(Cruiser) August Class Heavy Combat Cruiser

[KojanHigh Admiral (CIR)]

Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/euqd4p6o1rtzy75/August%20Class%20Cruiser.lxf?dl=0

august adj. 1. inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic

The pride and muscle of the Imperial Navy, the August Class Heavy Combat Cruiser is the most heavily armed and armored warship in the Navy short of capital ships. Structurally, the vessel shares many similarities with the Resolute and Swift class vessels, implementing the same type of "shield" design along the sides to protect the main body of the ship from fire. The "shield" structures can be easily replaced if they sustain heavy damage. This is a critical feature of the August, as its weapon layout is such that broadsides are the most commonly used battle tactic. On the underside of the ship, part of the hull opens, revealing a hangar. This hangar is equipped with half a dozen or so Y-3 "Lightning Hawk" dropships to transport the August's contingent of Marines or Army personnel to and from the surface of a planet.

Crew: 1,245

Length: 860m
Beam: 340m
Height: 260m

Weapons:
48x AFAC-1a/c Guns
6x IFC-3a Platforms
4x HAC-25 Guns
4x SRC-1/s
4x HQAC-2a Guns
2x HFC-6 Cannons
2x HAC-17 Guns

Sensors:
RSSA-14 Sensor System

Communications:
GalComm SCS-15 Ship-Board Communication System

Shields:
Plasma Shielding

Shield Generators:
12x FVS Mk. II Medium Shield Generator

Armor:
0.50-1.75m thick Titanium-Yakaium Grade A Armor Plating

Powerplant:
1x Fulcrum Anti-Matter Generator

Phase Drives:
4x RSE-Mk. II Sub-Light Drive
1x RSE-Mk. III Sub-Light Drive
6x EDE-Mk IV Phase Drive

Photo Gallery

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

You already know my opinions on the ship; the whole deal is simply superb. The one thing I would change about it is reduce the crew complement (1,000+ is a little excessive for a ship only 800+ meters long, even if it's pretty vertical ). In other words: absolutely stunning!

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

Like Tetra, you already know I love this ship. From it's bulky, rugged look, to its beautiful looking shield structure to the epic greebling work you did, the August is absolutely amazing. Great job Kojan, and I really look forward to more of your epic naval ships.

[LonestarCaptain (PCG)]

Absolutely august.

Very well done, Kojan! The design is beautifully balanced, not to mention unorthdox. The color scheme is perfect, the detail refined, and the weaponry a tad excessive (IMO) but quite well done. This ship has truly inspired my admiration: good name choice!

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Impressive...

I will compliment this awesome ship more after I have slept as I am too tired to do it justice right now.


I am very pleased with this...




Okay... 13 hours of sleep later, I'm feeling ready to tackle reviewing this beast of a ship.
I don't know WHY I was so tired... anyways... on to this awesome ship.


I love the overall, HEAVILY armored, heavily armed, powerful feel that this vessel exudes. However... it has some issues.

The forward facing big guns. The upper pair does not have a clear line of fire... you'd blow off the front of your ship.

I assume that the ship's AA emplacements are not represented in bricks? If they are, then I missed them. So please forgive me there. At any rate, the modular extended armor paneling, although very good against other cruisers or heavier ships, presents quite a few weak spots that fighters or bombers could get into and it would be very difficult to get them out. I can only hope that this ship is heavily shielded, and has inner hull armor as well, particularly over key systems.

I actually think that this ship may be somewhat vulnerable to good strategy. It's got NO big guns facing aft... which means that if frigates, light cruisers, and destroyers can outmaneuver it from above and bellow (where it has considerably less, but certainly not "no" firepower,) this should may be... too easy to kill. It would need to be paired with small defensive ships and fighters, and better yet, add a big gun or two in the back for a proper defense. This weakness is nothing unusual in the space cruiser world, but I do feel that it needs to be addressed.


Other than that, there are a few areas that I think could have been done in tiles instead of studs, or had better hull shape transition added, but overall, this looks like one very nice anti-battlecruiser small pack hunter. Well done! It's a VERY nice looking ship, as are the rest of your ships. This thing just screams power.... This earns a SOLID 4.5 stars in my book, and could easily reach 5 with a little work.

[KojanHigh Admiral (CIR)]

@Tetra: Thanks! I knocked the crew down a bit, but I still think that it's at about the right number. This vessel is bigger than the Marauder, which had a crew of little over a thousand, so having a crew count higher than it made sense.

@PXR: Thank you so much!

@Scare:

Spoiler:

But in all seriousness, thank you! Yeah, the weapons on my ships have always been a bit big, but I've always liked to build weapons you can actually see on ships.

@Dino: Thanks! As usual, I'll respond to your excellent critiques one-by-one.

1. Yeah, the big rail guns don't perfectly fit, but that's just because of the Legos. In a perfect world, the guns would be slightly shifted so that the rounds didn't smash into the bow of the ship.

2. The main AA guns (AFAC-1a/c) are those little metal grey clipping notches you see at the top of picture number 4. These guns should be able to knock down most enemy strike craft, but, true, there will be a few weak spots. And, yeah, there is thicker armor over critical systems, such as the powerplant.

3. Actually, the ship's primary guns, the four large HAC-25s, can rotate 360 degrees, so they'd be able to hit anything aft. Additionally, since this is space and the ship doesn't need to be set in one certain orientation, it can simply roll over to present it's broadsides "up" or "down" to counter anything coming at it in those directions.

Anyways, thank you for such a high rating! I worked pretty hard on this, so I'm glad it paid off!

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

1: This can still be fixed with a little work, either a plate, or some sort of moving design. It SHOULD be an easy fix too.

2: Ah, I see. Okay, I'm now fully satisfied here.

3: Good points, I missed that those guns could face aft, so I'm going to call this critique 100% resolved.

I can tell you worked hard on this... it shows... REALLY shows. Well done. Two of my three objective suggestions were not actual issues at all, well done. This is a great ship.

[JohnnyredCaptain (PCG)]

Three words, Kojan. I. Hate. You.



Seriously. This is one of the most amazing ships I have ever seen! I don't know where to begin... so many things I love about it! The greebling, the weapons, the engines, I seriously love it! If this were an actual set, I would totally buy it!

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

J-red summed up this ship pretty well with the second paragraph of his comment. I'm commenting again just in case my previous remarks make it sound like I am "eh" about this ship. I'm not on the face about this design. I do love it, and I had a hard time finding things to critique about it. But you know me, if there's advice that might help a fellow builder improve on near perfection... I'll give it. 

[KojanHigh Admiral (CIR)]

Hahaha, thanks, Jred!

@Dino: Don't worry; I didn't think you had a snobby tone or anything. I always appreciate constructive criticism. It's how we get better at what we do!

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Good.  

And "get better" you have, Kojan. I remember when your work was "only" "really good." Now... now it's AMAZINGLY, INCREDIBLY, SCARILY GREAT. And this ship is just further proof of this fact.  

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