The Dart is a ship in Tachyon: The Fringe.
Overview[]
Background[]
The Dart is a small, light-armored intercept fighter. Corporations tend to hire these out as cheap muscle to attack unarmed targets. It is immediately recognizable by its wasp-waisted form and uniquely loud engine.
Darts appear most frequently in Sol. This may be due to the fact that the regulations of the United Sol Government are strongest in that region and, by effect, would limit opportunities for lucrative contract work like the kind found in the Fringe[1]. If this is the case, contract pilots in Sol would need to work for much longer than pilots in the Fringe until they could afford a better ship.
Darts rarely appear in the Fringe, where much more powerful ships dominate space. The Darts that do are typically aligned with the Cinder Mercenaries where they are hired out for similar tasks as their Sol counterparts.
Design[]
The Dart is so small that the cockpit accounts for roughly half of the ship's size. A narrow arch connects the cockpit to the engine, and atop the engine is a V-tail fin.
The ship sports dark colors which help it blend into the blackness of space, but the purple-white thruster tail that extends from the ship reveals it to visual scanning whenever the ship turns to the side. In addition, the engine is very loud, more than most ships and especially when the Dart engages its afterburner, which makes it easy to locate by sound alone.
The shields and hull of the Dart are among the weakest of all ships. Because of this, small-arms fire is enough to quickly take out these fighters. Its small size does not help it in combat much because the Dart's top speed is slower even than GalSpan's heavy bomber, the Phoenix, so pilots can keep their reticle trained on the Dart with ease.
Armaments[]
Despite the ship's lackluster performance, its saving grace is its standard loadout. Darts brandish a laser combo of a Boron Medium Laser and a Heavy Mining Laser. The Dart alternates fire between these two weapons, and because the cannons are located in a narrow set—one under the cockpit and two flanking its engine—the shots are highly accurate at any range. Combined with swarm tactics, this allows the Dart to output considerable damage if left unchecked.
Notable appearances[]
- Several waves of Dart fighters attack Jake Logan's escort Burkhart 4192 in the mission Escort Mining Vessel.
- A combination of Darts and Piranhas attack the light freighter Venetian in Hub Escort.
- In Arena Qualifier Round 1, the enemy contestants are Darts.
TNS coverage[]
Trivia[]
- The subsystems on capital ships can take more damage than the shields and hull of a Dart combined.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ In the opening cinematic of a new game file, Jake Logan mentions that he has been waiting for a big break in contract work that will set him up for life, which implies that work as a contract pilot in Sol space is not typically lucrative.