Somtaaw Shot Frigate

The Shot platform was a sucessful debris-clearing vehicle, and found success in a tactical anti-fighter role during various assaults from strike craft. After the development of the assault frigate (and the subsequent frigate line), plans were drawn up to transplant the Shot weapon on to the now-standard frigate platform.

Though the shot platforms continued to serve with Kuun-Lan and Faal-Corum during the ensuing crisis in the core, more "Shot Frigates" were produced to shore up Somtaaw anti-fighter defenses.

Following the war however, Shot weapons of this caliber were cited as "weapons of mass destruction", after noting their gruesome physical and morale damage when used against enemy pilots. Somtaaw was forced to retire all shot frigates or face their explorer-class ships being impounded by interstellar law. Although the International Mining committee wants to regulate the use of Shot platforms (which were not under the Galactic council citation of WMDs), Somtaaw, with the backing of the Taiidan and Kushan races, has blocked such legal restriction and allowed the contued use of shot platforms in mining and mine-clearing efforts. Several frigates also found their way into the hands of the Interstellar Peace Corps, which use them for mine clearing.

(In terms of a game, Somtaaw would start with two "mining platforms", but the shot frigate would be what the explorers build.)