Pluperfect
Active Member
Fefze Starfighter
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a droid starfighter
- Image Source: Redan23 on DeviantArt
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Firaxan Industries
- Affiliation: Firaxan Industries
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Fefze 1
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material:
Starship components,
Alusteel,
Transpirasteel,
Turadium,
Durasteel,
Rubber,
Malachite,
Laminasteel
Quadanium
- Classification: Starfighter
- Length: 6 metres
- Width: 4.25 metres
- Height: 1.75 metres
- Armament: Average
- 2 blaster cannons
- 4 barrages of Homing cluster missiles
- Defenses: Low
- Squadron Count: Extreme: 24
- Maneuverability Rating: Low
- Speed Rating: (Choose from: Low
- Hyperdrive: N/A
- All standard features - except cockpit and astromech socket replaced with droid brain
- On purchase, all fighters of the Fefze starfighter squadron are connected to a central command hub, upgraded with a PULS.
- Firewalls
- Droid!: This ship is a droid and does therefore not require a humanoid pilot. The Fefze droids rarely gather enough quirks to form a personality and have no greater cause than to fulfill the role of a spacefighter. Unlike humanoids, it does not mind death and can behave in a suicidal manner to accomplish its objectives. The Fefze droid can execute manoeuvres with incredible precision and timing.
- Swarm: The Fefze squadrons comes in large numbers. While perhaps not all that impressive individually, an entire squadron can a dangerous and intimidating foe.
- Coordinated: Aided by a central command hub - particularly when upgraded with a PULS or similar programmes - this ship can coordinate exceptionally well with other Fefze ships. It can gain good spatial awareness and perform unorthodox manoeuvres unfathomable for individually piloted ships.
- Cheap: The most costly part of a Fefze starship squadron is the central command hub. Otherwise, all components tend to be cheap. The ship can be mass produced and is easy to replace.
- Droid!?: While impressive in some regards, the fact that this ship is a droid has large disadvantages. Primarily, the droid lacks the same capacities as a humanoid in terms of judgement, imagination and improvisation. The Fefze droids will often perform in the way which it has calculated to be optimal which can make it predictable. These droids do not gain experience in the same way as a humanoid would. If they are successfully hacked, they are much more prone to turning against their former allies than a humanoid would be.
- Bound: Being connected to a central command hub brings numerous advantages - but it also serves as a limiting factor. The farther a Fefze fighter strays from the hub, the more likely it is to have connectivity issues and command delays. This severely limits the ship's capacity to conduct long range operations.
- Low quality: This fighter has poorer defences than average fighters and will therefore more easily be destroyed. It has poorer manoeuvrability than other fighters which is slightly compensated for by its generally lower speeds.
- Low supply: Each individual fighter is smaller than most and does not tend to carry fuel and munitions for long-term missions. In a spacebattle this would mean that the Fefze squadron has to spend more time in the hangar to restock than fighters made for longer engagements.
The Fefze Starfighter was originally designed by engineers and software specialists who had previously worked on earlier PULS versions. The goal was noble: To ensure that fewer lives had to be lost in the seemingly endless wars in the galaxy. While replacing the humanoid pilot with a droid had been done many times in the past, that always had the disadvantage of how poorly droids tended to deal with the innumerable variables of a space battle. This is where the PULS could shine, seeing how its very core duty was to analyse and calculate variables to produce optimised action plans. Fittingly, the ship was named after the actual Fefze.
Unfortunately, the ship would become notorious among non-military circles as it was at times described as a 'Non-thinking, heartless and suicidal killer droid'. The appearance did little to help the matter. Some of the criticism was true. The Fefze droid was indeed not intended to make any independent morals judgements and would respect the chain of command to a fault. It had also proven to be suicidal, at times as the droid and central command hub both valued cost efficient trades highly. By contrast, the Fefze starfighter was often highly appreciated internally. It was eager in preserving the life of allied lifeforms and never hesitated about leading the charge into dangerous situations. For those who faced a swarm of Fefze fighters, the opposite would be true as they would have to contend with an eerie foe without much regard for its own well being and with an at times, incredible capacity to coordinate with other Fefze ships.
In combat, the individual weaknesses of the Fefze quickly become obvious. It has poor defences in general which, coupled with a low top speed and somewhat limited manoeuvrability makes it easy prey for many other fighters. The droid pilot has clear limitations as well which makes its function even more limited. The counterweight to these obvious flaws is the ship's small target frame and the fact that it can function in a massive, well-coordinated swarm. In a traditional dogfight, the squadron as a whole can work as one single unit exceptionally well. Individual Fefze fighters will, aided by the central command hub, take calculated risks to cover for allies in danger. Similarly to in a game of dejarik, Fefze fighters can make manoeuvres which make little sense in the moment but that will push towards a chain of events which will likely be beneficial to the squadron's overall goals.
While fully capable of attacking other capital ships, the Fefze performs the best in defence. The starfighter lacks a hyperdrive, carries few supplies and becomes less efficient the farther away from its central command hub it flies. This means that its efficiency is higher when it is within a reasonable range from the central command hub and a friendly hangar. This also means that it is less well suited at long-range engagements. At times, it makes the Fefze a poor choice for pursuing fleeing vessels - something which is further reinforced by its below-average top speed
