After the sad news of Colin Cantwell's passing this week, I decided to create a ship pack to pay homage to the man who helped to give Star Wars ships their iconic feel.
The Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser is named for him and although it never appeared in its intended major role in the Solo movie, it is still a cannon ship in the Imperial navy and the perfect ship to honour this wonderful man's memory.
So lets get stuck in:
The Overall Design:
The design of the Cantwell-class was originally pitched as the main Imperial ship during the development of A New Hope. Although discarded for other designs, it was picked up again for the Solo film but again was unfortunately side-lined and only appears in a blurry recruitment film for the Empire. However we do have a load of information on this ship to help bring it into the game.
We know it was designed to capture small ships in its powerful tractor beams, either reeling them in for capture or pushing them away to prevent them from attacking the fragile Cantwell-class. Because of this, it was used as a customs ship on busy Imperial worlds to prevent smaller ships from slipping through customs and smuggling illegal cargo onto Imperial worlds; or as a substitute for Interdictors in battle fleets when an Interdictor was not available.
For my design, this ship will be a medium ship that will fill a similar roll to an Interdictor however will still work alongside them.
Cantwell I-class Arrestor Cruiser:
The first variant of the Cantwell, this ship is rather weak attack wise, with only two dice in its front and side arcs and only a single blue die in the rear. Its slightly stronger squadron value is its bonus, with it reeling in its opponents ships then activating nearby squadrons to devastate the enemy.
Cantwell II-class Arrestor Cruiser:
The second variant of the ship gets a boost to its attacks in every arc, even if it sacrifices a squadron point. It also loses a support team in favour of more aggressive tactics with a turbolaser slot in its place, making this ship even more deadly.
RT-17 Repulsor-Tractor Beam Emitters:
The experimental refit for this ship adds the strong RT-17 Repulsor-Tractor Beam Emitters, allowing you to drag in ships and squadrons (which could be a friendly ship or squadron as well). This upgrade does show a flaw with the other experimental refit upgrades as they can be equipped to any ship with the available slot. Because of this, just assume that all official experimental refits except the Targeting Scramblers are restricted to the Interdictor or at least gains an Interdictor keyword restriction.
Cantwell:
The prototype of the class, the Cantwell is even more effective as a suppressor ship, able to capture twice the amount of ships or squadrons and even after you move, letting you drag in further away squadrons and ships into the range of friendly ships. This does come at the cost of your attacks, but that's worth it with the Cantwell's lower armaments.
LT-319:
The dishes on the Cantwell-class reminded me of the IGV-55 surveillance vessel from Rebels so it inspired me to make a crew upgrade for the controller LT-319; I can see the Cantwell-class being used as a surveillance vessel as well as a customs ship. LT-319 essentially gives you access to a weaker but more frequently useable Slicing Tools, letting him spy on an enemy ship and potentially interfere with their plans as long as they don't get lucky and catch on to his spying.
TIE Heavy Squadron:
As the Heavy was released at the same time as the Cantwell, I felt it was fitting to add it in with this artical as well. It is very similar to the ARC-170 of the Republic with both Counter and Bomber to show off its rotating heavy weapons turret. It is also slow like the ARC-170, but is weaker in both hull and anti-ship values, preventing it from being the deadliest of bombers.
Lyttan Dree:
A good friend of Solos in the Imperial navy, Dree was a skilled pilot like his friend, however he actually followed Imperial rules and was seen as a good cadet. His ability take inspiration from X-Wing where his presence could give allies rerolls. This is very similar to Swarm and can be stacked with it to really boost your swarms precision!
The Conclusion:
The Cantwell-class shows us the evolution of the amazing design language of Star Wars, it was very obviously an early design, but you can clearly see the future designs of the Empire in this ship.
Colin Cantwell will be sorely missed but his designs will live on forever.
Thank you all for reading,
Watcher Leader Out.