H-XCB
Advanced Bombardment Cruiser


 

BPV: 308
Total power:66
Turn Mode: B
Acceleration: 15
HET: 116%

If you love flying around in Tartars and Apaches at speed 31 and blasting everything with hellbores, this is the ship for you!

Shields: 54-50-46-42
Armor: 12
Center hull: 14
Forward hull: 4
Aft hull: 4
Excess Damage:: 5

Typical X-cruiser shielding, but the armor and center hull are exceptional. The Hydran "7th shield" is taken to another level with this ship.

Marines: 15/26
Transporters: 4

A bit better than other Hydrans, but H&R's were never our forte.

Shuttles: 4/6, launch rate 2
Fighters: 2 Killerbee.III

You may actually forget you have fighters. They are in individual squadrons, so they will die quickly if you use them at the wrong time. This is one ship where you may want to use speed-31 Yellowjackets instead of speed-27 Hornets.

Heavy Weapons: 5 Hellbores (FA), 4 Hellbores (RA)
Phasers: 3 Ph-X (FLL), 3 Ph-X (FRR), 1 Ph-X (LS), 1 Ph-X (RS), 1 Ph-G2 (LS), 1 Ph-G2 (RS), 2 Ph-G (RX)
Mines: 4/10
Tractors: 4

Man oh man. You might wonder if you have enough power to arm 9 hellbores at speed 31 - you do, with 3 points left over. This ship is an absolute killer of plasma boats, X or no. Unlike most Hydrans she retains a significant amount of her firepower at long range. With 4 aft hellbores, you never have to get close. The X phasers are a bit awkward since you can only use half on one side, but the arcs actually work well with the aft hellbores. One tactic worth trying: shut off the forward hellbores and overload the aft ones. Keep your opponent on your #3 or #5 shield and allow him to get to range 8 - prep his #1 shield with overloaded X-phasers, then turn away and let him have overloaded hellbores. Unless he is very well shielded his #1 will be badly hurt, and he will have a tough time chasing you.

Another tactic to consider when facing plasma, especially X-plasma: set shield reinforcement to lowest priority, and reinforce your #4 shield. If you are about to get caught by plasma, dump a lot of power (set phaser slider all the way down, dump ECCM, shut hellbores off if not charged). If you do it a few seconds ahead of time, your #4 will be bright white before the plasma hits.

This ship is a hellbore lover's dream!

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Captain 762_XC
Hydran Squadron,
XenoCorp

 

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