Gewaltikh Class Battleship
Action Scene 1

Gewaltikh Class Battleship
Action Scene 2

Gewaltikh Class Battleship
Action Scene 3

Gewaltikh Class Battleship
Top View

CONCEPT

The Kruegarian Gewaltikh Class Battleship is inspired by the Imperial I Class Star Destroyer from "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," one of my all time favorite starship designs. The Gewaltikh is in part my tribute to this well known science-fantasy vessel. Its opponent is the Klolodian K-63 Class Battleship.

DIGITAL RESOURCES

The Gewaltikh uses numerous detailing parts from fellow Renderosity artist and TrueSpace user Steve Wilson. Most of the weaponry and many of the blocky detail parts are his. The waist-band walls and hangar bay details are from a very detailed mesh of the Imperial II Class Star Destroyer, a 14 MB 3D Studio Max model by Thomas Ganshorn available as a free download from www.theforce.net/scifi3d/. The rest of the ship began as a copy of my Humanasol League Battleship Upholder of Honor . This initial model was greatly modified, most noticeably in the superstructure and underside engineering areas. I also added a number of custom detailing parts made especially for the Gewaltikh. I did all my modeling of this ship using TrueSpace 6.6.

Only a small number of textures were used for the Gewaltikh. A few came from various Internet sources, four more came from fellow Renderosity artists Manfred Thaller, Sean Kennedy, and Enrique Barreto, and two more were created by me from scratch. The fleet symbol and registration markings that add a splash of color to the hull are 3D objects I created. Running lights were added with Universe Image Creator 1.63 and CorelDraw 12 was used to add the weapons fire seen on three of the ten images seen above. The Photoshop plug-in LunarCell was employed to create the planet and moon in the image of the ship in orbit. Renderosity artist Antje Draling provided the special Photoshop dynamic brushes used in that same image for the starry background.

FICTIONAL BACKGROUND

The Gewaltikh Class Battleship is the largest capital ship currently in use by the starfleet of the democratic Kruegarian Protectorate. There are over fifty of these vessels in service forming the backbone of the Kruegarian Protectorate Starfleet (KPS).

The Klolodian Imperial Fleet's (KIF) K-63 Class Battleship is the primary opponent of the Gewaltikh. The advantages of the Gewaltikh over the K-63 include better firing arcs of its magentic ram launchers in comparion to the heavy plasma bolt launchers of the K-63 and slightly longer range of its heavy weapons. Also, the Gewaltikh has two bow-mounted long-range particle beam weapons. All of these factors combine to give it the edge when engaged in forward firing situations.

The primary drawbacks of the Gewaltikh are the more limited firing arcs of its heavy beam weapons and the slightly less firepower it can project in broadside firing situations. Another disadvatage when facing the K-63 is its sluggish manueverabilty, due mostly to its larger size.

The Gewaltikh and K-63 are at rough parity when engaged in aft firing situations. They also carry an equal number of fighters and are both capable of carrying small escort ships in their large underside hangar bays. These two titanic opponents have comparable powerful shielding systems though the Gewaltikh does seem to have the edge damage control. Finally, it should be noted that one on one battleship confrontations are rare as both the Kruegarian Federation Starfleet and the Klolodian Imperial Fleet normally operate their capital ships in squadrons with their battleships accompanied by numerous escorts the majority of the time.

CONCEPT

The Klolodian K-63 Class Battleship is the opponent vessel to my Kruegarian "Gewaltikh" Class Battleship. The design for the K-63 is based on a ship I designed many years ago as a teenager.

DIGITAL RESOURCES

Like the Gewaltikh, the K-63 uses detailing parts from fellow Renderosity artist and TrueSpace user Steve Wilson. His parts were used for the engines, engineering recesses, side detail on the main hull, and circular detail on the three forward spheres. The rest of the ship was modeled by me using TrueSpace 6.6. The design of the vessel was inspired in part by a spaceship miniature for a space combat game from the 1970's.

Only a few textures were used for the K-63. One came from fellow Renderosity artist Manfred Thaller while the others came from various Internet sources. The fleet symbol and registration markings that add a splash of color to the hull are 3D objects I created. Running lights were added with Universe Image Creator 1.63 and CorelDraw 12 was used to add the weapons fire seen on two of the images I did of this ship. A texture from Marlin's Amazing Sci-Fi textures was employed for the green planet in the image of the ship in orbit.

FICTIONAL BACKGROUND

The K-63 Class Battleship is the largest capital ship serving in the starfleet of the dictatorial Klolodian Empire. The K-63 codename designation is used by the Kruegarian Protectorate Starfleet since the actual name used by the Klolodian Imperial Fleet is not known.

The star-faring technology of the Klododian Imperial Fleet is comparable to that used by the Kruegarian Protectorate Starfleet. The fightercraft carrying ability of the K-63 equals the Gewaltikh in spite of its noticeably smaller size, thanks mostly to the smaller stature of the Klolodians who are about 2/3rds the height of the humanoid Kruegarians. The Klolodians resemble the Martians as depicted in the 1950's version of the science fiction film War of the Worlds with the exception that Klolodians have thee arms and three legs.

The advantages of the K-63 over the Gewaltikh include better firing arcs of its heavy beam weapons and better manueverability due to its smaller size. Also, the K-63 mounts more medium beam weapons. These two factors combine to give it the edge in broadside firing situations.

One disadvantge of the K-63 is the more limited firing arcs of its heavy plasma bolt launchers in comparion to the magentic ram launchers of the Gewaltikh. Another drawback of the K-63 is the shorter range of its primary weapons. Still, the K-63 is a fearsome opponent and that can deliver devastating amounts of weapons fire.

It is believed that the Klolodian Imperial Fleet has a larger number of K-63 Class Battleships than the Kruegarian Protectorate Starfleet has of Gewaltikh Class Battleships. There are reports of a limited number of K-63's mounting long-range particle beam weapons place of their bow heavy plasma bolt launchers in an attempt to offset the Gewaltikh's advantages in weapons' range and forward facing firepower.