I've finally sorted out all governments. It goes soemthing like this :
Confed Vs. Rebels
Reptillian species known as Dranite have teamed up with pirates. They are scavengers who incorporate the advances of extinct civilisations into their own technology.
The Cydonians/Lethians have stopped squabbling and have formed the sickle, an anti-pirate/dranite group.
CDX Starworks is getting pretty evil/greedy (Microsoft syndrome) and has started mining on another planet forcing it's inhabitants to work in mines (Jodia) whose other planets are fighting a losing battle against CDX. The confeds/rebels are too tied up in their own war to do anything about it.
UGE is fighting Consolidated express for trading supremacy.
Astex is slowing getting overtaken by the competition.
Atinoda/Krydanti/Centurai spacelines are just about surviving.
and the mercenaries are picking up the pieces
--------------
Here's an example of one of the dranite ships
-----
Phoenix:
Dranites, being the aggressive species they are, suit their main attack ship, the Phoenix A59-Destroyer, perfectly. Rising from the ashes of several long dead civilisations, the Phoenix combines long and close quarter combat weapons with the maneuverability of a heavy fighter making it a ship that strikes fear into the hearts of all that see it.
-------------
and a summary of the Dranite.
-------------
The Dranite are a sinister reptillian species found by Pirates on the outskirts of the Serpens Nebula 20 years with advanced armour and weaponry salvaged from long extinct civilisations. The Pirates quickly found a common ground with them and are now allies with a formidable Navy of assorted ships between them.
-------------
CDX stuff.. (scrappy)
-----------
Outfits
-----------------
With all of the Tritanium armour and ore supplies requesitioned by the Confederation for its Cruiser upgrade program CDX was looking for a new armour, heavier than anything currently available, when it discovered the incredibly tough Metal Priron. With CDX's top engineers working for months on end they finally developed a way to make it into a cheap, mass-produced armour which now is standard on most CDX ships.
-----------------
With the advent of the extremely destructive Slicer missiles a new defense was needed against the pirate threat, so was born the Photon defence system. It is comprised of a front firing photon cannon which, when fired at missiles, detonates their warhead and the more cannons bought, the faster the firing rate.
------------------
A couple new CDX ships
--------------------------
After the sucess of their premiere freighter, the Argosy, CDX starworks were looking for a niche in the cargo and they found it in the CDX AS500 Behemoth. Originally an Enyo Refineries design for a new class of tanker the blueprint was bought by CDX and made into a formidable freighter. The AS500 offers massive cargo capacity, a very long range, handles like a heavy fighter and has excellent shielding. There are some uncomformed rumours that the Rebellion navy is using a modified version of these versatile ships for blockade running but as of yet, CDX has not confirmed or deny this rumour.
-------------------------
CDX Starworks has been known for a long time to be a non-discerning corporation about it's clients as long as they can pay and in the case of the Alliance of Pirates F-6N Panther this is most certainly the case. The Panther is a hard ship to define, it's is a cross between the classes of corvette and heavy fighter, being small but packing a huge punch and being more than a match for any fighter the Sickle or Confederate Navy's have ever produced. The Panther is widely known as a ship to be run from but its reputation has a hefty price tag attached.
---------------------
With Atinoda cornering the escort-frigate corner of the market CDX decided to go one step further and built the D1400 Enforcer, the first cruiser-class starship available to civilians. Recently winning CDX their 5th Shelton Award for Extreme Cleverness it is easy to see why it is such a popular offering in these days of intergalactic warfare. Combining heavy shielding and weaponry with ample cargo and weapon space makes it a fantastic ship in a dogfight and complimented with four Phantom light fighters it outclasses any other civilian ship.
------------------
--------------------------
Wham!Man - The original and still the best
beep