RE2 - Callister Frigate

-= DESCRIPTION =-

The Callister class frigate is a core 7 ship with a heavy focus on shield breaking. She is designed to take on the Zirax vessels you will find outside of the Zirax core worlds including Imerats. The Callister is my first foray into a purely combat focused build since Alpha 5 or 6 and is designed to be as compact and efficient as possible, cheap and allow you to start you progression to core 9 ships by hunting down Imerat destroyers.

The hull is inspired from an old design by sulusdacor, the promethium trader. I could not find a copy in the workshop but it still exists in the internal blueprints so I included a picture at the end of the roll as a reference.

-= TACTICS =-

Your combat strategy with the Callister is to always keep your nose pointed towards the enemy, even if you are about to die. Should they break through your initial defences your core will pop first without chaining anything important this is by design because at that point the ship will remain perfectly flyable. Simply go to the secondary bridge, install a core in the space right in front of the control chair, hop in and fly away to repair.

If the enemy gets in a little deeper then your shield will blow up along with about 120k of the 320k general storage but you she will still be perfectly flyable. See instructions above but just make sure the enemy leaves before you try to fly away.

If the enemy makes it past the layer of armor that separates the shield generator from the inners then your primary components will chain react however a final layer of combat steel will protect your CPU upgrades so you can come and retrieve them later.

-= UPGRADES =-

The upgrade path is somewhat limited but gives you some good flexibility. Killing your first Imerat will net you all the loot you need to upgrade your generators to a small fusion, add 3 small shield upgrades and add one superior core. This will leave you with 124k of CPU to use on upgrading thrusters, the warp drive and weapons as you see fit.

-= PRODUCTION =-

Production is limited to a single small constructor to let you make cores and spare parts you might need.

-= STORAGE =-

1 X 320K general storage 2 X 200K ammunition storage 2 X 8K containers

-= HULL, DEFENCE & OFFENCE =-

The hull is comprised mostly of hardened steel with combat steel on the nose and over critical components. A generous internal layer of Xenosteel prevents chaining from losing any external components.

Stock shield capacity is 64,469 with a moderate recharge rate of 600. The large shield pool is intended to outlast the Imerat’s shield when diving in and spinning allowing you to strip a few turrets before backing off and coming back. This is not the fastest killing method but it is quite reliable, does not require a PHD in ship shenaniganeries and can usually be pulled off without losing any turrets.

Maneuverability is good enough to allow you to spin dodge most of the incoming fire when you are 600m out. Not exactly spin to win levels with stock thrusters but, they can be upgraded easily.

The Calliseter's stock build comes with 11 light laser turrets for shield stripping, 3 Gatling turrets to take care of drones and 10 light plasma cannons to take apart your enemies once their shields are down.

-= Power =-

Coming in stock with 4 improved and one regular generator the Callister can overload very slightly, I got down to 98% generators while fighting an Imerat. Upgrading to a small fusion drive solves this and actually gives you back 10k CPU to use on something shiny. Alternatively you could remove the small constructor and upgrade the regular generator to an improved. I left the constructor in the default build due to the usefulness for crafting spare parts and cores.

I would say fly safe but as she is designed to go looking for a fight I will just say may your enemy's cores always pop before yours. As always I welcome all commentary, suggestions and criticism.

Cheers, Kahrek Laume