Condor

Up to date for latest version, 0.97a.

Condor-class Light Carrier
Low Tech Destroyer
32,000c
Logistical data
CR per deployment	10%
CR per deployment	10%
Recovery rate (per day)	5%
Recovery rate (per day)	5%
Recovery cost (supplies)	10
Recovery cost (supplies)	10
Deployment points	10
Deployment points	10
Peak performance (sec)	360
Peak performance (sec)	360
Ordnance points	45
Ordnance points	45
Maintenance (supplies/month)	10
Maintenance (supplies/month)	10
Cargo capacity	120
Cargo capacity	120
Maximum crew	150
Maximum crew	150
Skeleton crew required	90
Skeleton crew required	90
Fuel capacity	30
Fuel capacity	30
Maximum burn	9
Maximum burn	9
Fuel per LY / Jump cost	2
Fuel per LY / Jump cost	2
Combat performance
Hull integrity	5000
Armor rating	500
Flux capacity	2200
Flux dissipation	110
Top speed	40
Systems
Defense	Omni Shield
Shield arc	120
Shield upkeep/sec	44
Shield flux/damage	1.2
System	Fast Missile Racks
Fighter bays	2
Mounts	1x Medium Missile 2x Small Ballistic

	The Condor-class sees heavy service in the Sector as this carrier-converted freighter is, for many independent polities, the easiest way to procure fighter capability for their organization. Even with limited flight deck space, the Condor gets the job done, relying on its tough armor, excellent bulkhead strength, and a respectable (for a light carrier) weapons package. This light carrier design is derived from Tarsus-class freighters modified by desperate scavengers and pirates. The conversion process was once an involved and complex affair requiring space dock facilities, but nowadays any hull-capable forge that will accept a stock Tarsus spec will, with the addition of a custom modchip, get you something just as good. Some in the Sector argue that even the Domain, with all their technological know-how, relied on similar conversions to make more efficient use of a merchant fleet during times of escalated hostilities on the voluminous galactic frontier. Others point out that it is unclear how ubiquitous this approach was - there could have been fleets of Condors roaming Domain space, but there is scarce hard evidence one way or the other. Such data was all lost in the Collapse.
–In-game description

The smallest and often earliest available carrier in many fleets, the Condor is a militarized version of a Tarsus, its entire hull reworked from the ground up to support 2 Fighter Wings and allow the Condor to support more proper combat ships in battle with a Medium Missile turret.

Overview

Serving as the cheapest method to acquire functional fighters in a fleet, the Condor retains good use as a carrier all throughout the game, working in the early game as the player's only viable carrier, and in the late game as a cheap way to deploy even more fighter wings between armada-sized fleets.

The Condor suffers from a lack of mobility however, as well as not possessing any serious weaponry barring a Medium Missile turret; this thus leaves the Condor mainly as a combat support ship, launching missiles and wings from behind friendly lines.

Tips and strategy

The following section contains user-submitted suggestions, these may be inaccurate or outdated.

Builds

There are two common ways to build a Condor, in that the ship can either serve as an interceptor-carrier to support allied ships, or as a bomber-carrier armed with cheap bombers to harass the enemy. Both are not exceptionally reliable, but can often go a long way, especially if multiple Condors can be amassed.

Interceptor Carrier

Armed with a pair of Gladii fighters and 4 Talons (1 wing of Gladius and 1 wing of Talon), the Condor can provide screening for other ships. These highly mobile entities will float around shooting down missiles, enemy fighters or just bullying lighter enemies such as Wolves, Tempests or Hounds. They are vulnerable to point defense, but have a small collective respawn timer.

In order for this build to function, one should equip the carrier with Expanded Deck Crew, as this will allow the carrier to retain its stamina for way longer than usual. This is important, as even though a Condor can restock both its fighter wings in 40 seconds, compared to say 60 seconds of two wings of Broadswords or Wasps, 20 seconds can often be the difference in battle for many ships.

The Interceptor-Condor can be alternatively equipped with other nimble support fighters such as Claws, or tough nuisances such as Thunders, Warthogs, or Broadswords. This will shift the Interceptor-Condor's role however, with the increase in ordnance point easily being felt.

• Claws paired with Gladii can be extremely menacing to lighter enemy ships, but they lose the interceptor value of a Wasp or Talon.
• Warthogs can be far more damaging to interfering enemies such as Eradicators which might attempt rushing into your formations, but lack the range and mobility to help distant allies, not to mention the expense of buying them.
• Thunders are fast enough to pin down frigates far away, but lack the long-term nature of Gladius.
• And Broadswords are generally good as escort vessels for bombers, but suffer from a lack of damage.

Compared to Talon fighters, Wasp wings are also quite effective at serving in a point defense role, but are less durable, resulting in them using up more of the Condor's Replacement Rate. Nonetheless, Wasps are far deadlier at taking down enemy fighters and way faster at removing enemy missiles, with Talons needing more wings deployed to achieve the same result. Easy to exhaust but surgical, as is common amongst High Tech technology.

Bomber Carrier

The key to making a Condor an effective bomber carrier are standard Hegemony bombers; these consist of either Piranhas, the cheesy, "if I luck out, everyone dies" bomber wing, or the Khopesh, the safer and more reliable option. Both wings deal damage via low damage charges that are effective against shields and unarmored hulls, but suffer against more heavily armored foes unless amassed in large numbers. This means a group of Bomber-Condors would struggle against ships such as the Dominator.

Despite this, a Bomber-Condor armed with Piranha Bomber Wing|Piranhas or Khopesh Bomber Wing|Khopeshs can easily enhance the amount of projectiles in battle that enemy ships must contend with and avoid during the chaos of battle.

There are also other options for the Condor, such as Daggers, Tridents, or Cobras; however these torpedo bombers suffer if not escorted by fighters.

Missiles

Pilum

The most viable missile launcher on a Condor is a Pilum LRM Launcher, a cheap support missile. This allows the Condor to continuously but slowly spam Pilums throughout battle, with the more Condors on the battle allowing for more damage potential due to more Pilums flying in battle.

Though Pilums will slowly recharge over time, equipping a Condor with Expanded Missile Racks will allow it to fire more missiles over time.

Harpoon

If there is enough ordnance points left to afford so, a Condor can instead be equipped with the Harpoon MRM Pod. These missiles will allow the Condor to fire missiles at enemies from an odd position the Condor could potentially be in, and accelerate the death of other enemies already under heavy flux use and with shields down.

Condors equipped with Harpoons are best also equipped with Expanded Missile Racks to increase the amount of Harpoons they can fire, as these missiles are limited; or instead equipped with the ECCM Package to negate the enemy's electronic warfare.

Unless battle is quickly concluded, Harpoon-equipped Condors will eventually suffer from a lack of missiles, forcing it to either flee battle to free up deployment points, or to serve as purely a carrier with no other weaponry bar 2 Small Ballistic mounts covering 1 side each.

Logistics

Due to the Condor's past as a Tarsus, it still retains roughly a third of the Tarsus's cargo capacity at 120. While this gives the Condor more cargo capacity compared to many combat ships, it has even less cargo capacity compared to dedicated freighter ships. Compared to a freighter such as the Gemini, the Condor's 120 is less than half the cargo capacity of the Gemini while standing 1 deployment point above the Gemini.

If armed with relatively cheap fighters, the Condor can be given the Blast Doors hullmod, allowing it to retain much of the crew even after destruction. This allows the Condor to serve as a way to retain manpower should it potentially be destroyed in battle, and even be scrapped should the fleet sustain heavy manpower losses, allowing more valuable ships to retain their combat readiness. Such as an Odyssey, Onslaught, Dominators, etc.

Given the Condor's reliance on extreme hull durability of 5,000, the Insulated Engine Assembly hullmod will add on an additional 500 hull to the Condor, as well as easily allowing the Condor to serve in stealth fleets. Stacked with Blast Doors and Reinforced Bulkheads, the condor's durability can significantly improved. Heavy Armor can boost this durability even more, boosting the Condor's armor to 800, giving it armor equal to more combat-deticated destroyers.

Changelog

Patch 0.95a: Increased cargo capacity to 120 (was: 40) Patch 0.9a: Maintenance supply cost increase from 8.0 to 10.0 per month