Yep, the Desperation was fun to make. In fact, it came about when I was pondering the conversion system - "where do all those tarsus arms go?". - I also like to make a point of trying to stay within the atmosphere of the game and feasibility with the lore.
Anyways, another new ship for your viewing enjoyment (another conversion, but this one is actually not a junker!)
Buffalo-E: The Buffalo-E is a miniature explorer, and although it has a fairly large pricetag in comparison to its progenitor, it is significantly cheaper than any other ship filling its role. As an added bonus, it can carry a much larger quantity of fuel with itself than the Venture or Odyssey can in proportion to its fuel consumption. In fact, it outright beats the Venture, and has half as much as the Odyssey, giving it the best range of any non-dedicated tanker. Prior to the Buffalo-E's creation, there really were no comparable ships. The Odyssey was a giant fancy capship with an equally enormous pricetag, the Venture required relatively frequent refueling stops, and was still somewhat pricy, and all the tankers had no real chance of survival on their own. Then along came the Buffalo-E - a budget level, destroyer-class, long-range explorer craft capable of operating independently, outfitted with relatively modern technology, with some fighters for support, marketed at the small-time explorer, tech-miner, or ore prospector. As a result of the higher rarity of their components, higher standard of engineering, and pricier construction, they tend to be quite a bit less common then their sibling converted destroyers. It falls into the category of 'good all around', excelling in no one particular area; tankers hold more fuel, freighters carry more cargo, actual combat craft are able to deliver more firepower, but for not being any of them, it isn't bad at those roles either. The Buffalo-E has a large cargo capacity (not quite as much as a proper freighter of its size), a large fuel reserve (about as much as the Dram, which is a class-size lower), and can mount a decent amount of weaponry (up to 70 OP - still less than any proper combat destroyer other than it's sibling converts (such as the Buffalo II, the Condor, the Vulture)) due to having been upgraded with a military-grade reactor, though most of its slots are probably best used with point defense.
(I still have a bit more touchup to do on the sprite, esp. because I missed some shadows <.>)
[Edit - btw, only the buffalo Core is kitbashed - everything else was created new, from the tanks to the armor.]
(ie, Full-Escort does this) - I've had this happen with my shield hounds where they would go in and intercept incoming missiles or ships (which has included flying shields-first into torpedoes), though they tend to survive most of these engagements because of their extremely fast venting, shields, and maneuverability.
