Originally designed as a dedicated medium fighter carrier, the
Doublet Corvette has seen service in a number of different
configurations. Generally used as a fighter carrier, a troop
transport, or a dropship, the corvette is also capable of serving
as a freighter or an exploration craft.
The most unique aspect of the ship is it's form: essentially
a pair of trapezoidal structures held together by thick pylons.
The top section holds the bridge, crew quarters, and the main cargo
hold, and the wider bottom section holds the engines, powerplants,
shield generators, computers, and other engineering sections. The
plasma cannons are mounted on the upper surface of the upper
section and the lower surface of the lower section, and all the
other weapons are mounted around the central cavity. The reason
for this configuration was to allow the fighters a few seconds of
heavy cover right after they leave the fighter bay (which opens
into the central cavity), and allows them to avoid any opposing
craft which would be able to pick them off, had they been emerging
from a more conventional fighter bay.
When starfighter scale hyperdrives became the standard,
Operion's sales of the corvette dropped off sharply. In order to
revitalize the line, they made a few improvements, including the
installation of atmospheric thrusters. Once the ship was capable
of atmospheric flight, a whole new mission profile applied, and the
Operion Corvette pushed the then standard Duese Pound Dropship
clear out of the ground assault market. Ground assault vehicles
benefitted tremendously from the early cover that the internal
space granted them, and the ground level medium plasma cannons
could lay down a field of fire that would discourage enemy infantry
units from coming within range of the assault craft. The only
problem with the ship as a dropship was that infantry units
couldn't get to the ground very easily, but a few Fastdrop APCs
solved that problem quite well.
The Doublet corvette remains the standard dropship of the
Yaeger Nation, although it's primacy is being challenged by such
craft as the Quicksilver and the Groundbreaker, new dedicated
dropships that build on the Doublet's advantages while making use
of other, more sophisticated innovations.