Well, BlackNet mentioned there wasn't enough activity on the forums, so here I am peddling my crazy ideas to stir up trouble. Hope you enjoy!

Name: Stealth Reconnoissance Hornet (abbreviated SR)
Type: UPK Elite
Faction: Union Peacekeeping Corps (UIT Military Arm)
Faction Level: 950
Level: 5/5/1/-/- (+UIT Black-Ops mission requirement?)
Armor: 9500
Cargo: 10
Weapons: 4S
Mass: 5450kg
Length: 17m
Thrust: 245N
Max Speed: 68 m/s
Spin Torque: 7.2 Nm
Turbo Speed: 220 m/s
Turbo Energy: 53 m/s

Additional Equipment:

Advanced ECM: Invisible to radar; cannot be targeted outside of 500 meters.

Phased Sensor Array: Extends radar range by 1000 meters; detailed scans of targets within 50 meters.

Notes: Has constant 2 e/s drain from built-in electronics gear; -4 penalty to grid.

Fluff and Acrophobia:

Developed by the Union's Peacekeeping arm (which was in turn established as stipulated by the TPG armistice which ended the Corporate Wars), the design schematics for the SR-variant Hornet Heavy Attack Craft have been the Union's best-kept military secret for over a decade. With the advent of more pressing projects, the SR/A has been recalled from its comfortable position as a concept craft, and is finally experiencing field testing, most notably in Black-Ops assignments.

Possessing what easily passes as the most sophisticated electronics suite installed standard in any fighter craft to date, it compensates for its relatively weak composite stealth-armor with powerful ECM and raw performance which leaves its contemporaries in the dust. Early results are promising, and, once mass production hits full-tilt, the pirates that maraud the space lanes are predicted to live in abject fear of these deadly phantoms.

[EDIT1: Removed Infniturbo, as per Tosh's request]
[EDIT2: Removed "Assualt" from the name, as per Iry's request]

I like it but I think there should be more faction levels required as in more than just UIT faction, say TPG faction, maybe Orion and other factions within UIT space. It needs to be more difficult to obtain since this type of spacecraft with a 6000m (or only 1500m in storms) radar range and can only be detected 500m away makes it the ideal 'sniper'.

Glad you like it Surb; I wasn't so sure myself. I've tried to keep it quasi-balanced, but I'm really not good at that sort of thing. The 'sniper' is sort of the concept I had in mind; as powerful as quad rails can be with the Hornet, the ship is really a sitting duck. I wanted to do something about that.

In regards to making it harder to access, my initial thought was to have it available after a long string of missions (a la the Raptor, the X1, the super-light, etc). However, after awhile I though, "Why stop there?"

For instance: Lets say that the prerequisite Black Ops mission is at the end of a very long string of UIT military missions. At the beginning, you're granted the SR/A, but there's a catch: you've got to fly the mission in the ship, and failing or aborting triggers a self-destruct mechanism. Thusly, the only way to stockpile the craft would be to repeatedly complete very a difficult spy mission. If a player manages to get 500 of 'em in one place, then its because they earned the investment.

Thoughts? Opinions? Criticism?

I would split this up into two variants. Rolled into one, it will be overpowered. One could get the same stats as the Hornet Mk3 plus stealth (the point is to disallow infiniboost), the other the same stats as vIsitor suggested plus the range extension.

Right. Tell me which stats, exactly, you think are overpowered, and I'll make the adjustments.

i would much rather see the hog TD with stats like that but with two light ports instead.

While I concur that the TD got hit pretty hard with the nerf stick (a bit too hard, if you ask me), I really don't feel that the stealth aspect suits it very well. The whole idea behind giving it to the Hornet is that the craft is generally somewhat under-appreciated, and its poor maneuverability makes it difficult to bring its guns to bear. The Hog, on the other hand, sees much more frequent use, and its already a highly agile weapons platform (for its size, anyway).

But, nevertheless, I'll keep what you've said in-mind.

What Spidey said, except the MK II version with 1 L port and a 51 drain.

I'm gonna nip this thread derailment in the bud and start another topic for you two to discuss the TD in. -_-;

i'd love a stealth hornet, it'd be awesome for rails and great for quad gems too (read, wtf where are those coming from)

I think it is a rather cool idea. As long as it isn't infiniboost.

Already taken care of, Mecha. -_o

Alrighty, any more suggestions on how this concept could be improved? Should I raise the mass? Lower the thrust? Increase the license requirements? Etc, etc. I want this to be relatively balanced, despite being just a design concept.

To save time, just announce when you coming in sector, and we'll try to look some other way, pretending not to see you.