Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
- Intent: To design an all-purpose shuttle for the Eternal Empire and CIS
- Image Source: Kemp Remillard
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Karavin Concern
- Affiliation: Closed-Market | Confederacy of Independent Systems, Eternal Empire
- Model: Styx-class Assault Dropship
Production: Mass Produced
- Material: Impervium-334, Duralumin, Starship Components
- Classification: Multirole Dropship
- Length: 20,03 Meters
- Width: 6,31 Meters
- Height: 5,93 Meters
- Armament: Very Low
- 2x Light Repeating Blasters - Defenses: High
- Impervium-334 Heavy Armor Plating
- Honeycombed Duralumin superstructure
- Molecular Shield Generator
- 2x Dovin Basals
- Smokescreen Generator
- 2x Chaff Dispensers - Squadron Count: Very Low: 4
- Maneuverability Rating: Average
- Speed Rating: Average
- Hyperdrive Class: Slow: 8
- Starfighter Sensor Package
- Starfighter Ion Engines
- Starfighter Hyperdrive
- Starfighter Repulsorlift Engine
- Starfighter Maneuvering Thrusters
- Starfighter Communications Package
- Starfighter Life Support System
- Starfighter Inertial Dampeners
- Crew Complement: 3 Crewmembers (Pilot, two gunners), 20 Passengers
- Impervium-334 Heavy Armor Plating: Intended to deliver troops into battle safely, the Styx-class Assault Dropship is outfitted with Impervium-334 armor plating, giving it increased resistance against blasters and turbolasers
- Molecular Shield Generator: The Styx is outfitted with a molecular shield for increased protection
- Dovin Basals: Taking advantage of Yuuzhan Vong technology captured by the Confederacy, the Styx is outfitted with a pair of Dovin Basals which add an extra layer of defense
- Smokescreen Generator: When landed, the Styx-class dropship can deploy a smokescreen around itself, in order to mask its presence, although this does not render it invisible and most certainly does not render it immune to an artillery barrage
- Chaff Dispensers: The Styx is outfitted with a pair of special launchers which can deploy chaff in order to interfere with incoming missiles' target locking
- Flying Tank: The Styx-class Assault Dropship is designed for the singular purpose of deploying troops into combat. As such, a great amount of effort has been made to increase survivability, resulting in the dropship featuring formidable defenses against enemy fire
- Anywhere, Anytime: Outfitted with a pair of sliding doors on each side, the Styx has the ability to swiftly deploy its troops without actually landing, by hovering above a designated area and deploying rappelling cables which passengers can use to disembark. This gives the dropship the ability to deploy troops over areas where a landing is impossible
- Mosquito Punch: While heavily armored and extremely durable, the Styx's armament consists of only a pair of light repeating blasters, one on each side, which are suited for little more than providing covering fire while deploying its troops and will barely scratch the paint on any vehicles or starfighters, even if they are unshielded
- EMP Vulnerability: Being covered from nose to tail in Impervium-334, the Styx-class Assault Dropship is vulnerable against ion weapons and similar devices designed to cripple a vehicle's electronics
Beginning its existence as the unassumingly-named Project 825, development of the Styx-class Assault Dropship has nevertheless proven pivotal to the Eternal Empire's ongoing push to increase its military capabilities. An over-reliance on ancient and obsolete Lambda-pattern shuttles has created numerous challenges during the various campaigns that the nation has participated in, so the decision was made to develop a replacement.
The Styx was a radical departure from the Eternal Empire's naval design doctrine, which emphasized firepower and maneuverability. The specific conditions a dropship would face during combat deployments, created specific requirements that had to be met in order to develop a suitable craft which can safely deploy its troops.
Although development of the Styx began early during the Ancient Eye days, the project suffered numerous delays as the engineers struggled to develop and integrate the various systems required by the project's specifications and several prototypes were constructed, tested and then scrapped completely. Eventually, however, several breakthroughs brought development back on track.
The first one was the future Eternal Empire's newly gained membership within the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which gave the nascent nation access to the southern superpower's captured Yuuzhan Vong technology. This led to the replacement of the heavy, complex systems that had been developed for the purpose of countering enemy fire and unsuccessfully tested, with a pair of much lighter Dovin Basals.
The second great breakthrough for the project was its transfer from governmental design bureau to the military-industrial conglomerate Karavin Concern, which was, at the time, developing a new starship alloy called Impervium-334, which provided increased protection over regular Durasteel, at the cost of increased weight and a vulnerability against ion and EMP weapons, a trade-off which the designers considered worthwhile, given the relative rarity of such weapons in the hands of the average footsoldier or light anti-air vehicles that would typically threaten a dropship and the Styx is also outfitted with Chaff dispensers in an effort to increase its survivability against missiles by interfering with their target locking.
This increased mass required the installation of more powerful engines and repulsorlift generators, which also drastically cut down the amount of power that could be made available for weapons. As such, the Styx was only outfitted with a pair of light repeating blasters, good for little more than providing covering fire against enemy infantry and completely harmless against armored vehicles and starfighters.
All these drawbacks aside, the Styx is an impressive shuttle which is designed to excel at its job of delivering troops into combat. As such, it features two sliding doors on its sides and has the ability to deploy rappelling cables, allowing its troop complement to deploy over areas where a landing isn't possible, due to the roughness of the terrain. If a landing does take place, however, the Styx can also deploy a smokescreen around itself, providing some concealment while it disgorges its complement of infantry.
The end result is a heavily armored, highly resilient shuttle crammed with systems and exotic technology designed to increase its survivability, from its Molecular Shield and Dovin Basals, to its heavy armor plating. Adopted into service by the Eternal Navy, the Styx-class Assault Dropship is now also being pitched to the Confederate Defense Forces as a multirole personnel and cargo military shuttle.
