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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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 Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:01 am Post subject: Z-Wing Atmosphere Combat Starfighter |
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Z-Wing Atmosphere Combat Starfighter
Craft: Modified Incom/Subpro Z-95 I3 Headhunter
Affiliation: General / Rebel Alliance
Era: Rebellion
Type: Close Support Combat Starfighter
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 11.8 meters
Skill: Starfighter Piloting: Z-Wing
Crew: 1
Crew Skill:
Starfighter Piloting 3D+2
Starship Gunnery 3D+2
Starship Shields 3D+1
Cargo Capacity: 40 kilograms
Consumables: 2 days
Cost: 55,000 as modified. Not Available For Sale
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Nav Computer: Yes (limited to 2 jumps)
Maneuverability: 1D (4D in atmosphere)
Space: 6
Atmosphere: 520; 1,500 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 1D
Sensors:
Passive: 15/0D
Scan: 25/1D
Search: 40/2D
Focus: 1/2D
Weapons:
2 Triple Blasters (Fire Linked)
Fire Arc: Front
Skill: Starship Gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-5/10/17
Atmosphere Range: 100-500/1/1.7 km
Damage: 3D
2 General Purpose Warhead Launchers
Fire Arc: Front
Skill: Starship Gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1/3/7 for missile and torpedoes, 1/2/5 for rockets and bombs
Atmosphere Range: 50-500/1/5 km if a missile, torpedo or rocket, 30-100/300/700 if a bomb
Damage:
9D if a concussion missile or proton torpedo is used
10D if a heavy rocket is used
11D if a heavy proton bomb is used.
Capsule:
Close Air Support is a mission that is often overlooked in the development of aerospace combat, and yet it is one of the most potent applications of starfighter combat power. The Empire's fleet-based starfighter pilots deride their Army Support Wing counterparts as second-rate fliers, not up to the standards of fleet combat, while the Alliance has made token efforts in the area of close air support, in the form of the T-47 combat airspeeder.
The Battle of Hoth was a wake-up call for Alliance Command. While the T-47 was well suited for reconnaissance and light combat against Imperial Army Line and Mobile units, it was clearly outmatched by the heavy guns and armor of the AT-AT units. Losses were high and much valuable equipment was abandoned, unable to be loaded onto the transports in time to for the evacuation.
Alliance Command devoted intense study to the harsh lessons of Hoth, wanting to insure sure such a defeat never happened again. One of their conclusions was that the Alliance needed a combat vehicle that could successfully engage Imperial Walkers and other armored units, providing effective cover throughout the course of the evacuation, and then extract itself from combat, rather than waiting to be loaded on a transport. These same features would also permit the vessel to act in support of the ground assault combat that would become necessary when the Alliance advanced to the liberation phase of the rebellion.
A common feature of most Alliance technical innovation is that, if something is needed, it is more cost effective to modify an existing vehicle than to design and build one from the ground up. Although the X-Wing, A-Wing and B-Wing were purpose built craft, the Y-Wing was a Clone Wars era military starfighter, and much of the Alliance's ground equipment and capital ships were either military surplus or converted civilian vehicles. Following this trend of converting existing vehicles, the Alliance selected the Z-95 Headhunter for conversion, and the Z-Wing was born.
The Clone Wars era Z-95 Headhunter was a successful fighter in its prime, but now, twenty years later, it was outclassed by more advanced Alliance and Imperial starfighters. With the introduction of the X-Wing and A-Wing, the Z-95 was rapidly being relegated away from front-line duties, or taken out of service entirely. As a result, there was a surplus of Z-95's available for conversion once the fighter was selected as the base template for the Z-Wing.
The Z-95 proved to be the perfect ship for the job. It was aerodynamic and maneuverable, durable and well armed, and easily accepted the modifications required to convert it into the Z-Wing. The only major modifications were the addition of a repulsorlift drive system pulled from a combat cloud car, a lightweight hyperdrive with a basic navcomputer, and the addition of general purpose warhead launchers capable of delivering a greater variety of ordnance than the stock concussion missile launchers.
In space, the Z-Wing is still outclassed by modern starfighters, but it is in the atmosphere where the Z-Wing truly comes into its own, as maneuverable as an A-Wing and even faster, and as durable as an X-Wing. While its stock triple-blaster cannon lack the power to penetrate the armor of an AT-AT, the Z-Wing commonly carries a wide variety of ordnance that more than makes up for that shortfall, from standard proton torpedoes and concussion missiles to heavy rockets, cluster bombs and sub-munition dispensers.
In combat, Z-Wings are generally deployed with an escort of A-Wings or X-Wings to protect them until they enter the atmosphere of the target planet, at which point the Z-Wing is more than capable of looking after itself. Z-Wings are commonly deployed on a planetary surface for extended periods of time in support of Alliance ground operations. Their simple and rugged design permits them to operate in harsh conditions with minimal support and personnel, often little more than a clearing covered with camouflage netting and a few crates of tools, spare parts and ordnance reloads.
After Endor, the Z-Wing truly came into its own as the Alliance shifted into offensive operations, performing more and more invasion operations where the Z-Wing proved its worth time and time again. It's a tribute to the ingenuity of the original designers of Incom and Subpro that their aging starfighter is still operating successfully in front-line combat situations decades after the design first came off the drawing boards.
Author's Note:
I wrote this up in homage to the US Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt, arguably the greatest CAS aircraft of all time.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Last edited by CRMcNeill on Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:37 am Post subject: |
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Nice... sounds like you should look up my Heptal atmospheric fighter, the mudhog bomber and the delta darts.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:42 am Post subject: |
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Sounds good. Can you get me the links?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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jmanski
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Location: Kansas
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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If you're gonna make an A-10 you need a large cannon in the nose.... high power and low fire-control.
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Ankhanu
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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Given that it's an atmospheric fighter, I'd lose the Hyperdrive to help explain the big boost in flight power/speed and maneuverability. Could even boost some power to the triple blasters to bring them to 4D based on the stronger power supply.
I am curious as to why there is an increase in atmospheric maneuverability... especially such a drastic increase.
Despite the questions, I love the concept. I love seeing the Z-95 retrofit like this to a specialized fighter.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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| jmanski wrote: | | If you're gonna make an A-10 you need a large cannon in the nose.... high power and low fire-control. |
I almost included it as I was writing up the stats, but I didn't want to unbalance it too much. IMO, this is more like a WWII-era CAS fighter. Unlike the Germans and the Russians, who built purpose-built CAS fighters, the Allies usually relied on converted fighter craft that didn't always have heavy cannon, and instead had to rely on ordnance to hit heavy targets.
A Z-Wing would just be the first step, and pilot feedback would get back to the engineers that they really need a 6D strength laser cannon to hit the heavy armor, and such a cannon might be found later on the Z-Wing Mark II.
| Ankhanu wrote: | | Given that it's an atmospheric fighter, I'd lose the Hyperdrive to help explain the big boost in flight power/speed and maneuverability. Could even boost some power to the triple blasters to bring them to 4D based on the stronger power supply. |
The idea that I was going for was that, while the Z-Wing is optimized for atmosphere combat (and relatively weak in space), it was still designed to be strategically mobile. If the Battle of Hoth had been fought with Z-Wings instead of T-47's, the Z-Wings would've hammered the AT-ATs and the base's shields would've been up throughout the evacuation. The Z-Wings themselves would've been able to provide aerial cover all the way up until the moment the last transport lifted off, and then used their hyperdrives to evacuate themselves rather than having to be abandoned like the T-47's.
The Z-Wings would've required fighter escort to get through the Imperial blockade, of course, but the risk would be better than out-and-out abandonment, as occurred with the T-47s. Of course, the Z-Wing doesn't have the range of an X-Wing or Y-Wing, so they would have to rendezvous at some point and dock on-board a capital ship, but at least they wouldn't be doing so under fire.
| Quote: | | I am curious as to why there is an increase in atmospheric maneuverability... especially such a drastic increase. |
One of the modifications I mentioned in the capsule was the installation of a repulsorlift system out of a combat cloud car (IMC, cloud cars are SF-scale speeders limited only to atmospheric operations). The concept here is that the repulsorlift system puts the Z-Wing's maneuverability through the roof in atmosphere, but in space, it still relies on the stock maneuvering system of the Z-95.
The idea here is for a fighter that is a monster in atmospheric combat, but needs X-Wings or A-wings to hold its hand while in transit between planets.
| Quote: | | Despite the questions, I love the concept. I love seeing the Z-95 retrofit like this to a specialized fighter. |
Glad you like. I'm considering a modified V-Wing fighter for use in fleet defense combat. My theory is that the Alliance picked up the V-Wings as surplus, then modified them by replacing the astromech socket with a basic hyperdrive so that the V-Wing wouldn't be dependent on a hyperdrive ring. V-Wings would fill the fleet escort role in space combat, freeing up the other Aurabesh-series starfighters for attack duty.
In the event of a sudden retreat, the V-Wing's hyperdrive would be equipped with two pre-programmed courses, no more than a few dozen lightyears in length. The first would be the primary escape rendezvous, the second would be the alternate, and both points would be in deep space, a dozen or more lightyears from the combat zone. In the event of a fighting retreat, the capital ships could jump to hyperspace without waiting to recover their fighters and pull back to the rendezvous point to recover the fighters once they are all out of danger.
An additional use for such a basic hyperdrive would be to permit ferry flights, allowing the starfighter to transit between planetary bases within the same sector without the use of transports (and this would apply to both the Z-Wing and the V-Wing). Long range strikes and tactical and strategic mobility would still be the province of the X-Wings and Y-Wings, but a hyperdrive likes this would certainly have its uses.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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jmanski
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Location: Kansas
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | I almost included it as I was writing up the stats, but I didn't want to unbalance it too much. IMO, this is more like a WWII-era CAS fighter. Unlike the Germans and the Russians, who built purpose-built CAS fighters, the Allies usually relied on converted fighter craft that didn't always have heavy cannon, and instead had to rely on ordnance to hit heavy targets.
A Z-Wing would just be the first step, and pilot feedback would get back to the engineers that they really need a 6D strength laser cannon to hit the heavy armor, and such a cannon might be found later on the Z-Wing Mark II.
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That is acceptable.... 
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garhkal
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting stuff, though it might be easier to read if you posted each ship in its own section...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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Ankhanu
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:12 am Post subject: |
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Hmm, I see.
See, what I'm reading is that you're dramatically adding to the bulk of the Z-95 by adding two whole engines to the frame that isn't designed to hold them. Space within a space/aero-frame is exceedingl limited. Though you're adding more power to the ship, you're also adding a lot of weight, and messing up the aerodynamics. Repulsor engines are not maneuvering engines, they're essentially the thrust source. Maneuvering is generally via thrusters, flaps and at a gross scale, adjusting the angle of main thrust. A new repulser engine would provide speed (granted that is was faster than the old one, and that the extra weight didn't completely offset the increase), but not maneuverability.
Based on adding the two engines to the frame, I would predict a loss in performance rather than a dramatic increase.
While the Bespin Cloud Cars have a move of 520, simply fitting their engine onto a Z-95 would not confer the same speed. The Z-95 is a much larger and heavier craft than the tiny little cloud cars.
The problem with the stats and explanation is that there is only improvement and no trade-offs for gaining those improvements. For example, to build maneuverability, you'd need to upgrade the maneuvering thrusters, reduce weight and maybe install atmospheric maneuvering fins or something of the like. One way to reduce weight is reducing hull plating, or removing heavy shield generators… certainly not adding in the weight and bulk of a hyperdrive.
While it would be good to have a hyperspace capable aerial fighter to jump around like you suggest, it sounds like one of those things that would have to be compromised to develop its atmospheric capabilities. Ships designed for heavy atmosphere use are almost always short-range ships, for some of the reasons stated above.
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Ankhanu wrote: | Hmm, I see.
See, what I'm reading is that you're dramatically adding to the bulk of the Z-95 by adding two whole engines to the frame that isn't designed to hold them. Space within a space/aero-frame is exceedingl limited. Though you're adding more power to the ship, you're also adding a lot of weight, and messing up the aerodynamics. Repulsor engines are not maneuvering engines, they're essentially the thrust source. Maneuvering is generally via thrusters, flaps and at a gross scale, adjusting the angle of main thrust. A new repulser engine would provide speed (granted that is was faster than the old one, and that the extra weight didn't completely offset the increase), but not maneuverability.
Based on adding the two engines to the frame, I would predict a loss in performance rather than a dramatic increase. |
I see it as more of an upgrade than an addition. Don't forget that all starfighters have an existing repulsorlift system that makes them VTOL capable. My assumption is that, in this case, the engineers are simply swapping out the existing repulsorlift system for one that is more capable. IIRC, stock Z-95's have a Space of 7, which I chopped to 6 to reflect the added mass of the beefed up repulsorlift.
As far as maneuverability, the RAW doesn't really give us a clear view of how repulsorlift vehicles maneuver, apart from the fins on speeder bikes and swoops and the retractable air scoops on the T-47. For me, it was an easy assumption to make that the repulsorlift field that held the craft in the air and moved it at high velocities could also be used to generate lateral thrust as well. Maneuvering thrusters and main drive angling would work fine in Space, but IIRC, starships don't kick in their main drive until they are extra-atmospheric.
| Quote: | | While the Bespin Cloud Cars have a move of 520, simply fitting their engine onto a Z-95 would not confer the same speed. The Z-95 is a much larger and heavier craft than the tiny little cloud cars. |
That's according to WEG, and they have screwed up the Scale system all to hell. IMC, cloud cars are Starfighter-scale, but limited to atmospheric operations only, so as to keep them distinct from airspeeders. It's all part of a menagerie of rule changes I have made to better reflect the SWU as I see it.
If you like, I have no problem with you changing the wording for your own personal use to simply say that it has an upgraded repulsorlift system and chop the Maneuver down to 3D or something. Speaking for myself, my ultimate goal was to design a starfighter that was faster and more maneuverable in atmosphere than any other starfighter, including the A-Wing and the TIE Interceptor, and that gave me some pretty high numbers to clear.
| Quote: | | The problem with the stats and explanation is that there is only improvement and no trade-offs for gaining those improvements. For example, to build maneuverability, you'd need to upgrade the maneuvering thrusters, reduce weight and maybe install atmospheric maneuvering fins or something of the like. One way to reduce weight is reducing hull plating, or removing heavy shield generators… certainly not adding in the weight and bulk of a hyperdrive. |
The other factor is cost, in that, if one is willing to pay more, they can have added performance without appreciable loss in other areas. The major thing I changed was the upgraded repulsorlift system, which chopped the Space to 6, and added a basic hyperdrive. I know the description of the Z-95 in the Rebel Alliance sourcebook says that Z-95s can't be fitted with hyperdrives, but that hasn't stopped it from happening in the EU, and if something the size of an A-Wing can have a x1 hyperdrive, then it isn't too much of a stretch of imagination to see a x2 hyperdrive on a Z-95.
| Quote: | | While it would be good to have a hyperspace capable aerial fighter to jump around like you suggest, it sounds like one of those things that would have to be compromised to develop its atmospheric capabilities. Ships designed for heavy atmosphere use are almost always short-range ships, for some of the reasons stated above. |
As I described in the capsule, having a fighter perform this mission and still be hyperspace capable was part of the design requirement, in keeping both with Alliance doctrine of using HS capable fighters, and with the projected missions they wanted to use this fighter for.
You make some valid points, but in the end, both of our POVs are going to come down to what we assume technology is and is not capable of in the SWU, and everyone is going to have their own ideas, most of which will conflict. Ultimately, I see what I've written up as plausible and workable. If you disagree, but still want to use the ship, I have no problem with you editing the stats to something you feel more appropriate.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Ankhanu
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I'm comfortable with the idea of modifying to fit my understanding of Star Wars reality and game rules... just offering up my critiques of what you've put forth (I see that as a major point in posting something to a board, a desire to talk about it). I still don't agree with your decisions, but, yours is not my game, and it all happens in Imaginationland... anything is possible 
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jmanski
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | IIRC, stock Z-95's have a Space of 7, which I chopped to 6 to reflect the added mass of the beefed up repulsorlift. |
Actually I think it's 6. It probably should be 7 in all honesty, though.
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Ankhanu
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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Nah, it is 7... at least in the Star Wars Sourcebook 2nd ed.
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Ankhanu wrote: | | Nah, it is 7... at least in the Star Wars Sourcebook 2nd ed. |
Wherever I chopped the stats from said 7. I think it was the Gry Srth compilation.
My thinking is that, because of the nature of Alliance starfighter combat doctrine, any front line fighter craft would need a minimum hyperspace multiplier of x2 and a minimum Space of 6. Anything else would be relegated to other duties, like training or local patrol missions.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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