Fractured Space All Ship Classes Overview

Fractured Space All Ship Classes Overview by Jeriah

Welcome, all you new captains! As of the content patch release March 3, 2015, the game now contains in-game tooltips. These tooltips do not yet draw their information from the actual in-game statistics and are modified regularly by Edge Case Games by hand. However, the development team has been kind enough to provide me with additional information so I can keep this guide more up-to-date. If there is a discrepancy between statistics listed here and in-game, assume this information is accurate.

Also, please be aware that, while ships may be good at fighting certain others, skill does play a very significant factor. Do not expect to faceroll a veteran just because your ship is good at beating theirs. Unless you like being embarrassed, of course.

Assassin

Role: Close Combat
Length: 1,017m
Crew: 4,185
offence: 9
defence: 4
utility: 7

The bane of many a newbie, as this ship brutally punishes anyone not familiar with its capabilities. While the burst potential is enormous, be aware that EVERY ship but Flagship has a direct counter to Cloak, and you are not tough enough to brawl with a Frigate, let alone a Flagship or Hunter. This beastie preys upon Snipers best of all, but also devours Corvettes and Disruptors in single bursts as well. Frigates can be very hard to kill in your first volley, and will punish you for missing, while Enforcers can generally match you burst for burst. Flagships and Destroyers generally take your beating and give you one in return, while Hunters and Brawlers will shut you down and eat you alive.

Weapons

Rockets

Rapid-fire rockets launched from turrets located on your stubby wings and underside. They are inaccurate outside of point-blank range and don’t really hit very hard without Ambush. That said, the high volume of fire makes connecting with smaller targets fairly easy.

Plasma Casters

This weapon is an oddity, applying a damage-over-time effect to your target that will continue to burn them for 140 a second over 10 seconds at the cost of a reduced initial burst. This damage will continue to reveal a cloaked Assassin, making it very strong in mirror fights. The damage is also effective at dealing with the more agile ships, as they have less health and thus are damaged for a larger percentage of their total health by the DoT.

Heavy Rockets

The pinnacle of Assassin’s high-risk, high-reward playstyle. This weapon fires of a drastically smaller salvo of rockets than the default weapon, but each hit deals more damage. While the rate of fire is the same, these heavier rockets will deal roughly 7% additional damage over the standard variant. Needing to land far fewer rockets makes dealing maximum damage easier, but missing even a single rocket will greatly reduce your overall damage per volley.

Abilities

Cloak

Vanish into the night like a freaking ninja. Cloak drains as you move, and recharges as you stand still. The ability will have a gauge when active that will behave similar to the recharge gauge. As you move, the gauge will fall, and go back up as you wait in place. This gauge is found inside the Cloak icon as a small fill meter. NOTE: entering a hostile zone of control will bring you out of stealth, and prevent you from re-activating it until you leave the area! There is technically a bug, where taking damage will cause you to become visible for two seconds. According to ECG, this is simply because the intended graphic is not currently implemented. Damage dealt rapidly by, for example, missiles volleys or constant hits from Scalpel Beam will keep you visible for long periods. Enemy targeting convergence points (the red/blue dot to indicate where you are aiming) WILL converge on you, even while invisible. This can indicate to veteran players where you are. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Blink to Target

Like the Hunter’s Blink, but to anything you have targeted that is in range. Do be warned, however, that all players can hear the sound effect, even if you are under Cloak. This is often a warning sign for players that an Assassin is about to open up on them, and they should do something to evade.

Decoy Drone

Shows up on the minimap, and creates an object identical to an Assassin at a set distance from the target. The decoy does display spotting information, but does not move, shoot, or do pretty much anything of value beyond absorbing damage (to a set amount) and acting as a target for your Blink. Damage taken by the Decoy does not display floating numbers, which veteran players will instantly recognize.

Shield Decoy

No, it does not give you a shield. This create the decoy at a much shorter range with five times more health. great for absorbing fire long enough to get your Cloak back online. This can be great for tossing the Decoy between you and your enemy, shielding you from fire long enough to get back under Cloak.

Jump Decoy

One of the most common tactics with Assassin is to toss out your Decoy, target it, and jump to it. This lets you get around the “to target” requirement of your blink, and can bring you to safety. This decoy will spawn at near maximum range of your Blink to Target ability.

Ambush

This is what makes Assassins so deadly. This ability puts a debuff on the target, massively increasing the damage you deal. This ability is up quickly enough to apply to every other volley, but you will rarely want to be visible for that long. Ambush, unlike the following attack, has no travel time (but a similar short range), requiring you to possibly aim at two different locations in rapid succession. NOTE: the damage boost applies to any attack you land while the effect is up, meaning you can begin firing, then Ambush before the attacks land and still deal the full bonus damage. The effect is also unique to each Assassin, and thus does not stack with other friendly uses of Ambush, but will stack with other damage increasing effects such as Broken Armor, Mark Target, or Jumping.

Brawler

Role: Close Combat
Length: 1,050m
Crew: 5,205
Offence: 8
Defence: 5
Utility: 7

The Brawler specializes in point-blank combat, and it excels in that role. The Thumper weapon, while being very short ranged, deals terrific damage and has an impressive rate of fire. Its unique ability, the Harpoon system, lets the Brawler force its opponents into the range of its guns, and its Concuss will keep an enemy there long enough for the Brawler to do its business all over the enemy ship. The Brawler is also the first ship to have varying armor values on different locations. The armor is thickest on its sides, with weak spots on the top, bottom, and front of the ship.

Weapons

Thumper

The Thumper is an extremely short-ranged weapon. With a maximum range shorter than other close-combat weapon’s optimal range, you will most likely take a beating trying to get close enough in to damage the enemy. The Thumper will continue to scale its damage all the way to minimum range, making it highly rewarding to get your ship as close as possible to your target.

Abilities

Concuss

The Concuss ability will generate a small area of effect around the Brawler, slowing enemy ships and disabling their utility abilities for 10 seconds. ♥♥♥ with other ability shutdowns, this will not prevent the enemy from using combat abilities such as missiles and drones. An Assassin under Cloak in the effect will have his Cloak deactivated, and players will be unable to activate Jumps while Concussed (but will not stop Jumps in progress.)

Harpoon

The iconic ability of the Brawler. This will fire a missile at your target (“T”). When the missile connects, it will do a small amount of damage and apply the Harpooned debuff. In and of itself, this ability does nothing more, but allows you to activate the Harpoon SlowPull ability to drag your opponents closer. As with all missiles, Cloak, Screen, and cover can all defeat it. An Assassin who has been harpooned will not be able to Cloak. This ability can be used on allies as well as enemies, allowing Brawlers to rescue teammates from dangerous situations.

Attack Drones

This deploys a small squadron of drones that will attack your enemy for a small amount of periodic damage. As with all other drones, you may use them on an enemy ship to send your drones on attack runs, or on allies (or yourself) to have them engage any enemy that comes in range of that ally.

Harpoon SlowPull

This ability will not be usable unless you have a target affected with Harpooned. This ability will begin pulling the target toward the Brawler so long as the ability is activated and Harpooned remains on the victim. An enemy may use Jump, Blink, or Boost while being pulled, but will continue moving to the Brawler so long as it remains inside the 15,000m range. Do note that the Harpoon missile’s range is over half again as far as the SlowPull’s range. This is intended so that a player may fire the missile at a target that may be moving away from him, as the missile will have to cover more than 15,000m of space before connecting with the target.

Corvette

Role: Support
Length: 865m
Crew: 3,225
Offence: 5
Defence: 6
Utility: 9

Corvette is the absolute best at supporting your teammate (while you’re alive). This makes you #1 on the kill list, so prepare to have your KDR take a pounding. The Corvette’s Defensive Field ability also gives himself and his nearby allies a massive damage reduction, making it far more difficult to kill.

Weapons

Smart Gun

Fires a stream of bolts that will home in on your target (so make sure you use “T” to target someone before you fire), but deals very mild damage. Even though it tracks your target, the projectiles are not a guaranteed hit, and do require some skill in order to deal consistent damage.

Pulse Smart Gun

The Pulse Smart Gun is a variant of the Corvette’s base weapon. This version fires more projectiles with better homing abilities, but at the cost of reduced range and damage.

Heavy Smart Gun

The Heavy Smart Gun is a variant of the Corvette’s base weapon. This version fires heavier, faster bolts dealing more damage. These bolts come at a cost, having slower tracking and firing less bolts.

Abilities

Ability Shutdown

Like the Disruptor’s Disarm, but for utility abilities instead of weapons. This will really piss off classes which rely heavily on abilities for survival or damage. It does not remove activated abilities, so don’t be surprised when that Enforcer continues boosting or the Flagship drones keep eating your health. This ability does not prevent the ship from activating abilities that deal damage, such as launching missiles or drones.

Abilities

Disarm

You there, stop shooting. There, much better. This can drive your opponents mad, and cause serious issues for Assassins and Enforcers. Veteran Corvettes will be able to snap off a Disarm on an Assassin between their Ambush and Rockets, which can often save their lives. Disarm will also prevent players from deploying missiles and any small craft during the duration, as they are also considered attacks.

Defensive Field

This ability will generate a small golden orb centered around your ship. Any allied ship (including the Corvette) which enter the sphere while it is active will gain the Shielded buff, which will reduce all incoming damage by 50%. The effect will persist on allies who leave the sphere, but all ships will lose the effect when the ability wears off on the Corvette (though time or death).

Defensive Bubble

This ability will generate a small golden orb centered at the point in space your ship is in at the time of activation. This ability works just like Defensive Field, though with a slightly longer radius. Unlike the Defensive Field, the effect will only apply to players who remain inside the area.

Leech Drone

This ability deals a small amount of damage to any enemy ships in the area, and will heal the Corvette for 50% of the damage dealt. This ability is very useful at keeping the Corvette alive during close combat, where it is generally extremely vulnerable.

Repair Beam

Like a Scalpel Laser that heals. This has amazing range and heals for a percentage of the maximum health of your target, but requires you to control it and cannot be used on yourself. This is still a great support ability. As of the latest patch, it will now deal 33% of its potential healing as damage, meaning it will damage a ship for a mere 7% of its total health. Do not waste the ability by firing it at an enemy if you can heal an ally.

Repair Pulsebeam

The Repair Pulsebeam is a faster-recharging, shorter duration, smaller heal version of the standard Repair Beam. It allows a Corvette to heal his teammate sooner, making it easier to keep a teammate topped off, but the smaller heal makes it less useful as a clutch ability. Like the standard version, it can be used on an enemy, but would be a complete waste.

Repair Nearbeam

The largest heal in the game. With higher level Flagships, this can equate to nearly 10k heals. However, the range is so short you must be almost touching your ally to heal them. At such close range, you are likely to see your enemies ignore your ally and kill you instead, as healing through a Nearbeam is extremely difficult. Of all the options, this is the highest damaging ability, coming in at a whopping 13% of an enemy’s health. Still not worth it.

Destroyer

Role: Heavy
Length: 1,669m
Crew: 6,454
offence: 7
defence: 8
utility: 5

The big, hulking Battleship of Fractured Space. The Destroyer is very similar to the Flagship, in lore actually being the smaller sister to the other heavy. Unlike the Flagship, the Destroyer is perfectly fine sitting back at range and unloading a ferocious storm of firepower at its opponents with its monstrous main cannons. Though prefering broadsides, where it can bring more of its guns to bear on an enemy, it suffers less from firing outside its preferred arc than any other limited-fire ship. The Destroyer may also have the second longest range on its guns, but is perfectly happy to mix it up in close quarters with anyone foolish enough to try.

Weapons

Cannons

The Destroyer’s main guns pack a decent punch, and have a range surpassed only by the Sniper. The rate of fire is also pretty amazing, allowing the Destroyer to put down a constant stream at an incoming enemy. The maximum turret count of 6 is only achieved from braodsides, but its forward arc allows for 4. This means the Destroyer loses very little dps while turning from one broadside to the other, allowing the Destroyer to turn its armor as it breaks and making a well-flown Destroyer a true terror.

Radar Jammer

The Radar Jammer will block out the minimap of all enemy players in the sector, allowing for the Destroyer’s teammates to execute different possible maneuvers that would be extremely difficult without the lack of knowledge Jamming provides.

Missiles

Fires a volley of missiles at the target. Not much to say about these, as they work like every other missile system.

Bombers

Deploys a squadron of 7 Bombers to the target. The Bombers will attempt an attack run on your target, firing off a missile per bomber when they get into range of the victim. Both the Bombers and their missiles may be shot down by point defenses, but if times well with a volley of your own missiles a player can overwhelm the point-defense of the target.

Explosive Charges

Fires off a volley of what is more or less Photonic Charges at a range of 15km in rapid succession. These shots match the same facing of the Destroyer’s main turrets. This ability effctively gives the Destroyer an even greater punch, allows for a moderate burst of damage, and as they can be used at angles where the main cannons cannot provide full coverage, it also limits the dps loss suffered when firing at targets above or below the Destroyer.

Disruptor

Role: Support
Length: 802m
Crew: 3,485
Offence: 5
Defence: 6
Utility: 9

Disruptors are geared to support your teammates. As such, you wont be racking up any massive kill streaks in this, but your teammates will. While not as squishy as the Corvetter, this ship still should not be in protracted firefights. Beware of Snipers, Frigates, and Enforcers, as they love munching them some support craft.

Weapons

Blaster

Fires three fairly accurate but low damage bolts at a decent rate. Very much an average version of the weapon.

Faster Blaster

Fires a constant stream of bolts, dealing mild damage per hit but decent damage over time. Fairly accurate and easy to hit with, but a pain to hit consistently with. Also great for annoying Assassins.

Ripple Blaster

Fires a burst of bolts, dealing moderate burst damage. This weapon often catches the enemy off guard, as few people expect such sudden damage from a support.

Abilities

Detect Slow

A large area AoE slow, and it knock Assassins out of stealth? Shut up and take my money! The slow is pretty strong, and lasts quite a while.

Jump to Ally

Like the Jump to Target of Assassin and Enforcer, but with range comparable to Hunter’s Range Blink (without the massive cooldown). Great for catching up to teammates or getting the hell out of Dodge.

Repair Drone

Heals all allies in a moderate area for a significant amount over a fairly long time. Including yourself. The heal is based on a ship’s total health, healing for 23% of that ship’s maximum over the 20 seconds. These drones can be reassigned, allowing you to spread the healing across multiple teammates. The downaide? You drones can be shot down, making it a bad choice to send your drones to help an ally being pounded by a Flagship.

Disarm

You there, stop shooting. There, much better. This can drive your opponents mad, and cause serious issues for Assassins and Enforcers. Veteran Disruptors will be able to snap off a Disarm on an Assassin between their Ambush and Rockets, which can often save their lives. This will also stop players from launching missiles or small craft, as they are also considered an attack.

Enforcer

Role: Close Combat
Length: 910m
Crew: 4,935
offence: 9
Defence: 5
Utility: 6

The manuverability of a Hunter with the burst of an Assassin… and about the same armor and health to boot. The Enforcer is one of the two new ships making their debut in FS, and has quickly become a favorite. With its multiple movement abilities and great busrt potential, it makes a great front-line combatant, though it lacks the health and armor for prolonged fights. Luckily, the damage is not combo-based like Assassin, so fight tend to be over one way or another before long.

Weapons

Escalate

Fires a very lengthy barrage at your target, with each shot dealing increasing damage as they land. The damage will scale per shot until 20 hits, at which time the scaling will decrease and the shots no longer deal massive damage per hit. Best used at close range, or against big, slow targets (looking at you, Flagship).

Abilities

Boost

Takes your engines, and kicks ’em up a notch. Or five. This will increase your movement by a massive 50 times their current power, so make sure you’re using it when moving forward and not slowed or disabled. The cooldown on this ability is very long compared to other ship abilities, so be sure to save it for when you absolutely need it.

Quick Boost

A short-term version of the Boost, with half the cooldown. Currently a bug where the Boost will apply a second time, expect it to be fixed soon.

Range Boost

A longer-duration version of the standard Boost, with a longer cooldown. Great for closing in on the long ranged ships like Sniper or Destroyer, and also great for getting away after dealing your damage.

Blink to Target

The same ability as the Assassin, only without the Decoy to combo with. Still great for closing on targets or getting away before they can return fire.

CapMod Drone

One of the coolest, albeit misunderstood abilities. Fires out a drone that generates a large effect. This effect both increases the speed your allies (including yourself) capture an objective, and also slows the speed your enemies capture. Great not only for pushing lanes, but for defending points (like your base) as well. Toss it on a cluster of enemies while defending G to neuter their cap speed and give you time to make players before losing Gas Power to the enemy.

Taser

Fires off a lightning bolt that slows your enemies for five seconds, and disables their utility abilities for two. This can buy you time to get off your second volley before your target has the ability to run.

Equalizer

Role: Support
Length: 825m
Crew: 3,300
Offence: 6
Defence: 6
Utility: 8

The Equalizer is an oddity among support craft, as it contains no direct healing or damage mitigation abilities. Instead, the Equalizer offers a number of utility options to its allies, more than making up for the lack of traditional support options available to both the Disruptor and Corvette. It possesses a modified version of the Corvette’s Smart Gun, called the Health Leech, which can repair the Equalizer for a percentage of the damage it deals.

Weapons

Health Leech

The Health Leech fires projectiles similar to the Smart Gun which will track the targeted ship (“T”). These projectiles are significantly faster, but are less maneuverable. This requires a greater level of skill and focus by Equalizer players to land significant amounts of damage to their enemy.

Abilities

Purge Field

This ability will generate a very small field around the Equalizer which will instantly remove any and all negative effects from the ship, as well as from any allied ship in the radius. This includes, but is not limited to, Ambush, Mark Target, and Disable.

Osprey Torpedo

This interesting missile will detonate, damaging any enemy ship in the area and applying the Plasma debuff even stronger than the one found on the Assassin’s Plasma Caster.

Detect Drone

This fires out a drone identical to that found on the Frigate. This ability is a placeholder for the Detect Bouy, which is in development.

Boost Gate

This neat little ability will fire off a very short-range projectile. Once the projectile has reached maximum range, it will create an effect for a few seconds that will apply a 2 second Boost to any allied ship passing through the center. The graphic for the effect is larger than the actual impacted area and is a very short duration, requiring allies to be very close and move quickly to take advantage of this ability.

Flagship

Manufacturer: USR
Role: Heavy
Length: 1786m
Crew: 6,255
Offence: 7
Defence: 8
Utility: 5

The heavy tank of FS, this beasty is phenominal at taking punishment, controlling points, and tearing through enemy lights. It is great at mixing it up in close quarter combat, but keep it away from more distant targets. This ship is good against the Frigate, Disruptor, and Corvette, does fairly well against the Hunter and Assassin, and dies horribly to Snipers.

Weapons

Flak

Big fiery balls of death, flak rounds will explode on contact with an object or when reaching maximum range, detonating in a large area of effect.. This is great for trick shots, letting you damage enemy ships hiding behind cover, or Frigates using Screen. The Flak shot will also detonate on proximity, make it a bit harder to evade the Flagship’s fire. Holding down the left mouse button will continue firing the weapon at increased speed.

Photonic Charges

The big blue ball of death works effectively the same as the Flak cannon. There are some minor differences, however. The range and area of effect are slightly greater, giving an overall maximum increase in range of 1826m. In return for the added range and splash radius, the Photonic charges deal approximately 10% less damage per second.

Abilities

Boost

Takes your engines, and kickes ’em up a notch. Or five. This will increase your movement by a massive 50 times their current power, so make sure you’re using it when moving forward and not slowed or disabled. The cooldown on this ability is very long compared to other ship abilities, so be sure to save it for when you absolutely need it.

Missiles

Fires off a chained volley of missiles from port and starboard batteries midship. These bright twinkling lights will home in whatever ship you have targeted, so be sure you’ve selected the right ship with “T” before you fire. If fired at Assassins who then cloak, the missiles will head in the direction they were last visible, but will automatically adjust once the Assassin becomes visible again. The range is significantly longer than your main weapon range.

Swarm Drone

Bees of Death. These annoying little gnats deal damage to an enemy ship in a massive area of effect, and do not require line of sight (though they will not damage Assassins in stealth, nor keep them from entering it.) In addition to dealing a respectable amount of damage, they also slow hostile ships, making it much easier to run down your foes (or prevent them from fleeing.)

Slow Drone

Launches a flight of drones. Like the Swarm Drones, these will slow the enemy craft, though by a greater amount than Swarm. Unlike Swarm, these drones will deal no damage.

Disable

Stop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This ability knocks out your target’s engines for five seconds, preventing any new forward momentum (but do not stop ships in their tracks, so not effective against boosting ships.) This shot has roughly the same range as your Missiles, so if they hit your target, you can Disable them as well.

Frigate

Role: Light Attacker
Length: 840m
Crew: 3,145
Offence: 8
Defence: 6
Utility: 6

Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee… over and over and over and over… The Frigate is strong in 1v1 fights due to its Screen ability, as well as its insane speed and maneuverability. Its weapons may not deal a ton of damage, but it can and will eventually pick you apart. Frigates love to eat Assassins, Enforcers, and Corvettes. Though very hard to hit, Frigate are still very vulnerable to Snipers, and Hunters have several options in their kit for getting around your Screen. Flagships and, oddly, Disruptors can take extended poundings from Frigates, outlasting the Screen long enough to land some serious blows.

Weapons

Scalpel Beam

Or, “How to Terrorize an Assassin.” This weapon fires a series of ten shots, and condenses them into a sustained beam. While still not great damage, and with no real burst to speak of, it has pinpoint (dare I say, scalpel-like) accuracy. The constant damage will also keep Assassins visible for long periods, and the rapid rate of fire will let you tag them again before they can get too far.

Multishot

Imagine a laser shotgun, and you’re not far off. This weapon fires 7 bolts in a very short barrage. Good for tagging those pesky invisible Assassins. The scatter effect of the 7 shots and short optimal firing range means Frigates must get very close to their targets, but will deal far more damage than is possible with the Scalpel Beam.

Abilities

Missiles

Like the Hunter, the Frigate fires its missiles from dorsal batteries. These missiles will behave the same as all other missiles.

Kingfisher Missiles

Finally, a different kind of missile! These fire laterally, and come in two stages. The first stage is slow moving as it pops from the ship, but almost immediately breaks into fast moving and nearly invisible warheads. The Kingfishers are terrible at hitting close-ranged targets, so not a good mix with Multishot.

Skua Torpedo

A single, massive , torpedo only slightly faster than the Frigate itself that deals roughly the same damage as the other options, and is as hard to spot. Due to the slow speed and hard-to-spot nature, most Frigate captains fail to notice if it even hits the target. Also due to the speed and single-shot nature, it is very easy for the entire damage output of this ability to be mitigated or outright prevented by various effects in the course of a battle.

Mark All Targets

Generates a moderate pulse around the Frigate, applying a weakened Mark Target debuff to any enemy ship caught in the pulse. This will increase the damage dealt by 15% for any ally against the marked target while the debuff is active. This will be applied to Cloaked Assassins, but does not reveal them.

Detector Drone

Fires a drone which generates a sphere that behaves similar to a friendly zone of control, spotting hostile ships for you. Good for letting teammates target enemies behind cover and making life difficult for Assassins (because screw those guys!)

Screen

THE reason you’re playing Frigate. This creates an opaque, circular wall in front of you that stops ALL incoming attacks and abilities that impact it… but still lets you shoot through it! The cooldown may seem forever, but your enemies will say the same thing about its duration. Do be aware that, due to it being projected slightly in front of your ship, hostiles in very close range can move their turrets through the Screen and hit you.

Short Screen

Works just like the basic Screen, with a shorter duration and cooldown.

Hunter

Role: Close Combat
Length: 1,108m
Crew: 5,125
Offence: 9
Defence: 6
Utility: 5

Comparable to a well-armored medium tank or a MOBA brawler, the Hunter prefers to jump into the fray, picking apart enemy ships and blinking away from touble. The mobility combined with solid armor and good hit points makes this a real beast in the right hands. This ship’s diet consists of Assassins, Enforcers, can have trouble landing blows on more agile ships like Frigate, Disruptor, and Corvette, and is lunch for a hungry Flagship or eagle-eyed Sniper. A special note about the cannons on Hunter: outside of the forward firing arc, the Hunter lacks sufficient turrets for a complete barrage. Skilled players will keep their targets within the optimal firing arc.

Weapons

Cannon

The default weapon of the Hunter, the Cannon will fire up to 4 separate turrets at once. Due to turret count and placement, the optimal firing arc for the maximum of four cannons is directly ahead of the Hunter. This means that shots fired from the sides, rear, above, or below the Hunter will not deal the maximum potential damage.

Faster Cannon

Rapid firing but low damage variant of the standard weapon, you trade damage per hit for rate of fire with similar dps. The Faster cannon also sports a significantly shorter range than the default Cannon.

Heavy Cannon

If the Faster cannon traded damage for speed, the heavy trades speed for 65% damage per hit. Both boasting a slightly longer range than the basic Cannon and packing quite a punch, this weapon will shear through armor in a hurry.

Abilities

Missiles

Fired in a single large volley from a pair of launchers atop the Hunter’s spine, these missiles are fundamentally the same as are found on the Flagship, albeit dealing reduced damage.

Detect

Knocks those pesky Assassin out of Cloak, and keeps them unable to re-activate it for a few seconds. Be warned, this has a fairly short range, so wait until you’re confident they’re nearby.

Rapid Detect

A variant of the basic Detect ability, this option gives off a series of 5 pulses at one-half the standard range. This ability also has double the cooldown, making it much more imperative that you wait until you are certain the Assassin is nearby before activation.

Leech Drone

Deploys a series of very short-ranged drones to lightly damage hostile ships and heal you based on the damage dealt. While nowhere near as wide-ranging and damaging as Swarm Drones, or providing nearly the healing power of Repair Drones, they are a welcome addition in both damage dealing and survivability.

Spotter Drone

Works just like the Sniper version. Good if you really need to assist an allied Sniper, but few additional applications on a close-attacker.

Blink

Short-ranged teleport. Good for moving around cover, closing on enemies, dodging incoming fire, getting out of harms way, and 101 other uses. The range is static at the moment, so be aware before you use it. All Blinks have a 1s charge time.

Quick Blink

Trading distance on your Blink for a lower cooldown, making you a veritable nightmare to keep guns firing at you. When in doubt, Blink!

Range Blink

Gives a massive boost to the distance for a massive increase in cooldown. Do not make the mistake of shortcutting your way around proper tactics! Inexperienced players will often blink into a bad situation, and be unable to recover due to the extended cooldown.

Reaper

Role: Medium Range Combat
Length: 1,168m
Crew: 4,985
Offence: 8
Defence: 7
Utility: 5

The Reaper is TDS’s first combat ship. Its range is comparable to the Hunter’s Heavy Cannons, but the rate of fire is phenomenal. The ship, again like the Hunter, prefers firing at its targets from the frontal arch, where it is able to bring all 4 turrets to bear as well as its armor-destroying Scythe Beam. The Reaper is also a very agile ship, making it quite a challenge for the enemy to hit.

Weapons

Main Cannon

Long range, high rate of fire. The Main Cannon prefers a narrow band of forward fire, much like the Hunter. While the initial damage is very low, the massive volume of fire it can put out makes the weapon frighteningly efficient at dispatching opponents from outside their effective ranges.

Abilities

Raven Missiles

Fires a volley of missiles at your target. Despite having a different name than other missiles, they act the same as all other missiles. Nothing new here.

Shroud

Deploys a impenetrable shield around the flanks of the Reaper, protecting it from all damage and negative effects. Sort of like the Frigate’s Screen ability, but only over your flanks, and it doesn’t move with your camera.

Fighters

Despite the Loadout tooltip listing them as Bombers, the Reaper packs a compliment of fighters. The special thing about Fighters is, in addition to being able to attack enemy capital ships, they can also be used to attack and defend against small craft objects like missiles, drones, bombers, and other fighters. Think of a wing of Vipers from the BSG remake, and you’re on the right track.

Scythe Beam

The Scythe Beam’s damage may appear terrible, but its goal isn’t to damage the enemy ship. Instead, the Scythe Beam will do horrendous damage to the enemy ship’s armor, almost always breaking it on the locations struck. Once broken, all your damage to stat section will be increased by a whopping 200%. So break the armor with Scythe Beam, and unload your Main Cannons into the breach.

Sniper

Role: Long Range Fire Support
Length: 1382
Crew: 4055
Offence: 9
Defence: 6
Utility: 5

The Sniper has already earned the ire of many players, due to its ability to kill an enemy from across an entire sector. You will generally find these flying guns hovering at or near friendly Forward Bases, allowing them to tag in new upgrades and quickly repair. These ships will utterly wreck Flagships, Corvettes, and Disruptors, will have a hard time hitting Frigates and Hunters before they can close in, and get wrecked by Assassins and Enforcers.

Weapons

LR Cannon

This gun isn’t very newbie-friendly. The damage outside of aimed view is static, dealing the only the base damage. Once in aimed view, however, this baby shines. While in aimed view, the gun will begin charging, as indicated by a growing hum and cursor indicator. When the gun reaches full charge, you will get an audio cue to let you know the gun is ready to fire. When the gun is fired, it depletes the charge and deals damage based on how high the charge is (to a cap of 1200 at 6 seconds). While you can quickly fire off rounds long before they reach full charge, the damage is pretty pathetic. Try to only fire less than full charges when you’re confident you’ll get a kill, or the target is about to finish a jump. This weapon is highly impacted by movement, so keep still before you fire.

Railgun

Unlike the wait-to-charge mechanic of the LR, the Railgun has a hold-to-charge requirement before firing. It also has a slightly faster projectile in comparison, making it somewhat easier to connect with evasive craft. Another perk, your gun not being impacted by movement, making it much more friendly in close quarter battles. The cost of these improvements is a lack of burst damage, requiring the Railgun to maintain a steady stream of hits on a target to amount to any serious damage. If you find you’re fighting up close, taking gas, or jumping into hostile forward bases, this is probably the optimal weapon for your playstyle.

Abilities

Shield

A massive reduction to incoming damage. Often used to absorb Ambush bursts from Assassins, point-blank Blink-Escalate Enforcer combos, shielding hostile LR-Mark rounds, and covering your hide long enough to get off a warp back home.

Missiles

Launched from in groups of four from dorsal batteries behind the top cannon turret in a single massive wave, these missiles are have a slight improvement over the Flagship’s missiles in range and damage per missile, but deal approximately 85% of the damage.

Spotter Drone

Tracks your target, making them visible whenever friendlies are in sector, as well as tracking them on your minimap. The range is not infinite, but is fairly substantial. NOTE: does not make stealth Assassins visible, but does indicate their location in a similar fashion as Base Detect (when an Assassin is stealthed inside a hostile objective). There is also no travel time to the drone; it will instantly Blink to your target, allowing for immediate effect.

Mark Target

Gives a significant increase to damage for yourself and any ally attacking that target for the next five of seconds. Does not last long enough to apply two full charges of LR Cannon, but does increase missile impacts, and will stack with Ambush.