No one expected anything special at this time of year. Pirate Week had come and gone, Day of Vara was approaching, and the IAE loomed on the horizon. Then, nearly out of the blue, RSI gave us a big surprise.
Rumours had been circulating that a new RSI ship, an updated Connie, was coming soon. Most expected it to arrive with the IAE, or perhaps as a simple early release. What we got was much more: a whole month themed around RSI and its new flagship, the Constellation MKV Centaurus! The RSI Discovery Month was a welcome surprise, filling the month with missions and generous rewards for helping RSI host the event in Stanton.
Image by O-Stargazer
Tackling the Missions
To host the Discovery Month in Stanton, RSI sent out pleas for help through various mission-giving contractors. The tasks ranged from gathering materials and transporting cargo to defending stranded RSI ships from pirates. The rewards were just as varied, from custom tools to high-quality ship components, enough to pique the curiosity of many citizens and encourage them to tackle as many missions as possible.
The USC sprang into action. Many citizens spontaneously formed groups, while on other days more organised casual operations were put together to take on as many contracts as possible.
The contracts themselves were easy enough in nature, but they were fraught with technical difficulties, something RSI is perhaps known for. These issues caused many contracts to fail, and they were at their worst in the first days of the event.
Still, USC citizens plowed through, finishing one contract after another and quickly reaching the reward milestones. It was never difficult or a huge grind, and at times it was perhaps annoying, but overall the contracts were a welcome change. They brought many USC citizens together for fun evenings, working in unison to help everyone reach their targets.
The Constellation MKV Centaurus
While we are not a ship magazine or ship reviewer, we occasionally write about new ships that hold a special place in people’s hearts or introduce new technology or incredible features. The new Connie MKV Centaurus is most certainly one of them.
The Constellation MKIV series has been a staple of the verse for many years, even decades. It has always been a stable and reliable medium-sized ship, and its many variants allowed it to take on a wide range of roles and tasks. The MKIV has aged quite a bit and is no longer up to today’s standards, yet many still love the old RSI designs and trust their reliability. That’s why it was a welcome surprise when RSI gave all the older MKIV variants a well-deserved upgrade, bringing them up to the current gold standard.
The MKV, however, is a completely new beast. It follows the new RSI design philosophy seen in the Polaris and Perseus while still drawing from the original Constellation. It keeps the side silhouette of its older brother and combines it with the wedge shape of the newer RSI ships. The interior is astonishing: it abandons the old layout and uses the larger space far more efficiently, with much more comfortable crew quarters and proper areas for engineering.
Image by : BGThompson
It has already been dubbed the “Smolaris”, as from afar it looks like a smaller version of the Polaris. Looks are not the only thing they share, either. The MKV packs serious firepower, with the pilot controlling four S5 weapons and a bunch of S2 missiles, plus two quad S3 turrets with excellent firing arcs.
It certainly isn’t invulnerable, but it can take a fair amount of damage and dish out even more. During test trials and even large fleet operations, the MKV stood out as a great ship against fighters and medium-sized targets, and a perfect escort for capital ships. Perhaps it will make its way into the USC Navy, joining the lineup of existing warships.
Looking Ahead
The RSI Month is slowly coming to a close. It was a welcome surprise that brought the whole USC together, helping each other finish missions and earn all the rewards.
It even feels like an opening act for what lies ahead: the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (IAE). Together with Invictus, it is one of the most anticipated events of the year, and, as always, this one shapes up to be very exciting. Another RSI ship, the Galaxy, is highly anticipated and could become a big game changer. Other major contenders could reshape our fleets too, and there will more than likely be a few surprises in the form of brand-new, unannounced ships.
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