Question to the loremakers and branding teams – Why is Crusader the way that it is? It’s founded by this humanitarian visionary who was the victim of state sponsored terrorism, and markets itself as the good guy manufacturer. Why is it the only manufacturer of indiscriminate bombers? Not even Aegis has a gravity bomber, they just build torpedo platforms.
It’s super weird. You would think that Dunlow would be a conscientious objector, even if contracted by the military they would just build logistics and support ships, but bombers are the tip of the spear when it comes to collateral damage.
Is this a lore related topic? The current board has moved away from the ethics and vision of Dunlow to focus more on the bottom line?
Is this a branding mistake? When the C2 was being concepted someone was like “it would be cool if it had bombs” and we got the A2 and now just have to live with the dissonance of this choice?
Hi @Coyote_of_Mars –
We answered your question in this installment of Loremakers: Community Questions (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/19850-Loremakers-Community-Questions). Adding our answer here too so it lives in this thread. Thanks for the question!
As for Crusader Industries, they have always been dedicated towards helping the people of the Empire. Under Dunlow, they’ve made ships for the military since the company’s earliest days when the Army purchased their vehicle transports. Not long after in 2821, the Hercules Starlifter was conceived as a military vehicle from the struts up. When Kelly Caplan became CEO in 2863, she began an effort to expand the corporation towards a more military focus, not only in an effort to combat the growing Vanduul threat but also to help defend their fledgling planetary interests. This led to the development of the Mercury in 2892 and eventually the Ares in 2949. So rather than the A2 Spirit being an abandonment of their core principals, it represents a gradual evolution on how the company sees its place in a changing Empire.