CONCEPT The Kruegarian "Gewaltikh" Class Battleship is inspired by the "Imperial I" Class Star Destroyer from "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," one of my all time favorite starship designs. The "Gewaltikh" is in part my tribute to this well known science-fantasy vessel. Its opponent is the Klolodian "K-63" Class Battleship. MODELING AND RENDERING The "Gewaltikh" uses numerous detailing parts from fellow Renderosity artist and TrueSpace user Steve Wilson. Most of the weaponry and many of the blocky detail parts are his. The waist-band walls and hangar bay details are from a very detailed mesh of the "Imperial II" Class Star Destroyer, a 14 MB 3D Studio Max model by Thomas Ganshorn available as a free download from www.theforce.net/scifi3d/. The rest of the ship began as a copy of my Humanasol League Battleship "Upholder of Honor." This initial model was greatly modified, most noticeably in the superstructure and underside engineering areas. I also added a number of custom detailing parts made especially for the "Gewaltikh." I did all my modeling of this ship using TrueSpace 6.6. Only a small number of textures were used for the "Gewaltikh." A few came from various Internet sources, four more came from fellow Renderosity artists Django, Eromanric, Vbarreto, and two more were created by me from scratch. The fleet symbol and registration markings that add a splash of color to the hull are 3D objects I created. Running lights were added with Universe Image Creator 1.63 and CorelDraw 12 was used to add the weapons fire seen on three of the ten images seen above. FICTIONAL BACKGROUND The "Gewaltikh" Class Battleship is the largest capital ship currently in use by the starfleet of the democratic Kruegarian Federation. There are over fifty of these vessels in service forming the backbone of the Kruegarian Federation Starfleet. The Klolodian Imperial Fleet's "K-63" Class Battleship is the primary opponent of the "Gewaltikh." The advantages of the "Gewaltikh" over the "K-63" include better firing arcs of its magentic ram launchers in comparion to the heavy plasma bolt launchers of the "K-63" and slightly longer range of its heavy weapons. Also, the "Gewaltikh" has two bow-mounted long-range particle beam weapons. All of these factors combine to give it the edge when engaged in forward firing situations. The primary drawbacks of the "Gewaltikh" are the more limited firing arcs of its heavy beam weapons and the slightly less firepower it can project in broadside firing situations. Another disadvatage when facing the "K-63" is its sluggish manueverabilty, due mostly to its larger size. The "Gewaltikh" and "K-63" are at rough parity when engaged in aft firing situations. They also carry an equal number of fighters and are both capable of carrying small escort ships in thier large underside hangar bays. These two titanic opponents have comparable powerful shielding systems though the "Gewaltikh" does seem to have the edge damage control. Finally, it should be noted that one on one battleship confrontations are rare as both the Kruegarian Federation Starfleet and the Klolodian Imperial Fleet normally operate their capital ships in squadrons with their battleships accompanied by numerous escorts the majority of the time.