ADVENT | Analysis Report

Naval Analysis of the Andromedon Federation Fleet

"The lingering history of the Union Wars has left its mark on Andromedon society. With every Union constantly trying to one-up its rivals and allies, each one has developed its own unique naval culture." - Cogitian, Ethereal Archivist

ADVENT Fleet Report 0002

Authors: Director of ADVENT Intelligence Ian Powell, Chief of ADVENT Engineering and Development Feng Mercado, Head of ADVENT Fleet Development and Design Matilda Beck, Head of ADVENT Deep-Space Observation Dr. Catherine Bowmann

Subject: Ethereal Collective Naval Analysis - Andromedon Contribution

The Ethereal Collective Navy is, as currently known, comprised of contributions from the various Collective races. However, whereas the Sectoids are notable for their vast contributions, the Andromedon Federation is notable for almost the exact opposite.

The Federation on its own provides an extremely limited number of vessels. Instead, it is the numerous Andromedon Unions who provide the industrial might behind the Federation Navy, in addition to most contributing a small number of ships to the Navy in the interests of collective defense.

The Federation, in turn, provides the majority of this force to the Ethereal Collective Navy. This means there is no truly unified Andromedon design ethos. Rather, their navy encompasses a wide range of styles, weapons, defences, and combat roles. As such, this document will break down the ship designs by the largest or most influential Unions, with each ship also containing a brief section on their optimal role. This document will first break down equipment unique to the Andromedons, but present on most, if not all of their vessels, before describing the major Union fleets, in order of fleet size, beginning with Union Stuirah. Additionally, each section will feature a breakdown of known fleet formations for the relevant Union.

Unique Equipment [Universal]

While the various Unions may, at times, show radically different approaches to ship design, they do have a shared design lineage and technology base, though some Unions may show proficiency in one area or deficiencies in others. These common designs manifest themselves as a number of common technologies implemented in most Andromedon designs. Some of the following technologies are easily identifiable by even the greenest ADVENT Peacekeeper, while others are highly classified or otherwise rarely seen by the rank-and-file.

Barrier Generators: Andromedon Barriers are something that most individuals in the ADVENT army will be able to identify. Large, semi-translucent, polygonal shields with a prominent red tint, these Barriers serve to absorb damage which would otherwise be dealt to a ship's superstructure, often notably increasing the durability of any vessel which can spare the power to mount them. The downside, however, is that creating ship-scale Barriers is incredibly power-intensive, as the "hard-light" technology driving these constructs requires exponentially more energy to create larger Barrier fields.

To offset this, many Andromedon ships have a secondary Elerium power plant within, solely to offset the drain incurred by powering such systems. While this is often costly and always introduces a potential weak point, the additional damage mitigation capabilities large-scale Barriers offer definitely make up for any deficiencies they might introduce.

Shielded Missiles: Though not seen on every vessel, every Union uses these in some capacity. These missiles are larger and slower than most, however, they will always carry the largest, most dangerous payloads, as they come equipped with a battery sufficient to power a low-strength Barrier shield for several minutes. While such a field would normally shatter under even infantry fire, against laser-based point defence systems (notably, those used by the Sectoid navy), this Barrier can buy the missile several crucial seconds of life. This is further amplified by omni-wavelength mirror coatings, designed to reflect light from anywhere on the electromagnetic spectrum. If these missiles are determined to be in use by an opposing fleet, it is recommended that ships with gauss or plasma-based point defence networks be given priority in screening other vessels, and that smaller, non-point defence turrets be turned to picket duty as best they are able.

Advanced Machine Intelligence: Another constant among every Andromedon Union is their use of Advanced Machine Intelligences, programs which give the illusion of intelligence, while, in fact, being entirely deterministic, if very complex, neural networks. These are most notably used in the Andromedon Encounter Suits, taking control once the pilot has been killed or otherwise incapacitated, but they also supplement most technology in some way.

From acting as search and indexing assistants in computer systems, to calculating firing solutions for spinal mount plasma weapons, these machines are ever-present in Andromedon technology. As such, all wirelessly-accessible ADVENT systems should be encrypted to the highest possible degree to thwart hacking attempts, and efforts should be made to insert our own Machine Intelligences or true Artificial Intelligences into Andromedon systems, as such programs have the potential to cause extreme damage.

Cloaking Devices: Though they are exceptionally rare, some Unions, notably the shadowy Union Omega, believed to be responsible for the Special Operators, among other Andromedon intelligence assets, integrate visual and thermal cloaking devices into their ship designs. Such ships are often built around these systems, as they use two primary methods to avoid detection. Visual-spectrum cloaking is accomplished, simply, by utilizing exclusively extremely dark materials for the outer hull, alongside asymmetrical, radar-reflective panelling. Infrared-spectrum cloaking is accomplished via two separate systems: a liquid-hydrogen cooling system and a heat-resistant Barrier field generator.

The cooling system is comparatively simple: the outer hull is made up of a material which is run through with thousands of tiny, nanite-drilled capillaries, which are filled with liquid hydrogen, which is constantly circulated to absorb heat. The heated liquid is brought to the inside of the vessel, where the heat is released and used to provide a small amount of electrical power.

The Barrier field, on the other hand, is much more interesting. While standard Barriers may be translucent to the human eye, they are 99.999% opaque to infrared radiation, otherwise known as heat. A specialized, low-power Barrier generator can create a microns-thin "shell" around the vessel, trapping any emitted heat to be captured by the hydrogen cooling solution, and leaving only a near-absolute zero space where there would otherwise be a visible ship.

Union Stuirah

Union Stuirah is the closest thing in existence to an Andromedon Federation navy. Their force far eclipses the combat vessels of every other Union combined, they have the most balanced force out of all the Unions, and their admirals are among the most talented in existence. The bulk of the fleet is mid-sized ships, frigate-equivalents and the like, but, overall, they have an extremely balanced force, up to and including battleship-class vessels, with the notable exception of cruiser-type vessels.

Instead of fielding cruisers, smaller Stuirah ships often have picket ship or screening capabilities, while battleships do the bulk of the damage against larger vessels. While they aren't the most technologically advanced and don't have any particular surprises, sheer size and training make up for that.

Corvette: The Stuirah Corvette is a small vessel, designed to be piloted by no more than 15 crew members, with Machine Intelligence assistance. The Corvette fills the role of a nimble interceptor and support vessel, designed to be first on the scene, capable of punching above its weight with a large torpedo armament, running light picket duty with its laser PDC network, and responsible for disrupting enemy communication and coordination with sophisticated ECM systems. Such ships are often deployed in wolf packs of three or four, capable of harrying and disorienting far larger forces until reinforcements arrive, though often at a high casualty rate.

While not particularly tough, due to their light armor and weak Barriers, the Andromedons within will always be wearing pressure suits in a combat situation, and, as such, the ship can take more damage that is to be expected, and little, short of a direct hit to the reactor, is likely to take out this ship quickly. Additionally, its small size makes it difficult to hit with larger weaponry, especially spinal-mount weapons.

Frigate: The Union Stuirah Frigate-equivalent is the most prevalent ship within their navy, and is, as such, among the most tightly designed. Every centimeter of this ship works at maximum possible efficiency, from its large Elerium power plant to its tough Barrier generators. The Stuirah Frigate is armed primarily with turreted gauss and plasma weapons, supplemented by several torpedo launchers and the ubiquitous laser PDC network. These ships sport somewhat thin, but still very tough, armor, though they primarily rely on their Barrier fields for protection.

This is one of the smallest vessels to be equipped with the Andromedon dual Barrier system, one permanently active, the other only activated if a projectile is coming from a specific direction. The lighter armor allows for this ship to be surprisingly fast and maneuverable, allowing for Stuirah to send large fleets where they need to be in a surprisingly quick manner. Overall, this is a dangerous enemy to encounter alone, and these ships are never found alone.

Destroyer: The Stuirah Destroyer is somewhat smaller than the Frigate, and is designed primarily to protect larger vessels. Armed with a dense laser and gauss PDC network, along with counter-missiles similar to the Sectoid variety, this ship is a picket vessel through and through. Deployed in a rough semi-circle ahead of the Stuirah Battleships, these ships are responsible for making sure no missiles, torpedoes, or fighters make it through to the core of the fleet. However, this is not to say these vessels are unarmed, as they sport several small plasma beam turrets, attached via specialised quick-rotation mounts, designed to take out any smaller vessels intending to come within range of the Battleships.

Battleship: The Stuirah Battleship is exactly what it sounds like. With a similar design paradigm to the naval battleships of the early 20th century, these are large vessels with large guns, designed to form the core of any Stuirah fleet. Equipped with a spinal kinetic shotgun weapon and a large number of plasma turrets, these ships are deployed well to the rear of any fight, designed to inflict crippling damage on the enemy fleet, especially its larger ships, from extreme ranges. As such, these vessels have only a sparse PDC network, relying on their destroyer screen to intercept any would-be threats.

Common Fleet Formations:

Stuirah only technically fields a single fleet formation, though this is a slight misinterpretation. In every battle, without fail, Stuirah fleets will be deployed with Corvettes and Frigates to the front, Battleships to the rear, and Destroyers between them. This formation is mimicked perfectly and without fail. However, Stuirah's command corps is trained extensively in unconventional tactics, and they rarely respond to situations in the same way twice, so ADVENT fleet commanders should be alert at all times for divergence from Stuirah's standard formations, and assume that the opposing admiral is a step ahead, at minimum.

Union Haruma:

Union Haruma, is, despite their fleet size, not a particularly large threat. The vast majority of their fleet is given over to the Federation as a whole, as they manufacture the Andromedon terraforming vessels. The notable exception to this is the Cleanser Ship, which is also manufactured by Haruma. Since the terraforming ships are not explicitly combat vessels, they will not be extensively detailed in this document. However, any vessel which has the capabilities to alter the atmospheric composition, kill large quantities of native life, and, potentially, alter the landscape of the planet should be seen as a notable threat, and should not be allowed within bombardment range of ADVENT worlds. (See attached reports for further details).

Cleanser Ship: The Cleanser Ship is one of the vessels we have the most information on, due to their ubiquitous use against our world. Cleanser ships are large, slow vessels, armed with extremely large plasma and kinetic weapons, designed purely for orbital bombardment. These ships have incredibly thick armor and Barriers rivaled only by certain Reinarm supercapital ships, making them incredibly tough to destroy without specialised weaponry (heavy plasma beam weapons, endlessly replicating nanite swarms, antimatter weapons, etc.).

The most notable weakness of these vessels is that they cannot fire upon a target and activate their Barriers simultaneously, making them marginally more vulnerable when firing. The most effective strategy for engaging these vessels would be to target their weapons while they fire, as these present a minor weak point, or to use weapons which ignore their Barriers and armor entirely, such as large gamma-ray-spectrum lasers. Considering, however, that these vessels are incredibly specialised, they do not present a particularly high-priority target in large fleet actions, unless they are threatening an ADVENT planet.

Common Fleet Formations:

Union Haruma does not have fleet formations, in the conventional sense, as the only explicitly offensive vessel they field is the Cleanser Ship, which is moved within range of a bombardment target and told to fire.

Union Jamoiar

Union Jamoiar are the cybernetics and machine intelligence specialists of the Andromedon Federation, and this shows in their fleet doctrine. Despite being numerically smaller than Unions Haruma and Stuirah, the Jamoiar ships punch far above their weight class.

Most of their navy is almost entirely automated, piloted by the advanced machine intelligences for which Jamoiar is known, and a sparse crew complement. This generally results in much smaller ships, as there is little to no need for internal crew space, and much faster ships, as there is no need for inertial dampeners or thrust limiting to protect the crew.

In general, because the Jamoiar vessels have no need for life support, internal gravity, or crew space, these ships are a unique lesson in hyper-efficient ship design. Jamoiar vessels are often much smaller than their counterparts in other fleets, yet they are among the fastest and most durable vessels ADVENT will encounter.

This is, in part, due to Jamoiar relying much more on Barrier technology than most other Unions. The power that would be spent on supporting a crew is instead spent on powering an otherwise largely unheard of double Barrier system. Jamoiar vessels are among the few that have a permanent Barrier surrounding the vessel, and most ships will also have a dedicated machine intelligence generating small Barriers in the flight path of incoming munitions. It is suspected that the Jamoiar navy is actually "understaffed", as it were, as their ships are much easier to mass-produce than those of the other unions, due to their entirely mechanical nature. This means that, in any serious conflict, Jamoiar could potentially field a much larger navy than they currently have.

Buster Missile: The Buster Missile is a somewhat unusual projectile weapon. Nothing more than a small receiver, a command computer, an oversized engine, and a gravity-forged tungsten semi-sphere roughly 60cm in diameter, the Buster is a remote controlled missile, designed to accelerate to ludicrous speeds before impacting its target. The Buster carries no explosive payload, instead relying entirely on kinetic energy to damage its target. While it may not sound like much of a threat, their nature as cheap to manufacture, and Jamoiar's extensive use of Machine Intelligences to support their fleets, means that these are often deployed in swarms of several dozen, precision-guided by a nearby shipboard MI. Needless to say, 50 projectiles, each weighing upwards of a half-ton, impacting a vessel at several kilometers per second will result in damage to even the toughest ship armor, if not outright destruction.

Fighter Drone: When it comes to strike craft, Jamioar exclusively uses MI-driven drones, which they tend to deploy in the hundreds, so as to mitigate the relative weakness of each individual drone. The Fighter Drone is the most common variant, comprising a spherical shell, with a small engine on the rear, another on the top, and one on either side. This shell is split at the front, exposing both a laser and a gauss cannon. These weapons are not large, only barely larger than infantry-caliber, but, deployed, as they are, in overwhelming numbers, these drones can establish an incredibly dense point-defence screen or deal notable damage to larger vessels, especially when properly coordinated.

Missile Drone: The Jamoiar Missile Drone fulfills a role similar to that of the Fighter Drone, only, instead of acting as a protective screen, the Missile Drone is more geared towards direct combat. The Missile Drone shares its shell with that of its cousin, only, instead of a dual barrel laser/kinetic weapon, it carries a missile rack. This rack comes pre-loaded with a specific missile type and cannot be altered after launch. These drones are designed to launch, fire their payload, and then engage in a suicidal ramming attack against enemy craft, for which purpose the core contains a small plasma explosive. When deployed in swarms, the battlefield can quickly become saturated with projectiles, overwhelming enemy defences, and leading to a quick victory.

Interceptor: The Jamoiar interceptor is an incredibly compact vessel, built primarily to harass and interdict larger vessels. Their oversized Elerium power plant allows them to use their powerful thrusters to be the first arrivals on any battlefield, whereupon the power is diverted to the incredibly powerful dual Barrier generators, slowing the vessel down significantly, but allowing them to take a large amount of damage before going down.

Thankfully, these ships are not heavily armed, primarily coming equipped with a laser PDC network and a large quantity of missiles. While these do not pose much of a threat to vessels larger than the Interceptor itself, the combination of MI-controlled missiles and point defence cannons is a potent threat against strike craft. Additionally, the aforementioned missiles are fired in large enough quantities that they are capable of seriously stressing enemy point defence networks, due to their sheer volume. Finally, if supported by a fleet, these vessels transition into the role of a light picket ship, focusing mainly on taking out enemy strike craft.

Frigate: The frigate is the Jamoiar mainstay vessel. In contrast to most other hull designs from this union, the frigate is actually slightly oversized for its role. This ship design isn't particularly tough or fast, but its armament is considerable. An individual frigate has very little in the way of point defence, but trades that for a number of beam plasma turrets. These weapons are capable of inflicting significant hull damage at a very long range, no matter the enemy ship size.

The gases used by these plasma weapons are stored in hundreds of small blisters, studded all along the outside of the ship, acting as a form of reactive armor, in addition to larger reserves within the ship itself. It should be noted that, should such a blister be hit while its gas is being diverted to the ship's weapons or internal reserves, it is likely the ship will take significant damage, as this creates a sudden underpressure link between primary armaments and damaged hull. The frigate also carries a number of high-rate of fire kinetic turrets, intended primarily to act in an anti-strike craft role. Finally, these vessels carry a number of torpedo tubes, loaded with antimatter-tipped warheads. This is a formidable vessel, to be sure, and the fact that Union Jamoiar fields them in large quantities should be a cause for concern.

Destroyer: The Jamoiar Destroyer is a purpose-built capital ship killer. Though it has thin armor and only light Barriers, the Destroyer has an oversized power core, of the size usually found on cruisers and other Unions' battleships, powering a massive engine block and a spinal beam plasma lance. Additionally, the Jamaoiar destroyer is studded with a number of large-caliber kinetic turrets, making this an incredibly dangerous vessel at a distance. Its biggest weakness, however, is that it has only a half-dozen point-defence turrets along its entire length, meant almost entirely for deflecting space junk, rather than destroying missiles or strike craft. Usually deployed at the rear of any Jamoiar fleet formation, Destroyer groups can wreak havoc on anchor capital ships, while remaining safely out of range themselves.

Cruiser: The Jamoair cruiser is quite possibly the most dangerous vessel in their fleet. Each one is equipped with a sizable laser and gauss PDC network, along with a large number of missile racks, all of which are coordinated and controlled by the ship's own Machine Intelligences. Additionally, these vessels have a spinal plasma lance, which, while not incredibly powerful, does allow it to pose a threat to larger vessels, especially when coordinated with other, similar weapons.

None of this, however, is the reason these ships are noteworthy. Every one of these ships acts as a processing node for nearby ships, meaning that, the more ships are in proximity to the cruiser, the better each ship becomes, as their Machine Intelligences can offload common operations to a single, central computer. All of this means that the Cruiser is an incredible force multiplier on any battlefield, as each one will cause the overall computational power of the fleet to increase dramatically.

Carrier: The Jamaoiar Carrier vessel is strange, to say the least. Unlike most other vessels, it does not fit into any one specific size category. Instead, this is a modular vessel. At the core, it is a large computational array, housing a specialised MI, designed for maximum concurrent processing capability. Attached to this, there is an oversized engine block and an elerium power plant. Finally, there is a rotating ring attached to the front of the vessel, containing several dozen drones in launch clamps. In order to launch the drones, the launch clamps are released, causing the centripetal force of the ring to throw them out of their cradles and into the battlefield.

What makes this vessel unique is the fact that these rotating hangars can be daisy-chained, meaning an arbitrary amount can be attached to the front of each one, dramatically increasing the carrying capacity. The primary downside to this, of course, is that these vessels are singularly slow and have incredible difficulty maneuvering. This is offset by the fact that these vessels will almost always be found at the very rear of Jamoiar fleets, supporting other vessels with their scores of drones. This ship is a force multiplier, in every sense of the word. Alone, they are easy prey for battleships and even cruisers, but, as part of a larger fleet action, they provide great utility.

Common Fleet Formations:

There are 3 common Jamoiar fleet formations: Carrier-based, Destroyer-based, and Cruiser-based.

Carrier-based fleets are just that. The core of the fleet is one or more large Carriers, protected by Interceptors and Frigates, which launches ungodly numbers of drones, all of which is coordinated by a handful of Cruisers. These fleets are more commonly found protecting systems or planets, as the Carrier allows the fleet to project its power over much larger areas, through the use of Strike Craft swarms.

Destroyer-based fleets are most often used when assaulting important targets. Much like the Carrier-based fleets, there is a group of Interceptors to harass the enemy, a line of Frigates to deal with smaller vessels, and a handful of Cruisers to coordinate the fleet as a whole, but the core is made up of a number of Destroyers, designed to destroy large vessels and static infrastructure.

Finally, Cruiser-based fleets are the Jamoiar special operations fleets, for when they need a highly-coordinated battle group, capable of adapting to situations and threats on the fly. These fleets may have some Carriers or Destroyers, but they always have a larger-than-normal contingent of Cruisers, usually a minimum of a dozen, allowing the fleet to devote its considerable processing power to combat, rather than mundane tasks such as atmospheric regulation.

Union Apear:

Union Apear is the other Andromedon Union specialising in Machine Intelligences. Unlike Jamoiar, however, these ships are crewed, with the MIs mainly used in a support capacity, firing weapons, or controlling drones. Apear MIs are far above Andromedon standard, giving their ships an edge in combat, and allowing every crew, no matter how green, to function with the efficiency of the most elite forces.

Additionally, there is some speculation that Apear have an AI-controlled mothership, of sorts, though there is no tangible evidence for this. Uniquely, Apear does not provide any ships to the greater Andromedon Federation fleet, potentially meaning they have technological developments they would like to keep secret. Apear's fleet is also unique in that their ships are very clearly delineated between offensive and defensive roles, with each variant having very different equipment. Finally, Apear only uses a very small number of ship types, though this is compensated for by their technological superiority.

Frigate: The Apear Frigate is the most common vessel in their navy. Both variants share a common frame, an oblong hull with retractable shutters covering turret emplacements, studded with standard collective laser point-defence cannons. These vessels feature high-efficiency Elerium power plants, granting them a higher power output than most similarly-sized Andromedon vessels, which they use to power their improved Barrier systems and high-power engines, allowing these vessels to be surprisingly fast, while not compromising on toughness.

The Offence variant of the frigate supplements this already dangerous hull with a large number of MI-coordinated beam plasma turrets, hidden underneath the hull shutters, along with a denser point-defence net. This allows these vessels to punch well above their weight class, especially against heavily-armored opponents, while also maintaining its defensive capabilities against missiles and strike craft.

The Defence variant of the Frigate, on the other hand, eschews the plasma turrets of its sibling for a truly mind-boggling missile launch capability and a nigh-on impenetrable MI-coordinated point defence net. Using rockets similar to the Sectoid counter-missiles, this vessel exists to prevent any missiles or strike craft from getting past its guns. It should also be noted that every missile fired by this vessel will have, at the very least, a light Barrier shield and a reflective coating, vastly increasing their survivability against laser-based PD systems. Additionally, this variant is equipped with long-range Barrier projectors, allowing it to extend its own protective field around other ships, further enhancing its ability to protect friendly ships, and augmenting its nature as a force-multiplier.

Cruiser: The Apear Cruiser hull exists as a multirole vessel, to fill the holes in the Apear fleet that the Frigates cannot. This hull variant is a more flexible one than the frigates, though they always carry several MI-controlled fighter wings. Sharing their more efficient power plant with the Frigate, though increased in size, the Cruiser is surprisingly fast and maneuverable, owing to its omnidirectional thrusters, while also sporting thick armor and strong Barriers, all maintained and controlled by an assortment of Machine Intelligences, greatly enhancing the ship's performance envelope.

The Offence variant of the Cruiser supplements its hangar space with an Element-enhanced relativistic spinal kinetic shotgun weapon, designed to tear through formations of smaller ships, while also posing a threat to larger vessels. Older varieties of these weapons, from the Union Wars, are known to have severely damaged even Reinarm Titans, so these vessels are not to be ignored, despite their relatively small size.

The fighters fielded by this Cruiser variant tend towards the more disposable and aggressive, with designs similar to the Jamoiar Buster Missile and Fighter/Missile Drones being commonplace, allowing this ship to extend its reach across the battlefield further than it would otherwise be able to. Additionally, these vessels leverage Apear's advanced Machine Intelligences as a potent electronic warfare tool, inserting virulent polymorphic worms into unsecured or vulnerable systems, causing effects ranging from a simple derangement of firing solutions to depressurising entire vessels.

The Defence variant, on the other hand, simply increases the amount of hangar space of the stock cruiser model, along with an increase in the number and variety of point-defence turrets. The strike craft carried by this variant are also different, with larger variants, designed to last and protect their mothership, being more common. This payload also exists more as an extension of the point defence network, maintaining an orbit around the mothership and any vessels deemed of importance, not dissimilar from bees buzzing around their hive. This allows the defence cruiser to network its strike craft with a friendly ship's point defence system, vastly increasing that ship's durability against missile and strike craft-based strategies. Finally, this vessel retains its smaller cousin's ability to extend its own barrier field to other ships, further increasing their durability.

Common Fleet Formations:

As Apear has very few hull designs, their fleets follow no regular pattern, containing varying numbers of the 4 designs they use, depending on the task. Static defence assignments are likely to have more defensive variants, whereas planetary invasions are likely to have more offensive variants. Regardless, Apear's fleets are always exceptionally well-coordinated, due to their use of special command and control MIs, used to coordinate fleet actions.

Union Reinarm:

Union Reinarm is one of the larger engineering-focused unions, and their approach to fleet design is...unorthodox, to say the least. Reinarm produces only an extremely small number of ships, meaning that most of their hull designs are bought, inspired by, stolen, or scavenged from other Unions.

However, this does not mean these vessels will be easy to combat. Union Reinarm has as many varieties of the same hull class as most other navies have ships in their fleet. Every single vessel is completely overhauled, stem to stern, and upgraded wherever possible. Their armor is replaced with cutting-edge experiments, giving some vessels unparalleled toughness and others almost complete immunity to laser weaponry.

The engines are rebuilt to provide efficiency approaching the upper limits of our theoretical models, and several new weapons systems are installed on each vessel. In addition to this, Union Reinarm has a fascination with "wonder weapons" rivaling that of the Third Reich or Emperor Palpatine, and many ships are equipped with incredible armaments, ranging from gravity well projectors to FTL missiles.

No two Reinarm fleets are the same, and any fleet action involving Reinarm vessels should be undertaken with the utmost of care, as their vessels will be loaded to bear with surprises of every kind. As breaking Reinarm vessels down by hull would be pointless, due to the sheer variety, this section will, instead, focus on some of the various improvements and modifications made to each ship category and some of the more notable designs currently in use by the Union.

Universal: Though the Reinarm ship designers seem to like creating various original designs, there are some pieces of equipment which are equipped on most, if not all, Reinarm vessels. These include reflective armor, designed to mitigate damage from laser weapons. Honeycomb armor and superstructure, combined with dual-layer hulls separated by vacuum, significantly reduce impact damage and damage from laser weapons, as the energy needs to be radiated from compartment to compartment. Finally, most vessels from this Union come equipped with extremely efficient engines, giving them more power to use for their shields and weapons, and some vessels even sport stealth systems and the accompanying masked engines.

Frigate: Reinarm Frigates are used, primarily, as picket ships, designed to protect the rest of the fleet. In addition to a dense laser point-defence network and mirrored hull, the Reinarm Frigate is one of the few collective vessels equipped with proper kinetic flak cannons. This alone would make these vessels potent counters to missile and strike craft-based fleet compositions, but the Frigate also contains a bizarre form of gravity-well point defence, which makes use of the Collective's gravity manipulation to shred strike craft and missiles with tidal forces, and is even capable of bending lasers, plasma, and kinetic projectiles.

This weapon warrants the Frigate's classification as the single most dangerous picket ship in the Andromedon fleet, and the fact that this ship is found in the Federation Navy, though rarely, should be cause for alarm, as this vessel is very difficult to destroy.

Destroyer: Reinarm destroyers are, like those of Jamoiar, designed to fulfill a role similar to ancient anti-cavalry units, in that they are designed to take out targets much larger than themselves.

Reinarm destroyers have been known to be equipped with spinal kinetic cannons, and, while they seem to prefer shotgun-style weapons to single large slugs, newer designs are equipped with an extremely potent triple-beam plasma cannon. This weapon is a scaled-up variant of the more advanced Collective plasma beam weaponry, and, with a ship's reactor behind them, such beams are easily capable of piercing starship hulls.

This weapon can be fired in two variations: triple-beam, and single-beam. Triple-beam fires all three of the beams at once, resulting in an incredibly deadly single shot, ideal for long-range alpha-strike tactics. Such a shot, however, puts immense stress on the ship's reactor, as it discharges virtually all available capacitors, resulting in a lengthy recharge time, between two and five minutes. Single-beam shots, on the other hand, have a very short recharge time - between 45 and 90 seconds, meaning that if the first shot does not do the job, a second can follow up with very little delay, allowing for more consistent bombardment of the enemy. Finally, XCOM's Andromedon defectors have hinted that some of these vessels are equipped with experimental FTL missile systems. We do not know the capabilities of this weapon, but any university-level physics student can tell you the obscene energy that a missile moving at FTL speeds would impart on its targets.

Cruiser: Reinarm Cruisers fulfil more support-oriented roles with the Union fleets. The most common equipment for such vessels is a gravity well generator, capable of tearing a ship out of FTL. This device is often paired with a smaller wolf pack-style fleet hiding between systems. When an enemy fleet attempts to cross the gravity well, its FTL drives fail, whereupon they are set upon and destroyed by the waiting Reinarm vessels.

Additionally, cruiser class vessels sometimes leverage powerful Machine Intelligences to spoof enemy sensors into thinking the Reinarm fleet is larger than it is in reality. The closest thing the cruisers carry to a unique offensive weapon, however, is a specialised long-range Barrier projector.

Eschewing size for strength and extreme range (compared to other Barrier generators), such projectors are never used in the opening volleys of a battle. Instead, the fleet's MIs analyse enemy ships, looking for weapons emplacements. Finally, once enough have been identified, any cruisers armed with such specialised Barriers will place a Barrier over the mouth of the targeted weapon. While this does not do much damage to lasers, any kinetic weapons or missiles will suddenly impact an impenetrable surface before leaving the barrel, often causing incredible damage to the weapon in question. While this weapon is incredibly potent, it is limited to a short range of only several hundred kilometers, meaning these vessels are often well-protected by escort groups of picket frigates.

Battleship: The Reinarm Battleship is, despite its designation, a rather small vessel, often mistaken for a battlecruiser. Not significantly larger than their cruisers, these vessels carry an extremely large Elerium power plant, supplemented by smaller fusion reactors. The entire vessel is wrapped in heavy armor, supplemented by strong, two-layer Barrier projectors. All of these characteristics result in an incredibly tough, albeit slow vessel. While such a low speed would normally make such a vessel unusable, this is supplemented by the fact that the ship's entire armament consists of gamma ray-spectrum lasers. From point-defence cannons to broadside turrets, this vessel is deadly at any range and to almost any opponent.

Should any of these ships be sighted on a battlefield, they should be seen as extreme high-priority targets, as no known armor can stop gamma rays, and the secondary ionisation effects they induce on electronics will severely damage the computer systems of any enemy they hit, making them potent weapons, even when ignoring the effects they have on crew.

Titan: Though the Reinarm fleet largely consists of refitted vessels, the Union does have a small number of titan-class vessels they produce themselves. These vessels are rarely seen, functioning only as flagships for large fleet actions. However, they are among the most heavily armed and armored vessels in the fleet.

Reinarm Titans are incredibly dangerous for a number of reasons, the primary one being that, whereas almost every collective vessel uses laser PDCs, this vessel uses collimated anti-hydrogen beams. While these are, nominally, point-defence cannons, they also function as massively potent ship-to-ship weapons, despite only firing in short bursts from small turrets.

The most notable element of this vessel is its spinal weapon, an entirely unique weapon which functions on principles not currently known to ADVENT. Every Reinarm Titan is capable of firing metastable degenerate matter slugs, each massing several hundred tons. As a reminder, degenerate matter is also known as neutronium, a state of matter created by subjecting the core of a star to immense pressures, usually only experienced during supernovae. It is unknown how these shells are accelerated, as they weigh far too much to be fired from standard coil or rail weapons, at least based on current knowledge, though it is speculated to be an application of the Element.

These two capabilities mean that the Reinarm Titan is more than capable of fighting off small fleets on its own, especially if attacking from surprise.

Reinarm Cannon: Due to the Reinarm Cannon's nature, it was detailed in its own document shortly after the destruction of Busan, and its full dossier will not be recounted here.

Potential Superweapons: Due to their propensity for absurd engineering projects, Union Reinarm seems to have a penchant for so-called "superweapons", massive, often unique, single constructs, which have incredibly high resource costs, but have commensurately high-yield effects. These weapons are not worth mass-producing, even if it were possible, and often serve primarily as intimidation tools. While there are no concrete details of weapons beyond the Reinarm Cannon, there are rumors of certain other weapons.

The term "RED Shower" has been linked to an element based weapon, seemingly based on using the mass-manipulation properties of the Element to compress a sample of the Element to the point where it becomes degenerate matter. When containment is released, the sample violently explodes, showering a large area with Element particles. The effectiveness this weapon would have against psions need not be overstated.

Reinarm is also thought to be working on a Barrier system capable of manifesting within a target, violently tearing the target matter in two. This weapon could effectively function as a way to cut a ship into pieces, completely bypassing any defences it might have.

Reinarm's propensity for use of the Element additionally leads one to a disturbing theoretical weapon concept: through use of the odd characteristics of the Element, one could vastly increase the mass of a projectile before firing it at a sun, upsetting the star's natural balance and initiating a solar nova.

Finally, telescopic examination of known Union Reinarm space has revealed a region of space, located in what appears to be a nebula. Upon spectral analysis, however, observers noted that the nebula does not appear to be a natural occurrence. Specifically, instead of being composed of hydrogen and helium, like most stellar gas clouds, this appears to be a colossal cloud of tiny metal objects, with spectral emission lines corresponding to metals commonly found in Andromedon nanomachine designs. If this is what we believe, it is, in effect, a colossal upscaling of Project Gaia, used to great effect in the battle of Miami. The danger of such a weapon cannot be overstated, as it effectively makes it impossible to enter large swathes of space without Union Reinarm's consent.

Common Fleet Formations:

Reinarm's fleet formations are almost as eclectic as their ships, though they usually fall into one of two categories.

Capital fleets have a small number of strong vessels (Titans, Battleships etc) at the core, protected and supported by various classes of smaller vessels, almost always including their picket Frigate variant.

Field fleets have a fairly even spread of vessels topping out at Cruiser-size, and are most often used for patrol, scouting, and Blitzkreig-esque missions.

Union Viarior:

Union Viarior, as befits their role in Andromedon society, don't field combat vessels at all. Instead, their entire navy consists of various flavours of transport vessels, escorted by combat ships of whatever Union they are in an alliance with currently. As such, none of their ships carry offensive weapons, instead opting to field the densest point defence networks outside of the Sectoid labships.

Viarior ships are nigh-on impervious to missiles and strike craft, and anything that does impact these vessels must contend with the incredibly thick armor protecting the cargo within. Finally, boarding attacks are not particularly viable, as all Viarior ships are programmed to self-destruct if a boarding attempt is detected. Consequently, the best strategy for dealing with these vessels and stopping them from supplying our enemies may be to launch concerted dummy boarding attempts with various automated units.

Light Transport Vessel: The Viarior LTV is a small, single-pilot vessel, fitted with minimal point-defence, suited mostly to shooting down nearby debris, and a vastly oversized engine. These ships are capable of incredible speeds, fitting their nature as high-value transport ships, designed to ferry important goods and VIPs between locations when Gateway travel is not an option.

LTVs are largely unarmed, relying almost entirely on their speed to avoid engagement. Like all Viarior vessels, they have standing orders to self-destruct when facing capture or destruction, as Union Viarior would rather lose the cargo than give it to their enemies, though these protocols have some leniency when carrying important personnel.

The only defence these vessels have against impacts is a sectional Barrier generator, capable of generating a very powerful Barrier field for a split second, just enough time to intercept an incoming missile or kinetic projectile. Overall, this vessel is extremely fast, but largely defenceless if caught. Boarding should not be attempted, as with all Viarior vessels.

Freighter: The Viarior freighter is the backbone of their transport fleet. Used to transport war supplies, personnel, and whatever else is needed that can't be transported via gateway. Piloted by Codex, these ships are not fast, essentially being an engine block attached to a large cargo hold. Simple and reliable, the Freighter is the engine by which Viarior maintains its dominant logistical status. Due to its nature as a general transport vessel, these ships should be targeted whenever possible to disrupt enemy supply lines.

Superheavy Freighter: Viarior Superheavy Freighters are unlikely to ever be seen on the battlefield. These vessels handle transporting goods from place to place. Massive, lumbering beasts, these ships are piloted by simple Machine Intelligences, and will always follow the same route, unless manually altered.

These ships carry no weapons, deflecting space debris purely with their large size and thick armor, and pose no threat to anyone not in their way.

Overall, a low-priority target, unless concerted attempts are being made to sabotage Viarior supply lines.

Common Fleet Formations:

Being as Viarior does not have combat ships, it does not field fleets.

Union Irriaran:

Irriaran is the Andromedon Union responsible for most of the Federation's spaceborne infrastructure. Their navy is not at the level of Stuirah, or even Apear, but their stationary emplacements are unparalleled, with large antimatter power plants powering an incredible amount of defensive emplacements surrounding their stations. Additionally, every Irriaran station is entirely self-sufficient, based around rotating cylinder habitats, rather than artificial gravity generators. Irriaran also fills the role of a pure science Union, pouring huge amounts of resources into pure and applied science, along with the requisite equipment.

The Irriaran home system is also known to have the beginnings of what we would call a Dyson Swarm, a network of solar collectors orbiting their star, eventually eclipsing its light entirely. The gathered solar energy is sent by hundreds of gateways to a central distribution station, providing all the power they could ever need. A large quantity of this energy is spent making and storing large amounts of antimatter, providing fuel for their infrastructure and ammo for their weapons.

This system also allows them to power a large amount of automated manufacturing systems, constantly creating new cylinder habitats and powering cloning farms, growing their populations to huge levels. The end result of this is a Union which tends towards isolationism and research, with a rapidly, exponentially growing population, and nigh-infinite energy. It is believed that Irriarian is currently looking to create an energy-to-matter conversion device, allowing them to leverage their energy superiority to gain nigh-infinite resources as well.

Research Vessel: The Irriaran Research Vessel is much akin to the Sectoid Labship, an external science platform, loaded with equipment for abduction, dissection, biological sciences, foreign sample recovery, isolation, analysis, and similar. While the similarities are uncanny, it should be noted that, in the event that they abduct any victims, the Andromedons only engage in non-terminal analysis and endeavour to return their victims to their homes. These vessels often contain potentially advantageous scientific data, and, as such, should be targeted for boarding actions if at all possible.

Standard Defence Platform: The SDP is Irriaran's primary export. A spherical structure bristling with X-Ray point-defence lasers, kinetic flak, gauss turrets, missile racks, and plasma cannons. This complex is all powered by a single, massive Elerium Power Plant, which also powers the platform's Barrier generator, as Irriarian don't equip these constructs with particularly thick armor. Designed to be run as automated platforms, many Unions do, nonetheless, station them with a small number of engineers, both to act as maintenance personnel, and to make sure the platform can receive regular upgrades.

Orbital Habitat: The Orbital Habitat is Irriaran's most common construct, especially in their home system. Rotating cylinders, these constructs bear a striking similarity to the modern human idea of an O'Neill Cylinder, an older proposal for spacebound habitation, albeit scaled up and making use of their advanced technology to create a much larger and tougher station. These habitats are generally equipped with antimatter generators, though some of the more outlying elements have been retrofitted with Elerium power plants, and contain everything needed for Andromedon life, along with industrial or scientific equipment.

Due to the fact that Irriaran has created literally thousands of these, and that they refuse to share them with other unions, they have built up a significant industrial base, even though each Habitat may only contain a small fabrication bay or laboratory division. It should also be noted that these habitats are where the Irriaran Research Vessels dock, and where most of their experimentation and research is carried out, meaning that these constructs are almost guaranteed to have valuable scientific data, and should be boarded and conquered, even if the expected cost is high.

Homeworld Defence Platform: The HDP is Irriaran's upgraded, proprietary variant of the SDP, deployed only in their home system. Firstly, it should be noted that every one of these platforms is incredibly dangerous, as they are powered by antimatter reactors and use exclusively antimatter weaponry, meaning that, upon destruction, they will detonate violently, unleashing a huge amount of hard radiation into the vicinity and vaporising an nearby targets.

Secondly, the sheer amount of power generated by an antimatter reactor, alongside the nature of the HDP as a stationary construct, allows for an extremely heavy Barrier field to be employed, supplemented by very thick armor. Finally, the antimatter is also used as ammo for the platform's point-defence systems, allowing for small, extremely nimble turrets to destroy almost any projectile, provided the shot hits. These factors, combined, result in a nigh-indestructible target, which can inflict stupendous damage on any target or projectile at any range, and which severely injures or outright destroys any nearby enemy units upon sustaining heavy damage. These platforms are not to be engaged at anything closer than extreme range, ideally no closer than 0.25AU.

Home Station: Acting as the central collection point for their Dyson Swarm's solar energy, the Irriaran Home Station is the hub of their antimatter creation system. Powering huge laser arrays and various particle beams, the sun's energy is stored within thousands of head-sized magnetic confinement units, each filled with about one kilogram of antimatter, which are distributed throughout the system and to the other unions. This station is home to thousands of the highest-ranking Union officials and scientists, and, as befits such a structure, is defended by dozens of Homeworld Defence Platforms, and is, itself, layered in several meters of hyper-compressed gravity-forged Iridium, alongside an otherwise unheard of triple-layer permanent Barrier system, in addition to the expected antimatter weaponry.

Finally, it is also possible for the collected solar energy to be unleashed as a coherent, constant beam, similar to a Nicoll-Dyson beam, capable of immolating most targets. Currently, ADVENT has no means of assaulting this station. Even with a fleet of third-generation Project Atlantis vessels, there is no way we could assault this station. Any assault would have to be based on extreme-range (0.25AU+) bombardment of unprecedented strength, or rely on hitherto unknown superweapons.

Common Fleet Formations:

Irriaran does not field fleets, they field large numbers of defensive emplacements and static defenses, primarily antimatter-based.

Union Zacarrim:

Union Zacarrim, while not posing a direct threat to the ADVENT navy, will likely pose the most concerted, long-term threat, should any conflict arise with the Federation as a whole, or this Union in particular.

The closest parallel to the Zacarrim navy would be a fleet of privateers or an army of highwaymen. In direct combat, their ships stand absolutely no chance, as they are largely unarmed, bar a thin point defence net, possess no standard Barriers, and have very thin armor.

Their strength lies in the fact that every single Zacarrim vessel carries top of the line cloaking equipment and vastly oversized engines. Zacarrim vessels eschew direct combat, preferring to lie in wait, cloaked, before launching a number of breach pods (also cloaked) at the target vessel and engaging in a brutally efficient boarding action. Due to their role, Union Zacarrim crew often have somewhat sleeker environment suits than the standard, to better move around in the tight confines of a spaceship.

Breach Pod: The Breach Pod is central to Zaccarim doctrine. A glorified rocket-coffin, this craft is roughly the size of a standard shipping container, with powerful electromagnets attached to each corner, Andromedon-standard atmosphere, thermite-laced edges, and breaching charges on all sides. This craft is designed for one specific purpose: ferrying Zacarrim boarding parties to enemy vessels and breaching their hull. Each pod can hold up to three Andromedons in boarding suits, and is a danger to all involved.

Raider: The Raider is the smallest vessel used by Union Zacarrim. Equipped with a cloaking system, this vessel is designed to stay in orbit, completely silent, wait for opportune targets to appear, and board them. To this end, the vessel carries three Breach Pods, extended life support supplies, and improved atmospheric processors. If found, the Raider has no real defence beyond initiating boarding actions, as it only carries four laser PDCs, designed to deflect spaceborne debris. When attacking from stealth, the Raider's boarding actions are formidable, but if found, it should not be difficult to destroy. These vessels carry no important personnel, supplies, or intelligence, and should, as such, be engaged without further consideration.

Cutter: Zacarrim's mainline vessel, the Cutter is the equivalent of a 17th century pirate ship, capable of repeatedly performing boarding actions, and even capable of engaging in light combat. The Cutter, like its smaller cousin, devotes a significant amount of power to its cloaking device and carries generally weak armor. However, unlike the Raider, the Cutter carries its eight Breach Pods in specialised electromagnetic catapults, hidden under retractable shutters beneath the hull. This allows the pods to be hidden and protected until they are needed, and even retrieved, repaired, and rearmed for later use. The hull features several low-caliber gauss turrets, usually loaded with flak shells, and a small laser point defence net. Like all Zacarrim vessels, the Cutter features enhanced life support systems to support long-duration missions.

Ghost Ship: Union Zacarrim's battleship-equivalent, the Ghost ship is an entirely self-sufficient vessel, acting as a mobile forward operating base for local Zacarrim missions. However, the ship also features two central counter-rotating rings loaded with Breach Pods, meaning this vessel is able to stage large boarding actions.

In addition to this, its nature as an FOB means that each Ghost Ship contains the required systems for in-system mission coordination, along with facilities to dock a Cutter or two Raiders for repair and resupply. Though these ships are theoretically capable of infinite-duration missions, they are not capable of being permanently cloaked during this time, as they must occasionally deactivate the cloaking device to dump built-up heat, lest the crew die due to heat exposure.

Additionally, each Ghost Ship is armed with several gauss turrets, capable of acting both as broadside batteries and as flak cannons, along with a number of laser and plasma cannons for point-defence and ship-to-ship combat, respectively.

Common Fleet Formations:

Zaccarim does not field fleets, they field single, long-term infiltration missions.

Union Omega:

Union Omega is shrouded in mystery, and is the only union that the Federation actively obfuscates. Omega is theorized to be behind the Special Operators and their equipment, including their fighters. Union Omega's fighters are among the most advanced pieces of technology, incorporating elements which the Federation actively denies having acquired. It should also be noted that, in keeping with the role of the Special Operators, these fighters are specifically designed to counter psions in battle, and should only be engaged by mundane forces.

Omega Fighter: The Omega Fighter, as it has been dubbed, is an extremely light fighter. Without any armor beyond what is necessary to keep out radiation and keep in atmosphere, the fighter itself is built around a central, sealed cockpit, with three rear-mounted engines and two forward-facing arms, each of which serves as a mount for a light plasma cannon. Additionally, the cloaking field generator components are mounted within these arms. On the ventral side of the cockpit is the single torpedo launcher, which is preloaded with a fusion warhead, and mounts for the two gauss point defence cannons, one each on port and starboard.

Notably, these fighters contain small amounts of the Element within their superstructure, theorised to reduce the effectiveness of psionics upon the hull and, due to the Element's physics-defying effects, it may also reduce the fighter's mass, allowing for significantly improved mobility. Additionally, while the initial torpedo is a standard Collective fusion warhead, it carries three unique reloads: an endlessly replicating nanite payload, an Element-salted bomb, designed to deny psions in a large area, and a metastable degenerate matter warhead, which destabilizes on impact.

It should be noted that the Special Operator pilot of this vessel is sealed within the cockpit in a form of suspension gel, providing limited nourishment and allowing them to breathe. Piloting is done with a total-immersion 360° virtual reality helmet, with camera blisters studded regularly along the hull, allowing the pilot to see everything from every angle of the ship. While this would certainly take a lot of training to use effectively, it means the pilots of these vessels are almost preternaturally observant.

This concludes the general analysis of the Andromedon contribution to the Collective Navy.

Common Fleet Formations:

Omega does not field fleets (that we know of), as their only known vessel is effectively a fast transport ship.

Threat Classification and Weakness Documentation:

Having concluded the naval overview of the various Union fleets, this section aims to document specific weaknesses identified in their designs and how they can be exploited. Ships will be classified as follows:

A unit classified as low threat is one that can be safely engaged by most, if not all fleet compositions.

A unit classified as medium threat is one that requires some specific fleet composition to engage without taking unnecessary losses.

A unit classified as high threat is one that should only be engaged with a specific fleet composition, or not at all. If encountered without such a composition, retreat is recommended.

Due to the sheer number of vessels, they will be classified in the same order as they were listed in the previous, Union-by-Union breakdown, so Stuirah vessels will always be first, and Omega vessels always last.

Low Threat:

Stuirah Corvette:

The Stuirah Corvette is one of the least physically threatening vessels in the Andromedon fleet. While it is very maneuverable and its ECM attacks have a potent capability to disrupt communications, these vessels are very lightly armed and armored, with just enough capability to harry and disrupt friendly fleet compositions. Despite this, these vessels should not be underestimated, as Stuirah crews will always be among the best-trained in any fleet.

Stuirah Destroyer:

The Stuirah Destroyer is, like the Corvette, not an incredibly dangerous vessel, fulfilling a supporting role in Stuirah fleets. Though they do have incredibly dense point-defence networks, making them, effectively, a hard counter to any missile or strike craft-based fleets. However, if faced with a kinetic and plasma-based composition, these ships are effectively useless, as their lasers are not high-power enough to deal significant damage to larger vessels.

Haruma Cleanser Ship:

The Cleanser Ships of Union Haruma are specialised orbital bombardment vessels. While they are incredibly tough vessels, they only pose a real threat to ground targets or entirely stationary emplacements. It should be noted that, while this vessel can be safely engaged by almost any fleet, the likelihood of destroying such a vessel is low, unless using specialised anti-armor fleets or endlessly-replicating nano-weapons.

Jamoiar Interceptor:

The Jamoiar Interceptor is similar to the Stuirah Corvette in design principles, primarily built as a first-in-last-out harassment vessel. As with any Jamoiar vessel, it is likely to have an incredibly small crew, if any, making this vessel much tougher than similarly-sized craft. Like Stuirah's Corvette, this vessel's utility is in being able to arrive first on scene and disrupt enemy coordination. Unlike its cousin, these vessels are armed with a large number of missile racks, capable of saturating the battlefield with small projectiles, potentially overwhelming allied point-defence networks, especially in larger formations.

Apear Cruiser, Defence Variant:

The Apear Cruiser, while not offensively dangerous, is an incredible potent defence vessel. While its point-defence grid, alone, is already notable, the fact that its strike craft can connect to the point-defence grid of nearby friendly vessels means that this vessel's mere presence makes every other shipin the vicinity significantly more resistant to missile and strike craft-related strategies. In addition, this vessel can also extend its barriers to friendly ships, as with the defensive Frigate variant, further increasing the durability of nearby vessels.

Viarior Light Transport Vessel:

The Viarior LTV poses no threat to any vessel, as it is entirely unarmed, bar a few very light PDCs, and only lightly armored. This vessel can be engaged by any fleet.

Viarior Freighter:

The Viarior Freighter poses no threat to any vessel, as it is entirely unarmed, though it is significantly tougher than the LTV. This vessel can be engaged by any fleet.

Viarior Superheavy Freigher:

The Viarior Superheavy Freighter poses no threat to any vessel, as it is entirely unarmed, though its large size and heavy armor make it a tough vessel to destroy.

Irriaran Research Vessel:

The Irriaran Research Vessel, like its Sectoid counterpart, only poses a very low threat to most fleet compositions. While it does sport a notable point-defence network, this is not designed as a combat vessel, and has only thin armor and light barriers. Despite this, these vessels should be targeted for intelligence-gathering at every opportunity.

Irriaran Habitat:

The Irriaran Habitats are not meant as combat vessels. Rather, they are population centers, manufacturing facilities, research labs, and the like. All have thick armor and limited point defence, but none will hold up in direct combat.

Zaccarim Raider:

The Raider is a very specific vessel, designed for short-term stealth incursions into enemy territory or high-priority scouting missions. Their lack of weaponry means that they are very easy to destroy in direct combat, and the few breach pods it has are easy to shoot down and non-recoverable, meaning that, even if a boarding action is successful, the Raider itself is largely useless afterwards.

Zaccarim Cutter:

The Cutter, like its smaller brother the Raider, is a very specific vessel, designed to capture enemy infrastructure intact, in lightning raids, without giving any chance for a response. In this incredibly narrow role, it performs extremely well. In any kind of open combat, it is likely to be lacking. ADVENT should invest in better active scanning and detection technologies, in order to mitigate the threat these vessels pose.

Omega Fighter:

The Union Omega Stealth Fighter is not a vessel meant for open combat, instead designed as a high-speed transport for the Special Operators. The greatest protective asset these vessels have is their cloaking device, as they have almost nonexistent armor and no standard barriers. However, this vessel's unorthodox torpedo armament means that they are capable of potent surgical strikes, in which they appear, fire a single torpedo, and vanish again, having hit the most vital part of an enemy's formation. In open combat, however, these vessels are easily destroyed.

Medium Threat:

Stuirah Frigate:

At the core of any Federation fleet action lies a contingent of Stuirah Frigates. One of the most tightly-designed vessels in existence, great care has been taken to balance this ship's capabilities, and every one of these vessels is pushed to the very brink of its design tolerances. There is a reason that this vessel has been upgraded constantly for nigh-on a century.

Stuirah Battleship:

The Stuirah Battleship is the platonic ideal of what a battleship should be. Striking from the rear of any fleet formation, safely protected by the rest of the fleet, these vessels fire large guns from long distances, posing a great threat to enemy capital ships. However, should a sufficiently armed fleet of nimble vessels break through their defensive screen, these vessels will be hard-pressed to defend themselves.

Jamoiar Frigate:

In continuing Jamoiar's similarity to Union Apear, this Frigate is dangerous for similar reasons, but does not have the advantage of the surrounding support to make it truly deadly. While the reactive armor is nominally effective at warding off missile strikes and plasma bombardments, it is ineffective against kinetic attacks. Despite this, the thick armor these vessels have allows them to take large amounts of damage, and their beam plasma weapons allow them to chew through smaller targets with ease, and a pack of these ships can pose a threat even to capital vessels. It is recommended that this vessel be considered a high-priority target when in groups, and subject to extreme kinetic bombardment.

Jamoiar Destroyer:

The Jamoiar Destroyer, similar to Reinarm's vessel of the same class, is designed to strike from the rear of fleets, targeting command vessels, capital ships, and overextended stragglers, though less consistently than Reinarm's iteration, all while remaining safely behind the protective barrier of the rest of their fleet. While they pose a potent threat in terms of firepower, any vessel that can break through the supporting fleet can destroy these vessels without too much difficulty.

Jamoiar Carrier:

Bizarre as this vessel is, the swarms of drones and buster missiles it brings to bear cannot be argued with. This vessel is an incredible force multiplier. Facing down similarly-sized capital ships on their own, they stand no chance. Providing a long-ranged backbone for friendly fleets, however, and they will reinforce the fleet's offensive and defensive capabilities to an overwhelming degree, even if the mothership is destroyed. Priority targets for friendly capital ships, as their slow speed makes them fantastic targets for spinal weapons.

Apear Frigate, Offence Variant:

The Apear Frigate is a potent anti-armor vessel, and does a very good job supplementing its larger brother, the Cruiser, softening up larger targets to be taken out by the latter's Strike Craft and kinetic shotgun weapon. Even alone, however unlikely that may be, the Apear Frigate's beam plasma armament means that they can punch through the armor of smaller vessels, and severely threaten the structural integrity of larger ones. Finally, the potent cyberattacks all Apear vessels are capable of performing will turn battles in their favor as well. These ships are not to be underestimated, and should only be engaged with a technological or numerical advantage.

Apear Cruiser, Offence Variant:

The Apear Cruiser is a phenomenal multi-vector attack craft, combining long-range spinal kinetic bombardment with fighter support, a well-calibrated point defence net, and strong beam plasma weapons. Dangerous at any range and incredibly versatile, these vessels are difficult to engage without specific plans to neutralise some aspects of their abilities. Tough alone, these vessels are almost always supplemented by their smaller brethren, the Frigate, which covers their weak points and softens up targets for the Cruiser's fighters.

Irriaran Standard Defence Platform:

Taking the standard Andromedon design philosophy of heavily armored and shielded vessels to its extreme, the SDP is a tough nut to crack, and armed with enough varied weapons to pose a threat to most sub-capital vessels. Additionally, the fact that they are most often deployed in networked groups means that they are capable of incredibly well-coordinated attacks against enemy vessels, and are more than capable of holding a line.

Zaccarim Ghost Ship:

Even though it's not quite as powerful as other vessels of similar size, the Ghost Ship is notable for its ability to facilitate overwhelming boarding actions and long-term stealth missions. The self-sustaining nature of this vessel means that they can linger in enemy territory for months, waiting for a specific, high-priority adversary to approach, whereupon they will attempt to board the enemy vessel, forcing the vessel to be either scuttled or taken, and inflicting a valuable loss on their enemy. Recommended to be engaged with heavy picket ship support as soon as possible upon discovery.

High Threat:

Jamoiar Cruiser:

The most dangerous component of any Jamoiar fleet, each Cruiser increases its attached fleet's combat power exponentially, meaning that even just a few of these ships can double or triple the operating effectiveness of a Jamoiar combat operation. These ships must be targeted first in any combat against this Union.

Apear Frigate, Defence Variant:

The Apear frigate is not necessarily dangerous for the damage it can directly inflict, but for what it allows its allies to inflict. This vessel's primary attack vector is flooding the battlefield with missiles, in an effort to overwhelm friendly point-defence networks. This combined with the incredibly dense point-defence network, means that friendly vessels will be unable to use missile and Strike Craft-based strategies, while also being forced to devote more resources to destroy the swathes of missiles headed their way. Due to this fact, these vessels should be targeted quickly, and with overwhelming plasma and kinetic bombardment.

Reinarm Frigate:

The Reinarm Frigate, renders all projectile-based doctrines completely ineffective, and severely curtails the abilities of plasma and even laser-based fleets. Its advanced point defence net would already pose a significant hindrance to kinetic and strike-craft based fleets, but the unique, short-lived singularities these vessels can generate mean that even lasers can be deflected, making them, and the fleets they protect, extraordinarily difficult to damage. It is recommended these vessels be destroyed by overwhelming plasma and laser bombardment the moment they are sighted.

Reinarm Destroyer:

The Reinarm Destroyer is not especially dangerous to all vessels on its own, like some vessels in this category, however, it poses a large threat to ships larger than itself. Striking from the rear of Reinarm fleets, these vessels put out extremely high damage at a consistent rate, interspersed with occasional bursts of even higher damage, primarily against high-priority targets. As long as these vessels are left alone, they will use their spinal beams to target vulnerable and notable targets, picking them off one by one. As they are often the damaging core of any Reinarm fleet, striking at these vessels is usually extremely difficult, allowing them to have free reign of the battlefield. Once engaged by other vessels, however, these ships tend to crumble fairly quickly.

Reinarm Cruiser:

The Reinarm Cruiser is deadly in that, given enough time, it will render any kinetic and missile weapons in use by an enemy fleet almost completely useless. This is a vessel that must be targeted with the highest priority, lest it severely neuter or disable our fleet's weaponry. Due to its specialised armament, it must be targeted swiftly, and primarily with plasma and laser weapons, or other non-projectile methods. It should be noted that nanomachine deployment against this vessel is strictly forbidden, as it may cause such weapons to activate within the deploying vessel.

Reinarm Battleship:

The Reinarm Battleship, while it doesn't have the same weaponry as its bigger brother, the Titan, the battery of gamma ray lasers studded along this vessel's hull still poses an enormous threat to any vessel's crew. However, this can be negated somewhat, through the development of specialised gamma ray-reflective materials. As such, this vessel should only be engaged by vessels coated with such materials, or else at extreme ranges in such a manner as to not give this vessel any time to respond, such as stealthed torpedo barrages or cross-system heavy kinetic bombardment.

Reinarm Titan:

Like Irriarian's home system constructs, the Reinarm Titan is armed with antimatter based weaponry, leading to situations where a single such vessel has fought off entire small fleets, utilising only its light antimatter PDCs. This is supplemented by its incredibly, physics-defyingly high-powered spinal weapon, which can destroy almost any massive capital ship in a single shot. All of this results in an incredibly powerful, incredibly tough vessel, which can only be engaged with a purpose-built fleet, armed primarily with special weaponry (antimatter, unbounded nano-swarms, etc) or using psionics, especially dominating the vessel's crew.

Reinarm Cannon:

The Reinarm Cannon is in this category purely because it poses the largest threat to those vessels which could most easily destroy it. Against small vessels such as corvettes, destroyers, and any variety of strike craft, the Reinarm Cannon is useless, as they move too quickly to be hit with any accuracy. However, the Cannon's thick armor makes it nigh-on impossible for these small vessels to do any significant damage to the vessel, necessitating the use of battleships, titans, and similarly specialised vessels, against which the Cannon poses a vastly higher threat, as these vessels have a much more difficult time evading its fire. This vessel should be engaged only with special weaponry (antimatter, unbounded nano-swarms, psionics, etc) mounted on small, nimble craft.

Irriaran Home Defence Platform:

A vast improvement on the Irriaran Standard Defence Platform, the Home Defence Platform, like the Irriarian home station, is armed and powered entirely with antimatter. As a consequence, these rather small constructs pose an immense threat to all vessels without some sort of energy shielding, and their power systems mean that any victory ending in their destruction would be pyrrhic at best. As this makes them effectively impossible to favorably engage at short range, one should attempt to bombard them at long range, though this would prove similarly difficult, due to their very small size. This construct should not be engaged under any circumstances.

Irriaran Home Station:

Probably the single most dangerous Andromedon construct we know of, the Irriaran Home Station is armed exclusively with quick-rotation antimatter turrets, capable of dealing unfathomable amounts of damage to any vessel not protected by Andromedon Barriers or Aegii Psionics, regardless of armor. As if that weren't enough, the amount of energy provided by their stored antimatter allows them to produce food almost infinitely, and, were the station to suffer fatal damage, it would produce an antimatter detonation of incredible magnitude, likely obliterating any ships and fatally irradiating any personnel within millions of kilometers. This construct should not be engaged under any circumstances.

Xabiar's Note: Written once again by the talented Mooloor, hope everyone enjoyed it!