Calliope
Type: CivSpec Medium Freighter
Cost: 160k Credits (In the year 3000)
Engines: Mark V Insystem Drive
FTL:
Thrusters: Type 3 Attitude Jets
Sensors: Series 3 Longscan
Shield:
Most Calliopes were also fitted with a Mark 3 Microframe computer system and a Type 5 Fusion Reactor. They shipped with a 40K cargo hold.
History
The Calliope is a medium freighter build that was constructed in large amounts between the years 2700 - 2970 in the Orion Arm. It is one of several classes stepping in to fill specialized roles left vacant after the faster-than-light-travel woes surrounding the death of the Hivers and the OtherSpace Rings. Highly customizable, it's solid all-around performance made it the medium-duty choice of both legitimate and illicit organizations looking to get by between the stars.
The first Calliope class vessel was designed by Engleburt Humperdink in 2681 in the boom of Sivadian spaceship construction expansion. It was well received by the Sivadian populace and his start up company performed very well of the back of it's success. It was not until 100 years after his death in 2814 that his patent became free license and workshops around Sivad were able to reproduce the design without fear of prosecution. This caused a massive boom in the production of Calliopes and as it was one of the most popular free license ship designs it became more and more prolific around the Orion Arm.
Over the centuries, though there were many upgrades and alternate models most would not stray too far from the original design as it was one of the easiest ships to get replacement parts for. Even as late as the turn of the third millennium they were a popular and cheap choice of ship.
Examples of Calliope's that were owned by players are the VRM Artemis, the DCV Faux and more recently the IND Laughing Fox.