CSS Vengeance

The **CSS *Vengeance*** is a Dreadnought built by the Colonist Survivors. Designed by Captain Jack Roberts during the Colony War as the most heavily armed and armored vessel in the Colonists’ ragtag fleet, the *Vengeance* served the Colonists well in battle, being able to take on several smaller warships singlehandedly.

## History

Shortly after the Colonists jettisoned their landing ship, the CSS *Pioneer*, from their base on the desert planet P3-X2, Captain Jack Roberts began designing a dedicated battleship for the Colony’s growing fleet. The bow and midsection took shape quickly during the first weeks of construction. Fixed weapons such as the powerful Telion Dual Cannons and turreted cannons such as the imposing X-3 Heavy Cannon were the main features of the Vengeance’s bow armaments. Other armor segments soon flourished as Roberts built and the rest of the crew welded the vessel together.

At some point, a DRF (Drone Reactionary Force) team launched four cruise missiles at the Colonists’ base, Watchtower Station. The missiles heavily damaged the *Vengeance*, blowing holes in the heavy armor hull and knocking out several turrets. Fortunately, the damage was soon repaired.

Over the following weeks, thrusters, automatic repair systems, and other internal features were implemented. Jack also designed a large bridge tower to act as a decoy target; the *Vengeance*’s main control center was encased in several layers of heavy armor and was virtually impenetrable. The engine room, auxiliary control room, medical bay, and airlocks were also added. By the time the *Vengeance* was completed, it was the largest and most heavily armed ship in the Colonists’ flotilla.

### First Battle

After a successful test run of the *Vengeance*’s maneuverability and fuel capacity, Jack took the dreadnought and a few supporting ships to investigate a mysterious signal near a large asteroid. However, the DRF also sent several ships to investigate it at the same time, and the two sides engaged in battle.

Initially, the *Vengeance* was not targeted and quickly destroyed one DRF ship and drove off another. However, it soon began receiving potshots from a DRF siege platform hidden near the asteroid. Fortunately, it’s main X-3 cannon was able to take out the satellite before the *Vengeance* suffered too much more damage. Another DRF cruiser, the *Luna Wolf*, which had been battling with the other Colonist ships, made a desperate last run at the flagship, ravaging its hull before also being destroyed. The area was clear, but the Colonists retreated back to Watchtower for repairs. The *Vengeance* had suffered much damage to its dorsal hull and port side thrusters, but for the most part, the dreadnought had fared well.

### The Battle of the Colonies

Shortly before the Battle of the Colonies, the *Vengeance* was still docked at Watchtower, undergoing repairs. Out of nowhere, three destroyers belonging to the shadowy, yet mighty Green Drone Armada bombarded the station with their Atlas Superlasers. Jack ordered the evacuation and the Colonists’ fleet began jumping away into FTL traveling to a nearby rally point. Before Jack, Craz, and Castle boarded the CSS *Dawnbreaker* to escape, Jack gave Finn temporary command of the *Vengeance*. Finn fired the dorsal X-3 Cannon at one of the Destroyers, shattering its bow and crippling it, before jumping away as well.

Jack then took command back and, from the *Vengeance*’s CIC, led the Colonists into their final battle against the DRF. Despite being outnumbered, the *Vengeance* held its own as the fleet took more and more collective damage from the DRF flagship, the *Exturtle*. By the end of the battle, the *Vengeance* and an escort corvette, the CSS *Avalon*, were the only Colonist ships left. As the *Vengeance* and *Avalon* prepared to face off one last time against the *Exturtle*, the GDA appeared again. They quickly left the *Vengeance* as the only ship standing, and its weaponry was too diminished to do any good damage. Fortunately, Craz activated the remaining jump drives, sending the *Vengeance* into the unknown.

### Crash-Landing

The *Vengeance*, still carrying Jack, Finn, Castle, and a few other survivors, soon crash-landed on Monus III, where the GDA was ambushing and destroying ships from various factions all over the galaxy. The *Vengeance*’s remaining guns were offline and its midsection had been split in half during the crash. Jack, upon seeing the chaos and learning that Craz had been kidnapped by the Green Drones, collected what survivors he could find around the battlefield and escaped the battle, leaving the destroyed hull of the *Vengeance* behind.

### Rebuilding

About a month after the end of the Green Drone War, Finn and Castle returned to Monus III and began salvaging the *Vengeance* for their new salvaging company, Dawnstar Salvage Corporation. After a mysterious attack by GDA remnant ships a few months later, Jack Roberts, who had been promoted to Admiral after the war, along with an RWI strike team, launched a mission to reinforce DSC crew. However, instead of salvaging the *Vengeance*, the two crews decided to try and repair it, and after a few weeks at the site, they had lifted both sections onto support beams and prepared to lengthen the ship and reconnect the halves together.

Despite constant attacks by GDA remnant forces over the following weeks, which caused consistent damage to the DSC base infrastructure, the joint RWI-DSC crew managed to repair the *Vengeance* in good time. Newer weapons were added thanks to RWI's updated technology following the war, and the DSC's salvaging expertise was instrumental in reconstructing the damaged superstructure. Eventually, the *Vengeance* was ready to launch into space, and the team attached detachable atmospheric thrusters to the hull and lifted off, while the base was destroyed by GDA forces. The *Vengeance* was then attacked by GDA Destroyers in space, and despite its new upgrades, was unable to fend them off for very long.

Fortunately, the *Vengeance* was reinforced by the timely arrival of RWI Battlegroup Omega, led by Admiral Jones and the RWI *Bristol*. The RWI ships attacked the GDA ships from behind, wiping them out quickly, thus taking out the last of the GDA remnants in the system. Upon the battle's end, the *Vengeance* had sustained considerable damage, meaning it needed to be repaired for several months, this time in a proper drydock. Roberts then proposed a deal with Finn and Castle, offering to give the *Vengeance* over to DSC at the stipulation that DSC would come to Roberts' (or RWI's) aid whenever called upon. The pair agreed, and over the next month, the *Vengeance* was brought back to DSC's headquarters and repaired in an asteroid-mounted shipyard facility.

## Features

### Armament

The *Vengeance* was armed to the teeth with nearly every type of weapon available to the Colonists. It’s main frontal bombardment cannons, dorsal and ventral X-3 Heavy Cannons, ventral magnetic coil cannons, and numerous Mk3 Battleship Cannons were the most powerful and prominent weapons. Mk1 and Mk2 Battleship Cannons and Heavy Defense Turrets made up the majority of the ship's armament. Aside from heavy cannons, it also featured many Telion Flak and Anti-Fighter Turrets and M-61 Vulcan Turrets to counter any missiles or small ships that came its way.

With its second coming, the *Vengeance* was upgraded with newer, more powerful weapons, including multiple energy-based laser cannons and a powerful missile cannon. Additional emplacements from existing weaponry options were also added, especially along the new extended midsection.

### Movement

As a dreadnought constructed entirely out of heavy armor, the *Vengeance* needed powerful thrust to propel its weight. As such, it was mainly propelled by large hydrogen thrusters, with a few ion thrusters mixed in in case of a fuel shortage. Additional forward boost thrusters were installed during the later construction phases to allow the *Vengeance* to accelerate much faster; however, deceleration was slower as there were only ion thrusters acting as stopping thrust, and not hydrogen. Numerous gyroscopes also allowed the ship to rotate and spin around to target other vessels with its frontal guns. As well as its thrusters, the *Vengeance* also was outfitted with at least eight FTL jump drives to allow it to quickly get from one place to another. During its rebuilding, Tier-Four atmospheric thrusters were temporarily added to assist the ship in exiting the atmosphere of Monus III, and additional downwards-facing hydrogen thrusters were added to assist with atmospheric flight.

### Command Decks

The *Vengeance* boasted a large bridge tower in the middle of the rear half of the ship. It had a few consoles on one deck and also had a hatch leading to the rear docking bay, which was never used. However, aside from aesthetics, the bridge tower’s only purpose was to pose as a false target to draw enemy fire. The main command location was buried beneath the thick armor of the bridge tower in the CIC (Combat Information Center). It contained a captain’s chair, a hologram projector table, and several consoles and screens for crew members to perform various tasks and monitor the ship’s functions.

### Other Subsystems

Since the *Vengeance* was so large and crew members could only carry so many resources, not to mention the danger of going outside during a battle, the dreadnought was equipped with an automatic welding system throughout the ship. It would use the ship’s onboard supplies to repair or rebuild certain critical systems when activated, namely the main turrets and thrusters.

The *Vengeance* was also unshielded, as the Colonists did not have that technology available to them at the time. It also had no atmospheric thrust, meaning it could not enter a planet’s gravity well. However, both of these features were implemented in the reconstructed version.

Although the original *Vengeance* never included a hangar bay, the reconstructed version was outfitted with a few small hangar bays within the extended midsection to carry support ships like welders and miners, rather than fighters. Three bay doors were added on either side of the midsection extension.

## Behind The Scenes

The official Space Engineers blueprint of the original *Vengeance* (from Colony Wars) can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1755175472.

The official map of the Starship Graveyard on Monus III and the *Vengeance*'s crash site can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2115095911.

The modified version (from Colony Salvage) is not yet available, as of June 30, 2023.