| Factional variants of the Thunderhead | ||
|---|---|---|
| Civilian | Pirate | Rebellion |
The GLi-Tech Thunderhead is a civilian ship in Escape Velocity Nova. This craft is unavailable for most of the Vell-os Storyline.
"The Thunderhead is so named for its main weapon, the Thunderhead Lance. The Lance is a solid beam of coherent laser light. In some ways, the Thunderhead has the worst reputation of any fighting vessel in the Galaxy. Not because of turn ratings or levels of firepower, but because this assault fighter is the weapon of choice of pirates, privateers and corsairs throughout known space. It has enough armor to allow it to go up against large ships, and enough speed to allow it to catch most craft that try to flee." ― Buying a Thunderhead
The Thunderhead is an assault ship with a dubious reputation that nevertheless often finds itself protecting trader convoys. Its main weapon is the Thunderhead Lance, a dangerously close range lazor that causes this ship to be favored by the brave Wild Geese mercenaries, though Privateers and Insurgents also field their own modified versions. It may be deployed as a shipborne fighter, though its bay is difficult to fit on most ships. It is an excellent heavy fighter when used in packs; one should be wary of this ship.
Stats[]
"«You name the job. I'll name the price,» snarls the craggy pilot of this sleek Thunderhead. «Take it or leave it; your choice.» You can understand his attitude; his ship is a fine piece of work." ― Hiring a Thunderhead
Gunboat Class (#157)[]
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The Thunderhead is a very economical ship-frame when you consider that each Thunderhead Lance would cost 100k on any other ship.
Wild Variants[]
Stats are relative to the stats of the basic model. The basic model is Gunboat Class. All Thunderhead variants have one less jump of fuel. (Did they not receive the fighter fuel buff (#71) in Nova 1.0.5?)
The following shipvariants are unavailable in the shipyard and must be captured in the field.
Heavy Gunboat Class (#307)[]
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Enter the absurdity. The Heavy Gunboat class features greatly enhanced protection and too many Radar Missile Launchers alongside maneuverability upgrades. It also features a new Medium Blaster primarily as an ornament and not a genuine threat.
Unfortunately for the Heavy Gunboat, the only thing it has over certain shipvariants listed later is 50 armor.
Heavy Fighter Class (#308)[]
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Absurdity continues on another axis. The Heavy Fighter Class features a truly impressive speed and maneuverability boost, being even faster than the tri-engine Pirate Thunderhead.
Light Destroyer Class (#309)[]
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The Light Destroyer Class comes with Ion Cannons instead and is arguably the most powerful Thunderhead in the galaxy. For good reason, one does not typically expect the firepower of a Manticore in a fighter-sized frame. The turret tracking and ionization of an Ionic Particle Cannon also makes the damage output stickier.
Note the theoretical capability of the Light Destroyer class to fit a Thunderhead Bay and become a Thunderhead Matryoshka. This too, is Absurdity.
Gameplay Analysis[]
"Want a heavy duty fighter that doesn't suck? Look no further. For a fighter, the Thunderhead has high shields and heavy armor, plus a very nice array of weaponry. The Lances are great for close-quarters damage, while the Radar missiles help get the fight started (or ended) in your favor." ― EVula Survival Guide
For a ship designed entirely around getting into melee range, the Thunderhead has rather middling speed. Surely no shipwright would attempt to remedy this flaw?..
Anti-Thunderhead[]
All standard versions of the Thunderhead are designed for close combat, so you are usually much better off hitting them at long range whenever possible. This is an easily accomplished task -- a single Radar Missile Launcher is sufficient to annihilate most Thunderheads with minimal missile expenditure. Furthermore, the AI is not particularly skilled at remaining in ramming range. Expect a short burst of damage from an enemy Thunderhead that quickly lets up. Note that encountering a hostile civvie Thunderhead is not common. They are uncommonly seen as a fighter fired from Fed or Aurora carriers. Or mayhaps thou art battling the Wild Geese. Pirate Thunderheads are far more likely antagonists for most Independent captains, yet the strategy remains applicable.
Certain missions such as Beat on Skinny will have you face a large number of Thunderheads at once. In this case, evasive action is necessary until they exhaust their own missile stocks, then you can begin taking them apart piece by piece.
Maximal Lance[]
A good close-range Thunderhead typically mounts four Lances, which allows it to deal massive damage to any ship in the game. An Afterburner is often necessary to get in range due to the low mass of the Thunderhead, but if you do... even carriers will perish in seconds. Note that despite this incredible lethality, you may not survive long enough. You're still flying a fighter after all.
Polaran Outfits Detected[]
In the Polaris Storyline, the Lances can be replaced with a BioRelay Laser for added range while retaining high damage. But why stop there? A Thunderhead can fit a Capacitor Pulse Laser too.
Images[]
The Civilian Thunderhead was made by Dave Williams of ATMOS, who called it not one of his best.
Appearance[]
The Thunderhead has a bullet shaped main body with a ellipsoid cockpit canopy on the top; from which the pilot must have a very serviceable rear view. The cockpit of the Thunderhead is far larger than that of the Viper, it's even larger in size than the cockpit of an Apache helicopter. Deep-brown dual prong clamps connect the main body to a drum housing to the port and starboard. Each drum is connected via thin arched struts to two shields that may serve as landing gear or heatsinks. The shields are painted with a warning pattern on the fore and red text printed along the side reads "CAUTION Buckeny Follocks Zone", with an arrow indicating the warning zone. A long tapered tube with orange markings extends from the fore of the drum. This is the gun barrel, and it's where the lazors emerge. On the stern of each drum is a silvery engine assembly ringed with tubes and arches and tipped with a flared exhaust that breathes a broomy fire.
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 Thunderhead's sprite is visually similar in size to corvettes such as the Valkyrie, despite being a fighter.
- Ship: 48x48
- Engine: 96x96
Representative Images[]
Additional Images[]
The Thunderhead was the winner of the EV Nova mousepad merchandise vote! It won out over other contenders such as the Cargo Drone and Raven.