Bothan Assault Cruiser

Designation: Starship Manufacturer: Bothawui StarWorks In Use By: New Republic

Description
These highly controversial starships were commissioned by the Senate after the treaty between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant was signed, mostly because of the political aspirations of Bothans like Borsk Fey'lya. Little did the New Republic know what an asset these ships would become when the Yuuzhan Vong would begin their invasion of the Galaxy.

One of the largest capital ships made by Bothawui StarWorks, the Bothan Assault Cruiser is a next-generation warship and starfighter carrier in use by the New Republic. Nearly the length of a Victory-class Star Destroyer, it carries three squadrons of X-Wings, in addition to the normal shuttlecraft and reconnaissance ships, and also a squadron of secondary fighters, which are usually A-Wings, but occasionally a squadron of B-Wings or E-wings will be assigned to an Assault Cruiser for a specific mission. Among the usual features that the craft possesses is that the Bothan Assault Cruiser is designed with both dorsal and ventral hangar bays, located at midship, so that starfighters can exit the ship from either the top, or the bottom. The offshoot of this is that fighters can be deployed and be recovered at twice the normal rate of any other starfighter carrier in service. One Bothan Assault Cruiser, the Ralroost, serves as Admiral Traest Kre'fey's personal ship, and is temporarily home to Rogue Squadron.

Official Continuity Model
Design: David "Terribly Mauled" Mather
Design Consultant: Starships of the Galaxy RPG Supplement
Opt Base Model: David "Terribly Mauled" Mather
Textures:
Opting:
Total Progress: Modelled

Media

Original Concept Model
Design: Sean
Design Consultant: David "Terribly Mauled" Mather
OPT Base Model: Sean
Additional Modelling: JC Wolverine
Textures:
OPTing:
Total Progress: Modelled

Comments:
Terribly Mauled: With this ship, I knew we wanted something that was different from other Star Wars craft, yet also familiar in some way. The BAC is the first craft built by the Bothans that we've really seen and heard about in great detail, and so the ship had to reflect that by being something that would stand up in terms of style with past craft. So in the design you can see the combination of an Imperial Star Destroyer, a Dreadnaught, and a little bit of a Quasar Fire class escort carrier. However, to try and hide all that I kinda 'blurred' the edges of them all, making the secondary hull and wings quite thin and dedicated to weapons, so that from the side it looked quite sleek and aerodynamic, while if viewed from above it retains the bulk that a Star Destroyer has.
Also, theres a little hidden part in the design style, in that if you view the craft from above, with the engines facing towards the top of the screen and the nose to the bottom, it kind of looks like a tribal mask, or, with a small stretch of the imagination, the face of a Bothan! You can see this best in the page of design sketches.

Media