The ship was AWESOME - Full Breakdown

Today we're going to take a look at an AWESOME new ship in the Mandalorian Season 3 - the Cumulus Class Corsair. We'll breakdown everything official and speculated on today's Star Wars video!
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[@GavinTheGrape]

i like the idea that this was originally a CIS funded privateer vessel to raid republic worlds during the clone wars

[@EckhartsLadder]

Didn't consider that option.

[@andrewsever4651]

There’s actually an obscure separatist ship from Republic Commando that matches in size and somewhat in appearance. It’s just called the Separatist Cruiser on Wookiepedia

[@DIEGhostfish]

Remidns em of th Geonosians hip from Republic Commando shapewise.

[@FoxhoundAK74]

I love that idea too!

[@Jeff55369]

There are other options too... the galaxy is big. It could be something the hutt cartel or another crime syndicate put together. Or, It could have even been a pet project by one of the imperial governors to cause problems for one of their rivals.

[@DankGank]

I was really hoping they would capture it. It could have been a perfect mobile base of operations for the covert

[@mrcleanit4760]

I didn’t even think about that, that would be sick

[@mikeharvey9184]

I know, and it would have been great in the next season to hear "Mandalorian Fleet".

[@toptiergaming6900]

They are probably going to get gedions Arquitence class for that

[@SpaceAgeWolf]

Same; converting a pirate ship to being a planetary/settlement defense ship would’ve been dope. And it would’ve fit the themes of the Mandalorian nicely, especially this episode.

[@johnpatz8395]

I was thinking the same thing, I figured Bo would drop a squad onto the unshielded hanger bay after the snub fighters launched.

[@PetesHQ]

It was definitely great having something a bit different than the standard ships. I did love the ball Turrets

[@Mark-in8ju]

Manually-operated ball-turrets are such an anachronism is a sci-fi setting.

[@dustindubbo2892]

@@Mark-in8ju and in the Star destroyers you still have gunners sitting and manually aiming turbo lasers; Star Wars is advanced but most everything is aimed by humans.

[@davidteachout1888]

​@@Mark-in8ju So is the Civil War style broadside attacks cruisers do, and the starfighters dog fight like it's WWII. Does it make sense? No but it looks cool.

[@lyrebirb83]

@@Mark-in8ju yes. Schizotech is awesome.

[@skeptic_lemon]

@@TippyHippy what the fuck

[@inductivegrunt94]

This ship looks so cool! If only Din and co had captured it and used it as their mobile base for the future.

[@alexiel4406]

Let’s hope they get a Crusader corvette or a lictor frigate instead. Get some nice mando designed ships

[@SenorBigDong69]

Why do they need a mobile base? They are either going to end up with an actual base on Mandalore or Nevarro

[@Ozmogul]

Duuuuude, that would be sick! It would fit all the Mandalorians we've seen so far snugly. That ship, crewed by Mandalorians.... Ooohohohohohoh!

[@bcluett1697]

I was really hoping Navarro would claim it for defence. Could have been a good detterent from pirates like the ones in the Book of Boba Fett that didn't even have their own transports.

[@tylersoto7465]

@@bcluett1697 that's what I was thinking , nevarro could of kept it and actually defend itself to be a independent power and after they get wealthy enough from the asteroid belt mining they could build military ships of their own

[@aaronward7776]

I would have loved for the Mandos to take it for their base, such a cool design especially if they paint it to match the gauntlet

[@alexiel4406]

I hope we see the Mandos eventually getting some old mando designed ships like the lictor or the crusader

[@janmikaldouglas2767]

I'm still wondering what happened to Gideon's light Cruiser. I mean the Mandos were completely in control of that when Skywalker boarded and destroyed the dark Troopers. Where did that go?

[@littlekong7685]

@@janmikaldouglas2767 Taken by Bo's raiders after she lost the dark saber, she said they took her entire fleet and her armoury with them and left her. So presumably that included the hauler, and the cruiser captured in earlier episodes.

[@janmikaldouglas2767]

@@littlekong7685 Ah, okay, that makes a lot of sense. And I suppose in her depression at losing the sabre, and the 'right to rule', she just didn't argue the case when they wanted to take the ships with them. Thanks!

[@LIGHTNING278TH]

Not exactly well designed for what they would need it for. The weapons configuration is pretty poor for any target that is going to put up mild to stern resistance. Against any semi competent military force, as demonstrated, it goes down fairly easy.

[@Leonhardt_Nukryst]

The design somewhat reminds me of the eclipse dreadnought from legends, which is a neat detail and a nod to the dark Empire from the EU.

[@gamercore5216]

Same I always liked star wars ships with that slice down the front, The hammerheads and MC140 Scythe also have similar looks and are great as well.

[@Jedderz08]

When I first saw it I actually thought it was an eclipse dreadnought and I was just like "no way" and was so sad to realize that it wasn't

[@apocalyptica003]

@@Jedderz08 same I nearly shit myself when it was first revealed and I thought it was an Eclipse

[@Jedderz08]

@apocalyptica003 Yeah, I thought the whole planet was going to be destroyed and all that, but the real outcome to me is also really great due to the implications that a specified wide production pirate ship brings

[@minicle426]

​@@gamercore5216 Seems to have been loosely inspired by Triremes.

[@FoxhoundAK74]

Those upper deck cannons really look like the ones on the CIS droid control ship.

[@midnightrambler4468]

Conceptually it's just like the old pirate films, the guns pop out en-mass just before they fire on the town, just like in the old black and white/POTC films when the camera would pass by the ports and all the cannons would pop out along the length of the ship.....loved it.

[@rainbowappleslice]

There are so many cool little details in this ship: the laser shields for space travel, the ships wheel, the WW2 style ball gunners.

[@iddles2o]

This ship was hands down the best, most interestingly designed ship of the Disney era, loved it!

[@UnfairTeamz]

Those quad laser cannons actually look like the ones found on the Lucrehulk-class battleship, so maybe that's where the CIS aesthetic comes from.

[@rainbowappleslice]

I really love gorian Shard’s design. It looks a bit like they took a member of Davy Jone’s pirate crew in pirates of the Caribbean and put him in star wars and it really fits the pirate vibe.

[@justinamerican8200]

1:50 Those cannons there also look a lot like the turbo-lasers on the Trade Federation ships.

[@RedXlV]

Yeah, that's a very CIS-looking turret design.

[@jrvthatsme]

This ship seems to me to be at least partially inspired by the Hammerhead class cruiser from Knights of the Old Republic.

[@carlost856]

It looks a lot like the separatist cruiser from the Republic Commando game.

[@SenorBigDong69]

We already got a hammerhead ship tho

[@DaaaaaymanGreen]

Looks more like Palpatines Eclipse

[@v-Lex-v]

A sharp esges front does not equal hammerhead...

[@mrjtfang2]

@@v-Lex-v Compare a decent shot side by side with the hammerhead frigate or the thranta corvette. Same general hammerhead proportions, long neck housing weapon systems, rest of the body is in the back with wings. Silhouette's pretty similar.

[@rade-blunner7824]

I like the stripes, it reminds me of Chris Foss art, or also the Taiidan ships from Homeworld which I grew up playing, since I'm pretty sure his art inspired those designs. They were quite pirate-like too.

[@weavehole]

Came here to namecheck Chris.

[@cipren8645]

Was kinda sad when they shot this beauty down, truly one of my favorite ship design from the last few years

[@notnotkevinjohn]

I was actually kind of disappointed with the way this ship was destroyed. It seemed like they had built it up to be a genuine and significant threat, so much so that the very vulnerable pirates on the ground felt they could operate with impunity, but then Din and Bo were able to take it down without really breaking a sweat. Din didn't even feel the need to put Grogu somewhere safer than in the cockpit with him in a dogfight. I really thought, with the whole pirate theme here, that we were going to see this ship taken down with a boarding action by a Mandalorian strike team of some kind in a swashbuckling fight scene. It also sort of undercut the subplot with Captain Teva needing re-inforcements, when it seems pretty clear his squadron could have wiped out that Corsair pretty effortlessly and the remaining pirates would be fairly easy to mop up at that point.

[@RoboticPope]

Yes I was very underwhelmed. Bad writing imho.

[@Bzhydack]

Gorian Shard is called "Pirate King", is possible he had more than just this ship, and Carson Teva may know that. Pirate took just his flagship, because he knew he is going against practicly defensless planet. And Carson Teva most likely is using this attack to gain more force anyway. He would need them not to defeat this one ship, but to expand patroling capability of his base.

[@lucasart328]

its like rebels tv show isd and other ships being destroyed with ease just a kids show lol

[@noivern666]

A squad of X-wings and Y-wings destroyed the death star, and in real life ww2 wasn't that different... There is only so much their budget can do, and it still looked awesome

[@notnotkevinjohn]

@@noivern666 Right, so a squad of X-wings and Y-wings, like the squad the Captain Teva commands, should have had no problem taking out the Corsair. It's a minor plot hole, and I agree the scene looked great and was fun, but it still doesn't really add up.

[@Max_Flashheart]

Yeah Corsair was excellent they did a great job. Corsair comes the age of sail and relates to a privateer of the Barbary Coast. A Privateer is basically a pirate with a Letter of Mark that authorises them to commit piracy on specified vessels from enemy nations. So does that suggest that the Pirate King is working with Admiral Thrawn's backing? The Ship is painted in an almost "Dazzle" style camouflage that was used on WW1 Warships complicated ranging direction and ship ID.

[@AngeloBarovierSD]

The paint scheme is also reminiscent of a certain Jedi starfighter. Plo-Koon's was more linear sunburst than jagged tigerstripe but the colours felt similar.

[@MandalorSkyrd]

Honestly believe they just thought "Corsair" sounded cool and related to pirate so they went for it. It's also the ship's "type" so it doesn't have to be related to it's captain's profession.

[@stumbling_]

This episode really made me want a series dedicated to ship battles. Almost a star wars squadrons (Rogue Squadron) based story.

[@Zeknif1]

It is possible that some CIS clandestine shipyards were left undiscovered by the Empire after the clone wars and were either co-opted by pirate factions, or started doing business with them after taking precautions to ensure that the locations of these shipyards remained a secret.

[@shiftingeyethepoisonmuto584]

The ship does look amazing

[@tanoshiofm3852]

I liked your breakdown. In general, you can tell this ship really does well the function it was intended for.

[@hendrik7354]

The ship gave me CIS vibes all the time. I think it would be plausible that it used to belong to them (or at least someone who sympathizes with them)

[@XxLast__BossxX]

The pirates star fighters felt like the game Wing Commander.

[@lorewalkermaohao4602]

One thing you have to remember is that many planets had their own ships working alongside Imperial vessels, or were just independent like Hutt Space. There many smaller ship engineering corps throughout the galaxy. The Corsair-class in particular was from a declining system neighboring the Chiss that sanctioned ships to commit pirate raids to keep themselves alive. Thrawn put a stop to that. Shard may have formerly been a pirate working for aforementioned system, or he acquired his vessel after the piracy was stopped.

[@michaelkotcher5491]

I love the Corsair! I want one

[@ramblinnernd5905]

This was a pretty sick ship. I’m also fascinated hearing about the “Pirate Nation”. They make it sound like they’re a large enough faction to contend with the New Republic or Imperial Remnants. I’d love to see a three way fight!

[@matthewlayne5151]

I was really hoping they would steal the ship rather then completely destroy it

[@andrewadent4733]

Really they should have had the first "drop" been on the enemy ship, not the town. maybe right after Mando's distratction run pulling away fighters? What are the pirates on the ground gonna do? Best they could do is HOPEFULLY take a shuttle BACK to their ship. IF it's prepped. IF they've got one, and IF Mando or Bo'Katan don't immediately strafe it first thing. It's not like they gained that much by directly attacking the ground pirates. Plenty of time to kill em off later or ask for their surrender when their ship is captured or destroyed.

[@sirboomsalot4902]

Quad turbo lasers on top are also very similar in style to those found on the Luchrehulk, so I’m also heavily leaning towards this being a former CIS ship

[@johne.4884]

Anyone else think the pirate captain looked like a Jiralanhe (Brute) who fell asleep in a swamp?

[@commandertoastcz6256]

The outside of the ship looks very Imperial or Republic, so a thing that I think makes sense is if the original design of the ship in-lore was a CIS infiltration prototype - sneak onto a Republic planet, then roll out the guns on the underside of the ship.

[@saraphys5555]

Im almost positive I remember seeing this ship design on the Wookieepedia along time ago, in comic book artwork... I vaguely recall it was front-on, angled travelling just slightly perspectively bottom-left to upper-right, and the ship was in-atmo blasting a forest or something, and there was a mountain behind it... I wish I could find the image, but there's SOOO many ships, I dont know where to start. But I have a feeling you'll find the ship is from Legends...

[@carlost856]

Search for Separatist Cruiser. It's the one from Republic Commando.

[@saraphys5555]

Yeah, that looks like it! Well, slightly off mark of my recollection of "comic book style art", but that's the ship.

[@carlost856]

@@saraphys5555you still remembered it blasting a forest in the Kashiik level and the mountain from the Geonosys one, that's great. The ship is what I think looks closer at any rate. Close enough to have been a reinterpretation or another class of Geonosian ship.

[@michaeldillon5486]

The pirate ship turning out to be a big deadly bully and yet no match for serious warrior fighters was beautiful. It reminded me of this pirate board game I've played where you have to loot and pillage but then also repair and equip your ship. Sometimes you have to cut corners with repairs and cannons but you can still loot and pillage... and then another player attacks your weak ship and blows you out of the water!

[@mp5_Puppy]

it was really nice seeing something unique, in the sense that it seems to fires actual shells and not just a boomy bolt ball.

[@thatonelass3912]

This ship honestly gives me a little bit of a vibe of what we've seen of Geonosian ships in Star Wars, like the Separatist cruiser. Yes, it's a lot thicker horizontally, and a lot bulkier vertically than what we've seen of it in, say, Republic Commando, but it could very well be an iterative design or a heavily modified and customized variant that caught on to being a class of its' own. Like Gavin said, my take is that it's probably a CIS funded privateer vessel, designed by geonosians.

[@MehrunesKar]

I was 100% sure they were going to capture this ship, seemed like a perfect opportunity to have a backbone base of operations outside the planet. But I understand you need more than 2 people to do it

[@carlost856]

What for? They should still have Moff Gideon's cruiser.

[@mattia8327]

​@@carlost856 And the Gozanti transport. But the corsair ship looks cooler to be honest.

[@carlost856]

@@mattia8327 I don't know, add a mando paint job to the cruiser and it'll look awesome. They need something you can dock the N1 inside too.

[@robindowse7893]

It did have a strong CIS feel to it especially the quad laser canons reminds me of the ones on the trade federation ships in Phantom menace and the internals too but seeing as its pirates they probably stole alot of what they needed after the clone wars and built alot themselves

[@bradenvalentine1775]

I assumed the mention of a "Priate Nation" was refering to the pirates that took over an SSD in the Aftermath trilogy. Been ages since I read it though, so I could've been wrong. Would be cool for them to finally bring them back though.

[@tsunami729]

So we’re gonna eventually see the Annihilator…nice

[@AngeloBarovierSD]

​@@tsunami729 ...and Hondo? Please say Hondo. Make them give us Hondo!

[@horton3556]

I was really hoping that the Mandalorians were going to board and capture the ship.

[@X-Warrior.1119]

Perfect Idea💡: Next season of The Mandalorian... Mando & Bo, assemble a team {Rogue-One Style} to go to the pirate nation and steal all ship designs. And start building their own Armada Fleet.

[@muyeikasamurabi1602]

First thing that came to mind was Geiger's concept art for Jordorovski's Dune that never got made. There exists a book of storyboard art for that film that nearly every sci-fi film has lifted ideas from, Lucas included. The ships all have this weird shape and paint job like that. The documemtary is incredible. "Jodorovski's Dune". Check it out. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a nod to that old creative team

[@weavehole]

Highly recommend Hardware. The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss. Gorgeous book and still cheap.

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

I used to have a huge book with 70s sci-fi concept art, this ship looks highly reminiscent of those designs. Especially that curved/hooked front part, also reminiscent of the Eclipse class

[@alexishayes9935]

It was a gorgeous ship that I hope to see again

[@Atrociousnes]

this scene made me so excited not even for Star wars But the video game SC which has i cant wait to see this be a thing in the future

[@realjoedee]

I didn't notice it until this video how much it resembled Firefly from certain angles.

[@Roflberrypwnkac]

The navy combat and tactics were the best I've seen since the battle over Corrasant. The calls and every detail was a nice touch, and shard fought like a separatist.

[@lordsubziro2824]

What I like about this new ship was the lower bow section looks similar to the bow section of the Super Star Destroyer Eclipse and that that captain's command seat is similar to the command seat of the Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek 3: In Search of Spock. Both are located at the center of the command bridge and raised slightly higher than the other work stations surrounding it so as to give the captain a more demanding authority to command the vessel and, like on a ruler's throne, the captain looks down on his subordinates while they have to look up to him.

[@cryptonian101]

Love the ship design and the camo really made it unique 👌

[@ironbatman9689]

The placement of the fighter bay and bridge on the top means they safely deploy fighters while the guns underneath lay down heavy fire and their bridge will also be protected from any fire from an immobile or slow target.

[@AGrumpyPanda]

A quick word to add on to the ship designation, corsairs specifically were usually *privateers*, not just pirates. The difference being privateers were hired by nations to do piracy against their enemies on their behalf. Like some of the other comments have said, the ship may well have been built by larger shipbuilding powers to give to bonded pirate groups.

[@o.k.productions5202]

The Corsair doesn’t have many of the features or design philosophies of CIS ships but it does visually look similar, so I posit that it is a Quaren design vessel. This could explain things like the Nautical name and control systems/sensor readouts, as well as the shape being both similar to and completely different from Moncal designs.

[@merafirewing6591]

I would assume that the Empire does get ahold of these prior to the end of the Clone Wars, so it's not out of the blue that the imps would use it just as much as the CIS and later on pirates would always use.

[@kjames982010]

I liked the eclipse -like bow.... could be for ramming?

[@jayvhoncalma3458]

1:41 those quad turbolasers give it away eck but last time I checked quads are reserved for Lucrehulks and providences

[@Nastranai]

My guess would be that the Corsair is actually a classification of 'Ugly', or a ship made by utilizing parts of different ships. It's quite likely that a lot of pirate vessels in the Empire and New Republic era made heavy use of either cheaply bought, salvaged or stolen CIS, Republic and Imperial hulls and components and they then gave rise to certain classes of ship that were shown to be the most combat effective and then became widespread due to availability of components. I would imagine that the Cumulus is a hodgepodge of certain ships, I can see elements of the Hammerhead corvette in the ship's prow, CIS components in the consoles and Imperial/Republic bridge structures around the bridge, with the entire shape being smoothed out with the addition of extra armor plating, likely custom after many years of successful raiding. Against any proper warship or modern starfighter it'd certainly be lacking, but I imagine that's the beauty of the pirate fleet, their ships are ancient and outdated but the chances of them running into modern starships in a frontier or backwater sector is pretty much zero to none. Here's hoping we see more of these kind of designs!

[@jedisalamander2457]

Cumulus in the name makes me think that it's possibly tied to the Nihil of the High Republic, which use weather based nomenclature

[@jamesmachuta2010]

During the age of sail a Corsair was a moderately armed high-speed craft good for raiding as well as high-speed travel for sensitive cargos

[@gavinbradley8981]

Tanc a lelec can be heard faintly in the background as the atmospheric pirate ship cruises over the bleak desert.

[@jessemilstead810]

I absolutely love the fact that mando’s next ship after the razor crest was an N1. Being born in the 90s and the first of Star Wars I saw was the the Phantom Menace. I had N1 toys. Like yourself. That was the first Star Wars movie you saw. Or saw clone wars/revenge of the sith. Now we get to see one all these years later both in our world and the Star Wars universe! Not to mention the N1 is truly a quality Star fighter. Much much more well made then most Star fighters. They really cost some money and again we’re very well made

[@TehAntares]

One thing - as this configuration isn't likely standardized, the turrets may have different gun types installed sporadically. Some of them may fire laser, while others may use projectiles.

[@stephenwood6663]

I'm inclined to agree with your assessment that the Cumulus-class might have started life as a CIS design: the hook-nosed prow reminds me of the Geonosian ship that appears in Republic Commando, while the split across the side of the hull is reminiscent of the Providence-class Carrier/Destroyer. Even the colour-scheme is quite CIS, jagged stripes on a grey or bone background being a common scheme in the late Clone Wars.

[@Gate0r]

All I thought about when I saw this ship was how much the turrets looked like the ball turrets on the b17 and b24 from ww2. Good to see they’re still taking some inspiration from then

[@KaletheQuick]

Note: A Corsair was another word for a privateer, or one who engaged in piracy with the sanction of a government... Like imperial remnant. The CIS connection makes me want a whole big arc about reuniting the Mandalorians, I know the show is going to go the 'load bearing boss' approach, but it would be cool in longer format. Anyway, for that it would be neat if they found a CIS mothball fleet of their capital ships. Activating the droid crews because they don't have staff enough for it. Din and others who survived CIS droid attacks could have some interesting dynamics there. And if they got 3 of the big ships (idk what class they were) they would have a formidable fleet. It would THEN be cool to see that fleet of 3 go against a full imperial star destroyer and get wrecked. Losing one and the other two retreating. As the ISD was probably designed specifically to be able to counter those ships, and TBH the ISD needs a win on screen. I don't think in any film or live action it's actually gotten to flex and show off how much of a powerhouse it is, and win. Would be neat.

[@alexwest2573]

I could see the First Order using ships like this, handing them out to their buddies to use, like an export model, while keeping the version with better shields for themselves, on the other hand I do get a CIS vibe, like it could’ve been one of the ships that a system that allied with the Sepraratists used in their planetary defense forces.

[@spacebees86]

Ships are my favourite part of Star Wars and my favourite ships are the ones inspired by or even winking at real life ships and planes. It's always been obvious that physics are different in this universe and space/vacuum doesn't work the same. so it's easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy dogfights, bombing runs, and like this, old timey pirate ships with broadside cannons.

[@TheKarp]

Also have to raise that the quad cannons look similar to those used by CIS ships, namely the Lucrehulk. Of a smaller note, they were formerly illegal in the Galactic Empire (according to an older Star Wars locations book iirc)

[@mrjtfang2]

The Bottom Cannons DO look like mass driver cannons... When firing anyway.

[@fiveoneecho]

Cumulus probably refers to the fact that whoever manufactured this has a lineup with much larger vessels. Corsair does not in any way _have to_ indicate that it’s made by or for pirates. Take the F4U Corsair from WWII: often times things just get named cool names that project a certain image of what the thing can do or the ability the thing has.

[@stecmaxful]

omg thank you for putting the little red arrow on the ship, I almost completely missed it. The arrow saved my life. 10/10 arrow lives matter

[@llamatronian101]

IRL there were ships built specifically for piracy. They were sometimes extracted as tribute from more developed nations by the Barbary Coast nations. Basically "build us a ship to our spec and we won't use it on you, trust". Not the pirates you normally think of because this is North Africa not the Caribbean. Plenty of that tribute came from the USA because they didn't have much of a navy to fight with at the time.

[@Ekstrax]

Have to agree it looked AMAZING, those explosions and stuff, really good

[@Ultraelectromagnetic]

I find it really silly that Greef Karga was so adamant about making Nevarro an "independent" system but not investing into a planetary militia to protect the city and local space, and ended up calling the New Republic for help anyway when he was threatened by one pirate warship. Was also hoping the Mandalorians would board the Corsair too, it's a cool design and would've been a nice little "home base" ship for them.

[@eiite4578]

I love the fact it looks like a scaled down version of the eclipse ssd with the battering ram design on the front.

[@ryanartward]

I like the patterns on it. Early 20th century ships used stripes to make their movements difficult to track for spotters. I wish warships had more color on them instead of the usually bland gray.

[@nightgirlgaming1985]

In the Aftermath trilogy there was a group of pirates who conquered a Super Star Destroyer and turned it into a mobile city. I think it's very likely that this may be what founded the pirate nation mentioned in this episode.

[@Gigas0101]

The design of the ship made me think of something Imperial-adjacent, due to the ship's very Eclipse-lookin' bow and a profile similar to a star destroyer but with those elegant curves instead of the hard edges and lines of an Imperial ship. I just hope we get to see more ships like that one, something about that design just feels real good.

[@aye_its_sparky7164]

I think what could be is that this may be a pre existing ship type that's been heavily modified using surplus CIS equipment like the displays on the bridge, in fact the whole bridge itself does have a very CIS look to it. So either it's a modification or a scratch built by pirates for pirates.

[@JJJBunney001]

Old time navies used to have what were essentially state funded pirates, privateers. As long as they targeted enemy nations ships, they were not only given a free pass but sometimes actual support like ships and supplies. I wonder if this was a CIS version of that?

[@chrismormino8635]

Another thing to mention is the design of the 4 quad laser canons on top look quite similar to turbolasers on the lucrehulk in episode 1

[@mglmouser]

What differentiates a Pirate from a Corsaire is that the latter is actually paid by a state (king) to enforce sovereignty and commerce in a given area, with letters of mark proving the corsaire to be acting in the name of a ruler. This, this pirate king, being a corsaire, would actually be acting on the behalf of another yet unknown party.

[@avidityrar]

I would actually lean more towards the word corsair being closer to privateer (which is one of the definitions of a corsair), and that I believe gives us a better hint. A privateer was a ship, or group of ships, that were hired by the crown (for example by the French crown to help their ailing navy) to provide further help and defence for the French navy to have time to regrow their own assets. This fits perfectly if you think of the First Order, hiding in the Unknown Regions that has credits but need time to build their fleet... so they hire the Pirate King Gorion Shard, and perhaps more pirates as privateers to aid their small navy until they are ready to burst forth with their Supremacy etc. I think that fits nicely and I will stick to that prediction!

[@LordKalte]

Reminds me of the Marauder-class corvette, not for it's look but for it's use as a small capital ship with a squadron of fighter

[@quoniam426]

The correct type of weapon shown isn't rockets but self propelled shells. Shells thrown by a canon but equipped with a rocket motors to gain speed and able to direct themselves a bit, not a true rocket in itself but a way to fire more precise and more difficult to avoid shells so they don't lose speed by their ballistics and air resistance and extending range of canons quite a bit as a result (as well as kinetic impact of the ammo). Sounds reasonable for those turrets.

[@orionriftclan2727]

Also I think something else pointing at it being a droid ship is that it isn't great to operate in space due to the lack of atmosphere in some parts and only a ray shield between the bridge and space, but that wouldn't be a problem for droids

[@dexterm2003]

To me the bow of the corsair screams battering ram to allow it to ram and board larger vessels.

[@justsomeguy17199]

A corvette with a dedicated hanger, finally.

[@ohilevoeauca789]

I love that I was thinking very similar things to you assessment of the Cumulus' intent. However, I think its fighter capacity is lower than that, based on the size of the ship and its snubfighters. I think its physical capacity is eight ships: Four in bays, four on the deck, and four on combat patrol. It's just too damn small to comfortably fit twelve at once AND have enough space for crew, systems, and cargo. Perhaps the snubfighters have hyperdrives to facilitate this?

[@anderty4088]

Could be also mentioned that the hull design is sleek and feels quite unique. Truly well-done job by the designers.

[@Firefocus-fz2we]

1:35 These turrets look like the modified version of the Lucrehulk ones 🤔

[@syl20m20]

Corsairs are specific Pirates, they were task by a major power to pirate on their adversaires (France - Spain - England). So the pirate king is maybe on the payroll of a greater power.

[@traviscrum5860]

This isn't the strongest connection but I'm just now realizing there are similarities between the bubble pods used on Pirate King Gorian Shand's Corsair and the Vagaari ships Thrawn encountered in Outbound Flight. The difference is that the Vagaari used their pods purely as psychological defense by putting them all over the hull and filling them with slaves of all species but preferably filled by the enemies own people. I know this is a big difference but the 3rd season of The Mandalorian has been continually hinting at Thrawn's re-emergence and this could be a subtle way to show his influence on the events going down. Outbound Flight, while also being written by Timothy Zahn (the author who created Thrawn and is behind [almost] all of the character's material), introduced us to a distinct area of space that lies between the unknown regions and the rest of the known galaxy while still also being separate but near wild space. This seems to perfectly align with what we've been told about the upcoming Ahsoka series and it taking place in a completely new area of space. This was also the book that retrospectively introduced us to Jorus C'baoth who was integral part of the OG Thrawn trilogy. His "dark Jedi" clone, Jorrus C'baoth, and his actions were on one of the major driving points of that story. My guess is that they'll possibly use Ezra in the place of Jorrus in the upcoming story but that the original Ezra will still exist somewhere possibly frozen in Carbonite, an analogous but better technology from the region him and Thrawn ended up in, or an intentional force enduced near coma that allows the user to live for extended periods without food or water. Hell, the OG Thrawn trilogy was one of the first to introduce this force power/concept as well lol Disney has continued to hint harder and harder that many elements from the OG Thrawn trilogy will come to pass so it's unlikely that this all is coincidental. It continues to happen in every form of media they produce so this has got to be connected somehow. Yes, I do know how weak my first connection was but it really does snowball into lots of interconnected ideas/concepts...

[@Earley405]

Very cool. Love the front bow like the Eclipse Class destroyers.

[@Azreal20]

First thing I thought seeing it was how it looked massive from a distance or from the ground when looking up, but it's actually rather small (when looking at the belly-ball turrets or the bridge) hardly longer than a corellian corvette, but way better armed. It fits the pirate vibe in reality, where pirates would user rather small ships to hunt merchant vessels because they needed both speed and agility to outrun bigger military ships trying to capture them.

[@gilmadreth680]

While the snub fighter design that's probably inspired by the R-41 Starchaser is neat, I think it would have been really cool for the Corsair to be carrying a squadron of reasonably well designed Uglies that could have given Din and Bo more diverse challenges beyond "get up behind it and apply Dakka till it dies"

[@mantomightbehere1569]

I like the idea that pirates would repurpose decommissioned ships parts or utilize the more intact parts of destroyed republic era ships for their own ships so that might be why the insides look the way they do while not quite lining up with any particular faction entirely

[@RedXlV]

The "pirate snub fighter" isn't the same as the R-41 Starchaser from Legends, but it looks similar enough to be a related design. They just need to call it "R-(insert number here)" and designate it as a Hoersch-Kessel Drive design. Which would also fit with the theory of the Cumulus-class corsair being of CIS origin. Hoersch-Kessel Drive built Lucrehulk and Munificent classes for the CIS, so it's quite reasonable that they would've also built a raider-type warship like this for them.

[@zarander]

It's a Zarander-class light corvette. My Mama and I used to make them on the outer rim back in the day. Haven't seen one in years.

[@waraidako]

150 meters is quite the understated estimate. Based on that picture, I would say it has to be more like 600m - 800m in length. That thing is massive.

[@DavidEMartin1955]

One glaring omission was the absence of any reference to British SF artist CHRIS FOSS. His paintings of gigantic, highly decorated starships were invitations for the STAR WARS design crew. Long angled necks and broad stripes were hallmarks of his designs.

[@largepurplemonkey]

The paint job reminded me of the pirate-themed Fallen Skiffs from recent seasons of Destiny

[@rexstocephirxiii4263]

The striping and hooked prow definitely looks like a Quarren design to me. Very reminiscent of the CIS fleet