Well, it's a Prototype. Prototypes break a lot until eventually the kinks get beaten out of it. Or documented as features.
It's much smaller than an F-117 - by several metres. Have Blue was the prototype technology demonstrator for the F-117, and had a very different tail.
I put together a profile - it's been bounced around the IRC without much complaint. One thing I'm aiming for is a sense of continuity... things rise and fall and technology ideas and common themes run through everything, year by year. Hopefully it's working from a meta perspective - even if it means cranking the timeframe forward. Though these'll never be 'successful' - just stable enough to make it to next year and keep ticking over, half in it for the craic as opposed to actually getting big and successful, not unless anyone else wants it to be.
-------
Riding Hi-Streamer
Mig-31 reconstruction. OGJ designation XR-155E Foxhound-K. Reg: 24-155000
Cruise Speed: 0.11C. Dash Speed: >.183c (For about 15 minutes)
Atmospheric: Mach 2.83+ (Once tracked on Mars doing 3500kph at 30M AMGL)
Drive-type: Fusion-boosted ion drive.
Weight: 48,000kG loaded.
Crew: 2: Information Systems Operator and Pilot
Armaments: 2x Hardpoints underwing. No cannon.
--------
Attributes:
"Iron Pig:" Manufactured nickel-steel (Battlesteel for Hepheastus built production models). Very heavy for its size - nearly 50 tons. Takes a lot of planning to change directions without bending anything - especially at speed. But, comes with good heat-resistance and resilient structure. Steel is also much easier to weld and repair.
"Backseat Driver:" This is not a Pilot's plane. The Back-seat operator paces the flight, instructing the pilot on what course/attitude/speed to fly according to the demands of the sensors and mission goals. Pilot is little more than a bus-driver and propulsion system's specialist, responsible for keeping the main engines on their razor-edge and the craft on its auto-pilot course. Unless of course, they're under attack.
"BlackLighter": Prototype Phased Array IDAR designed by Catgirl Industries. Capable of detecting the presence and relative position any active drive signature in range. Only capable of detecting the presence and relative position of any active drive signature in range - it can't tell anything else about what's actually making the signature.
"One hot ship..." Anika was forced by end-user certificate limitations to use older, larger sensor systems originally designed for space-ship sized craft with space-ship sized power requirements and cooling needs. Coupled with highly boosted engines, the Hi-Streamer produces a lot of waste heat that needs to be removed. Extra radiator panels on the wings and engines help, but it's still a juggling match to manage the demands of the engines and onboard electronics without melting something.
"A hundred shot of NOS... make that two:" Engines can be pushed past their normal thermal limits by dumping liquid coolant straight through the engine cores before exhausting it and the heat it absorbed overboard, leaving glowing contrails for thousands of kilometres. Capable of exceeding .18C in short bursts (For as long as the coolant holds out).
"Undeniable." Visible from clear across the system under boost. Or with active sensors online. Not hard to track at all. it's there for all to see, (But not really an inconvenience when you want the enemy to wake up, track you and make noisy traffic you can analyse. Being stealthy has it's place, so does wasping up the place and watching the response)
"I can't be cool..."/ It's big. It's clunky. It's unsubtle. It lacks the visual grace, endurance and maneuverability of a Blackbird. There're no intelligent support systems for the pilot or back-seater. The controls and UI come from the 1980's. It's not that comfortable inside, requires a special flight-suit that's embarrassingly derived from the Muv-Luv Fortified Suit, is finnicky at the best of times when it comes to reliability and wears its nature on its sleeve with a few extra greebles bolted to the outside of the fuselage and faired in because there was no space left inside to mount them. But the basic spaceframe is tough, it'll land on unprepared surfaces without complaint, the engines are monstrous in an atmosphere, and it can be very hard to catch in a chase if it has a good supply of coolant. It's very good at doing what it's designed to do, provided both crewmembers take the time to learn how to use it, adapt to its quirks, and master it's capabilities or even exceed them. It's very much a hacker's jet.
------
Quirks:
"Warning!!! Danger to Manifold.": Main engines are boosted to within an inch of their life and are constantly maintained on a razor's edge of reliability. While Hi-Streamer has enough power to easily exceed .11c, the risk of melting major engine parts and doing serious damage increases in proportion to its speed. Shedding turkey feathers from an engine nozzle isn't unusual.
"I like it black, rich and thick....": Engine's require a shot of strong coffee on ignition, and on booster ignition, to operate. Onboard tanks contain enough for ten shots.
"You should be in pictures.... ": Onboard recon cameras will 'occasionally' take ultra-high resolution pictures of beautiful or otherwise noteworthy women if left unattended in a hanger. These are then uploaded to the interwave through the onboard datalink. This is totally a handwavium quirk, and definitely not something Mackie hid in the microcode somewhere....
"Blessings of Order of the Golden Lemon." Pre-flight checklist includes a ritual to ward off system glitches, consisting of 'Juice of the Lemon either freshly squeezed or not, sprinkled over the fuselage from a aspergillum made from the remains of an AMC Gremlin that has been stored either under a ladder or sleeping place of a black cat(girl), while all crewmembers chant 'Gremlins Out!' until they have completed a full circle around the craft. A mirror is then broken with the aspergillium, wherupon both crewmembers must partake of the remaining lemon juice before immediately embarking.' Failure to observe the proper preflight proceedures guarantees a flight filled with minor technical glitches such as sudden engine unstarts during lunchtime, instrument malfunctions and spurious warning lamps on critical systems. Any postflight maintenance check will reveal no technical problems with the systems affected.
------
Notes:
Born out of GJ design competition, Riding Hi-Streamer is one of four types of competing spacecraft built to fulfil a requirement for a dedicated signals and electronic intelligence spacecraft. It was part funded by Asagiri, and by Anika selling her Little Cool Rider A-Wing. Hi-Streamer is based upon the airframe of an old Mig-31 interceptor, retired from Russian air forces in 2022. Main engines are shared with the RF-047 Kulbit racer, while the centre-body fuel tank has been replaced by equipment bays containing the necessary support hardware for an Interwave Node, the IDAR array in the nose and the necessary sensor hardware.
The prototype Hi-Streamer was inspected and accepted as satisfactory, meeting the required specifications. Two completed test-type RF-155E craft were delivered and paid for according to competition requirements (25-155001, 25-155002), however the contract was ultimately awarded to WHITENOISE for the WHITENOISE due to the advantage its artifically intelligent analysis and auto-reaction systems gave it. 001 and 002 were immediately taken into reserve storage, before being 're-activated' for service a few weeks later on an interim basis until their unique IDAR technology could be properly miniaturised and adapted by CGI to the smaller, stealthier, WHITENOISE. Both 'test-type' craft differ slightly from the prototype in that they are freshly constructed from battlesteel and inconel at Haepheastus, making them more robust than Hi-Streamer. Cooling and power control systems have been improved based on experience with the prototype to increase reliability. They can both cruise slightly faster, and maintain dash speed for an extra minute.
Hi-Streamer went on to represent Asagiri(Frigga) at the 2025 Convention, following the pattern of the previous years. It turned out in laquered bare-metal, with pink and white trim - Anika's favourite colours. It's been a difficult start to a relationship and Anika still misses her original Little Cool Rider, but she slowly has begun to warm to the big Mig.
The final 'production' RF-155E is available under the Heaphestus Affiliate Program with an Asagiri badge (Replacing the Havoc-types which were withdrawn due to single-digit sales), but only to individuals and organisations pre-approved by Great Justice. A 'GT' variant with all the advanced intelligence-gathering hardware stripped from the internal bays is available to any reputable fan. It's slightly faster - having better drive cooling ability, slightly lighter, has better cockpit accomodation, can carry luggage in the internal bays and retains a reduced capability IDAR, interwave set and sensor array. It's marketed towards racers in 2-seater classes, or as an aerospace equivelant of a Gran Tourismo car, retaining only two weapon hardpoints and an additional gunmount to keep its PEPPER class low-enough for ordinary decent fans to afford. Mackie's name is still attached to it, however - and memories of the Griffon incident linger long.
On its Third test flight, Hi-Streamer's IDAR array detected an unsual drive-signature in the vicinity of 36 Atalante - with energy emmissions below the detection threshold of most sensor arrays. The unknown craft apearred to parallel Hi-Streamer's course for a few minutes at a standoff distance, breaking off suddenly and departing at .12C when Hi-Streamer's active sensors were directed towards it, taking an image of a small, angular craft in the process. Conspiracy fans have suggested that this may be a detection of the rumoured TSAB 'Senior Echo' program. The usual suspects for a stealth-equipped Black Project have also been put forward by various commentators, each theory with varying degrees of plauibility and its own vehement followers. Ultimately, all that is known for certain is that it was a type that was not expecting to be spotted.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
It's much smaller than an F-117 - by several metres. Have Blue was the prototype technology demonstrator for the F-117, and had a very different tail.
I put together a profile - it's been bounced around the IRC without much complaint. One thing I'm aiming for is a sense of continuity... things rise and fall and technology ideas and common themes run through everything, year by year. Hopefully it's working from a meta perspective - even if it means cranking the timeframe forward. Though these'll never be 'successful' - just stable enough to make it to next year and keep ticking over, half in it for the craic as opposed to actually getting big and successful, not unless anyone else wants it to be.
-------
Riding Hi-Streamer
Mig-31 reconstruction. OGJ designation XR-155E Foxhound-K. Reg: 24-155000
Cruise Speed: 0.11C. Dash Speed: >.183c (For about 15 minutes)
Atmospheric: Mach 2.83+ (Once tracked on Mars doing 3500kph at 30M AMGL)
Drive-type: Fusion-boosted ion drive.
Weight: 48,000kG loaded.
Crew: 2: Information Systems Operator and Pilot
Armaments: 2x Hardpoints underwing. No cannon.
--------
Attributes:
"Iron Pig:" Manufactured nickel-steel (Battlesteel for Hepheastus built production models). Very heavy for its size - nearly 50 tons. Takes a lot of planning to change directions without bending anything - especially at speed. But, comes with good heat-resistance and resilient structure. Steel is also much easier to weld and repair.
"Backseat Driver:" This is not a Pilot's plane. The Back-seat operator paces the flight, instructing the pilot on what course/attitude/speed to fly according to the demands of the sensors and mission goals. Pilot is little more than a bus-driver and propulsion system's specialist, responsible for keeping the main engines on their razor-edge and the craft on its auto-pilot course. Unless of course, they're under attack.
"BlackLighter": Prototype Phased Array IDAR designed by Catgirl Industries. Capable of detecting the presence and relative position any active drive signature in range. Only capable of detecting the presence and relative position of any active drive signature in range - it can't tell anything else about what's actually making the signature.
"One hot ship..." Anika was forced by end-user certificate limitations to use older, larger sensor systems originally designed for space-ship sized craft with space-ship sized power requirements and cooling needs. Coupled with highly boosted engines, the Hi-Streamer produces a lot of waste heat that needs to be removed. Extra radiator panels on the wings and engines help, but it's still a juggling match to manage the demands of the engines and onboard electronics without melting something.
"A hundred shot of NOS... make that two:" Engines can be pushed past their normal thermal limits by dumping liquid coolant straight through the engine cores before exhausting it and the heat it absorbed overboard, leaving glowing contrails for thousands of kilometres. Capable of exceeding .18C in short bursts (For as long as the coolant holds out).
"Undeniable." Visible from clear across the system under boost. Or with active sensors online. Not hard to track at all. it's there for all to see, (But not really an inconvenience when you want the enemy to wake up, track you and make noisy traffic you can analyse. Being stealthy has it's place, so does wasping up the place and watching the response)
"I can't be cool..."/ It's big. It's clunky. It's unsubtle. It lacks the visual grace, endurance and maneuverability of a Blackbird. There're no intelligent support systems for the pilot or back-seater. The controls and UI come from the 1980's. It's not that comfortable inside, requires a special flight-suit that's embarrassingly derived from the Muv-Luv Fortified Suit, is finnicky at the best of times when it comes to reliability and wears its nature on its sleeve with a few extra greebles bolted to the outside of the fuselage and faired in because there was no space left inside to mount them. But the basic spaceframe is tough, it'll land on unprepared surfaces without complaint, the engines are monstrous in an atmosphere, and it can be very hard to catch in a chase if it has a good supply of coolant. It's very good at doing what it's designed to do, provided both crewmembers take the time to learn how to use it, adapt to its quirks, and master it's capabilities or even exceed them. It's very much a hacker's jet.
------
Quirks:
"Warning!!! Danger to Manifold.": Main engines are boosted to within an inch of their life and are constantly maintained on a razor's edge of reliability. While Hi-Streamer has enough power to easily exceed .11c, the risk of melting major engine parts and doing serious damage increases in proportion to its speed. Shedding turkey feathers from an engine nozzle isn't unusual.
"I like it black, rich and thick....": Engine's require a shot of strong coffee on ignition, and on booster ignition, to operate. Onboard tanks contain enough for ten shots.
"You should be in pictures.... ": Onboard recon cameras will 'occasionally' take ultra-high resolution pictures of beautiful or otherwise noteworthy women if left unattended in a hanger. These are then uploaded to the interwave through the onboard datalink. This is totally a handwavium quirk, and definitely not something Mackie hid in the microcode somewhere....
"Blessings of Order of the Golden Lemon." Pre-flight checklist includes a ritual to ward off system glitches, consisting of 'Juice of the Lemon either freshly squeezed or not, sprinkled over the fuselage from a aspergillum made from the remains of an AMC Gremlin that has been stored either under a ladder or sleeping place of a black cat(girl), while all crewmembers chant 'Gremlins Out!' until they have completed a full circle around the craft. A mirror is then broken with the aspergillium, wherupon both crewmembers must partake of the remaining lemon juice before immediately embarking.' Failure to observe the proper preflight proceedures guarantees a flight filled with minor technical glitches such as sudden engine unstarts during lunchtime, instrument malfunctions and spurious warning lamps on critical systems. Any postflight maintenance check will reveal no technical problems with the systems affected.
------
Notes:
Born out of GJ design competition, Riding Hi-Streamer is one of four types of competing spacecraft built to fulfil a requirement for a dedicated signals and electronic intelligence spacecraft. It was part funded by Asagiri, and by Anika selling her Little Cool Rider A-Wing. Hi-Streamer is based upon the airframe of an old Mig-31 interceptor, retired from Russian air forces in 2022. Main engines are shared with the RF-047 Kulbit racer, while the centre-body fuel tank has been replaced by equipment bays containing the necessary support hardware for an Interwave Node, the IDAR array in the nose and the necessary sensor hardware.
The prototype Hi-Streamer was inspected and accepted as satisfactory, meeting the required specifications. Two completed test-type RF-155E craft were delivered and paid for according to competition requirements (25-155001, 25-155002), however the contract was ultimately awarded to WHITENOISE for the WHITENOISE due to the advantage its artifically intelligent analysis and auto-reaction systems gave it. 001 and 002 were immediately taken into reserve storage, before being 're-activated' for service a few weeks later on an interim basis until their unique IDAR technology could be properly miniaturised and adapted by CGI to the smaller, stealthier, WHITENOISE. Both 'test-type' craft differ slightly from the prototype in that they are freshly constructed from battlesteel and inconel at Haepheastus, making them more robust than Hi-Streamer. Cooling and power control systems have been improved based on experience with the prototype to increase reliability. They can both cruise slightly faster, and maintain dash speed for an extra minute.
Hi-Streamer went on to represent Asagiri(Frigga) at the 2025 Convention, following the pattern of the previous years. It turned out in laquered bare-metal, with pink and white trim - Anika's favourite colours. It's been a difficult start to a relationship and Anika still misses her original Little Cool Rider, but she slowly has begun to warm to the big Mig.
The final 'production' RF-155E is available under the Heaphestus Affiliate Program with an Asagiri badge (Replacing the Havoc-types which were withdrawn due to single-digit sales), but only to individuals and organisations pre-approved by Great Justice. A 'GT' variant with all the advanced intelligence-gathering hardware stripped from the internal bays is available to any reputable fan. It's slightly faster - having better drive cooling ability, slightly lighter, has better cockpit accomodation, can carry luggage in the internal bays and retains a reduced capability IDAR, interwave set and sensor array. It's marketed towards racers in 2-seater classes, or as an aerospace equivelant of a Gran Tourismo car, retaining only two weapon hardpoints and an additional gunmount to keep its PEPPER class low-enough for ordinary decent fans to afford. Mackie's name is still attached to it, however - and memories of the Griffon incident linger long.
On its Third test flight, Hi-Streamer's IDAR array detected an unsual drive-signature in the vicinity of 36 Atalante - with energy emmissions below the detection threshold of most sensor arrays. The unknown craft apearred to parallel Hi-Streamer's course for a few minutes at a standoff distance, breaking off suddenly and departing at .12C when Hi-Streamer's active sensors were directed towards it, taking an image of a small, angular craft in the process. Conspiracy fans have suggested that this may be a detection of the rumoured TSAB 'Senior Echo' program. The usual suspects for a stealth-equipped Black Project have also been put forward by various commentators, each theory with varying degrees of plauibility and its own vehement followers. Ultimately, all that is known for certain is that it was a type that was not expecting to be spotted.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?