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MEC 'Squamosa' Superfreighter (13-Slot)

The massive 'Squamosa' is the largest cargo vessel ever built by the Muthos Engineering Consortium. Built to move a sector's worth of goods on its massive HEX-EL engines, it features a city-sized main cargo hold as well as external racks for shipping crates.

Though not a combat vessel by design, the 'Squamosa' is built to MEC combat specifications in order to withstand attacks. The galaxy is rife with opportunists who could fetch a king's ransom for a single superfreighter, but the 'Squamosa' does not present an easy target. It has good point defenses, armored internals, and a small hangar for an escort fighter squadron. Oh, and we put eight cruiser-sized guns on it - because at the MEC, we have lots of those and we can just do that.

Key features of the 'Squamosa' superfreighter:

-13 upgrade slots
-Some large internal frameworks for customization
-Armored internals
-Two huge, powerful HEX-EL engines and numerous smaller maneuvering drives
-Great base hyperspace range (24 sectors)
-Roughly 50x the cargo space of a 'Mellifica' freighter
-Two small "Swarm Pod Mk. III" hangars on the starboard side
-Onboard banquet hall with gold-plated furnishings and a jukebox

Armament:

-8x size 3 heavy gun emplacements
-1x size 2 medium gun emplacement
-9x size 1 point defense hardpoints
-2x forward torpedo launchers (with a small storage bay)

(Detailed statistics available in screenshots)

By default, the 'Squamosa' comes with VT-2, VPD-1, and VPD-2 custom turrets. For more MEC turrets and fighters to go with it, check out the MEC Signature Catalogue.

On the prow of the ship is a hexagonal compartment containing (behind glass) the nameplate of the Muthos Engineering Consortium. Customers are encouraged (though not required) to replace this with their own heraldry of choice. Additionally, many of the shipping crates bear MEC markings.

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The 'Squamosa' is the largest build I've done for the MEC so far. The block count is slightly higher than I would have liked, but I guess that's to be expected at these sizes as I'm trying to keep the level of detail consistent. By default, this ship does not have an inertia dampener - I left it out to save on cost, but you may want to add one (using the frameworks) if you're piloting it around yourself to bring the brake thrust up to around 100m/s. It is much faster than it really has any right to be.

Like all MEC ships, this one's named after a type of social wasp - this time, it's the southern yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa, which is known for sometimes building nests as large as cars with hundreds of thousands of individuals. I thought it was a fitting name for a ship designed to supply an entire fleet.