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Ion Array Frigate
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| Ship Information | |
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Classification
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Purpose
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Anti-Capital Ship
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Ship Type
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Ion Cannon Frigate
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RU Cost
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500 RUs
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| Technical Information | |
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Mass
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13,550 tons
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Length
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134.7 metres
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Acceleration
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50 m/s2
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Speed
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Classic: 245 m/s, Remastered: 110 m/s
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Hyperdrive
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Armaments
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1 Large Ion Cannon
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Hull
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26000
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| Usage | |
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Eras
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Affiliation
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The Ion Array Frigate is a Capital Ship class vessel and the first heavy weapon-wielding ships used against the Kushan Mothership during the Homeworld War.
Background[]
Like many ion frigates, these ships had a single, spinal-mounted heavy Ion Cannon. The Dagger distinguished itself by sporting four large retractable ion arrays that used magnetic fields to capture free ions from space and further focus and accelerate the ion beam as it exited the front of the ship, giving extra range and firepower to the weapon. This came at the cost of maneuverability and acceleration though, due to the increased mass created by the ion arrays. In addition, the ion array frigate lacked the auto-repair abilities of the other ion cannon frigates. This is the only frigate class ship that is known to be exclusively Turanic in origin and was the main ship-of-the-line used against ships larger than frigates.
The Dagger-class Frigates were a menace to Kushan vessels at the start of the Homeworld War, especially when they attacked the Mothership in large numbers. However, they lacked proper self-defenses such as projectile cannons, making them vulnerable to strike craft and corvettes.
After the Kushan returned to Hiigara, the Raiders improved upon the design of the frigate and included a cloaking field which allowed them to launch devastating surprise attacks against capital ships without being seen. This field was used against Kiith Somtaaw multiple times during the Beast War, but the quick action of the Somtaaw allowed the ships to be destroyed relatively quickly.
Beast Infected Ion Array Frigate
The Beast managed to steal and copy the design of this frigate from the Raiders, and uses it as its frontline anti-capital ship frigate. It appears to be functionally identical to the Raider version.
Overview[]
In Homeworld, Ion Array Frigates first appear on mission 4, where a group of them exit hyperspace surrounding the Kushan Mothership. A couple also appear in the Sea of Lost Souls.
Ion Array Frigates are among the first ion-cannon equipped ships to appear in the single-player campaign. Their ion cannons deal heavy damage quickly to slow targets, such as frigates or carriers, but they charge up slowly and are easily dodged by strike craft and corvettes. Capturing some is a great way to bolster the anti-capital ship firepower of the fledgling Kushan fleet. Later in the campaign, they are outclassed by the Kushan and Taiidan counterpart equivalents, which deal more damage while maintaining the same rate of fire.
Trivia[]
- In the original Homeworld, the beam of the Dagger is better than the beam of the Kushan Firelance and the Taiidan Sajuuk-Cor. A single pulse is as powerful as the pulse of either of the two frigates mentioned above and, despite having a shorter firing time, it recharges significantly quicker. This is the only advantage the Ion Array has over its counterparts. However, the ship has an identical firing rate and a weaker beam in the Remastered, making it the worst beam-weapon frigate.
- The Cataclysm manual gives two class names for the frigate: the Dagger and the Assassin. Presumably, the word "Assassin" was used to refer to the cloaking technology that was built into the frigates.[1]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Homeworld: Cataclysm manual