Eris EM [Reforged Eden]

CV, Core9 (99%), Unlock Level 25, Class 2

Railgun-based drone hunter for Reforged Eden 1.10.

[table][tr][td]Works only in Reforged Eden. This CV uses weapons and devices that are only available in Reforged Eden.[/td][/tr][/table]

The Eris EM is my take on a mid-game core9 combat CV capable of taking on drone space to collect drone processors. I wanted to build a maneuverable strike fighter that used the LX-2 Railgun as its primary weapon. The Eris is designed to fire EMP cruise missiles at a safe distance to take down enemy shields, then rush in for a precision kill using the penetrating power of the LX-2. For the design I took heavy inspiration from the Crusader Ares series of anti-capital fighters from Star Citizen.

Now before you get all excited about the giant frickin' gun unceremoniously glued to your ship, please be aware of what you're getting yourself into:

The LX-2 Railgun is expensive

The railgun is not included since you can't add it to blueprints, so you have to construct it separately. The schematics alone will cost you around 2m credits to purchase from UCH, and 100 unlock points to unlock it. It also requires a number of rare materials to build including coolant, magnetic plates (from magmacite ingots), and tungsten ingots. This expense will be on top of the cost of the Sentinel Flak schematics (about 500k credits) and the materials needed to build the EMP cruise missile launchers (silver, gold, platinum, etc).

The LX-2 Railgun is tricky to use

The upsides of the railgun are that it is hitscan so it will consistently hit what you aimed at, and the slugs will penetrate a few blocks deep if they can do enough damage to destroy the outer armor. The downside is that if you don't hit the right spot you are just putting useless holes in your target. With no explosive splash damage and a slow-ish rate of fire you really need to land your shots on critical components for this weapon to be effective, which means you have to know the target you're shooting at.

So whether or not this ship is satifying to use will depend on your knowledge of your enemy and your patience and flying skills. If this concerns you it is also possible to install two artillery launchers in the slots on the wings instead of the railgun for the same CPU cost. You will just have to ignore the giant empty hole in the side of your ship where the all the fun is supposed to be.

Tactics

For drone space specifically I use the stock weapon loadout as follows:

• Engage any drone swarmers first using the flak and laser turrets. If you want to have fun shoot some of them with your railgun. The ammo's cheap, and it's good practice.
• Use the range of your EMP cruise missiles and lasers (1km) to strip your target's shield from a safe distance. The lasers can continue to poke at the target to keep its shields from recharging between cruise missile impacts. The Eris is manueverable enough to dodge incoming EMP rounds as long as you keep changing your direction of flight.
• Once the shield is down move in and take out the exposed shield generator. Most drone ships and bases with shields have exposed generators, and taking them out with a few well-placed shots will buy you time to recharge your shields without worrying about theirs.
• Use the railgun to punch through the hull and aim for generators. Drone enemies tend to chain spectaculary and frequently one good shot will end up coring it. The lasers are set to target generators by default, so fire the railgun wherever they are hitting the hull. Of course if you know where the core is aim for that instead.
• Watch your shields. You can avoid damage by dodging most of the EMP rounds and outrunning the standard missiles moving in any direction (may need to boost to be safe), but when you are in close aiming the railgun you're going to get hit. The Eris has a fair amount of internal armoring to prevent chain explosions so you won't lose the entire ship at once, but it's not designed for hull tanking. If she takes too much damage then slip out for repairs and come back. If you're worried about the railgun taking damage there is a hatch inside the cockpit that will let you repair it from safety.

When installing the railgun be sure to connect it to the "Railgun Pwr" signal. This lets the railgun shut down to conserve power when using the "Flight Mode" switch in the cockpit, and will let you turn it on and off manually using the CTRL+ALT+1 shortcut.

The EMP launchers can be toggled using the CTRL+ALT+2 shortcut. There is an indicator on the windshield to show when they are on. This makes it quick to deactivate them in battle to conserve EMP ammo once the shield is down. EMPs and lasers are set to target CVs only by default, so change your targeting options in the control panel before engaging bases.

There are spots to install two quantums or aux cores if you want to add more turrets or fixed weapons, or to boost your shield HP.

All doors, passenger seats, and health devices are public by default. All storage and the pilot seat are private.

Built for the July 2023 Anvil Designer's Challenge hosted by XCaliber, which was build a specialized combat CV.

Construction

• Mix of steel, hardened steel, and combat steel

Offense / Defense

• 1x LX-2 Prototype Light Railgun (not included with blueprint)
• 2x EMP Cruise Missile Launcher
• 3x Heavy Laser Turret
• 4x Sentinel Flak Turret
• Advanced Shield (38,350 capacity, 400 recharge)

Storage

• 1x 200k Ammo Controller
• 1x 144k Ammo Controller
• 2x 80k Cargo Controllers
• 2x 16k Containers
• 2x 5k Containers
• 1x Fridge

Equipment

• Advanced Warp Drive
• Long Range Radar
• Detector (as decoy)
• Advanced Constructor
• Biomedical Chamber
• 4x Medical Devices
• Shower