Larger than a bomber but smaller than a ship of the line, frigates occupy an interesting space in the pantheon of warships. While they lack the heavy armor and the capital weaponry of a cruiser, frigates are more maneuverable and are highly configurable.
Official page: Idris-P peacekeeper/patrol variant:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pled ... is/Idris-P
A mark two "peacekeeper" variant developed for the UEE patrol services, the Idris-P strips the standard ship's ship-to-ship gun and spinal mount in favor of additional cargo capacity and superior speed.
This ship class has a very long history in Star Citizen, both in the in-game lore, and the development history of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 themselves.
The Idris class was originally the largest pledge ship in the Kickstarter campaign which was only made available on the final day (19 November 2012) at a standalone pledge of USD 1000. The Kickstarter campaign concluded on 20 November 2012.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ci ... escription
Cloud Imperium Games wrote:NEW - FINAL DAY ADD-ONs
"Star Citizen" t-shirt [$25]
"Squadron 42" t-shirt [$25]
"Shut Up and Take My Money" [$5]
Addon Ship: Anvil Gladiator Bomber [$150]
Addon Ship: ORIGIN M50 Interceptor [$85]
Addon Ship: MISC Starfarer Tanker [$175]
Addon Ship: Drake Interplanetary Caterpillar ($225)
Addon Ship: Retaliator Heavy Bomber [$250]
Addon Ship: Vanduul Fighter [$300]
Addon Ship: Idris-class Corvette [$1000]
Take note that the Idris was originally classified as a corvette.
The first update and details of the Idris class were featured in the Star Citizen website on 29 June 2013. This was also the time they split the Idris class into two variants: The original Idris pledges are now retroactively known as Idris-M, and the new, stripped down "patrol" models on a new limited release are classified as Idris-P: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm ... e-revealed
Cloud Imperium Games wrote:One of the most anticipated ships in the Star Citizen universe is the Aegis Dynamics Idris-class corvette. The largest ship available for purchase during the campaign, only 100 Idrises were made available, to preserve game balance! The Idris is a small capital ship capable of storing smaller fighters and being run by a team of players working together. Today we’re proud to reveal the very first images of the Idris, designed by Hollywood artist Ryan Church, as well as the ship’s specifications!
As part of the livestream, we are making an additional 150 Idris corvettes available for sale starting now. This second set of corvettes is not the fully-equipped military assault model available during the earlier event, but a stripped down peacekeeper version aimed at having less of an impact on the initial game balance.
Surplus sale! The United Empire of Earth’s Exploratory Services is retiring patrol-model 150 Idris-P corvettes which have seen hard service on the frontier. These ships will be available for public sale, with funds received going towards the ongoing SynthWorld project. Please note that all corvettes are the lighter model lacking the spinal mount turret emplacement. Buyers will be responsible for towing and equipping any craft purchased.
The next major update on the Idris class was released on 28 March 2014, which caused the Idris class to be now classified as frigates instead of corvettes, due to size issues of its fighter hangar. It was also revealed that an Idris class will be featured in the Squadron 42 singleplayer campaign.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm ... ris-Revamp
Chris Roberts wrote:The Idris corvette is dead; long live the Idris frigate!
The team at Foundry 42 is currently building the first missions for Squadron 42, the single player game that will launch you into the Star Citizen universe. The game’s story calls for the player to start the game aboard a smaller UEE capital ship. We assigned them the Idris, the scrappy little corvette with a fierce bite already designed by Ryan Church.
Working from the Idris for this piece seemed like a natural fit… until the team whiteboxing the interior found that the original concept was not sized to fit with the Hornet model. Since the Idris would need to carry multiple Hornets (in both Squadron 42 and the persistent universe) they needed to expand the flight deck. Other additions, necessary as we learned exactly how a capital ship would function, necessitated more inside: a tender to support repair operations, medical facilities for the FPS segment and so on. The Idris needed to get bigger and better!
In the end, the ship was a full hundred meters longer and a much more imposing threat than the patrol corvette we originally imagined. As such, we have made the decision to reclassify the ship. The Idris is now a frigate, and existing fiction will be updated to reflect this change wherever possible. We are not removing Idrises from anyone’s inventories; everyone who owned an Idris corvette yesterday owns an Idris frigate today. I’m hoping existing backers will be happy: you’re ending up with twice the ship you pledged for!
If you’re absolutely dead set on seeing a corvette in Star Citizen, have no fear: our designers and artists are going to get to work on a new, smaller corvette that will be made available in the future!
Please enjoy some of the latest Idris artwork included in this post. This is the ship as it stands today. Development subscribers will also get an extensive WIP article in today’s Jump Point magazine, launching later tonight (click here for more information on how to subscribe.) Pay special attention to the search-and-rescue ship, now included with every Idris… it’s one of the reasons we needed to reclassify!
That means an Idris class will have a hangar/flight deck carrying at least 3 fighters, some ability to repair them, and a comprehensive medical facility.