Aotrs Shipyards models are designed primarily for miniature wargames.
All of the models large enough to physically accomodate it have a 3.4mm diameter hole, which is sufficient to fit in a typical plastic flying base/flight stand. Models too small for this have instead a flattened area, suitable for gluing to a stand, if necessary (e.g. particularly in the case of the Stone Portal Fleet).
On some smaller vessels, the model will be available as a single ship or in a pack of 3-4 models. These packs are optimised for Strong White Flexible and to reduce the cost per ship where you are likely to want to have multiple ships. The single models are there just in case you only want to fill out the odd ship in your fleet! Note that on very small models (like corvettes or scoupships), it sometimes isn't worth doing this as you only start to save any costs for 10-12 models per pack (e.g. Stone Portal Corvettes), which is a bit too many.
MATERIALS: UPDATE 29/01/2010
The models, many of which are on the minimum wall thickness, are restricted to either Strong White Flexible (and it's coloured permutations) or detail. Models printable in detial can be printed in SWF, but models that are designated as SWF are generally not suited to detail material. I've put the hard-coded restrictions in, because I don't at this point, have the money to prototype everything and I'd rather restrict the material than have people try and print things things that won't work. (As has happened once already.) If in doubt, I've erred on the side of caution. The model will have a materials section in the description section that gives the suggested (or only) material, which is what the prototypes have been printed in (optimised for lowest cost, as we Aotrs are a tight crowd...!) This will be either Strong White Flexible or [x] detail. The designs will be optimised for these materials.
Strong White Flexible is self-explanatory.
[x] detail refers to any of the detail materials (White, Black or Transparent). Transparent is recommended, since the models are designed to be painted. (We have found a cheap acrylic spray primer and then standard acrylic model paints produces pefectly good results.)
RANGES: All ships of the same fleet in a range (or design company) are prefixed with a code to allow easy searching when organised by title. In addition, each fleet range has it's own shop section.Current fleet ranges:
Aotrs: Army Of The Red Spear vessels. Primarily supplementary vessels for the existing (mainly-scratch built) Aotrs fleet.
ASF: Alpha Strike Force. A high tech fleet. (Many of whom's ship designs have been lurking around for decades!)
BDSC: BD Starship Corporation. A small starship manufacturer.
GDH: General Designs Hulls. The most prevalent starship manufacturer in the galaxy, GDH starships are available on the open market and are frequently refitted by the end user. They have several series of ships, based on similar hull shapes.
GDAC: General Designs Auxillary Craft. A subsidiary of GDH who manufacture ancillary craft like shuttles and fighters.
SP: Stone Portal Fleet. A race of mysterious ancient beings whose vessels derive their power from superspace portals. They are generally slow but tough.
SSA: Saturn Syndicate Ascendancy. A breakaway human faction that evolved from a series of megacorporations. (The SSA is an attempt to capture a more "atomic sci-fi" feel, akin to that in the works of Stewart Cowley's TTA series of books in particular.)
VA: Vivrathk Aggression. A race of highly vicious combatants.
XGA: Extra-Galactic Aliens: Little is known of these aliens, except that they come from a galactic cluster almost the opposite side of the universe.
MG: Manouvre Group models: Armoured combat vehicles range in 1/72 and 1/144 20th century (plus), featuring sci-fi and models otherwise difficult to obtain in other forms (e.g. the dirtbikes).
A light combat vessel, Stone Portal Corvettes usually work in pairs, supported by an Escort Corvette. This allows them to mount heavier weaponry for a light vessel than normal.
The Heavy Carrier is the largest ship in the Stone Portal arsenal, significantly bigger than the Dreadnought. It carries four squadrons of fighters (typically two fighter and two bomber), as well as it's own limited Phasic Lance armament.
Designed to work with a pair of Stone Portal Corvettes, the Escort Corvette provides anti-fight and missile protection with two rotary flare-beam arrays. Current versions replace the older Phasic Lance array with a Phasic Mortar in the same housing, which fires a quartet of explosive pulses to aid point-defense in the ship's forward arc. They are also commonly seen escorting larger craft.
The Stone Portal heavy Cruiser is a large-all-rounder ship-of-the-line, armed with a large array of Phasic Lances. It is typically seen supporting the larger capital ships or flying with groups of Light Cruisers.
The Stone Portal Transport is almost unarmed and slow. The bulk of it's hull is taken up by cargo space, full of supplies and spare parts to keep the Stone Portal Fleet running.
A popular basic fighter type, the stock Spectre II is unshielded, but highly manouverable. It is armed with twin 35mm gatling cannon and carries a load of up to eight missiles.
The Army Of The Red Spear''s own variant, the Apparition, is shielded and carries plasma-pulse cannon instead of gatlings, showing just how versitile this basic hull is.
The Void Sting is a highly mobile scoutship. Armed only with two blaster-beam turrets, it can support other starships as an anti-fighter platform, or close to close range and strafe larger vessels itself.
The Star Maim is the mainstay dreadnought on which the Furious Burn was based. It has a wide array of weapons, but it's most feared ones are the twin heavy lazer lances, mounted in the dorsal and ventral turrets.
The Stone Portal Escort Cruiser is designed to protect the ships of the fleet from fighter and missile attack, particularly the otherwise-vulnerable Dreadnought. It does so with a host of defenses, including a series of point-defense missile racks and short- and long- range version flare-beam rotary point-defense arrays.
General Design's Delta series Assault Shuttles are commonly seen on the market. One of, if not the most, cheapest armed shuttles available, the Delta series' usual customisability sees the Assault Shuttle used by everyone from merchants to adventurers to military forces.
The first vessel of the Stone Portal fleet encountered, and the largest pure combat vessel, the Dreadnought is slow and cumbersome. It lacks much in the way of anti-fighter protection, and relies on escort vessels to defend it. However, this means it mounts a prostidgious amount of weaponry, armour and shields. The bulk of the firepower comes from a huge complement of Phasic Lances, which can deal out a phenominal amount of damage. They are supplemented by the almost supperflous vental torpedo turret.
A light scout vessel hull, sold on the public market and suitable for localisation, the Beta Scoutship is a common sight in militias and the navies of the lesser powers alike.
The lightest capital ship in the arsenal of Alpha Strike force, this supremly high tech vessel is fast, manouverable and capable of dealing with vessels many times it's size.
The Battleship carries a considerable wealth of Phasic Lances, backed-up by dozens of missiles, to tear the shields and armour from any vessel it encounters.
The Delta series Corvette is found in many star fleets throughout the galaxy. The stock model is optimised for light security duty, but like all the Delta series, is sufficently adaptable to be outfitted for any task.
The mainstay of the Alpha Strike fleet, the Caracara is the iconic heavy cruiser. Highly manouverable and well-armed, the Caracara's most feared weapons are the two PIELP A torpedoes slung under the hull. Each of these devastating weapons is capable of obliterating a vessel literally thousands of times bigger than the Caracara. Theorectically, they could destroy a planet, but Alpha Strike have no intention of ever proving that theory.
The Burning Moon Light Cruiser is the sister ship of the Bloody Moon, designed around the same hull. The Burning Moon is a support ship which flies with the "sweep" element, provding long-range missile and weapon support with it's broadside weaponry.
The Solar Rage, build around an up-scaled version of the aging Vicious Meteor hull, often leads the chase element, bringing heavy firepower to bear on the enemy vessels.
The Stone Portal Light Carrier, like the Assault Cruiser, is based around the transport hull, as three designs have similar mission profiles. The Light Carrier is the most heavily armed of the three, sporting a full-sized array of Phasic Lances. It's primary role, however, is to serve as the base for a fighter or bomber squadron.
The Stone Portal Assault Cruiser, like the Light Carrier, is based around the transport hull, as three designs are simialr in having large, bulky cargo. In the case of the Assault Carrier, it is two small hangar bays for Assault Shuttles and the accompanying troops. Of the three, the Assault Cruiser is the most heavily armoured, though it's weaponry is only basic.
The Stone Portal Bombers carry two twin heavy anti-fighter torpedo tubes but only light Phasic Lance weapons themselves, requiring escort from Fighters.
The Fierce Thrust is designed to function with the chase element, bringing additional torpedo firepower to the group. Based on the Feral Thrust hull, the Fierce Thrust is slightly faster, but carries no beam armament aside from it's for blaster-beam point defense turrets.
The Fierce Thrust is designed to function with the chase element, bringing additional torpedo firepower to the group. Based on the Feral Thrust hull, the Fierce Thrust is slightly faster, but carries no beam armament aside from it's four blaster-beam point defense turrets.
The Torrid Sky is built around the hull of the Turbulent Sky Destroyer. Like it''s counterpart, it performs a point-defense role. The Torrid Sky is designed to work with the support element, however, rather than the chase element. It carries four torpedo turrets to provide the support element with their own torpedo ships, but itself carries no heavy energy weapons.
The Torrid Sky is built around the hull of the Turbulent Sky Destroyer. Like it''s counterpart, it performs a point-defense role. The Torrid Sky is designed to work with the support element, however, rather than the chase element. It carries four torpedo turrets to provide the support element with their own torpedo ships, but itself carries no heavy energy weapons.
The HAM-117 Scarab Attack Cutter is a common sight in SSA forces, with its distinctive beetle-shape and "ruff" of sensor masts just behind the bridge. The Scarab's durability is considerable for it's size, carrying heavy shields with thick diamium hull plating. Combined with its high speed and agility - as much as many much smaller bombers - the Scarab can survive long enough for the cumulative effect of it's weapons to cause severe damage, even to much larger vessels. The price is that Scarabs carry only a modest weapon load. The primary weapons are two forward astroburster cannons. A rotary tri-barreled particle pellet gun is mounted either side of the bridge in a ball turret, providing anti-fighter and anti-missile protection. These are supplemented by several light hyper-rays blisters to provide coverage in the aft arcs.
Scarabs work in small groups, closing to point-blank range and using wolf-pack tactics to eliminate enemy vessels.
Warp Dymanic's Riposte is a dedicated escort frigate. Armed with a variety of hyper-rays, in blisters and some in individual turrets, the Riposte rivials firepower of much larger point-defence vessels, and has a similar shield strength to some destroyers. With exceptional agility, the Riposte is not a vessel to be taken lightly. Four Hawking Astronautics Beta-class astroburster cannons round allow the Riposte to pose a threat to other capital ships.
The Riposte is often paired with the MM-193 Chariot in escort duties or to follow a pack of HAM-117 Scarabs and provide additional anti-fighter/anti-missile protection.
Warp Dymanic's Riposte is a dedicated escort frigate. Armed with a variety of hyper-rays, in blisters and some in individual turrets, the Riposte rivials firepower of much larger point-defence vessels, and has a similar shield strength to some destroyers. With exceptional agility, the Riposte is not a vessel to be taken lightly. Four Hawking Astronautics Beta-class astroburster cannons round allow the Riposte to pose a threat to other capital ships.The Riposte is often paired with the MM-193 Chariot in escort duties or to follow a pack of HAM-117 Scarabs and provide additional anti-fighter/anti-missile protection. Suggested material: SWF