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Pulsar Gunship
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| Ship Information | |
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Classification
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Purpose
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Anti-Corvette
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Ship Type
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Gunship
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RU Cost
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625 RUs
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| Technical Information | |
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Length
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42 metres
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Speed
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215 m/s
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Armaments
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1 Pulsar Beam
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Eras
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Affiliation
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The Pulsar Gunship is an anti-corvette vessel. This Gunship variant is named after the weapon which it mounts: the Pulsar Beam Cannon, a lightweight offshoot of the Ion Cannon and the analogue to the fighter-mounted Vaygr Plasma Lance.
Combat Overview[]
On paper, the Pulsar Gunship presents a lot of good qualities. The turreted design based on the highly-maneuverable Gunship allowed it to constantly track moving Vaygr Corvettes. Frequent Pulsar Beam Cannon bursts and, more importantly, impressive damage potential inherited from the Ion Cannon even allowed the Pulsar Gunship to take on ships larger than a corvette. In particular, the Pulsar Beam is also effective at penetrating the armor of platforms. In practice, the Pulsar Gunship is a deadly multirole workhorse: when pressed, it can venture into anti-frigate missions, platform demolition or, in massive numbers, harass lone Capital Ships.
Tactics[]
The Pulsar Gunship is most often used in conjunction with Gunships and Interceptors to annihilate Vaygr fighter and corvette swarms. In Capital Ship raids, Pulsar Gunships usually serve to as fire support for Bombers. Lastly, the Pulsar Gunship is also employable in a spearhead against platform-heavy fortifications. During attack runs, Pulsar Gunships would circle their targets at a distance and keep their Pulsar Beam Cannon trained at the target in order to maximize damage over time. Multirole capacities allow the Pulsar Gunship to remain useful in extended skirmishes that are eventually dominated by the heaviest of Capital Ship classes.
Counters[]
Despite outstanding combat results against most targets, the Pulsar Gunship fails to effectively track and terminate vessels smaller and nimbler than a corvette. Consequently, all classes of combat-capable fighters have varying potential against it. The Vaygr Lance Fighter, in particular, presents the biggest threat to Pulsar Gunships in a Vaygr-Hiigaran skirmish.
Roles in Singleplayer[]
The Pulsar Gunship is Fleet Intelligence's recommended counter to the artificially-intelligent Progenitor Movers. This recommendation is not very effective, especially during the first encounter with the Movers, because proper technology to defeat Mover armor has not yet been discovered. A possible alternative is to use Torpedo Frigates.