Thor crushes a small nearby raider outpost

After months of building using Dry Station's shipyard and automated construction facilities, the frigate FRG Thor was finally ready to be launched.

She had all paint, decals, computer systems, navigation lights, docking, weapons, and crew systems in place, and was fully outfitted with a full compliment of fuel, water, food stuffs and weaponry.

My first frigate was ready to her inaugural voyage.

Thor ready for launch.

I recruited a single officer from the Trading Guild, one Ensign Zakfield, to man the engineering systems and tested Thor's systems ready for her launch.

Everything came back green, and Zakfield confirmed we were ready for launch.

We eased FRG Thor out of dock and took her on her inaugural flight to the nearby raider's station responsible for the recent pirate harassment on Dry Station, and which had also harrassed SVG Excavator on a few recent trips to the nearby asteroid field to collect resources.  It would be an excellent test of her abilities and send a clear message to the raiders that Dry Station was not to be trifled with.

After several hours of travel Thor arrived in the airspace of the raider station and was immediately swarmed by dozens of fighters who opened up on Thor and barraged us with small fire.  Thor's shields absorbed hit after hit and we sat with impunity in half the range of the frigate's large rocket launcher commanding the surrender of the station and her fighter contingency.

FRG Thor's shields absorbed an unprecedented amount of fire from raider fighters.

The pirates ignored our transmissions and grew in numbers as still more fighters flooded into the system from nearby asteroid fields.  Soon Thor's considerable shields had dropped to within 80% capacity and my patience drew to a close.

I targeted the station with the Thor's main rocket array and let a single round loose.  It covered the space between Thor and the station in seconds, screaming a blue trail behind it as it went, before battering the station with it's colossal detonation.  The station's shield fizzled and arced as it strained to disperse the immense energy of the blast around the structure.

Another round was released as soon as it was chambered, and this time the station shield could not restrain it.  The shield collapsed and superstructure crumbled under the blast, exploding metal, glass, bodies and gas into space from a gaping wound in the structure.

The station's radio chatter went quiet, but the assault from the cloud of fighters continued unabaited.

It was time to turn Thor's attention towards the swarm.

The main rocket launcher on board Thor was like shooting ants with a shotgun, although somewhat cumbersome.

Her smaller wing-mounted lock-on missiles fired rounds much faster and were more effective against the smaller craft.

Turning the frigate to track the highly maneuverable fighters was a small challenge, however I found that once I'd locked the weapons onto a target that the lock-on missiles (including Thor's main rocket) would follow the target regardless of it's maneuvers.  In this way I was able to swivel, track, and swat one fighter at a time until I was swimming in a sea of burning wrecks and drifting debris.  I was flying a one-ship exterminator, and I liked it.

Thor was almost invulnerable to attack from a swarm of raider fighters, while she swatted them one by one.

Zakfield kept the frigate's main systems operating at peak and continued cycling the phase of the shields while I focused on target tracking and blowing fighters out of the sky, and the system worked well.

Destroyed pirates would often spill debris and loot into space as their cores overheated and crew perished.

Before long my frigate was surrounded by drifting debris, overheating cores, and a rapidly expanding field of atmospheric gases released from shattered hulls... Her shields never dropped below 75%, and were now slowly recharging as she sat unmolested in space outside the silent raider station.

Thor parks outside the raider station while I board and inspect the ruin.

I exited her airlock and made my way into the huge hole that Thor had blown in the side of the raider station, while Zakfield held Thor menacingly outside with weapons trained and ready.

Thor sat outside the station while I boarded and inspected it.

The station had several very large holes blown into it as well as small fire damage from fighter cross-fire.

The station's main cores were intact however... no threat of nuclear meltdown just yet.  I left them thrumming healthily while I returned to Thor waiting outside.

Within the station I found several dead raiders, destroyed computer systems, and shattered debris as a tribute to my total domination.  A raider survivor was found hiding in the main control facility, and I captured him and held him in the crew quarters of Thor for the journey back to Dry Station.

Little else of value existed on the station, which I resolved to soak up later by returning to the zone with SVG Excavator.

Thor returns triumphantly to Dry Station with her cargo of loot and a prisoner of war.

 That particular raider station would trouble me no more.  I could take Excavator safely out into the asteroid fields without fear of harassment or raids.

The Battle of Gundabadt Station

Finally the corvette's armour was completed.  A thick top plate, and two side/dorsal plates protecting her engines and vital systems.

This armour is designed to serve as a backstop for when the shields fail under heavy fire.

After fitting the Alannis out with the homing missile turret design that I had built for my turret emplacements around the shipyard and factory, she was ready to take out.

I went looking for a fight.

Where better than to announce to Gundabadt that my space was not only defended but that it represented a threat if attacked.  I turned my navigation computer to the Gundabadt Station, drifted out of dock, and then engaged full throttle for my target waypoint.

Testing my shields, escape pod (I had Taxi docked for now), engines, radar jamming, and all other systems on the Alannis while en route.  Everything performed marvelously, and I was ready to hunt some pirate fighters and maybe even put a dent in the station itself.

Some distance away the station began to become visible, I engaged the AI controlling my turrets, and they automatically fired a full volley from every turret at the station.  No going back now...

As my missiles closed in on the station it sent out an emergency call for any nearby friendly to assist, and before long I found myself in the middle of a fire fight.

The skirmish lasted for nearly 15 minutes and I quickly discovered that Alannis's shields were sorely lacking but that her armour offered her great protection from the beam weapons used by the pirate fighters. Their shots would destroy most armour cells they hit, but because of the movement of all the vessels in the battle it was very rare for their beams to hit the same area. So the armour as a whole soaked up a tremendous amount of fire, supported by the shields regenerating from time to time.

My homing missiles on the other hand took down target after target, usually only 1 or 2 missiles fired at a target was enough to pop it.

Before long I was swimming in overheating cores and drifting wrecks, and the station was completely disarmed and peppered with craters from my weaponry.

I explored the vacuum-ridden station in Taxi, plenty strong enough to withstand any small-arms fire that might have come from any suited survivors... as it turned out there were none.  The place was vacant.  I had completely squashed the station and inhabitants of a clan of pirates that had held me and my family prisoner for so many years.

Alannis had taken a beating during the battle, so we limped home for some much needed repairs.  She had fought well and proven to be far more effective than Gustav and SVG Speeder combined.  Alannis was not capable of salvaging any of the wrecks she peppered the battle field with, and her shields were woefully inadequate, but for my first corvette she had done well.  And nothing could distract me from the elation I felt at having destroyed my former prison station.

For the first time in my life I felt truly and completely free.

Attacked!

Building ships requires materials.  Lots of materials.
Even though we live in an amazing age where matter can be disassembled, assembled, stored digitally, compressed, and converted into compounds, components, and parts in very small spaces, it could not be created from nothing.

So while I would rather spend my time building the Alannis, it became clear early on that I would need to retrieve far more materials from space than I had already mined.

I took a missile-turreted SVG Speeder out to known asteroid fields and soaked up rock.  And more rock.  And still more rock.

While mining Speeder's sensors detected two incoming pirate vessels, and her missile turrets opened up. Before long the pirates had called in re-enforcements and it was time to retreat back to the safety of my turret-defended shipyard and budding base.

But for every pirate vessel that got destroyed, three more appeared, and soon my shipyard and it's defenses of several missile turret emplacements were swarming with small pirate attack craft busily carving up my defenses.

The dumb-fire missile turrets did their best to predict the movement of the enemy craft, but only 1 in 20 shots landed... and although highly effective when they did hit, they didn't hit often enough to make a real impact.

Before long the pirates were taking down turrets and shooting up Gustav, SVG Speeder, Taxi and my shipyard too.  The Alannis took a small share of fire but the pirates seemed to be focusing on the active vessels and turrets... perhaps they felt the Alannis was worth salvaging rather than destroying.

By the time the smoke had cleared the pirates were gone, my turrets were completely destroyed, and my shipyard and budding factory had huge holes smashed in them.  Gustav's remains glowed hot and red.  It was a sad sight to see all my hard work all but destroyed.

I decided I would need much greater defenses.
Missiles were far more effective than lasers for the same materials and space investment, but they were slow and therefore often missed.  I would need to look into ways to make missiles that could track a target and hit it regardless of it's maneuvers.

Time to build some homing missiles and build a solid defense... the next attack would probably be much larger.