Hand Drawn in Photoshop CS3.

As you might be able to tell by the lack of similar work in my gallery, this is my first full blow attempt at something like this, with this degree of execution. Following the actual submission, I'll go back and fill in this space with a long winded "in game" summary of the design's origins.

"When asked about the inspiration for the Phalanx hull designs, longtime capsuleer and founder of the small staffed but very old corp, 'Maurader [sic] Knights' Peacewise claimed the following.

'It was intended from the start to be a ground up re-design of the Gallante Brutix, an experiment which perhaps exceeded its fairly humble stated goals. Given the re-newed basis of exploration in New Eden it can be seen why pilots would be seeking hardier vessels to stake their claim with. While the Brutix is unparalleled in its class for dealing out damage, it may leave a lot of early Gallante BC pilots wanting for something they can take out on their own. Phalanx, as the name denotes, focuses on shields and defense, in a way that's unique for many Gallante pilots.'

Indeed Peacewise is a Caldari born and raised, but claims to swear his clone by his heavily shield tanked Myrmidon.

'It's not a common practice certainly, but if there's one thing I've learned from my days in the Caldari frontier of venture capitalism: you can never go wrong with a quickly renewing buffer between yourself and your foes. Over time I've become more and more impressed by the drone bay capacity and hybrid damage bonuses the Gallante ships call their own, and I even find myself agreeing with some of their political agenda. The way I see it, this might be useful in the Gallante extending the olive branch, or at worst, stealing away what limit resources of pilots the Caldari have with a truly hybrid design to win them over.'

On the aesthetics Peacewise inferred that while drawing from a number of sources, he tried to stay true to the Gallante vision.

'There's some very clear Amarr influence, especially in the main and rear armor cowling, which is as much a testament to the Gallante's intrinsic use of armor heavy designs as to their proximity to the Amarr Empire. Much of the rest of the ship was an attempt to marry some of the most attractive elements of Gallante construction into a ship that's as clear and concise as possible. The extensive thruster arrays are housed snugly within their rounded cowling, short, very steep anhedral winglets house embedded sensors and maneuvering thrusters (lord were those winglets a pain to articulate just right,) the hi-slots for weaponry are placed along the oscillating curve of the ship's midline, separated only by an extension designed for rapid drone release. External viewports, due to the sensitive and hazardous intended role of the Phalanx, are kept to a minimum, with notable control centers over the forward and side guns, and a dorsal command center to oversee the action. A neat little trick is played with what look like hanging armor skirts in the front. These are in fact shield rectifiers which help play the part of keeping our projected stats so high. Beyond the functional aspects however, the Phalanx has a lot of nice curves, and if it's picked up by contract from one of the research and production lines out there, I really think it'll be pretty widely enjoyed.'

In a move that certainly won't earn him any friends in Brutix design team, Peacewise says 'at least it doesn't look like a flying bull scrotum.'

We do have the following on projected baseline stats for the hull, generously offered by the design team at Maurader Knights:

Tier 1 ('at this point though, anything could happen' - Peacewise) Gallante Battlecruiser

Structure Hp: 4,438
Armor Hp: 3,906
Shield Hp: 4,195
Sh Recharge: 140ks
Capacitor: 2500
Cap Recharge: 650ks

Max Velocity: 148 m/s
Cargo Cap: 350 m^3
Drone Capacity: 75 m^3
Drone Bandwidth: 50 mbit
Powergrid: 1,200
CPU: 400
Targeting Range: 50km
Signature Radius: 300
Scan Resolution: 200

Fitting
Low: 6
Medium: 4
High: 7
Turrets: 7

Battlecruiser skill bonus:
5% medium hybrid dmg per level
3%-5% shield recharge per level ('We've still got people looking into this one, I don't know if it's even possible, or if our fallback of trying to secure 5% capacitor recharge per level is possible.... so much of this stuff is hardwired back into the very parts themselves that it makes the whole thing a mess. It's like building a starship and then hiring someone to do talk therapy with the thing so you can figure out while of the bolts from manufacturing is preventing it from synchronizing shields across the board.'- Peacewise)

When asked for final thoughts now that the design has been released into the public sphere Peacewise had one final retort.

'This'll either float or sink like a lodestone in a magnetic storm. But if this does find a buyer and we can make good on bringing this kind of quality ship to New Eden, you can be sure I'll be pushing for the the Command Ship variants Herostratus and Thermopylae as soon as possible.'"