HCs will make sense later. For now, let’s do some quick introductions.

The Crew

CO/Captain Paul Wilk

The commanding officer of the KCV Admiral Hipper from her commissioning into the Kaiser fleet and onward. He held three previous commands including a prototype destroyer, the KCV Konigsberg, and the KCV Admiral Scheer. He’s known for being focused, diligent, and cautious.

XO Thomas Nilson

One of the youngest XOs in the Kaiser faction, Nilson is incredibly quick for an unaltered human, able to work more closely with the Admiral Hipper‘s AI than anyone else. Nilson is generally cordial and acquiescing to Captain Wilk.

Ensign Richard Brice

The Admiral Hipper‘s up and coming helmsman. Ensign Brice always speaks his mind when he can get away with it, and sometimes even when he knows he won’t. His youth and empathetic nature have gotten him some leeway from his crewmates.

Chief Tactical Officer Cline

In charge of coordinating the Admiral Hipper’s vast arsenal of weapons, Cline is perhaps the most introverted of the senior officers. Even so, he is attentive and efficient, to the point that he and Captain Wilk have little need for words at all. When his CO decides to attack, Cline knows exactly what to allocate for the greatest effect.

Chief Engineer Weber

Weber can usually be found on the bridge during important operations. Otherwise, he oversees his subordinates in the engineering section. Weber likes to interact with his colleagues, especially when he can clear up any confusion about Kaiser technology adapted from Kusanagi Industries’ prototypes, but he knows how to read the room; when it’s time to get serious, there’ll be nothing but critical information from him.

Chief Comms Officer Elain Royer

As straitlaced as they come, Royer was a survivor of the KCV Hanover, one of the Kaiser faction’s first battleships. The Hanover was ambushed and destroyed after an intense battle against overwhelming numbers. Royer and the survivors were escorted to safety by Lieutenant Blau and his wingmen, and later recommended for the Admiral Hipper‘s crew.

Chief Science Officer Jin Ise

Ise, like a number of Kusanagi specialists, was sent over to the Kaiser faction to help them incorporate KI technology and develop their own alternatives. Due to the Kaiser’s extreme reluctance to deploy what few battleships they possess outside of friendly territory, the Admiral Hipper-class has taken up the brunt of the frontline fighting. This has forced Ise and his fellow KI scientists to work aboard these sturdy, but often outmatched heavy cruisers to more thoroughly test and evaluate Kaiser weapons and systems.

1st Lieutenant Blau

Blau is a veteran Kaiser pilot assigned to the Admiral Hipper‘s fighter wing. He first served as a scout craft pilot aboard the Kaiser Battleship Hanover, the same ship as Royer. Blau and a handful of others were ordered to escape with the survivors, an order they dutifully obeyed, earning them new postings within the modernized fleet. While Blau’s old colleagues were given different assignments from him, he’s taken a liking to his subordinates aboard the Hipper.

2nd Lieutenant Skinner

Skinner was one of the four test pilots of the Cosmo Messer, making him quite knowledgeable about the model and its many quirks. Based on simulations, he is far and away the best pilot the Admiral Hipper has, but he takes a secondary role in combat, following Blau’s lead and covering for him and their fellow wingmen.

Specialist May

May is one of the Admiral Hipper’s most surefooted engineers. She typically operates the ship’s hangar carousel and the associated machinery. When something breaks or simply jams, she’s always the first on the scene.

Weaponcore vs Rotor Turrets

I’ve officially tried everything short of writing my own script, and I’m more than a year out from being able to make an attempt at a C# program. I also probably won’t be able to get a hold of the SBY mod creator. He kind of stepped into the thick of it being the first person to make that kind of mod; I’m assuming the overwhelming responses–both good and bad–are why the comment section for the mod are down. With people already asking about engines and Dessler torpedoes and things like that, I really doubt my request for a dual barrel 20cm turret (which isn’t even canon) can climb above the more interesting ideas people are burying him in.

I may just have to bite the bullet and accept that the space cruiser versions of the Admiral HIpper class are going to be 12 gun vessels, at least starting out.

The only other alternative …

is Northwind.

I almost can’t believe I got some writing done while working on a build in Space Engineers. It makes sense in hindsight; working on digital art always helped me with my writing, so it’s not a stretch for something mostly visual like Space Engineers to help with any related writing. That’s definitely something to take advantage of.

I’ve got some crew members for the Admiral Hipper coming along that I’ll probably start introducing tomorrow or Wednesday after another session. For now I’m just mentioning it because I need time to flesh them out a bit more. I’ve also got some pilots I need to figure out, and at least one character not affiliated with the Hipper or the Kaiser faction.

The Admiral Hipper’s exterior is almost done. Normally when I get this far I get a strong urge to start chipping away at a sister ship. That’s when my understanding of the external layout is at its strongest so I make smaller messes changing things around. Unfortunately I can’t do that because the Hipper’s internals aren’t even close to finished. If I just copied the ship as is and tried to make any of the sister ships on the side, I’d wind up having to make an interior twice.

On a ship this size?

No thank you. Whether they turn out the same or one winds up being better, that’s way too inefficient. I’m just going to have to finish the Hipper first or get fairly close.

As a side note, there are some specific ships I want to build before any of the others, including the Prinz Eugen, Scharnhorst, and Belfast. I’ve got some SE lore coming together that might help me scratch that writing itch while I sort out LGT, Artorius, and Remnants.

One other thing to mention is that I did try to build some rotor turrets for the ship yesterday. It didn’t go well. While the SBY weapons mod is fantastic, the fixed versions of the shock cannons are extremely heavy, way too much for unmodded rotors to handle. Just placing them nearly destroyed the turret frame. This is a problem I’m going to have to put off a bit longer, maybe until late August when the next phase of weapons comes out. I wanted the Kaiser faction to be using red colored energy weapons wherever possible anyway, so maybe that will help. Otherwise I’ll have to ask the mod creator if they’d be willing to look into the problem.