Dark Wing Class Battleship

Dark Wing Class Battleship image from Planets Nu

Comments

The Dark Wing Class Battleship is the capital ship of the Birdmen. It is the 3rd most powerful Torpedo ship in the game and the only cloaking capital ship. The next most powerful cloaker in the game is the other bird ship, the Resolute Class Battlecruiser. Like the Resolute, the Dark Wing has an advanced cloaking device.

It has the best strength/cost/PBP ratio of all ships.

Because of its small fuel tank, the Dark Wing needs a ship which transports Neutronium for it. Most of the time, Birdmen use Resolute Class Battlecruisers for this.

Use as a capturing ship

The Dark Wing is the best ship in the game for capturing smaller vessels with gamma bombs. It is excellent because of its cloaking device, 8 torp tubes and heavy mass. Other heavy torp ships can also capture in this way but none have a cloaking device, which makes an ambush easier on an unsuspecting target. With the Birdmen's Cloaked Intercept, the Gamma Dark Wing becomes even more fearsome in its ability to capture ships. With cloak-intercept, the Dark Wing can intercept a ship without setting PE, then tow it away for capture. This is especially useful if the target ship has escorts that would re-capture or destroy it. The cloak also keeps the Dark Wing safer, since it is very weak with only gamma bombs.

Beams to use for capturing

• Disruptors

The ideal load-out for a Dark Wing is to have only 8 disruptors (instead of the normal 10) and gamma bombs. Having only 8 disruptors makes the odds close to 100% for capturing most medium-sized ships (10 would destroy them). For example, with 10 disruptors, you have a 75% chance of capturing the Cobol, and a 100% chance with 8 disruptors. Against a d19b, with 8 disruptors you can capture 98% of the time, but only 4% with 9. To avoid accidentally killing a target, 8 disruptors is advisable. You can use fewer beams if you want, but if you do, you will have to spend more torpedoes to capture a ship, and gammas run out very quickly. Gammas are also a bit slower to capture (but they are necessary, because they do far less hull damage the disruptors). Having more disruptors is also very useful for minesweeping. Disruptors are also a decent last-ditch weapon that can save your ship from destruction. If you have a specific target you want to capture, load up the VCR with different numbers of disruptors, and use the "fast computer" feature to see which load-out gives you 100% capture odds.

• X-rays

You can use X-rays to capture ships instead, but weaker x-rays take longer to kill crew, and can put the Dark Wing in danger of taking too much damage during a battle, and lose cloaking. They are also very weak against hull, in situations where you simply need to defend yourself by destroying the enemy instead of trying to capture it. There are some specialized situations where you will need X-rays to capture ships that are harder to capture (e.g. SSD).

Gamma Bombs

Gamma bombs are extremely expensive in minerals, since you will fire 30-60 against medium ships. To save on minerals, you can use a ship with Mk. 4 torpedoes to lay a minefield, then the Dark Wing with gammas scoops up the minefield. Laying 67 Mk. 4 torps will fill the Dark Wing's cargo with 150 gamma bombs, and save you 629 MC and 83 Du/Tri/Mo. If you use Mk. 7 torps, lay 30 Mk. 7 torps--you will save 430 MC and 120 Du/Tri/Mo.

Built by

The Empire of Birds

Hull specs

Name	Tech	Beams	T/F	En	MC	Dur	Tri	Mol	Mass	Cargo	Fuel	Crew	Abilities	Adv
Dark Wing Class Battleship	10	10	8/0	2	450	170	183	110	491	150	290	910	Adv. C	80

Addons

Stellar Cartography

• Advanced cloaking device doesn't fail inside nebulae, unlike normal cloaking devices.
• Advanced cloaking further protects the Dark Wing Battleship against radiation. About 33.3% of the normal crew/clans are lost while cloaked.