| This is the article on the Vaygr carrier. For the similar Hiigaran vessel, see Carrier. For other uses, see Carrier |
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Carrier
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Classification
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Purpose
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Ship Construction
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Ship Type
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Carrier
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RU Cost
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1800 RUs
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| Technical Information | |
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Speed
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49 m/s
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Hyperdrive
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Armaments
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4 Hull Defence Guns
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Eras
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Affiliation
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The Carrier was a common support and production vessel used by the Vaygr.
Background
While similar in many respects to the Carrier used by the Hiigarans, it had less armor, fewer hangar bays, and only one production slot, limiting each carrier to only one type of ship production. It was also slower than Hiigaran Carriers, but by the time the Hiigarans reached the Karos Graveyard, some had been upgraded to be immune to damaging radiation. The distinct advantage of the Vaygr Carrier is it's cost effectiveness, being significantly cheaper and faster to construct than it's Hiigaran counterpart, often compensating for it's production shortfalls simply by the ability to deploy large numbers of them for the price of only a handful of self-sufficient Hiigaran carriers. There is also some advantage in not having production so centralized as is the case in Hiigaran fleets, because while the loss of a single Hiigaran carrier is an immense blow to production and invested resource units, the destruction or capture of a single Vaygr carrier is not usually a critical loss to large Vaygr fleets.
The differences between Vaygr and Hiigaran Carriers are reflected in the way that the Vaygr deployed their Carriers. Almost every Vaygr force faced by the Mothership Fleet contained one or more carriers. Usually a Vaygr force would include more than one carrier, due to their limitation of having only one production slot. A balanced Vaygr fleet would include at least three carriers, one to produce Fighters, one to produce Corvettes and one to produce Frigates.