Explorer Mk2

## History

100 years after the release of the Explorer, Ceres Space decided to make a ship that would be the "ultimate" civilian starship, the largest, most powerful, and most expensive (though this goal was not publicly stated) starship ever made available on the civilian market. The company's goal was to design a starship that would cost the same or slightly more to manufacture than the Explorer, but would be sold for twice the price. This goal was technically met, as the original Explorer cost 17.7 million credits to manufacture, while the Explorer Mk2 cost 21.3 million credits to manufacture. The Explorer Mk2 passed safety tests on its first try, and was approved for general manufacture in 3997. On its release in 3998, 500 units were bought by the navy of the LABS, the second major purchase of capital ships by the LABS in the 3900s, after their purchase of the Explorer Star Cruiser on its release in 3955. Excluding the military sales, the Explorer Mk2 sold 6,500 units in its first 50 years on the market. Unlike the original Explorer, the Explorer Mk2 was designed primarily for military use, or general combat use. It served as the flagship of many a bounty hunting squadron, as well as in trading convoys, which always were in need of more firepower to protect from pirate attacks.

## Overview

This is easily one of the most expensive ships ever made available to civilians. However, it has some weaknesses; for example, the bridge is offset and in a fairly exposed location, a feature which has earned this ship a lot of criticism over the years. One helpful feature of the Explorer Mk2 is its extremely large probe launch bay, which is 3 times the size of the Explorer's probe launch bay. Its extremely long warp range allows it to get to remote uninhabited systems that few other nonmilitary ships can reach. Offensively, the Explorer Mk2 is incredibly powerful; defensively, it has great strength but lacks some useful supporting equipments.

### Weapons Emplacements

6 heavy capital MPs fwd, 6 heavy capital MPs aft, 6 heavy capital MPs oblique fwd, 6 heavy capital MPs oblique aft, 8 heavy capital MPs lateral, 24 heavy turret MPs, 24 light turret MPs, 48 missile-only heavy pylons

Stock DPS Rating: 96,000

 Afterburner 2
 Afterburner 3

Date of Release: 3998

## Equipment Defaults

ISFTL Drive

Interstellar Warp Drive

Brock Industries Antimatter Fuel Tank

Shields

STL Drive System

Antimatter Reactor

Advanced Combat Scanner

Military Comm Hyperrelay

Threat Assessor

Bounty Informer

Stealth Package

ECM 3

Repair System 3

Fuel Scoops

Plasma Collector/Recycler

Heat Shielding

Atmospheric Drive

TBA Escape Pod Collector

ADVSNA HUD option

TBA UCP Collector

Anomaly Detector/Analyser

Anti-Collision Auto-Braking System

Tactical Combat AI Computer

Probe Launch Bay (capacity is 900 PLBUs)

12x Consolation-class Escape Pod

### Equipped Weapons

24x Brock Industries Relativistic Disruptor twin turret

24x Brock Industries Heavy Capital Disruptor twin turret

52x Brock Industries Heavy Capital Disruptor (6 fwd, 6 aft, 6 oblique fwd port, 6 oblique fwd stbd, 6 oblique aft port, 6 oblique aft stbd, 8 port, 8 stbd)

48x Brock Industries Antimatter Torpedo Mk3