Bulwark Battlecruiser Thread - Star Wars: Interregnum mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Interregnum has done an amazing job of drawing on even relatively obscure EU sources to fill out its roster, but I think there is one ship it missed that would be a good addition: the Bulwark Battlecruiser. The Bulwark has its origins in the 1998 Star Wars: Rebellion, the spiritual predecessor of Empire at War, and is the final ship the Rebels can research/construct - consequentially, it is designed to hold its own against Super Star Destroyers, and is the only Rebel ship larger than a Star Destroyer. Later lore additions would expand on this; the Bulwark would be retconned as third iteration on an old CIS battleship designed for dedicated ship-to-ship combat, which also reinforced the theme of the Rebellion having some continuity with the CIS. The Bulwark line has an interesting history and I think it's a shame it hasn't been included in some form in Interregnum, and I believe there are a number of possible ways to do this:

Being a second Titan for the Rebellion: Factions having access to multiple Titans is one of the most interesting aspects of Interregnum, as all the requests to add more attest to. The Rebels again stand as the odd man out of the SW factions, however, in that they only have one Titan - Admiral Ackbar's Home One. Since the Bulwark Mark III is larger than a Star Destroyer and designed to be able to fight a SSD, have it be the Rebel's equivalent of a Bellator - a mini-titan with an emphasis on ship-to-ship combat.

Replacing the MC75: The MC75 is a very odd outlier in Interregnum - in a mod based on the EU, it's a random bit of Disney lore thrown in with no other continuity (thank God). Moreover, with the Rebels having access to five capital ships from the start (as opposed to the other SW factions having three), it doesn't have a clear niche: while intended to be a combat-focused raider it fails since the Rebel One/Providence beats it out in raiding and it loses in raw combat power to both the Dauntless and Providence refit, while its support bonuses are not as useful as the MC80 Command and Star Cruisers (and, to be pedantic, it breaks the MC naming convention). Removing the MC75 and shifting around some abilities (say Load Ion Torpedoes moved to the MC80 Star Cruiser in exchange for Credibility, then replace the MC80 Command Cruiser's Cluster Bomb Shot for Credibility) would help clarify the niches and give the Rebel roster new options. Introducing the original Bulwark Mark I would be the first: the New Republic did have access to retrofitted models and used one in the Battle of Mindor - since the Rebels are already rocking one piece of retrofitted CIS hardware, I don't see why they couldn't have a second. It could even compliment the Providence better; have it fulfill the intended niche of the MC75 by being a dedicated combat-focused raider (as opposed to the Rebel One focusing on economic raiding) with better stats/abilities for fighting capital ships while retaining some of the fleet buffs. The second option that getting rid of the MC75 presents would be to introduce the Bulwark Mark III as a lategame capital - say Innovation tier seven, since the Rebels presently have nothing for that - with a dedicated anti-capital role to make up for Ackbar's lack of raw power. The Rebels would still have access to more starting capital ships than the other SW factions, retaining a unique aspect, while being able to get a late-game boost.

Being the capital ship of a minor faction: There are a few factions in Interregnum that feature old CIS hardware, either as a result of repossession, trading in military surplus or having some continuity with the CIS. The Bulwark could be slotted in as a capital ship for any of them, or a new minor faction with a CIS theme could be introduced. The major candidate for this would be Geonosian Industries - unlike the other CIS-affiliated companies nationalized by the Galactic Empire, Geonosians Industries did not have holdings or subsidiaries inside of the Republic prior to the Clone Wars, and so there wasn't anything for the Empire to actually nationalize outside of Geonosis itself. Geonosis and Geonosians would go on to launch numerous insurrections against the Empire over the the two decades following the establishment of the Empire, often involving the reactivation of hardware and factories from the CIS, and kept itself out of galactic affairs after regaining independence following Palpatine's death. However, that wouldn't be the case in Interregnum - the Triple Alliance and Empire fragmenting in the way it did means that isolation would be virtually impossible, while the former's need for starships would mean that Geonosis' industries would see a sudden demand - under Interregnum's circumstances, it's not difficult to imagine that Geonosian Industries has reformed/reemerged as part of Geonosis' planetary government, and would begin supplying arms to the various factions while trying to guard Geonosis' independence. Given their reliance on old CIS hardware in their revolts, it's not hard to imagine that they would favor refurbished CIS ships, the Bulwark Mark I being one of them. The alternative would be to give it to Balmorran Arms: once a subsidiary of the Techno Union, which also developed and manufactured the Bulwark, Balmorra would have reasonable access to them.

The reason we avoided the Bulwark Mrk III initially is due to the awkward size. Regular Capitalships in Interregnum tend to max out at the size of an ISD at 1600 meters. Titans tend to be 3km+ at the smallest, ideally 5km. At 2500 meters, the Bulwark 3 is in an awkward spot. The Allegiance and Star Home are the only ships in the mod in the 2-3km range, and they were primarily added to be hero flagships so shipyard restrictions don't apply and there are still limited in numbers like Titans.

Unfortunately, there's no obvious major character who commanded a Bulwark. Interestingly, it the years since the mod was designed, it appears that the Age of Rebellion role playing game has linked the Bulwark III with the Sullustan Home Guard, which is an existing Interregnum minor faction. Unfortunately, they already sell the more well known Dauntless as a capitalship, otherwise it would indeed be perfect as a Minor Faction flagship.

The Bulwark Mrk I fits better as an Interregnum capitalship at only 1000 meters, but its Clone Wars history limits its application in the mods era. Its a shame it was built by the Techno Union, we tried to find as many CIS members that somehow survived to the OT era in some form and added all that we could, but I don't think we found anything for the techno union.

The MC-75 has actually become the most popular capitalship in the Rebel Fleet in our PVP community and is definitely a core part of the Rebel Fleet. The ships abilities were actually designed for a different ship, the MC-80a (X-wing Alliance design) before Rogue One came out. But the model we had for it was way worse quality than most others in the mod, and the MC-75 had very similar unique characteristics (speed and torpedo armament) while looking way better and being more well known to a casual audience. Since Interregnum only changes the timeline after Episode VI, we're a bit more open to new canon designs before that time frame, without necessarily incorporating the history of them.

Edited by: GoaFan77

What about changing Han Solo from a MC-80B to a Bulwark III then? It would be a good counterpart to the Allegiance as a one of a kind, hero flagship and also allow the New Republic to have access to it. Given the lore changes and that the MC75 seems to be staying as a model, the lack of a prominent EU character commanding one seems like a small point to get hung up on in comparison.

Balmorran Arms was a subsidiary of the Techno Union. While obviously not a CIS faction by the time of Interregnum, it's not unreasonable to assume they would still have access to some old hardware/schematics, especially if the IGBC is still able to field Providences in the Interregnum setting.

Edited by: Pretentious_Username

How about removing the Bothan assault cruiser hero, dropping Home One to fourth Hero status and Making the Bulwark into the Alliance titan?

This makes a lot of sense as the trap ship is weak, really weak for a titan. I never use it.