GVB Bakha

FreeSpace 1 Ships Terran ships Fighters Bombers Transports and freighters Cruisers Capital ships Installations Misc Ships Sentry Guns Cargo Containers Vasudan ships Fighters Bombers Transports and freighters Cruisers Capital ships Misc Ships Sentry Guns Cargo Containers Shivan ships Fighters Bombers Transports and freighters Cruisers Capital ships Sentry Guns Cargo Containers Notable ships of FreeSpace 1

FreeSpace 2 Ships Terran ships Fighters Bombers Transports and freighters Cruisers and corvettes Capital ships Installations Misc ships Sentry Guns Cargo Containers Vasudan ships Fighters Bombers Transports and freighters Cruisers and corvettes Capital ships Misc ships Sentry Guns Cargo Containers Shivan ships Fighters Bombers Transports and freighters Cruisers and corvettes Capital ships Misc ships Sentry Guns Cargo Containers Notable ships of FreeSpace 2

The GVB Bakha is an Allied Vasudan-designed medium bomber. It was made to be as fast and agile as possible, while still being able to deliver a punch to larger ships. It is also the only known bomber in the Terran and Vasudan fleets (as of the Second Shivan Incursion) to have two secondary banks. All other Terran and Vasudan bombers have three secondary banks.

The GVB Bakha

Description:

FS2 Tech Room Description

Learning a lesson from the bomber losses of the Great War, Vasudan defense contractor Akheton designed the GVB Bakha, a fast, agile bomber that could still deliver a warship-shattering payload. The Bakha's dual Akh-12 engines are baffled and masked, giving it a small profile for heat-seeking missiles. The bomber's speed and maneuverability make it the craft of choice for taking out destroyers and corvettes with multiple flak, AAA, and anti-ship beam turrets. Over 6,000 Bakhas have been produced in the orbiting shipyards around Vasuda Prime.

Developer Notes

None

Name origin

Bakha was the manifestation of the god of power Ka and the war of god Menthu. He was said to be a wild bull.

Performance:

Statistics

Type	Advanced Bomber
Manufacturer	Akheton Corporation
Maneuverability	Good
Yaw, Pitch, Roll	4.2, 4.6, 4.0 s
Max Velocity	65.0 - 65.0 ms-1
Max Afterburner Velocity	105.0 ms-1
Armor	Heavy
Hitpoints	440
Shields	620
Length	18 m

Armaments

• Gun Mounts

FreeSpace 2
Bank	Guns	Standard Loadout
1st	2	Mekhu HL-7
2nd	2	Mekhu HL-7
Compatible Primaries
Mekhu HL-7, Akheton SDG, Prometheus R, Prometheus S, Morning Star, Circe, Lamprey

• Missile Banks

FreeSpace 2
Bank	Capacity	Standard Loadout
1st	80	Piranha
2nd	100	Stiletto II
Compatible Secondaries
MX-64, EMP Adv., Harpoon, Trebuchet, TAG-B, Infyrno, Stiletto II, Cyclops

Modding Resources

The GVB Bakha in FSOpen 3.6.14 with 3.6.12 MediaVPs

Retail:

$POF File: fighter2v-03.pof

Textures: ?

MediaVPs 3.6.12:

$POF File: ?

Textures: ?

Veteran Comments

Please read the Veteran Comments policy before editing this section.

The Bakha is a Vasudan version of the Artemis, pretty much. Like most Vasudan equivalents it maneuvers better and is somewhat tougher. Unlike the Artemis, the Bakha has two gun banks, much better positioned for dogfighting than those of the Artemis.

The Bakha is truly a bomber with pretensions of the wild life, and can dogfight fairly well against any heavy or space superiority fighters you may encounter. Don't let it go to your head, though, as the interceptors can still outmaneuver you easily. Also keep in mind that you have only two secondary banks (the bomber-issue third is missing) and that diverting power to your engines does not increase your speed, only the rate at which your afterburners recharge.

Never quite understood the Bakha. The Vasudans had a superb bomber in the form of the Sekhmet, which can do everything the Bakha can do, if not better. What I'm wondering is why they're wasting production capacity on the Bakha when they could simply run only Sekhmets through the lines. The Bakha is a good bomber but it simply doesn't hold up to the Sekhmet. Maybe it's the slightly better maneuverability and the secondary gunpoint, but those are not nearly big enough advantages in my view.

It could be noted that the Sekhmet is much easier to intercept due to its huge profile, while the Bakha can be somewhat harder to kill due to its small size. It's easy to hit a Sekhmet with a Tempest volley, it's a bit harder to do so to a Bakha. However, you never have a chance to fight a Bakha in the main campaign.

The Bakha just doesn't know what it wants to be. Like most other Vasudan ships, it's severely deficient in shields. Fighters seem to latch on to you, and in any situation where a Bahka would be used (eliminating hostile destroyers and corvettes before they can damage friendly forces, strategic strikes on large capital ships) the fighter defenses alone on the hostile ship spell death, especially on higher difficulty levels. Making matters worse, the Bahka can't carry Maxims, defeating one of the few good purposes of dividing the firepower. This also means that a Bahka can't snipe off enemy turrets from afar, thus clearing an area for an attack run.

Strangely, the table file for the Bakha has it as being able to carry Helios as a primary weapon. This is likely an error on the part of whoever tabled the Bakha though, and as a result, the Bakha is technically incapable of carrying Helios warheads. It does mount Helios in Bearbaiting and High Noon, but the loadout is forced by the Scramble setting for the mission.

It may be a bomber, but the Bakha is quite comparable to the Herc II in overall firepower, having the same ordnance capacity and four guns in an average placement for anti-fighter work. Being a bomber, the Bakha is less maneuverable than the Herc II but also has more armor and shielding. The Bakha also has a higher average speed but lower afterburner speed than the Herc II. Fly the Bakha like it's the FreeSpace Blue version of the Myrmidon—a heavy fighter capable of fitting anti-cruiser ordnance.