Legate Dralson, ex-Dino Army and Security CouncilWhat exactly is the Dinomark XA? Thats the question that has been on many people's minds since the first rumours of this "new kind" of warship emerged a few weeks ago. Well it is nothing more than the biggest revolution in warfare for a generation.
An extreme view? Maybe but the XA is the culmination of a couple of decades worth of spaceship technology trends. Ships have been getting smaller for a while now. The likes of the DDS often looked at the Dinomarks with bemusement but their latest generations of warships are not much bigger. Now we Dinos ourselves are shrinking our ships again.
Advances in technology and aurtomation means you no longer need vast engine rooms, teams of engineers and other crew to operate a ship. Indeed the typical active crew on a Dinomark is usually 4 at any one time, even on a ship like a DDS Isometric the active watch is 8-10. Now here is the secret. Many of these crewmen are not really needed. Indeed most Dino and DDS warships have been quite happily operated by a single person in normal non-combat operations for some time now.
So the XA will have a crew of 2 or 3 and maybe only 1 of those needs to be there. In a small package the size of a shuttle in most fleets will be packed a worm drive, shields, hyperspace drive, cloak, passive sensors and enough firepower to win a small war. This is where warship design is going. In the future all warships will be this size or smaller with large vessels being troop ships and transports.
The first tests of the XA will be eagerly awaited but its future should be assured. It is the future we have all been working toward and waiting for.
