Aran

Goner Aran Class M1 Carrier Speed (Min-Max) 8.7 - 12.2 m/s Acceleration (Min-Max) 0 - 0 m/s2 Steering (Min-Max) 0.06 - 0.08 RPM Hull Strength 340,000 Max. Shield (Total) 6 x 2 GJ (12,000 MJ) Shield Reactor 34,200 MW Cargo Class (Min-Max) 22,000 - 120,000 @ XL Laser Capacitor 38,500 MJ Laser Recharge 577 MW Docking 30 M6-M5 1 capital ship

Overview

The Goner Aran M1 is a very rare and unique ship. It is essentially a gigantic mobile storage facility, boasting a cargo bay double that of the largest TL. The ship can move, albeit at a snail's pace. It is best utilized where ships can come to it rather than the other way around.

Unique among Carriers, it can dock M6 ships in its hold in addition to the normal M3, M4 and M5s.

It is also the only ship in the game that has a Capital-class docking port, allowing it to dock a single capital ship. This makes is a good craft for resupplying capital ships in the field, rather than forcing depleted ships to return to Equipment docks or your Headquarters for supplies.

The Aran is only obtainable in very specific circumstances. See below for instructions.

Background

Encyclopedia Entry

With the ability to rescue stranded Goner ships and to more easily gather its own shipbuilding resources, the Aran is a great asset to the Goners.

Story

When the Goners built their first shipyard, keeping it a secret turned out to be impossible even though it was located several hundred kilometres off the ecliptic. It was designed to be more or less self reliant, with its own ore mine and solar power plant located in close connection. Still, other materials had to be transported in both for the construction of the yard itself and the ships it was intended to build, and naturally, the secret leaked out. Within weeks of completion, all the major intelligence agencies knew what the Goners were up to, and some even placed spies within the complex to keep tabs on the daily operations of the shipyard.

When it came to top secret projects, therefore, the Goners decided to create a mobile shipyard. Starting up in a quiet sector with a large distance between the gates, they started transporting small bits and pieces to a spot far off the ordinary trade routes. Whenever somebody tried to track the small transport ships, they immediately changed their destination and took the spies on long treks to distant systems of a little importance. The party piece was the method of construction: once the engines and guidance systems were operational, the Goners activated the ship's point-to-point jumpdrive and relocated, to resume construction elsewhere. This was at a point when only some 10% of the superstructure was completed, and it left any and all curious agents completely stumped.

The Aran was built thus, in different locations and complete secrecy. The Goners even used point-to-point jumpdrives in some of the ships transporting goods to the build site - keeping the whole line of production confidential. After only eighteen months, the Aran was operational. Building what, exactly, only the Goners knew. Only a few know about its existence, even fewer its purpose. Whenever the odd explorer comes within scanning range and begins to investigate the "anomaly" on the scanners, the Aran jumps away into deep space. As a result, some stories and rumours have circulated concerning "something out there", but to the Goners' satisfaction, these rumours are more inclined towards secret military operations than Goner activity.

(Source: X Universe)

Physical Characteristics

The Aran is a colossal ship, and is easily visible from the far side of even the largest sectors. This makes it almost impossible to miss with weapons fire, however. It features a rounded bow, followed by a vertical cylinder with sensor equipment on the dorsal side. Behind these are two tubes extending to the stern. Visibly extending out to starboard are the docking clamps for capital ships.

Combat

The Aran is unarmed, and although heavily shielded, the fact that it is abominably slow and impossible to miss means that a destroyer will make short work of it given the chance. The Aran's combat strategy is simple; jump away as quickly as possible.

Alternatively, use the massive docking bays to jump in an entire fleet. Theoretically, one could dock a single M2 along with 29 Hyperions, which could have 2 Spitfyres each. One M2, 29 M6+, 58 M3+, and a virtually unlimited supply of ammunition.

For a more cost-effective solution, provide the Aran with a large supply of Fighter Drones, as cargo space is not usually a concern.

Equipment

The Aran cannot mount any weapons. It does feature 3 turrets (forward, back and top), but possesses no gun slots for them. It may not fire any missiles, not even defensive Mosquito Missiles.

Availability

The Aran is only found in Unknown Sectors accessed with the Unfocussed Jumpdrive. The Aran has a random chance to spawn in any given randomly-generated sector.

Capturing the Aran

The Aran must be boarded to capture. Because the player can only take one ship with them to UFJD sectors, they must bring all necessary supplies with them at once. An M7M is best for the job, as their Boarding Pods will make the job significantly easier. Make sure your ship has Boarding Pods, Marines, extra Energy Cells, and preferably, Video Enhancement Goggles The Marines need not have high Fighting skill, as the Aran does not have defenders, but their skills should be high, especially Engineering - the Aran is always heavily damaged when found, and damage the marines cause must be minimized.

The Aran does not show up on conventional scanners. To find the ship, the player must visually scan the UFJD sector on arrival (Video Enhancement Goggles are helpful). Alternately, target a large asteroid in sector and press F3 to change to the external target view. Use the numpad - to zoom out and you will have a much larger overview of the UFJD sector. The numpad arrow keys will allow you to rotate the field of view left, right up and down.

Once spotted, however, you will still not be able to target the ship directly, via your ship's targeting computer nor the Sector map. To work around this, approach the Aran and eject from your ship in your Space Suit (incidentally, this will also give you a sense of the Aran's sheer size).Use the Repair Laser on the Aran until you hear the characteristic warning noise that indicates the ship has gone hostile to you. Enter your M7M's command menu, and select "Additional Commands" -> "Launch All Marines". If done correctly, you should be able to instruct your ship to target Nearest Ship when firing its pods. Once captured, the Aran will be targetable as normal. Dock your M7M to the Aran before jumping back to known space.

Suggested Roles

The Aran is frequently used as a mobile headquarters or supply dump for the player. It can also be used offensively as a supercarrier.

If resupplied by Commodity Logistics ships, the Aran makes an excellent resupply station for capital ships like M7Ms as it does not have an upper limit on how many of any particular missile it can stock.

The Aran is also useful as method for deploying the Valhalla. The Valhalla cannot jump to sectors that do not have a Jump Beacon, but the Aran can. Dock the Valhalla to the Aran, jump where you need it, and deploy the Valhalla from there.

See Also

Ships by Class

M1 Ships

Argon	Colossus
ATF	Odin • Woden
Boron	Shark
Goner	Aran • Mobile Repair Ship
Kha'ak	Kha'ak Carrier • Hive Queen
OTAS	none
Paranid	Zeus
Pirate	Galleon
Split	Raptor
Teladi	Condor
Terran	#deca • Tokyo
Xenon	J
Yaki	Hoshi • Shuri