Errant Venture image - Rise of the Mandalorians mod for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
The Empire has fallen and a New Republic is born out of the conflict. But in the ashes of civil war, yet another life stirs...
The Errant Venture was an Imperial-II class Star Destroyer that was captured by the smuggler Booster Terrik. For a long time, it was the only known Imperial-II Star Destroyer that was privately owned and operated, something of a sore spot for the Imperial Remnant and a source of unease for the New Republic.
In fact even though Terrik often supported the New Republic and sided with them, the thought of a privately owned (and therefore uncontrolled) ISD flying around space made the New Republic so uneasy that they forced Booster to strip the starship of most of it's weapons. What few offensive weapons he was allowed to keep on the Venture were also converted to ion weaponry, as mandated by the New Republic. In the end, the massive starship was left with a meager handful of ion cannons, a couple of tractor beam emitters, and two (yes TWO) laser canons.
However, it was often speculated that Booster later reinstalled much of the stripped weaponry in such a way that sensors could not easily detect it. This led many to believe that the Errant Venture was far more formidable than it should have been. Though publicly, it was only outfitted as specified by the New Republic.
In addition to the massive downsizing of the weapons, the ship also underwent a serious overhaul. The crew needed for such a ship and the money to maintain it simply weren't readily available to a private entity like Booster so, he gutted much of the ship out so that it could be converted to stores and workshops for those who wanted to pay to rent the space. In a sense, the ship became a sort of mobile starport or "shadowport" for those who wanted to do business that might otherwise get them into trouble. Lastly, to mark the ship as his own, Booster had the hull painted red but portions of it were left unpainted to designate areas that could be rented out for advertising and billboards, a source of additional revenue to help fund ship maintenance.
Holy **** snacks that looks awesome! I love the holo-boards as well, such a brilliant touch!
Thanks Pam Poovey. lol XD
Additional info that went past the word limit on the caption:
Booster Terrik is the father-in-law of Jedi Knight, Corran Horn. His daughter Mirax married Horn not long after the New Republic conquest of Coruscant.
The Errant Venture was almost always in some state of disrepair, despite the additional funds that billboards and rentable space brought in. Some suspect Booster left it this way intentionally in order to fool would-be attackers.
In later years, especially during the Vong invasion, the New Republic would permit Booster to bring the Venture back up to full combat status and it regained many of it's weapons. Booster would command the Venture during the Vong war and assisted in many offensives against the aliens.
In game, the Venture's ion weaponry will not only be effective against shields but will cause "ion stun" to most ships, reducing their speed and rate of fire. He will also have the "deploy squadron" ability that, when activated, will deploy a squadron of Z-95s, "Uglies", or R-22 Spearheads.
But does the red paint make it go faster ?
Haha. Not so much... Not an Ork ship.
Painted red, check.
Shoddely armed, check.
Constant state of disrepair, check.
Are you still sure its not an ork ship ?
Have to say the billboards look amazing.
But it actually works...not just because Booster "wills" it to. Lol. Thanks!
Would it be possible to give like a 200-500 credits bonus to owned planets while Booster is in orbit i think i think id be a fun ability.
He's going to have the siphon credits ability like Han Solo.
Human ship, ey? Have you tried painting it black?
Human...not Deathwatch per se. How about Blood Angels? Lol
Fifteen Orks on a dead man’s hulk,
Lookin’ down the barrel of a gun,
Gruntin’ to each other
through big, sharp teeth,
Sayin’ “This one’ll give us some fun”
Fourteen Orks on a humie’s ship,
Killin’ anything that isn’t green,
Gruntin’ to each other
through big, sharp teeth,
Sayin’ “Times be getting’ lean”
Thirteen Orks with the Captain’s chest,
Hopin’ to quench their greedy thirst,
Gruntin’ to each other
through big, sharp teeth
Sayin’ “I was da wun dat saw it first”
One lone Ork left to steal the loot,
Wishin’ it hadn’t turned out so,
Gruntin’ to itself
through big, sharp teeth
Sayin’ “I shoulda let the pilot go”
"Sometimes I think of that ship as one massive red warning light."
Soooo good ... i want to play it! >.< now!
can't wait T.T
I love the look!
What's the purpose of this hero? Is it just another capital ship for the NR, or will it provide some kind of economic boost to the planet it orbits?
The full data sheet will come later but essentially Booster will have siphon credits, which allows him to despawn for a time in order to boost daily credit income temporarily. Then in combat, the Errant Venture will be more of a support ship. Not much damage but very effective ions + fighter spawn.
I see you listened to my recommendation regarding giving the Errant Venture a fighter compliment.
Yeah I was considering it anyway but your feedback helped to make up my mind.
I'm glad I could help.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to the full release.
There's a distinct lack of dancing twiliek holograms...
There are two twi-lek holoboards. One on top seen in the screenshots and one on the port side near the aft, not seen.
I can't tell you how amusing I found this.
Well done!
If this had happened before, I would have thought it was an april fools joke. Mostly because of the adds for a moment I thought there were pink hearts there
Awesome work o7
Just finished reading the X-Wing Books and so its quite nice to see it here as well.
Keep up your great work looking forwart for more ;)
Greetings
Stackpole's novels are great. Glad you enjoyed the piece.
Wow looks amazing, the billboards are a super nice touch!
stunning
Loving the painted-on "Advertise here!". The ship came out really well.
Haha. I wondered how long it would take someone to post the translated Aurebesh writing XD
"Errant Venture" is written on the port side of the command structure too. Lol
a great flagship and centerpiece of the fleet, knocking out shields while the corellian destroyers and mon cal cruisers wreck mando face.
will we be seeing a new moncal cruiser too? i remember in the mod it was just the vanilla model, and was utterly dominated by the cd10s
ALL units and most props will have new models in RotM. This includes MonCal units. There is also one additional MonCal unit slated for the mod which wasn't in the base game.
Oh so this is why you went dark for a little bit. Bad ***!
Not hardly! The Venture was actually something I did quickly in order to get a screenshot up. The ISD was already made so it was just a retexture with some billboards and new XML code.
In fact, the reason there haven't been many updates is because I've been working on some balance issues and have been totally redoing the game's audio.
This includes voiceovers for custom units, new SFX for weapons and animations, and new SFX for the UI/HUD. For example, I didn't like the voiced HUD sounds like "base under attack" and "unit complete". I guess it's because I grew up on Age of Empires and other games, which use sound effects for HUD queues rather than voices. Remember the bell/horn in AoE/AoK that meant city was under attack? I'm going for a feeling more like that...where distinct sounds indicate certain things. To explain, when playing as Imperial Remnant, the famous Imperial klaxon will indicate base under attack, etc.
I feel like it's more immersive than a guy constantly saying unit complete, construction complete, reinforcement point contested....etc.
Holy $#!P, your version on the Errant Venture surpasses every damn EU book I read and my imagination. Astoundingly well done