StarCitizen:Consolidated Outland

Consolidated Outland is a StarCitizen:Human spacecraft development and manufacturing company based in StarCitizen:Stalford, StarCitizen:Rytif, Bremen. The company was founded by trillionaire StarCitizen:Silas Koerner in an effort to disrupt modern spacecraft manufacturing and design conventions by releasing the StarCitizen:Mustang, a low-cost, high-utility ship design of Koerner's own imagining. Koerner followed the successful launch with a separate effort to produce a modular colonization ship, the StarCitizen:Pioneer, launched in late StarCitizen:2947. All aspects of ship production, from initial design to final specifications, are overseen by Koerner.<ref name="galactapedia">Template:Cite RSI</ref>

History

Consolidated Outland and its Mustang spacecraft are the creations of trillionaire StarCitizen:Silas Koerner. Born a billionaire, Koerner was the sole heir to a family fortune that was generated in the early days of the Bremen System's settlement. His several-times-great grandfather was responsible for settling much of the planet's temperate regions and profited heavily when the newly formed United Empire of Earth chose the world to feed the StarCitizen:Tevarin war effort. Koerner was not content to sit on his initial fortune, and he doubled it repeatedly through investments that seemed outrageous but proved successful. At age sixteen, he invested half his fortune in a small jump communications company, which obtained a UEE sponsorship and grew quickly. Millions invested in fish farming reaped a large return when StarCitizen:Earth-based seafood, which could be grown easily on Bremen, became popular on developing colonies. The pattern continued as he invested in electronics, StarCitizen:mining, remote charting, and the increasingly faltering terraforming industry, in each case with success.

Koerner's interests are diverse, ranging from shipping magnate (full owner of StarCitizen:Tri-Cross Lines, among others) to news mogul (with a controlling interest in no fewer than nine text-cast and holo outlets). Despite his prominence, he maintains little of a public personal life, and tabloids that have followed him for any sign of scandal have consistently come up empty. Koerner's principal interest is astronautics. Since crossing the multi-billion mark at age 22, he has become a passionate space pilot and a collector of rare ship designs. His collection, which numbers some three hundred ships, is housed in a large underground museum on Bremen and includes a vintage Roberts Space Industries StarCitizen:Zeus and the sole surviving Drake StarCitizen:Lobster prototype, which remains unflown and still packed in its shipping foam.

Consolidated Outland is the result of his lifelong interest, an attempt to build what he considers the perfect spacecraft. Although the name and associated corporate background are intended to imply an alliance of distant worlds working toward a noble technological goal, Koerner owns one hundred percent of Consolidated Outland. No Mustang variant takes shape without his input, and he has been known to appear unannounced on the factory floor, insisting that changes be made to in-production spacecraft.

Consolidated Outland is based on Koerner's homeworld of Bremen, and no corporate facilities are located offworld. Koerner's private property is also located on Bremen, and he reportedly leaves the planet only for leisure, with test flying a new spacecraft model on the fringes of StarCitizen:Sharon's Nebula being a favorite pastime. He communicates with buyers and offworld interests exclusively via telepresence robot.

While Koerner declines to comment on his personal life, he has been outspoken in his criticism of other manufacturers' spacecraft, finding fault with designs ranging from the Aurora (which he called a "flying trash can") to the StarCitizen:Gladiator (which he called "a half-assed toy for full grown children to play fighter hero") to the Freelancer (in unprintable terms). Koerner is also an avid star racing fan. He owns a top-tier StarCitizen:racing team outright, StarCitizen:The Blue Devils, and maintains luxury box seats at all StarCitizen:Murray Cup events.<ref name="portfolio">Template:Cite RSI</ref>

Conversion kits

Consolidated Outland began by producing vanity spacecraft conversion kits. The conversion kit business was Koerner's attempt to enter the industry quietly, to demonstrate that he could marshal the resources needed to produce high-quality aerospace parts before introducing the StarCitizen:Mustang.

The first range of conversion kits were high-quality "style" kits for common spacecraft, including chrome trim for the StarCitizen:Aurora CL and decorative spoiler attachments for the StarCitizen:Freelancer. No new craft based on these designs are available today, and existing ships fetch large sums on the secondary market. The reaction from specialists at the time was that they were high-quality attachment parts that served no practical purpose, and appeared to be Koerner's attempt to "fix" what he saw as visually broken spacecraft designs.

The company found broader success with the aftermarket StarCitizen:F7A Hornet kit, which converts the appearance, but not the hardpoints, of a civilian Anvil Hornet fighter to match its military counterpart. With the launch of the Mustang, manufacturing of the F7A conversion kits ceased, although the kits remain readily available. It is unclear whether this was due to a desire to focus on Mustang development or to reports that the conversion kits were not properly licensed through Anvil.<ref name="portfolio"/>

Mustang

Template:Main The Mustang is the ship Koerner had long wanted to build, a stylish, fast, and low-priced alternative to the RSI Aurora and Origin 300 series. The Mustang looks like nothing else in space and uses over fifty unique alloys to keep its weight down and allow for mass production on a less developed world. Internally, the majority of its systems come from the company directly, from the Consolidated Outland StarCitizen:Magma Jet engine to the Consolidated Outland StarCitizen:Icebox P cooling system. Some systems, such as weapons and shields, are still provided by outside suppliers; Consolidated Outland maintains that it does not construct weapons but simply allows weapons to be mounted on its ships for defense.

While only the standard StarCitizen:Mustang Alpha is currently available for sale, reports claim that a series of variants are available in limited numbers to select buyers, such as outerworld militia units, and that these are being developed with an eye toward eventual wide release. None of these ships will be the StarCitizen:Twin Mustang, a makeshift long-range double-fuselage variant developed early on by welding two incomplete StarCitizen:Mustangs together. The Twin was unstable, and a resulting crash killed two test pilots. Koerner issued a rare quote to the press, stating that the Twin Mustang was a "terrible, terrible idea, which will not be revisited."<ref name="portfolio"/>

The future

Although the basis for Koerner's involvement in any business is difficult to determine, Consolidated Outland appears to be a lasting venture. With the discovery of additional metal resources on Bremen and the general success of the Mustang range, the company is expected to continue developing new designs.<ref name="portfolio"/>

References

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