Subscribe to download
NSN 'MASTODON' Command Ship

The Mastodon is a Command and Control ship built by Albatross Industrial (AI) in a surprise bid to get back into military contracts following years of market exile after the 'Wolf Den Disaster' (archive link below). It is the largest ship currently commissioned by the NSN, and has brought Albatross Industrial back into the good graces of the Syndicate, and its lucrative military deals. It is currently undergoing combat trials along with the recently completed NSN Camalla (archive link below) and is also serving as a staging point for several experimental small craft in that sector.

When the NSN put word out that it was looking for new bidders to build a new class of capital ship, most contractors were excited. The NSN had been using the Xerxes Corp exclusively since the Wolf Den incident pushed AI out of contention, but now it needed a heavier, more durable craft that the Xerxes engineers could not properly envision.
So, the bidding became public. Many manufacturers, including Xerxes, struggled with each other to out perform and underbid for this new contract.

Then came Albatross Industrial, 10 years removed from the Wolf Den and the incident on Ludd station (archive link below), and dropped a bomb on the bidding.

AI had delivered the Mastodon, fully built and completely operational, to the NSN station on Ludd, where the Wolf Den incident occurred. AI, while surviving on private sector ship building since its exile, had used the old fuselage from the abandoned Lions Den project (archice link below) to jump start its new Mastadon project; and If the NSN would not buy it, they would turn to the Federation and sell it to them, essentially betraying the NSN and the Syndicate. After much debating, the ship was bought outright by the NSN, and the bidding was over.

THE MASTODON

The Mastodon was built using the unfinished fuselage of the abandonded 'Lions Den' project, which died shortly after the Wolf Den was destroyed. This gave the engineers a huge, hollow ship to begin with, and greatly reduced the build time. The Mastodon serves as a combat capable command vessel. It has a 'Scorpion' precision blaster under the forward tip of the command spire, and a 'Hades' mixed munition, high powered rifle mounted to the port side. The Mastodon is designed with planetary assault in mind, and to this effect it also fields 4x 'Polaris' high yield nuclear missiles, and 12x 'Trident' tactical nuclear missiles.

Scorpion Cannon:
The Scorpion cannon is a 4 barreled, high precision advanced blaster. Its targeting system reads the increased heat signatures of its own blasts on the targets hull, and uses these to constantly triangulate it's next shot. One it does, it fires a full 'Alpha Strike', using all four barrels at full power to deliver an extremely high caliber shot to a precise area, while on the move. The turret itself is capable of rotating 270 degrees, but the current Mastodon configuration uses higher broadside armor panels, restricting the scorpion to a 30 degree cone in the front of the ship. Modified armor panels are being designed to restore the Scorpions original tracking radius.

Hades Rifle:
The Hades rifle is mounted to the port side of the ship, and is fed using a conveyor from the magazine below decks. The Hades is a mixed munitions weapon, meaning it fires two elements that mix together immediately after being ejected from their barrels, much like epoxy. This compound reacts slowly at first, but then has a high point and then a fizzle point. By properly adjusting the amount of each element loaded and fired, the reaction time can be calculated, and used to adjust range. When properly targeted, the Hades rifle munitions reach their peak reaction time moments before impact with the enemy hull and can burn through armor like a torch. The weapon is extremely potent at long ranges, since those shots contain the most amount of reactive element, but is weak close in, as it requires too little of the explosives to react in such a short time, resulting in a smaller explosion.

Polaris High Yield Nuclear Missile:
The Mastodon can hold 4x Polaris missiles, each a single, high yield warhead. These are used for planetary bombardment, as their guidance and size does not allow for them to adjust for even slow moving targets. These missiles are stored cold in their tubes. They must be armed and fueled before being launched.

Trident Tactical Nuclear Missile:
The Mastodon can hold 12x Trident missiles, each containing a single, small yield warhead. These missiles are smaller and faster than the Polaris, and can be used to attack stations and capital ships, although they too are mostly used for planetary bombardment, as they can easily be shot down in flight against armed targets. These missiles are stored cold in their tubes. They must be armed and fueled before being launched.

Hangar Bays, Flight Deck and Garage:
The Mastodon has a multi-function main hangar bay, as well an aft open flight deck, and hover vehicle garage. The main hangar bay can accommodate most decent sized landing and combat craft. The main bay also has two independently operating Jetlanes, that can launch and recover strike craft without impeding the traffic of the main flight lobby. These jetlanes are fed by a secondary hangar under their flight deck. All hangar bay doors are Double sealed. The rear flight deck is mostly used by the marines so that their operations can be conducted independently from main flight traffic control. It can accommocate several landing craft at once. The Mastodon also has a hover vehicle garage, accessible by ground with a retractable ramp, located just behind the main hangar bay doors.

External Docking Pylons:
In addition to the hangar bay and flight decks, the Mastadon sports two external docking pylons for larger ships. These are used for transferring cargo, resupplying escort ships, or moving other ships that are too large for the hangar bays. Ships can dock to these pylons and piggyback the Mastodon in warp.

Turreted Weapons:
The Mastodon has 2x forward mounted, long range artillary turrets, as well as multiple plasma turrets along the fore of the ship. Both sides of the vessel have flak and mini gun turrets to protect against strike craft. There are 4x missile turrets located on the sides of the command spire. The turrets are manned in the turret control room on the command spire, but have auxillary command on the bridge.

Marines:
The Mastodon keeps a regiment of 24 marines at all times. These marines have their own barracks, and are located in the aft of the ship, where they have quick access to the rear flight deck. This flight deck is used primarily by the marines, and is controlled by the marine ops center in the command spire. The ships armory is also located on the same deck, next to the marine barracks.

-- Archived References --

Lions Den Project - Adandoned, Archive Only
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=891164631

NSN Wolf Den
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812655055

NSN Camalla
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812602207

Tiburon Gunship
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1624118738

DevilRay Strike Drone
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=813151324