Prowler

The Esperia Prowler is a modernized version of the infamous Tevarin armored personnel carrier. Esperia's astroengineers were given unmitigated access to study original versions of the ship recently discovered in the Kabal system to help meticulously reconstruct the vehicle. Now, the Prowler is the perfect fusion of two cultures: the elegance and effectiveness of the Tevarin war machine combined with the reliability of modern human technology.

Specifications
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Features

 * Hardened shell: Both the pilot and co-pilot cockpit shield is constructed of kelsun composite utilizing original Tervarin engineering techniques. A process that created the most resilient transparent shielding of that era, a byproduct of the process gives the exterior an opaque coating while still allowing the operator to see out.
 * Ground runners: Another feature of the Prowler is it's focused gravity emitters that are positioned on the underside, which creates a cushion to allow it to navigate precarious and uneven surfaces such as landscapes or even ship hulls, whilst avoiding scans.
 * Transforming mechanics: The twin nacelle wings of the Prowler house a pair of low emission thrusters designed to minimize the ship's energy signature profile for a stealthier approach. These wings will also rotate, allowing more maneuvering capabilities in flight, but also double as the ship's landing gear.
 * Precision offense: A remote turret is placed along the upper spine of the ship, it can be controlled by either the pilot or co-pilot, offering 360 degree weapon coverage against hostile forces.
 * Rapid deployment: For the deployment of combat personnel, the Prowler has four Deployment Portholes along each side of the hull. These portholes are outfitted with an airshield meaning that they can be open during flight in both atmosphere and deep space. Each of these portholes is outfitted with a dedicated power supply to guarantee that the airshields will stay online. However, losing your airshields while in space would have the same effect as a hull decompression event. The cockpits won't be affected as they are sealed off from the rest of the ship.

Each station is outfitted with a safety harness to secure soldiers into their positions while in transit.

Discovery of new Tevarin settlements
In 2941, the Imperial pathfinders entered the newly discovered Kabal system and located a series of abandoned Tevarin settlements on Kabal III. The UEE Navy insisted that Esperia be included in the group of analysts brought to Kabal to study potentially lost Tevarin technologies at two aerospace bases identified by the initial surveyors.

While much of what was discovered in the Kabal system remains classified today, what is known is that the researchers discovered nine fully equipped squadrons of Prowler-A's safely stored in bunkers. The investigation revealed that none of the Prowlers had flown for almost five centuries and that they had been properly mothballed rather than abandoned at the site.

Esperia's initial survey team reviewed the available spacecraft. In the culmination of the initial study, a single vintage Prowler tested in a 45-minute atmospheric flight that confirm that the spacecraft were as fully functional. The remote stage of the project took 18 months and at its conclusion, the government opted to ferry six of the Prowlers back to Esperia's clean lab at Kutaram rather than retain the Esperia team on Kabal.

Modernizing the Prowler
As the team from Esperia completed their work on the ancient spacecraft, management began recreating the ship with Human control surfaces and updated modern components. A formal pitch was made to the UEE for access and legal rights to recreate the ship, with the goal of selling it to the military as well as others who might be interested in the historical spacecraft. Much to the surprise of all involved, the government approved the idea almost immediately and formally declassified the recovered Prowlers for Esperia's benefit.

One of the first issues facing the recreation team was that the models found on Kabal predated the wars and thus lacked the dorsal turret. Astroengineers also had trouble recreating the 'plate cockpit', requiring several months to perfect the once-commonplace Tevarin technologies that gave the ship its distinct forward structure.

The company was able to trace every subsystem and component of the original spacecraft and either re-synthesize it using present-day technology or substitute it for an existing modular system. Computer systems in particular were completely reworked, with the original Tevarin software either completely lost to data rot or deemed incompatible with present-day systems.

First public debut
The new Prowler debuted in 2946 at the annual Intergalactic Aerospace Expo event. The intent to sell to the UEEN largely fell through, ultimately purchasing only a limited run of the craft for study and potential special operations assignments. However, the design did immediately attract the attention of the civilian sector. Preorders for Prowlers were taken not from historians and preservation groups but instead from mercenary forces and wildcatters seeing a durable, high-tech ship for operations. Generations removed from the stigma of the war, the Prowler had found an unlikely second life serving the descendants of the Humans it had once fought so fiercely against.

Ship profile
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Renting
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Gallery
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Development
Prowler was the boarding/assault ship in the fourth wave ships that won the poll for the $61 million crowdfunding goal on 2014-11-06. It was the first Tevarin ship introduced. It was introduced as a Tevarin ship as the developer wanted the Tevarin to be masters of shield tech, so one of the early ideas was that the ship could incorporate air shields to allow the boarding party to quickly exit the ship. The idea of being a Human reproduction of an older Tevarin warship came from the lore that the Tevarin were no longer producing ships themselves. The ship became available for pledge on 2016-11-18 during the 2016 Anniversary Sale/Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, roughly two years after the first reveal. The ship was originally planned to be released in Alpha 3.8, but it was delayed to a 3.8.X patch in later half of March 2020 because of additional polishing needed for the first Tevarin ship. It was delayed again from 3.8.X to 3.9 because the patch will be published in the middle of 3.9 PTU.

The first iteration of the concept involved multiple artists and rounds. The first round of concept was designed by Jan Urschel (Freelancer Artist), the second round was designed by Gary Sanchez (Internal Artist), with the third round was designed by Gavin Rothery (Freelance Artist). Cockpit interior and internal lighting are finalized by Sarah McCulloch (Internal Artist) and Stuart Jennett (Internal Artist). Additional concept work was done by Furio Tedeschi. The lore of the ship was developed by Dave Haddock, Adam Wieser, Cherie Heiberg, and Mike Kinshella from the narrative team.

Calix Reneau was the initial system designer of the ship, and later helped with the implementation. Stephen Hosmer (Senior Systems Designer) was involved in implementing the ship in game, with contribution from Byungjin Hyun, Daniel Kamentsky, Arthur Guillot, and Elwin Bachiller Jr. in the ship art team. The tech art team specifically Matthew Intrieri, Patrick Salerno, and Brian Chen, and Mark Abent helped in implementing the clear canopy animation.

The ship was polished and released for PTU testing mid-april and released to the LIVE branch in Alpha 3.9 at April 29, 2020. Along with it's release, the ship was put on temporary promotion sale for $440 USD, with an additional Warbond discount available. Along with the ship, the Aves helmet was added as an extra, but the helmet was also sold separately for $4 USD.

Design brief
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 * The Prowler is very much built around agile use, with players moving easily from inside to outside, walking on the surface of the ship – should feel like an infantry-centric action platform