| Factional variants of the Lightning | |
|---|---|
| Civilian | Rebellion |
The Donald Chick Rebel Lightning is a Rebellion ship in Escape Velocity Nova. In order to purchase this ship, you must have been reassigned to the intelligence division of the Rebellion.
"The unusual design of the Rautherion Lightning was destined to have its inner working probed by the famous ship designer Donald Chick. Due to the relative youth of the design, Donald has left it mostly untouched until the vehicles have had time to "shake down," preferring to augment rather than tweak. Thus it is that this machine is mostly as you'll find it off the production line, bar a few standard upgrades added to "round her out," as Donald puts it." ― Buying a Rebel Lightning
This is a militarized version of the common militia gunboat.
Stats[]
"A batch of freshly converted Rebel Lightnings hang above you from mounts in the ceiling of the docking bay. As you watch, an element of them decouples from their brackets and screams out of the bay under half power.
«Fine craft, these,» confides the technician standing next to you. «Granted, they look pretty weird, but rumor has it that they're going to be the next Thunderhead, once they work out the bugs.»
You can't help but agree." ― Hiring a Rebel Lightning
Rebel Upgrade (#274)[]
Stats are relative to the stats of the basic model. The basic model is Civilian Heavy Fighter.
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The Rebel Upgrade is better or equal to the Wild Geese Variant, with the exception of ion resistance, a gun slot and higher disable threshold.
Gameplay Analysis[]
"Better than a Viper, the Lightning fits the role of "medium fighter", right between the Viper and the Thunderhead, quite well. It is very fast, and has a heavy enough armament to make it dangerous in small packs, and down right deadly when in larger groups consisting of multiple types of ships." ― EVula Survival Guide
An odd ship to begin with, the Rebel variant of the Lightning is probably the best example of what this beautiful ship is designed for. The tactics employed with a Lightning are unique in the fact that it is an almost pure dog-fighting ship. Its Light Cannons have a very high rate of fire and can destroy most other fighters, including the Thunderhead in mere seconds. It has missiles for attacking larger ships, but its primary domain is that of a space superiority fighter.
You might not be quite satisfied with this ship's weapons. In that case it might be good to go Wild Geese and add a Thunderhead Lance, or go Auroran and add a 100mm Railgun, or go thermobaric and strip it of Radar Missile Launchers and replace them with a Hellhound Missile Launcher to increase your effectiveness against swarms. Another way to upgrade a Rebel Lightning is to eschew guns in favor of a Bio-Relay Laser, which the Polaris have generously made available to our plucky Rebels. Speaking of which, a Wraith Cannon would be a safe option for taking on large ships and it has sufficient ammo capacity for endurance too.
With your choice of upgrades it can hold its own against a Fed Destroyer, as long as one has sufficient escorts.
Images[]
The Rebel Lightning was modelled by Dave Williams of ATMOS. He may even have made the textures.
Appearance[]
As the Lightning, but the wings are forest-green and dark-gray instead of yellow and light-gray. The engine pods are also half fern-green towards the stern. A small white Rebel emblem is present in the middle of the curve of each wing.
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. The masking is good on the Rebel Lightning.
- Ship: 48x48
- Engine: 48x48
Representative 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 | ||