Lit Fleet Junkie Flagship- The technical discussions of the GFFA (Capital Ships thread Mk. II)

It being an upgraded executor feels off to me.

I would say that "EX-F" is just a shortening of "Experimental Frame" or "Experimental Foundation", probably a new ship class too indev to get a class name and later got named after Sorrannan.

 

Personally, I always sort of assumed Sorannan died covering the rest of the fleet's escape when they ran into whatever wrecked the Pride/Intimidator and the EX-F was posthumously named in his honor - so whether or not it would've been a separate class originally is somewhat uncertain.

 

Surely then it would have been called the Sorannan, not the "Sorannan-class", which indicates that its a separate class. The way I see it there is direct evidence it's its own thing, no reason to assume its NOT its own class, nor any need to assume its just a heavily refitted version of some other class.

Refits rarely if ever get their own classes in star wars. We have multiseater versions of xwings, stealth cloaked executors, a superlaser subjugator, etc. Exceptions exist of course, like tectors, immobilizers, and enforcers but well, they aren't the rule.

 

As tidy as that would be, it's not so. EX-F, whatever it was, was built off of a Dreadnaught-class hull. The BFC books confirm it, and also exclude it from being an SSD. The real answer is that the mystery 3rd Black Sword SSD was the Enforcer.

Per Before the Storm:

Later in BFC Book 1:

Later, in Shield of Lies, the New Republic briefing shows the confirmed SSD Intimidator alongside EX-F and other Black Sword ships, and makes it very clear that Intimidator is the only SSD among them. On a related note, it's also our source for "third-generation"/ "late production" SSDs with the extra shield generator. One wonders why the Empire felt the need to add an extra shield generator to later Executors...

As an aside, Redoubtable being a very early Imperator, like the SD 489 the Gnisnal, makes sense, given the more virtuous and positive sounding Republican name over later, darker Imperial warship names like Obliterator, Executor, Annihilator, etc. Like Gnisnal being a very distinguished ship (given the OrBat contained on it), Redoubtable was damaged at Endor and sent to Black Sword shipyards for repair (it's mentioned in Before the Storm), so was distinguished enough to have been selected for Endor.

Additionally, the presence of Redoubtable proves that not all of the ships siezed by the Yevetha were actually part of Black Sword, and so means that the missing third SSD and other ships might NOT actually have been seized by the Yevetha or even been present with Black Swords sphere of operations. The only source for there having been a third Black Sword SSD was the Gnisnal OrBat, which might well have been outdated prior to the loss of the Black Fleet. That might be the real answer to the mystery third SSD right there. We know that both Isard and Clonepatine recalled the Black Fleet, so the mysterious 3rd SSD was either one of the SSDs that we later see among the Byss forces, or if it didn't make the journey was possibly what was destroyed at Cal-Seti and what led Isard to mistakenly believe that the entire Fleet had been lost.

Tyrant's Test gives us the final confirmation, that EX-F wasn't an SSD, when it indicates that only one SSD, the Intimidator, fled towards Byss after being reclaimed by surviving Imperials:

Only a single SSD present, in a group known to have included both Intimidator and the EX-F. Whatever the third SSD was, it wasn't the EX-F, but that of course raises the question of what it was. The evidence suggests a damaged SSD, but not not one damaged enough to have been outright destroyed and which was still intact and spaceworthy enough to reach a repair yard. Only a few SSDs were damaged or destroyed prior to Endor: Enforcer, Terror, Vengeance, and Cloaked Fondor SSD. We see all except Enforcer outright destroyed in massive explosions. Enforcer is only described as being damaged by Rebel forces but notably NOT destroyed, and sometime well before Endor.

the Executor-class SSD Enforcer was the third "mystery SSD" from the Gnisnal OrBat, undergoing repairs in a secure rear-Echelon Oversector (per the Warfare Guide description). Gnisnal was destroyed just prior to the departure of the Enforcer, and so the OOrBat on it wasn't updated afterwards.

Enforcer either made it successfully to Byss, or broke down at Cal-Seti along the way to Byss. It's the tidiest explanation for the 3rd SSD, the Cal-Seti mystery, and a good resolution to a classic 1989 RPG scenario.

 

I really need to sit down and read the Black Fleet Crisis novels again. I've read Before the Storm about two or three times whilst skimmed through Shield of Lies. Currently in the Jedi Prince saga and then on to Kenobi. Was planning to do the Corellian trilogy next but I'll post-pone that until after BFC and another Prequel set.

 

When I re-read my classic EU comics, novels, etc, I always try to keep my old handwritten continuity Notes with me for reference purposes. I also refer often to the classic Novel References where applicable:

https://www.theforce.net/swtc/novels/index.html

...worth keeping in mind, especially for the BFC Trilogy.

 

From a brief skim, i don't think the "Enforcer hypothesis" works at all, after being damaged, the Enforcer "limped to" and was being repaired over the planet Phaylenn, which the essential atlas companion guide places in the inner rim. Arguably the planet should have been closer to Bespin imo, it feels weird for the ship to limp from "near Bespin" to the inner rim, but I digress.

The adventure itself contains the Enforcer's destruction over Phayleen which creates an obstacle course for the player characters who crash landed during the battle and are escaping on a stolen imperial ship.

The third SSD being outdated information makes plenty of sense, but not every unnamed SSD needs to be mapped to a named one, which carries the unfounded assumption that we had managed to see all of the Empire's SSDs at some point.