Predator

Series of starfighters produced by the Scandian League and other communist nations. The Predators are all designed primarily for short-range operations, flying from a carrier or fighter base. Consequently, none of them have a pressurized cockpits; all Predator pilots must where their own vacuum-proof flight suits. They are all also largely incapable of atmospheric flight, and their performance suffers heavily inside a gravity well--since the communist nations mostly lack space colonies, this was deemed an acceptable tradeoff.

Predator I

The first Predator was nicknamed "the ball", as its a simple sphere with an antipode cannon and a supervolt. At the time, the Communist Protectorate lacked the technical expertise for more complex fighter craft and hoped to overwhelm the enemy in sheer weight of numbers. This went very badly during the Leviathan War, as the SRAN were able to almost match the numbers of the Communist Protectorate space fleet, with craft of superior quality. Although this fighter was built in huge numbers, it was hard to find pilots for them. After the Leviathan War, most were converted into Predator IIs, or dumped onto the Unbound black market as part of a long-running SLCM plan to subsidize privateers in the Fringe.

Predator II

After the disasters of the Leviathan War this fighter was produced as a stopgap measure. Two Predator Is were simply welded together, creating a larger frame and room for a missile bay. Predator IIs still make up most of the SLCM-Space inventory.

Predator IIb

"Bomber" variant of the Predator II, where on of the spheres is devoted totally to Thor torpedoes. This Supervolt-based explosive is capable of disabling enemy ships, and does large damage to shields, though it is less effective at piercing armor.

Predator III ("Apex")

Although technically part of the same series, it's almost a totally new fighter. The original design directive for the Apex was simple: "Build an Epoch killer."

The Predator retains the core sphere design of the original, but adds three symmetrical radial mounted wings. It has an evenly distributed center of mass to give it excellent maneuverability, a feat largely possible because it totally eschews the need for atmospheric flight. The Apex is well-armed with a trio of main weapon systems. Supervolt coils are effective against shields, and can disable enemy ships or sap the power from their systems. A newly-designed electromag gatling, the "Ripper" cannon, has an excellent rate of fire and can quickly chew through the armor of most other starfighters. Finally, a missile launcher allows for more long-range confrontations. The fighter remains quite fragile however, despite its impressive firepower -- some have criticized it as a "glass cannon."

Although the Apex on paper narrows the "hardware" gap, the Scandians are still a little bit behind when it comes to developing starfighter doctrine and tactics, and have not yet build up the corps of experienced pilots the Guardians have. SLCM-Space suffers from the fact that the most promising piloting recruits tend to gravitate towards the much more prestigious Dracoforms Service. The onboard flight computer and sensors lag significantly behind fighters fielded by other powers.

The Predator III is part of SLCM-Space's large design overhaul in the late 40s as confrontation with the GSF began to be seen as more likely, and the shortcomings of Scandian spacecraft in prior engagements had become increasingly apparent. Along with the Faris-class destroyers, Cossack-class raiders, and other modern ship designs, the so-called "Apex Predator" was intended to finally bring Scandian space power in line with the of the other great powers. The Apex eschews the "fighter swarm" philosophy of earlier Predators, as SLCM-Space adopts the "quality over quantity" mindset of SLCM-Ground and SLCM-Sea in making use of the League's limited resource base.