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Vaygr Corvettes

The Vaygr's Corvettes had their teeth and claws trimmed by the 1.1 patch, and their armour reduced to match that of the Hiigarans; previously it was higher and much, much harder to field. In terms for bang for buck, they are the Vaygr's best fleet assets and can still dominate similar numbers of Hiigaran Corvettes. They might not fire as frequently, but each ship type has approximately double the firepower of its Hiigaran equivalent at half the rate. The Vaygr player has to make do with a lower Corvette unit cap and no turrets to compensate. Without turrets, Vaygr Corvettes behave like oversized Fighters, executing attack runs on their targets with long run up times. The lower unit cap is compensated by Vaygr Corvettes coming in tiny little wall formations of four

The Missile Corvette kills Fighters; the Laser Corvette blows away Frigates and bruises Capital Craft - but there's a small hole when they come up against their own kind. You may want to fill the gap with Lance Fighters to compensate.

The Vaygr player needs three mandatory prerequisites before they can start their Corvette production: the Research Module to unlock the Corvette Chassis Tech, and then construction of the Corvette Facility itself. After that, they have to research more small techs to unlock all but their most basic ships. Fortunately, when it comes to Engine and Armour upgrades, the Vaygr update all their Corvette classes simultaneously. First level upgrades are fairly cheap, but the second level upgrade jump sharply in cost. The ships themselves start to acquire the long and narrow hull designs of their bigger cousins.


	Missile Corvette Anti-Corvette Corvette

This is the bog-standard fighting Corvette that's immediately available when the Corvette Facility comes online. Its the Mini-Me version of the Heavy Missile Frigate, or a primitive "Lite" version of the un-enhanced Torpedo Frigate. Missile Corvettes are great for dealing with targets their own size, and I think they always score a hit unless their quarry suddenly doubles back on themselves. Unfortunately in a dogfight, something that shoots infrequently tends to get blown away quick smart - these corvettes fire a missile every three or four seconds. Best to use these in conjunction with Command Corvettes.. Their single Concussion Missile is the Vaygr's standard light anti-Strikecraft armament that is fitted to many Vaygr vessels, and unlike the Torpedo Frigate's multiple warhead torpedo, can only affect one target at a time.

Nevertheless, when you have numbers of these ships in play, the "critical mass" rule seems to apply: the constant stream of small warheads wreaks havoc with all kinds of Strikecraft big and small and can dent most Frigates in numbers. The missile itself is worth 90 points of damage, a sort of standard anti-strikecraft hit for the Vaygr. As a rule of thumb, that's over double a single Hiigaran Gunship shot. A single hit is a guaranteed kill to a Fighter and - if it can hit it - about a quarter of a Corvette. Missile Corvette missiles score a nice bonus, dealing out double damage to all Platforms. They definitely add clout to a Strikecraft swarm but start to fail against Corvettes. Nevertheless, they should form a substantial part of your Corvette cloud. You can identify them quickly as a small, compact wall formation of thin, narrow boxes.

Prerequisites

Research Module

Corvette Chassis Tech

Corvette Facility

Perks

2 Corvette Engine Upgrades

2 Corvette Armour Upgrades

Pros

Good small time bombardment engine

Best against Fighters

Inflicts double the damage against Turrets

Cons

Missiles relatively slow firing and indirect: targets can dodge.

Dog fighting simply gets it killed.

Not that hot against other Corvettes, although it'll certainly help turn the tide


	Laser Corvette Anti-Capital Corvette

The Laser Corvette is one of the Vaygr's advanced Corvettes; basically a Lance Fighter Supa-Sized up to a Corvette chassis, and like the Lance Fighter, really only designed to attack things bigger than itself. It only becomes available once the Laser Systems Tech is researched. It doesn't fire that often, flying around and relying on its armour to stay alive, but when it does it unleashes a rapid burst of red bolts that do awesome damage.

This Capital killing Corvette is definitely a specialist: it has short range, fires infrequently and has been nerfed to be almost useless against anything that is smaller than a Frigate. Normally, this corvette delivers 350 points of damage to a target: double that of the Pulsar Gunship. Unfortunately, it only does half damage to Platforms, quarter damage to Subsystems, and is so inaccurate against other Strikecraft that its effectively useless in a dogfight, although if it does score a hit it'll almost blow another Corvette away in a single shot. The only time it shines is when its destroying Frigates, mauling Capital ships and demolishing resourcing, along with their Motherships. At a distance this Corvette might look like its not doing very much when in actual fact, its tearing strips out of the enemy's hide. You can readily identify them by the red outriggers jutting from their sides. You'll soon be tearing your hair out in frustration is you try to use the Laser Corvette against turrets and Strikecraft, but up against Frigates and Capitals, this ship is gold!

As a side note, the Missile Corvette's double damage and Laser Corvette's half damage against Platforms makes these two ships pretty much the same when it comes to smacking Turrets. You may not want to waste the Laser Corvette's impressive firepower on them though...

Prerequisites

Research Module

Corvette Chassis Tech

Corvette Facility

Laser Systems Tech

Perks

2 Corvette Engine Upgrades

2 Corvette Armour Upgrades

Pros

Very nasty against Capital targets - clearly hits above its weight.

Cons

Slow firing rate and long run up times.

Half damage against Platforms.

Quarter damage against Subsystems.

Woefully inaccurate against Strikecraft


	Minelayer Corvette Mine Laying Corvette

This Corvette is almost exactly the same as the Hiigaran's Minelayer Corvette, except it enjoys the Vaygr's global Corvette upgrades. This Corvette is a loner, and has half the weaponry of a single Gunship. While this is pretty useless against most threats and should be kept well away from any kind of action. But the Minelayer Corvette is really a specialised utility vessel that lays and sweeps minefields. It comes equipped with its own unique mine-sweeping weapon to take out the pesky things at range.

See Hiigaran Minelayer Corvette for further details on Minelayers in general. Both sides have pretty much the same unit, except for looks.

Prerequisites

Research Module

Corvette Chassis Tech

Corvette Facility

Mine laying Tech

Perks

2 Corvette Engine Upgrades

2 Corvette Armour Upgrades

Pros

Mines are devastating against Capital craft and Frigates

Can actually sweep minefields itself

Cons

Unable to really defend itself - this is more a utility unit than a fighting ship


	Command Corvette Flying Fire Control Tower

The extra Corvette scored by the Vaygr simply value adds to their Strikecraft swarms. The Command Corvette is the equivalent of a flying Fire Control Tower module. All friendly ships that stray into the operating radius of this Corvette enjoy accuracy and attack bonuses. Other interesting things happen too: Vaygr forces seem to use a different AI that's far more effective than the norm. e.g. In the presence of a Command Corvette, Missile Corvettes tend to stick to the sidelines and launch missiles into a fight rather than getting shot to bits inside it. Even better, the influence of two Command Corvettes stack, or increase the bonus on their wingmen where their radii overlap.

Don't underestimate the Command Corvette. The only downside is that these ships don't come in squadrons; its simply a single lightly armed Corvette, and a pushover in spite of its better than average armour. If you had a choice of a dozen Missile Corvettes, or ten Missile Corvettes and two Command Corvettes, you may find the latter more effective. The hardest part of using a Command Corvette is trying to make its presence not so obvious to the enemy. When part of a Strike-Froce they tend to sit on the sidelines, which means they stick out on the field and worse, the actual Strike-Force might leave it behind in a battle. A lot of people keep these guys independent, setting them to Guard squadrons of other ships so they don't look so conspicuous and stick with the battle. Their accuracy bonuses affects all ships; get one or two to guard a Battlecruiser and the days of watching the Trinity Cannon miss will become a distant memory. You can spot this ship's distinctive profile by the prominent mast it raises when in action.