Next to the standard designs, the manufacturers build five role hulls. Each one is made for a single job and carries a hull bonus for it, and each is worse than a standard hull at everything else. Pick one when you know what you want to do.
The five
| Hull | Builder | Job | Hull bonus | Skill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrike (destroyer) | Kessler Arms | Kill frigates and interceptors | +25 % small turret damage and tracking, seven high slots. Slower than a Wren. | Frigate II |
| Swift (interceptor) | Halcyon Dynamics | Catch and pin | +60 % slip scrambler and disruptor range. The fastest hull, with the smallest signature. | Frigate III |
| Petrel (explorer) | Ostrava Systems | Probe, hack, slip away | +50 % probe strength, +20 virus coherence, can't be locked in the slipstream, and its cloak after a jump lasts twice as long | Frigate II |
| Vigil (logistics) | Halcyon Dynamics | Keep the fleet alive | +50 % remote repair amount and range | Cruiser |
| Mattock (mining frigate) | Vorr Heavy Industries | First miner | +25 % mining laser yield, a 1,200 m³ hold | None |
All five are on the market as Shrike (Destroyer), Swift (Interceptor) and so on, and their builders sell them for loyalty points too. See Faction careers.
What each is for
- Shrike: seven small guns that track well chew through frigates. It's slow and easy to hit, so a cruiser eats it.
- Swift: little damage and little tank, but nothing outruns it, and its tackle reaches past most frigate guns. Hold the target for your friends.
- Petrel: the explorer's ship. It finds signatures fastest and can leave a site under fire, but it has almost no guns.
- Vigil: a cruiser that heals instead of shooting. With four medium remote shield boosters it out-repairs one cruiser's damage on a fleet mate, but alone it can't kill anything.
- Mattock: cheaper than a Wren, with eight times its hold and much more yield. No guns: leave when pirates arrive.
Remote repair
Remote repairers go in high slots and work on a ship you've locked, never on yourself.
- Train Remote Repair Systems: level I for the small repairers, level II for the medium ones.
- Fit them in high slots. A Vigil makes them half as strong again and reach half as far again.
- Lock the fleet mate you want to repair. Show mePlay to try this
- Activate the repairer on them. Each cycle sends one pulse of repair, and you'll see the beam land.
- Shield transfers land at the start of each cycle, armor repairs at the end, as with the local versions. Armor is slower but bigger.
- Out of range, a repairer doesn't cycle. Stay within its range of your target: 5 to 9 km before the Vigil's bonus.
- Each level of Remote Repair Systems adds 5 % to the amount.
- Repairers stay on their target when you switch your active target; only weapons move.
- Fleet mates can call for you with Need shield and Need armor broadcasts. See Fleets.
Tip
A repairer draws on your reactor like any module. Medium ones are hungry, so a Vigil pilot watches the reactor before the shields.