame and some moderate firepower it's best suited to hit and run tactics. The gunships are often employed by the Navy during planetary patrols for their ability to quickly drop in moderate troop forces in quick succession should any problems arise.

The Ni'ocon gunship is a flat, elongated circular shape with a protruding rear end which houses the cockpit. On its right and left side both, the gunship has 3 top mounted blasters and 5 bottom mounted blasters. At the front of the ship mounted below the nose is the primary cannon.

The default colours the gunship comes painted in is a camouflage pattern of dark blue, grey and a light cream colour.

In the year of EE 001, the Navy realized that despite having a decently robust combat force, it lacked any kind of a real close air-support vehicle. While it had starfighters and bombers, none of them could remain on station to support infantry forces. In EE 001-v, the Navy Ni'ocon Yii'see - the daughter of Su'krin Yii'see - with a proposal to design such a vehicle. The specifications for such were extraneous, requiring Ni'ocon to think up of a brand new vehicular design that would allow it to function for its intended purpose without sacrificing heavy armour and weaponry. Because the gunship wasn't going to be used in space, due to its relatively short-ranged weaponry; Ni'ocon was able to sacrifice things such as a dedicated life support system along with faster than lights drives, granting much-needed space that could be taken up by other - more important - systems.

Ni'ocon spent almost the entire year of EE 002 just designing the basic look of the craft, along with a dedicated team of engineers who assisted in ensuring that any systems placed on-board would be amply protected by the crafts armour plating. Then, in the early part of EE 002-v, Ni'ocon was hit with a setback when officers from the Navy desired that the ship have no automated weapon systems onboard, meaning that every turret would be mainly operated; this originally didn't sit well with Ni'ocon as it meant the Gunship would be less likely to be able to shot down enemy missiles or other kinds of ordinances, however, she was able to solve this problem by going back to older - archaic - defensive system designs such as both physical and digital chaff.

Originally, Ni'ocon had intended to use more generic propeller based quiet engines but she realized that such engines could be easily disabled in combat and result in the deaths of those onboard. Instead, she opted for the pulse engines that had only recently been designed, but which would function excellently for the vehicles intended task, she designed the gunship to have five onboard - with three that were redundant, this included the rear engine and one on each side of the craft, the craft itself was designed to be able to be flown on only two engines. After she was fixed with the propulsion systems, she went to work on the weapon systems, incorporating ten turrets on the bottom and six on the top - including a single forward cannon.

When the vehicle neared completion, Ni'ocon choose to name it after herself, as it was the first vehicle she'd designed for the Navy.

General notes about ship stats and performance

• Class: Gunship
• Type: Close Support Combat Vehicle
• Designers: Su'krin Yii'see
• Manufacturer: Shukara Armaments and Manufacturing
• Fielded by: Kingdom of Neshaten

Crew: 10 operators are recommended, 5 are required. Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 21 people. About 51 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

• Length: 20 meters
• Width: 9 meters
• Height: 6 meters
• Decks: 2

• 5x Fi'nein Pulse Engine: 200km/h in atmosphere,
• Range: maximum of 3 missions
• Lifespan: 10 years
• Refit Cycle: After every mission, at most 3 missions with minimal munition use and damage taken

SARPv3 Tier: 9 hull SARPv3 Tier: 9 shield

Deck 1 contains the cockpit and logistical support rooms and does not span the entire length and width of the ship. The second deck which is taller than the first deck and spans the entire length and width of the ship contains an armoury and briefing room. The second deck also contains the cargo hold and deployment room where cargo can be dropped from high altitude or troops deployed quickly in low altitude situations allowing the ship to return to a safe distance.

The main areas of the ship and what they include are listed below.

Located behind the main hallway is the storage compartment, this area is used to store ammunition for the Burster assault cannon, while also being where emergency supplies are located.

Found on the crafts rear section and encased in armor plating; it is a confined space with only enough room for the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer. The cockpit can be accessed from a hatch inside of the craft, or an emergency hatch on the outside located on the left rear side of the craft.

The first gunner compartment, located at the top front of the gunship, contains twenty-one gunnery stations, each separated by a pane of armor to protect the gunner in the event of damage to a neighbouring station. Unlike the cockpit, the gunnery compartment is a bit more open in terms of space and the ability to move around and is accessed by a hatch into the main area of the craft.

Located right in front of the main hallway is the secondary gunnery compartment that houses the Mark X Burster Assault Cannon, and has room for two gunners. One to fire the weapon and another to load it.

Located in-between the two entry points to the craft, the main hallway is narrow and provides doors to the first and second gunnery compartments and also to the cockpit. The hallway has gun-racks to allow the craft's crew to arm themselves in the event of a crash landing, or if some of the crafts weaponry is disabled then crewmen can pick up a weapon and fire from the doors.

The following is a list of all the systems included within the Ni'ocon gunship.

The armour plating on the Ni'ocon gunship is made from the tougher Cynestran Neshaten material to provide it with a substantial resistance to kinetic rounds, in this fashion the armour plating helps to fill the weakness of the energy shielding system.

Basic flight assistance systems are included within the cockpit controls to help maintain stable flight and hover patterns during troop deployments and speedy extractions.

In the event of a fire onboard the gunship, a 2 step suppression system is engaged first deploying foam to reduce the oxygen levels and secondly a fan system to draw away even more air from specific areas within the ship.

In the event of a crash landing, several strips along the main hallway and inside the various rooms deploy a rapid inflation protective cushion to help minimize crew casualties as a result of being bounced around the cabin.

Using the 5 Fi'nein pulse engines the gunship is able to achieve an average top speed of 200km/h within atmospheres, however, these speeds would only be achieved outside of any combat zones as it increases the risk of injury for onboard troops. The gunship also travels slower in combat zones to help boost its mobility and again keep the risk to occupants minimal.

The gunship comes equipped with a Ta'tagen Field Generator designed to protect the vessel against energy weapons while providing minimal protection against kinetic and particle based attacks, this shield type is designed to defend against anti-aircraft energy weapons.

The gunship has 2 weapon types with a primary forward cannon along with both top and bottom mounted blasters to provide wider support.

• Mark X Burster Assault Cannon: 1 forward mounted cannon, DrV3 Tier 9
• HN-10-K Plasma Blaster Cannon: 10 bottom mounted blasters, DrV3 Tier 3-7
• HN-10-K Plasma Blaster Cannon: 6 top mounted blasters, DrV3 Tier 3-7

This page was originally created by Kyle and was adopted by club24 when he took over FM duty for the Kingdom of Neshaten in 2018.

Approved on 11/14/18 by Alex Hart here