| Factional variants of the Dragon | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Polaris | Rebellion | ||
The homebrew Rebel Dragon is a Rebellion ship in Escape Velocity Nova. To purchase this ship, you must either have successfully executed an Auroran campaign or discovered the location of the Bureau HQ for the Rebels. Also, your shareware trial must not have passed 30 days.
"The Polaris have long been sympathetic to the Rebel cause, recognizing the essential rightness of their struggle. Thus the Nil'kemorya have made the Dragon design available to the Rebellion ship technicians for adaptation to their purposes. Many dangerous freight runs are required to haul the sludge tanks full of etheric wake biotech skin material through the frontier between Polaris and Rebel space, but the efforts of many fine free-trader captains have given the Rebellion a technical edge on the Federation... for now." ― Buying a Rebel Dragon
The Rebel Dragon is a basic Polaran ship that is nonetheless effective when brought to bear against Federation technology, owing mostly to the power of its BioRelay Laser.
Curiously, when Mu'Randa visits Rebel II in the Polaris Storyline, she implies that the Rebels acquired the schematics and created a Dragon production line without general Polaris approval. Indeed, the Carrier shipvariant appears in the Aldebaran system merely based on the expiry of a chronological event (and not the pilot negotiating Rebel access to Polaris tech) which is a good opportunity to disable and capture one.
Stats[]
"The Dragon you're looking at is undergoing frantic repairs as you watch. «We just came back from an extended tour of duty,» says the young captain. «The Dragons are always in the front line. But, as soon as we've finished repairs, we're yours if you need us.» You nod, still awestruck by the simple elegance of the ship in bay below you." ― Hiring a Rebel Dragon
Heavy Destroyer Class (#180)[]
For this base model only, stat changes are relative to the Polaris Dragon, Untitled.
| Stats |
|---|
|
Note the lack of armour regeneration and Turreted BioRelay Laser.
Heavy Destroyer Class, Rebel II (#183)[]
This alternative base model is made available on the Rebel II path. It's identical to #180.
Wild Variants[]
Shipvariant stat changes are relative to the stats of the basic model. The basic model is Rebel Dragon, Heavy Destroyer Class.
The following shipvariants are unavailable in the shipyard and must be captured in the field.
Carrier Class (#347)[]
| Stats |
|---|
|
The Carrier Class has a massive amount of expansion room: almost as much as the Polaris Raven. It carries a quartet of heavy and high-priced fighter bays plus twin 200mm Railguns that when stripped leaves 350 tons of outfit space.
Cloaking Variants[]
As the game progresses, Rebel Dragons begin to carry Cloaking Devices.
Stat changes are relative to their non-cloaking counterparts.
Heavy Destroyer Class, Cloaking (#355)[]
| Stats |
|---|
|
The Heavy Destroyer throws a pair of Hellhound launchers into the mix with its cloaking device.
Carrier Class, Cloaking (#357)[]
| Stats |
|---|
|
The Carrier Class has its cloaking device valued 500k more than a Rebel Destroyer.
Technical Variants[]
The following shipvariant is unavailable in the shipyard and serves a particular gameplay purpose.
Carrier Class, Cloaking, Ambassador (#405)[]
This version of the Carrier Class appears only during the Return With Rebel Ambassador mission in the Polaris storyline. It's identical to #357 except for costing only 3M credits.
Gameplay Analysis[]
"If the Destroyer is the backbone of the Rebel Navy, the Dragon is the muscle. Much faster than any other destroyer-class warship, it is armed with a BioRelay laser, which can be used with deadly accuracy. Other variants throw in some longer range weapons, like Hellhounds or railguns. The Carrier can quickly swarm a lone enemy vessel, using it's laser to tear a hole in a ship, while it's Vipers distract it." ― EVula Survival Guide
The Rebel Dragon feels similar to the light freighter Argosy.
Though the Polaris created the Dragon, the Rebels have more options as the Polaris do not sell much conventional technology. However, the Heavy Destroyer Class is mediocre statistically for its massively inflated price as a BioRelay Laser and Wraith Cannons can be equipped to any Rebel ship. Its only advantages over the Polaris Dragon are a low disable threshold which makes it take better to armor upgrades, a gun slot and a small amount of equipment space. It does not have the armour regeneration that would permit planetside repairing on uninhabited planets.
One advantage of the Rebel Dragon is its huge energy capacity which allows you to skip Battery Packs if you wish.
Images[]
There was an original dragon that was modeled by Scott, but it was literally a dragon - it was his attempt to 3D model one for rigging for some other game. It didn’t pass muster, so Dave Williams began again from scratch. Textures (such as they are) by Dave Williams, with bioluminescence decals by Stephen Chick, who also came up with the Polaris insignia.
Appearance[]
As the Dragon but... <ship description>
Ship Spins[]
This ship has 36 frames per set and 3 sets for 108 frames in total. It banks when turning in one direction for a certain amount of time.
- Ship: 80x80
- Lights: 80x80
- Engine: 80x80
Representative Images[]
Additional Images[]
| Rebellion Ships: Viper (v) (i) 120k, Lightning (i) 300k, Valkyrie (v) (i) 375k, Thunderhead (v) (i) 550k, Starbridge (v) (i) 650k, Destroyer (v) (i) 2M, Dragon (v) (i) 3M, IDA Frigate (v) (i) 5M Rebellion Storyline (Preamble • Intro Missions • Merrol Filler • Short Track • Long Track) Rebellion Outfits • Rebellion Weapons | ||