***PRESS RELEASE***
Explorator Machinae, Inc., Introduces the Cancer
Named after a famous crab from antiquity (
not that one), this is EM's refit of the Apogee, more suitable for a modern context.
While still a capable survey vessel with all of the stellar cartography capabilities of the original model, the Cancer's main feature is hugely improved weapons locations and design.
While some malcontents would say that the "scorpion sting" Medium Missile Hardpoint, rear-facing and immobile, is a terrible place for a launcher, it was the only place that could take the stresses of repeat firing, and as most Cancer captains will attest, "we just threw Pilums on there anyhow".
However, both Medium Energy Turrets have been moved to lateral positions where they can provide nearly 270 degrees of largely-mutual firepower, greatly improving their utility, and three ultra-modern Universal Hardpoints in the front provide the Cancer with almost unlimited flexibility. Two Built-In Antimatter Blasters in edges of the "jaws", also provide the Cancer with excellent closing firepower.
This combination of weapons makes the Cancer a superlative support vessel, with a beam-based armament, a credible brawler if equipped with Heavy Blasters, or even a Point Defense vessel, if equipped with Burst Lasers and front-mounted Swarmers to defeat fighter threats.
While the Cancer retains the heavy shielding of its predecessors, allowing it to take fire reasonably well, and has had its rate of turn improved by better positioning of jets towards the edges of the primary weapons pods, the Cancer's designers were simply unable to provide it with the Drone Launcher System of the Early Expansion models featured in the Corvus Blueprint Cache.
Instead, after several arguments involving pithy remarks and spilled not-tea, they agreed to install an unproven Blueprint: the Improbability Device. The Device, derived from the hexamathic syllogisms of the Cog Prophets, quite upsets Consensual Reality in a cone to the front of the Cancer, severely glitching AIs' quantumn-lattices and generally making everybody in range feel like taking a short nap while their equipment reboots.
The Luddites love it, because it's Tech that defeats Tech, and greatly desire to capture a working Blueprint, but Tritachyon, after witnessing the effect the ship has on AIs, has announced that anyone caught putting this technology into Pirate hands will be denied all further lines of credit. The Ko Kombine, meanwhile, has quietly procured access to the Cancer for Independent Mercs exploring the Off Limits Zones or hunting [ED: REDACTED!]