Long the neglected stepchild of Elysian spacefaring endeavors, the Niad-class freighter was the only design the Elysians ever fielded in significant numbers. A multipurpose cargo and passenger hull, it was somewhat inefficient compared to other designs in service, but matched with Elysian needs well. Primarily built to support colonial efforts, it allowed colonists to be pared with their own supporting equipment, enabling colonists to be delivered right alongside their infrastructure. Outside of this relatively niche role, it preformed poorly, inevitably running at barely above half capacity. Most Niads were lost during the 2nd Battle of Elysium, when they were expended as suicide ships to blunt the deWulf attack.
The Elysian freighter again borrows from the “Elysian Standard” hull form, but this time instead having a long rectangular main cargo structure behind the habitation block. The big difference is that with the Elysians I wanted to get away from the container-centric design that other ships have (heresy I know!) And instead go with a more old school cargo doors and decks style. My reasoning is that the Elysians have a more deeply automated setup, with little cargo bots loading pallets as fast as can be done, instead of going with a containerized setup. It loses something in overall volume and flexibility, but picks up a bit more cargo capacity as a trade off. Given that the Elysians never did need massive cargo lift capacity, it seems fitting. You might notice I don’t have engines on this sketch; that was a little bit of an oversight on my part. I’m not sure where I’d put them, either on the habitat or cargo blocks, but I do know they’d be on the top and bottom as a pair of engine units.
Dollarton Proxima Shipyards 