Zilla Class Battlecarrier
The Zilla is a campaign-only ship at Planets.nu. It was designed by Emork the Lizard King, the champion of the Aries war.
Comments
This behemoth exhibits unique abilities exclusive to the Lizards.
The ship's ability to survive with up to 150% damage against planets makes it well suited to take out maxbases. Its special ability is you get +1 bay for every homeworld you control (including your own). As a late-game ship, its value in this role can be quite high, if you control several enemy homeworlds (which gives the Zilla more bays). In the early game, this ship is less remarkable, since it has only 6 bays. Since you can only build 1 of them in the early game, Zillas will not make a big difference to your fleet. It is also quite expensive in minerals (the most expensive in the game, in minerals:mass ratio), making it a bit less appealing to build before ship limit.
Further adding to the Zilla's appeal as a late-game ship, it only costs 11 PP to build its 500 kt hull. This is quite light for a heavy carrier with 10 beams. The next most comparable carrier is the Virgo (625 kt), which costs 14 PP and is weaker against starbases since it lacks the 150% damage capacity. The Zilla is better than any Robot carrier at attacking starbases. The only ships comparable at destroying starbases are Gorbies, Biocides and Novas (with quantum torps). If the Zilla gets extra bays, it can be even better than those ships. This is mostly due to its tidal force shield, which allows it to survive up to 150% damage against planets.
On odds against Starbases
- If you have 8+ bays, the Zilla will win ~95% of the time against a maxbase (with 100 planet defense posts).
- With the Zilla's default 5 bays, your odds to beat a maxbase with 100 planet dp is 70%. If planet dp are higher (200-300), the odds of victory are reduced to ~50%.
Built by
Hull specs
| Name | Tech | Beams | T/F | En | MC | Dur | Tri | Mol | Mass | Cargo | Fuel | Crew | Abilities | Adv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zilla Class Battlecarrier | 10 | 10 | 0/5 | 4 | 2500 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 500 | 250 | 230 | 500 | ESL | 15 |
Notes
The Zilla contains the following abilities and restrictions:
- Emork's Spirit bonus: Fights with one additional fighter bay for every homeworld you control. Maximum bays of the ship are 13.
- Tidal Force Shield: Survives up to 150% damage when fighting planets.
- Can only be built at a homeworld planet. Starts with the name, "Spirit of (homeworld name)". (Documentation says the Zilla can't be renamed, but this is false).
- Homeworlds may not build another Zilla until the old Zilla from that homeworld is no longer in play.
- Will explode (like a glory device) if you lose control of that homeworld.
- If a Zilla is destroyed, captured or traded then the colonists on the linked homeworld get -100 happiness.
- If a Zilla is tow-captured or traded away then it is a 10/5 carrier without the spirit bonus. The Zilla can never be cloned.
External Links
Link to the ship's announcement.
Addons
This ship design is exclusive to Campaign Mode.
