| Wayfarer-class | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vehicle type | Multirole courier |
| Ship series | Wayfarer series |
| Manufacturer | Krueller Spaceworks |
| Length | 23m |
| Beam | 14.6m |
| Height | 6m |
| Mass (t) | 112.7t |
| Grid size | Small |
| Crew | 1-2 |
| Jump Equipped | No |
| Armament | 2x Autocannons |
| Designer | Perp |
The Wayfarer-class Multirole Support Vessel is a small-grid, hydrogen-powered ship designed to serve a variety of functions, including prospecting, personnel transport, cargo hauling, reconnaissance and limited combat. Its most notable mission was during the first expedition to the Moon, where it ferried the engineers Caasicam, Bulik and Perp to the surface, where they would found Dudebase Alpha.
Design
Features
Fictional History
In-Game History
Following retrieval of the engineer Perp from deep space, the Wayfarer would be the first ship built by him upon arrival at Dudes' Rock. Initial construction attempts were plagued by anomalous failures preventing the vessel's cabin from pressurizing. The mysterious nature of these anomalies necessitated the installation of the server's first mod, Buildinfo, in order to track down what was presumed to be an air leak. No such leak was found, and the anomalies were no longer present following a server restart. The construction of the Wayfarer was completed without further issues.
Initial duties performed by the Wayfarer included scouting and charting asteroids, noting which had potential for future bases, including a planned industrial complex. Asteroids with high uranium content were also charted, as Dudes' Rock was suffering from power shortages during that time. The Wayfarer was also instrumental in ferrying mined materials back from the asteroids it had charted to facilitate repairs to its home station following bombardments by meteor storms, which had repeatedly damaged several crucial systems. The observation and utility drones Griffin and Kepler were built in order to augment the Wayfarer's capabilities during surveying and repair efforts.
Ultimately, asteroid surveying and mineral prospecting missions were superseded by the Graculus, following the construction of the Long-Range Operations Module. The Wayfarer fell into disuse as other vessels were being constructed to fit more specialized roles, illustrating the limitations of the Wayfarer's multirole capabilities. However, lacking a dedicated shuttle, the Wayfarer was selected for use in the first expedition to the Moon, as it would allow for both transport of personnel and cargo between the expedition's mothership and the lunar surface.
The expedition, conducted by engineers Caasicam, Bulik and Perp, would utilize the newly-constructed Leviathan as the mothership and would carry all the cargo necessary for the establishment of a lunar base. Leviathan's ion thrusters would not have be able to provide enough thrust for stationkeeping under the weight of its cargo within the lunar gravity well, hence the need for the Wayfarer as a tender. With the cargo loaded aboard Leviathan, both an Apis miner and the Wayfarer were docked to the mothership and the trio departed for the Moon.
Arriving in lunar orbit, strategies for descent and landing were discussed - it was determined that a ground vehicle would be necessary for reliable transport of two engineers across the surface while the Wayfarer conducted its cargo runs between the surface and Leviathan. The Apis miner was disassembled and rebuilt in-orbit as a wheeled flat-bed rover, christened the "Formica" by the three engineers. To transport the rover to the surface, it would be attached to the Wayfarer's rear connector and hot-dropped to the lunar surface once a site for the base was selected. In order to make a controlled descent, Caasicam would be at the controls of the Formica during the hot-drop, with Perp and Bulik in the Wayfarer.
With the Formica attached and its holds loaded with cargo from Leviathan, the Wayfarer began its descent to the lunar surface. After several minutes of orbital reconnaissance, a large crater was deemed suitable as the site for what would later be known as Dudebase Alpha. Closer to the surface, the Wayfarer's vertical thrusters proved insufficient to compensate for the additional weight of the rover, and the hot-drop maneuver was executed earlier and at a much greater altitude than planned to prevent the vessel from crashing. As the Formica lacked its own thrusters, it suffered damage from surface impact which necessitated repairs. The Wayfarer landed near the crater wall a few minutes later with no further incidents.
While Bulik and Caasicam continued with repairs to the Formica, Perp launched from the surface in order to study the Wayfarer's flight capabilities in the lunar gravity well, something it had not previously done outside of the initial landing. During a low-altitude flyover of the crater site, the vertical thrusters were unable to provide enough lift to crest a rocky outcropping, which clipped the Wayfarer's starboard engine nacelle and caused the ship to crash-land a short distance from the other two engineers. Perp survived the crash with no major injuries, and the Wayfarer remained mostly intact despite its starboard nacelle, containing half of the ship's hydrogen tanks, detonating after impact.
Immediately following the crash, Perp's initial efforts to repair the Wayfarer were hampered by the other two engineers pilfering the disabled ship's supplies, including its stash of weapons, as well as salvaging or otherwise stealing crucial components in order to repair and upgrade the Formica and begin work on the base. Perp locked the ship down following an armed standoff between the three engineers resulting from his attempts to retrieve components from the Formica. Despite these setbacks, repairs to the Wayfarer's engines continued and sufficient flight capabilities were eventually returned for a rendezvous with Leviathan, where more comprehensive repairs brought the Wayfarer back to nominal status. The ship's vertical thrust was augmented before it began ferrying cargo back down to the base.