Claymore X3

"Front toward enemy"

Presenting the Claymore X3, the latest build from Filbert Shipyards!

**UPDATED FOR 1.4 COMPLIANCE**

Built for the December Anvil Designers Challenge the Claymore is essentially a CV tank. With a thick pure combat steel hull layered with folds of lag shot armor and loaded up with a healthy complement of firepower the Claymore is more than a match for nearly any ship in the world of Reforged Eden!

"grab them by the belt buckle" During playtesting i took on several different classes of ship and station alike in both SP survival and MP on a PvE server. The only ship the Claymore has not been tested against (yet) is the dreaded Dreadnaught. The first test was against an Imerat, but don't let that lead you into thinking i shy from a real challenge. The imerat test involved rushing the Imerat and staying within range of the enemies turrets until the target was disabled. I was amazed at the speed with which i took out the imerat. The damage done to the Claymore was the loss of two turrets up front, one for the forward-most 'u' medium thrusters and some superficial dents in the front of the hull. No hull blocks were lost. This is obviously not the most tactical approach to CV warfare, but the Claymore is a tank afterall so i wanted to see what she could do.

The subsequent combat testing involved going up against a variety of other ships in SP before moving on to bringing the Claymore into the slightly less forgiving server environment. So far on the Server i have taken out multiple lesser Zirax ships without even losing my shields simply by 'tanking' them the way i did the Imerat, a Kamerat Battle Carrier in a drawn-out battle of attrition and an orbital spire. In every test the Claymore exceeded the performance of my last Reforged Combat CV the Orion Starkiller. More tests to follow as i find targets on the server. Will update once i steel the courage to solo a dreadnaught with her...

"Careful Ryan, some things in here don't react well to bullets." The design itself is inspired by a ballistic missile submarine mixed with a Pillar of Autumn-esque sci fi frigate. The design philosophy revolved around armor while still falling within the constraints of the Anvil Designers Challenge (no quantums, no crew) There is a forward 'Aux Cargo bay' that has it's extensions in the nose mixed in with layers of armor and lag-shot. I keep this cargo bay empty going in to combat just in case i decide to take on something like a dreadnaught and am expecting to take some hits. Then after the battle assuming she has preformed as before i will use the Aux cargo to hold my loot from the fight.

"She's built like a steakhouse but she handles like a bistro." The one drawback of all that armor is maneuverability. The ship can hit max speed easy, even when loaded, and has decent strafing ability but the pitch and yaw values are a bit sluggish. To compensate for the poor pitch and yaw i've found that adding a roll to a strafe maneuver increases the mobility in combat. The result is a sort of 'corkscrew' rotation combined with occasional f/b movement to maintain optimum range from the target. The corkscrew roll also helps to avoid quite a few hits as well, although the Claymore really can take it on the chin. And of course it's best to keep the front of the ship pointed toward the enemy to maximize firepower and armor thickness. I also favor having the top of the ship angled slightly toward the enemy as the artillery turrets are the real firepower of this ship so i try to maximize their targeting ability.

- Unlock level 25 - Size Class 3 - Reforged Eden/Reforged Galaxy - Advanced Shield - Advanced Warp - 3x Artillery Turrets - 3x Plasma Turrets - 5x Pulse Laser turrets - 2x Missile Turrets - 2x Cannon Turrets - 2x Flak Turrets - 2x Artillery Cannon - 4x Fixed Pulse laser - 1x 320,000 vol ammo - 3x 320,000 vol cargo - 8 cargo boxes - Advanced Constructor - Medium-sized HV/SV hangar - Full living amenities - Full medical suite - 132,000 vol fuel cap - 30,000 vol O2 cap - 3 Armor lockers - Repair station - Wireless, detector, O2, etc.

Enjoy and good hunting!