Something big

[fractalsponge1]

To fit an Immobilizer-sized projector, probably not much. If you empty the storage forward of the smaller hangar bay, you could mount one easily.

All this talk of interdictors reminded me I had to finish one, so here it is:

[23 November 1939]

Enforcer originally debuted in one of the WEG RPG Adventure Journals detailing an Imperial Remnant in one of the rim territories. I'll see if I can dig it up when I get home. I don't recall what artwork was used, if any. I don't recall the specifics of the backstory as detailed in the AJ either. If I still have the book or can find it online somewhere, I'll post the relevant text.

Fair enough. Just checking Wookiee, it looks like it was published in 1994, and Vindicator is said to have appeared in 1998. Personal hunch (talking out my exhaust port), in both cases there was a desire for a mid-sized cruiser that looked Imperial. No idea when the first detailed description of the Immobilizer 418 was written (Zahn introduced them, of course, but I do not recall him delving into their backstory). The Imperial Sourcebook, from 1994 indicates:

t was determined that a special vessel would need to be constructed to provide the necessary power output the [gravity well projector] required. So the Interdictor-class heavy cruiser was designed by Sienar Fleet Systems.

Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (mine is old enough that it has the Imperial and Victory diagrams reversed, took me years to accept it ) came out in 1996.

So, real-world-wise it largely hangs together. The Vindicator was a computer-game creation, and my recollection of the 90s is that branch of canon did not try too hard to stay consistent with the rest. Their focus was likely on game mechanics, not "truth" seekers like us .

If you have come up with the Journal, I'd be interested to hear what they have to say (and whether Wookiee quotes them verbatim). If it proves elusive, you still remember it well enough to cite the source. So, be delighted to hear your impressions.

Hope I've not contributed to too much of a digression, but the historiography is fun.

[23 November 1939]

To fit an Immobilizer-sized projector, probably not much. If you empty the storage forward of the smaller hangar bay, you could mount one easily.

All this talk of interdictors reminded me I had to finish one, so here it is:[Snip]

Well, guess we need to find some way to steer the conversation towards carriers and Mandator dreadnoughts. Had been curious just how much of the broadside an ISD gave up. So, half the HTLs, and the heavy ions. Image 9 from your site certainly looks like a mirror of the Rogue Squadron pic. Did not expect to like this one, but it grows on you, rather like the Allegiance.

Seems like the Immobilizer projectors in an ISD hull might have been a better bet, since the Dominator had a glass chin to go along with its butchered fire arcs. Stellar Web managed to hold Iron Fist, so presumably the Immobilizer's did not have issues with larger vessels. Perhaps a smaller volume interdicted?

[InsaneTD]

I think I universe that a grav well is a grav well. As long as it stops a ship, it'll stop and holds any ship you can keep in it.

Or maybe larger ships are setup so that a smaller well will stop them (built in safeties) cause moving that much mass(not to mention the sheer volume/lengthy/etc) means they have less tolerance for the vagaries of gravity wells?

[Torben]

Enforcer originally debuted in one of the WEG RPG Adventure Journals detailing an Imperial Remnant in one of the rim territories. I'll see if I can dig it up when I get home. I don't recall what artwork was used, if any. I don't recall the specifics of the backstory as detailed in the AJ either. If I still have the book or can find it online somewhere, I'll post the relevant text.

Fair enough. Just checking Wookiee, it looks like it was published in 1994, and Vindicator is said to have appeared in 1998. Personal hunch (talking out my exhaust port), in both cases there was a desire for a mid-sized cruiser that looked Imperial. No idea when the first detailed description of the Immobilizer 418 was written (Zahn introduced them, of course, but I do not recall him delving into their backstory). The Imperial Sourcebook, from 1994 indicates:

t was determined that a special vessel would need to be constructed to provide the necessary power output the [gravity well projector] required. So the Interdictor-class heavy cruiser was designed by Sienar Fleet Systems.

Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (mine is old enough that it has the Imperial and Victory diagrams reversed, took me years to accept it ) came out in 1996.

So, real-world-wise it largely hangs together. The Vindicator was a computer-game creation, and my recollection of the 90s is that branch of canon did not try too hard to stay consistent with the rest. Their focus was likely on game mechanics, not "truth" seekers like us .

If you have come up with the Journal, I'd be interested to hear what they have to say (and whether Wookiee quotes them verbatim). If it proves elusive, you still remember it well enough to cite the source. So, be delighted to hear your impressions.

Hope I've not contributed to too much of a digression, but the historiography is fun.

I remember quite the confusion caused by that misprint in EGtVaV.

Here's the information from Classic Adventures vol 4, pg 101 (a reprint from Adventure Journal 3):

At Jaemus, Sienar and KDY are currently working under joint contract to develop and build the new Enforcer-class picket cruiser for the Alignment Navy. The Enforcer uses the hull frame of Sienar's effective Interdictor Cruiser. Despite being half as large as an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Enforcer is surprisingly maneuverable and bristles with armament.

The Enforcer is another tactical concept inspired by Grand Moff Kaine, who ordered his Naval architects to quickly rebuild the strength of the faltering Imperial Navy under his command. Naval architects discovered the design flexibility of the Interdictor Cruiser hull after removing a test vessel's gravity well projectors and re-arranging its massive array of power grids. Beefing up the ship's complement of energy weapons, tractor beams, shields, and engine power proved quite successful, resulting in a very potent capital ship.

Enforcers engage in picket operations along the uneasy region of space between the New Republic and the Pentastar Alignment. Because of the ship's reduced cost and crew needed for operation, they can operate in pairs, although formations of four or even six have been sighted as their numbers grow.

Not an exact copy on Wookie, but the general gist of the idea remains. Oh, and the Journal does use the same side-on view of an Immobilizer as appears on Wookie.

[fractalsponge1]

Yeah my personal betting (on no data) is that the size and power of the projector affects range and and area, rather than ability to hold. Given that an interdictor is a prime target, holding as much as possible at as long range as possible is a very good thing. I think the main advantages of the Dominator are those, along with destroyer-class shields and agility. The weapons are almost an afterthought, since the ship would always operate as part of a fleet or squadron. To sort of compensate for the arcs, I added the ISDI heavies in the brim notch. So compared to a II it's not too bad. The key firing arcs for it likely are more aft anyway than frontal alpha, because its natural combat profile is running away from the forces that it is holding in the battle area...

We don't really see any interdictors that are general purpose, i.e. a balanced component of a design that can kill anything it catches. Except the Assertor, which has five Dominator-scale grav wells. I hesitate to include the Eclipse, because it looks like it has such miserable acceleration that it can't really catch much of anything by itself.

[Adam Reynolds]

Is this based on old rather than new canon?

[Abacus]

From my understanding of the background EU and what we see in games -- I'd be willing to say that a Dominator-class SD with its greatly increased power for an interdiction field, would allow it to affect up to at least half a system; thus perhaps having as many as three or four in the same system, if position correctly, could effectively shut down all hyperspace travel. That's always been my impression. (Or perhaps tens of light seconds in length)

Interdictor cruisers like the Immobilizer however, are more refined and used for local areas, call it affecting perhaps an eighth of a system -- on it's highest power setting. (a few light seconds in length).

This is all just speculation on my part.

[23 November 1939]

I remember quite the confusion caused by that misprint in EGtVaV.

Here's the information from Classic Adventures vol 4, pg 101 (a reprint from Adventure Journal 3):

At Jaemus, Sienar and KDY are currently working under joint contract to develop and build the new Enforcer-class picket cruiser for the Alignment Navy. The Enforcer uses the hull frame of Sienar's effective Interdictor Cruiser. Despite being half as large as an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Enforcer is surprisingly maneuverable and bristles with armament.

The Enforcer is another tactical concept inspired by Grand Moff Kaine, who ordered his Naval architects to quickly rebuild the strength of the faltering Imperial Navy under his command. Naval architects discovered the design flexibility of the Interdictor Cruiser hull after removing a test vessel's gravity well projectors and re-arranging its massive array of power grids. Beefing up the ship's complement of energy weapons, tractor beams, shields, and engine power proved quite successful, resulting in a very potent capital ship.

Enforcers engage in picket operations along the uneasy region of space between the New Republic and the Pentastar Alignment. Because of the ship's reduced cost and crew needed for operation, they can operate in pairs, although formations of four or even six have been sighted as their numbers grow.

Not an exact copy on Wookie, but the general gist of the idea remains. Oh, and the Journal does use the same side-on view of an Immobilizer as appears on Wookie.

Very interesting. Many thanks for giving us a definitive answer on that one. The pic on Wookiee matches the Imperial Sourcebook. So, at a guess, the EGtVaV built in the backstory of a pre-existing cruiser hull.

The Interdictor cruiser is a starship that served a very special purpose in the Imperial Navy's fleet. The six-hundred-meter-long star cruiser is built on a standard heavy-cruiser hull, but it carries an artificial gravity-well generator and four-gravity-well projectors, which act together to simulate the tremendous effects of a stellar body in hyperspace.
...
The Interdictor's hull has proved to be of reliable design; it is also favored by the Imperial bureaucracy because of its close resemblance to the Imperial Star Destroyer. Designers have used the hull, which can be fitted with a wide variety of weapons, for several heavy cruiser designs. The hull and ship systems are easily converted for custom mission duties.

Sounds like a tip-of-the-hat to the Enforcer in that latter paragraph. Ironic that I have had the book about 20 years and this is the first time I have really sat down and read that paragraph with all of these pieces in mind.

[23 November 1939]

I think I universe that a grav well is a grav well. As long as it stops a ship, it'll stop and holds any ship you can keep in it.

Or maybe larger ships are setup so that a smaller well will stop them (built in safeties) cause moving that much mass(not to mention the sheer volume/lengthy/etc) means they have less tolerance for the vagaries of gravity wells?

Yeah my personal betting (on no data) is that the size and power of the projector affects range and and area, rather than ability to hold. Given that an interdictor is a prime target, holding as much as possible at as long range as possible is a very good thing. I think the main advantages of the Dominator are those, along with destroyer-class shields and agility. The weapons are almost an afterthought, since the ship would always operate as part of a fleet or squadron. [SNIP]

From my understanding of the background EU and what we see in games -- I'd be willing to say that a Dominator-class SD with its greatly increased power for an interdiction field, would allow it to affect up to at least half a system; thus perhaps having as many as three or four in the same system, if position correctly, could effectively shut down all hyperspace travel. That's always been my impression. (Or perhaps tens of light seconds in length)

Interdictor cruisers like the Immobilizer however, are more refined and used for local areas, call it affecting perhaps an eighth of a system -- on it's highest power setting. (a few light seconds in length).

All makes sense. Perhaps recharge time and/or duration of effect are also a factor?

From its appearances, the Dominator does not seem to have matched the ISD's shields in practice. Perhaps the projectors shape/size/function effect the shields. I do not want to draw too heavily on the Rogue Squadron comics, but successful torpedo strikes appear to have been directed against the projectors (the quick-sequence strike in The Phantom Affair definitely impacted over the globes, and at least three are burning in Mandatory Retirement). Certainly still tougher than Immobilizer's in absolute terms, but perhaps less so than their designers had intended?

[Abacus]

I had a sudden thought. Wouldn't your Procursator-class "Pocket" Star Destroyer be a better warship than the Enforcer?

[fractalsponge1]

I think it's difficult to judge durability from comics (especially starfighter comics), since the mechanisms are typically driven by plot (so are the movies, but subjectively it seems like much less so). The standard 250-270m diameter ISD reactor is certainly maintained in the design. It would be interesting if grav well operation required reduced or no shields though.

I had a sudden thought. Wouldn't your Procursator-class "Pocket" Star Destroyer be a better warship than the Enforcer?

It had better be Procursator is almost 10 times the volume of the Vindicator. It also draws a lot on capacitor energy for burst fire (similar to Vindicator's HTL).

[fractalsponge1]

Vindicator gallery is up:

[fractalsponge1]

And the much requested size comparison:

[Eternal_Freedom]

So that's Allegiance, Secutor, Imperator, Dominator, Procursator, then something I've forgotten the name of, then Vindicator, hen firgates and such and the BUFF at the bottom is that Assault Ship?

[fractalsponge1]

From top to bottom:

Destroyers:
Allegiance
Secutor
Imperator
Dominator
Procursator

Frigate:
Fulgor
Vindicator
Kontos

Corvettes:
Vigil
Customs (military variant)

Chi-class dropship
Intersector-class sloop

Consolidator assault ship

[Eternal_Freedom]

I hadn't noticed while it was in-progress, but that Assault Ship is fuck ugly from the side.

[23 November 1939]

And the much requested size comparison:

Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.

[23 November 1939]

Vindicator gallery is up:

Very interesting. Something about her reminds me of the Elswick protected cruisers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ ... smouth.jpg).

[fractalsponge1]

I hadn't noticed while it was in-progress, but that Assault Ship is fuck ugly from the side.

If you mean gloriously ugly, then I agree! Unless you think amphibs should look like yachts, then, well, you got me .

[Eternal_Freedom]

Amphibs shouldn't look like yachts, but even amphibs can have a certain elegance, HMS Bulwark for instance. This Consolidator look like an ISD had a drunken three-way with an Acclamator and a Venator and the resulting offspring swallowed a load of bulk-up proteins.

Beautiful model work though

[Abacus]

IT"S JUST BIG BONED!

[Eternal_Freedom]

"Tell them, tell them how all the Star Destroyers in your line were fat as prototypes and only later grew into their hulls!"
"Oh, sweetie, those were all lies. You're just fat."

[Geforce]

Why have the Secutor and Allegiance different length`?

[Abacus]

Why have the Secutor and Allegiance different length`?

They...don't?